Chapter 13
As a treat for my good behavior, the Colonel let me eat in the mess hall; yet set apart from the other personnel. I had a table in a corner all to myself, other than the two burly guards who accompanied me everywhere. Because I had found their missing items, the head of the special agency was more interested in those talents than the fact that I wasn't quite human although their scientists were having a field day with my STATS.
Lunch wasn't bad. The food was good and plenty of it. I was homesick, missed the cool, crispness of the East Coast. I hated this dry reconstituted air and I was bored out of my mind. I spent a lot of time in that cell, staring at the walls and after lunch, they brought me back. I wasn't alone, two people in lab coats were there waiting on me with a basket filled with needles, syringes and tubes.
"Roll up your sleeve, please," one said, and I shivered. I was so sick of being poked and dissected.
"What now? Haven't you people figured out my blood yet?" And pulled the uniform sleep up. He tied the rubber around my bicep, popped the vein and drew four tubes in various colors, leaving the needle in and inserting a butterfly, he taped it down.
"What's this for?" I didn't need an IV in me.
"Please hold still," he said, and pulled out a prefilled syringe.
"What is that?"
He nodded to the guard who grabbed my head and neck while the other pushed me into the chair. I tried to heave myself up, but they were bigger than I was, and outweighed me by at least 40 pounds.
"This stuff hurts going in," he warned and pushed the plunger. It did. It burned like acid eating my veins and made me unable to move, unable to respond. "Put him on the bed, I need to hook him up to fluids and cath him. This will be a long trip and we need him unresponsive."
I felt like I was flying through the air. I tried to ask them where I was going but my tongue felt like a toilet plunger stuck in my throat. Everything took on an unreal quality. I knew we were leaving, and I saw tunnels through the underworld, demons straight out of Tolkien fantasies and they spoke a language I could not understand. Time had no meaning, I thought years had gone by then only a few months, came to understand it was only hours. Woke up inside a van set up like an ambulance with me in the back. The windows were blacked out and I was being watched over by people dressed as SWAT paramedics only they were armed with automatic weapons. The Colonel was there and he was the first to notice that my eyes were open and aware.
"Jade?"
"Yahelwehe," I mumbled. I tried again. "Where am I?"
"Boston."
"Boston! Why did you bring me back? Are you take me home?"
His laugh was derisive. "Not hardly. You're going to the Allardyne Blue Maxx Supercomputer facility outside of Harvard University, where the top science geeks of both MIT and Harvard are going to…how shall I say it, dissect your brain. Maybe your insides too."
I stared at him in horror. "You shit! You crazy fighting shit! Let me go! You can't do this to me!" I tried to kick, to get my hands loose, but nothing moved freely and they watched me struggle until blood ringed my wrists and defeat covered my face. I tried not to cry in despair, but it sat so heavy on me, I felt so lost and abandoned that I gave up. A part of me died, then. I turned my head into the wall and didn't hear another word they said to me.
*****
I felt it when the van entered the Big Dig. It dipped and kept going down; the air-cooled and the smell of saltwater filled the air. It grew darker inside and flashes of headlights threw random streaks into the back where I lay.
The two jabbered away ignoring me as if I was only a thing and when one of them lurched onto me, I was surprised. He didn't move and that's when I saw the bullet hole in his forehead and the hole in the back door. The van lurched and spun out of control, knocking the other dude into the side of the wheel well. I heard him grunt and cry out in pain over the screeching of tires. The Colonel hung on to the side straps, but even he was tossed about and landed next to me as the van came to a shuddering stop. The back doors flew open and brilliant headlights streamed in to reveal four of those hulking black shapes that I remembered too well.
The creatures from my nightmares had found me.
Brightarm muttered Druz under his breath and reached for his gun, only to have it snatched from his hand and tossed contemptuously out the tunnel.
"Are you injured?" Its voice was like river gravel, I could see its eyes---large, expressive and light blue.
"No. Not really," I answered. "I was restrained, not thrown as badly as the others."
"Can you walk?"
"I'm belted and tied in. Are you going to hurt me?"
He advanced, drew out a wicked curved blade and sliced through the steel of the cuffs, hauled me up by my collar and set me on my feet in the tunnel. Headlights from a big SUV blinded me.
"Go on," he said and before I'd taken two steps, I heard the chunk of his blade slicing through something and the thud as it hit the floor. I was afraid to turn and look, afraid I might see heads bouncing. Two others escorted me into the middle seat, belted me in and flanked me. The big dude came back, wiped blood off his knife, gave me a feline grin and climbed into the driver's seat. He stepped on it, drove around the wreck and proceeded through the tunnel as if he was on his way to the Stop & Shop.
"Who are you? You're not going to kill me?"
"Kill you?" The driver laughed. "Why would we want to kill you? We rescued you."
"The other two I blasted wanted to. And they killed my mother," I said.
"Killed Lady Ethelyn? Oh, grievous day," he returned slowly. "Then, the Seillach coin is gone?"
"The what?" Now I was confused.
"Did your mother, the Lady Ethelyn give you anything before she passed?"
My hand closed around the golden coin, and I opened it slowly to stare. "You mean this?"
I asked and he slammed on the brakes and p ulled over in the chicken lane to stare at the glowing green eye of the gem.
"Neavah Seillach pangorum gaeddan," he whispered and the glow filled the interior lighting us all up like Christmas lights.
"My Lord," they whispered and bowed their heads. With a stonishment, I realized it was to me.
"Who or what are you?" My voice quivered and I struggled to make it steady.
"We are the Dursvan, bodyguards for your family, Jadewyn Etheros. Alas we failed in our duty to your noble mother and will not make the same e rror with you."
"You're aliens?"
"Only to this planet. Or plane. I'm not sure which."
"Who are the other ones? The ones that tried to kill me?"
"They are the Druz. Soldiers who fought against your family's dynasty. They want the Seillach pangorum and more importantly, they want you."
"Why?"
"Because you can find anything that is lost, and they have lost the way home. They were exiled from their home, their place of power a thousand centuries ago. They wish it back and you can take them there."
"I think we should go home. Get out of here. We're sitting ducks. Besides, you terminated government agents and now they're after me, too."
"We will take you someplace safe," he said and merged back into the express lanes.
Minutes later, we were climbing back up into the sunlight. I recognized the skyline and knew we were close to dad's precinct. I wanted to yell stop, but I knew that was the first place they would look for me.
The drive to Boston was straight now that the Big Dig was finished; I thought they were headed out to the country in a house hidden in the sticks. Instead, they drove downtown to huge sky rise, pulled into an underground garage where armed security met them. The newcomers opened the door for us and I was escorted gently out into the nearest elevator with them at my elbows. All of them bore the same generic stamp as if they were from the same tribe.
We went to the top floors with the doors opening several times and I glanced at people at work like in any other inner-city offices. We stopped at what must have been the corporate headquarters, which opened onto an atrium straight out of a movie set, complete with fountains, skylights and enough greenery to inspire a jungle. We were led to an office down the hallway that had exposed windows on all three sides.
The desk was a massive thing of amber and honey wood and the man who stood behind it looked like a taller version of the guards. His hair was black, eyes that curious blue and his chin held a dimple deep enough for my finger to fall in. His arms were impressively muscled and hung nearly to his knees, but did not look too long on his tall frame. I could see him in battle armor wielding a sword standing over a naked maiden like Conan of Cimmeria. He came forward and took my hand, turned it over to sta re at my abraded wrists and into my eyes.
"My Lord, Jadewyn. It is the blessings of the flame and the Seillach Pangorum that we have, you safe at last."
"Who are you?"
"Eldrich, bring Lord Jadewyn drink, something to wear and a chair," he ordered, and before he finished speaking my rump was planted in an armchair soft and welcoming. He smiled at me "I am Revenal Juris. A commander in the Dursvan forces, yours to command, my Lord Jadewyn."
"Lord of what?" I asked, pulling the edges of the hospital gown down on my knees. My feet were in slipper socks and I was cold. Five minutes later, two women knocked came in, pushing the cart behind a man with an arm full of clothes. They stared at me, giggled and laughed as he handed me, black leather pants, a tight shirt and jacket, all in black or silver tones.
There were boots also. Handsome soft leather that speed laced. No socks or underwear.
Self-conscious, I pulled the pants on underneath the gown and then peeled away to expose my torso to his scrutiny. His eyes took in my scars and his fingers traced them lightly.
"You have been wounded," he stated.
"Car crash. Collapsed both my lungs. Those are from drain tubes," I said shortly pulling the shirt over my head. I gestured to the carts. "They're not poisoned or drugged, right?"
In answer, he sampled bits of everything and I sat back down and worked my way through both tables. They watched me eat in amazement.
"I had forgotten how a youngling could eat," he marveled.
"Well," I mumbled with my mouth full. "They didn't feed me well the last day or so. I was knocked out."
"Eat all you want. Rest. You are safe here. In the morning, the Elders will speak to you."
"Whatever." I went back to chowing down.