Passion (10 page)

“You
said yourself… we can’t underestimate him.”  Torrid glanced down the drain.  “He’s
probably rallying new Rogue Magical Ones as we speak.”

“I
said don’t worry.  For now we have to take care of the Magical Ones we’ve got. 
Let’s get our things in order and we’ll go after Sanz.”

Sensing
the growing tension, I looked at Torrid.  Despite his obvious displeasure, he
said nothing.

Liam
turned to the newly freed djinns.  “We’ll need your help… all of you.  I refuse
to imprison these Magical Ones the same way Dr. Sanz imprisoned you.”

The
room rumbled with displeasure and confusion.

“I’ve
been cramped up in a bottle for twelve years,” a djinn called out

“And
I’ve worked to exhaustion and back for twice as long,” another said.  “Are you
asking us to treat these guys any better than that?”

“That’s
exactly what I’m saying.”

The
many djinns that had barely had time to celebrate their newfound freedom now
looked at Liam with doubt.

“I
understand your anger.  You’re all still hurting, still wounded and angry.  I
understand it’s a lot to ask you to find a place in your heart to be more
humane to these prisoners than they were to you.”

Dozens
of heads nodded accompanied by a murmur of agreement.

“But
if we want change, real change, we have to take that first step to make that
change happen.  As much as you may loathe them, and I’ll admit I share your sentiment,
I want you all to treat them as you would have wanted to be treated.”

“That’s
a tall order,” Torrid said.

“I
know,” Liam said.  “I also know that it’s within the realm of possibility.  All
that’s needed is the desire to change the world of Arcadia.  It all starts
here.”  He raised his hands to the masses.  “Are you with me?”

For
a moment the tension grew.  The dream sounded so good, but many djinns seemed
unconvinced.  They looked at the bottles they’d come from, the chains of Dr.
Sanz’s ward that kept them working endlessly.

“I’m
with you,” one young female djinn said.  “I want to make a change.”

“I
want to make a change too, but…” another one followed.

“I’m
with you.  I’m free, I feel happy and I want to make a change.”

Shouts
of agreement rang out.  Liam had won.

My
heart swelled with pride.  What a marvelous leader he was proving himself to
be.  To be able to make these long suffering djinns sympathetic to the plight
of the new imprisoned Rogue Magical Ones was a remarkable feat.  I had no doubt
he’d succeed in changing the face of Arcadia.

Djinns
gathered up bottles and while they offered nothing in the way of a smile, grin
or pleasant greeting, they did treat every bottled Magical One with care. 
Before long the ward had been cleared and Torrid and I stood, alone, looking at
each other.

Alone
for the first time since we’d found one another, I felt suddenly shy and
unsure.  But the moment I saw the guilt in his eyes, I knew he was still
feeling guilty about what happened at the Coliseum.

“Torrid,
I know you couldn’t…”

“You
have no idea how this is tearing me apart. I keep imagining what could have
happened to you.  We were too far apart for me to truly know what was happening
to you, but I knew it wasn’t good.  I felt your fear and I knew your terror…
yet I was helpless to do anything about it.”

“Torrid,
please stop beating yourself up over this.”

“There
wasn’t a moment I didn’t think of you and…”  He grabbed my hand and pulled me
to him.

I
felt the emotion though his fingers, felt the love and the passion. 

“Torrid,”
I whispered as my lips brushed against his.  “I survived.  Thanks to you I
survived.  You taught me far more than you think you did.”  I kissed his lips,
softly, gently… barely a touch.  “I’m here… with you now.  Let go of that ugly
time at the Coliseum and concentrate on what we have.”

His
lids fell heavily over his eyes and he leaned into me. 

“I
want to cherish the memories of all those magic lessons you gave me, Torrid.  I
don’t want to dwell on the unpleasantness.  Torrid…” I gripped both his hands
in mine.  “Don’t you remember all the time we spent… in the field, in the
meadows… alone.”

He
tapped his brow to mine and nodded.  “It didn’t take long for me to realize I
wanted more than to teach you magic.”

With
a wicked grin, I looked up to meet his gaze.  “Magic was the furthest thing
from my mind when I’d leave home to go out and meet you.”  I brushed my fingers
along his cheek.  “I just wanted to spend time with you… to look at you.”

“I
want you.  I need you, Kama.”

Soft
and filled with reluctance, his lips brushed along mine.  His kiss was so
weighted with reverence, I almost had the sense he was afraid to break me. 
Brewing underneath that reverence, however, I felt the passion and his need to
get closer.

“I
want you, too, Torrid.”  I pressed my palm to his strong and massive chest and
pushed away.  “I want to spend all the time in the world with you, and I long
to get closer to you, but…”

The
door rattled and I knew our intimate moment was over, and while I did want to
get closer to him, I knew this wasn’t the time or place.

I
turned to the opening door.  Should we get ready for another attack from Dr.
Sanz?  Or had an army of Magical Ones escaped Liam and returned to finish us
off?  I wanted to be ready for any eventuality, but the person behind the door
was the last person I’d expected.

Liam
poked his head in.  Strong and authoritative, I almost didn’t notice the hint
of pain he so stoically hid.  I pulled away from Torrid and literally felt my
heart tear in two.

I
knew Torrid would have wanted me to stay close to him, to show my allegiance,
but I couldn’t bring myself to stay so close, not with Liam eyeing me the way
he did.

I
silently hoped and prayed Torrid would understand.  I loved him and wanted him,
but I didn’t want to put all that in Liam’s face.

“Most
of the…”  Liam choked, coughed and looked at me for a long, unsure moment. 
“Most of the Rogue Magical Ones have been set in comfortable, though slightly
cramped quarters.”  He glanced at Torrid, but hid whatever animosity he felt. 
“This building is big, deceptively big, but I’ve decided to keep all our new
prisoners in the cafeteria which doesn’t leave us with much room for each
prisoner, but it only has one entrance and one exit so it’ll be easier to
guard.”

“Good
thinking.”

“Well,
chances are we’re going to need a lot of djinns to help us with whatever fight
come up.  I didn’t want to waste too many men on guarding.”

“Again,
good thinking.”

“You
seem surprised.” Liam smirked, then looked at me.  “I have something to show
you.”

I
glanced back at Torrid.

“Sure
thing,” he said.

We
followed Liam through the corridor and passed in front of the busy cafeteria. 
The recently freed djinns seemed to be doing a good job of tending to their new
prisoners.  While the occasional shout could be heard, all in all, calm reigned
over the new prison ward.

“This
way,” Liam said.  He took the stairs that led down to the underground levels.

“Where
are you taking us, Liam?”

“I
need you to understand what we’re up against.  I want you to see what this
building hides.”

Not
another Coliseum, I thought.  Did this beautiful, pristine building hide
terrors like the Coliseum?  Were torture chambers kept in the darkness of the
underbelly?

Liam
clicked on a flashlight as we reached the total darkness of the halls
downstairs.  “Over there,” he said as he flashed the light to the left.  “That
tunnel leads to the Coliseum.  This is how they were able to bring djinns from
here to there without ever being seen by the good people of Arcadia.”

“Dr.
Sanz really thought of everything, didn’t he?” Torrid muttered.

“Apparently
he didn’t leave too much to chance.  He took great care in assuring the
Coliseum and its occupation remained secret.”  Liam reached for the handle of
the heavy looking door and slowly turned it.  With seemingly unnecessary
gentleness, he pulled the door open.

Though
the Coliseum was several miles across town, the odor that rose out of the
tunnel sent me back a few steps.

“You
okay?” Torrid said as he took a hold of my elbow.

“Yeah,”
I said, taken aback by the effect the odor had on me.  “We’re so far away from
the Coliseum, yet...”  I was struck by how clear the memory was.  The smell of
the sand in the arena; the scent of the prisoners who awaited their death. 
“All this way and we can still smell the death and torture.”

Torrid
hurried forward and pulled the door away from Liam and was about to slam it
shut, but Liam grabbed the door and eased it shut. 

“Anything
else you want to show us?” Torrid spat.

Offering
Torrid little more than a passing glance, Liam turned his flashlight to the
tunnel on our right.  “That tunnel leads to the Capitol.  It’s most likely the
tunnel Dr. Sanz took as he left here.  This is how he was able to so
efficiently communicate with my… the Governor.”

I
heard the pain in his voice and couldn’t imagine what he was going through. 
He’d always held such admiration for his father.  For as long as I could
remember, Liam had looked up to his father, had wanted to be just like him… 
Now, here he was, working so hard to make right what his father had made so wrong.

“I
wonder if my father ever traveled these tunnels himself,” Liam said.  His voice
was soft and low, talking to himself more than to Torrid and me.  He opened the
door and peered inside.  The tunnel was long and narrow, and just barely lit. 
Several rats ran across the tunnel where a crack had broken through and allowed
them in.

“I
think the war has damaged it a bit, but it’s still usable.”

“Is
all of Arcadia connected by these tunnels?”  I peered into the tunnel, trying
to see the glimmer of a light at the other end, but it seemed to go on for
miles.

“Every
district in Arcadia, plus the Coliseum, the Ward, the Capitol and…”  Liam
looked pointedly at us.  “And the Governor’s Manor.”

“I
think it’s safe to say you father has traveled these tunnels,” Torrid said. 
“I’d say he traveled them on a daily basis.”

Liam
remained silent and I felt the weight of betrayal I knew he lived with since
discovering what his father really was.

I
looked at him and tried to imagine what he was going through.  The task was
made all the more impossible as I realized that, as he’d learned of the bad
turn his father had taken, I’d learned of the great and admirable man my own
father was.

“A
funny little twist of fate, isn’t it?” Liam said.  He gave my shoulder a
brotherly pat and I saw in his eyes that his thoughts were in line with mine. 
“I was the golden child… the son of the most powerful and respected man in
Arcadia.  My future was bright and…”  He blinked back the emotions that had
resurfaced.  “Now here I am ashamed to even say my father’s name, while you’ve
come to be prouder than ever of who your father is.”

“Your
future is still bright, Liam, it’s just not as your father’s son. You are your
own person now. Always have been, but now you don’t have to live underneath
your father’s shadow. You’ve already grown so far from the boy I always knew. 
You're already more of a man than anyone would have ever thought.”

His
gaze jumped from me to Torrid who stood just behind me.  A small grin broke
over his lips and I knew he finally saw the man he was; the man I saw in him.

“A
lot of the war is waged above ground.”  Liam set aside his emotions and resumed
the strong and authoritative tone.  “We’ve already seen the destruction it’s
caused Arcadia.  However, it’s in these tunnels that so much of the war is
being secretly waged.  They’ve been instrumental to the Rogue Magical Ones,
allowing them easy and secret access to various areas of Arcadia.”

“So
this is how Dr. Sanz slipped away from us.  How soon before he comes back with
an army?”

“Probably
a lot sooner than we think.”  Liam looked at the many other doors that
surrounded us.  “Thing is… I don’t just want to sit here and wait for an
attack.  I’m tired of just defending Arcadia.”

“We’re
going on the offensive,” Torrid said, finishing Liam’s line of thought.

“Exactly,”
Liam said, agreeing with Torrid.

Chapter 12

L
iam had lit a fire in my gut and I knew I
wanted to be right there beside him as we went out and took the offensive. 
“Where do we start?”

“I
need someone to stand guard down here.  These tunnels give us one advantage I’m
sure my father didn’t think of, or Dr. Sanz for that matter.”  He took a few
steps and stood in the very center of the circular room, his hands clasped
confidently behind his back.  “The shortest tunnel is the one that leads to the
Governor’s Manor, and that is almost two miles away.  That gives us a lead of
at least fifteen minutes.”

“What
do you mean, a lead?” I looked at the closed doors he so intently looked at and
tried to see what he saw.

“Sound
travels.  Footsteps, voices, even the sound of doors opening and closing.” He
glared at Torrid and quickly soothed the anger from his eyes.  “The moment
anyone enters any of the tunnels, you’ll hear it.”

“Me?”
Torrid said, his eyes instantly narrowing with doubt.

“I’m
the one who best knows how to get around this building, so it’ll be easier if I
go back up to get all the freed djinns together and back down here.”  Liam
looked at me then back to Torrid.  “I think we both agree it’s not a good idea
to leave Kama down here alone.”

“Hey,
hold on,” I whined.  “Why not?  I’m capable.  I have good ears.  I could
probably hear someone coming down those tunnels long before they even get here.”