Passion (11 page)

“It’s
not your hearing I’m worried about.”

“You
think I can’t defend myself?”

“You
can defend yourself fine.”  Liam gripped my shoulders and looked me straight in
the eye.  “You’ve proven that already.  I just don’t want to leave you in a
position where you have to defend yourself again, not now, not alone.  You’ve
already been through enough.”

 “Liam,
I appreciate your desire to protect me, but don’t underestimate how resilient I
am.  What happened at the Coliseum only made me stronger.  I can face anything
now.”

“I
agree with him, Kama,” Torrid said.  “You’ve been through enough.  I’ll stay
and guard these tunnels.”  He looked at Liam.  “How will I let you know if
someone’s coming?”

“Under
the stairs we came down you’ll find an electric panel.  Don’t panic and shut
off all the power.  Whoever’s in the tunnel will see it and will know we’re
expecting them.  Shut off the power on the first floor only.  Blink it on and
off a few times, just enough to let us know you're expecting company, but not
long enough to keep us from safely getting back down here.”

Torrid
clucked his tongue in annoyance.  “First off, I’m not given to bouts of panic,
so don’t worry; I won’t shut off the power entirely.  Secondly, I don’t think
you need to specify I just flicker the lights on and off.  I know you need the
lights to get back down here.”

“Hey
man, no offense,” Liam said in a cool tone that left little room for argument. 
“I just wanted to make sure we’re clear.  There’s nothing like  ambiguity to
screw things up.”

“Okay,
guys,” I said after a few seconds of watching their tense stare down.  “Let’s
get on with this.”

Liam
nodded and grabbed my hand.  At the door to the stairs, he said, “Start up the
stairs, as silently as you can.  I’ll catch up with you in a few minutes.”

A
little confused I watched him return to the circular room where he carefully
opened one door after another.  He gestured to Torrid to keep quiet and quickly
came back to join me.

“I
thought I told you to go on ahead,” he whispered as he playfully urged me up
the stairs.

“Sorry,”
I whispered back. 

We
made it to the main floor and headed to the cafeteria.  The silence that
reigned was a welcomed change from the chaos that had dogged us since entering
the ward.

“They
should have everything under control by now and we’ll be able to recruit the
majority of them for this offensive.”

“How
many do you think we’ll need?  I mean, how big can Sanz’s army be?”

“It’s
hard to say.  I know he’s lost a lot.  The war in general has been rough, but
the attack here in the ward cost him dearly.  How many Catchers and Rogue Magical
Ones he has stashed away is hard to estimate.”

“So
basically you're saying we’re going to need all the djinns we can get.”

“Exactly.” 
He pushed the door to the cafeteria.

Hearing
the soft and whimsical music that emerged, I peered over his shoulder and
smiled. 

The
music seemed to waft in from the heavens while playful rays of multicolored
lights shined in every direction.  Many djinns floated about, keeping guard of
their prisoners.

“I
guess that’s what happens when you finally release a bunch of djinns who’ve
been cooped up for too long,” I said with a chuckle.

“General…
ah Captain… hmmm, sir.”  A tall young djinn came up to Liam.  He shifted
nervously from one foot to the other and clasped and unclasped his hands
repeatedly.

“Calm
down…”  He looked expectedly at the young man.

“Alex,
sir.”

“Alex,
I have no title as such.  You can call me Liam. Have you taken it upon yourself
to lead this band of djinns?”

“I’m
sorry, sir.  I didn’t mean to usurp…”

“I
think you’ve done a wonderful job.  Everything seems in order and everyone
appears happy.  I’m going to need a few good, strong and smart captains, men and
women who aren’t afraid to lead.”

“Whatever
you need, sir… hmmm, Liam.”

“Okay. 
Who here is as strong and competent as you are?”

Alex
looked around, consider the options, and finally pointed to a djinn; a small
stocky male.  “Hugley is a tough cookie.  He’s smart and all the other djinns
like and respect him.  I know he has a lot of fight in him.  He’s been here for
a long time and he has a strong sense of justice.”

“Justice
or revenge?”

Letting
out a little chuckle, Alex looked at Liam.  “I’ll admit he might have a little
taste of bitterness where Catchers are concerned, but I believe him to be
fair.”

Liam
smiled and gave Alex a reassuring pat on the back.  “I guess I can live with a
little bitterness.  It beats complacency.”

“There’s
also her.” Alex pointed to a dainty but agile female. 

Her
skin glowed bright pink and a halo of violet plumes seems to follow her
wherever she went.  She darted about from bottle to bottle and I was amused and
warmed by the treatment she gave every prisoner.  Despite the hatred so many
djinns reserved for the Catchers and Rogue Magical Ones, she smiled at every
prisoner, even winked.  Occasionally she offered a kind word of encouragement. 

“That’s
Denia.  She has the heart of a saint, the speed of a hornet and the ferocity of
a puma.”

“Ferocity?”
I said.  “She’s just short of being a fairy princess.  How ferocious can she
be?”

“Surprisingly
so.  Don’t get me wrong; she’s a true djinnatarian.”

“A
what?”

“What
you would call a humanitarian.”

“Oh,
okay.  So where does the ferocity come in?”

“When
she’s wronged.  She has a definite, clear cut and inflexible vision of what’s
right and what’s wrong.”

I
looked at her as she continued to visit one prisoner after another.  Coming to
the bottle of a young Magical One, she sat, cross legged, and spoke in a quiet
and soothing tone.

“These
prisoners all did wrong to all of you.  They betrayed djinns; they imprisoned
and enslaved their own.  How can she be so quick to forgive?  To look at her
you’d think she was soothing her own fallen colleagues, not the enemy.”

“For
all the hardships she and her fellow djinns have endured, she has a profound
understanding of those who went Rogue.  I have to admit I’m not sure I share
her forgiving nature, but she assures us most of these Rogue Magical Ones were
forced into this.”

Listening
to him I thought of the young Magical Ones I’d confronted in the ward.  He’d
seemed so sincere and it was easy to imagine many of these prisoners had had
their arm twisted into going Rogue.

“I
understand her,” I said.  I looked at Liam and shrugged.   “Maybe it’s a female
thing.  Anyway, I want her on our team.  I think she’d make a great captain.”

“I
agree.”

Alex
let out a strange and shrill whistling sound, catching Denia’s attention.  Her
eyes lit up and she instantly darted her way to us.

“What’s
up, Alex?”  She eyed him with open interest then turned a more reverent gaze to
Liam.  With a nervous twitch she nodded, curtsied then bowed.

“I
need a few good people to head several small…”  He hesitated and seemed
uncomfortable with his choice of words.  “Armies.”

 As
Liam spoke to Denia, Alex waved Hugley over.  The short djinn took his time
getting to us and eyed us with suspicion.

“We
can’t underestimate Dr. Sanz’s desire to win this war.  I think you all know
how ruthless he can be.”

“First
hand,” Hugley said.  “In the midst of a childish tantrum, he once banded me. 
It left me so weak; even he regretted pushing me so far.  He almost lost me. 
Not that I want to brag or anything, but I’m one of his most valuable djinns…
well, I was.” 

He
seemed to wear that badge of honor like a rusty and dull pin stuck directly in
his chest; there was the pride in his strength and his ability, but the pain of
having had to misuse that ability.

“What
does ‘banded’ mean?” I asked.

He
raised his wrist to show me his leather band.  “You ever saw one of these.”

“Yes,”
I said, my voice taking on a little defensive tone.  “Many times.  I’ve even
had one on my wrist.”

“Then
you know the effect it has on you.  You know the control… the draining
control.  Sanz had slapped a band on each wrist, one on each ankle and he’d
even put a large leather band around my neck.  I tried to be strong and make like
it was no big deal, but within fifteen minutes I was dizzy and five minutes
later I could hardly stand.  Another ten minutes later and I was unconscious. 
Later I was told I was rushed out of the ward and brought to the infirmary. 
Sanz went white with fear of losing me and my powers.”

“I
take it you know how Sanz works; how he thinks,” Liam said.

“I’ve
often taken on tasks before he’d even asked.”

“Good. 
You’ll be of great help.  Can I count on you?”  Liam gazed from Alex to Denia
to Hugley.  “All of you?”

“How
big an army you hoping to build?” Hugley said.

“We’ll
keep a minimal amount of djinns here to keep watch.  All the others, we’ll take
along with us.  I want us to separate into four major groups.  If need be,
those four groups will be subdivided into smaller bands.  Sanz is probably
gathering his Catchers as we speak.  My priority right now is not to fight Sanz
head on, but to ensure he and his Catchers don’t take any more djinns.  I want
to keep my army strong, make it stronger, while slowly but surely reducing
his.”

“I’ll
gather up the strongest and most powerful.”

“I
know all the other small but swift djinns like me,” Denia said.  “What we lack
in strength and bulk we definitely make up for with fast thinking and even
faster action.”

Alex
stepped closer to Liam.  “We’ll need more good leaders.  While imprisoned, we
were often asked to police one another.  Dr. Sanz had appointed a dozen djinns
or so to watch over those who worked to keep Arcadia the pristine pearl that it
was.”

“Get
them all,” Liam said.  “Whatever talent, whatever capacities, whatever size;
they’ll all be of help.”

The
lights blinked… once.

While
everyone looked up to the ceiling to see the cause, Liam and I looked at each
other, understanding what was coming.

“We’ve
got to get moving if we want to have a successful surprise attack.”

Liam looked at
his new captains.  “Gather your men… and women, and follow me.”

Our
three new captains made quick work of getting their teams together and
explaining what was to come.  Within minutes we were all heading down the hall,
and down the stairs; three hundred strong.

Before
entering the circular room, Liam held his hand out and stopped his newly formed
army.  “Wait here.  I’m going to go find out what we should expect.”

Anxious
to know what Torrid had heard, I followed him into the room.  Torrid had closed
all the doors and stood listening at the door to the Capitol.  As we entered,
he came to us.  His gaze was soft and loving as he saw me, but he quickly took
on a military stance as he faced Liam.

“What
d’you hear?” Liam said as he reached Torrid.  “And from where?”

“A
strange array of sound from there… the tunnel that leads to the Diamond
District.  Nothing distinctive and nothing threatening, just a lot of movement,
a lot of confusion and some arguing.  What I flashed you guys for, however, are
the voices I heard coming from that tunnel.”  Torrid pointed to the tunnel that
led to the Capitol.

“Let
me guess; Dr. Sanz.”

Torrid
nodded.  “And a voice I believe belongs to the governor.”

Liam
winced.  It was almost imperceptible, but I knew him so well.  I knew what hurt
him, what affected him and what angered him.  His jaw hardened for just a flash
of a moment and his eyes narrowed.  If Torrid had meant to upset Liam with the
news of the governor’s implication, he was surely disappointed.

“I
can’t say I’m surprised,” Liam finally said.  “Were you able to make out what
they said?”

“Several
Catchers have already been deployed.  From what I could make out, they don’t
have too many; maybe a few dozen.  Most of them have been sent to the Amethyst,
Sapphire and Opal Districts.  Sanz sounded pretty convinced he’d catch some
djinns… easily.”

“Figures.” 
Liam opened the door to the tunnel that led to the three less opulent
districts.  He looked at me.  “Tell Alex to get three small bands ready to go
into each district… twenty to thirty men each.  This isn’t the place for Denia
and her team.  I want bulk.  I want brute strength.”

I
hurried to do as he’d asked, while silently calculating how large of an army
we’d have left.  We’d be sending sixty to ninety men into the districts,
leaving little more than two hundred to scour other districts as well as the Governor’s
Manor and the Coliseum.

“Liam
wants three bands of twenty to thirty big guys,” I told Alex.

“Coming
right up,” Alex said with a casual wink.

True
to his word, three small bands of twenty four men filed by me and into the
circular room.  All strong, all large, all imposing, they were an imposing
bunch.  I hurried in behind them.

“This
tunnel leads to three districts,” Liam was quick to tell them as he pointed to
the closed door.  “The first will veer off to the right; the Opal District. 
After that you’ll come to the Sapphire District to your left and at the end
you’ll come to the Amethyst District.  I want you all to head there as silently
as you can.  Once there split up into three groups and go on the hunt for Catchers
and Rogue Magical Ones.

“What
do we do if we find any?”

“I
don’t want an all-out battle; not if we can help it.  I want this mission to be
on the sly… quiet.  If Dr. Sanz gets word that we’re on the offensive; he’ll
fight back, and hard.”