The Gift of Volkeye (29 page)

Asha and Zynathian walked to the stove, sighing with exhilaration, as they peeked into the pot of gumbo. There were chunks of sausage and vegetables of all sorts floating within and another addition, which took Zynathian a moment to recognize as crab legs. He smirked at Sing’s improvisational skill applied to the limited contents of his refrigerator. He and Asha fixed their bowls and sat down to eat with the others.

Zynathian practically inhaled his food and after about five minutes he ran off to his computer room downstairs. As Asha and Sing washed dishes together, Zynathian burst into the room in an ecstatic mood.

“They’re a little over ten thousand miles east of Mheep!” he said. “Follow me!”

He ran back down the winding staircase, and the others followed, not having a clue what he was talking about. Even Maugrimm, who was napping in his freezer, got up to look into all the fuss. Jix and Toodles followed.

When they reached the master control room for the castle, there was a huge black screen before them with a map shown on it, outlined in green. The graphics displayed the specific location of Zynathian’s interest. Within the boundaries of this map, all areas of any significance were shown as yellow dots with white digital letters alongside, labeling them. They read:
Rhylix
,
Mheep
,
Dohrm
, and
the Pass of Mineree
, the latter of which was a road split in several directions, connecting these three individual towns which lie far south of Castle Xyecah. To the right of all this was a space of about a foot, representing ten thousand, thirty miles east of Mheep, the southern most town in the Trio. In the midst of this area was a rapid, flashing red light. It was here that Zynathian pointed.

“What, Zynnie? That’s not the people of that town you mentioned, is it?” Sing queried.

“Indeed it is.”

“And you found them
how
?”

“Each person that I helped settle in Rhameeryla let me inject them with a fail safe tracker. It’s tinier than a strand of thread, so not painful in the slightest, except in the beginning when I use the needle.”

Bahzee shivered. “I hate needles.”

Zynathian gave a sinister grin. “You have one, too.”

“I do? Oh, you must have done it when you operated! “Papa Zynnie, you devil! I can’t believe you stuck a needle in me without asking my permission! It’s bad enough you tricked me into that operation in the first place, putting sleeping agents in my food!” She put him in a loose, harmless full nelson.

Zynathian knew he was lucky. Had it been anyone else, Bahzee would’ve murdered them. None of them knew why, but Bahzee had an extreme aversion to drugs. She was terrified. Growing up, Asha could never get her to take anything for an illness, because Bahzee flew out the door fast as possible at the sight of a spoon and cough syrup. She preferred to heal naturally with tea drinking and bed rest. Since they met, Zynathian and Asha often had discussions about whether or not she was allergic. If that was the case, Zynathian was very glad he’d put Bahzee to sleep with a natural substance he’d extracted from fruit.

Zynathian reached back and tickled Bahzee’s stomach. She jumped.

“That’s right!” Zynathian reminisced, smirking at Khye, Lyn, and Tesh, who had worked as his accomplices that fateful day. It was they who fed Bahzee, ensuring that she ate every morsel of her narcotized dinner! “My goodness, you were a right pain in the ass, young lady! We spent forever teaching you how to walk afterward…your coordination was god awful!”

They all laughed.

“Sorry about the needle, Baz, but those are the rules if you’re going to live in my town. I had to wait to request this of your mother, as it wasn’t exactly how I wanted to introduce myself!”

“I don’t blame you, dear. It was already odd enough that I had been living in a home several months, for which no one had ever showed up, asking me to pay any rent. And then you—a complete stranger at the time—enter my house…my daughter follows you in, and she’s
walking
of all things! After all that, to stroll up to me and ask to put a needle inside me would have just been a bit too much…talk about
disconcerting!
” Asha said.

“So do you all have one of these
trackers?” Sing asked.

“Everyone except you and I, Sing. That will soon change. From now on, when anyone of us is away, someone in the family will know where we are.”

“That’s fine. I’m okay with shots,” Sing said.

“Good…you’re ready then?”

4

When they reached the third floor, they heard gunfire from below. “They’re practicing again,” Sing said.

“Yes, I should be joining them. The problem is that, although I can do a great job constructing them…I don’t like guns very much. In that sense, I’m rather similar to Bahzee. I’m old school…I’d much rather tear Phyllamon apart with my bare hands…just like I did his father.”

“I’ve heard that story quite a few times over the years,” Sing said as she followed Zynathian into his lab.

He grabbed the things he needed and brought them over to a high metal table near Sing. He then washed his hands and put on some rubber gloves. Zynathian grunted, as he inserted the needle into his side, injecting himself with the tracker. He then changed gloves and obtained a new needle and was now giving Sing her shot.

“Ouch,” she said. Zynathian then wiped away the blood from her stomach with a sterilized cotton swab.

“There, finished,” he said, tossing the needle end into the trash bin. Then his eyebrows wrinkled with curiosity.

“Asha and I…did they notice?” he asked with a worrisome grin.

“Are you kidding? Everyone knows! Tesh and Baz, too, but they’re too busy trying to keep their hands off each other to care.” Sing paused, looking at him, sharing the same worry. “Which reminds me, we definitely need to keep an eye on those two!”

Zynathian agreed.

They left the lab and went down to the kitchen. Once there, Zynathian wrote a note instructing all from Rhameeryla to head south and make their way to the Igloo. Ending the letter with a warning for them to bring as much warm clothing as possible, Zynathian then sealed it with wax and rolled it up, attaching it to Jix’s collar.

“Wait till morning,” he said, stroking Jix’s fur.

Not in a talking mood, Jix just wagged his tail and nodded, flying off to hang out with Toodles. He accidentally swatted Bahzee in the face as he soared above her head.

They all laughed. While Bahzee massaged her face, an idea came to her. This was the first time that the family was all under one roof with the addition of Sing, so she suggested that they use Teshunua’s camera to take family photos.

They took many wonderful pictures and printed the lot out from Zynathian’s computer in the master control room. Once finished, Bahzee and Teshunua turned in early, needing their rest as they planned to rendezvous in the middle of the night. They had nothing special in mind, as neither of them knew a thing about dating or sex, but (despite their age) they wanted to converse on these very topics.

Under normal circumstances, a late night meeting between two teenagers would’ve at least raised a few eyebrows, but this instance would soon prove to be a good thing. If not for Bahzee and Teshunua being awake at such a time, the result of the approaching incident could’ve been…

5

“Devastating!”
Phyllamon proclaimed as he looked upon the magnificent spectacle before him.

Through the lens of Felix’s binoculars was a gravity-defying castle, its surface sparkling in the moonlight. Phyllamon took note of the vents on the bottom of the complex, producing a heavy blanket of fog that circulated around the castle.

Brilliant!
he thought.
That’s why no one can see it from below.

They had taken care to begin the ascent a few miles away from the peak of Mune Ju Mountain, because Phyllamon didn’t want their vessels to run smack into the bottom of the castle. After all, Murlach’s information on its existence and whereabouts was questionable. He just burst through the castle doors, excitedly relaying the news of his discovery. When Phyllamon inquired about the origin of these supposed facts, Murlach only said that they had come from a
reliable source
.

“Move slowly,” Phyllamon ordered, speaking into a monitor on his ship.

The other ships hovering towards the castle, slowed down, as they knew Phyllamon didn’t want the engines from their aircrafts to wake anyone within the castle.

Once close enough, at Phyllamon’s signal the ships would blow holes through the castle walls. Then the troops upon each vessel would enter through the stone cavities, killing at will.

Murlach paced back and forth, eager to peruse the innards of the sky-mansion, in search of anything that would give him insight into Zynathian’s mind. He exhaled a deep gust of warm breath that made the window beside him fog up. He wiped it with his sleeve and slightly shivered at the frigid weather.

“Murlach.”

“Master?”

“Like you, Zynathian must have a lab where he does the majority of his work…and a room, or a vault, where he keeps his records and such. Find either and take all that you can carry.”

“That was my plan anyway…but you’re understood, Sire,” Murlach said, still transfixed by the sight before him. “And you?”

Phyllamon knew it wouldn’t be right for him to have come all this way and not attempt to avenge his father, so his goal remained the same as always.

“Zynathian and I have unfinished business!”

6

“Tesh, how often did you think about me when you were away?”

Teshunua thought Bahzee’s question over carefully. Although he was incredibly mature by most standards, by this being his first relationship he still had a smidgen of ‘boyishness’ in him. As a result, he just
had
to tease her.

“I thought about you a little bit, but I had a lot more on my mind…”

Tesh noticed Bahzee’s eyes widen.

“…Her name was
Shauna
,” he lied and lowered his head, trying his best not to laugh.

Bahzee couldn’t refrain her catastrophic imagination from asking the
“What if he’s telling the truth?”
question. Of course her temper flared, and she overreacted.

“
WHAT!
Who the hell is this bitch?” she demanded, grabbing him by the midsection of his pajamas and shoving him in the air with one arm.

Teshunua continued his jest. “I’m sorry, Baz, I just couldn’t resist her!”

She shook him violently, and his slippers fell to the floor. “DID. YOU. DO.
ANYTHING.
WITH. HER!?”

“Alas, my virginity is gone!”

Tesh was immediately sorry. He could tell that the last bit wounded her deeply, and for a moment, he thought that he saw her lip quiver. However, the tears never fell, for her anger took precedence.

“That’s it!” she said, marching him to the window. She pressed the green button and the shield slid upwards. As the cold wind chilled his bones, Teshunua began pleading for his life.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry, soooorry! I didn’t mean it!”

“Sorry for
what?
Didn’t mean
what?
Are you admitting to infidelity?”

“Wait, Baz, I was only kidding, I swear!”

Bahzee held him steady, thinking that she could see the truth in his eyes, but she wanted to be sure. At this, Bahzee grabbed Teshunua by his neck and shoved him entirely outside of the window. As his body dangled, the frigid air smacked him in the face with such force his eyes began to water. Though his vision was blurry at the moment, he could still make out the purple and midnight blue clouds surrounding him, intertwined with the fog of the castle, warning him that although they looked soft as a pillow they wouldn’t be able to save him if he fell into the monstrous abyss.

“Boy, you are really starting to piss me off! You better give me the absolute truth right now, or your ass is going for a ride, mister!”

“Nothing happened, I swear! Let me down, Bahzee, please!”

She pulled him back inside and let him fall to the floor. As soon as Teshunua touched down, he made a mental note to never go into that territory with Bahzee again. He now knew that she had limits, and he had crossed the line.

“So this
Shauna
doesn’t exist?”

“Of course not! I had an immature ‘boy’ moment…forgive me. It won’t happen again, I swear!”

Hmm
… Bahzee put her hands on her hips, debating on whether she’d forgive him any time soon. However, her consideration was abruptly interrupted by a cacophony of screeching coming from the balcony outdoors. Jalum was squawking at the top of his lungs. They’d never heard him so agitated before.

“This isn’t over,” Bahzee warned as they set off to look into the matter.

They carefully raced through a maze of artillery, knowing that making the wrong move could be fatal. The entire first floor was littered with weapons and armour of all sorts, because the Mechs had been producing nonstop ever since Zynathian had put them to work. The most impressive of the assortment were Maugrimm’s shoulder blasters and body armour—a great, intimidating heap of strange looking metal that reflected light in many arrays. It rested on the floor, right outside his freezer door.