Chapter 21: Chapter 21 – Too Many Questions

 

"The Magistrate has booked a room in the casino." A servant came to tell them. Ivadra nodded.

"We expected as much. Ensure no one approaches him. If he clears someone, that's his choice. If he does not, then they are not cleared." The servant bowed and left the room.

"You're wondering what's happening." It wasn't a question, but Alara could tell from the look on Ava's face that she was upset.

"Yes. And who is she?" Ava asked, but touched her temple. "I hear her here. It's soothing."

"That is Master." Alara said, then chirped.

'Behave, little one.' Aila said inside Alara's mind as she became a little playful.  Aila appeared at the doorway, as she had intended to only observe for now, but Ava felt too fragile to be left alone yet.

"Ava, I'm the one your father sent you to. To heal you of the pain." Ava looked at her quickly.

"It is your voice!" She said excitedly, then tilted her head. "I'm used to seeing people's eyes, and how shifty they are. Your eyes don't shift, or try to look away when you talk."

"Because I don't need to. I have nothing to hide. Do you wish to know why you're always in pain, and can't walk?" Aila asked. She turned to Alara.

'Get a bucket. She has so much poison in her body, it needs to go down or come back out the way it went in.'

"You already know the reason?" Ava asked in surprise.

"Everyone, including the doctors who looked at you, know the reason, Ava." She said gently. Ava's mouth fell open, closed, then her eyes opened a bit wider.

"That means...dad! Someone will hurt my dad and granddad!" She looked quite upset, but Aila smiled.

"The Magistrate already sent a guard. A private letter will be put in his hands only. Your father is the strongest in the capital. As long as he reads that letter, his skills will take care of the rest." Ava started to wilt, both mentally, and physically.

"Everyone?"

"You have the imprint of your father's desire on you. He wants you to be well. I can not speak for anyone else." Aila said quietly, as she had already read through Ava's memories, albeit quite gently. She had learned about this ability when she first gave Ellie and Elena their cores. She didn't know that they could sense it too.

With each new person she gave a core to, and helped to assimilate it, her ability became stronger, or her control over it developed. Seeing the immediate past of a person right now was easy, as long as they let her into their minds. She could force her way in, but that was destructive, and she didn't want to hurt the child who was already in so much pain.

"You already know who to trust, and who not to. Their eyes, their actions, what they say, and their desires, all lead you along. Some only stay with you long enough to let you think along their lines, then can't wait to get away from you." Ava sniffed. That was indeed her life. The ones she should be closest to really didn't like her.

"It's lonely." Ava said softly.

"Once, in a place far from here, a girl lay on a bed and every day, someone helped to move her so she wouldn't get sore. Someone washed her, helped her relieve herself, wiped her. Someone spent time with her. She didn't get any better, but got sicker and sicker. She watched the window, wished she could go outside, and play, but she couldn't walk anymore. Breathing was the best she could manage." Ava listened, and the more she heard, the more her heart ached inside her chest. "Doctors walked around, greed in their eyes, knowing the money her parents would have to spend to keep their daughter alive. Merchants who sold medicine were really happy. The hospital owner couldn't wait to suck every last coin from her parent's fingers. But they never complained, as long as their daughter was alive, she had a chance to get better." Ava started to cry.

"I hate them. Dad tries everything, but the greed in their eyes...I hate them!" Ava yelled.

"I know, little water baby. I hated them too."

 

* * *

 

"That is a lot of poison." Ivadra said as the bucket filled, and a new one had to be put in its place.

"Don't hold it back, little one." The Seer said sadly. "Get rid of it all. Once it's all gone, you'll feel really weak, but you will start to get better. Master will heal you, and you will get stronger, day by day."

"As long as she purges it all, she'll start to heal." Aila said softly. "In a day's time, I'll come back and heal more of her body. Lean meat, vegetables, bread, and cheese. Not much oil, some salt, herbs for flavor, but no pills. Have Ivadra scan all her food for poison."

"I don't know how spies were able to get everywhere without anyone noticing. If we find poison, Underground Black will be turned upside down until we find them all." Alara pursed her lips. "I don't like waiting! You! Come here!" Aila smiled.

'If you find any among your people, let me know. My girls should feel safe in their own home.' Alara shivered as she felt Aila's mental voice grow hard. 'If they don't, then it has no reason to exist.'

 

* * *

 

While Ava lay quietly on a bed deep within Underground Black, and all access to her has been restricted, Ava's maids and guards were questioned by the Seer and the Black One. Out of the maids, half were compromised. Almost all the guards were as well. The few that weren't were new hires, and hadn't been corrupted yet.

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"I think its time we used that, don't you?" Alara asked her sister. Ivadra smiled.  The new collar their Master showed her how to make.

"Yes, sister. I do believe you are correct." Ivadra looked at the black guards, and they each restrained a guard sent to protect Ava. Ivadra picked up an iron band, and put it on the neck of the first guard.

"This is a new slave collar. Black Iron." The guard paled. "From now on, you are one of Underground Black's slaves. Your only duty is to obey the words of our Master, the Seer, and myself, the Black One. Our word is that you will protect Princess Ava. If you attempt to accept coins, or benefits of any kind, in order to betray Princess Ava, this collar will punish you. If you don't confess your crimes to your Masters, the collar will punish you. The degree of punishment will continue to increase in severity until your brain becomes mush." The guards released the arms of the guards that had the collars on, and snorted.

"Damned spies made it necessary for our masters to question our loyalty. You deserve what is coming. The Black One's Master is not someone you lowly dogs should anger. If you do, she'll find every single one of you, and you'll ignite from the inside out." Ivadra smiled at the Black Guard's words.

"Not just that. She can force her way into their minds, and torment them for an eternity, all without touching their bodies." Ivadra smiled wider. "I can't wait to see what she has planned for that Prime Minister, and evil Queen!"

 

* * *

 

"What are those cries?" Ava asked quietly. Alara smiled softly.

"Those are your guards and maids who have betrayed you, and your father." Alara said gently. "They have a new slave collar on their necks. If they attempt to betray you, or disobey, the pain will continue to increase. Those are the ones who refuse to confess their crimes, though they are stained heavily by dark elements."

"I see. Spies."

"Yes, and worse. Ones who actively seek to harm you, or your father. Or even the kingdom itself in order to advance the plot of those who started it." She held up a collar. "From now on, allow no one near you who hasn't been fitted with one of these. Master greatly desires to protect you, so we shall do the same." Ava sniffed.

"She talks to me from time to time. Where is she?" Ava asked.

"In the old forest, at the merchant's manor." Ava's eyes went wide.

"Where the spirit beasts run rampant?"

"Yes, but don't worry. A few spirit beasts are nothing to her. She turns them into fur rugs and blankets. She turns them into meat, and beast cores for her friends. Our Master is really strong. She even beat three stone bears to teach the Magistrate a lesson. Took her fist and beat them up so they would know who was stronger." Ava's eyes widened a little, but she started to smile.

"She sounds so gentle though."

"To us, she is gentle. To her friends, and the ones she's fond of, she's really gentle. With her enemies, she is not gentle. She can be considered to be a true monster." Alara sighed. "I really want to go live with her." Ava smiled.

"I think I understand why. Do you....squirm?" Ava asked, as each time Aila entered her mind, she felt a surge of pleasurable sensations. Alara smiled.

"Of course. Every single time. Master is so good to us." Alara said with a sigh.

 

* * *

 

"I have a good life now." Aila whispered. She sat on the highest point of the roof of the manor, and actively pulled in the abundant elemental essence. This was her quiet time, to consider things like she used to in the hospital, but now it had meaning. She could actively seek solitude, while before, she was stuck in that bed, unable to move.

She can beat down stone bears, rip apart dark panthers, and smash boulders into dust. She can rip massive trees out of the ground, or suck up their life force. She did not know why she could do these things, but she could.

Also, not for the first time, she used her growing mental awareness to follow the elements into her body.

Deep within her consciousness, she had found what the locals call a spiritual sea. Within her, it is a place that looked like outer space, but it didn't have the stars, comets, stellar dust, or celestial bodies of space.

In the general middle of the area, she could see a large black spherical object that seemed insanely immense. Into this black void, all the elements were sucked. Slender threads shot out towards six spheres and each was in the color of the elements she absorbed. Light, flame, earth, dark, wind, and water. Outside these six were another six spheres, while the threads for death, life, and metal were the only ones that glowed.

'Ellie.' She saw the reflection of Ellie within the blue sphere of water. 'Elena.' Her face appeared within the earth sphere.

Each sphere flashed, and her servants appeared one after another. These nine spheres were not the cores of her girls, but a connection point so she could communicate with them whenever she wanted.

If those were representations of the elements, what was this big black one in the middle? It felt just as hungry and ravenous as she did.

Was there another element that no one was aware of? Far too many questions, and she didn't yet have those answers.

 

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