004: Jerrika

In ever increasing waves of pain Jerrika tried to stand, repeating in her mind the deep seated belief she had always told herself. I am Jerrika. I will never give up! I am from the Kingdom of Aquaria! I will fight to the death! I am Jerrika!

The pain seemed to furrow in at every crack and crevice as if it seeped and clung to her very soul. If she closed her eyes, the pain stabbed at her closed lids, if she opened them, the agony of color enveloped her. It bombarded her senses and kept her bound.

            I am Jerrika! I will never give up! I am from the Kingdom of Taan! I will fight to the death! I am Jerrika!

The pain ceased abruptly and Jerrika sank to the floor, holding her head in her hands. It would come again. She had no choice but to endure it. It had been like this since the first moment of awareness inside Auditorium. Voices screamed at her: You have failed! You are nothing! A failure to your people! You are nothing! You have failed!

They would try to break her. They would try.

             I am Jerrika!

But this time, the light dimmed and the stone wall in front of her gave way to clarity. A wooden door near the light opened and a beautiful woman walked in. Jerrika wondered if this were a trick of her tortured mind. The woman wore long dark gray robes over a white tunic. Her mouth was thin, her fingers laced together in front of her, covering her slender waist.

The woman's eyes were intent. There was no hurry to her, as there had been when the Minions brought her into this prison room to await assimilation. When she tried to focus her eyes blurred with effort. She hadn't slept, nor eaten since her capture; fear gnawed at her. The anticipation of the unknown assimilation was killing her.

"I am Adara. I am the Witch of Castle Quildor. You are being held here by his command and his alone. Tell me your name."

Jerrika couldn't answer. There was no protocol for when a searcher was captured. Her trainers and Galantyne himself had offered very little by way of what to expect. It was simple. No one had ever escaped.

Adara came closer to Jerrika who was chained to the rock wall at her back, her arms spread, her legs disabled by a long piece of wood anchored to the cell walls. The witch used two fingers to turn Jerrika's face to look at her, and Jerrika projected the burning hatred she felt.

Adara, the witch had once been a revered Lady of the High Council of Aquaria-- a generations old advisory council whose origins were on their former planet of earth, and whose efficacy included wielding the power to invoke and revoke the kai bond that allowed the settlers to breathe inside the mountain. The council was seven strong, and was respected for the development of mystical powers that had saved the settlers lives. They had brought the forbidden earth magic with them and been able to use it for good.

"I see that you know of me already."

Jerrika leveled her gaze, and nodded, blinking in undisguised anger.

Adara turned away, swinging her long dark hair over her shoulder. "I am curious."

Jerrika closed her eyes, trying to block out the sight of the one she knew had come to assimilate her, take away her will and make her a slave to her enemy.

"What do they say of me, Princess? What do they make of the Council Woman who betrayed them?"

"You are dead to them." It was the first time Jerrika had spoken and her throat felt scratchy at the lack of use and the lack of water.

Adara's laugh came too quickly. "Dead? Yes. Sebille is dead. The woman I used to be-- chained to ages old laws and restrictions. You see, they keep their place and their honor by holding just enough planetary magic to be useful. But they never had the insight I have." She shook her hair and then flung her arm out and turned to stare into Jerrika's eyes. "I see my powers influencing, no, controlling a King, girl, a King, do you hear me? Quildor needs me! He gives me honor and prestige."

"I doubt you actually control him, and he is not a King."

"You doubt me? You doubt my abilities?"

"What do you have, Sebille? Each of the Council Ladies had just one token-- and a little knowledge-- perhaps even a little ability handed down to them. Together they could use their magic for good, separated they have lost it all."

"I have lost nothing! I am stronger than ever before! I have more power, more fortune, more freedom!"

Jerrika nodded solemnly, blinking once more. "You-- have freedom? I think you are as much a prisoner as I am. You do what he tells you to. You live to please a power hungry mad man. You have no will of your own."

Adara Sebille's eyes flashed angrily. She crossed the small chamber in three strides. "You think you know me, Princess! You know nothing! I killed your mother! There! Now you know! I killed her! I took her will, I tortured her, and bound her-- the strongest of the Ladies! She was the leader-- she had it all! She married the King of Aquaria, and gave him a son! But I am responsible for her demise! I took her from him-- from Taan, from Quildor! From you!"

Jerrika realized the witch truly thought she was Ondrea Taan's daughter. She didn't know about Kara yet. And she wouldn't! Jerrika vowed silently. I will never tell her, and Kara will come for her someday and kill her to avenge me!

Adara cocked her head again at a strange angle, and Jerrika had the impression that she was mulling something over in her mind. Finally, she leaned against the wall and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Quildor wants you because he thinks you have extraordinary power. He remembers the prophecy that a child of Taan would find the Talisman that would cleanse the air. Whoever controls the Talisman will control the planet, girl. He may control the planet, but I will control him."

"And you believe Taan would send his only daughter into the mountain and risk her being assimilated? You believe that Galantyne would allow his sister to put herself in such danger? Why do you not believe that Galantyne is the child of prophecy?" She hoped she could cause the witch to doubt. Even if her own life were over, and she was assimilated today, if she could keep Kara safe, it would be worth it.

"You are ignorant, child. You know not what you speak. The Council of Ladies dreamed up the prophecy. We are the ones who planted the thoughts in the minds of the people, and especially Galantyne. He does not understand."

Jerrika's eyes shot upward. "He seeks the Talisman!"

Adara Sebille shrugged. "What Talisman? Does he know what it is? Where did it come from? Does he think it is from the planet? What does he teach you, girl?"

Jerrika trembled at the thought that Galantyne's mission was somehow a trap, but to what end? Surely there was a Talisman! She herself had seen the magical instruments wielded by the Council of Ladies when she'd received her kai. A scepter that gave Nimiane the ability to influence men's minds and cause destruction, even of the indestructible materials the ships and the undersea domes had been made of; a mirror that helped Pellanor to see the future, a vial of potions that took the magical abilities of another. Things too secret and powerful for a trained searcher girl to know.

"I see you do not know what you seek. A mirror? A vial? A dragon? You don't know, do you? And you don't know what you will do with it when and if you ever find it." She laughed in a mocking way that Jerrika found frightening. "I do know, girl! And I know that you will never find it. However, Quildor's Elite and highly trained Quarso will find Galantyne and kill him! They will take his fortress and use his ships to get to Aquaria and Carrigah and to take back Etrusia. Quildor will rule this world, and I will be at his side."

Jerrika's voice was soft and cutting. "You chose to leave the council, Sebille, but they still have strength without you. Nimiane told me that-- that I will find the Talisman. I believe her. Galantyne believes her."

"So, you are the Princess."

Jerrika didn't answer.

"Tell me your name."

She still refused to answer.

"Prove to me that you are not the Princess then, and I will let the Quarso assimilate you and be done! Quildor can continue his own search for the child of royal blood. Do you have the markings? Are you truly Taan's daughter?"

Jerrika blinked. What markings? She had no idea what the witch spoke of now. Her face must have betrayed her innocence, for Adara Sebille cackled like the witch she was.

"You don't know that either, do you? Oh, now that is rich! The House of Aquaria my dear, the markings of the House of Aquaria!"

"You say that as if it means something to me. As you can see it does not!"

"Now that is a prophecy that truly holds water. The House of Taan is the only house that can wield the Talisman. When Quildor finds the child of royal blood, he finds the Talisman."

"It could be Galantyne, or it could be--."

"Yes?"

"Telling you my name would do you no good, Sebille. You don't know the name of the Princess. You wouldn't know if you did have her."

"That isn't exactly true, my dear. It would help when we send word to Taan and Galantyne that we hold the Princess. But we only need to know that you have the blood of the House of Aquaria, and Quildor will be in to ascertain that shortly. If we do, we hold the leverage we need to force the Talisman to our hands."

"You speak in riddles, witch! You say I will never find the Talisman, as if there never was a Talisman, and that you and the Council of Ladies simply made it up. You say that Quildor will fight Galantyne and take over his fortress. If that is the case, why hasn't he done it? Because he still hopes to gain the Talisman himself. Because there is a Talisman-- and you can't find it either. You need Galantyne to find it. Only Galantyne seeks it to cleanse the planet for everyone and live on the land as we were intended to do. Quildor seeks it for power, to rule the planet and all on it." Jerrika was trying hard to work it out in her mind. "But you said that you can force the Talisman to bend to your will. How? How can you force it to your will? Will you steal it from Galantyne? Or perhaps it won't work for anyone except Galantyne."

"Or the princess, Princess." Adara cackled with a gleam in her eye. "Soon we will know."

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Thankyou to QueenBbrony for the encouraging comments and for being one of the first to comment. It means a lot that you take your time to read my story!!