KYEOTS: Chapter 9: The Royal Family

“Let’s get off this god forsaken island,” Brent grumbled as we gathered our things.

“If anything, Brent,” I emphasized his name. “It’s one of the few places in the world that isn’t forsaken by the gods. There’s still an abundance of life here.”

“It’s a god damn target for Kist airships,” he eyed me. “That’s what all of this is.”

I watched as Brent started walking towards the shore line where we had first waded through the water to get to. The sun was out in full force that morning, and it was only eight o’clock. I wasn’t about to travel the entire day across deserts and open land in the scorching sun, and I made sure I pointed that out to him. The mole man agreed with me, and Brent was forced to follow our choice instead. Brent decided to take the lead still and pushed through trees and shrubs, hoping that he was walking in the straightest of possible lines.

“How did I get suckered into listenin' to the two of you? One of you is blind as a bat, and can barely see in the sun, and the other one is a scrawny little girl,” Brent muttered from ahead of us.

“We have food, water, and shelter here,” I constantly reminded him, while he always retorted back with “Kist target.”

“Mole man, how much further do we have to go?” I asked him. He took a brief pause, digging his bare feet into the earth. Brent was too upset to notice our momentary lag.

“Maybe a couple of hours,” the mole man responded, picking up the pace again. “We shouldn’t continue in this direction though. There’s something strange just ahead.”

“What do you mean something strange?” I questioned, but before I could get a clear answer, Brent came running back towards us with a grin spread across his face. “What’s the matter?” I asked him.

“There’s a huge stone castle just past those trees,” he pointed in the proper direction.

“I don’t know if we should chance it,” I nervously looked over to the mole man. He didn’t look afraid, but seemed wary all the same. “It wouldn’t be part of the Kist Stronghold, so we should just keep moving around it.”

“There’s no harm in scopin’ it out,” Brent beamed. “Besides, it just looks like a bunch of ruins. No ones lived there in a millennia I’m sure.” I looked into Brent’s eyes and felt like he was staring straight into my soul.

“We-well, all right,” I gave in. “But just a quick look.”
The three of us walked through the trees until we came upon the castle that Brent had seen with his own eyes. The stone appeared ancient, chipped, and covered in ivy and other forms of vegetation. Old bird nests littered the window sills, while an ominous looking animal skull hung over the castle doors.

“I don’t think we should be here,” I shook my head, taking a quick glimpse at an upper floor window. A figure passed through the archway, making me truly worried. “This isn’t our objective, Brent,” I called after him. “There are people in there. We should go. We’re out in broad daylight where any of them can see us.”

“People?” He scoffed, turning around to look at me. “Have you seen this place?” Brent gestured at the falling towers and crumbling path ways. “Who in his right mind would live here?”

“Anyone who wants a roof over his head,” I mumbled. The mole man placed a tentative hand on my arm, making me stop while Brent carried along to the front door step.

“I saw what he did,” the mole man stared at me. “You are a much stronger person than you believe to be. Do not let his magic sway your judgments.”

“Right,” I took a deep breath, standing my ground. “I knew in my heart we shouldn’t come here, but it was something he did when he looked at me---“

“That is his talent as a Supernatural,” the mole man spoke. “He has the powers of persuasion and deception. He is a good man, but he will do anything to get what he truly desires.”

I looked to see Brent standing in front of the large wooden doorway, inspecting it as if it were a dangerous, but highly interesting artifact.

“Well we can’t leave him on his own,” I took a step forward while I gathered my wits. “We’re a company now, and we’re all in each other’s care.”

“Be on your guard, Stratus,” the mole man whispered. “We will need to use our best skills.” I nodded in understanding, and the two of us finally made our way to the front entrance. Brent had been knocking at every stone and wooden panel when he couldn’t get the handles to budge the doors an inch.

“No one’s home,” Brent shook his head. “I told you, Stratus. No one’s here to eat you.”

“It’s too quiet,” I said. “On an island like this, there would be much life thriving in the castle. There has to be someone in there.”

“No one’s answering the door,” he made a mischievous gesture. “So no one would mind if I battered them down.” Brent picked up a nearby boulder, something far heavier than I would have imagined him holding, let alone wielding, but just as he was about to hit the first hinge, the doors swung open, leaving the three of us in shock.

Before us stood a man dressed in high quality clothing, which composed of a black coat, black pants, white shirt, with a black bow neatly tied about his neck. What was even more shocking was the entire interior of the castle itself. It was so luxuriously illuminated, polished, clean, and decorated, that it appeared to be right from a fairy tale.

“This can’t be real,” I gaped, turning to the mole man for some sort of agreement. His response was even stranger when he noted that it was all very genuine.

“His lord and lady apologize for the wait,” the man nodded his condolences. “As I’m sure you’re aware, they’re not used to having many visitors.”

“Right,” Brent gruffly assented, setting down his boulder on the front steps. “Mind if I leave that there for now?” The black suited man nodded his approval, and then gestured for the three of us to come inside. We did so cautiously, unsure of where it was we had stumbled upon. This was the sort of place one only ever heard of, and when it was seen it was from a crudely drawn sketch, most of the time not even in color.

“Please have a seat in the lobby,” the man motioned for us to sit down in several cushy looking chairs that I had never seen the likes of in my life. The entire lobby area had a smooth, polished stone for the flooring, and deep red seats and draperies displayed every which way one looked. I would have done anything to run back outside and roll around in the dirt for awhile. I was almost afraid that the lord and lady of this residence would be quite offended for having sullied their furniture.

“Welcome,” a sudden male voice announced from behind us. We all looked to see a man and a woman; each dressed as elegantly and richly as the other, descending the grand staircase. “I am Lord Virgo, and this is Lady Pisces. We deeply apologize for having you wait, but we’ve never seen the need to invest in a proper calling apparatus for the front door. Please, follow us into the dining room. You must all be hungry.”

“I too am sorry, Lord Virgo,” I stood up from my chair, followed by the mole man and Brent. “But we can’t stay. We were only passing through and wondered who resided at this castle.”

“It’s no trouble,” Lady Pisces smiled. “We always make too much for us to eat, and it looks like the three of you could use some rest. We have guest rooms in the East Tower for just such occasions. Those that stay a night with us never want to leave once they sleep on those beds,” she laughed in a very sing-song sort of way.

I looked at Brent, who was more than eager to get something to eat and to have a long rest. The mole man and I would have preferred to leave at that very instant, continuing on our travels, but Brent would not have gone with us, and we needed him for meeting Lord Drinian.

“All right,” I assented. “We can stay for the meal, but we can’t stay through the night. We have a lot of ground to cover.”

We followed the Lord and Lady into the dining room and we all sat down around a lengthy wooden table, which was also polished just like the floors. It was a feast that was laid down upon the table, and I found it hard to believe that a mere two people displayed such a meal every day of their lives when they never had many visitors.

Brent began to tuck in right away, there were meats and cheeses, fruits and vegetables, and breads and wine for all of us to share. After awhile I began to loosen up, and the mole man seemed to loosen up as well. I felt a lot more comforted knowing that the mole man was willing to eat this food, most of which I couldn’t recall ever having eaten. The Lord and Lady did not ask us about our travels once, or inquire about whom we were, which I found all the more troubling. They seemed like a very odd sort of people.

“How have the two of you and your servant remained free from the hardships of the Kist rule?” I asked them. The Lord and Lady looked at each other with puzzled expressions before answering my question.

“What do you mean Kist rule? We have ruled this island ever since my father bestowed it upon me at his death,” Lord Virgo responded. “We know nothing about these people you call the Kists.”

“The Machinists,” I corrected myself, but still they did not know of whom I spoke. “Don’t you know about the war? About all of the destruction in the world?”

“No,” Lady Pisces shook her head. “We never leave our island, and no one ever seems to visit. It must be centuries since our last visitor.”

“Centuries?” Brent nearly choked on a leg of lamb. I didn’t know what lamb was, but Brent seemed to take a liking to it right away. “You mean the two of you are centuries old?”

“I suppose you’re right,” Lord Virgo smiled. “We often lose track of time here, but we don’t mind. Lady Pisces and I are quite pleased with our peaceful lives. Excuse us, will you?”

I watched as the Lord and Lady excused themselves from the table, leaving us to settle our food alone in the dining room. They had to have been the first Supernaturals to exist on our planet, having the abilities to escape time and destruction.

“I’m stuffed,” Brent let out a loud belch. “I might just partake on one of those guest rooms of theirs.”

“We can’t,” I whispered. “We have to get going.”

“Don’t be such a spoil sport,” he leaned back in his chair, nearly falling over. “You need to enjoy yourself every once in awhile. What were we just talkin' about last night? Gods and stuff, right? Well this is the gods lettin' me know that there is still hope in the world.”

“I don’t think it is,” I shook my head.

“Then you can go pitch a tent, or a grave, or a lean-to, or whatever the hell it is you want out in the dirt out there,” he motioned towards the window. “But I want to get a good night of damn sleep for once in my life without havin' to worry about an airship bombin' my camp at one in the mornin'.”

Brent forcefully stood up from the table, taking one final biscuit in his mouth, and stormed off to find one of the guest rooms upstairs. After explaining to the Lord and Lady that the mole man preferred sleeping outside, I regretfully chose one of the spare rooms in the house as well, as close to Brent as I could muster. I didn’t choose to stay in the house so I could sleep, but to make sure that Brent would be all right in the castle. I wanted to explore the castle to see what kind of magic really did go on here.

Once I was sure the occupants of the castle were asleep, I snuck out of my room, grateful for stone floors instead of creaking wooden ones, and popped my head into Brent’s room. He lay there on the sheets, completely naked, passed out until the sun would rise in the morning. If there had ever been a time when someone asked me if I had ever seen a man make love to a bed, this would have been it.

The stone floor was cold against my bare feet as I quietly made my way down the staircase. I hadn’t any idea where the Lord and Lady, let alone the help of the castle, kept their rooms, so I had to be as careful as possible. I chose to remain invisible for extra precautions, trying to recall the layout of the first floor so I wouldn’t run into anything. The lobby was deserted, but several candles were still lit in the overhead chandelier, casting eerie shadows along the walls. I came across a door on the opposite side of the lobby, a sort of recessed door hidden inside of a niche in the wall that most people probably would have looked passed. The mole man had been teaching me some skills that I didn’t even know I had the power to possess. He took a chance on showing me some wind powers, which he had learned from the demi-god of air herself. They surprisingly worked for me, but the mole man didn’t think it was very surprising at all, considering my brother’s supernatural powers for speed and cloud creation.

I summoned a little bit of wind into my hand, caressing the air with my fingers until I gained the correct control and feel of the currents throughout the castle. Then I generated that power towards the key lock in the door I couldn’t open, and set to work pushing the gears and notches inside of the mechanism. Within a couple of minutes, I managed to unlock the door, and with a briefly terrifying squeak, I snuck down into the corridor.

The door led to a staircase that headed down underneath the ground, a place that could have used the mole man’s expertise. It was pitch black once the door shut behind me, so I pulled out the candle and matches I was keeping in my pocket, and lit the wick to shed some more light on the situation. The corridor was far grimier and more apropos for the times we were living in for the rest of the world. The walls and stairs were completely made of hard packed dirt, and spiraled as far down as humanly possible. The descent was more ominous than anything, but the bright side was that I hadn’t heard any voices or footsteps following after me.

At the bottom of the spiral staircase was another wooden door. This one wasn’t locked and swung open easily, revealing an archaic form of a torture chamber. I held my hand up to my mouth so I wouldn’t scream, stumbling backwards into the dirt wall. I looked over to my left and saw a skeleton hanging there, lower jaw missing, chained to the wall. There was a station for blood letting, and tools to dissect whatever was to be placed on the metal table. There was a whole shelf of mason jars, filled with body parts and different fluids. They were all labeled, but in a language that I couldn’t read, let alone know the origins of.

There was a book propped up on a pedestal against the furthest wall, opened to a page for immortality and youth. It required human sacrifices once every hundred years. These weren’t your typical Supernaturals. They were Magicians; a lower form of Supernaturals, who had to rely on other magical tools in order for their enchantments to work.

At that moment, I heard the door at the very top of the spiral staircase open and shut, and an angry pair of voices arguing as they came nearer. Startled, I quickly hid behind the skeleton that was hanging against the wall, hoping that it would be the safest place for anyone to not look, and remained invisible once I blew out my candle.

“Quick,” I heard Lady Pisces urge, then a bumping noise as the door flung open into the room. I saw in horror as the Lord and Lady carried Brent’s naked body into the chamber and threw him on top of the metal surgical board. I clasped my hands over my mouth again, biting my tongue to keep myself from being heard.

“Where is that stupid girl?” Lady Pisces hissed.

“It wasn’t my job to keep an eye on her,” Lord Virgo shot back. “One is enough for now. It will bide us some time until we can lure the next traveler to our island.”

“I was surprised we managed to get this group to come at all,” she sniffed. “If it wasn’t for that extra little push of your persuasion spell, that idiot girl would never have allowed this one to follow after our calling.”

I couldn’t believe what I had heard. Brent hadn’t been the one casting the spell on me after all. It was the Lord and Lady of the castle who had bewitched all of us; everyone except the mole man of course. I could have really used his help at that moment.

“Let’s search the castle once again,” Lord Virgo said. “She can’t have gone very far. That filthy rodent looking man that they were with is still sleeping outside.”

Just as I thought the two of them were sure to go through the cellar door and back up the staircase, Lady Pisces suddenly stopped.

“Do you smell that?” She whispered, eyes going wild, whipping her head around the subterranean room. “Smoke. It smells like smoke down here, like someone just recently lit a candle.”

“There’s no one else down here,” Lord Virgo sniffed the air. “The door was also locked. The smell must be coming from him.”

Lady Pisces grudgingly agreed with him, and the two royals quickly rushed up the stairs, shutting and locking the door behind them. I waited for a few minutes, listening for any more movements or voices. When none came I sprung out from my hiding spot towards Brent, placing my head against his chest and mouth. His heart was still beating, and I could hear his even breathing as if he was in the deepest of sleeps. Brent was about to owe me a lot of gratitude for getting us out of this place. The only question was how I was going to manage escaping.

“Brent,” I gently shook him, trying to ignore the fact that he was naked. “Brent, wake up! We need to get out of here.” He wasn’t responding, but I knew I had to get him off of the surgical table before the Lord and Lady were to return. I used the remaining wind strength I had to lift him off of the table, resulting in him falling face first into the dirt floor.

“What the fu---?” Brent began to shout. I instantly covered my hand over his mouth, but it was too late. The door at the top of the spiral staircase banged open again before a set of footsteps trampled down the dirt descent. I could tell they were taking the steps by twos, so there wasn’t much time to get me and Brent as far back against the wall as possible. I was unable to drag him behind the skeleton, so we had to make due with the closest uncluttered wall.

With one final mental nudge I blew away the dirt scuffle the two of us had, erasing any marks of the direction we had gone in. Lord Virgo and Lady Pisces burst into the room, the Lady letting out an ear splitting scream when she saw that Brent had gone missing.

“I’ll kill whoever was attending the cellar door!” She shrieked. “I told him no one was allowed to go up or down this staircase!”

“There must be some rational explanation for this,” Lord Virgo said. “After all, the rodent man is still soundly sleeping out in the court yard.”

“Then we’ll grab him and keep him until his friends come to his rescue!” Lady Pisces’ eyes blazed. “Wait, what’s that?” She peered across the dimly lit room, walking over to the other side of the surgical table where I had pulled Brent off. I watched as she touched a finger to the dirt, sniffing it, then moving it around in her fingers. “Blood. We’re not delusional. Somehow he’s escaped.” I hadn’t even realized that the fall gave Brent a bloody nose.

“The only entrance and exit is through the staircase,” Lord Virgo responded.

“Then that servant of yours is on their side!” Lady Pisces shouted. “He’s dead when I get my hands on him!” The two of them bustled back up the staircase, leaving the lights on and slamming the door once more.

“What the hell was that?” Brent breathed heavily when I finally pulled my hand away from his mouth.

“Magicians,” I let out a deep sigh. “We need to figure out how to get out of here and get the mole man without getting caught.”

One look at Brent told me everything. He was scared out of his mind, having no idea where he was, or how he had gotten there, worse yet he wasn’t sure why he was naked.

“Can I borrow your satchel or something?” He murmured, trying his best to cover himself up.

“Sure,” I shrugged off the satchel I tied around my waist and handed it to him. The only thing it covered was the front, but I’m pretty sure that’s the only thing Brent was worried about to begin with.

“How do you suggest we get out of this place?” He inquired, brushing the dirt off of himself.

“No idea,” I tapped my foot in concentration when I heard a familiar noise coming through the wall. I held my ear up against it and nearly burst with joy. “Quick, get away from the wall.”

In a matter of seconds, the mole man’s metal claws dug their way through a newly made hole in the wall, widening it just enough for Brent and myself to sneak through.

“Am I ever glad to see you,” I beamed, stopping Brent before he could go into the tunnel first. “No offense, Brent. But I can’t look at that.” He wasn’t too pleased by my comment, but he understood all the same. The three of us crawled through the tunnel, the mole man sealing it as we went, and came up on the opposite side of the water way.

“How did you know where to find us?” I breathed in the crisp night air, only slightly polluted with the stench of a recently patrolling airship. “I thought you were still soundly asleep in the courtyard. That’s what the Lord and Lady kept saying. They were going to capture you.”

“I am no fool,” the mole man touched one of his dirty metal claws to his nose. “That was a decoy of myself I made out of hay and mud. What happened to your clothes?” he turned to Brent and looked him up and down.

“Don’t ask,” Brent muttered to himself, adjusting the satchel that acted as his only bit of clothing.

“Mole man has your bag,” I gestured. “You can get dressed and we’ll start an early hike for the next Sector.” Brent grumbled as he gathered his things and dressed himself out in the open. It wasn’t long before I had my satchel back, rubbing it around in the dirt a bit to give it a mud bath. Nothing could go to waste, no matter how revolting the situation. The three of us started our journey once again, the mole man taking the lead this time. He was the most trustworthy of sources, and I was sure his judgment would keep us from any danger for quite some time.

“Brent?” I hung back a bit to talk to him. “I’m sorry that I thought you mind-tricked me into going to the castle.”

“Could have been worse,” he grunted. “At least you can tell all the boys now that some man rubbed his bare parts on your satchel.” I laughed at that. We made a good group.