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Neopia's Fill in the Blank News Source | 28th day of Running, Yr 26
The Neopian Times Week 114 > Continuing Series > Scene: Beautiful Music -- Part Three

Scene: Beautiful Music -- Part Three

by scriptfox

I gazed with bleary eyes at the clock on the wall. What between worrying about Sadiyah’s case, and explaining to Kallisari the previous night what was up, I hadn’t gotten much sleep. My research this morning hadn’t eased my fears any. Sadiyah was definitely mixed up in the wrong crowd, but the solution couldn’t even be guessed at before I talked with her and found out what her part in this was.

     I got up and rechecked my magical defenses. My office of MonoKeras, Private Investigations, may look modest and even barren, but to anyone who is thinking of causing trouble, let me warn you that there are a lot of magical safeguards and weapons built into the room.

     I finally sat in my chair, leaned back, and tugged thoughtfully on my mane with my front hooves. I glanced at the Neomail from Sadiyah. Not surprisingly, it was brief, courteous, and to the point:

MonoKeras:

Thank you for contacting me. I will certainly be at your office at three thirty this afternoon.

--Sadiyah

     This morning’s research made me wonder how ominous this meeting might be. I glanced up at the clock on the wall. Three twenty seven.

     Fortunately for my nerves, Sadiyah stepped inside a few minutes early. She was dressed in loose-fitting clothing. It was a bit more daring than her dress of the previous night, though nothing like her dancing costume had been. It was also blue and purple. I realized that she hadn’t been kidding about not having any other colors in her wardrobe.

     Her Faerie Cadro floated in front of her. "Good afternoon, MonoKeras," it chirped.

     I nodded to Sadiyah. "And to you, Miss Sadiyah. Won’t you sit down?"

     After a couple of seconds to let the Faerie Cadro wave its arms at Sadiyah, she nodded and took the chair in front of my desk. I reflected briefly that if she hadn’t been patient before, simply waiting for everything she wanted to say to be translated should have made her that way.

     She didn’t seem inclined to continue the conversation, so I braced myself and asked the most crucial question I could think of. "Sadiyah, may I examine the ankle bracelet on your left ankle?"

     She looked puzzled when that reached her, but only shrugged slightly as she brought her foot up and put it on my desk. I winced inwardly at the contortion required to keep one foot on the floor while the other was up on the desk, but it was obvious that she’d done it without a second thought.

     As it turned out, she had three or four bracelets on that ankle. Finding the one I wanted, though, wasn’t hard. It was the only black one there. I pulled out two wands and began a careful probing. The knots in my stomach had eased slightly -- in the worst case scenario, she would never have given me permission to do this.

     I was pleasantly surprised and more than a little relieved at the results of my tests. I leaned back and gave a whoosh of relief. I looked at Sadiyah thoughtfully. She looked back at me. As usual, she won the staring contest.

     "I suppose you’re wondering why I did that."

     A few brief paw waves later, Mu’awin’s high voice gave her answer. "I wonder about many things. But tell me in your own way."

     I smothered my grimace with my hooves. She could certainly sound obliging, but even then you got the feeling that she was carefully evaluating you. "Before I do, Sadiyah, could you tell me where you got this?" I tapped the offending bracelet with a wand.

     Understanding flickered in her eyes after my question was translated, then a look of sadness crossed her features. Her paws moved slowly, almost reluctantly. "Yes, I can. It was not long after I became a Desert Kyrii. I was born green, you understand."

     I nodded. No surprise there. I hadn’t been born gold myself.

     Mu’awin’s piping voice managed to convey his owner’s sadness. "A very special friend and I went to the Lost Desert for a vacation. I suppose we were feeling silly. It was then that we found these bracelets at a small shop. The owner promised that we would always be together if we bought a pair, so we did. He lied, I think. I know he was wrong."

     "And the matching tattoo?"

     Sadiyah gave me a startled smile and her paw went up to her left eye to tap the tattoo. "You are very observant, MonoKeras," Mu’awin said. "The shop owner referred us to the pet that gave us these. It was supposed to seal things between the two of us. It didn’t."

     I closed my eyes briefly and let the last of the tension drain out of me. We still had a huge set of problems, but I knew now that Sadiyah and I were on the same side.

     "You’re lucky it didn’t," I finally said. "I’d be much more worried if it had."

     Sadiyah’s expression changed only slightly and she tapped a paw in one brief gesture. "Why?" asked Mu’awin.

     "Because this is what we call a slave bracelet." I paused to think of how to explain it, and Mu’awin had time to give me Sadiyah’s response before I continued.

     "I know, the shopkeeper told us."

     "He no doubt did," I snorted. "What he didn’t tell you was that they were Dark Faerie magic. These things produce slaves -- and/or masters of slaves. Both sides in a relation wear the same bracelet."

     A lot of pets would have been spooked at the mention of dark faeries. Everyone knew, and most feared, their reputation for cruelty and evil. Sadiyah never even blinked. She made the usual series of paw motions to her petpet. "It sounds intriguing, but I fail to understand."

     I decided to make it concrete. "If you had become bound to your friend, it would have been as master and slave. One of you would have been a helpless servant of the other."

     Sadiyah did blink at that one before giving a rueful smile. "Not much chance of that, MonoKeras. We were both too willful and stubborn."

     I had to snicker. Even with the actual voice being Mu’awin’s piping, I could fully appreciate the tones Sadiyah would have used if she hadn’t been deaf. "The shopkeeper knew that, I’m sure. He was hoping one of you would prove strong enough to overpower the other. With both of you having strong wills, his job would be accomplished no matter which of you won."

     Sadiyah frowned and her paws quivered a bit before she made the signs containing her reply. "What job?" Mu’awin asked.

     "Recruiting potential leaders for his clan."

     Sadiyah’s mouth dropped open and she gave a soundless gasp before she quickly motioned her reply. "Clan. But we joined no clan."

     "Actually, you did… in a way. To be more accurate, you became a candidate for leadership in it."

     Sadiyah looked totally baffled. Finally, she waved her paws in a wild gesture. "I don’t understand at all," Mu’awin translated.

     "Dark faeries value strength, and so do their clans. To become the head of one, you must have a stronger will than any of the others. By using this bracelet, the shopkeeper was giving you a chance to exercise that will and control."

     "But I never did anything."

     "You don’t know how relieved I was when I figured that out," I replied dryly. "That’s what my examination just now proved. There’s been virtually no activity, either as master or slave."

     Sadiyah locked those deep blue eyes of hers on me and frowned. I waited a bit nervously for the translation from that series of motions. "Very well. But what relevance does that have with anything. You say yourself I did nothing."

     I love a good straight line. Pulling out the dagger, I dropped it on the desk. "It isn’t you that did something, it’s our dark-worshipping cult. This is their invitation to you. You’ve been invited to try your paw at the current leadership opening."

     "How do you know."

     I carefully tapped the relevant parts of the dagger with the wand I held as I spoke. "First, the color and style of the handle. Look at the black material with the purple overtones. Classic dark Faerie The same goes for the ripples in the blade. Only a dark Faerie has enough cruelty to fully appreciate what those can do. The groove here…" I tapped the center of the blade itself, "…is called a blood groove. It’s put there to let you pull your dagger out of your victim more quickly. The final clincher comes from the designs in the handle grooves. Look at the designs formed here and here…"

     I waited for Sadiyah to say something but she didn’t. I looked up to find her and Mu’awin in furious sign conversation and sighed to myself. I’d gotten ahead of them and hadn’t even realized it. After a minute, Sadiyah looked at what I was pointing at and nodded. Then I realized I’d forgotten what I was going to say.

     For once, Sadiyah filled in for me. "I see. They look like my tattoo."

     "Exactly. I did some research on those marks, and found that there is a cult in the Lost Desert who uses this to mark people of high Kartrah."

     Mu’awin’s head spun to look at me before he turned back to translate that. It seemed to take even longer than usual before Sadiyah’s reply came back. "What is Kartrah."

     I rested my muzzle thoughtfully on my hooves. "Call it strength of will, or life force… perhaps spirit. It’s sort of a mixture of all of those things. I don’t think there is any exact translation into modern Neopian. The point is that someone with a lot of Kartrah will be able to use this-" I tapped her ankle bracelet- "-to enslave others. It’s the deciding factor, supposedly, in determining a master or slave."

     Sadiyah looked at her foot when I tapped her and quickly slipped it back down to where it was supposed to be. She actually looked a bit embarrassed about it, though I’m not sure why. After Mu’awin translated my explanation, she merely looked thoughtful. A few seconds passed before she brought her gaze back up to me, silently waiting for me to continue.

     I dithered a bit. "Before I proceed, I’d like to test you and see what your abilities really are."

     Not too surprisingly, she looked apprehensive. "How does this work?"

     "I set up a design here," I motioned to my desktop, "and then we use your bracelet to engage in a battle of wills. The traces of what happened will be left in my pattern and we’ll know what you’re capable of."

     Sadiyah looked far from reassured, but she eventually nodded assent. I quickly brought out my kit and began sprinkling the dust in a seven point mandala. "Your foot again, please," I murmured. Sadiyah placed her left foot on the desk and I carefully centered things in my design. "Good. Now, when you feel a pressure in your mind, push back as hard as you can. Got that?"

     She visibly gulped and for a second I wondered if she was going to run out on the spot. But instead she just nodded again. I put my front hooves in the mandala and activated things. I soon made mental contact. I shoved lightly and she shoved back. I stared up at her as I increased my pressure. We locked gazes and the mental tug o’ war continued. Suddenly, all I could see were two dark blue pools, then that expanded to cover everything and I blacked out.

     I came to with Sadiyah slapping me across the face. I blinked my vision clear and pulled her paws away. "I’m okay," I choked. She looked unconvinced, but let herself be pushed aside. I sat back up and looked at my design. All seven points of my mandala had been blown to smithereens. I felt a chill at the base of my spine. The old Kyrii hadn’t been kidding. This girl was quite literally off the charts.

     Mu’awin’s high tones penetrated my mental fog "Are you okay?" I nodded. "Did it come out okay?" I nodded again, sighed and sat back.

     "Very much so," I admitted. "It looks like you’re the next High Priestess of the Stone Eye."

     Sadiyah’s sharp jerking motions conveyed her frustration more than her Cadro’s translation could. "But I don’t want to be any High Priestess."

     "You don’t have much choice," I replied. I lifted the dagger and waved it gently in one hoof. "This is made to be used. Whoever succeeds at the trials is almost certain to… eliminate the competition."

     Sadiyah didn’t reply, but the set of her chin showed that she was still unconvinced.

     "Look, in a situation like this, there’s fight or flight. Do you want to be on the run from cult members out to ventilate your heart with one of these?" Sadiyah dropped her gaze, but still looked sullen. "On the other hand, I would be very surprised if you couldn’t summon the mental strength to wipe them out in their own contest."

     She finally made a few tentative motions. "Do I have to?"

     I shrugged. "It’s either that or become a fugitive for the rest of your life."

     "I don’t like this."

     "Me either, but sometimes we get only bad choices in life."

     "I know. I didn’t choose to be deaf, either."

     I gulped as another thought struck me. "Oh, that’s another thing. We can’t let them know that you’re deaf…"

To be continued...

Previous Episodes

Scene: Beautiful Music -- Part One

Scene: Beautiful Music -- Part Two

Scene: Beautiful Music -- Part Four

Scene: Beautiful Music -- Part Five

Scene: Beautiful Music -- Part Six

Scene: Beautiful Music -- Part Seven


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