Chapter 3 - Prisoner

Rayne had her thumb pressed to her lips as she paced back and forth in front of the wall of weapons. Everything imaginable was displayed before her, from simple fighting sticks, to knives, to swords, spears, guns, and even magic based weapons like M’natherine’s great sword.

Behind her, also deep in thought, was Emery Wilson. The Explorer in charge of the armory. She gave Rayne an examining glance from behind her large round glasses. She was in her early twenties, with golden skin, and had long, curly brown hair that was in a loose ponytail. From the wrist up, she had white tattoos in a floral pattern tracing up her arms and disappearing under her shirt.

“Every Explorer has their weapon,” Emery thought aloud. “Alex has his rifle. Marcus has a huntsman’s knife, M’natherine has that monstrosity of a sword…” She walked over to Rayne, reaching out and feeling her shoulders, then lifting up her arms as if measuring for a tailor-made suit or dress.

“You’re small, agile,” Emery continued, “you could use a rapier, maybe a bow.” She shook her head, dismissing the thought. “Wait, I have an idea.”

Emery hurried over to the wall and browsed the small selection of handguns. She picked up one, flipped it around in her hands before putting it back and grabbing a different one. She nodded in satisfaction.

“This,” she said, brandishing the weapon. “Is a Sorell PX-9. Very light, very reliable. Made on Gorma.” She offered it to Rayne, who reached out hesitantly.

It was heavier than Rayne expected, but it fit well in her hand. It felt like a single, solid object. She had a hard time imagining the fuzzy little Gormadens with their disconnected hands assembling weapons of war.

“Do you have any experience with guns?” Emery asked, noticing the trepidation.

“No,” Rayne answered, still trying to get a feel for the weapon. “Never even fired a crossbow.” She’d hardly considered using a gun. They were there, and available, she just never thought that she would use one. Growing up in the North, her family kept things very traditional, and the only time she saw technology from the East was when her father traveled for business trips.

“Come on then,” Emery skipped off into the next room, “let’s try it out.”

When Rayne entered the room, she saw that it was a shooting range, drilled into the mountain. It was a long straight cave, with a row of separate booths and various targets to take aim at. Emery was already spilling a carton of bullets and loading them into magazines.

“Grab those headphones,” Emery nodded to a pair at the booth. “Just to practice in, you know?”

The world muffled around her, and Rayne adjusted the headphones till they fit just right. Emery quickly popped a few bullets into the magazine, racked it back, and slid it over to Rayne.

“Just flip the safety, and it’s live,” she said, her voice sounding distant. Rayne once again took the weapon, and her thumb felt up the side for the little switch. She had to tilt her head to see, but she got it.

She took a deep breath, aligning the pins along the top of the gun. Then she pulled the trigger.

It felt like thunder in her hands. Power ringing in her ears. She put the gun down, breathing hard, her heart beating in her chest. She stared at the small weapon and swallowed.

Emery watched her with a critical gaze. Rayne grabbed the Sorell, aimed it and fired again. It was exhilarating. Unlike anything she’d ever felt before. She was small, outclassed in every way by most opponents, but she was smart, and the gun would make up for any disadvantage.

“I like it,” Rayne said, actually smiling. Emery put her hands on her hips, and nodded, satisfied.

“Good choice,” she said. “I’ll have a kit put together for you. Could even laser engrave your name on it if you wanted. I would recommend waiting to use it till you get a little more practice. Marcus isn’t the best shot in town, but he is disciplined, and that’s the most important thing.”

“I also, happen to be a pretty good shot.” A voice came from the doorway. It was Alex Alacarte, leaning his head in. He looked at Rayne. “I was wondering where you were.”

“We were exploring some options,” Emery said, crossing her arms. “It just so happens that Miss Rayne here is rather partial to the Sorells. However,” she gestured at the gun. “If you find you wanna try something else out, just let me know.”

“Wait, how come Rayne gets to just check out all the weapons she wants?” Alex frowned.

“Because, to date, Maralyn Rayne is the most responsible Explorer in this whole mountain.” Emery snapped. “Because last time you managed to—”

“Okay, okay,” Alex held his hands up in surrender. “Fair enough. Rayne is very responsible.”

Rayne couldn’t help but beam with a little pride. She wanted the Explorers to think of her as one of their own, and she felt like in that moment, she was.

“Thank you, Emery, for everything.” Rayne nodded her thanks and went to meet Alex at the door.

“Don’t worry about it,” the woman called after her. “I’ll have that kit ready in no time.”

She and Alex began walking down the hallway, and Rayne glanced out the slanted windows that ran down the mountain and over the building. A good streak of them were still covered in tarps, and the scaffolds where the workers made repairs blocked much of the view.

Even so she could still make out glistening waters, and in the distance the silhouettes of islands, each with their very own way of life. On a clear day she could even see the gleam of skyscrapers on the Crescent Isles.

It had been about a week since the incident. Rayne could still remember the bullets of the machine gun tearing through the building. M’natherine launching her sword and cutting the helicopter out of the air. It crashed into the Explorer’s building, causing a lot of damage. Rayne had been put on her fair share of cleanup duty.

It reminded Rayne that there were too many questions floating around in her mind that she didn’t have the answer to. What was David doing? What was the point of stealing the Oasis Spark? For breaking into the Explorer’s Guild and accessing their database of the East.

The best that they could figure was that David was looking for someone. She just didn’t know who, or why that person mattered. At the end of the day, he was probably willing to trade a priceless artifact for a box of donuts.

“You can’t let it go, can you?” Alex asked, pulling Rayne from her thoughts.

“What?”

“You get all frowny,” Alex gestured to his face where he tried to mimic her expression. “When you’re thinking about the spark. You’re very easy to read you know.”

“Never thought I was that obvious,” Rayne muttered. She lifted her glasses and massaged the bridge of her nose. “I just…”

They reached the elevator at the end of the hall, and it opened up. Alex pressed the button and looked at her expectantly.

“My grandfather’s journal had a page on the Oasis Spark,” Rayne continued. “That’s it. I’m trying to figure out what he wanted with it. Sure, maybe he wanted it because of the magic, and what we might be able to learn about Alkania. Maybe it’s just a priceless treasure that he wanted for the guild, but I can’t help but wonder if there isn’t something more to it.”

“Well Explorer’s don’t always go hunting fame and fortunes,” Alex shrugged. “Sometimes you need to find some more specific items. Stuff that only the nerds in the archive care about. M’natherine and I once had to go halfway across the world for some petrified tree samples.”

“Riveting.”

“No, not really.” Alex sighed. “Just is what it is sometimes. You know, I’ve been racking my brain, trying to figure out how we get the spark back, but I’ve got nothing. Unless we can understand David’s motives, we can’t try to get ahead of him.”

“What about him?” Rayne asked, casting Alex a sidelong glance. “Have we learned anything?”

“Not really,” Alex shook his head. “He’s crazy. Doesn’t want to talk, but when he does it’s all nonsense anyway.”

“What if I talked to him?” Rayne asked as the elevator dinged to a stop. “You guys said I was good at talking to people, right?”

“Talking? No.” Alex said flatly. “Interrogating? Yes.” Instead of exiting the elevator he pressed a different button, and they started going down again. “Might as well try, it’s our only lead right now.”

The elevator went down and down, finally jolting to a stop. The doors opened to a darkened, cave-like room. The hall was much like the rest of the headquarters, with roughhewn rock as the walls, but here there were precise cube-shaped cells that had been carved out of the mountain, and were made with a reinforced see through glass. It was a part of the mountain that Rayne had never been to before.

“Who are you guys here to see?” asked a security guard who was patrolling the hallway.

“Cell seven,” Alex answered with a wave of his hand. “We just wanna ask some questions. No need for the keys.”

“Understood,” the man nodded. “Careful with him. Let me know if you need anything.”

Alex pressed forward down a hallway, and Rayne kept close behind. They passed by several cells, inside of which she could make out dark silhouettes hiding in the shadows. There were some that looked human, and some that didn’t.

She swallowed nervously. It was eerily quiet save for their footsteps, and the occasional noise off in the distance. Sometimes it sounded like someone pounding on the glass. Other times it sounded like someone screaming.

Alex stopped in front of the precisely carved cube cell with the number 7 painted on it. Thick glass acted like a front wall protecting them from whom, or what was inside.

“Alright,” Alex glanced nervously between her and the cell. “Do your thing.”

Rayne cleared her throat, stepping up to the glass. She shifted her stance, straightened her back, and adjusted her glasses. She saw him back there, laying on a small cot, his fedora tipped down over his eyes. He was humming a tune to a song she didn’t recognize.

“You must be Mr. Bones,” she called out. “The Jim Bones.” At her emphasis, his humming stopped, and he began to rise from the cot. His bones clicked, and the metal wires holding him together squeaked as he moved. The magical accumulator in his ribcage gleaming purple light into the dim cell.

“Why yes,” he said, and she wasn’t prepared for the clacking with the words. He stood up and stalked toward her. As he got closer, she realized just how much taller he was than her. It took a concentrated effort for Rayne to not take a step back.

“Who calls upon me?” He asked.

“My name is Maralyn Rayne,” she spoke, channeling aristocratic confidence that borderlined arrogance. “I’m an Explorer, and I have some questions. Questions you might want to answer.”

“Oh, yeah?” Jim sneered, peering down at her with his candle flame eyes. He had no flesh, no features to move into place, and yet Rayne felt she could read the expression on his face. “What makes you think I want to answer your questions, little girl…"

“Because I want to find David Echoe,” she spread her lips in a wicked smile. “Figured you might enjoy helping us do that.”

“Oh ho...” his skeletal expression changed. “Oh boy, would I?” He pressed his skull to the glass and chuckled. “That stupid brat caused me to wreck my helicopter. It was brand new, BRAND NEW. Granted, we had insurance, and that’s why you have insurance, you know, but still.”

“Right...” Rayne furrowed her brow and glanced at Alex. The look she gave said that she wasn’t sure this guy- skeleton guy, would be of much help. “Well, we are looking for David, and Dustbunny, but we don’t know how to find them. We need information.” Rayne continued, and she remembered that when Jim had been attacking the HQ, he’d said something interesting...

“You said David was in possession of a power,” Rayne spoke. “Tell me more about that.”

Jim took his bone and wire fingers, and ran them along the rim of his fedora, considering. He backed off the glass wall and began pacing in the cell.

“At first it was just something I heard about in the underground.” Jim answered after a long pause. “There was a... oh who was it...?” he trailed off for a moment, then snapped his bony fingers together. “It was a knight.” Jim stepped back up to the glass, the fire in his eye sockets burning a little brighter.

“A remnant knight,” he continued with a definitive clack of teeth. “A remnant knight was looking for David. He was asking around by name. It was he who mentioned the artifact to me.”

“A knight...” Rayne pursed her lips. She wasn’t familiar with any knights that might be involved. “Do you know him? Or where he’s from?”

“No,” Jim shook his head. “His insignia seemed familiar, and I felt like I’d seen it before, but I couldn’t place it. His armor was different, I’ve never seen anything quite like it.”

“Fayr,” Rayne swore. “Do you think he was from the North?”

“Doubt it,” Jim shrugged. “I’ve seen Northern armor, and this wasn’t it.”

“Well, it sounds like we know even less than we did before.” Alex commented from the back.

“Is there anything else you could tell us?” Rayne asked.

“Well...” Jim paused and looked away. Seemingly considering. “There was something, but I just half heard it, so I’m not sure.”

“What was it?”

“The knight said something about... about ‘finding the princess’.”

“The fayr does that mean?” Rayne swore again.

“I don’t know,” Jim took a step back, and shadows began to cover his form once more. His voice was low, and serious. “What I do know is this. When I was near David, I could feel it.” He tapped at the accumulator in his ribs. It pulsed with power, beams of light casting rib shaped shadows along the walls. “It’s strong, and... ancient. It has deep magical connections. It’s the type of power that breaks worlds apart.”

It took Rayne a second to realize she’d stopped breathing. The skeleton man laid back on his bed and tipped his fedora back down.

“Good luck catching him,” Jim called in farewell. “Perhaps you can stop him before he gets into the type of trouble he can’t get out of.”

Rayne turned and started walking back the way they had come. She was walking so fast Alex struggled to keep up behind her.

“Are there any princesses in the East that have a name starting with M?” Rayne asked, “More specifically, ‘May’?”

“Not that I’m aware of,” He muttered, pulling out his phone. He made a few taps then shook his head. “No. No princesses in the East with names that start with M, or May. We have Blaire, who’s the princess of Volthum, and--”

“Fayr,” Rayne hissed. “Then who was David looking for? It doesn’t make any sense. Why would you steal the Oasis Spark, and then break into the Explorer’s headquarters looking for someone, unless they had a connection to Alkania?”

“But it’s been over a hundred and fifty years since the breaking,” Alex mentioned. “No one alive would have a strong connection to the city.” He paused. “What if you did, though? What if you could somehow find a princess... say, the princess of Alkania?”

“The connection would be incredibly strong,” Rayne’s eyes narrowed. “It’s a connection of responsibility. It’s your city, your people, your home.”

“And what could you do with a connection like that?”

“Anything.”