Reunification (7 page)

“
Ah ha,” I said. “I see
now. The Mayor is the most protected man in the entire city;
therefore, it is unlikely that his former smuggler friends will be
able to get him, as he is protected at all times by those infernal
machines.”

“
Exactly,” said
Lanresia. “Not to mention that if he was attacked or killed, then
his squadron of J bots would hunt down and arrest whoever did it.
It was a brilliant move on his part, one which has served him quite
well.”

“
Still seems to me a
silly move, however,” I said, stroking my chin. “There must be some
other reason why Xacron-Ah ran for Mayor.”

“
You're right,” said
Lanresia. “There is. But that ties back into information I'm not
allowed to give you yet, such as the true purpose of the
Foundation, so don't ask.”

I frowned. I hated working with such
tight-lipped people, but 'twas no way for me to make her tell me
the truth. I would figure out someday, however, though for now I
would ask her other things that she might be allowed to tell
me.

“
Was that assassin bot
that attacked me one of his bodyguards?” I asked. “The one with the
sword from earlier, which fought like a true Knight of
Se-Dela?”

“
Yes,” said Lanresia.
“That robot is called Assassin and is the only one of its kind that
we know of. We think Xacron-Ah had it specially designed for his
own needs; most likely, he ordered it from Annulus Robotics, Inc.,
the largest robotics company in Xeeo, even though we haven't found
any evidence of that yet.”

“
But why did it attack
me?” I asked, scratching the back of mine head in confusion. “I was
not going to attack the Mayor. I merely wanted to see my
sister.”

“
Protecting the Mayor
isn't Assassin's only job,” said Lanresia, shaking both of her
heads. “It also protects your sister and keeps away anyone the
Mayor doesn't want talking to her. It must have recognized you as
Kiriah's brother, maybe considered you a possible threat to
Xacron-Ah's life, so it tried to end you before you could get too
close to her.”

“
Vile machine,” I said.
I shook my fist at the ceiling, even though Assassin was not there.
“Why must ye keep me from reuniting with family? For what purpose
does that serve? Do ye enjoy seeing siblings remain separated and
apart? What perverted pleasure must you take from indulging in such
evilness?”

“
He's not here,” said
Lanresia. “You are talking to the ceiling.”

I looked back at Lanresia and said, “I
know that, she-elf. I am merely expressing my anger and frustration
at this revelation. Once I leave this place, I will find that
machine and dismantle it piece by piece.”

“
That's a nice thought,
but not very realistic,” said Lanresia, leaning back in her chair.
“Especially, you know, after you were almost killed by that same
robot just a few hours ago.”

“
So I've only been out
for a few hours now?” I said. “Tell me, the parade—”

“
Is over,” Lanresia
finished for me. “The floats have been put back into storage, the
onlookers have gone back to their homes, the performers have moved
onto other towns and cities to entertain their audiences, and the
streets are clear. That means your sister is gone again, Apakerec.
I'm sorry.”

I slammed my fist on the mattress under
me, which did little, as the bed merely absorbed the force of the
blow under me; nonetheless, it felt good to do so, for I needed a
way to release mine anger constructively.

“
Falnor's luck must be
upon me, for that is the only explanation for why I was unable to
reach mine sister in time,” I said. “Tell me, where did Kiriah
go?”

“
We don't know,”
Lanresia admitted. “Despite our best efforts to keep an eye on her,
she always manages to disappear every time she leaves the public.
We suspect she's staying in the Mayor's Mansion, as it's the only
place we've been unable to search, but we still don't know for
sure.”

“
I had hoped ye would be
able to tell me where she had gone,” I said, my shoulders slumping
in disappointment. “Tell me, what is the point in having a
secretive organization like yourselves if ye cannot locate even one
woman in one city?”

“
Don't blame us,” said
Lanresia in annoyance. “Your sister, in case you didn't know, is
working with the Mayor. For whatever reason, Xacron-Ah is keeping
her out of the public eye. He clearly doesn't want anyone to know
of her, because he's gone to great lengths to hide her mere
existence from everyone else.”

“
That does not tell me
why
my sister is working with him,” I said. I leaned
forward, ignoring how tight the stitching in my stomach became when
I did that. “According to the merchant I spoke with, Xacron-Ah was
elected to Mayor six years ago, which is the same time my sister
disappeared. Yet my sister has only been seen and photographed
recently, which means there is a gap between the time my sister
disappeared and when these photographs were taken.”

I drew out of my pocket the envelope with
the three photographs I had been given by the Knights of Se-Dela,
pulled out the photographs, and held them up before her. The
robotic eyes of Lanresia's speaking snake and her own organic eyes
scanned my photographs, though something in the way Lanresia looked
at the photos told me she had seen these before.

“
We don't know for sure
why your sister is working with the Mayor,” Lanresia said. “We've
been keeping track of her, of course, but so far she has not done
anything except occasionally meet with the Mayor at Crossways Cafe
for lunch. Even then, they don't talk about much; mostly they
discuss the weather, sometimes recent political happenings, but not
much else.”

“
It sounds as though
this Mayor Xacron-Ah fellow is not quite as devious as ye make him
out to be,” I said. “Now ye haven't explained just what this
'Foundation' is. Ye have only said that ye are against Xacron-Ah's
lies and deception, which I know nothing about.”

“
Right,” said Lanresia.
She briefly exchanged looks with the speaking serpent, like she was
asking it a question, before looking back at me. “The Foundation is
a secret organization founded by … well, I can't tell you that.
What I can tell you is that we have been around for a very long
time and have done many things. Our current objective is stopping
Xacron-Ah's plans, which will hurt the people of both worlds if we
fail to stop them in time.”

“
Yet ye told me that ye
do not know what he is trying to do,” I pointed out. “How, then, do
ye know that he is up to no good?”

“
Our founder says so,”
said Lanresia, as if that was obvious. “And our founder is always
right. Not to mention all of the evidence that incriminates him,
although we still don't have enough yet to expose his true nature
to the public.”

“
What government are ye
affiliated with?” I demanded. “The United Federation of Xeeonite
Nations?”

“
We're an independent
organization,” said Lanresia. She gestured at her shoulder. “As you
can tell, we have no symbol, no insignia, nothing to signify who we
are or who we work with. That's intentional, because we can only be
effective by working in the shadows, beneath the foundation of
Xeeo, where no one can see us.”

“
I do not like shadowy
organizations acting behind the scenes,” I said. “Even if your
intentions are pure—which I doubt, but I shall play along with ye
anyway—I find your unwillingness to tell me the truth about your
actions to make ye out to be especially untrustworthy.”

“
You don't need to trust
us,” said Lanresia. “Just listen and understand.”

I thought that was an exceptionally silly
thing to say, but I was getting bored of the subject, as it was
quite clear that Lanresia was not going to tell me much more about
the Foundation or its history. 'Twas time to change the
subject.

“
Ye said it was better
that I try not to contact my sister at all,” I said. “Why is that?
Do ye think my sister would be unhappy to see me?”

“
Because you'll get
killed if you try,” said Lanresia, as if I was being intentionally
dimwitted and stubborn. “Assassin doesn't just protect the Mayor.
It also protects Kiriah and anyone else who the Mayor wants to keep
safe. Whether or not your sister still wants to see you, I don't
know, but I do know you are better off here, where Assassin can't
get you, than up there, where it can.”

“
Give me a sword,” I
said, holding out mine left hand. “Any will do. I will then use it
to slay this machine like a dragon.”

“
Not a good idea,” said
Lanresia. “Assassin is the strongest robot working for the Mayor.
It's never been defeated by anyone before. You'd be a fool to fight
it now, especially since you're still recovering from your last
fight with it.”

I rested my hand on my abdomen, which was
still covered with that bandage. I rubbed my fingers against the
cloth as I said, “You are right, but I am still a Knight of
Se-Dela. We are supposed to fight no matter how badly we are
injured, especially when our family is in danger like this.”

“
Your sister isn't in
any danger, from what we can tell,” said Lanresia, shaking her
head. “Every time we've seen her, she's always been protected by
Assassin. She doesn't seem to be held against her own will, at
least.”

“
Nonsense,” I said. I
lowered the photographs onto my lap. “My sister would never
willingly work with a criminal like this Xacron-Ah fellow. I knew
Kiriah. She was a righteous woman, even more so than I, for she
never worked for any sort of criminal gang even once.”

Lanresia held up her hands again. “I don't
know everything that's going on. I'm just saying that it seems like
your sister is not being held captive. Can you think of any reason
why she might willingly work with Xacron-Ah? As you are her
brother, you should know her better than anyone.”

“
No reason for this
behavior of hers comes to mind,” I responded. “Assuming, of course,
my fair sister is even doing that. Ye have lodged nothing but
baseless accusations at her, offering not even the flimsiest of
evidence with which to convict her.”

“
Well, could you tell us
any reason she might have for disappearing in the first place?”
said Lanresia. She swiped at her holograph, turning it back around
to face her, and then swiped across its surface before placing one
finger on it, as if to catch a bug that had landed there suddenly.
“According to our records, your sister disappeared from her home in
Northern Se-Dela on the third day of the fifth month six years ago.
At the time, there were only three other people in her home; you,
your older brother Sura, and a family friend called
Hajan.”

I tensed. My memory returned to that
fateful night. Even now, I could still remember the sounds of the
rain pattering against the roof, the rolling of thunder across the
sky, and our own frantic attempts as my brother, our friend, and I
searched for Kiriah, who we had thought might be hiding somewhere
in the house.

But I pushed away those memories. They
were too painful for me to focus on right now; indeed, I had spent
many a year ignoring these memories, for on that night something
else terrible happened, something I had done my best to avoid
remembering. I had done much a good job of avoiding its memory so
far, but Lanresia's words were starting to jog that memory and I
did not want that.

So I said, “All of that is correct, but
irrelevant. My sister had no reason to disappear or run away. She
never even mentioned Xacron-Ah around us before. I stand by my
belief that she was kidnapped, but by who, I cannot say.”

I hoped that Lanresia did not notice how I
refused to elaborate on the facts she had just read to me from her
hologram. Granted, what I remembered was unlikely to be very useful
to her, but knowledge was power and I was not going to give her any
more power over me, not when I still knew so little about her.

“
I guess we'll see which
one of us is right soon enough,” said Lanresia. She stood up, the
hologram flashing back into the eyes of her speaking snake as she
did so. “Now, Apakerec, I think I have told you as much as you need
to know for now. I am going to leave, but don't worry, because
we'll send someone soon with some food for you to eat.”

“
Ye are leaving?” I
said. I tried once more to lift my legs, but the action 'twas in
vain, as always. “I shall join ye. My sister is still out there. I
cannot simply sit here and rest, as if I was on vacation in the
Sunny Isles.”

“
Sorry, but we can't let
you do that,” said Lanresia. She nodded at mine legs. “You still
need to rest. Your fight with Assassin took a lot out of you and
it's clear that the medicine is still affecting you. It would be
incredibly foolish to go looking after your sister again; next time
Assassin finds you, it will definitely finish the job it
started.”

I scowled. As much as I was loathed to
admit it, the she-elf had a point. Whilst I did not feel quite as
bad as I had when I had fought with Assassin earlier, I believed
her when she said that I would not survive long if I fought it
again, at least in mine current condition.

But I still did not like being here.
Despite Lanresia's reassurances that this 'Foundation' she belonged
to was a good organization, I deeply distrusted anyone who held me
in captivity and refused to tell me their true motives. The she-elf
was hiding much from me, but sadly I did not think I could get her
to tell me what.