Token (Token Chronicles) (13 page)

It was Cydnee who posed the question to Jayce after they finally quit showing the footage of Tokens being massacred.

“What happens to the women who are bought as Tokens? I did not see any women fighting each other. What does that mean?”

I could tell we would not like his answer the way his eyes immediately darted to Daylen. He did not look back at us to speak.

Daylen said with trepidation, “Women who are bought as Tokens can be used in the arena from time to time to spice things up, but generally they are only thrown into that scenario as punishment for not cooperating or… if the Elitists have grown tired of them.”

“I don’t understand. What do you mean?” Nayze asks.

I began to fear her answer because of Jayce’s immediate recoil from the question.

“Female Tokens are not used for the arena. They are used for something else. Many of the old Elitists force upon them something that is only supposed to be shared between a man and wife.”

The room fell silent with understanding. We all knew what she meant now. It was something Hadley and I had discussed several times. Being together. We obviously had the opportunities, but we resisted our temptations so many times lying together on our porch. I am glad we had now since there were obviously so many people watching us all the time.

 She would recount the pictures of her mother in her beautiful white gown on her wedding day and her father in a dashing tuxedo. She wanted us to be married before our bodies ever became one. I had hoped one day we would be able to escape from our lives as Tokens. I could give her a real wedding. I would take on the entire world if it meant she could become my wife. Now that we are both in Ridian, we may actually get our chance at a life together. An opportunity to get the happiness we always dreamed of is possible.

“These are what most of the battles are actually for. They are not only to watch men die. Instead, they bet the rights to one of their Tokens on every fight. To the victor belong the spoils. The Elitist who owns the winning fighter then gets his pick of any Token the other Elitist owns. Some prefer to take the best warrior the other owns in order to diminish his chances at winning future fights. Most others take the most beautiful female Token as their own.”

“In fact,” Jayce states, “every year, all of the Elite camps put up one fighter. This is their biggest battle of the year. The Melee. There are fifteen Elite camps, which means fifteen fighters. This is the only way the lower tiered Elitists are able to ever become members of the top class. The Top 5 Camps are referred to as the Select: our camp here in Ridian, Silon, Agemo, Halpa, and Aut Elite Camps. They are the richest camps with the most Tokens and most victories in the battles. One of these five camps wins the Melee almost every single year. Many of the Elite camps choose to train one individual male for years building up to the event. Most Tokens don’t live past a few fights, but those that have been specially trained for the fight for long periods of time tend to do well.”

“What happens if a fighter wins the battle?” I ask.

“The winning fighter is granted his freedom, and the winning Elitist is granted the opportunity to select one Token from every other camp.”

Suddenly, both Jayce and Daylen pop up and stand straight as boards. They bring their right hands to the tip of their hats and are saluting someone.

“At ease,” a booming voice says from behind us. I whip around to see a sandy haired man with graying hairs sprinkled throughout his neatly combed locks. He is a tall and menacing figure, but has one distinct dimple in his left cheek that lightens his features. He has a familiarity about him that I cannot shake.

“Actually, we have several of the winning fighters who won their freedom present in this very camp. They came here as volunteers because they want to redeem themselves for the acts they have committed. They desire, just as much as we do, to see the entire system collapse on its face.”

The man turns around at the front of the room and powerfully stares at all of us before he addresses us again.

 “I am General Ridian, but outside of this camp, I am simply known as Adalai Ridian. I am the Elitist who owns this camp. I am the one who bought you.”

Nayze raises his hand. The General instructs, “You can speak freely, son.”

“I am sorry sir, but I am just having a hard time understanding why an Elitist with the benefit of wealth and power would sacrifice all of that to build an army to take down the whole system. What’s in it for you?”

“Quite simple, son. Redemption. Just as the winners of the Melee who earned their freedom, I must also atone for my sins by destroying Grodar. I met a woman who captured my heart. She showed me the light, the way. She led me away from my unrighteous path. She took away my numbness to the pain and death I was causing to others. At first, I was disgusted with myself for letting such misery and murder to exist at my hands. I was terribly upset. But she never let go. She showed me a way to redeem myself. Not only to end this program, but to eliminate all of Grodar. To eliminate Cromus and his rule which have forced so much misery upon the citizens of this country, and especially on the Tokens. Cromus will get what is coming to him, but we will need your help in this quest.”

Rogan asks, “What is it exactly you are asking of us?”

“We purchased all of you because of your potential. You are to become warriors and leaders for the Rebellion. As we said, you are free to leave if you so choose, but if you choose to commit to the Rebellion, you are in it until the end, win or lose.”

I look over to Nayze and without speaking, we know we are both now in this fight. We will not allow such an injustice to exist. Nayze and I both stand and make our plea to the others.

“We cannot sit idly by while these indecent and horrendous acts are allowed to happen to our friends,” Nayze says. “To what could have happened to us if we were not bought by Ridian.”

“We need to do this, not just for our friends who were sold, but for the freedom of every person left on those Islands, for the freedom of every child who is being Hawked, and for the freedom of every citizen of Knav from the tyranny of Cromus and Grodar!” I yell. “I do not want to walk out of here today with freedom I do not yet deserve while others are allowed to suffer in my place. I want to take it from the hands of those who forced slavery and abuse upon the Tokens!”

“Stand if you are with us,” Nayze says.

Rogan and Butler both stand up. “You can count on us,” Butler says.

Cydnee stares at me with a wild look in her eyes and says, “Just let me get my hands on one of those rich bastards. I’m in.”

“That’s the spirit,” the General encouraged.

We all five stood together and swore in as members of the Rebellion right there. The General asked us all to repeat after him.

I will give everything to the Rebellion

Whether it be my own life or limb

I will never give up

I will never surrender

It is for the FREEDOM that we fight

It for the FREEDOM we must never falter

And it is for the FREEDOM we will not fail!

It is my oath that is still burning deep inside me, fueling my newfound passion to fight for the freedom of this country. But after we swore in, I was immediately brought here for my meeting with Hadley while the others were being issued their uniforms.

The moment I have been trying so hard to reach for the past few months has finally arrived. The reunion that has driven my every action, my every move. The thought of this moment has been what has gotten me through each day. The reason I never gave up hope. Because I still knew this was possible.

Until now, we have never been apart longer than a day since she took care of me after I was jolted out in the District by Gunnar. She brought me back to my shack and put me in my bed. She sang me to sleep and never let go of my hand. She fell asleep right next to me cradled in my arms. Normally, this would have warranted punishment for the both of us and more jolting, but I suspect Zeke may have been the one on shift that night because we were never reported. When we woke in the morning, I did not know what to say. I could not fathom how to thank someone for doing so much for me when I had not been the friendliest person to her in the past. In fact, I did everything I could to avoid her. She did not even give me the chance to speak. She leaned in and gave me my first kiss. From that moment on, I was hers. The thought of her lips pressed firmly against mine evoke my strong yearning to touch her again. To see her and hold her.

I hear the door behind me begin to slowly creak open, and I instinctively jump up with anticipation ready for her to come run and vigorously leap into my arms. I cannot stop my smile that is already spreading from ear to ear. First, two soldiers walk in, and then I finally see a pair of dark green eyes peering back at me with great intensity. My smile disappears in an instant. These eyes do not belong to Hadley.

Chapter 8

We both motionlessly stand there eyeing each other without words. I intended to see Hadley walk through the door, and now I am face to face with a woman who is staring at me as if she was expecting someone else too. There is a sense of familiarity about her though. Her lightly bronzed and curled hair down to her shoulders. Her dark green piercing eyes peering softly into me. She continues staring at me as if I am someone she already knows. As if I should already know who she is. I begin to grow uneasy with the uncomfortable silence.

“Who are you?” I demand. “Why did they say I would want to see you? Where is Hadley?”

She calmly walks up to me and gently grabs me by my hands, cupping each of hers over mine.

“I will answer all of your questions. I promise. Please let’s sit,” she says gesturing towards the table.

As we sit down, she continues to gaze at me with amazement. She begins to chuckle. “I cannot believe you are really here sitting with me. I never thought this day would come.”

She motions for Sgt. Merk to exit the room. He obediently leaves without question. This woman must hold some sort of authority here.

“Your name is Kincaid?”

I give her a head nod to acknowledge she is correct. I frankly do not feel like speaking to the woman. It is obvious this was the meeting set up for me. One not involving Hadley. But I should play nice. She may know some valuable information. She may be able to lead me to her.

“I like that name, Kincaid. It suits you.”

“Thank you,” I reply. “Now, you said you would answer my questions. Can you start giving me some answers?”

“Not a patient one I see,” she responds. “But yes, I am sure we will have time to talk about more personal matters later.”

She breaks her gaze away from me and takes a long deep breath and exhales softly.

“My name is Lo. I am the wife of Adalai Ridian,” she says with pride. “I believe you met him earlier in the orientation.”

I am not sure if I am supposed to be impressed by this fact or not, but I respectfully say, “Oh, yes. He spoke very highly of you.”

“Oh, he always over embellishes I am sure. He is a kind man. You should know that. You should trust him. Most importantly, you should trust me.”

“Maybe I will if you start to answer some of my questions.”

“Okay, fire away.”

“Where is Hadley? I thought she was going to be the one I was going to meet.”

“I am sorry to be the one who has to tell you this, especially after what you just learned, but she was purchased by the Silon Elite camp months ago. She has never been here in Ridian.”

The thought of what may be happening to her erupts inside of me. She has been there for months. Suffering through abuse and torture at the hands of men forcing themselves on her. I cannot stay here any longer. I have to go find her immediately. I have to set her free.

I instinctively jump up out of my chair ready to take off and find my way out of this room. Out of this camp. Only one thing matters right now. Saving Hadley.

Before I can head towards the door, Lo is in front of me with her hand in my chest shoving me backwards. I am tempted to use force to move her out of my way, but I restrain myself.

“Move!” I shout.

“Where are you going?”

“I am going to save Hadley.”

“Oh is that right? So you are going to leave here and find your way to Silon all on your own? You have never even left the Islands until today. You have no idea where or how to get there. And when you do get there, do you think you are just going to waltz in, take her, and leave? Those camps are guarded with hundreds of men with weapons, men who are highly skilled and trained.”

“Well I have to do something, I can’t just stay here while…” I can’t even say the words.

She pulls me in close and gives me a warm hug.

“We can get her back,” she whispers in my ear.

“How?”

“You heard in the orientation room. To the victor belong the spoils.”

“You mean…”

“Yes,” she interrupts. “If one of the Tokens from Ridian wins a battle against a Silon Token, we can claim her as our reward.”

“Tokens from Ridian? I thought there were no Tokens here. I thought everyone here was a soldier of his own free will.”

“Well, it is not entirely true. We do have a persona to keep up. We are an Elite camp, one of the Select. We are expected to participate in the battles. We have to send out Tokens to compete. We cannot allow suspicion to be raised about our true motives, about our desire to rebel or Cromus would send his army. Our greatest strength right now will be the element of surprise.”

The audacity of these people. They entice us to join their ranks because of the cruelties suffered by the Tokens, yet they still send people out to suffer through the battles as well.

I angrily say, “You are all hypocrites. You detest these battles and you still send out men to die in them.”

“No, no, no,” she says. “You’ve got it all wrong. We have a special group of people who volunteer for these battles. They train specially to compete in them. For the greater good of our cause, they compete.”