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JASIRA’S CHEEK PRESSED AGAINST the cold stone floor. Her hands were covered with bruises, and her eyelids were heavy. The room she was in was almost too dark to know if her eyes were even open; it just bright enough for her to see the vague forms of the objects in front of her. But she couldn’t focus because her eyes ached as if they’d been plucked out and reinserted in their sockets.
Prianaj groaned in the space next to Jasira, pounding the ground with her fist. Jasira tried to rush to comfort her, but the metal bars between them blocked her. The bars glowed red with heat, and she quickly moved away from them before she burnt herself.
“Prianaj, where are we?” Jasira asked as she backed away from the bars.
Prianaj grunted as the soft glow of the bars travelled through the entire dungeon. Suddenly, the bars appeared behind her, above her and in every direction she turned. She was trapped in a cage; the entire room was filled with endless rows of cages each glowing soft crimson. Prianaj was in the one beside her, and a stranger in the next one down.
“It’s the dungeon. We’re in the citadel,” Prianaj said, pushing herself off the ground.
Jasira immediately thought about Adam. She called out his name but didn’t get a reply. In the cage opposite hers, there was a young woman who appeared to be in her late teens. Her face was smeared with dirt, and her hair was bushy.
“Have you seen a little boy, about this high?” Jasira asked the woman, raising her hand to indicate Adam’s height.
“A boy? Never in my life. Not in my nineteen years on Earth,” she replied.
“Prianaj, do you know where they might have taken Adam?”
“He could be anywhere; the citadel is huge. I don’t think they would have locked him in here with us. Samaari would have questions for him. And questions for us too.”
Tears streamed down Jasira’s cheeks.
“I’ve gotten him killed,” she sobbed.
“No, Jasira. Don’t think like that. They won’t touch him before they talk to us.”
“You’re right,” she said, wiping her face. “Besides, he’s protected under Elaine’s authority.”
“Not exactly.”
“What?”
“He’s only protected if he has the necklace. Since he doesn’t, Samaari doesn’t know of the protection vow.”
“I have to get this to him then,” Jasira said, pulling out the necklace.
“Put that away. If the Cerberi see you with that, it’s over for us all.”
“What do they want with it anyway?”
“There’s something very important that can only be unlocked with all three necklaces. When the Cerberi attacked us back home, they demanded I hand over Elaine’s necklace. They wanted mine as well. Obviously, I had neither, so they took us. Samaari must be collecting them to open it.”
“What do they open?”
“It’s like that metal box, the one with all the letters. The lock on the lid can only be opened with the necklace. There’s a vault embedded in the wall behind the throne. With all three necklaces, it can be opened. But nobody has ever opened it. When I was still in the citadel, we had all three necklaces in our possession, but we basically forgot about the vault. There was no reason to open it.”
“What’s inside it?” Jasira asked.
“I’m not entirely sure. They say that whatever is in the vault can be used to destroy but it cannot be destroyed.”
“What does that even mean?”
“We never questioned it,” Prianaj continued. “Diektra was doing just fine before all this.”
“I still have to get the necklace to Adam. But where would they have put him?”
A metal door opened, scraping against the stone walls. The noise echoed throughout the dungeon, rattling the cages. The other prisoners hushed their voices and made little movement. Cerberi entered in pairs. They pressed a button on a machine similar to the generator Jasira destroyed years ago. The electricity passing through one of the cages in front was turned off. Its bars stopped glowing, and one of the Cerberi unlocked it. From a distance, Jasira recognised the Cerberi, Bexi, the one who captured them.
“Come now. Time to go,” Bexi said to the prisoner.
“Where are we going?” the prisoner screamed in fear.
“Guess we’ll find out, won’t we?” Bexi said as she dragged the prisoner out of the cage by her legs.
The other Cerberi grabbed the prisoner’s arms, and together, they lifted her out of the dungeon with the door slamming behind them. The other pair of Cerberi walked up and down the gaps between the cages, hitting their batons against the bars. Jasira didn’t know if they were trying to scare the prisoners or just mocking them. Nevertheless, she knew she didn’t want to be there anymore. Besides, just like in Sirena’s letter, the citadel was dark and had a foul odour – in the dungeons at least.
The Cerberi laughed in the faces of the prisoners, mimicking their cries. They were wicked and had no self-control. One of the Cerberi moved to Jasira’s cage and scratched a knife on the bars.
“Where’s my son?” Jasira shouted, leaping to her feet.
“This one talks,” the Cerberi said, laughing. “Aye Frayda, this here is the mother of that creature.”
Frayda struck her baton against Jasira’s cage.
“You shouldn’t have spoken to them,” Prianaj said.
“You’re just as insignificant as the others in here,” Frayda said to Prianaj. “Hang on. Do my eyes dare deceive me? I haven’t seen you in a long, long, long time,” she said, laughing. “Prianaj, if I remember correctly. You were banished, you no longer have authority here.”
“What happened to all you Cerberi? I never trained you this way,” Prianaj asked with disappointment in her voice.
“Times change, don’t they? Charley, bring the mother. The beast might be hungry, and the queen will want to see Prianaj,” Frayda said.
Jasira moved to the back of the cage.
“Beast?” she asked, quivering and drenched in sweat.
“It gets hungry,” Charley whispered.
The two Cerberi restrained Jasira and took her through tight corridors illuminated by fire-lit torches. They stopped in front of a door, and Jasira heard a low growl coming from behind it. Frayda unlocked it with a fancy-looking key and threw Jasira inside. Everything happened too quickly for Jasira to fight back or even scream.
The room she was in was warmer, probably from the heat of the sunlight coming through the gaps in the wall. Smeared across the floor and walls was a sticky red solution. Jasira felt it between her fingers and instantly knew it was blood. She could see a river down below through one of the gaps in the wall. The only other parts of the citadel she could see were the roof and a courtyard much further down below. She couldn’t see much else, but she noticed the room she was in was very high above the ground.
There was a part of the room that was completely dark. Something growled, slowly. It poked its head into the sun, and its menacing black eyes reflected the light. Jasira stayed close to the wall, her back flat against it. The beast’s sharp claws scraped against the floor as it emerged from the shadows. Its mouth opened to reveal diamond white fangs. A breeze entered the room through the gaps in the wall and flowed across the beast’s golden mane. Jasira’s heart pounded so hard that she thought it was about to jump out of her chest. She pushed her legs against the floor, but there was nowhere to go. She squealed. The beast glanced at her. Jasira closed her eyes and thought about every wrong decision she’d taken that had led to her current circumstance. The beast inched closer to her, but it didn’t touch her – not yet.
Jasira slowly opened her eyes and saw the beast bowing in front of her. She exhaled in relief but was still unsure if she was alive. She saw the beast in all its glory; it was a lion. It breathed heavily into her face. She recognised the animal from when she saw one in The Border years ago.
Jasira stretched her arm, and the lion stepped forward and brought its head into her palm. She rubbed her fingers through its soft, silky hair. Then the lion moved its head and pressed its nose on Jasira’s jacket. She felt something hard in her jacket that she wasn’t sure was there before. She removed a small book from her pocket and realised it was the Bible Vaika had gifted her. She turned to a random page and read the first verse she saw.
––––––––
‘My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the
lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me:
forasmuch as before him innocency was
found in me: and also before thee,
O king, have I done no hurt.’ – Daniel 6:22
JUST AS GOD SENT HIS angels to protect Daniel in the lion’s den, Jasira was also saved from the beast.
She bashed on the door for the Cerberi to open up, but they didn’t respond. They were waiting for the lion to attack Jasira, but they didn’t know she had been spared. The lion walked in circles around Jasira and crouched at the door, letting out a thunderous roar. The noise reverberated through the door, and the Cerberi opened up. Jasira stood tall with her shoulders back and head high. The lion stood beside her, ready to pounce.
“The queen needs to see this,” Frayda said, looking at Charley in confusion. “Follow us.”
Jasira followed them up a tall flight of stairs with the lion by her side. Prianaj was being taken in the opposite direction by another set of Cerberi.
Before Jasira reached the top of the stairs, she noticed Adam kneeling down between two guards. She immediately ran to him and threw her arms around him. The guards tried to stop her from touching her son, but Samaari waved her hand at them to allow it. The lion stayed close to Jasira, moving in circles around her and Adam.
“You’re okay. Oh, Adam. I’m so sorry this happened,” she said.
“I don’t believe it,” Samaari said as she rose from the throne.
Jasira looked around quickly and her eyes scanned the room. She bowed and moved to the centre, just opposite Samaari. She peered to the side to see if Prianaj was telling the truth about the vault behind the throne, but there was a large curtain that stretched over it. For the first time, Jasira got the chance to see the queen. She had piercing silver eyes and deep black hair. She was tall and thin; it was almost as if her skeleton could be seen through her pale skin.
“Amazing, isn’t it?” Samaari continued.
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”
“The lion, my beast, was supposed to devour you. Yet, here you are, untouched and unharmed,” she said, tossing the lion a chunk of meat. “Jasira, isn’t it?”
“Yes, your highness. I’m so sorry for all th—”
“No need to apologise. You brought me your greatest weapon. I should be thanking you.”
Jasira paused and raised her eyebrows. Her eyes widened, but when she opened her mouth to speak, no words came out.
“You have no idea what you are,” Samaari said as she called the lion to her side. “Don’t worry, the beast won’t attack me. You see, they used to call lions the kings of the jungle. Dangerous and deadly predators, but still in control of their kingdom. They bring no harm to those with royal blood. Who are you, Jasira?”
“I’m just a regular person. I swear. I’m from The Border.”
“Who are you really?”
“I never knew my mother.”
“Don’t lie to me. You were found in Monday,” Samaari said as she slapped the back of her hand across Jasira’s face. “Elaine found you for a reason. I would ask her but, you know, she’s dead.”
“We moved to Monday after I gave birth,” Jasira said, touching her reddened cheek. “With all due respect, your highness, Elaine wasn’t looking for me. She had been looking for my son for seven years.”
“Why would she be looking for the boy,” Samaari asked as she regained composure.
“I’m not sure. The only thing Elaine said before she died was that the boy is proof,” Jasira said as she flinched every time Samaari made a movement.
“Proof of what?”
“I don’t know that either,” Jasira said, looking towards the ground.
“And how long have you known Prianaj?”
“She lived in The Border and has helped me out ever since I had my son.”
Samaari sat back on her throne and began to play with a dagger, spinning it around her fingers.
“You know, Jasira, I can’t let the boy live.”
“No, no, please. Elaine, he’s under the protection of Elaine,” Jasira said, pulling out the necklace.
“Give that to me,” Samaari demanded.
“I won’t let you take this,” Jasira said, placing the necklace around Adam’s neck. “Elaine protected him, and you can’t touch him now that he has the necklace. And you can’t take the necklace off him, he’ll have to take it off himself.”
“Adam don’t take off the necklace, okay. Promise me you won’t,” she implored Adam.
“Promise,” he replied, nodding.
“Elaine trusted me, and she believed that Adam was destined for something great. So I will honour her wishes, and you have to as well.”
“Take that thing off him this instant,” Samaari said, her veins bulging in her neck. “Who do you think you are to do this?”
“My name Jasira Revken. A nobody from The Border.”
Samaari took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Her tone immediately changed.
“Take the lion back to its den,” she said to the Cerberi. She then stood up and opened the double doors on the left wall. “Take Jasira to my quarters.”