Chapter 4

The ungreased gears on Saw Yatha’s door brought him back to consciousness and put him in an off mood.  He opened his one good eye to see a medical intern occupying the doorway.  It had been four days stuck in this room where Saw had to patiently wait for whoever was in charge to release him.  His general anger was at such a low and simmering boil it was hard for his face to react to anthing.  Four days!  He’d risked everything and innovated beyond anyone’s expectations to deliver Lillian back to prison.  Yet he was trapped in this sad excuse of a medical facility.

Saw glared at the intern, his desire to vent his anger palpable, but he restrained himself, knowing that it would not bode well in the eyes of Chieftan Dol. He sat on his hands.

“Yes?” he asked.

“What is your name?” the intern said, double-checking his records.

“Saw Yatha,” he said for the hundredth time.  Why did they have to ask these questions at every encounter?

“And your citizen registry number?”

“CRN-4502-89XR-23L.”

The intern followed along with the protocol to the letter.  He looked up and smiled at the patient.  “Mister Yatha?  It looks like you’ve been cleared of all contaminants and are free to go.”

Saw Yatha sat motionless.

“Did you have any questions?”

“I’m just to walk out of here?” Saw asked.  “No escort?”

The intern looked confused.  “Did you have anyone here to pick you up?”

Saw grunted and stood to his feet.  Without saying a word, he walked out of the room.

“Have a good day,” the intern called after him.

Saw Yatha stood outside the medical facility and gazed at the hustle and bustle of the market square.  Part of him was glad to be home.  The familiar sights and smells warmed his Merlarian heart.  But there was another part, small but undeniably growing, that started to suspect that his home had become an adversary.  He told himself it was likely nothing.  Once he processed Lillian and made his report to Chieftain Dol, his opinion of Valdrin might begin to improve.

“Saw Yatha.  It’s been a while,” Saw heard to his left.  He turned and saw another young-faced nobody extending a hand in greeting.  This face looked mildly familiar to him, but not in that uniform.  The uniform was very familiar to him.  It was the uniform of the Head Administrator of Prisons.  It had been his uniform before he left to track down Lillian.

“Who are you?” Saw asked, not returning the gesture.

“Amnon Saxe.  The…”

“Head of Prisons,” Saw finished.  “That used to be my uniform.”

Amnon Saxe tucked both hands behind his back.  “You’ve been away for a while.”

“Hm,” Saw grunted and set his jaw.  “To what do I owe the privilege of your presence, Mister Head Administrator?”

Amnon tried a disarming grin, “You have something that needs to be processed.”

“The princess,” Saw said.

“The princess,” Amnon agreed.  “If you could surrender the containment device, I will see that she is processed fully and restored to her cell.”

Saw suppressed a laugh. “Oh no.  She escaped on my watch.  I traveled long distances to track her down.  I will process her personally.”

“That truly isn’t necessary,” Amnon said.

“Be that as it may, that is the way it is.”

The two men sized up each other for a moment before Amnon extended his arm for Saw to lead the way to the prison.  “Then after you.”

Saw walked across the square.  He noticed the new construction of the prison building.  When he was Head Administrator, the building loomed over a city block.  Now, the complex took up three and soared into the Merlain sky.  Knowing that the majority of the prisoners were contained below street level, Saw wondered what all of the extra space above ground was for.  Offices?  Had Dol’s bureaucracy gotten so bloated as that?  What did all those people do?

He looked over at this young upstart walking beside him.  There was something about him Saw couldn’t put his mind around.  “You look familiar,” Saw said, breaking the silence between them.

Without looking in Saw’s direction, Amnon said, “I used to work in your offices before you left.”

“I see.  And how long before you took my position?”

“I’d like to think I earned it,” Amnon said.

“How long?”

“Six cycles.  The initial replacements for the position were -”

“And how long have I been away?” Saw cut him off.

“Eleven.”

Saw grunted again, and the two men finished the walk without further conversation.

They arrived at the front door of the National Prison Center.  The men were greeted by a delightful-looking woman.  Saw’s demeanor softened immediately.

“Keetha Cata,” he smiled.

“Saw,” the woman said.  “It’s been a while.”

“Too long.  You are quite the sight for this one good eye of mine.”

Keetha looked at her records.

“Is everything ready?” Amnon said.

“You tell me,” Keetha said, looking up at Amnon.  Saw caught something in her glance that put him back in a sour mood.  He had been away too long.  When he left, Keetha was wet behind the ears with a promising career in the Merlain government ahead of her.  He had picked her out of obscurity and trained her personally.  With a perfect mix of tact, guile, and administrative skill, she was destined to be a force to deal with for a long time as his personal assistant.  That his attraction to her skill had gotten entangled in his attraction to her face only made his expectations for her future stronger.

Saw read on the name bar attached to her uniform that she was currently the assistant to this Amnon Saxe, and the look she gave him hinted at something more.  He eyed Amnon Saxe carefully.  Not only had Saxe maneuvered his way into what was rightfully Saw’s, but he had somehow maneuvered his way into the affections of his woman.  If Valdrin was an adversary to Saw Yatha, he now suspected that Amnon Saxe was a bona fide enemy.

Amnon Saxe turned to Saw Yatha.  “Now that we are safely inside the prison facility, would you please show us the device?”

Not taking his eyes off Amnon, Saw reached into his black cloak and pulled out a shiny, silver cube.  Saw sneered at Amnon.

Amnon’s gaze went from Yatha’s to the cube and back.  Then, Amnon turned to Keetha.  “Lead the way.”

Keetha headed along a corridor lined with carrier tubes.  The trio waited in silence for the next tube down.  Saw looked again at Keetha’s blond hair pulled tightly into a knot, revealing the shape of her neck.  “It’s good to see you again, Miss Kata.”

She turned and smiled pleasantly at her former boss.  “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” she said before facing the tube doors again.  The door lit up.

“Here we are,” said Amnon.  The door slid open, and the group stepped in.

The ride to the maximum security level was coldly silent, which only made the long ride toward the realm’s core longer than normal.

The idea for the labyrinth of underground cells was the brainchild of Saw Yatha while he served as Head Administrator of Prisons.  He had come into that position at the same time Zungher Dol had gained power over the Merlain natives.  As the reach of Dol’s power and ambition spidered out subduing realm after realm, there were increasing amounts of prisoners and decreasing space for them.  While as many of these enemies of the Merlain realm were being processed and executed as efficiently as possible, the existing prison system was very much overrun.  Chieftan Dol said that he had no desire to reduce his standards of justice just to keep prison populations down.  At the same time, he did not want his vision of Valdrin, or the Merlain countryside dotted with increasing amounts of prisons.  So, Yatha proposed digging below the surface.  The prisons could spread and spread while causing no unsightly sprawl.

At that time, Saw Yatha had the complete faith and trust of Chieftan Dol, and the underground prisons were built to his exact specifications.  They had been a fearful success.  The growing understanding throughout the conquered realms was that there was only one way out of a Merlain prison, and that was on your way to a grave.  The only imperfection in this reputation was Princess Lillian, and she was headed right back where she belonged.

Saw Yatha straightened up a little at this reminder and looked forward to the moment he put Lillian in her cell for the last time.

The carrier tube came to a halt, the door slid open, and Keetha Cata once again took the lead to Lillian’s cell.

“We’ve updated the security features of the cell,” Amnon informed Saw.  “Obviously, we don’t want a repeat of what happened to her before.  The cell has been lined so that she will not be able to work her powers or infect the minds of the guards.  No one blames you for her escape,” Amnon kept his eyes to the front.  “The important thing is that we learn from our mistakes.”

Saw Yatha restrained his anger.  It was not his mistake in the first place.  The mistake was that the shift leader had gotten too lax in keeping the protocols and allowed the guards to get too friendly with the Princess.  She hadn’t caused problems and was not seen as a threat.  Little did they know.  All it took was one moment, and she got into the mind of a weak-minded guard who led her out the back door, where she promptly rendered the man unconscious and vanished.  It was not his mistake.  It was his brilliance that was able to track her down across dimensions to return her.  Saw Yatha couldn’t wait to meet with Zingher Dol and ruin Amnon Saxe’s life.

Keetha stopped at a door, pressed in a code, and the clear door slid open.  The cell was sterile and angular.  There was no place to hide, be comfortable, or dig out.  Saw noticed two surveillance lenses had been installed in opposing corners, but the untrained eye would have easily missed them.  Those were new.  Even Saw conceded that it was a needed upgrade.

“If you would do the honors,” Amnon said to Saw.  Saw Yatha again pulled out the containment unit, squeezed the sides, and the top sprang open.  Lillian’s harmless-looking pearl shape once again levitated in the center of the cell.  A moment later, there was an intense flash of light and after it died down, Princess Lillian of Coellum was standing before her captors.  There was a look of distress on her noble face, which indicated that the transition from pearl to person had not been under her control.

“I think you’ll find your stay with us different, Princess,” Amnon said.  “You will not make fools of us twice.”  Amnon turned to the others, “Shall we?”  Keetha and Saw stepped out of the cell, the door slid closed, and that was that.

 Saw soon saw himself standing back out on Market Square with his mission accomplished, his title stripped, and his potential mate’s affections stolen.  He pondered his next course for a few moments.  Yatha looked up to the top of the building directly opposite him.  At the top of the building was the person, perhaps even now, even at the great distance, they looked at each other, who would turn his life back to the glory it had once been.  With confident steps, Saw Yatha began to cross the square toward the Chieftan’s tower.