El'Anorath (First Draft)

Chapter Six

         Somewhere deep in Corrin City, Nathalya found herself locked, weaponless, in a small room with nothing but a candle for light and a thin mattress and blanket.  Her restraints had been removed, but, as she couldn't blink through solid stone, may as well have stayed on. 

         As she was lost in thought, walking circles around the room, the door opened slowly and a man with a young but astute looking face walked in wearing what could be derived to be a robe of royalty.  A think black belt was clasped over his thin waist and a long sword hung from it.  Fearing the man slightly, Nathalya put her back to the wall.

         "Fear not, lost one.  I have not come here to harm you,"  said the man softly.

         "What is this place?" asked Nathalya. 

         "You are in the house of Kel'Anor, in Corrin City," he said softly.

         "Are you Kel'Anor?" asked Nathalya.

         "No, I am Tesson, Lord Commander of the Corrinites.  It seems, however, that you do not know your own history very well.  Kel'Anor designed the titans used for the salvation, and later, the destruction, of Erath.  He was very powerful and wise."

         "He was a Calari?"

         "Nay, he is the father of the Calari, a god amongst the races of man.  From him was born the Calari, and he showed them how to build and control the titans."

         "Are you a Calari?"

         "I am, and so are several of those in my service.  I believe you've met my Lieutenant?"

         "I have, nice fellow," she said.  Lord Tesson smiled lightly.

         "A regrettable circumstance and turn of events.  I had hoped they wouldn't need to resort to capturing you against your will."

         "It is still my will to be here, just not in this fashion.  Your Lieutenant threatened me."

         "I see," replied Lord Tesson.  "He isn't much of a people person.  Just the same;  I will tell you what I have come here to say, then decide whether or not you will stay here, or if I can find you a more," he paused, "comfortable living arrangement."

         "Very well," said Nathalya.  The Commander motioned for her to have a seat on the stone floor and water was brought to them.  He paced as he recounted his story.

         "How much do you know about the Calari?" he asked.  Nathalya eyed him for a moment.

         "Only what little my mother has told me," she replied.

         "Allow me to bring you up to speed," he said.  "As you know, the Calari, who were native to El'Anorath, were sent to save Erath many years ago.  The titans were built and, for a time, Erath was renewed.  There was a group of men, who would later become the forefathers of the Corrinites, who saw the power of the titans wasted after the reconstruction.  The titans stood as idle guardians and this angered the men.  They wanted to use the titans as great weapons of war.

         "The power of the titans was too much for their untrained minds and the titans turned on their masters and then the rest of Erath.  As Erath was being torn asunder, those that had the means, made their escape to distant planets.  The Corrinites found themselves on El'Anorath.  Not by mistake, though.  There was one, a Calari, who told them, before realizing their intentions, where there could be found a titan of unmatched power.

         "The Calari withdrew from Erath or were left behind.  Many simply faded away.  There are many Calari born children, or Calaren, such yourself.  Calaren have great potential and can almost match the Calari for power.  My Lieutenant and five others in my service you have yet to meet are also Calaren.  I awakened them from stasis about eighty five years ago.  There are five more that remain in stasis within this house, likely never to awaken.  The last three I attempted to wake up, unfortunately, did not survive the process.

         "It is likely that there are many more like you.  Indeed I was surprised when I heard reports of a potential Calaren in the service of the Alliance - you must feel so out of place.  To my knowledge, you are the youngest Calaren, but I believe I have your part of the story mostly figured out.

         "Most escaped Erath during an evacuation led by the Old Alliance or by private means if they had the resources. I'm guessing your mother ended up on a cargo ship borne for Pharris, where she was exiled from her brothers and sisters who, for the most part, returned to El'Anorath.  Some years later, she met your father, who would eventually learn of her true identity.  You lived in secrecy and she helped you to awaken to your powers.  You were probably only fifteen when she faded away.  Now I am the last of the Elder Calari."

         "Why does any of this matter?" interrupted Nathalya.  "And why is it you have not faded away as well?  I thought all Calari had faded away."

         "Patience, young one.  All in due time," Lord Tesson replied, then continued.  "The Corrinites rallied around the house of Kel'Anor when they arrived on El'Anorath.  They were leaderless, but dreamed of rebuilding an even greater empire. In my mercy, I accepted their pleas and became their Lord Commander. However, though I may rule over the Corrinites, all of human kind deserve to be punished for their misuse of the titans.  They should have been wiped from existence.  Instead, they were spared, and now I bide my time until I uncover and take control of the master titan: Orion.

         "Once I control Orion, I will become powerful enough to take control of the planetary system and demand penance for human weakness.  This is where you come in.  I need a pilot.  A mere human won't be enough to satiate the master titan's appetite."

         "It's appetite?" asked Nathalya.

         "For a titan to be completely awake, there needs to be a sacrifice to the titan.  A volunteer would be presented, and then fused with the titan before it can be controlled. Orion demands a stronger sacrifice, one of Calari blood.  But that isn't enough for me.  For my needs, and now that I know you exist, I require a special kind of Calari blood.  One of...royal descent."

         Nathalya looked at him again with a confused look.

         "I was present for the building of the titans and have seen a record of all Calari who were also present during their construction.  There was a name that stood out, it is a name you should be very familiar with, as you share it with your mother, do you not?"

         Nathalya nodded.  Indeed her mother's name had been passed down to her.

         "Very good," replied Tesson.  "Nathalya was very special, though you might not know it.  Her flight into exile was detrimental to Kel'Anor.  He had great plans for her, for she was to be fused with the master titan.  Who better to fuse with such a wonderful construct than the daughter of Kel'Anor himself?"

         "My mother was supposed to be sacrificed to some titan?" interrupted Nathalya.

         "She would have been part of the most powerful engine of war ever created.  But she read her father's mind and fled. I just hope that when she faded, it wasn't a return to her father's wrath, but I digress.  This makes you the one true living heir to Kel'Anor, his grand-daughter.  You are the direct descendant to the father of the Calari himself."

         Nathalya stayed quite for a time, trying to make sense of it all.  When she didn't reply, Lord Tesson continued.

         "I could give just about anyone to Orion, but as the daughter of the daughter of Kel'Anor, I figured I would give you the honor of completing his vision.  Together, we would rule the system."

         "Where is the titan?" asked Nathalya.

         "My armies are continuing their search, I feel we are getting very close and the Alliance menace will not hinder me much longer."

         "You must be searching the Hollin Mountains, I'd heard the people there consider that land to be sacred and that would explain why there is such a heavy resistance there.  And I doubt now, that the Alliance would pay such a heavy cost just to build some communications tower."

         "Clever girl," said a smiling Tesson.

         "You still haven't explained why it is that you are allowed to stay behind rather than join the rest of the Calari."

         "Who can determine the reasoning behind Kel'Anor's decisions?  Surely not you or I.  He will have his reasons, but if I should chance a guess, I would say he wants me to finish his work with the titans.  There may be others like me who haven't faded, but I doubt it.  I can't...feel them as I used to. 

         "I don't know why he decided to leave and call us to him one by one, but I don't think that any of them shall return, at least not in this age of the worlds.  I may, if you behave yourself, allow you in time to visit our hall of records and you can look for yourself the answers to any other questions I have left unanswered.

         "For now, I think it best that you rest and keep your strength.  I don't know how long it will be before the master titan is found, but in the meantime, don't try to escape or signal for help.  I have worse places to put guests who don't cooperate."

         "Do you have anything stronger than water? I'm having troubling taking all of this in," Nathalya asked.

         "Forgive me, we don't allow prisoners to consume."

         "So I am a prisoner, then?"

         "I think it best that you remain here, in this room, for the time being."

         "You know that I will not do what you ask, don't you?"

         "You'll change your mind," Tesson said cryptically.  Nathalya stood and stared hard at him.  "You don't know it yet, but you will," he repeated, then walked out of the room and closed and locked the door behind him, leaving Nathalya in cold, black darkness with nothing for company save a low burning candle.

         Nathalya spent most of her time as a prisoner sleeping or pacing in circles in her small room.  She hummed songs while working out when she felt restless.  She could do little more than push-ups or sit-ups, but she knew that staying active would help to pass the hours.  If not for the device in her wrist, Nathalya would have lost all sense of time.  It awoke her, as it always did, at precisely seven o' clock. 

         For a while, she maintained a calendar by scratching lines into the stone walls, and by her reckoning she had just passed into the eighth day of captivity.  Lord Tesson had not returned to speak with her since their first meeting.  Food and drink was given to her through a small chuck hole in the door, and new candles were given each morning.  Her toilet was little more than a hole in the floor that dropped down into darkness.  She thought she might - if she got that desperate - try to use it as an escape route, but the smell issuing forth was revolting.

         Often, she lay on her mattress thinking about everything or nothing at all.  Lord Tesson's words still echoed vividly in her mind, particularly about her mother and father.  She tried to make sense of it all, and why her father would keep so much from her.  She wasn't angry with him, but rather puzzled at the fact that he hadn't mentioned her mother's deep involvement with the titan project.  She wondered if her mother hadn't been completely honest with them, for their protection.

         Through her musings, she suddenly would remember the white envelope given to her by the dying scientist.  The more she dwelt on the mysterious package, the more she wished she had opened it.  Maybe it was the isolation playing with her mind, but she couldn't help but feel that the envelope had something to do with her and the titans. 

         She also reminisced about her younger days, playing with Trinity in the open fields behind her father's house on Pharris.  She remembered one occasion when she and Trinity had been sitting by a small creek on a summer afternoon, their feet submerged in the cool water.  She recalled the warm sun on their necks as they laughed or pointed at fish swimming by. 

         "Let's stay young forever," Trinity said to her on that day.

         "Okay," Nathalya had replied.  "Young and invincible."

         "Promise?"

         "I promise."

         It was only a few years later that Nathalya's mother had left her and her father.  There was no funeral, she simply faded away like salt that dissolves in water.  Trinity had been a tremendous column of support after that day.  If not for her, Nathalya felt she would have been condemned to a boring and meaningless life. 

         Together, they had enrolled in a higher education, and that was great for a while.  They progressed rapidly, but it all came to a halt when Trinity's father died in an accident while serving in combat for the Alliance.  Trinity, in her state of depression, decided she wanted to join the Alliance in order to honor her father.  A few days after he was buried, she had told Nathalya what she wanted to do.  Nathalya couldn't let her go alone, she had made her a promise after all, and they walked side by side to the recruiting office.

         They had been separated several months while they attended training, but the Alliance worked with them in order to reunite afterward.  It wasn't uncommon for friends to join together and work side by side throughout most or all of their service time. If not for this, Nathalya doubted she would have lasted for as long as she had.

         It all seemed so long ago, however.  But she found it interesting to look back at the many different situations, their cause and effect, and how they all eventually led to her laying on her back on a mattress in a small stone room as a prisoner, cold and alone.  Her stomach growled and she licked her dry lips.  Getting to her feet, she walked over to a small basin of water sitting on the floor and filled a wooden ladle.  She drank the cold water sparingly, knowing it would be at least a day before she would receive another bucket.

         After she drank, she set the ladle across the basin and sat on the floor with her back against the wall.  She felt her eyes grow heavy and her head dipped.  She leaned her head back against the wall as she fought against the oncoming sleep.  After a few nods however, she lost the battle and her back scraped against the wall as she fell on her side.  Feeling the cold stone on her cheek, she closed her eyes one last time and fell into an uncomfortable sleep.

         The next morning - as best as she could guess, did not find Nathalya well.  She awoke feeling hot and covered in a sticky sweat.  Her clothes were soaked and her head pained with a dull throb.  When the guards noticed her food was untouched and sitting where they had left it, they opened the door and cautiously approached her.

         Kneeling beside her, one of the guards placed a bare hand across her forehead and a grim look came across his face. He signaled to the other, who ran down the hall.  Returning a few minutes later, the second guard had brought with him an older woman dressed all in white.  She also knelt and placed a hand over Nathalya's forehead, almost immediately withdrawing it. 

         "We must get her to the infirmary, she's not well at all," she said.  The guards lifted Nathalya carefully and carried her down the long hallway.

         After a few minutes of navigating the warm halls of the keep, the four entered a brightly lit room with several bays with curtains drawn.  Nathalya was placed on one of the empty beds, her foot shackled to the post anchored to the floor.  She opened her eyes for a moment and saw the old woman standing over her, looking her up and down.  The woman spoke before Nathalya could, and said, "My name is Estelle, I'm a doctor.  Don't be afraid, young one. Can you tell me what you are felling?"

         Nathalya blinked several times and willed herself to speak.  "Hot," she gasped.  "Hot and...cold. Head's....pounding."

         Estelle nodded.  "Lets get you out of these clothes and into something more breathable.  Guards, you can leave us be."

         The guards looked at each other for a moment before one spoke.  "Can't do that, ma'am, we've orders."

         "Damn your orders," cursed Estelle. "If you don't give me space to work, she could die.  What will your mighty Lord Tesson think about that?"

         The guards looked at each other again, clearly conflicted.  Estelle kept a stern eye on them until finally they yielded and left the room.  She stood and retrieved a white infirmary gown from a closet and removed Nathalya's suit.  She dressed her carefully, with Nathalya assisting as she could, but the weakness she felt in her limbs was heavy and made it difficult to move. 

         Eventually, the two managed the change and Nathalya laid back down.  The bed felt like a soft, warm cloud in comparison to the thin, cold excuse for a mattress in her cell. Estelle brought her a clean and fragrant water, which she sipped generously.

         "Not so fast," laughed Estelle.  "I don't know what they were feeding you before, but by the looks of you, it's been a while since you've had much of anything to eat or drink.  How long have they kept you in that nasty place?"

         Nathalya put the glass down and shook her head. "What day...is it?" she asked through labored breaths, feeling a little better, but still as if on death's welcoming doorstep.

         "It's the twenty-third day of the new year. Do you even know where you are?"

         Nathalya nodded, then tried to do the math in her head.  So it's been about seventeen days, she thought, suddenly getting very sick to her stomach.  More than twice what I expected!  Estelle was ready with the bucket as Nathalya turned to her side and vomited. 

         "Easy now, young one," Estelle comforted her and patted her lightly on the back.  "The medicine will sometimes have that effect.  Just let it go, don't fight it, now."

         Then suddenly, and without warning, Nathalya's vision blurred and her head felt extremely heavy.  Estelle caught her as she passed out and laid her head gently back onto a pillow.  As she did this, something golden and small caught her eye.  She reached down and examined the chain and golden ring around Nathalya's neck. She thought it a pretty thing, but for some reason, she felt like she had seen it before.  Pushing the thought out of her mind for the time, she busied herself around the infirmary.