Claire

CHAPTER I: The underground prison

She was wearing a suit of a scuba diver. It was black and had an emblem of a skull twined with a  net around it, on her chest. It was a uniform, a uniform that she had earned. The fabric stuck to her skin and ran smooth on the rest of the body. She removed the oxygen mask revealing her face to no one but herself. The glasses she wore reflected now her pretty face…and she admired herself in it. The torch, which she now ablaze gave her the necessary light.  She was beautiful, tall like everyone in her family and graceful in appearance. She was proud of it all. Her grey eyes looked lighter contrasting the black of the underwater cave. Her short blonde hair was still damp from the sea water. They were shoulder length and untied. Her nature was carefree and she liked it that way. Her name was Claire but on her back was a printed number…the number “13” –a devil’s number! That was her identity in “the black nets”. She was now enveloped in a shadow of the sea…a dry area of land from where escape was almost impossible…if she didn’t succeed.
    She looked at Emma, her companion in this mission and her best friend. Claire always envied Emma. Emma was tall as she was, had red hair that suited her hazelnut eyes and had a swimmers figure. The reason for envy was her personality which was vivacious, spontaneous and was a misfit among socialites, she was a rebel…and Claire liked these qualities. That was the reason Claire remained her friend because misfits or outcasts always attracted her attention to their work…and Emma knew that. She was a contrast to the royal birth-princess looking Claire. But Emma, who knew better than to envy loved her as her own sister. Emma, who was two years senior to her, started the check –up on the surroundings. It was her idea to get of the small boast while the current went east-away from the shark infested areas. Now the current was too strong to swim against it and make the escape…if it should…right now. Emma looked at Claire…it was her family they had come to rescue.
“You alright darling?”
“I still can’t see any sign of human life…can you?”
“I’m on it”
“There is supposed to be a submarine locked in somewhere here, this is where the ‘grey knights’ put it”.
“Fire a torch now…I can see the backdoor locked and no ones around…it’s safe now.”
      Claire took out a stick from her backpack and set afire the top of it. The light that came from it was little but sufficient for now. The cave was a horror of switches all over the place. Both of the girls didn’t know how to use them. There were three lights on the north wall-green, yellow and red…like in a traffic signal. Each had a switch below it with some lettering underneath. Emma removed her head mask and approached these lights. Beneath the green one it said “engine” , on the yellow, it said “residence” and on the red it said “prison”. Emma couldn’t stop but wonder if this could be this easy. But she was doubtful.
“I doubt this is a good plan…playing with the switches…the enemy can’t be that naïve”
“ Our first job before we reach the prison is to find the submarine, then our people can escape into it”.
        Claire had the first floor plan of this structure which was built years ago by a navy commander. But whose building now lied in the hands of the evil “grey knights”. Claire had stolen an entire file of this obscure area from the government office. She stole well…she had years of training in doing so. She then began to feel the floor, for any details she could find…maybe a hidden door or something…Claire, being the more cautious one decided to let Emma see herself through the switches, while she looked for anything that was worth trying out. Claire started crawling on her all fours because she could sense a something of a basement space beneath. There had to be a door that opened to it. She tried the center first, and then she moved towards the corners. Finally her hand hit upon a metallic circular object. She lifted the object which was attached to a vent opeining. She lift it open and found a brightly lit room underneath…it was a prison room.
        She laid down on her stomach and signaled Emma to do the same. Five meters from  where she was were her people…but behind bars and beyond that were the guards on duty. She had to wait and listen…listen to what their plans were first. Two hours went by and nothing happened, as she kept laying there helplessly seeing her family being victims of this enemy. Finally there was noise of a heavy metal door opening automatically. Two people entered.
“ So how are our friends of  Helliopticus doing”?..(Helliopticus was the city’s name where her family’s kingdom was).
“Who are you and we at least deserve some answers as to why you strangers have imprisoned us”…was Claire’s father’s answer.
“Why?...well we have been paid very well to do so…we have nothing against you but as you might have known by now, this is what we do for a living…its business for us and revenge for your enemy…the great king of ‘Nargia’.”…came the reply.
“So what do you plan to do with us?”
“That will be what King Paul of Narnia decides…we are waiting for the half sum he had promised us upon imprisoning you…the submarine  will be ready in about seven hours now and we shall go to receive him…to bad you can’t escape from this bars while the freedom is standing just by your right. You’ll see us leave but you can do nothing about it…what we do is plain business, and your enemy pays well…hehehe”.
“Is there any way you could change the deal, I can pay you more, if you let us free”.
“Hehehe…how can a beggar pay me!”
        The conversation ended there. The man left the area leaving all the prisoners surprised with the answers. Claire heard it and couldn’t believe her ears. When did King Paul and his kingdom become more powerful than her family? She knew her family was being hated by them since their and her family was kids. As a child she remembered attending parties where the powerful elite used to gather. Over there she used to join her five elder cousin brothers in bullying the only son of King Paul, Richard. It was mean but she didn’t understand it then and went on with the fun her brothers were having. She felt like being a part of an important team work then. Richard was three years elder to her yet she used to join her brothers in fisting him. He was scrawny and relatively a poor lad then.
“Why am I thinking of Richard?” Claire said to herself and turned to Emma.
“Emma, King Paul has taken over my kingdom, how can I rescue my family from them?”
“Who is Richard? You just said that name aloud…and I heard they say Narnia…do you know the Prince”?
“Yeah that prince who used to be cornered all the time…I used to love harassing him but now I feel sorry for him…but he’s in power now”
“So why did you mention him now”
“I hate it Emma, I hate it that my brothers…my powerful brothers are now under his mercy…I’m going down to save my family”
“Be careful…wait I have your rope. Be wise the rope is the weapon you are good at. I have the guns ready. I see switches below…they are safer to use…good luck”
      Claire took the her rope from Emma, anchored one end in the metal ring placed on the ceiling of the vent and then waited till the guard moved forward so that she can slid behind him and make her attack. She was conscious of her heart jumping in her chest, her heavy breathing and her entire body in tension. Timing was an important factor and she had to act fast. She slowly let the other end of the rope go once the guard moved ahead of the vent. She curled her legs around the rope and slipped down till she gently hit the floor. She was fast then in hitting the man on the head and making him unconscious. She looked at the family and told them remain quiet. Her family didn’t recognize her but understood she was there to rescue them. Next Claire saw a red switch near the door. She looked at her family and asked –
“Quick tell me about the switches”
“The red one is to the submarine…and the green one in front has to be locked…that’s when u pull it down otherwise missiles will be sent from here…the green one”…it was almost a scream coming from one of them.
          Claire switched off the Missiles switch and locked the automatic door leading to the office of the grey knights. Claire was about to open the submarine door when it opened before that and a shocked knight held her by the neck. He was tall, had broad shoulders and was well-muscled.
“Ah…a black net rescuing someone”
Claire got scared, she didn’t want anyone to know who she was.
“Thieves stealing from theieves…hahaha”, he laughed with an evil smirk.
“You murderors…we don’t kill people atleast”
“…But the black knights and the black jets both are theieves…and I’ve found a little birdie who has yet to learn to fly from her nest…a junior right?...alone?”
          He looked like he was a captain…or something. Claire was now being choked and she had to defend herself. She slid her elbow right into his chest, stamped his foot and got released from his grip. As soon as she got her freedom she threw her rope into the air, made a circular motion so that  the rope wrapped itself around the man’s body tightly.
“And that’s an Anaconda” she replied. The man fell to the floor moaning with pain. The rope-wrap had broken his bones…that’s why the name.
          Claire had no choice, she had to reveal herself to her family to prevent a commotion, because there were already murmurs coming from that side.
“ Dad, mom…everyone…please don’t worry I’m Claire…I escaped in high school to become this…but right now I’ve come to rescue you. So please trust me”
“My daughter’s a black net! how awful!” came the reply from her dad.
“You’re like the grey knights too…you loot kingdoms and steal” screamed her eldest cousin brother Mark.
“I have no time for this now, have to rescue you before the knights get us” came Claire’s reply.
                  She knew at this moment she had to be rude, engaging in discussion would only waste time. Emma had by now figured the switches out through the torch light above, and opened up the prison bars. She slid down the way Claire had and was taken aback to see an angry crowd looking at her too. But she remained silent and moved to switch off the switches below which ensured that the bars remained open permanently and not fall down suddenly. She was used to the design of the system, as she had entered such areas before.

        The submarine was empty. Mark led everyone in while Claire and Emma remained behind fixing the alert system to prevent it from going off. Mark was a bit taller than Claire and about eight years older. He had brown eyes with bushy eyebrows. His black hair was shabby and some of it fell carelessly on his forehead. He was used to intimidating people merely by his tall and broad posture. Claire always looked up to him as a child, in her mind he was a hero, in those days and she always used to think he is right and followed his behavior. It was in her teens that she realized that his bullying his weaker playmates and beating the outcasts up was actually cruel. Mark used to amuse himself ambushing their now enemy prince-Richard. He and his friends used to get him cornered and beat him up or verbally abuse him…and she used to join in the fun they had. With her brother by her side she had nothing to be scared of. She had tiny hands yet she had given a few punches to the helpless Richard a many times…something she regretted later. She used to wonder sometimes why someone as brute as Mark should care so much for her and be partial. She knew though that he always loved his little sister. Mark was muttering under his breath…Richard is not gonna get away with this! That weasel. He thinks developing a body and gaining contacts will make him more of a man than me! I could still beat him up anytime. Claire’s father knew about Mark and Richard…and proceeded to calm Mark down.
“Mark…times changed…Richard probably hates us more because of you. What you did in the past to that poor fellow was wrong.”
“A weasel’s a weasel uncle…and I’m gonna get to him as soon as I can”
“No you are not adding more fuel to the fire Mark”, added Claire who had just entered the submarine.
“Right coming from a thief like you…who ran away to fulfill one of your dreams to attain glory…and where?...the black nets?...in doing so did you think about us at all?”
Claire could not reply, but Emma spoke up.
“This is no time to accuse; we need to maneuver the sub now. I know you Mark and uncle…Claire never forgot you…she told me everything about you guys but I need some help now, anyone an engineer? …good help me”.
The submarine cabin was filled with two people who knew how to operate and Emma and Claire remained near the entrance counting how many people they were carrying.
“There are thirty-six of us” replied Emma and pulled out a map and gave it to the engineers. “We need to reach here” she said pointing at a cross on the map. “ A yatch will be waiting for us.
“Is the sub. moving yet?”, asked Claire…who was still thinking about Richard and wondering how on earth did he become so powerful.
“ It’s released itself from the cave and is moving ma’am”, came the reply.
            Meanwhile Claire didn’t know how to deal with her enraged family, she had left them in search for adventure-something that females have a full freedom for and where there was glamour. She had found all that in the black nets and then once joined she never understood how she could face her home. So she stayed with the engineers and asked Emma to do her explaining. Emma blushed initially because she didn’t understand her attraction to Claire’s brother Mark, who looked so gorgeous to her. But she couldn’t tell that to Claire who’d laugh because Mark didn’t like outcasts and rebels like her and she knew that because of her long association with Claire. But Emma was also the stronger of the two and she decided to face the fire instead. She went outside the cabin and lied,
“I’m answering all your questions right now…the cabin needs her right now. Hi my name is Emma and I’m first of all your friend too because I’ve been with Emma since high school…blame me because I’m the one who wooed Claire then to join the black nets. I wasn’t the normal kid…so to say in school…I was caught by one of them while I was trying to catch a particular radio-wave that came on the mobile I had invented. I thought fun to listen to secrets. But the talk was peculiar and very soon the black nets came to know about me…however they were so impressed by me because they had also been observing g me for days before that they convinced me to join them.
“You are not the kind of our liking”, replied Mark, who however seemed to like her in spite of her unusual behavior.
At first I thought it was a threat”, continued Emma who didn’t know how to respond at the moment “but after I joined it I found the freedom to be overwhelming to a female…they provided everything. At that time your very curious daughter would not leave me alone. My “mysterious” behavior intrigued her until one night she discovered jewels in my room. I had to tell her then what exact kind of thief I am and told her about the ‘black nets’. At that time she was bored with her life and wanted that adventure…yes she didn’t think of you because as a teen she had excuses of you all being overprotective and putting more restrictions on her as a girl child…she was rebellious of all that and wanted freedom. But two months into this organization she missed all of you, but she couldn’t go back, she was so afraid of your wrath. Forgive her, she was only a teenager and did a mistake which she couldn’t improve. She loves you all. We never stole from you.”
      Everybody was calm at that speech.
“Claire’s still afraid of us isn’t she” remarked her father…his eyes tearful and he entered the cabin himself and took Claire in his arms. “ Sorry Claire, for being such a strict father, if I would have understood you you would never had run away.”
      Claire looked back at her father. She had missed her family very much and so made up her mind to stay with them.
“ I’m sorry, father for leaving all of you. I will live with you, but on one condition…I want to participate in the warfare you do. I’m skilled now and know a lot of it. Promise me you will let me become member of your military.”
“Then you shall have it my child”, replied her father. “You will be further trained by a woman sergeant. I’ve seen you and you are good…I just fear your wish a bit because I don’t want to loose you again. But you won’t be confined.” Saying thus he held Claire’s hand and led her where rest of her family was standing. There was a smile on his face as he announced…
“Claire is sorry for what she did and wishes to stay with us again. I have forgiven this brave gal and so shall you. I’m proud of my daughter and even happier in having her back. She wishes to help me with my affairs and wants a position in the military…”
“But uncle! the military?...I doubt that she would be able to handle it” remarked Mark who was already angry that now he had to suppress his anger against her but he knew he had to be forgiving now, after all she had saved him.
“Yes she would be under Thurman’s regime…the sergeant can take care of her.”
At that moment Claire’s mother stepped forward and grabbed her into her arms.
“ My darling baby”, the queen cried “First you leave us and now that you have joined you want to join the military”.
Claire couldn’t find words when she saw tears dripping through her mother’s eyes and just hugged her in return sobbing her heart out.

CHAPTER II

Ronald was sitting in his bedroom. He was a prince yet he had not decorated it accordingly. The walls were painted blue. Scattered on it were black and white pictures of slum houses, barely clothed children playing in the mud, crying infants in the hands of mothers begging for money, a farmer being whipped by a soldier. His mind was attached to these emotions. He wanted to eradicate all this and put an end to poverty. He was a rich man now but he had waited years for this moment. He opened up his childhood diary…there it read on a page….
“Dear diary,
Today is was my tenth birthday. I wanted to celebrate it alone. I hate the kids my father invited at the party. The rich brats of the rich kings amuse themselves in abusing me. I hate Mark the most. He is their leader and everyone listens to him. He is mush stronger than I am and four years older. I feel useless. Today he encouraged his five year old sister to scratch me and I cried because Claire than ordered me to play her servant, ordering me around and Mark made me do it. They are so ruthless! I wish I could kill them all…and I shall when I grow up. I’ll be stronger. Grow into a man and defeat them…someday!”.
Then Ronald smiled to himself and said “…and I defeated them, they are with the devious back knight now”. He took out a cigarette and smoked a stick with satisfaction. “I’m not poor anymore” he replied to himself grinning. He the took another dairy it was when he was twenty years old. He opened a page where there was a dry rose kept as a book mark . It read…
“ Dear Diary,
Today was the summer day I went to visit Mark’s family, the king of Helliopticus. I expected abuse but something weird happened. I was in a fist fight with John, the scrawny liitle brother of Mark when Claire came in and stopped us. She looked so beautiful. I don’t understand what came over me! I had hated her. My mind was telling me to get this rare opportunity and grab her by the hair and hit her but she stood there like a woman. My heart told me to kiss her. She then gave me this wonderful smile and told me she was sorry for they way I had been treated and that I don’t deserve to be treated that way. I so love her diary. So much gentleness coming out off her. I’ll never forget this moment”
….and he hadn’t. He couldn’t attempt the desire to find her when she was heard to have escaped…he had just assumed she had a lover. He liked her but the bitterness towards the rest of the family overtook most of his consciousness.