The Plea

I spent the next few days in bed, not doing much but occasionally reading to pass the time. I had not seen Gabriel since our altercation. Each day, Maliah helped me to walk and stretch my healing body, and with her guidance and cooking, I started to put on weight again.
One night, I finally summed up the courage to ask Maliah to see a mirror. I hadn’t seen my reflection in months and as I approached the wash stand, my hands shook with nerves. I bent to splash water on my face and as I dried my face, I cringed at the woman standing on the other side of the mirror. I reached up slowly and touched the cut on her cheek, then moved my hand to touch the greasy hair that hung limp down her back. I should not have expected to appear perfectly healthy, but my reflection rattled me. Maliah did not give me much time to look at myself and for that, I was grateful.
Maliah appeared behind me with a smile, “Bath time!”
It did not take long before Maliah and another woman appear with a large wash tub. They sat it down with a grunt and dumped in buckets of water, steam curling into the air like smoke. Maliah helped me to remove my bandages and she gestured for me to sit in the bath. I stuck my feet in first, wiggling my toes to get used to the temperature. I looked down and saw a stark difference on my legs where my calves burned a pinkish red from the water’s heat.
“I know it’s hot,” Maliah said as she placed her hands on my shoulders and forced me down into the tub. Over my yelp of pain from the healing cuts on my back, she continued, “but God knows what’s on you. It’s the only way to kill the fleas.”
I blushed, whether from the truth that I was filthy or from the steaming water, and laid my head back on the edge of the wash tub. I closed my eyes as Maliah began scrubbing away, lifting off months of dirt, grime and shame. While Maliah worked to scrub my skin off, the other woman peeled off the dirt and blood stained sheets from the mattress and replaced them with new ones.
Maliah once again pushed down on my shoulders and my head is forced underwater. Her fingers found my scalp and scratched to remove the fleas. Goodbye you horrible miscreants. When I emerged at her signal, something fruity was placed in my hair. She washed my hair three times until it was absolutely clean. I left the bath with a headache from the hot water and all her scrubbing, my skin red raw where it hadn’t been destroyed already.
She wrapped me in a drying robe and made me sit by the fireplace. I mulled over my current situation as she combed through my hair. I had food, shelter, safety, and the promise of getting stronger. The only thing missing was the truth. What had happened while I was under Yurik’s spell?
I studied the fire, lifting my hands and turning them towards the sky. The flames in the grate grew into a figure of a man before I stopped myself. I didn’t want to reveal my powers as a Fuegera yet. If Yurik was looking for me, he would only have to search Maliah’s mind and see that she was housing a Fuegera. I squashed the flame man as I brought my hands into a silent clasp. It would be that easy to dispose of Yurik, I did not need to even touch him.
“I took the liberty of going to the market this morning,” I am knocked from my vision of revenge at the sensation of being lifted off the chair. A pressure forms at the small of my back and I turned to see Maliah holding up a sleeveless shirt and long pant outfit against my body, judging if it would fit. “Thought so, this will be much better.” She said as she laid it on the bed, “There are more clothes downstairs,” she said as she lifted the damp drying robe off my body.
“Where did these come from? I can’t pay for them,” I said, feeling sick in my stomach as I stared at the beautiful yellow fabric. I had a good idea of who they came from, and not surprised at her answer.
“Gabriel,” we both said and she laughed.
“He gave me the money, of course. He said he can’t take you to the Council looking like that,” She said with a giggle as she gestured to the clothes I had borrowed that were too big. I frowned and folded my arms across my chest, offended, because these clothes were more form fitting.
“What are you talking about? He’s taking me to the Council?”
She nodded, “I’ll let him explain tonight. You’ll be eating dinner downstairs with him.”
My heart quickened. I had not exactly made the best first impression, but then again, neither had he.
“Where has he been sleeping if I am staying in his room?” I asked as Maliah wrapped familiar white gauze around my torso.
“He has been staying at the Summer Council,” she replied as she snipped the gauze from the roll and tucked the end into the bit on my hip. I watched as she threw the roll of soiled bandages and clothing into a laundry basket.
“You’ve already done so much for me, but I have to ask why you are treating me like you would Gabriel? I don’t pay you, I’m just some….some girl left for dead at the bottom of a ravine.” My voice cracked.
She smiled at me, “Because it’s what is right,” she responded. She left unsaid things in the air. And although I was grateful, I can’t help but feel like some charity project for her, even though that is not her intention. “Besides, strict orders from the boss,” she said in a mock serious tone and then giggled.
“He must feel guilty, huh?”
She nodded and shrugged. Her soft green eyes studied me from her wrinkled face for a moment before she left the room, shaking her head as the basket rested on her hip. “Still too skinny,” she muttered from the hall.
I smiled at her motherly tendencies and returned to the mirror. My fingers traced the purple bruise that peeked out of my bandage on my right side. I winced when my fingers found a hard, tender knot. I turned my back to the mirror and looked over my shoulder, studying the gashes on my back. New pink skin has sealed over the wounds that climb up my bare shoulders. I was grateful to Maliah for her work, there isn’t one infection. I reached back and ran a finger across the slick pink scars, wondering if they will always show.
I dressed in the clothing purchased with Gabriel’s money. When everything was over my head and entirely too snug on my body, I looked in the mirror and a small smile spread onto my face. The soft yellow whispered against my skin, a lightweight fabric for the constantly sunny and warm weather. It was not long before Maliah returned to fuss over my hair again. She secured the upper half of my hair with pins. She had dried, combed and styled the dark brown hair until it shone. She pulled on a curl and I watched as it bounces back into place.
“There she is,” Maliah said as she bent down to my level and smiled at me through the mirror. I knew she meant that I was back to my old self. She made me human again. I summoned the courage to smile back to her, a hollow attempt. My eyes locked onto themselves in the reflection and I sighed silently as she kissed my cheek and walked towards the bedroom door.
“No, she is missing,” my reflection stated.
“Come on dear, dinner is almost ready.” I moved from the chair and walked towards the door, stealing another glance back at the mirror “and she won’t ever come back,” it sneered. I did my best to ignore it.
We exited the room and turned to the right, headed towards a bigger room at the end of the hall. I limped past all the other closed doors as quickly as possible to keep up with Maliah’s bustling figure. Firelight danced on the walls as we got closer to the room, which expanded into a small cozy kitchen with a vaulted ceiling. I watched Maria go down the stairs before I followed at my own pace. Dishes clanked and silverware chirped as it was laid on the table, making my stomach growl with anticipation of food. Maliah turned her head and smiled at me as we entered the room. She thrust the oven doors open and stood to the side, fanning its contents until it was cool enough for her to grab with a towel. Unsure of what I should do, I moved to the open window and peered out. From this angle, I could see the Jade Ocean. The moonlight hovered over the water like a phantom. A breeze drifted in through the window as jeweled waves caressed the characteristic white sand. I inhaled the fresh salt air before another scent caught my attention. Mouth watering food. I turned and looked down at the small wood table and my stomach jumped with excitement at something other than the soup and bread I had been restricted to.
“Smells wonderful, Maliah.” Gabriel had appeared out of thin air and my breath caught in my chest. The firelight struck his features and made him a living sculpture of perfection as he entered the room. His grey eyes swept over me before he sat down at the table, his hand reached for a napkin and spread it across his lap. His collar was open to reveal a chain that disappeared into dark hair that matched the locks on his head. “Please, sit.” I blinked, realized I had been staring at him, and found him gesturing towards the other chair as if nothing was amiss.
“I must apologize for our first…encounter. You must understand that my job puts me in certain danger of death.” Maliah threw him a look over my shoulder. He paused before he continued, “Never the less, I apologize for acting abruptly without asking questions and…for delaying your recovery.”
Maliah, ever the mother figure, plopped a plate down in front of me, laden with fresh fish, potatoes and carrots and a small wedge of lemon. Maliah placed a plate down for Gabriel and left us in the small, cozy kitchen.
“Apology accepted,” I said with a smile. I had nothing to hold against him, he was housing me, feeding me, and helped to save my life. If he squashed my rib into my lung, who was I to openly complain?
“Ah, well, I don’t think we have been formally introduced. I’m Gabriel,” he touched his hand to his chest and bowed his head.
I smirked at his formality. “Kirra,” I offered back.
“If I were you, I’d eat slowly,” Gabriel advised me before his eyes fell to his own plate. Taking my fork, I tore into the tender fish and placed it gently in my mouth. It melted on my tongue and I closed my eyes in instant satisfaction. I tasted the side dishes and was met with the same explosion of flavor and texture. I reached for a chunk of bread and tore off a piece before putting it into my mouth and chewing slowly.
“How do you like it?” Gabriel asked. Tick tock, tick tock. The wall clock fills the awkward silence between us.
“It’s perfect,” I replied quietly. I tried my best to eat a little of everything. After a diet of rotten fruit and rancid meat from when I was in Yurik’s camp, I had to be careful about what I would eat in the next few days. Proper nourishment might make me sick if I ate too much too soon: lesson learned after the water experience. After half my plate was cleared, I finally looked at Gabriel, who was still eating. I bit my lip, feeling I should explain myself. But I wanted answers, too. With food no longer being an excuse for me to hide behind, I folded my hands in my lap and watched him eat.
Gabriel wiped his mouth, signaling he was done eating. I rose and took my plate, intending on removing both of ours and washing them. “Leave them,” Gabriel said as he rolled the napkin ring between his fingers, studying the glint of the silver in the candlelight. I blushed, embarrassed at all these set of rules that my village never had.
(The name of the country) was a very diverse place, with many different cultures, some magical and others not. My people, the Fuegeros, were a small clan that lived far away from the coastal region near the Redstone Desert. The women could perform magic involving fire, for defense purposes, practical purposes, or just entertainment purposes. We preferred to live in arid climates because rain prevented us from performing magic.
Spread along (country), there were other female magicians too. Yurik’s clan, who crowned themselves Rogues, was a voluntary outcaste clan of the Psychas. They are the only males born with a genetic mutation giving them magical abilities in (country). But not everyone in his clan had magical abilities, the Rogue clan had seven Psychas who had the ability to enter someone’s mind, see and remove or distort past memories, or render someone completely useless by disconnecting their mind from their soul. Those who were not Psychas, but still considered Rogues, were there voluntarily or as mindless souls for warfare.
I still had to figure out where Gabriel fit into the (Country) and why I was still here. Gabriel finished his wine, something I couldn’t have stomached if I had wanted to, and looked at me. “I’m curious,” he said as he began to spin the mug on the table in small circles, “how you wound up at the bottom of Slate Mountain, in your current condition,” he said as he gestured to my battered, starved body.
The last thing I wanted was to have pointed out that I was a hollow skeleton, a bare shell of the young woman I used to be. “How do I know I can trust you?” I asked as I leaned back in the chair, folding my arms across my chest.
“I’m keeping you safe under my roof, isn’t that proof enough?” he said, barking with laughter.
“You wouldn’t think it funny if you knew why I want to know that,” I defended myself quietly as my eyes stared down at my lap. The laughter that filled the room stops abruptly and I bit back tears. I was emotionally vulnerable because I was exhausted, and his mocking laughter did nothing to help. I knew I was acting like a three year old, so I took a deep breath to steady myself and exhaled slowly.
“I am sorry, I’m not doing my job very well,” he said, leaning back in his chair and studying me again. I felt hot under his gaze.
“Job?” I asked curiously. Finally, I might get some answers to the puzzle that was Gabriel and the house I was in.
“I am an Intelligence Officer for the Summer Council,” he said. Puzzle pieces start to assemble.
I nodded once, finally linking the bedroom pieces, his clothing, servants. He was obviously wealthy.
“Speaking of which, it’s my job to find out information. Do you have family?” he asked as he studied me, “If you do, I can help you get back to them.”
I cleared my throat and pushed the plate away from me. I blamed the aroma from the uneaten food as the cause of my sudden nausea, but the real reason was the subject he brought up. “I do not have parents, I have a brother, Felix…” I stopped and bit my lip, “But I don’t know where he is,” my hands sought my eyes and rubbed them furiously, willing the tears to stop. It was almost too much to bear, having emotions again. Being human. It all came back to me at once and threatened to rip me apart.
“Since you haven’t come out and told me yet, I’ll say that I have a feeling what happened to you,” he said as he found my eyes again. My stomach does turns as I wait for him to continue, sitting like stone.
“Maliah mentioned during your state of delirium, when you first arrived, you were muttering a man’s name.” He set the napkin ring down and folded his arms across his chest. “Yurik.”
I tried to keep my face calm.
“So I’m going to assume that since we have reports of Rogue activity in this area, and your appearance was that of a prisoner, and you said the leader’s name, that you were held captive.” Gabriel tiptoed around what “captivity” with Yurik meant. He did not ask if he was right, he knew. It was his job to know.
I leaned forward, putting my hands on the table, “Yes,” I said in a bitter tone as the picture of my village burning flashed in my mind, screams filled my ears and nausea swept across my stomach.
Gabriel studied me. “How did you…escape? The chances of you getting out are slim to none,” A glint of wonder flashed in his eyes.
I explained how Nikaii helped me escape when the Rogues were incapacitated. I told of my escape in the forest and my fall down the mountain and when I finished, my hands shook. “We Fuegeras, we were left to die in their huts. Why did no one seek to help us? We can go now; we can save those who remain!”
Gabriel rubbed his face before he responded, “The situation is complicated. The Rogues are a new formation of magicians that we have not dealt with. They abuse their magical abilities to pillage and murder other magicians. That has become their priority.” He paused before he continued. “My intelligence team will speculate that the Rogues intend on weeding out all non-cooperative magicians until they are the only ones left. No one would stop them then from taking over the country with whoever remains as a mindless society.”
I fell back against the chair and placed my fingers to my temples. Everything the Rogues did made sense to me now, but I still wanted justice for myself and my friends. “Don’t you think you should be working to stop them?”
He leaned forward, suddenly empowered with energy, “Don’t you think I am, Kirra? You’re the only survivor who mind is intact, you can help me. Help my team.” He moved from his chair, the wood scraping against the stone floor. I watched as he moved towards me, face flushed with excitement. He sat on the corner of the table and looked down at me, laying his hands on his lap. “With your help, we can build a case with the Summer Council delegates to where they will have to act. You have been in their camp, you know how they operate, it would give us great advantage over a surprise attack.”
My eyes fell down to my lap as I took it all in. I rose to my feet and started to pace the stone floor. “You’re asking me to face my demons. I don’t think I’m ready for that yet. I can barely stand being awake because I am scared that he’ll be there with every corner I turn. And I can barely sleep, fearing that I’ll wake up under his control again…I…” and then I could not speak anymore. I stood, numb.
Gabriel’s eyes watched me as I spoke. When I finished, he responds quietly. “I’m sorry, you’re in no current condition to be expected of so much, it’s too soon.” He bit his lip and shrugged, “But Kirra, we’ve got to stop them. You’re the voice for the all the other helpless girls still chained to their cots. Be strong for them, and you can overcome this. I’ll get you the help,” Gabriel’s stone grey eyes melted as he made his plea.
I could not resist those eyes. He offered me help, and although I hated to admit it, I needed it. I wanted to get stronger. I wanted to be healed. I wanted to be able to stare down my demons and smother them in flames.