[Prologue]    [Chapter 1]   [Chapter 2]    [Chapter 3]    [Chapter 4]    [Chapter 5]    [Chapter 6]    [Chapter 7]    [Chapter 8]    [Chapter 9]    [Chapter 10]    [Chapter 11]    [Chapter 12]    [Chapter 13]    [Chapter 14]    [Chapter 15]    [Chapter 17]    [Chapter 18]    [Chapter 19]    [Chapter 20]    [Chapter 21]    [Chapter 22]    [Chapter 23]    [Chapter 24]    [Chapter 25]    [Chapter 26]    [Chapter 27]    [Chapter 28]    [Chapter 29]    [Chapter 30]    [Epilogue]
   

Chapter 16

Jaron and Loria were on a palace balcony and were enjoying the view of the sunset.
    “Corina appears to have made some progress,” Loria told her husband. “At least I think she has.”
    “Why d’you say that?” asked Jaron.
    “She now hates the fact that she’s gonna become Queen and hates life for not being perfect,” told Loria.
    Jaron laughed. “Your Dad still yelling down the phone?”
    “No and Mum’s stopped worrying. They seem to enjoy the fact that they don’t have to worry about her,” said Loria.
    “Have they turned into bad parents or something?” asked Jaron.
    “I don’t think so,” said Yatri, walking up behind him. “You of all people should know what they’re like.”
    “Is there a reason why you’re interrupting our private time?” asked Jaron.
    “The police are chasing someone,” Yatri told the Tyron King and Queen. “They can’t identify him. Whenever they try to talk to him he runs away.”
    “And why’s that our business?” asked Loria.
    “He’s heading this way,” told Yatri.
    All of them heard sirens, they were getting louder. There was a lot of shouting. Then, in the distance, they saw a man- running.
    Yatri flew down, Jaron flew down-carrying Loria. They landed on the field in front of the Sherran palace. The man was coming towards them, except that they now saw he was a boy. He fell over. They ran towards him.
    He was lying down and panting. They gathered around him and the police were coming too. Loria picked up his head and read his mind.
    “He looks 16 or 17 years old, not much older than Corina,” Jaron thought. The boy passed out.
    Loria shook her head and looked at her husband. “I couldn’t tell much, but he’s come from the Catlan Marshes and has an urgent message for you,” she said.
     “From the Catlan Marshes?” asked Jaron. “Did he swim over the Sea to get here?” Loria nodded. Jaron turned to Yatri. “Order the servants to wash him and take him to a guest room,” he told her. Yatri nodded and flew back to the balcony.

Corina went into the room where the boy was sleeping. The morning sun lit the bright room. Kuni stood in a corner.
    Corina walked to the bed he was sleeping in. His clothes-which was a white wet suit, black swim shoes and a white belt-were next to him on a stool. He was muscular, with really dark brown hair. He looked a little bit like a Bannon, but had the trained body of a Wayan. He also had Catlan shaped eyes. No one could tell what he was-at least, as far as everyone knows no one could tell what he was.
    “She might be here by Jaron’s orders, but I think Kuni knows something,” thought Corina, so she read her mind.
    “I thought Tellens were told not to read just anyone’s mind,” Kuni told Corina in her mind.
    The Tellen Princess did pick up one thing from Kuni’s mind though: “You know what he is, don’t you Kuni?”

It was now midday, Kiar and Loray were in the room (by Jaron’s orders) and they were wondering who or what the boy was as well.
    “Honestly, I still don’t have a clue,” said Kiar. “All I can think of is mutant.”
    Loray was thinking. “My parents told me about slaves that Catlans had.”
    The other people were in the room as well. (Jaron, Loria, Rida, Corina, Kuni and Zana.)
    “Didn’t they mean us?” asked Rida.
    “No, I meant back in the desert,” Loray told Rida. “My parents said that they were our inferior counterparts.”
    “At least we seem to have some clue as to what he could be,” said Jaron. They all started thinking again.
    “Are you saying you’ve never been to the Catlan regions? Either of you?” Loria asked Loray and Kiar.
    “I was born in the Capital City but I was 4 when we moved to Tyrony,” Loray told everyone.
    “My family hasn’t been anywhere near Catlan Territory for 3 generations! Apparently, my great grandparents just couldn’t stand it any longer so they packed their bags and went to South Waya,” told Kiar.
    “What’s the name of the Capital City?” asked Rida.
    “The Catlan Imperial!” Loray announced, pretending to be proud.
    “Oooh, sounds impressive,” said Kiar sarcastically.
    There was a bit of a laugh, then everyone started thinking again.
    “I can’t stand it, she’s gotta tell us,” thought Corina. She stood up and pointed at Kuni. “She knows what he is! Tell us Kuni!”
    “Corina, what are you talking about?” asked Loria.
    “I read her mind! She knows what he is!” Corina stopped pointing.
    Loria put her hands on her hips. “You know that’s-”
    “I can see what she means though,” said Zana. For the entire time, he’d been sitting on a window sill and was suspicious of Kuni. “You grew up in Catlan didn’t you? You were one of the last ones to get out before Ingree ordered the border closed, weren’t you?”
    “He’s waking up,” said Rida.
    They all closed in on the bed. The boy was twitching. It was a few minutes before he very tiredly slightly opened his eyes and yawned.
    “It doesn’t seem to bother him where he is,” thought Zana.
    The boy closed his eyes, and started sniffing. He then started to sit up, still with his eyes closed while sniffing around him. He smiled and opened his eyes. Everyone could now see he actually had big, puppy-dog eyes.
    He was a little embarrassed, all these people he didn’t know were staring at him. “Null un else tiffs,” he reminded himself.
    “My name is Yanthro and I’m 16,” he said to everybody. Looking around him, he recognised someone. “You must be Jaron.”
    Jaron blinked twice in surprise. “I am.”
    “What are you?” asked Kiar.
    “Me? Doglan,” told Yanthro.
    “Hm, that explains a lot,” thought most of the Taklans in the room.
    Yanthro started sniffing again. He then picked up his bed cover and sniffed that. It had a smell he loved. So clean, so fresh.
    “You said you had a message for me?” asked Jaron.
    Yanthro looked up in surprise. “Oh yeah. Balka-Rae wants you to ready forces, he’s worked out a plan to take down Ingree for good.”
    This surprised the Tyron King. “Excuse me?”
    “I can show you the plans more easy if I had paper and pen,” said Yanthro.
    “Balka-Rae?” asked Zana.
    Yanthro saw him and smiled. “He’s your Dad!”
    “My DAD!!” Zana looked around him in horror. Kuni couldn’t believe it either.
    Yanthro sniffed around him again and looked behind. “Hello Kuni.”
    Kuni smiled and said: “Bessa for Zana shan.” She looked at Zana, looking worried.
    “There’s gotta be some mistake. That Catlan can’t be my Dad,” said Zana.
    “What was that weird talk just now?” asked Kiar.
    “Desert gibberish,” answered Kuni.
    “But he is your Dad, you act just like him and look like him…well, almost,” said Yanthro.
    Jaron flew up and hovered. “Everybody calm down. Lunch is almost ready. Now how about we give Yanthro a bit of privacy, okay?”
    Everyone walked out of the room. When only Jaron and Yanthro were left in the room, Jaron landed.
    The King looked at Yanthro. “I’ll wait outside so I can lead you to the Dining Room, okay?” Yanthro nodded. Jaron went out.

Yanthro was lovingly eating his food and enjoyed his drink. He sniffed his food a lot. He made sure to enjoy his luxury.
    Zana on the other hand, had only taken a few bites. He couldn’t eat. Too many thoughts in his head. “You know something else, don’t you Kuni?” he asked. “You know something about me.” Kuni stopped eating, stayed looking down. “Why don’t you tell me what it is?”
    “It’s probably nothing,” said Kuni. “I can tell you what I know later.”
    “It’s now later,” said Zana. He stood up. “Why don’t we go somewhere private now?”
    Kuni slowly stood up. She and Zana went out of the Dining Room.
    Yanthro looked scared. “Was it something I said?”
    Corina was sitting next to him. She talked soothingly. “No, it’s-”
    “Actually yeah,” interrupted Kiar. “See, Zana hates his Catlan half and you telling him who his Dad is made it worse. He must be plotting his revenge against you right now.”
    That got Yanthro mad. He jumped across the table in a quick move to Kiar and they were then fighting on the floor. Everyone else started to break them apart.
    When they were finally standing up apart from each other, they were still in a fighting mood so they were being held back.
    “Kiar, apologise,” ordered Jaron.
    “Sorry,” said Kiar.
    “You don’t mean that,” said Yanthro.
    Kiar grinned. He got punched. Yanthro punched him so fast that no one expected it. Kiar had to be held back so that he didn’t hurt Yanthro again. No one wanted another fight to start-except those two.

    “How can Balka-Rae possibly be my Dad?” asked Zana. “He’s probably the most  feared Catlan alive! They said that he slaughtered Tyrons in his bedroom! At Kayla’s order, everyone he saw dropped dead. I mean, he’s the High Marshal for cryin’ out loud!”
    “Was,” Kuni corrected him.
    “And how would you now that?” asked Zana.
    The pair were in the room Kuni was staying in. She sat on the bed and he sat on a cushion (beanbag more like).
    “Because he’s my Dad too and he raised me,” told Kuni.
    Zana was shocked. “You’re my sister?”
    “Half sister...I think,” said Kuni.
    Zana looked around him. “But...we don’t look a thing alike.”
    “I’ve got Dad’s black eyes, you’ve got his hair style. We resemble our mothers more than our father.”
    He narrowed his eyes. “And why did you say 'I think’?”
    “Because he never told me about you. He said he had another son once but never talked about it again.”
    Suddenly, Zana grabbed her. “It’s true isn’t it? Dad did force the woman to his bed!”
    “No, he loved your Mum, a lot,” she told him.
    He let go. “Who is she then?” he asked.
    “I don’t know, I’ve only ever seen her picture,” she said. “I didn’t even know you were my brother until today, Dad never told me your name.”
    Zana then thought of something. “And he didn’t love your Mum? Even though she was Catlan?”
    “Doglan, actually,” answered Kuni.
    “What?”
    “Around 40 years ago, scientists started experimenting with interbreeding,” Kuni told Zana. “All the babies born were half of each Lan, but were seen as inferior because they were missing at least 1 Catlan quality. To not have just one is a sign of weakness. They were sent to be slaves with the other Doglans. Scientists then tinkered with the genes to make the best interbred babies having all the qualities to make them strong. I was one of them. My mother died at birth, but she must’ve meant something to Dad because he has her picture too. Anyway, no one wanted the half breeds so they were raised in orphanages as Catlans. But Dad raised me and loved me as his own.”
    “Thinking about it,” thought Zana, “she has the same puppy-dog eyes as Yanthro and Doglan thick hair.” “Some Dad he was, if he never told you about his first love.”
    Kuni looked at Zana. “But he did! He.he just had his reasons!”...“You know what’s weird?” Zana shook his head. “My Mum was a white-head too.”

©Ruth Amy Louise Hüneke 2008