[Prologue]    [Chapter 1]    [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 16]    [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 2

    "To think that one day Corina will have all this," Kane said, while walking in his garden. Pella, Jaron and Yatri were with him. "At the moment she's a sweet 9-year-old girl."
    "Want some Pol Fruit?" Pella asked.
    "Oh boy," Jaron went to Yatri.
    "Sure," Kane replied to Pella.
    "Jaron," Pella started. "Could you fly up and get those 2 really ripe ones up there?" She pointed to them.
    "I always do this, Yatri you do it for once," Jaron ordered. Yatri shrugged and flew up to get the ripe fruit. They carried on walking when she came down.
    Jaron started talking again. "Kane you said something about my Dad's best friend."
    Kane nodded. "Zana."
    "Who is he?" asked Jaron.
    "He wore a silver ribbon to show he commanded all of the defence forces of Tyrony. He did it rather well." Kane took a big bite of the Pol Fruit.
    Pella swallowed her bite and carried on explaining. "He was the fastest Tyron in history, flew up to speeds of 150 mph."
    "Wow," said Yatri in wonder, then something caught her eye. "What's that?" She pointed to the sky. There was something black and dusty up there. Jaron flew to it.
    As he flew closer, he saw that it was really another Tyron...and he was struggling to fly. Then he couldn't fly any longer and fell. Jaron caught him and flew gently back to where the others were standing.
    He landed and cradled the man as the others came closer. He was panting and his eyes kept blinking.
    "Yatri, call an ambulance!" ordered Jaron. She nodded and ran off. "Who is he?"
    "Zana."
    As soon as Kane said that, Zana coughed badly and passed out. None of them could believe the sight. Zana's clothes needed changing and there were rips all over. The shine from his hair had gone and there were scars and bruises everywhere.
    "White hair?" Jaron thought. "Hey, what's with the white hair?"
    Pella answered. "Anyone can be born with white hair, but it's rare. Those who have it are said by legend that Gaderan talks to them directly."
    "The actual God of the whole of Takla?" asked Jaron. Pella nodded. Yatri then rushed back.
    "It's on its way."

They all sat in the car. The plump seats were usually comfortable, but today no one noticed. Yatri wasn't with them. Loria then got tired of people being quiet, so she turned to Jaron.
    "I'm excited about this, what are you feeling?" she asked.
    "I don't know," said Jaron simply.
    Loria then carefully asked: "What d'you think he'll say?"
    Jaron stared at her for a bit, then replied: "By the way he looked he'll probably say he was a slave."
    The car stopped at the hospital gate. There were guards standing there, one inside a booth. They all stopped talking as soon as they saw Kane step out. The one in the booth was already facing his computer.
    "You're here to see Zana Your Majesty?" asked the guard. Kane nodded and the guard typed in 'Zana'. He turned back to Kane. "He's been put in the Nursing Ward. Room 11, Floor 17."
    Kane went back inside the car and the guard pressed a button to open the metal gate. The car passed through and turned right at a sign, then parked. Everyone stepped out and the driver turned on some music.
    The doors opened automatically as they stepped into the reception. People inside suddenly looked up as they saw the Tellen Royal Family coming. Most people stared while the other people just  put their heads down again. Corina didn't like this.
    "Mum, people are looking at us weird," she said quietly.
    "That's because we're important sweetie," answered Pella just as quietly. Corina wondered why as they stepped into a lift.
    "My and Jaron's and Loria's friends treat us like we're normal. But then.., they acted kinda weird when they saw my parents for the first time."
    They went out of the lift and turned right where a sign said 'Nursing Ward'. They stopped outside a door with a big '11' on top. Pella pressed the nearest button and the door opened.
    They entered a room full of beeping sounds. They came from the 5 monitors on either side of the bed Zana was sleeping on. A nurse was sitting on a chair and stood up when the group entered. She could tell they wanted to know how Zana was, so she told them.
    "He has a lot of infections in his skin and muscles, and has been suffering a fever for at least a year." Zana started to move under his bed cover. "He also had a dented wing that has somehow been mostly fixed." They all stared at her when she said that.
    "A dented wing?" Loria asked.
    Zana was clean but had a lot of wires connected to his body. Most of them were sensors, connected to the monitors. Others were tubes that connected with little fluid tanks that injected liquid to his body.
    Zana woke up. He was in a room with turquoise walls. "Where am I?" He found himself in a warm bed. "I haven't been in this thing for a while." He lifted his head and saw a group of people. They looked at him. "I remember the tall ones from somewhere, but where?" The blonde one came to his bedside.
    Kane told the nurse: "Leave us". She obediently left. Zana noticed the scab on Jaron's right wrist.
    "Jaron," whispered Zana.
    "How d'you know my name?" asked Jaron.
    Zana laughed a bit. "That mark on your wrist." Jaron quickly looked at the curved scab on his wrist. "I cut that with the 'forever dagger'."
    "The 'forever dagger'?" the blonde Tyron asked.
    Pella then said what it was. "The 'forever dagger' appears with the white head at birth and disappears at death. Whatever the knife cuts, it doesn't heal or mend."
    Zana tried to sit up and Jaron helped him. When Zana was sitting in his bed, he looked around. He first looked at the huge man with red hair that waved slightly and was 7 feet tall.
    "Kane?" asked Zana.
    "That's me," answered Kane.
    Zana talked again. "You're not as white as you used to be."
    "Kids made me go out more," Kane told him.
    Zana looked at the woman next to Kane. "Pella, you haven't changed a bit." Then he looked at the girls and stared.
    "I'm Loria and this is my baby sister, Corina," Loria told him. Corina smiled a sweet smile, then Loria asked Zana a question. "What's going on in Tyrony?"
    Zana looked at his hands, then whispered: "Tortured slavery!" He looked at Pella. "They forced us to build power stations and labs, then some rich Catlan families claimed the best buildings for themselves and picked some Tyrons as their own slaves." Everybody tensed. Zana looked at Corina. "Lot's of 'em were your age. They had their memories wiped out and at this very moment, they're given an order and they just do it. They don't even know they're slaves."
    "Dad, don't let that happen to me," Corina said while worrying.
    "Don't worry, it won't," Kane answered grimly.
    Zana looked up at Jaron and Jaron looked back at Zana. "Rida's now doing dirty work for Kayla and Ingree." Zana started to look down and then coughed. The nurse came back in.
    Jaron leaned on the bed. "Why did you go back? Why couldn't you stay here?"
    The sick Tyron answered quietly. "If I had, the Catlans would have killed maybe a hundred Tyrons. They hate it when a prize...escapes..." He swayed.
    Zana was helped by Loria, Jaron and the nurse to lie back down.
    "We'd better go," said Kane quietly.
    "Jaron." Jaron looked at Zana. "It's good to finally meet you. I always wondered how you'd turn out." The blonde Tyron stared at the sick one sadly.
    Pella stroked Zana's hair. Everyone except the nurse left the room.
    As they walked back along the corridor Jaron thought: "I hope my parents are okay."

©Ruth Amy Louise Hüneke 2008