Caged - Unleash the Beast

Chapter 7 - The Truth Hurts

"Hey." Rider murmured, smiling at her.
"Hey." She replied, shifting her position so that he could sit down.
"How you feeling?" He asked, as the bed creaked with his weight.
"Better." She sighed, before trying to sit up.
"You should stay lying down." Rider instructed her, before lying down himself.
"Thank you." She murmured.
"For what?" Rider asked, puzzled by why Jackie had thanked him.
"For everything." Jackie replied, before yawning.
"I'll leave you to rest." Rider sighed before getting up.
Jackie rested her hand on his before smiling at him. Rider smiled back before getting off the bed and leaving her to rest. Jake looked up from where he sat in the living room, Rider looked at him before going down the stairs.
"Can I help you, Jake?" Rider murmured as he walked into the living room.
"Maybe. All depends." Jake shrugged his shoulders, he seemed to have a stern look on his face. A lot like his father's look when he needed to get his point across or when he was making a serious threat. Rider knew that face very well when Jackie and he got into mischief, they would get that look all the time.
"All depends on what?" Rider asked, sitting down.
Jake stood up and walked over to Rider, making him tower of Rider. "You hurt my sister... Ever! And trust me I will make your life a living hell."
"Got it." Rider nodded, throwing his hands in the air in a submissive position.
"And don't you ever forget." Jake snarled before taking Jackie's dinner up to her.
Rider let out a sigh of relief only to notice that his father had been watching the whole time.
"If you are going to give me a lecture, please don't." Rider murmured.
"I'm not her to lecture you." His father said, raising his eyebrows. "You realise that Jake is only doing what his father would do?"
"What, the 'big brother' act?" Rider said, raising his eyebrows as he stood up.
"The 'big brother' act is no laughing matter..." His father warned him. "Especially with the Talon's involved."
"What's that suppose to mean?" Rider called to his father.
His father simply lowered his head and headed up stairs into the bedroom in which they were staying at. Had is father known the true wrath behind the Talon's?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Rider." A voice whispered in his ear.
Rider simply moaned before rolling over to avoid whoever was trying to wake him.
"Oh, for crying out loud." They huffed before storming over to the other side of the bed.
"Get you lazy ass, out of bed!"
This time Rider jumped at the sudden crack in his ear. "Did you? Really?"
Jake stood at the door, eyebrows raised. "Yes. Really."
Rider moaned before literally dragging himself out of bed, yawning he got changed as fast as he possibly allowed himself to. He wasn't one for early morning wake up calls, obviously Jake was completely different to him.
"If your going to be a captain, your going to have to get up early." Jake lectured Rider as he set the table.
"I think I have gone deaf in one ear." Rider moaned, as he yawned once more.
"Well, maybe then you'll get up early enough so that you don't go deaf." Jake snapped at him as he placed down a plate of food.
Rider looked at Jake, a dumb look on his face. "You know it is just the two of us?"
"No, it is not just the two of us." Jake snapped once more, before placing his own breakfast down.
"Where's mine?" Rider asked, looking at Jake with a questioning look on his face.
"You can get off your fat, lazy ass and serve yourself." Jake growled as he raised his eyebrows.
Rider moaned once more as he slumped into the kitchen, he fumbled around with a plate and slowly but surely plated his own food up. Rider heard a door open and then close, he wandered out of the kitchen to find Jackie was wandering down the stairs.
"Morning." She said, smiling slightly.
"Morning." Jake replied before gesturing towards her breakfast.
"Why did you let her sleep in, but not me?" Rider whispered to Jake as he sat down.
"Because, your a no good fool who can't be up before a lady." Jake murmured back.
"Problem?" Jackie asked, her gaze flicking between the two.
"Nope." Jake replied.
"No problem here." Rider said as cheerful as possible.
"Good." She nodded slowly before continuing her breakfast.
Jake seemed to keep a close eye on Rider as he and Jackie slipped into the kitchen together to wash up the plates.
"You seemed to sleep well." Rider said as he stacked the last plate away.
"You do when you haven't slept on about 4 days." Jackie replied as she put the last glass away.
"Right." Rider murmured as he walked out of the kitchen.
As he walked out he saw Jake raise a suspicious eye brow at Rider which disappeared as soon as Jackie walked in.
"We good to go?" Jackie asked as she beckoned Jet over.
"Go, where? Exactly?" Rider questioned.
"To question Brandon." Jake growled.
"Jake. Be nice." Jackie said sternly, before having a little laugh at them as she turned around.
She had asked Jake last night to play the 'big brother' role on Rider, to her it was amusing and for Jake he had a reason to be snappy and mean at Rider. Deep down she felt sorry for asking Jake to do it, but know it wasn't just a joke. Jake was one of those people that you don't dare them to do something, because they would do it. She believed that Jake wasn't taking it as a joke because surely enough he was more serious then joking around with him.
"Fine." Jake rolled his eyes as he locked the door behind them.
Rider was going to act childish and poke his tongue out at Jake but instead he thought better of it. Jackie lead the way to the holding cells, with James and Christian waiting at the hill for them.
"Who invited them?" Rider murmured to Jake.
"I did." Jake said sternly before greeting James and Christian.
"Oh? Right." Rider murmured to himself before following.
"Your back on your feet early." James nodded to Jackie.
"The earlier the better." Jackie replied simply. "Anything?"
"All we found out yesterday was his name." James inquired.
"Apollo? Right?" Jackie asked as she dismounted Jet quickly.
"No. It's Brandon. His sister is Rosie." Christian explained, "Where do you get Apollo from?"
"That was what they called him." Jackie explained before handing James an apple.
"We'll find out more soon. Scott and Tyson are down there on watch." James smiled before biting into the apple.
"Let's get moving then." Jackie inquired as she remounted Jet.
Rider didn't know what to say, instead he kept quite and hung back beside Christian. When they reached the cell they were surprised to see Sam and Tyson down on guard duty.
"Where's Scott?" Jackie asked, as she pulled Jet to a halt.
"Sam said that he could go get himself cleaned up and that he could come back after he had eaten." Tyson growled, as he death glared Sam.
"That's fine then." Jackie shrugged as she dismounted Jet and chucked an apple to them.
"Yeah. That's what I meant." Tyson said quickly taking his sour note back.
Sam simply rolled his eyes. "How you feeling?"
"A little sore, but I have muscular men to do the beating up." Jackie shrugged.
"Gladly." Tyson smiled, as he cracked his knuckles.
"Easy, tiger." Jackie said calmly before rolling her eyes at Tyson's enthusiasm.
Tyson smiled at her before unlocking the cell door, Brandon was asleep and obviously hadn't realised what was happening around him.
"Rider and Tyson will do the beating up first." Jackie nodded at James and Christian who were eager to help.
"Very well." James nodded.
"James and I will do the questioning." Jackie instructed them.
"Good cop? Bad cop?" James asked, as he folded his arms.
"You can play the bad cop." Jackie nodded. "You seem to do it a lot."'
"I'd take that as a complement if I was you." Jake nodded to James.
James shook his head before moving out of the doorway to allow Jake and Christian stand guard.
"What about me?" Sam asked.
"You can be the one to wake him up and chain him to the bars. If you like." Jackie nodded towards Brandon.
"Christian, can I get some help with that?" Sam turned to where Christian stood.
"Gladly." He smirked before roughly grabbing Brandon's right arm.
"Hey! What are you doing?" Brandon yelled, as he suddenly threw his arm out of Christian's grip.
Christian simply kneed Brandon in the stomach before chaining his right arm to the bar, Sam did the same without any trouble. Brandon moaned as he lifted his head up, he seemed as if he hadn't eaten but surely enough an empty plastic plate was lying in the corner of the cell. Brandon glared at Christian, his gaze not breaking.
"Eyes on me." James simply ordered him.
Brandon didn't break contact from Christian, Jackie simply nodded to Tyson. Tyson cracked his knuckles once more before punching Brandon in the jaw.
"I said, 'Eyes on me." James growled at Brandon, his voice stern and serious.
Brandon looked up at James, his lip was now split and nose bleeding slightly. "Happy?" He spat at James.
"No." James shrugged before nodding to Rider.
Rider kneed Brandon in the stomach causing him to collapse slightly, the chains held him up. Brandon spat on the ground before pulling himself back up, he licked his lips as he noticed Jackie.
"Hey, baby." Brandon smirked at her.
"You wouldn't dare to talk to a chief like that?" James spat before nodding to Tyson.
Tyson slammed Brandon with his fist into Brandon's stomach and then jaw.
"I apologise." Brandon wheezed as he pulled himself back up. "I hadn't noticed."
"Let's get down to business." Jackie said, raising her eye brows.
"Please do." Brandon spat blood onto the ground in front of him.
"What were you lot up to?" James asked, raising his eye brows.
"Ziambe..." Brandon was cut off.
"Who's Ziambe?" James asked, frowning.
"Chris' lion. His son's name is Kaizan." Jackie informed James.
"Continue." James nodded as he turned his gaze back to Brandon.
"Like I was saying... Ziambe was found in the forest with a jungle cat. I approached him and next thing I knew he spoke to me." Brandon murmured, keeping his eyes locked with James'.
"That's impossible." Christian spat from where he stood guard.
"Actually, Ziambe and Kaizan could speak." Sam corrected.
"What did he say?" James asked, obviously puzzled.
"He said that a war was coming and that after the war he would need a safe place to stay and recover." Brandon said as he shifted himself.
"And what did you do?" Jackie asked.
"I showed him the waterfall, he said that it was perfect and that he would return there in 2 days." Brandon explained. "After he left, I advised our leader."
"What was your leader's name?" She asked Brandon.
"Her name was Maddi." Brandon said, puzzled to why they had asked this.
Jackie looked at Rider, the pair had surprised looks on their faces.
"What is it?" James asked either one of them.
"Rider had shot an arrow in her neck. She was dead." Jackie murmured.
"Maddi did return one day with an arrow in her neck." Brandon added.
"And you didn't find it suspicious?" Rider asked, he was clearly frustrated.
"Some of us questioned her, she didn't like it so she exiled them. No one dares to question her." Brandon argued, the chains holding him back from storming up to Rider.
"When did you 'disappear'?" Jackie asked, folding her arms.
"5 years ago." Brandon sighed. "I was told to collect some water down by the river in the forest. I was collecting water and suddenly I was ambushed by a pride of lions."
"The same ones that ambushed us." Sam murmured.
"Yes. They had captured me and next thing I knew I woke up locked in a cage." Brandon mumbled.
"Gee. Now we know where he got the idea from." Sam mumbled to Christian, before rolling his eyes.
"It was close to midnight when I felt the cage being lowered, I heard shouting and orders being barked. Once the cage hit the ground Clyde came in a threw me out. I fought back against those who had grabbed me, but yet they were stronger then I was." Brandon explained. "They knocked me out and then I woke up, chained to a stone pillar. In front of me, a table that had a dagger that looked as though it had just been forged."
"So that was what they were trying to do?" Jackie asked him.
"Yes. They were trying do to the same thing to you as they did to me." Brandon said quickly before continuing his story. "A women, I can't remember her name, rose the dagger above her head before beckoning up a young lion. She murmured something about blood and how it connects big cats with us."
"The bond." Tyson whispered.
"Next thing I knew, she had put the dagger in hot coals before cutting my hand. The heat from the metal burned and the blood dropped onto the ground. Before I could stop the lion, it walked up and allowed the women to cut its forehead. She said that by the power of blood the connection could not be broken."
"Blood?" James questioned.
"I felt pain at first and then shocks sent through my body. I passed out. Next thing I woke up and Tiren was pacing around. I couldn't remember anything, she told me that we had been training and that I had collapsed. The lion was lying at the end of my bed."
"What happened to your big cat?" James asked.
"It was returned home." Brandon sighed, "When my lion was killed, I could feel my other big cat's bond returning."
"What was your big cat?" James asked, a puzzled look on his face.
"A mountain lion. Why?" Brandon asked.
"We have a place for big cats that have some bond left with their riders." James told him.
"Why did you say your name was Apollo?" Jackie asked quickly.
"I realise it now that they change your identity so that you don't remember anything. When my sister called out my name, it brought back the memories of my true life." Brandon explained.
"Come on. He is right to go." Jackie nodded.
Rider and Tyson unchained Brandon before stepping back to allow him to gain his feet.
"Come on, let's find your true big cat." James beckoned him.
"I apologise for everything I did earlier." Brandon said to her as he caught up.
"That wasn't the real you." Jackie accepted him.
"I would like to get a fresh start. Start over." Brandon told her as Jet stretched.
"I can organise that." Jackie explained.
"Really?" Brandon asked, his voice going a little high.
"Yes, really." Jackie chuckled at the sudden change of Brandon's voice. "Just don't make me regret it."
"Trust me. You won't." Brandon murmured. "Can we talk somewhere private, just you and your captain. I fear for everyone's safety."
"Ok." Jackie said slowly, as she mounted Jet.
"Your riding with me." Tyson told Brandon as he offered a hand up.
Brandon nodded before taking Tyson's hand and mounting Tyson's big cat, the big cat shifted as Brandon got comfortable. Tyson rolled his eyes before nodding to Jackie, James had joined her and Rider not far behind. Jake stayed at the back and Tyson in the middle. Jackie signalled them to leave, she patted Jet on the shoulder signalling the panther to break into a run. Jet growled before flicking her ears and leaping into full stride. Brandon seemed amazed at the sudden change of speed, from stop to full stride. Tyson shook his head before following, causing Brandon to nearly fall off.
"You might want to hold on." Rider teased him before getting low.
Koa roared before going over his full stride, within a few bounds he had caught up with Jackie.
"Ready?" Jackie called back to them.
"Let's do it!" Jake called back, excitement was clear in his tone.
"Ready for what?" Brandon asked.
"You'll see." Tyson said, a smirk on his voice.
Before his very eyes, he watched as Jet at full stride leaped into the air. The panther outstretched and high into the air was now up on a roof, and yet continued full stride as she landed. James was next, he leaped off a wall and joined Jackie. Rider and Jake climbed up walls as quick as they ran, it was only Tyson and Brandon left. Tyson smirked before allowing his big cat to leap off a wall, they went from wall to wall. Brandon scared out of his mind held on tight as Tyson's big cat twisted in mid air and landed beside James.
"You lot are crazy!" Brandon said, his eyes wide and hands shaking.
Everyone started laughing before continuing their way, leaping above the tribes folk heads. The tribes folk below looked up at them, some shaking their heads while others said their hellos.
"You do this all the time?" Brandon asked.
"No. Only when we don't want to get interrupted." Tyson explained.
"Let's see if you can make this time Tyson!" Jackie teased him.
Up ahead a 30 metre gap laid in front of them, "What does she mean by you making it this time?"
"Nothing, really. I just have never made it to the other side in one leap." Tyson shrugged.
"Is their anyway I can swap?" Brandon asked.
"You can't stop at full stride." Tyson called back to him.
"Oh." Brandon gulped.
Jackie was first to leap, her and Jet seemed to freeze in mid leap. Brandon watched with amazement as the pair, leaped over the tribes folk below. Jet was full out stretched and Jackie keeping herself low. They landed with about an extra 5 metres to spare, Jackie fist pumped the air before watching everyone else. James was next, his jaguar leaping off right on the edge of the roof. The pair slightly twisted before landing, Rider followed with no problem. Jake raced past Tyson and joined everyone else on the other side, they yelled in celebration before watching Tyson. Brandon swallowed hard as Tyson's big cat leaped off the edge of the roof. They seemed to move in slow motion, below people pointed to them and smiled. Suddenly Brandon opened his eyes on the other side, Tyson let out a yahoo.
"Nice." Jake said, before high-fifing Tyson.
"You right back there?" Rider asked, trying not laugh at Brandon's shocked expression.
"We are almost there." James shook his head before beckoning them onwards.
"Please, no more jumping off roofs like that. Ever." Brandon murmured.
"Can't promise you anything." Tyson shrugged as they reached the end.
"Ladies first." Rider beckoned Jackie.
"Why thank you Rider." Jackie smiled before allowing Jet to jump.
"Come on, slowpokes." She called up to them.
"She never changes." James chuckled to himself before following Rider.
Brandon held on tight as Tyson's big cat leaped off the roof, he felt it land with a slight thud before shaking its fur.
"We can walk from here." James instructed them, as he dismounted his jaguar.
Jackie patted Jet on the shoulder before beckoning everyone else inside. From the outside, it looked like a dome, which is was, in a way. The walls made of stone and iron bars covered the entrances, made it look more prison like. From the outside they could here growling and snarling, Jackie looked at James before unlocking the first door. It creaked and shrouded as everyone piled inside, locking the door they had come through she unlocked the next one before allowing everyone else to go past. The second door didn't creak as much as the first but yet it had its fair share of claw marks and bite marks.
From the inside it was completely different, above their heads a glass roof, as solid as the stone walls. Daylight brightened up the cave like dome, around them smaller caves emerged that allowed the big cats to sleep in. Around them, it was a mixture of terrain, to their left a rainforest and grasslands, to their right a rocky hill and a snowy ledge. In front of them laid a large rocks, piled on top of one another, each one leading like a stair case up to one that was angled towards the roof.
"What did you say your big cat was?" Jackie asked him, as she stopped in time before two cubs tumbled past.
"A mountain lion." Brandon replied simply, he seemed dazed by what was in front of him.
The group trekked the inhospitable terrain, the occasional snow leopards would shy out and greet them. Finally they came to a cave that had a big enough opening to fit a mountain lion. They were suddenly greeted by deep blue eyes as it prowled out of the cave. Brandon stumbled forward, reaching his hand out, "Khan?"...