Mind Games

Chapter 6 - Dezra

Dezra walked through the palace halls, trying his best to ignore the giant soldier, Rez, standing to his left and the metal band fastened around his wrist, but they were hard to ignore when one was watching your every move and the other dug into your skin with every movement.
His reflection in the floor-to-ceiling windows caught his eyes. He barely recognized himself in the drab gray and olive uniform, twice as tall as he had been when he left home. Well, 'left' maybe wasn't the right word. Sounds too voluntary. At least they had let him keep growing his hair out; his blond hair now reached halfway down his back and was tied back in a low ponytail. He had cut it several times since he arrived in the capital, but he never cut it shorter than shoulder-length.
As he and his shadow climbed the staircase to the third floor, he made sure that his uniform was straight and that his hair was all pulled back. After all, this was the first time in five years that he had seen either of the princesses. Princess Daniita had only been only ten years old, and Litaan was twelve. After a while, he had realized that he missed being around the two of them, but he knew that it was for the best. Someone like him wasn't supposed to be friends with princesses.
Once he was up on the third floor, he made a beeline for Daniita's chambers, Rez following closely behind him. He knocked lightly on the door. "Your Highness? May I come in?" he asked in his soft, lilting accent.
The door opened, revealing a young girl with dark brown hair and a full figure. She was wearing a plain dressing gown and her hair was hanging limply around her face.
Dezra dropped into a light bow, as was custom.
"Oh, Dezra, is that you?" she asked, her voice scratchy, as if she hadn't used it in a while.
"Yes, Princess Daniita," he said, rising. "I was just sent-"
Daniita lunged for him, wrapping him in a tight hug. "I've missed you!" she exclaimed. "Come on in!"
Dezra nervously followed her in, Rez staying close behind. The princess collapsed on her bed while Dezra stood near the door. He already wasn't supposed to be in her room. This was as far as he could go.
"Well, Daniita, as I was saying, your parents sent me up to see how you were doing after..." his voice trailed off.
"Ugh, of course they did," Daniita said, laying on her stomach and propping herself up on her elbows. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, I'm just saying that they haven't spoken with me since Litaan disappeared." Her voice cracked on her last word. She sighed. "Well, I'm as well as I can be with a missing sister. Is there anything else they wanted you to ask me?"
Dezra stared at the floor.
"Sorry," said Daniita, sighing. "I don't mean to be rude. I'm just worried about Litaan."
"I understand," Dezra said, an image of his own sister in his mind.
"Dezra, do you want to come and sit with me?" the princess asked, patting the mattress next to her.
He panicked, unsure of what to do. It was already bad enough that he was in her room. People would talk if he spent more time there than he had to.
"Go on, Coran," Rez said with a smirk. "I've got my eyes on you."
He nervously sat down on the very edge of the bed. It was softer than anything he sat on in years, ever since he was no longer allowed to spend time with the princesses.
Daniita sat up, tucking her hair behind her ear to get it out of her face. "I just don't know where she could be," she said, a tear building up in her eye. "Why would she leave?"
"Do you know for sure that she ran away?" Dezra asked.
"Yes, I do," she said, matter-of-factly. "Her locket was gone from her room. She never goes anywhere without it."
The room was silent for a moment.
"Well, how have you been?" Daniita asked, fingering her own locket at her neck.
"I've been as well as I can be," said Dezra, his eyes flicking towards Rez, who was listening to their every word. "And you?"
"I saw a cute boy in the courtyard the other day with Litaan," she said with a smile. "I talked to him today."
Dezra smiled. Even though they both knew that it could never work, it was fun to dream about finding love.
"I'm happy for you," he said with a grin.
"Hey, Coran, you're needed in the throne room," Rez said after hearing someone call from down the hall. "Now."
"Alright," he said, standing up. "See you later?"
"Yeah," Daniita said, even though she knew that they probably wouldn't see each other for a while. "See you later."
"Oh, and what do you want me to tell your parents?" Dezra asked before he left.
"Tell them that I'm doing wonderfully and would like some custard pies," Daniita said with a smile.
"Will do."
Dezra left the room with a smile on his face. By the time he was back down on the first floor, the smile was gone. He couldn't stop thinking about what he would be needed for in the throne room. He knew better than to ask Rez by this point; he'd tried many times in the past, but he either stayed silent or told him to stop talking and gave him a shock. It was hard to tell which one he had, so he had just stopped trying.
His mind spun with possibilities as they neared the throne room. 'Maybe a promotion? A mission? Maybe...' his fingers lingered over the band on his wrist. 'No. Best not to get your hopes up.'
They arrived at the grand doors to the throne room, waiting outside when the guards told them that the king and queen were in a meeting. The better part of thirty minutes later, the doors opened.
"Thank you for your support in these troubling times," the King said with a hand on his wife's arm, who was dabbing at her eyes with an embroidered handkerchief.
'They play the distressed parent role pretty well,' Dezra thought, 'but they can't fool me.' When he was younger, he had been sent to keep the princesses company instead of their parents. They didn't speak with their daughters unless it was absolutely necessary. 
"Of course," the man leaving the room said with a bow. "I wish you the best of luck finding your daughter."
He left and Dezra was sent in with his shadow following close behind. The second the doors shut behind him, Queen Zakoya's worried expression was gone and King Niro's face returned to its neutral state.
Dezra dropped to a knee. "Your Majesties," he said in a monotone voice.
"Captain Coran," Niro said, waving his hand at him as a signal for him to rise. "We have an assignment for you and your soldiers."
"And what might that be?" Dezra asked in a respectful tone, keeping his hands folded behind his back.
"You and your soldiers are going to go and find our daughter," Niro stated. Dezra internally groaned. Several teams had already been sent out, and none of them had come back. "Frankly, you are expendable. But your... abilities may prove to be useful in finding her. You are to leave at three bells this afternoon."
"Yes, your Majesty," Dezra said.
"You are dismissed."
As Dezra turned to leave, the king spoke up again.
"One more thing," he said, making Dezra turn back to face him. "I've taken the liberty of getting some insurance for this assignment," he said, staring straight at Dezra's eyes. "You have family back on Seya, correct?" Dezra froze. "Let's just say that if you don't come back with my daughter before her birthday, in five week's time, your mother and your sweet little sister might be getting a surprise visit. You are dismissed."
"Y-yes, your Majesty," Dezra stuttered, his heart pounding.
He hurried out of the throne room, the soldier with him having to jog to keep up with his long legs.
'He... he doesn't mean that, right? There's no way he can know anything about my family, let alone where they live. They'll be fine. He wouldn't do that.' And yet, a nagging voice in his head kept saying, 'He would, and you know it. If he buys little kids kidnapped from their homes and uses them for their magic, he would go after Ma and Priya.'
He strode through the halls, trying to quiet the thoughts in his mind as he sent a messenger to alert his soldiers that they were leaving in just under five hours.
The next few hours passed quickly, and before he knew it, he and his soldiers were leaving the city.
Dezra pulled a map out of his pack, trying to figure out where the princess could have gone. 'She could really be anywhere at this point,' he thought. 'Kotera isn't small, there's a chance she's still close. Although, in the time since she left, she probably could have gotten all the way to the east coast, or even to Léona. This'll be harder than I thought.'
He racked his brain for a moment, eventually choosing a random location. For the remainder of the day, he and one of his soldiers made portals to transport the group around the country. The first place they ended up was a small town just a short ways out of Kakatia. Dezra split up the group, sending his soldiers around the town to question the locals.
They spent the day traveling between villages, looking for word of a runaway from the city, with no luck. After visiting five different towns, the sun began to set.
"We're stopping here for the night," Dezra said once his soldiers had met back up in the small town of Jakha. They booked a few rooms at a small inn, settling on six bells as their departure time.
He laid awake late into the night, thoughts of his home flying through his mind. Dangerous thoughts. The salty air, the crowded and steep streets. His little home with gulls on the roof. 'You can't go back there,' he thought as he tried to force them out of his mind. But that didn't stop him from falling back asleep and dreaming about his mother and little sister.