Excursion

Chapter Twenty-Nine - Valentino Shows Us the Way

  'Don't worry. Everything will be all right.' I felt like I had heard that statement before, a thousand times, but couldn't put my finger on where. Sure, the Vannakai people had said once or twice, and I was almost positive Valentino and Esis had said it before. But recently, I felt like it had been repeated over and over, boring itself into my memory.

  And as the door of the Replacement Chamber came into sight, it dawned on me. That phrase was the cadence of the palace drone itself emanating out into the rest of the Magnicum Region. I had been annoyed by that drone at first, but it helped me fall asleep that first night, and since then, it had become a part of my everyday life. I had ignored it more and more as the days went on, but it hadn't gone away. It was still humming away, telling me that all my worries were nothing but illusions and Lazuli would cradle me in its arms. Don't worry, Nomen. Lazuli will take care of you.

  How wrong I had been. Lazuli wasn't going to take care of anything. Just in the time I had been here, it had been responsible for the death of one my friends, injury of my guide, and uprooted everything I had held near and dear. And yet... I remembered Lavern's words. I had come from this place. Little Nomen, a code three-bar-one, whatever that meant. A Lazullian. I shook my head. Who was I? I didn't know anymore.

  And now we were heading towards the doors of the Replacement Chamber that had caused even Esis to shrink at its name. From the outside, it looked like a huge box with a steel door and those 'security cameras' mounted to the outside. Here we were to have something else about us warped; I was sure of it. I wanted to go home. I just wanted to go home.

  "Psst!"

  I turned my head and jabbed Salandil in the ribs.

  There, down the hall to our left, standing like an angel from a freer world, was Valentino. And he had a ring of keys in his white-gloved hands.

  I looked at Nova and the guards. The Premier was still ahead of us heading towards the steel doors of the Replacement Chamber, as if in a trance. The guards had positioned themselves on either side of the doors as they opened. I looked at Salandil, he looked at me, and we took off down the hall towards Valentino.

  "I like your style," the matchmaker laughed, taking me by the shoulder as he turned and ran.

  It was difficult to run with handcuffs, but I had no choice.

  "Stop them! Stop them!" the guards cried.

  I glanced behind us just long enough to see Nova turn her head in our direction.

  "I got these from one of the guards in the kitchen," Valentino explained, jingling the keys as he pulled us into another hallway. "They're the keys for Nova's personal portal. Poor girl. Right when she thought I was going to be trustworthy I had to go and dash her illusion," he sighed, opening a door that perfectly blended in with the rest of the wall.

  "Why are you helping us, anyway?" Salandil inquired as Valentino led us into the storage closet and pulled open a trapdoor. "I thought you were an elite public servant, destined to be manipulated until the end of your days."

  "I'm a matchmaker," Valentino corrected, stepping down onto the top stair. "We follow our hearts."

  We followed Valentino as quickly as we could down the ladder and once we got to the bottom, we found ourselves in a whitewashed hallway lined with steel doors.

  "That storage closet isn't the only way to get down here," the matchmaker explained, pointing up at several other trapdoors placed on the ceiling. "So keep an eye out. Tell me if we're going to get shot or something."

  And on that happy note, we followed the man through the basement. I suddenly became aware of how unfitting the color pink was for a clandestine operation.

  "How did you know we were in trouble in the first place?" I asked him. "Esis told us before we left Nova's chamber that you would be there to help us, and now here we are."

  "Oh, of course he did, silly chum cake," Valentino chuckled, walking over to a trophy case filled with swords. He took the ring of keys out of his pocket and began to unlock it. "I heard Esis' earpiece die and knew that something was wrong." He pulled an earpiece from his own ear – the same design which Esis wore.

  "How are you not brainwashed?!" I cried as the trophy cabinet swung open. "I'm under the impression that those things turn your brains to mush."

  "This one is a direct copy of Esis' earpiece," Valentino said, drawing a rapier out from the cabinet and inspecting its edge. "I got Willa to help me make it after we figured out exactly what model and wavelength he was using. Through it, I can hear all the nonsense the officials are telling him, but through altering it, I can't hear the hideous drone that all the earpieces make. It also cancels out some of the palace's drone. It took a bit of time and research, but it paid off. He knows I'm wearing it but miraculously hasn't told anyone else about it. I think he respects me and my opinions enough to not rat me out. Once I heard you all coming to the Replacement Chamber I put the pieces together. Well, somewhat." He carefully shut the trophy case – rapier still in hand – and beckoned us to follow him back down the hall. "Is Esis..."

  "Dead?" Salandil said. "No. Just about to get exiled."

  Valentino nodded gravely. "I figured as much."

  I spoke up again, "Why are you working for the Lazullians in the first place if you don't even like them?"

  "Nomen, in this region, it's either join the Lazullians or be killed. This little escape of ours marks the end of my life in Magnicum, but if I'm lucky, I can escape with you both over the border and reside in your region with Willa. We can be matchmakers for the people of the Harena Region, if that's something your people would desire."

  "But... wait a moment," I stammered. "So you never liked the Lazullians? Then why were you such good friends with Esis? He was solely devoted to them until just recently."

  "Esis wasn't always a shapeshifter, you know," Valentino explained. "I was good friends with him when he was a serpent in the Qerpidor Sea. He and I spent many long afternoons together, so when the Lazullians picked him up in their helicopters and took him over to their city, I was deeply concerned and decided to follow them. I was very young and brash so perhaps I wouldn't do everything I did in this day and age, but at the time – and even now - something in my heart told me that I had to stick with him even if it killed me. Heads!"

  Some of the trapdoors above us swung open and poured out half a dozen Lazullian guards. Their faces were shielded by helmets and they each carried a sword and a gun at their sides. Their guns were drawn.

  "I need a gun," Valentino remarked sadly as we raced down the hall, glancing back at the guards chasing us. "Nomen, Salandil: do me a favor and take these."

  He deposited the ring of keys into my hands.

  "Portal is the last door on the right. I'll meet up with you."

  "But-"

  "Go!"

  Salandil and I continued running as much as it pained us to leave Valentino behind with nothing but a sword to defend himself. Once or twice we glanced back where we had left him but he must have ducked into another hall as he was nowhere in sight. Last door on the right. Last door on the right.

 We reached the door. It took our combined effort to undo the lock with our bound hands but we managed, and slipped into the room just as gunshots began blaring out down the hall.