The Swords of Memory: Second Chances

Chapter 20

Zara was back in the lava caves and was hoping that the lava people would have left the room, confused by her apparently random disappearance. She was not so lucky. The room was just as crowded when she reappeared. It was like an ant hill when it was knocked over. People were running everywhere and this room seemed to be the crossroads that everyone needed to go through to get where they were going. She was there for a few seconds before she was noticed but then she was immediately surrounded. She tried to find Halcyon's energy crystal on the floor but it was no longer there. "Halt, human. Don't try anything or you will forfeit any right's you have as a prisoner." Zara wasn't going to try anything violent. It wasn't even within her capabilities to do something like that. Her power was healing and she had no means to hurt a person made of lava. She waited for them to tell her what to do but one of the lava people came forwards and grabbed at her hands, trying to pull them behind her back. She managed to stop her right hand from being captured but still suffered the painful heat in her left hand. The lava person leaped back and fell to the floor, moaning in pain.

"Idiot." Another lava person said. "She has protection under the laws of war. Until she acts with hostility towards us we can't hurt her. Not until she receives a trial. This is war." Zara had not expected that. She remembered learning something about the laws of war in her history classes. But in her world breaking them had only caused negative consequences after the war. Apparently here there was some kind of force that enforced them, if there were the same laws.

"Human, if you would please follow us we can avoid hurting you again. Just know that if you refuse to cooperate you will forfeit your protections and we will have to use force." Two of the lava people got in front of her and two got behind her and started to walk down one of the tunnels leaving the room. She glanced back and saw that another two lava people were caring away the one that had burned her. He, she thought that the lava person was a man, was starting to look a lot more like stone. The light from his intense heat was starting to dim. It looked like hurting her was causing him to suffer. Zara had no clue what would happen if he completely cooled but she doubted it would be good.

The tunnel continued deeper and deeper and Zara was forced to walk quickly or risk being burned again. Her burns, including the one on her back which had felt even more painful in the portal game, were completely healed by the time they made their first turn. The lava people noticed that she was no longer grimacing in pain and that the burn on her hand was healed. Zara didn't really care if they knew. They would find out eventually considering every time they touched her she was painfully burned. While they worked she started trying to recall the laws of war in her world. If they were the same here, then maybe she would be able to use them to protect herself or at least buy enough time to try and negotiate for the sword.

Zara had never been very good at school. She got good enough grades, but she usually forgot things that she learned after the test. It was like the last test of the year was an all-encompassing eraser for the year's material. She knew that she had learned about the laws of war, remembering what they actually were was another matter. She remembered the obvious one, that if you committed an act of war then war could ensue. The lava people had made it seem like there was a code of conduct for treating prisoners until they were tried but other than that though she was drawing a blank. If she could get back to her world she could just look up what the laws were but she couldn't just force herself to wake up there.

They arrived in a large chamber with pool of lava lining the room. Deep in the chamber there was a throne. It reminded Zara of Daniel's throne room. There was a large lava person sitting on the throne, obviously the leader. "Present yourself to the chief, human. Tell him your name and your allegiance in this war." Zara wasn't about to do that. She couldn't really. Was she even a player in this war? The lines seemed to be drawn between the different species but she had already alienated the humans in the village and she didn't think there were other humans in the portal game. Zara needed to know what the laws of war were before she accidently incriminated herself. She needed to wake up. And she knew a way that she might be able to do it. "My name is Zara. I apologize for I am unfamiliar with your culture. How should I address you?"

"My name is Chief Ignaz. You can address me as Chief." Zara took a deep breath. She needed to burn her right hand and then Warren would wake her up. Zara went over to a lava pool and the lava people started moving to intercept her. Both would accomplish her ultimate goal. She steeled herself to touched the lava. It was not as easy to do as she had hopped. She had hurt herself before, but never with lava.

"Chief, I should warn you. I have a tendency to disappear sometimes. I always come back though." Zara wanted him to still be willing to talk to her when she came back. "Sometimes I'm gone for hours, sometimes minutes." Zara touched her palm to the lava and bit down to hold in the scream. She instinctively pulled back and her hand started to heal.

"I demand that you tell me who sent you! You came here with a bubble person. Have the humans formed an alliance with the bubble people? Did you collaborate with them to plan such an alliance before war even occurred?" Zara felt her shoulders starting to shake. Warren was waking her up.

"I will be back within an hour. I promise." Zara said. Then she disappeared.