Defying Equilibrium

Chapter 11: Directions to a destination

Ahmed sat at the head of the wooden table that occupied the centre of the room, tenting his fingers in front of him contemplatively. To his left sat Oscar, who was comforting a distraught girl that he recognised as one of Madame Jade's daughters. And to his right sat Dare, who was as fired up as Oscar had ever seen him. Dare was normally so easygoing, so laid-back, but now he was so agitated that he couldn't sit still, and his long hair was even more of a mess than usual.

The first thing that Dare and Sansu had done when they discovered the letter was to find Oscar, and then seek out the only person in the town who might possibly know something about this. But so far, Ahmed had not been helpful at all. There was obviously something that he wasn't telling them, and they sat in uncomfortable silence. Oscar and Dare were not sure whether they had come to him for explanations or advice, but he was giving neither.

"All right, I can't stand this any longer," said Dare, standing up. Ahmed looked up in surprise. "Tell us what you know. The whole truth this time, not the vague half truths that you fed us last time. Do you know anything at all about where Liana could have been taken, or who took her?"

Ahmed sighed, but nodded. "I have ideas about that. But I am not withholding information for any selfish reasons. Believe me boy, sometimes there are things that you are simply better off not knowing."

Dare slammed his fist down on the table. "I don't care!" he shouted at Ahmed. "That's not a judgement for you to make. Someone that I care about has been kidnapped, and I'll be damned if I stand here and do nothing about it!"

Ahmed stood up then too, his voice raising to match Dare's. "Well you shouldn't have let it happen in the first place!"

A look of pain and guilt crossed Dare's face. He shouldn't have let Liana walk home alone. He didn't think about it at the time, and he knew that Ahmed was right. He pulled his chair back out and sat back down.

"I will tell you," said Ahmed, no longer shouting. "And you will not interrupt me. It will be painful to hear, but you will listen, alright?" Oscar, Dare and Sansu all nodded. "I'll start with who took her. Do you remember what I told you about the 'guardians' of Equilibrium?

"They will do anything to keep the current balance of conflict between Shielders and Swordsmen. Without the Continuous War, the balance of power would be shifted to the puppets, rather than the puppet-masters. And you two, through fault of simply being idiots, have angered them." Dare was about to protest at being called an idiot, but kept his mouth shut at Ahmed's expression.

"What you need to understand," he went on, "is that you two, unlikely as it may seem, have become a threat to them. You are no longer simply ignorant children. It may not seem like two young boys can make a difference to a war of millions, but all it takes is a rumour, some gossip, a radical idea that just maybe, there are ways around the rule of Equilibrium. Imagine the amount of chaos that this could create if people realised that the rule does not have to dictate their war. It might end. And so all threats, however small and insignificant, must be dealt with. Understand?" They all nodded again, but Ahmed wasn't even looking at them. He was staring off into the distance as he kept talking.

"They already sent one after you, and he would have killed you if I had not been passing by. If I had not saved you two, then your names would have been crossed of a list, and you would be erased from history. Your family would have been given a simple explanation, you wandered off into the woods and lost your way, or something similar. Needless to say, they must have been fairly disconcerted to know that you survived.

"But why Liana?" Sansu burst out, unable to hold it in any longer. What had her sister done to deserve to get dragged into this?

Ahmed glared at her for the interruption, and Sansu paled at his stare. He was extremely intimidating when he wanted to be. "As I was saying," he continued, "they failed to eliminate you the first time, which raised a few alarms. They can't kill you outright in the city, as that would just raise suspicion. These people don't have much of a moral compass. The easiest way to lure you out of the city is to take someone that you care about, and use them as bait." Sansu stifled a sob. Ahmed didn't seem to hear, his stare was vacant and his eyes glazed, seemingly lost in memories.

"What's going to happen to her?" Oscar asked quietly.

"We'll get her back!" Dare cried. "These bastards have met their match!" he said, with a dramatically heroic expression. Sansu chuckled a little bit, for the first time since Liana was taken. Dare smiled at her, glad to have made her smile, even just a little.

Ahmed narrowed his eyes. "Idiot," he muttered. "You'd be lucky to get there alive, never mind getting the two of you out alive. You would be better off accepting that she's most likely dead by now."

Sansu gasped, and let out a choked sob. Oscar glared intensely at Ahmed. Why the hell would he say something like that, especially in front of Sansu? Oscar felt like hitting him, but Dare had quite literally beat him to the punch.

Dare jumped from his chair and swung at Ahmed, but Ahmed caught his fist. He effortlessly turned Dare around and pushed him down into the table, pulling his arm up, and pinning him down. Dare scowled, he couldn't move. Ahmed was too strong.

While keeping Dare pinned down, Ahmed chuckled. "I said that you would be better off accepting that. Not for a single second did I think that you would, or that you should. I know that as soon as we finish here you'll go running off to find her, but you never will without my help."

Dare looked hopeful from his pinned-to-the-table position."So are you saying that you know where they've taken her?" he asked, in a rapid mood change that was typical to Dare. Ahmed released him, and he stood back up straight again.

Ahmed nodded. "I do know where they would have taken her, yes. And I can take you there. I cannot guarantee your safety once we get there, but I can take you as far as the threshold."

"Where is this place then?" Oscar asked. He still did not completely trust Ahmed, blame it on indoctrination, so he thought it best if Ahmed was not the only one with the information of Liana's whereabouts.

Ahmed pulled a scrolled map off a dusty shelf behind him, and laid it on the table. Oscar leaned over and peered at the map. In the centre was Damakis City, and its surrounding area. Off to the East of the city was where the Shielder's territory ended and the Swordsmen's territory began. North of these two territories was a mountain range, with scrawled writing above it identifying it as the Xalin Ranges, where Ahmed had mentioned that the forges were situated. This was as far as Oscar knew, as far as any map had shown them. All maps in the city ended at the border of the ranges. But this map extended further, showing much further North of the ranges. And if you look closely, Oscar noted, there is a tiny snowflake drawn on the map, marking a location. Ahmed pointed to it.

"I fear that is where your friend is being held," he said.

Oscar looked at him quizzically. "What makes you so sure? She could be anywhere."

Ahmed shook his head. "No," he replied. "I know these people. I know how they think, and what they are capable of. From experience. She is there, I am sure of it."

Dare looked at the map, but he was never much good with directions. He basically wandered around until he got where he needed to be. He glanced back up and Oscar and Ahmed. "Well then," he said. "What are we waiting for?"

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