Wraith

Tycoon Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

Dojo didn't look up at them until the Captain was three feet from his face. For a moment Wraith saw a flicker of surprised uncertainty and fearful astonishment pass through his startlingly blue eyes. Then the emotion faded and the old man gazed at them impassively. He didn't even blink at seeing Flare.

"We're conducting an assessment." The Captain held up a small device that he took from one of his pockets. "For the record, please state your name, the length of your incarceration to date, and the charges that were brought against you."

For a moment Wraith didn't think he was going to cooperate. Then he opened his mouth and spoke in a surprisingly youthful tenor. As he did so, the Captain gestured at Flare and she obediently began to glow with a light that encompassed both Wraith and the Captain as well as her mentor.

"I am the User known as Dojo," he said slowly. For a moment, he looked like he was dressed in a loose brown sparring outfit with a beige bandana around his mouth and nose and a red blindfold over his eyes. "I have been incarcerated in Lairden for just under fifteen hours." The costume faded and red digital numbers flashed over his head reading 14:51. Even as Wraith watched it changed to say 14:52. "I have been charged with theft of User monies, with harming Normals, and with plotting to destroy the Users of Gordam." For an instant, his voice echoed strangely as someone Wraith assumed was Zephyr read the same words off a charge sheet. Then the images faded although Flare's light remained steady. Wraith glanced over at her curiously and saw that her eyes were closed and her face was clenched with effort.

The Captain nodded once, the movement bringing Wraith's attention to him briefly. She saw a flash of his Messenger uniform for a moment and winced as she remembered that Flare was good at revealing secrets. Donner, she noticed, was focusing intently on Dojo rather than on her or the Captain so she hoped that anything Flare got from her would remain at least semi-secret.

"Are the charges justified?" The Captain asked formally.

"They are false." False, false, false. The light around him filled with the word over and over. "I am a User." Dojo lifted his head proudly. User, User, User, went the light.

The Captain spun around. "Then you don't belong here. Wraith, see to Flare." And he was out of the door before the last of Flare's light faded.

Wraith turned just in time to catch the young User as she fainted. Dojo looked over at them compassionately. "Poor child," he said softly. "Her talent is still growing. To my knowledge that's the longest she's been able to maintain the light at full power."

Then the door swung wide again and the Captain returned, bringing with him the warden. "You saw what we did," he was saying loudly. "This User is innocent. Maybe someone set him up, or maybe Zephyr made a mistake; I'll make sure to mention it when I send him the full assessment. We've got to release him, and he can help find the real Abuser."

"I've never seen an assessment team with a verifier before," the warden said slowly.

"That's why I have two guards instead of one," the Captain answered. "Verifiers are rare and you can't use them for long so her assignment to this team is a bit of an experiment. But as you can see, in some cases they are vital."

"Well," the warden hesitated a moment longer, but in the end, she went to unlock Dojo's handcuffs. "All right. Sorry about the misunderstanding, sir."

He bowed gracefully, hands behind his back. "You had no way of knowing. And for the record, I have been treated with consideration here. You have no need to fear the assessment."

She smiled tiredly. "Thank you."

Once more in the corridor, the warden looked briefly worried. "Are you going to wait for Onyx and Zephyr?" She asked.