Seeking Oul: Eloria Series Book 2

2: Fij and Soma

8/16/3028

A dim light switched on and I put my eyepatch back on. I wore it over my right eye to hide my odd eyes—the left, brown, and the right, blue. I thought back to when Elossai recounted a myth of an ancient being, the Ruhamun, that had brought about great evil and thereafter his mismatched irises had been immortalized as the epitome of wickedness. Elossai assured me that the legend was derived from outdated superstitions which the Ankins had outgrown; however, some countries upheld these beliefs, and so I wore the eyepatch.

With the light on, I took the opportunity to survey my surroundings. We were in a cave, and Elossai and Katie were in the cell next to me. Next to the stairs on my right were three cells—Martin lay on the floor of the middle cell, unconscious, and Rydion was in the cell to his left, right beside the stairs. Rydion was a medium-built man, with russet brown skin. His shaggy, shoulder-length hair and scruffy beard certainly suggested that he'd been confined here for months.

The footsteps drew nearer, and then two figures soon appeared at the bottom of the stairs, dragging behind them the unmoving and unmistakable figure of Gundhram. The taller of the two was an Ankin with a bald shave. The other, I thought was Ankin at first glance, but knew he wasn't when I saw his arms. His arms were scaled with reptilian skin, like that of a Driar, but everything else was uncannily human and Ankin-like. He had a full head of brown hair and brown eyes, unlike Driars, who were bald and had eyes that were completely black and void of an iris.

"Hey!" I shouted, shaking at my bars. "Let him go. Wake up Gun—"

"El-Lan." Rydion held two fingers over his lips.

The two bandits threw Gundhram into the cage next to Martin's and slammed the cage shut.

Gundhram groaned slightly—a sign of life.

The Ankin locked it and deliberately jingled the ring of keys as he attached it to his belt. "Learn to keep your mouth shut, broad," the Ankin man barked.

"She'll learn soon enough, Fij," said the Driar as they made their way back up the stairs—not bothering with the lights.

Rydion waited for the men to close the door behind him before he spoke. "El-Lan, best to keep silent next time. Fij won't take guff from no one, and Soma isn't much better."

"Yes. Please, El-Lan," Elossai said, emphasizing the false name.

"Fine," I said, then turned my attention to Martin and Gundhram. "Hey, guys! Wake up!"

"We must wait for the sedative to wane."

"In the meantime, let's find a way out of our cells," I said.

"We will, but timing is essential. Those hooligans could be just above those stairs for all we know." Elossai glanced at the staircase briefly before continuing in a smaller voice. "Tell us Rydion, how much do you know of these men? How do they operate?"

"Unfortunately for you and your friends, these aren't your run-of-the-mill local bandits. These are Mollo's men."

"Who?" I asked. Perhaps Mollo's men had a profound meaning to Elorians, but it didn't mean anything to me.

"Mollo. He runs his network mainly in Doon and Todaj, but he has men from almost everywhere working for him."

"How did you and your friend Jannan end up as prisoners?" I asked.

"Jannan and I have some personal issues with Mollo. We were looking for him to begin with."

"Looking for him?" Elossai raised her eyebrows.

He shifted before glancing down. "Jannan's sister was murdered by Mollo."

"I'm sorry to hear that," I said with a regretful grimace.

"Mollo will be," he vowed.

"What does Mollo's network do, Rydion?" Elossai asked. Having been sheltered in palaces all her life, she probably knew as little about Mollo's network as I did.

"Trafficking people, mostly. But he's got a hand in other not-so-wholesome things." He leaned back on the bars as if completely apathetic to both his and our predicament.

Wonderful.

"We can't afford to be trafficked." I massaged my temples—the headache seemed to be getting worse.

We needed to find our Crystal and we needed to get away from Mollo's men. Once these bandits discover the Elosra Crystal and its value, unimaginable chaos was sure to follow. I couldn't allow it to fall into the wrong hands.

"I can help you," said an eloquent voice. I knew her voice all too well. It was Sye-Liene.

I dropped my hands to my side, expecting to find myself in a hallucination with Sye-Liene. That was usually what happened shortly after she spoke, but that wasn't the case this time. I was still present in this reality, and I could see Elossai and Rydion in conversation.

"You know that only I can help you," she repeated.

"You can't help me," I snapped.

"Ell?" Katie said in a small voice.

Elossai squatted down beside Katie on the ground and I pressed to the edge of my cell, leaning as close as I could to them.

Katie rubbed her eyes. "Where's Martin?"

Elossai whispered something to Katie.

"Is the girl alright?" Rydion leaned forward on the cell bars to catch a better glimpse of Katie.

"She's fine," Elossai said while brushing away hloose strands of hair that had stuck to Katie's damp forehead.

Katie was shaking, and her natural olive tan had given way to a sallow white.

"We need to get out of here Rydion—right now," I said.

He shook his head full of matted hair. "If you want to escape you've got to do it when it counts. You get one chance. If you fail there won't be a second, Fij will make sure of that. There's nothing you can do about it today so just sit back and conserve your energy. We can try tomorrow." He slouched backward casually with his hands behind his head—completely at ease.

Maybe months of being imprisoned made a person complacent, or maybe he couldn't understand the urgency because he wasn't on a mission that affected the future of an entire planet.

"Isn't today just as good as tomorrow?" I said, fighting back the irritation rising in my voice.

"Not so. Tomorrow, we won't have to break out of here. We'll be walking out of our cells."

Elossai nearly rolled her eyes. "And by what absurd reasoning would they allow us to walk out of our cells?"

"Because, Gwen," he said, "We're being appraised tomorrow."