Stars Of Memory

Chapter 58

Jīvitaya's blood boils and she takes a step toward them. She has to save her friend. Taln raises a finger at her and waves it.

"No. You stay there if you don't want me to slit the throat of your little friend." Jīvitaya halts and he smiles sadistically. Jīvitaya gets the impression that he is even worse than Ilior. "Good. Now, if you don't want me to slit her throat and then blow up this spot you've been trying so hard to protect," Jīvitaya starts in surprise and fear, causing him to grin even wider. "Oh yes. Just because you destroyed the weapons systems of my ships doesn't mean that I can't still blow up this place."

He pulls something out of his belt and holds it up for her to see. "If I drop this, it will blow a massive hole in the stone we stand atop of. You don't want that to happen, do you?" She shakes her head frantically. "Then you are going to allow me to place a device on your neck to disable your powers and you are going to come with me, without a fight. If you don't, your friend and whatever is so important beneath our feet are destroyed. Do we have an understanding?"

Jīvitaya nods. "Can I say goodbye."

He smiles darkly. "Yes, but you must allow me to put the device on you first. And if you try to run . . ."

He brandishes the object in his hand once more. Jīvitaya nods and approaches him slowly. When she reaches him and Iyokú, he grabs her at the same moment he pushes Iyokú away. Iyokú immediately starts to step towards them and Jīvitaya sends her one final telepathic message before her powers are locked away.

"Don't. He will destroy the forest if you try anything."

Then she feels the sting on her neck from the device and her powers vanish. Taln pushes her away from him.

"Go say goodbye. And make it quick."

Jīvitaya nods and runs over to Iyokú, hugging her tightly. Behind Iyokú's back, where Taln can't see what she is doing, she presses on her chip and it spits two objects out.

"Jīvitaya, don't let him take you. We can stop him."

"No, if you try, he will destroy the forest, and all of La'Vi'Ai. If this is how I save La'Vi'Ai, then so be it." Her voice turns urgent as Taln starts to approach them slowly, and she drops it into a whisper. "We can defeat them, I've dismantled their ship's weapons and you know how to turn their other weapons against them. Use telekinesis for the ropes, the sindars." She presses one of the objects into Iyokú's hand. "Give this to Kys and he can track me."

Iyokú nods and Jīvitaya hugs her again tightly and pulls away just before Taln reaches them. She presses the twin to the device she gave Iyokú against her wrist and it melts into her skin, just like her master chip. Taln grabs her arm and tugs her back towards the pod now descending from the ship high above. She follows him onto the pod and it rises into the air. Jīvitaya is surprised when the door doesn't close immediately and lurches forward when Taln tosses the explosive device out of the door before it closes.

"No!"

Desperately, Jīvitaya makes her chip send an invisible tendril towards the device in an attempt to disable it. Taln laughs at her attempts to prevent the device from falling toward the crystal forest and pulls her back harshly. She can't tell if the tendril had connected with the device before it retracts into her chip and tenses in anticipation for the destruction of the forest and her likely death as a result. The tendril couldn't have gotten to the device and disabled it. There wasn't enough time. Despite that, nothing happens. Jīvitaya doesn't let out any visible signs that his attempt to destroy her home failed but sighs internally. As the pod continues to rise towards the ship, she feels something hard hit the side of her head and she falls unconscious.

When she comes to, she is attached to a familiar metal table. Her pulse quickens and her face turns pale but she quickly hides her fear behind a mask of calm. A moment later, Taln enters the room, slipping gloves onto his hands.

"Good, you're awake. I wouldn't want you to miss the fun."

Jīvitaya forcibly keeps her voice from trembling. "And what is that?"

He smiles. "You are to tell me exactly who you are and what you did to my son."

"I didn't do anything to Kys."

He smiles darkly. "Let me repeat myself. Tell me who you are and what you did to my son or I will use pain to get it out of you."

He lifts a scalpel out of a tray by the door and her stomach turns.

"I am Jīvitaya Rai Naji. I am the Lilaria, or Princess of the La'Vi people. I was kidnapped from Earth and tortured by your people before I was rescued by your son. We finally came to La'Vi'Ai and have been there ever since."

He smiles. "That's not good enough. Let's ask another, simpler question. What are the things on your wrist?"

"They're tattoos."

What did you do to my general?"

Her next answer is short. "He's dead."

Taln's face turns red as it fills with rage and he overturns the table of instruments. He looks down at the scalpel in his hands and places it on the counter.

"That's not enough, you deserve something much worse."

He bends down to a cabinet next to her metal table and pulls two things out. One is a long metal rod and one is a shallow dish full of black stones. He spins the dish around and it ignited into flames. He sets the rod into it and waits as the rod slowly begins to turn red. Jīvitaya distracts herself from it, knowing what he is going to do, by voicing a question.

"How can you teleport?"

"We have a device that allows us to do so."

He pulls the rod out of the flame-filled dish, now glowing a bright cherry-red. He lowers it to the inside of her elbow and presses it into the skin there. She screams as her skin sizzles and she weeps in relief when he pulls it away. She looks down at the spot of red and blistered skin and cries in agony as he presses a finger against the burn. He puts the rod back in the dish and waits for it to heat up again.

"Let's try again, shall we? What did you do to my son?"

She glares at him. "I did nothing. His actions were his own and were not influenced by me."

"I don't believe you."

He presses the rod against her skin farther down her arm, on the soft flesh on the inside of her forearm. She screams again, crying until he pulls it away. He repeats the process several times, each one preceded by the same question. After a few times of repeating the same thing, she stops speaking at all. Finally, after a dozen burns are spread out over both arms, he stops.

"That's enough for today. Let's start again in the morning."

He packs up his equipment and leaves the room with her still strapped down to the table. She sobs, both in relief that he has gone and in pain as her burns throb.

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Do you think Kysanden and Iyokú will save her? How long will Taln have her for? Tell me what you think, and happy reading! Well, as happy as you can be during this little sad segment of torture.

~Goddess of Fate, signing out.