Crystal Guardian

10

'Hello, who is this?' said the voice.

'Feliciana?'

'Yes. Raiden, is that you?'

'It's me,' he replied. 'Are you okay?'

'I miss you,' her tiny voice burbled but was drowned out by another.

'Stop being so sentimental child,' Incursio snarled. There was the sound of the communicator being snatched from Feliciana's hand, the sound of a thud as she was pushed to the wooden floor below. Raiden held the communicator so hard that Aldric feared it would become permanently attached to his hand.

'Leave her alone,' Raiden said threateningly, 'If you hurt her I swear I'll kill you myself!'

'Will you? I don't think she's in any pain at all,' there was sarcasm in his voice, 'In fact she sleeps most of the time, lost in her little dream world, like children are.'

'Who do you think you are?' whispered Raiden, his voice sticking halfway up his throat.

'I am Jagophite Incursio,' he growled with pride.

'He was being rhetorical,' Aldric bellowed but Raiden pulled the communicator away from him.

'And who, may I ask, is this?' said Incursio.

'I'm your worst nightmare!' said Raiden.

'Oh, how cliché,' he laughed, 'You read a lot of stories don't you? Just like your precious little baby cousin?'

'Wait 'til I get my hands on you, my sword through your stinking head!'

'How rude of you,' he continued to laugh, 'I haven't even done anything to you yet.' The signal was lost. Raiden slouched to the floor, his back to the wall.

'You know,' he said, 'I really hate K's dad. I never wanted to come here, never planned on going to Atarikka in the first place either. I could've avoided all of this if I had just...' he trailed off. Aldric didn't like it when people didn't finish what they were saying. It just made them look like they had something to hide.

'What will the lords do to you?' he asked.

'Dunno,' Raiden replied with in a tone that gave the impression that he didn't care. 'Suppose they'll question me a bit more.'

'Why? What do they think you've done?'

'Nothing, it's just I used to be a pirate of sorts,' said Raiden regretfully. 'My so-called father was on the run and he thought it a good idea to take me with him. That's how I got caught up in it all. The Iccolsion Lords hate pirates and anyone affiliated with them.'

'Pirates aren't all bad,' said Aldric.

'The ones my dad affiliated with were,' Raiden explained. 'Wasn't his fault though. We got away in the end. Then we went on to travel the stars with Winori and Dora.'

'You travelled with my mother?' At least he was getting a bit more information out of him but they were also wasting time. 'Okay, this is all good, but how do we get you out without the guards seeing?' said Aldric.

'Now you're talking,' Raiden gave him a look as if to ask where he had been hiding all this time. Aldric shrugged to himself, trying not to contemplate the dishonour of his actions.

'We could distract them,' Aldric suggested. 'I wonder why they haven't come to get us yet.'

'Because they know how long it takes to make a connection,' Raiden said, rolling his eyes, 'They gave us one Iccolsion hour. It's standard procedure.'