Chapter 10

A/N: Hey again! Oni here, reporting in from my new Wisconsin location! As it's been a while, you may want to re-read my previous chapter so as not to confuse yourself. (Oni has been known to proof-read Neko's chapters and go insane because she has forgotten everything beforehand ^_^") Let's hope I'm still up to snuff after being out of it for a few months, shall we?

* * *

The tall, dark-skinned man looked around the room, specifically at the two very still bodies. Alyssa was frozen deep within the heart of the crystal, a look of shock and anger still etched on her features. The boy- was his name X something?-was out cold and should remain that way for an hour or so. The man glanced at the clock on the far wall.

He had an hour.

He crossed the room from where the boy's unconscious body lay pressed the red button on his intercom. "Mr. Carlson," he waited a moment before he heard some static at the other end, and what sounded suspiciously like a yawn.

"Yes, Mr. Herrington?" the voice at the other end inquired.

"Send ten guards and the top floor scout to room 501 immediately. Also, send word to the Tower that we'll be arriving with the cargo shortly."

"Right away, sir."

Herrington ran his fingers through his short, dark hair in agitation. This job put such a strain on his moaned softly and rubbed his temples, trying to avoid the two frozen faces of the stilled young people at either side of the room. He wished he hadn't left his Scotch at home; a glass or two would do wonders.

Several loud knocks in a quick succession at his door brought Herrington's mind away from the healing powers of Scotch and back to the matter at hand. "Hurry up," he called gruffly, "We have less than an hour!"

Ten heavily armored men trooped into the room in a straight line. They were quite unlike the middle-aged and overweight guard who had been napping at the foot of the stairs; the broad swords at their waists might be an indication of that. A willowy young woman followed quickly behind them. None of them seemed fazed by the unconscious body, or the frozen woman; it was just another day at the office.

"Scout," Herrington barked, "Which way did the these two enter the city?"

The woman replied in a military tone, "They came in using the east road, sir."

Herrington signaled to three of the guards. "You three, take the boy five miles down the east road in one of the carriages. Leave him by the side and report back immediately."

When the boy wakes, he reasoned to himself, he should just head on back to wherever it is that he came from. Though if he does not. He suppressed a shudder at the repercussions that came to any who looked to discover the secret of the Bearers.

The three selected guards bowed briefly to Herrington before scooping up Xavier's body and bearing it down the stairs and towards one of the carriages located at the rear of the building.

"Scout," he called to the woman, "You are dismissed to your post."

The young woman bowed stiffly and followed the three men out the door.

"The rest of you," he called to the remaining seven men, "take the crystal and transport it swiftly to the carriage area. I shall be joining you momentarily and we shall bring the crystal to the Tower. Fear not, I have already informed them of our coming. Take care, and move swiftly."

* * *

The Tower.

It was rumored to be haunted, but the Tower didn't need vengeful spirits to have its name spoken only in hushed, fearful tones. There was not a single person in the world who had not heard of the Tower, or of its many horrific stories. The truth of the Tower was much worse than even the darkest rumors would dare gauge. The secrecy of the Tower was so vital that if you were to discover its secret, you would be executed immediately and without exception.

For it was there, hidden away in the farthest corner of the building, that the truth of magic, the truth of the government, and the truth of history were hidden away.

And it was there that Alyssa found herself an hour later when the crystal thawed.

* * *

Later, when Alyssa would try to call back memories from the time she spent in the crystal, all she could ever remember was the cold. It was completely encompassing and omnipresent. She could not see, though she knew her eyes were open. She could not hear, though she knew herself not to be deaf. Though she never tried, she knew that she would not be able to speak; and though she never opened her mouth, she knew that she would taste nothing. All she had was her sense of touch. And all she felt was the cold.

It made her think of the finality of death.

The next thing she remembered was falling, soaked to the skin, to Herrington's feet.

"Hello again, Ms. Alyssa," he said as he looked down at where she lay sprawled on the floor, coughing dryly as she tried to regain her breath. As she panted and gasped for air she looked up at him with a look of such anger that it made Herrington want to call for the guards outside the room.

"What," she gasped as she struggled to her knees, "the hell was that crystal for?"

Herrington, acting as though he had not heard the question, turned around to look out the window behind him. He fought to calm his pounding nerves before speaking. "What a beautiful sunset. I requested this room for you, you know. I thought you might like the western views."

"Why," she coughed as she crawled from the pool of water around her to the wall, "did you use that crystal?"

The tall man began to sweat. Even in the condition that Alyssa was in she still had such raw power coursing through her. It scared him to sense such a thing. He felt that if she were to so much as touch him, the raw magic within her could kill him. He made no move to help her to her feet. "When your mother stayed here," he said after steadying his voice, "She would often stay in this room. It grieved us so to hear of her death."

Alyssa paused in her process of pushing herself against the wall and into a standing position. " did you know she died?"

"We always kept very close tabs on your mother," Herrington said, "but unfortunately, we never had the time to intervene in some of her actions." Quickly rationalizing his fear of her, he reached out to Alyssa and touched the long, faded scar on her neck, an attempted look of sadness crossing his face.

She slapped his hand away angrily. "My Mother didn't do that!" She yelled at him, "It was some bastard mugger with a pocket knife."

He shook his head slowly. "It was the twenty-third of August, three years ago," he said, "You broke a dish and your mother got angry. Unfortunately, the paring knife was close at hand."

Alyssa glared at him and said nothing. It was true. She remembered running from the house, blood spilling down her shirt and staining her body. She remembered the look of shock on Barta's face as he saw the wound and ran for bandages. He was training to become a doctor and luckily had some supplies on hand. She'd stayed with Pinine for two days afterwards, trying to gauge when it would be safe to go home. Pinine had believed that her mother was out of town and that Alyssa didn't want to go back to an empty home. Alyssa then remembered other scars and other lies she'd told to her friends. She didn't blame her Mother, though.

She blamed the tall man. That man and all the others like him. Those men who had taken it upon themselves to make people like her Mother and herself suffer like they had, were, and would. If she'd had the strength within her, she would have killed this man.

And he knew it. And the fact terrified him. He could see the hatred bubbling and boiling over behind her eyes. Quickly, he broke eye contact with her and resumed staring out the window. After a moment he summoned up the courage to ask further questions. "Do you know what your Mother did for us here?" He knew that her Mother had never discussed this with her daughter, so he expected Alyssa to say "no".

"Yes, she was a mediator or something."

Herrington blinked, confused. "Who told you that?"

"Doctor McPherson; my Mother told him everything before she died. Now, I want to know about the cr-"

"Later," Herrington interrupted. He made a note of the name "McPherson" to himself. No one who knew the secret of the Bearers could be allowed to live. "Well, you know what your Mother did for us, but do you know what she did to us?"

Another hate-laden glare. "What do you mean?"

Of course, Herrington couldn't return such a look. "You weren't the only one your Mother nearly killed. Had she been anyone else she would have been brought to court on three accounts of attempted manslaughter. But, as she was the Bearer, the three other councilmen were cared for and she was pardoned without another mention of the incident."

"What are you talking about? 'Councilmen'?"

"I'm one. There are ten of us, and we are the ones that look over every new law and restriction that the government proposes. There were three of us who disagreed with your Mother's opinion and were unfortunate enough to insult her to her face. She very nearly killed them all."

Alyssa felt her strength beginning to return, but she did her best to act as though she was still weakened. If she was to have any advantage over she'd have the element of surprise. So she took another shaky breath and asked her next question. "Fascinating as that is, I don't see what it has to do with me. Or, more importantly, that God damn crystal."

Herrington took a deep breath and steadied himself; she would not take this well. "The only way we saved those three men was by sedating your Mother. A quick injection took care of it. We never had another major incident with her again. However, since then we struggled to find some sort of restriction, something to keep her strength-both magical and physical- weakened. In the discovered the crystal."

Alyssa said nothing in reply. She was waiting until he'd given her all of his information before she struck.

Her silence was beginning to worry the councilman, so he hurried up. "Of course, the only way to restrict magical capabilities is to find a way to keep the magical energies from entering the body. Before performing magic, the user's body sends out a silent summoning plea to the magic around it. By restricting that action, one can restrict magical usage entirely. Couple that with a powerful sedative and, well." He let his sentence finish itself.

"But then, such a thing wouldn't work entirely on you, Ms. Alyssa. Your most dangerous reserves of magic are already inside of you. You have already realized this, yes?"

Alyssa frowned inwardly; she thought he hadn't thought of that.

"Unfortunately for you, however, you have yet to learn how to activate that magic, so it doesn't matter whether we can or cannot suppress it."

Alyssa sensed that this man knew more than he was divulging. With her strength quickly returning and her knife pressing against her side she knew that she'd soon be able to extract even more information from this "councilman". She was grateful that she'd had the insight to tuck her dagger into her belt beforehand.

"Why did you want ?" she asked.

"Because, Ms. Alyssa," there was definitely an edge of fear in his voice, "We both now that in a state of full strength you could easily kill me. And quite frankly, I don't feel like dying today."

Who could ask for a better cue?

"Maybe if you're lucky," Alyssa yelled as she grabbed the hilt of her knife, "I'll let you see the sunrise!" And with that she struck at his throat, planning to capture him the same way she had Xavier.

Strangely, as she stopped her blade inches from his throat, she realized that there was no throat to strike.

"Now, now, Ms. Alyssa," his voice came from behind her, "There's no need for violence."

He teleported! The grey-haired nymph muffled a scream before she whirled around and again, went for his throat.

And again, struck only air.

This time Herrington appeared several feet to her left, and again, Alyssa launched herself at his throat. As he teleported to safety, the councilman toyed with the idea of calling the guards, but decided that it would be better to let Alyssa wear herself out than to have her be beaten to submission. Who knew what she'd do then?

Of course, Alyssa could not keep up her pace forever. She used every ounce of strength that she could, blinded by her hatred for this man and all his kind. She leapt across the room again and again, each time seeking the man's throat through her red veil of hatred. After nearly five minutes she felt herself tiring. Finally, when Herrington grew tired and could overcome his fear, he teleported behind her and whacked the back of her knees smartly.

She cried out weakly, and fell to her knees. Again, she found herself begging for air at his feet. Weakling!

"Now then, Ms. Alyssa," Herrington said calmly, "May I finish my explanation?"

The nymph could only glare.

Herrington pulled out a rather official-looking document from his pocket and began to recite. " 'Ms. Alyssa Neil, because of the way your Mother, Selena Neil and Great-Aunt, Mildred Selena (whom your Mother inherited the responsibilities of a Bearer from) acted when called upon to mediate in our council, and because we of the council have wisdom beyond that of a young woman such as yourself, that we will not be requiring your services as a mediator. Further, you shall be kept sedated within this room for the remainder of your days.

" 'Although many of your responsibilities as the Bearer have been stripped from you, you are still required to supply an heir. Arrangements for this procedure have already begun and shall reach its conclusion in three weeks from today.

" 'All actions that we take against you are purely for the safety of the members of the Council and of the world, and all actions have been approved by the members of the High Seat.'"

There was a long silence. Alyssa was still regaining her breath and she took her time digesting this new, disgusting information. "So.I'm just to be kept locked in this room until I die? Like some freak science experiment?" Her voice rose in anger and the flames behind her eyes blazed like the fires of Hell.

Was this the final evil that the councilmen would spit at her? She was deemed too dangerous and too stupid to be of any use to bastards. She was to be kept locked away in this stupid room until she died. Alone. The evil inside of her would grow and slowly consume her, and what good would it do? How could she help the people of this world locked away in this damn room?

She'd always hoped that she'd be allowed to return home and live like her mother did. But no, she thought angrily, I'm too unstable to live with other people. Where would I go, anyway?

One thought rose above all and bubbled up to her mouth. " bother living?" She tightened her grip on her dagger and brought it slowly to her heart. "Why live here as your caged bird? Why.?" She slowly pressed the dagger against her chest as she finished her sentence.

"Because you have no heir, no bloodline at all," Herrington said simply. "If you were to die, then the magic inside of you would be released into the world. Things would fall back into the chaos of the before time. What would happen to the people of the world then? What of the people that you grew up with; what of your loved ones? Do you really want them to suffer and be possessed as you are?"

Barta.

His smiled flashed behind her eyes as the dagger fell clattering to the floor.

Alyssa bowed her head, her long tangled grey hair falling before her face like a curtain. Behind its protective veil, the nymph found herself crying again. Weakling, she berated herself, you've lost. This bastard of a councilman has defeated you. And now you cry like the child you are.

Herrington continued, not noticing the girl's silent tears. "Of course, even after your heir is born, you still must wait five years before you can kill yourself. You know as well as I that it takes five years for magic to get to know a person before it will loan that person its powers."

Her "heir"?

"How," Alyssa asked in a shuddering voice, "How will my child.?" Her voice was taken over by a violent bout of sobbing.

The councilman guessed her question. "It's a quick injection; you'll be allowed to do it yourself. It will take us three weeks to find a donor and prepare the injection, however."

"Three weeks."

"Yes, you're seventeen now, correct? Also, you seem to have the strength to bear the child, and we can give you painkillers for its birth." Herrington faltered in his speech as her heard her crying. "Y-you needn't worry, of course," he added, "We'll insure that your child is safe after it's removed from your care-"

" 'Removed'??" Alyssa stammered. " would take my child?"

"Well of course!" Herrington said as though he was stating the obvious, "Do you want your child to suffer the same scars that you do? In time, you will become everything your Mother was. The magic will insure that."

Alyssa was silent for a long time. Then, without lifting her head, or moving at all, she responded. "."

Herrington bowed his head and muttered, "I'm sorry for ."

"How long?" Her voice was rising again, its fury returning. "How long?" she demanded again, "How long will I have with my child?"

"The first year," the dark man said, noting the anger in her voice.

"Then you have another year of life." She slowly raised her head until she was looking him straight in the eye. "Do whatever you feel to me; I won't care. But, as soon as you even look at my child, you will be dead before you even see my blade."

The councilman's nerves could take no more of this. He quickly pressed the concealed button in his cuff. An alarm sounded in the hallway, and immediately the guards came in, sedation injections at hand.

Alyssa never lifted her gaze from Herrington's face. Even as she felt the needle puncturing her arm, she did not move. It wasn't until the world started to fade that she spoke again.

"I swear on my Mother's grave and my child's first breath that you shall die before my life is out."

And then, there was only the darkness.

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A/N: Quite a bit of language there, yes? Alyssa's word of the day is apparently "bastard" ^^" Well, we're already rated "PG-13" so, I might as well ^^"

~Oni