The Talamute Prince

I stare in disbelief into his brown eyes. He tilts his head to peek in the door behind me then motions his head for me to follow. I'm not sure if I should, I'm positive Patrick wasn't in the hologram room for the reason he had said. I figure the castle was like the ship and was monitored throughout.

"Why are you here?" I ask as he pulls me over to the window I hadn't noticed before.

"Be careful." He said as he gripped my hand and kissed the back of it. He climbed into the window. A smile stretched across his lips.

"What do I need to be careful of?" He reaches out and brushes his hand down my cheek. He doesn't say anything else he just goes out the window. I rush over and look out. I don't see him at first till he reaches down for my hand. I shouldn't take it, but I hear footsteps getting closer to the door. I know if Patrick catches me here, he will know what I've witnessed. Despite my fear I grab his hand and he pull me up to the ledge he is standing on. It's thin barely wider than my own foot and leads up to the roof that is a slightly slopping cone shape. He puts his finger on his lips again as I look down. I see Patrick come to the window and glance out and down, but he tucks his head back in and disappears. we stay on the edge for a moment longer then he helps me back down into the safety of the building.

"You are beautiful." He says as he is perched in the window.

"How is it you suddenly understand me?" He smiles then dives off. He catches himself on a flagpole spinning around then landing on another balcony that isn't my own he takes off so fast I don't have time to get an answer. I turn and see the door wide open. Tasha is no longer in the room either, so I investigate. The room is empty, but its walls catch my attention. They look so different from the rest of the castle. I reach out to feel the rough texture, strangely it's cold. I take a breath in and exhale. Maybe this was the room he kept Tasha in whenever she didn't do exactly what he said. An anger grew in my stomach when I thought back on their conversation. He had been hounding me about being truthful but here he was forcing his own cousin who wasn't full Raspite to serve as a maid. I pull out the map that the little boy had given me, and I pull up the room that I'm in. It's the floor right above my room I study the blueprint of the room to see the walls aren't just different in look they are also thicker and reinforced. There's an awful thought growing in the back of my mind. It sends chills throughout my body and I rush out of the room to the elevator.

I tuck the map into the top of my dress and look down to make sure it doesn't appear to be so obvious to others. Luckily the panel is flexible unlike most of the others I've seen so it conforms to my body. I press a button and I'm whisked away. I step out to the first which is locked then across to the second which is also locked. I sigh and begin to head back to the platform when I hear Patrick's voice so I must have been close to his conference.

"I want to know what is going on, I demand to know why flowers are being dropped from the sky." I inch quietly forward and peek through the slight crack in the door. In the center of the room is the prisoner that had tried to kill him. He is strapped to the floor all the way up to his knees forcing him to kneel. They had stripped him of most of his clothing and his arms were bound to either side of the wall. He doesn't have the extensive markings the other man did. His teeth however were terrifying. I look in to see two other men with Patrick in the room with the prisoner. My stomach turns at the sight of it, but I dare not intervene at this point. I'm not all too sure what to make of what I'm seeing. I had just watched Patrick hit Tasha for standing up to him, and it's very clear that the prisoner had been tortured. The man smiles and his deep red almost black blood covered his mouth and teeth. His skin is bruised as cracks of blood stretch through the darkened parts of his flesh. What evil waits for this man?

"Permintia." He says and I watch as Patrick's balls up his fist crashes into the prisoner's jaw causing blood to spray onto the floor and I cringed and look away. I look back to see the man's eye seemingly fixated upon the crack in the door. Can he see me?

"Tell me why. Why was your accomplice in her room? What does he want with her? What does he know about her?" I look with tears running down my face as I realize that Patrick had lied to me again. This was not a business meeting at all. It was a torture session for the prisoner I had asked him to spare. I couldn't trust anything he did or said now and I knew it. I look back at the prisoner who looks in my direction and smiles.

"A beautiful gift for a beautiful woman." he pauses and says something. "Our goddess has returned, and she will go willingly to our prince." I feel so strange but as I see everyone else's reaction it seems as though they didn't understand him at all.

"Speak our language scum bag." Patrick swings twice causing a steady stream of blood and saliva to come from the man's mouth. He is not detoured from looking back up at me. This time I know he sees me as he smiles like he did the first time I saw him, only this time he looks terrifying with this own blood dripping from his teeth. I stepped away from the door and my heart pounded. I wiped the tear from my eye, and I walked to the platform and pressed another button. This time I know exactly where I am going. I end up back in the holographic room. I push buttons until my planet comes back up around me and I stand watching the people rush around. I close my eyes as I imagine I'm there watching from the safety of my tower.

"Father, why did you want me to come here? This place, Patrick, the cruelty of his civilization is too much for me to bare. What is the purpose of me being here?" I pull the flower I had stuffed into my pocket out and twist it in my hand.

"Iamino caniothia inomiathia, Laoonica." I turn jumping at the sound of the familiar but not understood dialect.

"You can't be here." I look seeing the bearded Talamute. How did he get in here? It didn't matter if he was caught, he would be tortured as bad if not worse than his friend.

"I do not fear your king." I'm not surprised by his words, but I'm intrigued and can't help the question that comes next.

"You speak our language?" He moves closer to me with that cocky smile on his face.

"Not exactly." I stare at him for a moment not sure what he means.

"What do you mean, not exactly?" he reaches out putting his hand on the side of my face as he stares deep into my eyes.

"Do you wonder why you can read the language here when you've never been here?" HE leans in and kisses me gently on the lips. I grip his wrist as it holds my face still, I don't pull it away simply because I'm intrigued by him.

"I never thought about it. Why am I able to understand you if you don't speak my language."? I ask as he pulls away, but he simply looks into my eyes, his other hand goes around my side.

"Because you are an extraordinary being." he smiles. "Such a beautiful woman should not be so sad."

"It isn't your concern how sad I am, but rather the fact that you'll be killed if you are caught here." He reaches out for my hand pulling the flower from it. He lifts it up and places it in my hair.

"Some risks are worth taking. You're right though, I must be on my way. You are quite a welcome distraction from the task at hand." he doesn't seem to take my assessment of his danger to heart.

"Your friend is being tortured now a few floors down. You should go before your fate matches his." He leans down his body pressed all the way against mine. He kisses me more passionately this time and I close my eyes as I give in. I'm insane, I must be. I know Patrick has camera's everywhere and he could probably see this, but I didn't care. I hated Patrick with every ounce of my being and I no longer cared to pretend I didn't.

"Iamino caniothia inomiathia, Laoonica." He whispers. I feel him pull away and I slowly open my eyes to find he is gone. I look at my body expecting it to be glowing brightly, yet it isn't. His words echo in my mind. I'm confused as to why I'm not glowing as I did with Patrick. I shake it off and go to the platform pushing a button I hope will take me somewhere familiar, to a way I can get back to my room to change.

"I want answers." Patrick screams. I am in the throne room and I know there is no hiding the mess on my dress from him. I peeked around the corner and he is talking to one of the men that had been in the room with him and the prisoner. He still has splashes of blood all over him, his knuckles are red and bruised probably from the beating, and he looks like he is eager for more.

"You beat him unconscious Sire. We'll take him back to the cell. Once he awakes, we will bring him back into interrogation." The man replies. "Will Tasha not agree to translate for us?" I watch duck behind the wall when the man looks my way, but I can still hear them.

"She will, I'll find a way to make her. The minute he wakes up I want to know. I won't allow my precious Laoonica to be stolen by a bunch of savages." I hear footsteps walking away then the whooshing sound that the platforms make, and I know at least one of them had to be gone. I peek around the corner to see only Patrick left in the room. My head spins around the idea that one of those said savages had just kissed me in another part of the castle. I take a deep breath as I didn't want to be seen yet the platform back to my room was on the other side of the room and I would have to cross the entirety of the room in front of him to reach it. I take another deep breath in as I start walking casually by to pretend, I didn't know they were in there. To pretend I heard nothing of what was being said.

"Laoonica, how is your exploring going?" He asks and I jumped a bit as I am startled that he spoke as I wasn't expecting him to say anything. I had hoped he would remain silent to avoid the things he had been talking about with the other man.

"Patrick you startled me." I wasn't lying at least. Since he himself was not so forth coming neither should I have to be?

"I am sorry it wasn't my intention." He laughs a bit. "What is that all over your dress?" I had to think quick as I didn't want to get the poor boy downstairs in trouble. After all omitting details isn't lying it is simply avoiding complications. I had this feeling in my gut that it was best to avoid the fact I had been running about the castle with the very person he sought to destroy.