The Clan of Outcasts [Season 3]

Part 21: "Shields"

The White Castle

Somewhere deep in the underground tunnels...

Azelie curled her body into a ball while using her Gift to will the crawlies and vermin away from her. There were no windows in this deep, dark space, no way of knowing how long she had been there. The only light came from lamps strung across the ceiling so high that only Trev could reach them.
She mentally berated herself for thinking that the connection they shared upon first meeting meant that she could trust him. He had led her to what he called "a safe place", and she had followed, thinking that he was merely showing her his lodgings, and after that she could return to sunlight and open spaces and fresh air and friends.

The moment they reached this underground burrow of sorts, though, Trev had closed the door and refused to let her leave. He came and went as he pleased; he told her that this was because he knew his way around. Trev maintained that he couldn't let Azelie wander on her own because he didn't want her to get lost in the apparently vast tunnel system under the White Castle. While Trev was gone, all she could do was sit or walk around. The only person to hear and respond to her thoughts was Trev.

Even that puzzled her. Ever since her Gift manifested, Azelie had always heard someone's thoughts, multiple people, whether she knew them or not. Since meeting him, however, there seemed to be some external force muffling her ability--almost like trying to hear voices when one's ears are stuffed with cotton. She was certain that if she could just reach someone she knew, she would be able to let them know that she was safe, but hidden away and trapped... but as matters stood, there was no one. Her only hope lay in the fact that someone, at some point, might miss her.

"At least Jaran, of all people, might notice my absence a little!" she said aloud.

The heavy beat of Trev's footsteps vibrated through the ground beneath her. Azelie hid her frustration and braced herself for the onslaught of thoughts that she could not escape, mentally nor physically.

"Key, Key... Gate, Key... Far Key... Where Key? Key up, Key under... Crow needs Key... Crow moving, Gate locks the Key unlocks, Crows flying to the Gate can't get in closed Gate gets the Key to open... Where Key? Crow is angry... Where? Where? Trev help Crow. Crow cries Key! Key! Key!"

Trev stomped into the room. His gaze landed on her, and his thoughts quieted.

"Greetings, Queen," his mental voice rumbled with a deep, warm, and friendly tone. Part of her wanted to regret telling him that she was Queen in an attempt to convince him to let her go--but he was always very respectful about addressing her.

"Hello, Trev," she said. "May I leave now?" She had asked him every time he returned.

Every time, his answer was the same. "Queen is safe. Key is safe. Trev help, find Key, help. Trev is not found. Trev alone knows the path. Queen stays. Queen does not get lost, get hurt. Trev help Queen be safe."

Azelie drew upon the ire rising within her. She was done letting him just walk in and out on her while nothing changed! She stood, tilting her head back to look up at Trev. "I don't want to stay!" she insisted. "You don't know anything about me, and I don't know anything about you--that's not safe at all!" She placed a hand on his forearm, pouring as much sympathy into her touch as she could possibly muster--but it was like blowing on a stone wall. Her power of influence, the thing that made her the Paragon of perfection that everyone adored... all of this had no effect on the gigantic man.

"Queen must stay. No one must know," Trev insisted, gently lifting her hand off his arm. He stared at her until she backed away and returned to the stool he'd provided for her to sit upon.