The Elementalists

Chapter 20

Rai

*Part 2*

*

Countless hours pass, until the light streaming through the window fades into complete darkness. There aren't any other lights in our cell, no other ways to combat the blackness. I must have fallen asleep 'cause when the door finally opens, I get the shock of my life, jerking awake and cricking my neck. Kass must have fallen asleep too; his hair is even more dishevelled.

Someone slips inside, muttering rebuttals to someone outside the door.

'No, no, stop fussing. I don't need a bodyguard.'

'But Sir, they're Elementalists, you've seen what they can do—'

'They won't hurt me.' There's a click, and a light flickers on—Jinaka is leaning against the door, puffing out his chest like he's out of breath. He holds up a twinkling prism, and my first idiotic thought is that it looks like a star. He lets it go and it sails above his head, casting an eerie glow around the room.

We stare at Jinaka. The Futurist general. He has a slightly frazzled air about him and is sweating profusely; he wipes his face with a handkerchief.

'Phew!' He pockets it. 'What a night, boys. Budge up.' He waddles over to the bed and plonks himself down next to Kass, who scoots out of the way with a horrified expression.

'Get away from me!'

'I rather think it should be me saying that, not you.' Jinaka raises a somewhat stern eyebrow. 'My bodyguards are wetting themselves with anxiety at the thought of me being alone in here with you two. Assisting in the slaughter of hundreds of soldiers; destroying one, no, two of the world's energy supplies; thank goodness the Singwari capsule is still up and running or we'd be up shit-creek without a paddle. You two are some serious criminals, you know.'

Our mouths fall open.

'You—what—we aren't criminals!' Kass stammers. 'You're the criminal.'

'I'm sure we could back and forth over the issue all day long, but then, who has the time?'

'You killed my family!' Kass scrambles backwards in such haste he becomes tangled in the sheets. Jinaka watches as Kass flails, growing redder and redder before landing in a heap beside me on the floor. He sits up, panting furiously. 'You—you have the nerve to sit there, all smug—you condemn everyone who isn't rich to be left behind in this pit. What kind of a leader are you?'

'A very confused one.' Jinaka frowns down at Kass, his head cocked to one side. 'I've heard the RESIST rhetoric before—that's nothing new—but killing your family? I don't know you or your family. How could I have killed them?'

'Maybe n-not you personally.' Kass begins to shiver, and I almost forget; the naked hurt in his voice just makes me want to hold him and protect him forever. 'But it was on your orders that they were murdered. They wouldn't hand me over, so they deserved to die. What kind of leader does that to his people?'

'A very poor one.' Jinaka's frown deepens so much his eyebrows knit together. 'Look, boy, I don't know what these people you've been consorting with have told you, but let me set a few things straight—'

'My whole village died to protect me from you. So, it's my job—our job—to stop anything like that from happening again, to people you refuse to relocate. To trash you murder like they mean nothing. I'm not here to hurt people. I'm here to protect them.'