Marduk’s Mark [17]
A Calling
Karlos was watching through the window. He saw guards stationed around the corners but was surprised that the Inspection proper hadn’t started yet. It made him anxious; he was alone, couldn’t go outside, and he really had no idea if Gerhalt or Reysha ever caught up with Xandra or each other.
“Where could the Inspectors be? This makes no sense,” he said out loud. Suddenly, he heard a loud noise followed by a thud. Was it a door? Yes, it must have been, he thought to himself. The house’s front door? Did they pull it off from its hinges? What tool did they use for it to be such a sudden sound? He wasn’t expecting that, not after such a calm Inspection day.
He started walking slowly from the room he was in, past the other rooms through the hallway. He could see through the living room and towards the front door to the house. It had been ripped off and a tall individual stood there. Too tall to be human, he thought to himself. It was then that he noticed the long thin horn protruding from his forehead. A Junex! He immediately took a step back and thought about his options.
Lothar noticed the Deelamn man and walked towards him, leaning forward and leading with his horn, legs proceeding with a few short steps. He was talking out loud while doing so. “Neeves residence,” he stated. “According to registry records, you must be Karlos Neeves, correct?” Karlos was there, but the only answer he got was silence. Lothar smiled. “Yes, Karlos would be the one then. That leaves two more Deelamn unaccounted for, and one human girl according to the information we were provided,” he added.
Guards or Junex, Karlos thought for a moment. Jumping out the window would put him at odds with the guards, but he knew he could manage those. That would be an admission of guilt though, and that hurt his pride. Facing the Junex would be crazy, but much more honorable. He was taking too long to decide. “Damn integrity,” he said out loud, frustrated with his thought process.
“Too long!” the Junex exclaimed, then extended his left arm, and an intense white light formed in the palm of his left hand, which he opened and closed rhythmically, the intense light bleeding through the fingers of his fist on every closing motion. Karlos felt himself being pulled towards Lothar, no matter how much he resisted against it. He tried to exert extreme pressure on the floor, pressing his heels against it to increase the resistance to hinder the Junex’s attempts to pull him closer but that wasn’t working. Karlos shifted his weight, tried to back away but he felt the pulling sensation getting stronger. Lothar was clenching his left fist tighter on every closing motion as he kept opening and closing his fingers, his facial expression reflecting that he was exerting himself more strongly to draw Karlos.
Karlos realized his resistance was giving the Junex a hard time, so he also upped the ante himself, extending his arms behind him, towards a room and grabbing the frame to its door. He pulled with his arms and added his feet, walking backward little by little. The resistance added by his arms made things harder for Lothar, his face sweating profusely and the whites of his eyes turning pinkish as the added pressure he had to exert burst a few capillaries in his face. Lothar groaned and extended his right arm as well, hunched himself forward, and pulled with both arms in unison, clenching his fists strongly as he pulled back.
The force was too much; Karlos ripped the door frame as he felt himself leaving the ground and being pulled towards the Junex, then suddenly blasting through the whole corridor and landing face-first at Lothar’s feet. Lothar leaned back, supporting himself against the nearest wall as his breath came in long, loud gasps. Karlos felt light-headed from the impact but was able to recompose himself and return to his feet faster than Lothar’s breath returned to him.
Karlos shook his head from side to side, shaking off the inconvenience of the encounter, and immediately lunged forward, leading with his right fist aimed at Lothar’s gut. Karlos’ strike was sure, but Lothar was ready for it. Even out of breath as he was, his reflexes were extremely sharp and he managed to roll to the side. Karlos’ punch met the hard, concrete wall with tremendous force, causing pain to shoot up his hand as his knuckles met an unmoving surface. He held to his hand, shaking it as if trying to dissipate the pain. Lothar took the chance to move out of his range and began to intone an odd-sounding song made out of words that Karlos didn’t know the meaning of, though he did understand the reason for it. Thus Karlos took a leap and lunged at Lothar, tackling him before he could finish the words.
He landed on top of the Junex and took a good look at his face. Lothar kept his eyes fixed on Karlos’ and didn’t flinch for a moment.
“I don’t want to do this,” Karlos said as he raised his left fist and clenched it into a fist. Lothar didn’t blink, didn’t breath, didn’t seem to react as Karlos readied his strike. “That’s it? Nothing to say?” Karlos’ expression got grave as he tightened his fist and almost brought it down on Lothar’s face. Almost, because at that very moment Mirella grabbed his fist and hoisted him up through his arm, grabbing it with her right hand and throwing him to the side against the table where he and Gerhalt would sit around and argue.
Mirella extended her arm and helped Lothar get up on his feet. He shook his head and wiped his elegant coat in a gesture of disgust that the Deelamn had been able to drop him to the floor like that.
“It’s obvious that he’s not the Marked One,” Mirella said as she looked at Karlos. “I’ve heard him talk, and he doesn’t seem as aggressive as most Marked are,” she added. Lothar nodded at her.
“It’s the woman; that’s what Corsair said,” Lothar replied. Karlos heard as he recomposed himself and stood up. So they know, he thought to himself. That must be why they haven’t returned. He knew she must have gotten in trouble after all.
“Now what, Mr. Neeves?” Lothar said to Karlos as he crossed his arms and looked at him. “Would you try to take on two of us?” Lothar asked as he stood in front of him. Karlos looked at both of them and took a deep breath.
“I’m not a fool. I can’t best two of you,” he replied.
“Smart man,” Mirella said and then produced a grin.
Karlos looked at them both and continued, “I also know how it works. You — ,” Karlos pointed at Lothar. “ — You’re the Marked, not her!” Karlos pointed at the markings on Lothar’s face. Sure enough, Mirella didn’t possess those marks. “I’m not Marked either,” Karlos said. “Which means you can’t bring actual harm to me.” Lothar scowled at him.
“You are right there. I can ruffle your feathers, but the law is the law. Not Marked, I can’t bring you in,” he said. Mirella shrugged.
“What now then?” Karlos asked in defiance. Lothar shook his head.
“I can’t bring you in, but they can,” he said. As soon as he was done with his sentence, a group of four men in military armor entered the house. Donovan Corsair was one of them. Wearing his ornate military armor, Donovan produced a scroll that he opened in front of Karlos and began to read from it.
“Karlos Neeves. You are to be brought into custody for aiding a Marked Deelamn. You are also to be brought in for knowingly aiding other Deelamn to roam free on an Inspection day,” he added. Karlos gritted his teeth, looking at Lothar with a horribly piercing stare.
“What now, Mr. Neeves,” Mirella said in a mocking tone. Karlos stared at the floor as the soldiers gathered around him and cuffed his hands behind his back. Two of the soldiers flanked his sides as another went behind him. He placed what looked like a spiked collar around Karlos’ neck, then attached a 4 feet long rod to a protrusion at the back of the collar, allowing him to push him and control him.
Donovan looked at the soldiers as they took the Deelamn away. Then he looked at Lothar. “You still need to deliver the one with the Mark of Marduk, Protector DerLunne,” he said. Lothar nodded.
“Don’t worry; I’m much better at handling Marked Ones. The law doesn’t restrain me against those,” Lothar said. Donovan nodded at him and stormed off, following the men as they escorted Karlos into the human side of Incantirl.
Lothar looked at them with disgust, then gazed at Mirella. “They’re so barbaric in their handling of prisoners,” he said. Mirella nodded at him.
“A choking collar. Almost as if he were a dog,” she said as she shook her head. Lothar went out through the broken door, then put it back where it was supposed to be. He didn’t fix its hinges or make any effort to hide any of the broken sections on it. He just placed it where it was supposed to be and then went walking towards the marketplace. Mirella followed him without uttering a word; she had spent enough time with him to understand what he was doing. He wouldn’t ask for any help from any of the neighbors. No, they’d never cooperate and they’d just waste time. Instead, she figured he would start checking out all the common, open areas such as this market and hope to get a reaction. Marked Junex had a way to track Marked Deelamn, and she’d seen Lothar use those skills before. It was both fascinating and troublesome the more she thought about it. She looked at Lothar, who sat at the middle of the market, meditating. He seemed lost in thought, though his expression wasn’t always one of peace. Every once in a while the marks by his eyes seemed to glow. It was ominous and mesmerizing at the same time.
Lothar rose to his feet slowly, his eyes still closed. He arched his upper body suddenly so that his face faced the sky. The markings on his face started glowing again, this time more intensely. Mirella recognized the motions that Lothar was going through. His eyes were closed, his facial muscles clenched tightly in an expression of pain and concern as he slowly straightened his posture. Though his eyes were closed, he could make out shapes. Shapes made out of a color spectrum covering shades of green through blue. There were translucent walls around him and little by little he started perceiving organic shapes as well. He could see a female shape close to him, the silhouette of Mirella. She was a deep blue image, as all Junex appeared to him while divining. It was always extremely blurry as he swung his field of vision, if it could even be called that, around.
He was getting a terrible headache as his otherworldly vision seemed to leave his body and floated above them, allowing him a flexible vantage point. Then he was hit by a sharp splitting sensation in his head when he found what he was looking for. A glowing yellow female figure, the first yellow figure he perceived in this divination next to a green male shape, and an oddly colored female shape. A young girl, probably in her late teens. Her aura was not green as a Deelamn’s nor blue as a Junex, though she had slightly pointed ears. It was certainly not yellow like a Marked Deelamn nor red like a human’s would be. It was a purple-colored shape; the first one he’s ever perceived. He made a note of it in his mind and then opened his eyes and took a deep breath. He lost his footing for a moment as he went back to using his physical senses.
“I know where they are,” he said aloud. Mirella looked at him and produced a grin on her face. “I will handle the Marked One,” Lothar told her. Mirella nodded at him. “My skills are best suited to their kind.”
