The New Generation Part 2
The False Charge
By Dark Magus
Kaira found herself in the same place she had been. She was in the castle, but there were no displays on the ground. There was no museum.
"Kaira, where are we? What just happened?" demanded her slightly steamed friend Carr.
"We went through a gate and ended up in a different time." It was the only explanation she could think of.
"You don’t actually believe that, do you?" challenged Carr, though he could think of no other explanation.
"Sure I do. Why not?"
Without a word Carr stepped up beside Kaira. She led the way through the castle. She couldn’t estimate what time era it was. They found no sign of Jase. How could he have disappeared so fast? Then the two of them heard a laugh from the other room.
Kaira darted around the corner to find the throne room, just like it should have been, but there were people. A king and queen were sitting on thrones and there was Jase, chained and bound and held by guards.
"You say that you don’t know who we’re taking about? Hah! You know perfectly well what we’re talking about. You think that new clothes will make it look like you are someone else Janus? The amulet that you wear gives you away," the king shouted in Jase’s face.
"I don’t know what you are talking about!!" Jase shot back. "This Janus guy, who is he?"
"This Janus guy is YOU Janus! How else could you have appeared out of nowhere?"
"I told you," said Jase with his head down, "I stopped the criminal in the other room because he took the gate key. I was bringing it back when a blue ball appeared and engulfed me."
"LIAR!" the king shouted louder than ever, "You are not who you say you are! You are Janus. Six years ago in 794 you incinerated the castle to the east with a wave of your hand because you didn’t like it. Did you not?"
"No…"
"Then three years ago you froze my army in a solid block of ice because they were threatening the mystics, your sworn enemy by the fact that you are human."
"No I…"
"And now you teleported here into this castle to try to kill me off once and for all!"
"You have the wrong guy!"
"Nonsense. Guards, take him away!"
"Wait!" Kaira said from the distance. "He is who he says he is. We are from 1500 AD. We were accidentally brought here through a time gate. We ended up here and now we are trying to get back."
"So he has allies," the king said, "Guards, get them too." Kaira took her sword out of its sheath. Carr signaled for her to put it back. She stared at him for a second and then realized he must have a plan. She put her sword back. The guards took her and Carr by the hand and led them to a tower.
Kaira, Carr, and Jase were led through many towers and across many narrow bridges. They were led to the most remote section of the castle. Jase and Carr were put in one cell and Kaira was put in another. The two cells were separated by an impenetrable wall.
Kaira sat down on her cot. She stared at the floor in disbelief. Hadn’t the king ever heard of a fair trial? The guard shut the gate.
"Your execution will be at dawn," the guard told them. Kaira sat on the cot for hours, trying to think of a way to escape. The guard had her sword and the same with Carr’s bow and arrows and Jase’s daggers. The sun sat in the west. Kaira could see it through her window.
Death. Why so harsh? What was this Janus guy like anyway? The hours rolled by. Why had Carr stopped her from killing those guards?
"Two hours to go," the guard taunted. She heard a banging on the bars from the other cell. It was probably Carr! He had a plan!
Kaira walked over to the bars on her cell. She stuck her head between the as far as she could, without getting stuck. She saw the guard open the door to the other cell with his sword drawn. Then Kaira saw the switch to HER cell. It was almost within reach. She stretched out for it and failed.
She wasn’t long enough. Then the guard came back out of the cell. He had no sword in his hand.
Kaira wondered what was going on. The guard picked up her sword. Doing so, he knocked Carr’s bow nearer. Kaira reached down. YES! She could reach it. She picked up the stump and gave it a jerky motion to the side. Two ends sprouted out of the handle. Kaira took the bow by one end and swung the other end against the button. The cell opened.
Kaira ran out and stooped to pick up Jase’s daggers, just in case. She rounded the corner to Carr and Jase’s cell, just in time to see the guard raise her sword directly above Jase’s head, about to make the finishing blow. The guard’s sword was broken in the corner and Carr was bound up by the bed. The guard began to slowly bring the blade down on Jase’s head, taunting him for a minute. Then he brought the blade up for what seemed to be the end of taunting. Kaira grabbed one of the daggers by the blade and threw it at the guard. The dagger went spinning through the air and connected with the guard’s helmet. The guard dropped the sword and fell down unconscious.
Kaira immediately ran over and untied Jase. He got up, still shaken. Then she ran over to untie Carr. The three of them grabbed their weapons and headed to the room where they came from. They passed almost no guards through the hallways of the prison. Then they got to the bridge. A guard cam out on the other end. He charged them. Jase, being the first in line, ducked. The guard tripped over him. They ran past him. They got to the throne room, the place they had been dreading the whole time. The guards blocked the entrance to the room they wanted to go to.
The guards drew their weapons and prepared to fight. The three of them, realizing that they were in trouble, darted out the other door. They found themselves at the top of a great flight of stairs. They ran down them as quickly as possible, guards following close behind.
At the foot of the steps was a forest. The team ran in every which way, trying to confuse the guards. Jase climbed up a tree and lost the guards. Carr climbed up another tree and lost his pack of guards. Kaira ran to a clearing. Guards flooded in on each side of her. She was trapped.
Kaira prepared to pull her sword for a fight. Where were Jase and Carr? She reached down for her sword but pulled out the gate key instead. She realized her mistake but then saw the key sparkle. Behind her a gate opened up and swallowed her.
Jase and Carr watched in horror as their ticket home disappeared into a blue time gate. They were stuck in a time unknown to them.
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TO BE CONTINUED
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