Chapter 9, For our country's pride

*~~Miranda~~*

She and Arabella had walked in silence since they parted with Natalie, Raenton and Tegon. Now they were facing a door. It looked really fancy and it was made out of wood. She must say it was a nice contrast to the stonewalls. Arabella went forward and pulled and pushed it.

“Surprise, surprise. It’s locked.” She looked over at Miranda. “Now what? You don’t happen to know how to open it, do ya?”

She didn’t. Neither of their powers had real fighting strength, so they couldn’t force it open. She couldn’t fight at all and Arabella could only fight if there were people around, who she could turn against each other, if Miranda had understood correctly.

“Too bad Natalie’s not here.” Arabella said. “Or Eleanor.”

“Hannah could change the door into something else, don’t forget that.”

“She can’t, at least not yet.”

“And how do you know?

“I practiced with her. We got our powers before you, remember? So technically, I’m your senior.” She smiled teasingly.

“I would never call you that.”

“Wouldn’t want you to.” Arabella laughed a little and Miarnda smiled.

Silence yet again. She didn’t dislike Arbella, at least she didn’t think she did. They could have good conversation and they could fight. Miranda had never met a person whom she could both talk and fight with.

Then there was a dull sound. They turned their heads to the door.

A man stood between the wooden doors and he looked really surprised to see them there. They were surprised, too. Miranda had not expected this, she, and everyone else, thought the building was empty. Thoughts ran through her head. There could be more people here. He could begin to scream that they were here. He could attack them and then more people would hear and come and they would be back to square one. It felt as if her body moved by itself when she took a step forward and covered his mouth. Then she put her hand against his neck. She didn’t think about her actions, she just did them. She could feel the man relax and his eyes got cloudy. She looked over at Arabella. She looked intensively at him, she was very tense. After a while she, still staring at him, she said:

“I’ve changed his memory, he’ll walk away and won’t remember us. You can let him go.”

Miranda let go and watched in wonder as the man walked away. He didn’t have a staff.

“It’s the first time I’ve done that for real.” Arabella said disgustingly.  

They walked through the door and came into another room. It had a high roof and light walls, the floor was a grey stone and to the left were big openings in the wall. The view was nice, and would’ve been even nicer if the wind didn’t make the room so cold. In front of them, though, was another big door. The closer they came the better they could see the carvings in the door’s wood. There were flowers, bears…

“Let’s open it.” Arabella said. “If you don’t want to admire the door more?” Miranda looked angrily at her.

“Open it, then.”

“Think I can by myself? You have to help.”

“How weak.” Not that Miranda could do it herself, either. They pulled the door handle together as hard as they could. She couldn’t understand how the man had been able to open it himself. The door, at least the one they had tried to open, finally began to budge. She gritted her teeth, and then the door opened. The first thing she noticed was the big painting on the opposite wall. The second thing was the bearded man staring at her. The third thing was all the other bearded men and stern women staring at her. There shouldn’t be people here. The building was supposed to be empty. The others…Had they met people, too? She felt her palms getting sweaty, her heart began to beat faster but she controlled herself. Forced her eyes not to look down and said:

“We are Warriors from Amal Ialad. We were sent here to make peace.” The people looked at her. If they were surprised to see them there they didn’t show it. She stared into the bearded man at the table’s end and waited for them to make their move.

“We know.” A woman said. She had dark hair and a scarred face. “We captured you. But we don’t need anyone to come here and make peace. We’re doing fine on our own!”

“I’m surprised you could even get out of the cells.” An older man said with a deep voice, marked by age. “When you consider how easy it was to capture you.”

She tightened her hands and felt her face tense. No, she couldn’t allow herself to get angry now, they didn’t need to know that they could anger her.

“Obviously you do.” Arabella said next to her. “Just look at the south!”

“How rude!” The woman said.

“You’re just little girls!” Another man said. “What could you help us with?”

“Go back! We can handle this ourselves.” A young man said.

More voices wanted to be heard, but still the man at the end of the table said nothing. He just sat there. Leaned back in that big, stupid chair of his. Then he smiled. She felt a chill go through her.

“But can’t you see that you’re destroying each other?” Miranda said with a high voice. More protests came. “All because of a dragon!”

“He isn’t any dragon!” A woman said. “He has lived in our land since it was made! And now those Amessia bastards want to take him!”

“But people are suffering!” How hard could it be to understand? Didn’t they care at all?

“Because of Amessia, yes!” The young man said. “They erased Nairb from the maps!” She felt a something warm on her shoulder. It was Arabella's hand. Miranda looked at her and Arabella looked back. What are you waiting for?

“We may be new, inexperienced and rude, but you need help! You can’t continue like this! We have a reliable source who says that your allies are making a bloodbath in the south!” Miranda said.

“Amessia attacked us! What else would our allies do?! They had to defend themselves!” The young man said again. He did now stand up.

“Sit down!” The scarred woman hissed. “Don’t let your rage get the better of you!”

A young woman rose from her seat and began to walk towards Miranda and Arabella.

“If your country and its allies would be attacked for something as “little” as a dragon, would you not take action? We defend our country’s pride, girl!” Girl? The woman wasn’t that much older!

“Is this all about pride?” Miranda hissed back. “You let people die because of something as stupid as pride? People are dying, suffering because of your pride.”

“You’ve already said that.” The woman said. If eyes could kill.

“But you don’t seem to get it.” Their faces were only centimeters from each other now. They stared into each other’s eyes, no one would back down. Then she felt something cold against her neck. Miranda knew what she had against her neck, she couldn’t believe it was happening, but she didn’t let her eyes leave the woman’s.

“If I killed you...I wonder if Amal Ialad would understand to keep away from us…?” She said in a dangerous, sugar sweet voice. “What would they do…if you never came back…?” A hand touched the woman’s shoulder.

“You think you can get away with pointing a knife at my leader?” Arabella asked.

“Of course not.” The woman answered with a voice that didn’t sound angry or threatening, she withdrew her knife, then went back to her seat.

“I think you all need to calm down, too.” Arabella continued.

The atmosphere lightened up almost instantly. Miranda looked at Arabella, it was very convenient to have her by her side.

“You dare to use your disgusting powers on my people?” A deep, powerful voice said. It was the bearded man at the end of the table. Miranda looked at Arabella, her eyes was open slightly more than usual. She too seemed surprised that the bearded man clearly hadn’t affected by Arabella. “You come here to negotiate and you do this?” Then he lifted his head, looked deeply in Miranda’s eyes and smiled that smiled of his. “I think I can tame you, though.” He made a gesture with one of his hands and the two men that sat closest to them rose and opened the big door behind Miranda and Arabella.

And in came the man from before. Followed by Hannah and Wilma.