“I’m not afraid of Fabian or any of them,” I retorted. I was back home. Right now that was all I cared about.
“Take her away!” Fabian demanded and I felt a guard gripping my arm, pulling me back to the elevator as they led me down and outside into the streets of Torv.
“Why are you doing this?” I shouted as they dragged me towards the hall where the council members convened. Once inside, Joshua and Janessa were thrown in beside me. What’s going on? I asked Joshua, careful not to let anyone else know we were speaking to one another.
I’m not sure. Two guards came in when Isaura hadn’t returned and they got Fabian to find out why we were in the room without the patient. Fabian is next in command so without Isaura’s body we’re under some scrutiny.
I don’t see why. She’s dead, he wanted her dead and it’s done. She’s not coming back, Josh. Not ever.
You and I both know that, he told me. They don’t quite understand the potential of what she was capable of. They’re afraid of her, but even more afraid she’ll return and retaliate against them.
I sighed watching as the members of the government all took their seat at the long mahogany table. Janessa, Joshua and I stood with guards keeping a watch on the door. Fabian stood alongside us. Had he intended on betraying us all along?
“Olivia, Joshua.” The eldest member Douglas recognized us, giving a faint nod. “And, you dear, are who?”
“Janessa,” she breathed barely audible. Her voice was fragile, fear showed in her eyes.
Douglas began the inquisition, “Fabian, tell me what’s going on, please.”
Fabian took a step forward. “For the past several months, Isaura has been working against our command and our instruction. She had abducted women from their homes, some with the promise of fortune and a child and others just out of pure need and want. She’s experimented on them, drugged them and forced them against their will to participate in the most advanced and insane scientific endeavor imaginable.”
Douglas sighed. “She’s been working on fixing the problem with conceiving children.” Had he given Isaura permission after all? Did he know what she was up to in the lab? “Where is she now for the crimes against humanity that she’s committed?”
Fabian sighed. “I’m not exactly sure. Olivia claims that she’s dead, but we’ve no body.”
“I see,” Douglas answered. “Please Olivia,” he gestured. “We’d like to hear your side of it.”
I stepped forward glancing at Fabian. Was I supposed to protect him? Would he have protected me? I wasn’t sure he would have.
“I was asked while in Spade to come here and assassinate Isaura. That ending her life may end some medical breakthroughs, but it would also bring peace and stability to the turbulent nation.” It wasn’t a secret that the Republic of Cabal had its problems. “Joshua, Janessa and I volunteered for the mission. Isaura had in the past proven instable at best. She’d come to Spade for me and would have destroyed the town months ago had I not volunteered to go with her. Just as she had destroyed Shadow.” I felt my stomach somersault and the blood boil inside of me. My skin had reddened, my hands trembled. “When men from Cabal came and told me she needed to be stopped, I was willing to do the job to protect the women we’d rescued and saved. Some are capable of conceiving, a few already have,” I admitted. “She may have left a mark on society both good and bad but you have to understand she wouldn’t stop what she was doing.”
“And you felt killing her was the only course of action?” Douglas asked.
“Am I guilty of murdering Isaura? Yes,” I answered. “I’m prepared to face whatever consequences await, but I’ll have you know she would have killed all of us if it was to her advantage. She would have stopped at nothing to get what she wanted.”
“And what about Mindonsiphan? Is it not true that you’ve been treated with a great magical medicine that can bring us down to our knees?”
“Is that why you’re afraid?” We’ve never threatened them using our abilities, our power, or our strength. “Isaura was treated with it, too, so were her test subjects. You can’t ignore the world around you is changing.”
Douglas sighed, glancing at the other members of the room. “Duly noted. We need to speak alone. Please take the three of them out into the waiting chambers. You may remove their handcuffs.”
Janessa and Joshua’s hands were unbound by Fabian before we stepped into the hall just outside the room.
“You protected me,” Fabian breathed, surprised I hadn’t named him as one of the men who had ordered the assassination on Isaura.
“What good would it do not to?” I asked. I reached over hugging Joshua. No matter what happens, go back to Spade. I’ll come find you.
Joshua moved back from my arms, giving me a peculiar look. I pulled him back against my chest giving him a kiss as the doors opened and they called us back in for their verdict. It was hardly a trial. Perhaps because they hadn’t wanted the entire country to know what Isaura had been up to.
“Joshua and Janessa we hereby order you to leave the town of Torv and The Republic of Cabal at once. You are forever banished from stepping foot on the soil of The Republic of Cabal for your crimes against the government: espionage, treason, and assassinating a government official.”
Joshua shook his head in disgust. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. I could see how he was feeling just by the look in his eyes. Go home, please. I told him again.
“Olivia you are hereby sentenced to life in prison. You are forever banished from The Republic of Cabal after your life and you should be buried far from our soils for your crimes.”
“Wait!” I held up a hand.
“You don’t get a say in this.” The eldest gentleman, bald and in his upper eighties stared me down.
“I accept my sentence, I ask that you please consider my request. There is a town north of where Haven used to lie known as Spade.”
“We’re aware of the town of Spade,” he answered. “They haven’t any representatives in our council. What are you asking?”
I sighed. “They are formally declaring themselves a country from the south-most point of Haven north through Spade.” I would do this for Henry. Joshua would have a home and the women that we’d rescued would be safe in their own country, protected and cared for.
“What if I say no?” he asked amused.
“War will fall on The Republic of Cabal and you thought the Red Plague was bad? I can assure you, The Republic of Cabal will burn like the boils of the Red Plague singed our skin. You so much as consider touching anyone in Spade and I myself will be sure to haunt your town and torment you upon my death.”
A nervous laughter erupted in the hall. The eldest gentleman raised his hands to silence them. “That’s enough. Your husband Joshua and friend Janessa can have Spade. Frankly, I don’t care. They so much as set foot in Cabal–any one of your people–and I will personally see to it that they’re executed for trespassing.”
Joshua’s eyes narrowed. “Touché.”
“Now get the girl out of here!” He waved his arm at me and Fabian led me down to the prison.
I didn’t get to say goodbye to Joshua. He’d been escorted out with Janessa and I’d been taken down to a prison cell.
“I’m sorry.” Fabian stared at me sadly. “I hadn’t meant for any of this to happen. Well, not like it had,” he confessed.
I sat on the cot, my feet at the edges of the dirt floor. “I’m not afraid,” I said. “I just hope you won’t get into any trouble for this.” Fabian frowned. “It’d be best if you sent the eldest down here first to have a word with me. Someone who can verify you locked me up.”