Young Writers Society

Chaptah three.

Ropu was a tough teacher. He made Koani work until she was exhausted lifting weights. Matina too was fading quickly. He would tell her to fly up as high as she could, and then hold it. That didn’t work, so he got out a thin plate covered with metal spikes, and pushed it under her. He would leave it there, until she had gone for six minutes and then let her down. This went on for four hours.

“Ok. I think you’re done for today. I’ll send someone with food.” Ropu extinguished the lamp, and they were plunged back into darkness. They watched his candle out of sight, twinkling like a star.

“Koani, why do you think he wants us trained?” asked Matina.

“I don’t know.”

“Do you think he’s evil?”

“No,” said Koani, answering before she had a chance to think. “Well, not in the normal sense. I don’t know though.” She justified her answer.

“I don’t either.”

There was a long pause, each of them absorbed in their own thoughts.

“Look,” said Matina.

There was another candle bobbing towards them. It was a boy carrying a tray.

“Room service!” the boy said. He laughed at his own joke. Koani didn’t get it.

He had long hair, a sandy blond color, and his eyes were just as big and glittery as Ropu’s, only they were smiling warmly.

“I’m Pelaris,” he sat down in front of them, and put the tray in the middle. “Pel,” said Pelaris.

The food smelled delicious. It was rice, with a sauce of some kind. Koani took a bowl, and ate at it tentatively. It was as good as she had predicted, and she forgot manners. Matina took a bowl too.

“So you’re the new prisoners? How’s training going?”

Matina answered. “It’s hard.”

Pel laughed again, and it lit up his face. “It is now,” he said, “Then it will get easier. Then when Ropu sees you’re getting better, it’ll get harder again!”

Koani watched him warily. He was so confident.

“What are your gifts, anyway?”

“Levitation,” said Matina.

“Flying! Now that’s a fun one. What about you?” he looked to Koani.

“Oh. I can just... Move things,” suddenly, Koani’s gift seemed awfully feeble.

“That’s a good one too! I had so much trouble learning that one at first. It was keeping me back.”

“How many do you have?” asked Koani.

“Hey, I’m an Albatoris, remember? I can do lots! I’m not as good as Ropu, mind. What are your names again?”

“Matina, and that’s Koani.”

“Ok. I’m calling you Mat and Ko."

Koani liked him. He chatted on and on, reciting his favorite skills. According to Pel, not only prisoners were subjected to brutal training regimes. All Albatoris’ were required to attend twenty seasons of training, and an additional twenty were offered.

She tried to grasp that concept.

“Show me.” said Matina.

Pel wouldn’t. He said that, for trainees, displays of power were forbidden.

“Where are we?” Koani asked.

Pel shook his head gloatingly.

“Can’t tell you that, Ko. That's need-to-know information.” She could tell he was smirking, just by his voice.

“Why are we in a cave, at least?”

Pel looked hesitant. He seemed to be having a very complicated debate with himself. Finally, he spoke.

“All of the Albatoris live underground. It’s just too hot up there. We bake.”

“But Ropu was up there, and one other.” she thought. “Halis.”

“Halis was up there?” Pel seemed surprised.

“Yeah,” said Koani, “Who is he?”

“He is in charge. Of all the Moapari’s, Halis is in charge.”

“What are Moapari’s?” asked Koani, interested.

“Leaders. They assign the jobs, and do the important jobs themselves. They are also in charge of tunnel expansion.”

“Tunnel expansion?”

“We spend out lives underground, exempt for brief expeditions up to the surface. Its a maze down here. We can feel our way around, but you can’t.”

“Feel your way around?” Koani repeated, “How?”

“Its like a coldness in my mind. I can tell where I want to be, and I end up there. Some people are really good at it, then they can even go deep into the pipes, where-” but Pel cut himself off, and clamped a hand over his own mouth, looking mortified.

“You got me talking!” he accused, pointing a finger at Koani.

“I can’t have. You talked yourself! I didn’t make you do anything!” she laughed.

Pel grabbed the candle, and stood up hurriedly.

“Be good tomorrow, Okay? I’ll be back.” he started to run away from them.

“And don’t try that again! It won’t work!” he called back at Koani, from far away.

Matina gave a loud yawn, and Koani too realized she was exhausted. She decided that she would contemplate what she had learned in the morning, if there was a morning in this desolate place, and sleep now.

She put her head down, and closed her eyes to the darkness.

* * *

Matina shook Koani awake. For a minute, she forgot where she was. She blinked, and ran a hand over her face, to make sure her eyes were open. They were, and the past night’s events swam hazily back to her.

“I think someone's coming,” Matina whispered.

Just as Koani was putting together a groggy response, she heard a bumping and scraping noise, as if a huge, heavy object was bouncing towards them.

This turned out to be alarmingly similar to the truth.

Ropu’s metal chest was scraping across the ground and came to a halt in front of the girls. It snapped open with a pop. A candle was lit inside it.

Matina said “I guess he wants us to practice.”

“I guess so too.”

Koani lit the lamp, and stuck the candle onto the weight. She lifted it as high as she could, and put it back down.

“Why are you doing that, Koani? He’s not here to make us. Let’s look inside this thing. Get the candle.”

Koani floated the candle over them. On top, there were the spiky trays, and a set of weights. Koani, still holding the candle, pulled them out too. Beneath them was a set of keys. They were bronze, and looked impossible to duplicate.

Also, a box full of heavy spheres, two long thin poles, and a very large box that they couldn’t get open.

They piled everything back in.

“I wonder what the keys open.” mused Koani, putting the candle back onto the weight, and lifting it again. She thought it might have gone a little higher this time.

“I wonder what is in that box.” answered Matina. “Do you think we’ll get better?”

“What do you mean, Matina?”

“At levitating, and for you, lifting stuff.”

Koani said nothing. She didn’t think Matina would get better if she didn’t try, but didn’t want to say so.

“Maybe you should practice some,” she settled for.

Matina floated about four feet up, and then back down immediately.

“Why bother?”

“I don’t know, but you used to like doing it, remember? And it might come in handy.”

“I don’t think so. We might end up dying in here.”

She held herself up for a little longer, screwing up her eyes.

What was wrong with Matina? Where was her hope?

“Come on, Matina! We can do this, remember? We’ll get out of here.”

Matina, melodramatic as ever, gave a woeful smile, and a sigh. Then she grinned.

“I guess you’re right. Here. I have an idea. How about, I pull you up, and then while I'm holding you, you lift the weight!"

Koani laughed and encouraged her friend to abandon that drastic idea. After succeeding, they contemplated their situation, while Koani continued practicing.

Ropu ambled out of the darkness a few hours later.

Koani let the weight fall, from where she was holding it. A mistake, as it turned out. The air extinguished the flame, and the candle went out. Black shrouded them so thickly; they couldn’t see their own hands.

She heard footsteps.

Then there was a light again, faint, but growing brighter.

Ropu was crouched over the candle, relighting it with his power.

“Koani, remember this, and don’t do that again.” It was spoken softly, but was a command. He looked stern, and did not turn on the lamp.

“You can’t do what I just did, so, if you want light, I suggest you be more careful.”

His eyes glittered eerily in the flickering light of the candle.

“Rrright.” he said, his tone softening, and becoming less formal. Koani privately wondered how this man could undergo such a dramatic personality makeover in the course of a second.

“I saw you practicing Koani, but Matina? How is it going for you?” This last part was directed at Matina who was sitting against the chest, looking vaguely guilty.

“I.. Um.. I didn’t know we had to do anything. I mean, the chest, it just came, there was no note or anything..”

“Liar,” Ropu sounded harsh again. “You knew it.”

Matina cast her eyes down.

“Keep practicing,” he barked.

Matina did as she was ordered, and floated up, then back down. She repeated the process twice more.

“Hold it there.”

Matina did. Koani was a little pleased she didn’t twirl, or sing, or do anything else that would cause her embarrassment.

Ropu let her down, shaking his head.

“Koani?”

She knew what she had to do. She lifted up the weight with the candle as high as she could, and strained to go higher. It worked. The weight rose another inch.

Ropu watched with professional interest.

“You’ve gotten better.”

Koani was sure he was right. It was drastic, how much two days of extreme practice could make a difference.

Ropu sat down on his chest, and surveyed them for another hour or so, before leaving into the dark.

They kept practicing by the light of the flickering candle, until Pel returned, with his cheery smile, and a tray of food.

"Having fun yet girls?"

Matina tried to hit him, and Koani merely glowered.

Corected and improved! Thanks Nox! I took almost all of your tips.