You could say this was my first kiss ever, well since I woke up without my memories. It conveyed everything Xaseah wanted to tell me, her worry, her fear and her relief. And as much as I enjoyed it, I was left feeling rather awkward, Xaseah might have gotten back on her feet, and lived enough for herself this past three months to forget about the incident with Uzi, but I haven't.
Last I remember, I was avoiding her because of the guilt I felt for my inability to protect her, it was quite painful to know that I was incapable of keeping her safe and away from the hands of Adein the lover. So because of that, I was left with nothing to say, but to stare at her eyes as they sparkled in delight.
"My lord Kael, it is good to see you back up on your feet. How are you sir?"
I thank God for Asare, he's a good friend, a very good friend, as he was able to save me from this very awkward situation.
"I'm okay Asare, but where the hell were you guys?"
I really needed to know, where they had to have gone that they would have left the tower undefended. Of course it was not as if they had any obligations to me or anything, but still things had gone wrong. I needed to know why the people I trusted were no where to be found, also it was easier to focus on this than the fact that my hands were still wrapped around Xaseah's waist, and I had no intention of letting go any time soon.
"An assembly was called my lord." Asare answered
"An assembly?" I asked with a perplexed look on my face. Dwayne answered my query this time.
"Its when the schmucks who run this place, call a pit wide meeting, inviting all of the prisoners and their uncles for either a public execution, a change of policy, or just to make fun of the vampires."
The tone of voice he used was bitter, from the looks of things, Dwayne really hated the very idea of the assembly. In fact he seemed to hate everything about the pit, apart for it's unfortunate inhabitants.
"So what was the assembly about?" I asked.
" New policies were implemented my lord." Asare answered with a bow.
But there was a weighty stone in my chest right now, I did not like the idea of this new policies. Everything in this pit had been designed to cause as much pain and torture as it could to the Vampires, and I knew without a doubt that this new policies would most definitely not favor the vampires.
"This new policies, what are they?" I asked Asare with a strained voice.
"My lord, you've just woken up from a three month coma, forgive my boldness, but I suggest you take time to rest, unsavory news might not be the best for your current state. You should take a rest my lord, news can come later." He said with a smile.
He was trying to deflect, whatever it was that had happened, he was afraid of telling me because of how I would react. But I really hated this, looking at Dwayne's face, and the face of the people standing behind them, I could see the same apprehension on their faces. It was express acknowledgement of my weakness, of my inability to currently change the unsavory situations in the pit.
"God damn it Asare! Just tell me the damn thing!" I shouted in frustration.
"As you wish my lord. The warden of the pit has included some new policies, chief among them being the fact that he has now quadrupled the amount of ore required to meet the weekly quota. All vampires are now under a curfew that would be implemented by the flashing of the district seals. If the blue district seal flashes twice, the curfew begins and won't end till the seals flash five times a few hours later. The only problem is that the length of the curfew is longer than the time left to the vampires to go to the mountain and mine for Ores. Also a time limit has also been implemented for mining, each individual vampire is only allowed two hours to mine everyday."
Asare paused to take a look at my face, the look on it did not look good at all. I was alternating between looking extremely angry, sad, or guilty. I did not need anymore advertisement for me to know that all this change was because of me. But from the looks of things, Asare was not done, there were more policies from the looks of things.
"Adein also added, that all vampire children from the ages of eight to seventeen would be taken from their parents to a special tower, where they would be trained till they're twenty to serve as guards and patrol officers for the pit. And after the children have served for another twenty years, they will be given their freedom. But a parent can buy their children's freedom by delivering three years worth of ore, before the end of the first year of their children's enrollment into Adein's academy of vampire reformation."
The horror on my face was clear for all to see.
If it was every other unfair policy, then the vampires would have trudged on and preserverd just as they've always had. They would hope and pray for a better day, because every time they came back from a grueling and hard day at the mine, they would look upon the face of their lovers, of their children, and even through the pain they would smile and go to sleep happy. Because they knew what they had to live for, what they had to fight for and how much it meant to them.
But Adein had gone too far, there was no way the vampires will keep silent anymore. Hurting them was one thing, but their children was a whole other matter. This pot had already reached a boiling point, and the rage within was about to spill over, and I could not help the thought that the vampires fighting back was exactly what Adein wanted. And I knew how bad of a scenario that would be, because if the vampires fight back now, they will loose, and not just loose, they're all going to die.
"This is all my fault." I muttered to myself, but I was loud enough for everybody to hear.
"Yes it is" I heard somebody say.
I looked up and saw Asha approaching from behind the crowd, she was smiling, but my eyes were not on her face, it was at her stomach, at that seal that was pulsing through her dress and releasing copious amounts of soul energy, that was also drilling back into the seal in a vicious cycle, moving and blinking like it as some sort of countdown. I was about to say something when I heard a voice!, it was Asha's voice, and it was in my head!
{Say nothing, I'll explain later. I'm so happy you're okay.}
I was dumbfounded, and that was because I didn't know that the bond could do more than just send the emotions of the one person into the other. Spooky. But Asha was not done talking.
"Yes, husband, the fault that they've lost their children lies with you. Your actions, decisions, and words have pushed our enemies into hitting us with the hardest blow possible. And this is all your fault!"
Wow did she have to be so harsh about it, I already knew that this was my fault, what was with the unnecessary final nail in the coffin.
"But it's because you're at fault, that you have to fix this. Look at this people, they've lost their children, and in no time at all, a lot of them would be in danger from the guards because they're unable to meet the ridiculous quota that monster of a man named Adein had placed on their weak and frail bodies. But each and every single one of them came back here to you, they came back because they knew you were at fault, but still believed strongly in you that you would save them and their children, just as you've always done in the past. My lord Husband, these are your people, and right now they need you to be the leader that you were always meant to be, they need you to be the leader you promised them you would be. So are you going to wallow in self pity, and let this injustice continue, because I tell you this, if you don't do something, our child is going to be born into this world, and we're...we...….we're going to loose our child too if you don't get up, and fight back!"
She was crying, and it was not just the tears that I felt from her, it was her fear, her pain, and this deep sense of loss that she could not shake off. Asha was not just sad because of what had happened to the vampires, the pulsing seal on her stomach had a part to play in this deep grief of hers. I had to solve the problem, all of it. I got up, and dragged Xaseah by the hand till we got in front of Asha and I pulled all three of us into a hug together. Then I placed our heads together as I said to the both of them.
"I'll fix it."