The Courier's Quest

Chapter 3

2

POOBARI STOOD HOLDING THE DELIVERY tag out to them, impatient to be leaving.

"Is one of you going to accept the fetch or do we need to call for someone else?"

Jak didn't respond, but he pulled out his communicator and accepted the package. Poobari didn't wait around after unlocking the door. He made his way back to the front near his desk. The sound of desperate inmates calling out to him as he waddled back down the halls didn’t seem to bother him.

Ladi stood staring at the two of them as if she'd invited them over for a meal.

"What are you doing here?" Rasha asked.

"My final exam didn't go well. When things got worse, I ended up in here again with Poobari. He really is a horrible man, but it's either here or someplace worse." She shrugged.

How could she just shrug? Rasha wondered.

"No, I mean, how did you end up here? Aren't you supposed to be completing your training?"

"It turns out that wasn't really for me,” Ladi said. She squeezed between them and lead them back up the corridor.

Rasha looked at Jak who shook his head. What could she be thinking? Why was she being so evasive? Rasha didn't know what to think about it.

Jak held up a hand behind Ladi's back. He'd seen Rasha about to lose her temper.

Rasha bit back her response and let him take the lead.

"So, you returned to a life of crime?" Jak asked.

"Not exactly," Ladi said as she reached the door to Poobari's office.

"I'll be taking my weapon, package, and my communicator, now."

Ladi held out her hand.

Poobari ignored it and picked at his dirty nails, looking at Rasha as he spoke.

"Young people these days are so disrespectful. In the old days, as I recall, they used to be much more polite. Not like these uneducated rangleforts."

Ladi put her hands on her hips.

"I don't have all day to fool around with you, old man. Give them up."

Poobari laughed then Ladi leaned forward on his desk and crooked a finger at him to come closer. He inched forward, wary of her, and she whispered something in his ear that made him swear. From underneath the wooden desk, he pulled on a drawer and lifted out a small package and a communicator chip. The sword was last, and he handed it to her blade first.

Ladi sheathed her sword before turning to Rasha.

"Shall we?"

"You know where we're going?" Rasha asked.

"Of course, the Courier's Keep will want to see me about this package. Let's go."

"See you again soon, my little green girl,” Poobari called from behind her.

"Not if I can help it,” Ladi said without looking back.

When they reached the outside and stood in front of Rasha's dragon, Ladi let out a whistle.

"You kept him."

"Her." Rasha gave the dragon a pat on the neck. "She wouldn't leave."

"Are you going to take me up on her? Please, it's been so long since I've been on a dragon."

Rasha put a hand on Ladi's shoulder and turned her around.

"Are your brains half cooked? We just picked you up from jail. You swore you'd never return there especially after what happened to your brother. You have to go back to the Courier's Keep to answer for the package you fetched but never delivered. What's wrong with you? Talk to me."

Jak took that moment to walk away.

Ladi looked away, her eyes filling.

"Don't. Don't do that. I'm trying to understand," Rasha said.

"You can't understand. You don't know what it's like to have to walk in his shoes."

Ladi's shoulders dropped. She'd obviously been carrying this for some time.

Rasha had struggled with her own feelings about Lu and his death. What could she say to get through to her? Ladi continued to blame herself for her brother’s death.

When Jak moved towards them, she looked up and shook her head. She wasn't ready to end their conversation.

"You can't keep punishing yourself for your brother's death,” Rasha said.

"They don't want me. They want him." Ladi shrugged away from Rasha. "All they wanted was for me to be more like him. Just like you. After a while, I couldn't take it."

Rasha took a step forward and turned Ladi to face her again.

"That's not true, I don't want you to be him. However, the job of the Keep is to train you to become the best courier you can be. Why did you feel you had to leave?"

"They wanted me to take the Courier's Oath, but I couldn't."

"Why not?"

"How can you ask me that?" Ladi asked, incredulous. "To lie and say that I'm loyal to no kingdom. How did you do it and stand on the front lines of Adalu, killing the beasts?"

Rasha stopped short.

"What do you mean?"

"The oath: 'In service of the ten kingdoms, allegiance to none.' How could I say it and mean it after all we've been through?"

Rasha's hand dropped as she thought about what she was saying.

"Allegiance to none," Ladi said, waiting for Rasha to understand.

"Yes, but a courier just like a princess is still in service to the ten kingdoms."

"Not ten, eleven. Serving is not the same as allegiance."

Rasha hadn't even considered the oath since she'd returned to the job. She wondered what Jak thought of it. She'd have to ask him later. Ladi was too volatile now to consider the issue with reason.

"Listen, you have to stop thinking like this. No one is comparing you to Lu except you." Rasha put a hand on Ladi's shoulder and forced her to look into her eyes. "Do you want to be a courier or not?"

"I don't think I do anymore," Ladi said.

Rasha didn't know what to say.

Jak moved over to her but Ladi had already walked away.

Rasha shrugged and waved it off. They agreed it would be best if Rasha and Ladi rode on her dragon to Adalu. Jak would have to make his own way there and meet up with Rasha to complete delivery.

The Keep was located in what was left of the first kingdom and the weather had already turned warm again. Most of the damage from the year before had vanished in most places. There was a scar left across the land from where the beasts and the ten kingdoms had fought. The ruins of the first palace was the only dark smudge among the greenery of Adalu. Rasha and Ladi arrived that evening at the Courier's Keep and for the first time since ending her own training, Rasha was allowed admittance.

"Welcome, Courier Jenchat-42769 how can I be of assistance?" The robotic assistant had no humanoid features on its metallic plate of a face, only a faintly recognizable humanoid anatomy.

"I request an audience with Courier's Keep to complete delivery of Fetch #456-257."

"Processing…"

Rasha twitched while she waited for the confirmation.

"Please follow the blue lighted signs to the Courier's Keep located on the fifth floor."

Rasha and Ladi didn't need the lighted signs to find the Keep. When they reached the imposing wooden doors of the Keep on the fifth floor, Ladi stopped short.

"What's wrong?" Rasha asked.

"I don't know if I can do this."

"We don't really have a choice. You have to give the package back."

Ladi shook her head and backed away.

"No, Ladi, don't even think of running."

"I'm sorry, Rasha, this can't go back to them."

Rasha watched in horror as Ladi bolted down the corridor. The doors of the Keep opened and Rasha turned to run after her.

"Wait, stop, there's no way out that way!" She ran after her but only made it as far as halfway down the hall before Ladi jumped through the window.

"No!" Rasha ran to the window but the only thing on the ground was the broken glass. Ladi hadn't landed on the ground. She was flying in the arms of one of the Wola, his arms clutching her middle as her legs dangled in the air. Rasha's hand came down on the window sill.

Rasha returned to the doors of the Courier's Keep. they were still open. She entered the large domed room, its eye-level windows letting in light from all sides. A man older than her father with a turquoise hue to his skin and blue hair stepped forward. His face was grim and disapproving.

"Rasha Jenchat, I told them you wouldn't be able to bring her in."