Chapter 2: Captive Audience
The traitor's skull, we shall drink out of it,
His teeth we shall wear as a necklace,
From his bones we shall make flutes,
Of his skin we shall make a drum,
Then we shall dance.
-- Anonymous

Bleu stirred in the prison skimmer, groaning as the effects of the knock on the head she'd received kicked in. She opened her eyes and saw Magus lying across from her. Daria was curled up in the back of their cell.

She shook her aching head and sighed. Great. Now she'd pulled two more people into her quest for revenge. What a lovely mess she was making of things.

Bleu sat up... and felt the pain in her head increase. She moaned loudly.

"You too?"

She looked over to see that Magus had woken up. "Yeah," she replied. She sighed. "What a day, huh? I bet that wasn't exactly the reunion you hoped for, was it?"

"Not in the least."

Bleu shook her head, ignoring the pain it caused her. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For this. This is my fault. You shouldn't be in here." She blinked. "As a matter of fact, I don't know why you're here. Why would they take you?"

"Why would they take you? You never explained that."

"I betrayed them."

"How so?"

"I killed some of them, and I temporarily derailed their war."

"How is that betrayal?"

"I'm one of them. Well, sort of."

"Huh?"

"I'm half-Mystic." Bleu smiled ruefully. "The only one of my kind. Therefore, a freak."

"I know how that feels. Too well..."

"Oh, yeah." Bleu studied him thoughtfully. "I'm glad you turned out to be alive. She really missed you."

"You and Schala are close."

"We're best friends."

"Her, too?" Magus gestured to the still-sleeping Daria.

"Daria? She's a... friend." Bleu's voice seemed to have chilled somewhat. Magus noticed, but said nothing. "Still, I didn't expect you to turn out to be Schala's brother."

"You've... heard of me?"

Bleu laughed. "Heard of you? I should think so. After all, I'm always being compared to you."

"Why's that?"

Bleu shrugged. "The Mystics have been debating for years whether I'm as powerful as you or not. You are, you see, quite the legend."

Magus laughed grimly. "For all the wrong reasons."

Bleu waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, come off it, you did what you had to. Anyway, I'm quite powerful myself, with weapons and magic, and some believe me to be your equal."

"Do you?"

"I don't know," she said honestly. "How can I know if I'm as good as someone from another time? It's odd to finally meet you."

"I imagine."

Bleu shifted, trying not to groan at the pain in her head. That's when she noticed what was lying at her side: her bag. They'd let her keep it.

"This is odd," she commented as she rummaged through it. Yep, everything was there, even her sword, which she'd hidden in there before she'd been captured. She'd been preparing to cast a spell when someone hit her on the head from behind. She looked up at Magus. "Will you hold it for me? If they see it, they're likely to confiscate it, and there are things in there I don't want to lose."

Magus nodded. "No problem."

"Thank you." Bleu smiled genuinely, a rare sight. Then she handed it to him and settled back. "I'm going back to sleep, to see if I can sleep off this headache." She closed her eyes.

As she drifted off, she found herself thinking about him. The thought made her strangely warm. She didn't know why, but she was attracted to him. Not just in a skin-deep way, but something deeper.

Magus watched her drift off. He didn't know what, but there was something she wasn't telling him. He'd heard the coldness in her voice when he'd mentioned Daria clear as day. A very mysterious woman. And interesting.

"Eeugh." Daria woke up to a splitting headache. "Ick. What a horrid day." She blinked as she saw Magus. "Whoa. What the heck are you doing here?"

Magus looked slightly amused. "Now suppose you tell me how I'm supposed to know that."

Daria glared at him. "Well, sorry. I thought you'd know."

"No. All I got was the same thing you got: a knock on the head." He gestured towards Bleu. "The same thing she got."

Daria glanced over. "She's still out?"

"No. She said she was trying to sleep off her headache."

Daria groaned. "Good idea."

"I'm inclined to agree." The two then went to sleep themselves.

A couple hours later, they were rudely shaken awake by Mystics, who herded them off the skimmer and into Medina. All the way to Ozzie's mansion Mystics glared hatefully at Bleu.

"You ungrateful little twit," Jade sneered as she met them at the door. "This is the thanks I get for what I did for you all those years ago? Treason?"

"That's right," Bleu replied.

Jade stewed. Then she noticed Bleu's companions. "I recognize Princess Dara, but who's this guy?"

"That's 'Daria,'" Daria gritted out. Jade smirked at her.

"Whatever. I asked Bleu, not you. Who is this? Looks familiar somehow..."

"You're imagining things," Bleu lied. She did NOT want to explain why someone from another time was here. She had a feeling it would only make things worse for her. And them.

"Maybe you're right, though that's rare. Very well, carry on." She turned and headed off somewhere else. After she was gone, Bleu hid a smile. How stupid and gullible her former teacher was.

They were shoved roughly into a cell below the mansion. "And there you'll stay till the trial," a guard informed them.

"Trial? What trial?" Bleu asked.

"Why, yours of course. You're being charged with high treason. And you know what we do to traitors." The Outlaw leered at her. All the blood drained from her face. Her father had been charged with treason...

"The trial will commence as soon as Ozzie begins the negotiations for their ransom," the guard continued, indicating the others.

"What?!" Bleu exclaimed. "He's holding them for ransom?! How low can you get...?!" The guard just laughed and walked away.

Magus settled down in the corner of the cell. What a day. His mood was completely soured. First attacked in the middle of his reunion with Schala, then captured, now being held for ransom. He wondered darkly if it could get any worse.

Bleu sat down next to him, and he scowled darkly at her. "Thank you, so very much, for this lovely experience," he said dryly.

Bleu glared at him. "You know, I came over here to apologize."

Magus snorted. "What good does that do me? It certainly doesn't magically warp me out of this cell. In this case, the thought does not count."

"Well, here's a thought: screw you! I assumed you'd at least care that I'm sorry I got you into this, but you know what they say about assumptions. You really are what they say you are!"

"And that is?" Magus's voice had grown dangerous.

"Arrogant and ungrateful!"

"You'd know better than anyone, wouldn't you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

Magus smirked at her. "When people compare us, they must be comparing personalities too."

"What?!" Bleu gaped at him. "You and I are nothing alike in that respect!"

"Then why can't we get along? It must be because we're too much alike."

"We were getting along just fine until you threw my attempt at an apology back in my face!"

"You're very beautiful, you know that?" Magus said suddenly.

"What? Oh, please," Bleu laughed. "You've got to be kidding me. Me? The freak, the outcast? Don't try and flatter me. And don't change the subject either! This argument is your fault."

"I'm sorry about that," he said quietly. "Really, I am. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. I was angry, but that's no excuse. I'm sorry."

Seeing that he was sincere, Bleu softened. She sighed. "It's okay. And I really am sorry about getting you into this mess. You shouldn't have to suffer just because I had an attack of conscience."

"Apology accepted. Now I'm going back to sleep to try and get rid of the rest of this headache." He stretched out and closed his eyes.

A minute later Daria spoke up from the other end of the cell. "You know, there's something I don't get."

Bleu turned to her. "What's that?"

"Why are they holding him for ransom? It's not like anybody here but Schala cares about him."

Bleu gave her a withering look. "She lives in the castle, drip. They must know that and figured she would get your father to pay more."

Daria glared at her, but said nothing, just turned away.

"Besides," Bleu added softly, "I care." She didn't see Magus open his eyes, smile, then go back to sleep.

Late that night, Magus woke up, feeling a weight on his shoulder. He opened his eyes to see Bleu curled up against him. He gazed at her sad, lovely face for a few minutes, then went back to sleep.

Morning came too soon for them. The guards rudely awakened the three and informed them that Bleu would be tried soon. They picked at their tasteless breakfast and waited.

"All right, traitor, time to go," the guard said.

Bleu sighed deeply and started to get up, but Magus stopped her. "Wait," he said, touching her arm.

"Why?" she asked, confused.

Leaning over, he kissed her. "Good luck," he said softly.

Bleu blushed. "Th-thank you," she replied, rather shakily, as she got up to go to her trial.

After she was gone, Daria turned to him. "You two sure seem to like each other."

"Yes. She doesn't seem to like you very much, though."

"No, she doesn't," Daria said quietly. "Not anymore."

"Why?"

Daria sighed. "This goes back a long time. I first met Rydia when I was six, the year before the trouble with the Mystics started up again after centuries of peace. We became very close friends. When we were eleven, we met Bleu, who was twelve. She became friends with us. We were all very close. We told each other everything. Except for one thing.

"Four years later, Schala appeared. I convinced my father to let her stay with us, since she had nowhere else to go -- she couldn't get her own home, Rydia's didn't have any extra room, and we still had no idea where Bleu lived.

"Then one day, we found out. We were all messing around in Rydia's house, when Bleu cut herself. She tried to hide it, but we saw what color her blood was. I jumped to the wrong conclusion and was soon yelling at her about how she'd lied, and what kind of a deceitful person she was. I accused her of being a spy." Daria winced at the memory.

"Schala sided with her, trying to get me to let her explain. But I wouldn't listen. Finally, Rydia got me to shut up and let Bleu explain.

"She told us what she really was, how Ozzie had had her father killed for producing her and that she had just barely been spared herself.

Daria hesitated, then continued. "She only kept it from us because she thought we wouldn't want to be her friends anymore if we knew. And I'm sorry to say I proved her right when I jumped to the wrong conclusion. Since then, she and I haven't been able to be as close as we once were. In fact, we're barely friends. We're either coldly polite or arguing." Daria winced again. "Some arguments can get pretty nasty. She always wins. After all, I'm really just a spoiled brat who's led a sheltered life. She's had it much tougher. So guess who knows the better insults to toss out in a fight?"

Bleu looked around the courtroom. All the Mystics inside were glaring at her. Ozzie was presiding as judge, while Shade was the prosecutor. It would be the trial from hell.

"Do I get a lawyer?" she asked dryly, knowing the answer.

Ozzie sneered at her. "Of course not. You know we don't allow traitors to have lawyers."

"Ozzie, Ozzie." Bleu shook her head. "After all these years around me, you still can't recognize sarcasm when you hear it. Shame, shame," she said mockingly. The fat green Mystic leader just glared at her.

"Order, order," he said, banging his gavel. Bleu rolled her eyes at the ridiculousness of the sight. "Court is now in session and will come to order."

"And then, she disobeyed my orders entirely. She just calmly beheaded her fellow Mystics. And smiled as she did it!" Everyone gasped as Jade finished her testimony.

Ozzie banged his gavel as everyone started to yell at Bleu. "Order, order!" he barked.

"Yes, sir. I'd like a sandwich, please. Any kind," Bleu said mockingly. Ozzie fumed.

"That's quite enough," he snarled. "The trial is finished. I hereby pronounce you guilty as charged of high treason. You'll be executed in the morning. Guards, return her to her cell! And get the King of Guardia on the line!"

Magus and Daria sat in the cell, utterly bored. Until two guards walked by, gossiping.

"Did you hear what Ozzie's demanding for their release?" one of them, a Naga-ette, whispered.

"No, what?" the other, a Gnasher inquired.

"Half the kingdom."

"No, really?"

"Yes. The king's holding out so far, but who knows when he'll give in? When he does, the Mystics will rule the world!"

Just then, Bleu reappeared, shoved along by guards. Her face was pale and scared as they pushed her into the cell.

"How'd it go?" Magus asked her.

"I'm being executed for treason tomorrow," she replied weakly.