The Dancer

The previous night, Lankko sat comfortably on his mat and nibbled on the fruits that were served at his low table. He winced when he bit through a hard seed and threw the fruit away. Music drifted through the air as a small band of seated musicians played with percussion and wind instruments. The music rose to a faster beat and Lankko found himself tapping his thigh to the joyful rhythm. One-by-one, a group of dancers came out waving fans and colorful scarves as a woman's soulful voice soared with the music.

The dancers swayed and spun gracefully, their quick movements dissolving into flashes of color that were mesmerizing and pleasing to the eyes. Lankko's gaze was pulled towards the lead female dancer whose red dress hugged her body and revealed her slender frame. The dancer seemed to have noticed Lankko's gaze and danced closer to him. As the dancers pulled off their shawls and started waving them around, the dancer who caught Lankko's eye decided to throw her white shawl at Lankko who smiled sheepishly and brought the shawl to his nose. The dancer's perfume was intoxicating and Lankko was even more enamored by her. The dancer smiled at Lankko and stared with her dark eyes before joining the other dancers as they finish their performance.

The singer climbed onto a platform and sustained the last high note of her song with gusto. The crowd applauded and Lankko jumped to his feet, clapping his hands enthusiastically. The dancer who threw her shawl winked at him and blew him a kiss while he waved and whistled loudly. When the applause died down, the performers retreated and came out of view.

Lankko was still standing and clapping his hands long after the performers had left. When he realized that he was the only one still clapping, he immediately sat down and resumed eating his food. A large woman sitting across Lankko's low table snapped her fingers in front of Lankko just as the latter was sinking his teeth into a large piece of meat. The woman in front of Lankko was garishly clothed and gold necklaces hung around her neck. Three gold rings, each studded with diamonds and sapphires, sparkled brightly from her fingers.

"Hey! Lankko!" the woman snapped his fingers repeatedly.

Lankko seemed to wake up from a trance and looked at the woman across the table. "Uh, I didn't realize you were talking to me. It's just that your performers were mesmerizing. Just where do you get your dancers, Thunka?"

Thunka laughed raucously, her gold necklaces tinkling softly. "They come from all over Sendorra, Lankko. I select my dancers personally during my travels, with the same careful attention I devote to choosing all my precious jewels." Thunka smiled meaningfully and winked at Lankko. "Speaking of jewels, there are rumors going around."

"There are always rumors going around," replied Lankko. He finally found a knife and used it to cut his slab of roast beef.

"Lankko… Lankko… Stop trying to fool me. I know that you know precisely what I'm talking about," said Thunka playfully as she leaned nearer to Lankko. "I'm talking about the Pearl of Sorrelia, of course."

"What about it?" asked Lankko as he took a bite of meat and washed it down with a gulp of red wine.

"Everyone's been looking for that pearl since it was stolen from Sorrelia. The good citizens of Sorrelia desperately want it back, the magic hunters are tracking it, and buyers in the black market would pay astronomical prices for it."

Lankko scoffed at Thunka and said, "And I'm sure you're one of those interested buyers."

"Of course, I want it, Lankko. That pearl would be the centerpiece of my collection." Thunka's eyes sparkled like the diamonds in her rings. "Unless someone with deeper pockets would pay me handsomely to part with it."

"Good luck finding it then," said Lankko, drinking his wine to avoid Thunka's gaze.

"Oh, but rumor has it that the pearl was stolen from the Sorrelians by desert pirates who gifted it to the Healers' Guild for saving the daughter of the pirate king…"

"I do not associate with that guild!" said Lankko, but Thunka raised a hand, with her palm towards Lankko to indicate that she was not finished yet.

"…and the healers decided to bring it to their temple vault for safekeeping, but was intercepted on the way to Borondi by yet unidentified men - one of which, according to witnesses, wielded a peculiar kind of sword." Thunka paused momentarily. "Now, I can't think how weapons would be described as peculiar. They can be double edged, pointed, straight, curved, but it is rare that they would be in the form of a moving snake... like the sword carried by your master. Now that would be… peculiar."

Lankko started to shift uneasily from his seat as Thunka followed her logic.

"I suspect, therefore, that the missing Pearl of Sorrelia has been in your master's possession all along and that means you, as Jad Enzir's keeper of secrets would have it hidden in a secret vault somewhere." Thunka had been watching Lankko's face intently. She observed that Lankko flinched slightly every time she mentioned Sorrelia and its legendary pearl.

"The rumor's not true, of course… like most rumors," Lankko said, dismissing Thunka's statements with a wave of his hand. "I do not have such a valuable pearl in any vault anywhere." Lankko said with a hint of anger in his voice and then pulled at his earlobe unconsciously.

"Forgive me for being too brash," Thunka apologized. Then, she looked at the dancer's white shawl on the table and said. "I see that you still have my Mira's shawl. I can ask her to accompany you tonight as a sign of my sincere apology."

Lankko face brightened at the mention of the dancer. "I accept your apology then," he said as he bit onto a large piece of roasted meat

Later that night, Lankko dragged his steps over the stone floor of the corridor of his dungeons as the effects of the copious amount of wine he had consumed slightly affected his balance. He clung onto Mira when they stepped over the threshold as he almost stumbled to the floor.

"Careful, my sweet, you'll hurt yourself," said Mira, holding Lankko steady.

"I'm fine," said Lankko, steadying himself. "Let me show you the chamber."

They entered a dark chamber used for questioning prisoners and Lankko smiled proudly as he showed Mira around.

"So this is the famous torture chamber!" exclaimed Mira. "Just how many prisoners have you had here?"

"Shh! Don't call it torture chamber. I'd rather call it the questioning room. Makes it less painful to the ears."

Mira looked around the dark room lit only by two torches pinned to the far wall. "So, how many prisoners have you questioned here?" She asked, emphasizing the word 'questioned'.

"Let me tell you a secret," began Lankko. "I don't really do much of the questioning. Most of the time it's Jad Enzir who delights in doing it. On other occasions, I have my soldiers do it."

"Why?" asked Mira. "I thought that's what your red sash means. Isn't that supposed to represent blood? That's why you wear it, don't you?" Mira touched Lankko's sash and pulled it gently.

"Let me tell you another secret," Lankko chuckled, pulling back his sash from Mira's grasp. "Red is my favorite color," he whispered.

"Oh, red is my favorite color too!" exclaimed Mira, her face a mask of excitement as she grabbed Lankko's wrist. Then, she wrinkled her nose in disgust as she smelled something bad. "What's that awful smell?" she asked.

"Sorry about that," said Lankko, breathing the air with disgust. "I told the cleaner to clean in here, but he always finds a reason not to. Sometimes the cat would come in and do some of her nasty stuff." As if on cue, a mouse squeaked loudly and ran under a wooden apparatus at the center of the room pursued by a black cat.

"There goes little Enzir!" said Lankko.

"You call your cat after your master?" asked Mira.

"Oh, no. I wouldn't call her that. The cat's name is Sooty," said Lankko. "Go get Enzir, Sooty! Make him pay for it!" Lankko called to the cat who ran out of the chamber after the mouse. Then, Lankko turned to Mira, his thumb pointing towards the door. "I do hope she gets that mouse. That dirty little Enzir always wreaks havoc when he comes in here." Lankko chuckled at his own joke.

Mira went to the wooden apparatus and seemed to admire it like it was a sculpture. Lankko walked towards her. "Do you like it?"

"This is something else," said Mira as she ran her hand over the apparatus. "Did you make it yourself?" she turned to Lankko.

Lankko blinked his eyes and stuttered, "Y-yes. I designed it."

"Oh, you're so creative, Lankko! Just where do you get your ideas?" asked Mira. "It's like a work of art."

"Wait till you see this." Lankko then pulled some levers and the different parts of the apparatus shifted and transformed. "Can you see what this is?"

Mira looked at the apparatus and held her head at different angles, trying to imagine what Lankko wanted her to see.

Lankko tapped the seat and the wooden beam and said, "It's a caribou! These are the antlers." Lankko touched the thick beam. "And this is the saddle, where the prisoner sits."

Mira looked confused, then simply said, "It's just that I haven't seen a caribou. They must have really large antlers."

"Yes, they do," said Lankko enthusiastically. "And you place a saddle on their backs and you hold the reins like this." He pulled the ropes and pretended to steer the caribou. "I told Jad Enzir about it and he nicknamed it 'Karbo'. You know, shortened form of caribou. Isn't it amazing?" Lankko's eyes glowed.

"You nicknamed your torture device?" Mira asked sarcastically.

"Questioning device!" Lankko raised a finger at Mira who looked away.

Mira saw two bags hanging on a nearby shelf and was surprised that they were moving. Curious, she walked towards it and realized that its contents were alive.

"Those are fire ants, my love. Don't touch them. Their stings are extremely painful. I kept them there to dry." Lankko ran towards Mira who was still looking at the bags. "Have you seen fire ants before? Do you want to see them?"

Mira clasped her hands tightly until her knuckles turned white. She took a step backward and looked away. "No, I've seen them before," she said softly.

"Jad Enzir likes to use them during questioning. He found them very effective on prisoners." Lankko paused when he saw that Mira was silent. "Let me show you something more interesting. Just wait here." Lankko walked towards a cabinet at the far wall, leaving Mira standing in front of the bags with the fire ants.

Mira looked at Lankko who was still getting something from the cabinet and took a wooden rod from the shelf. She then poked the bags, crushing its contents. Mira was still holding the rod when Lankko turned to her direction holding a box woven from bamboo strips. Immediately, she hid the rod behind her.

"Look at these little creatures, my love," said Lankko, showing Mira the open box. "I placed them inside this special box to let the air in."

Mira looked inside and found slug-like creatures squirming inside.

"Slugs?" she asked. "They look like slugs to me."

"But they're more than slugs, my dear. I call them psylugs – one of my latest creations. I named them myself," Lankko said proudly.

The creatures did look larger than normal garden slugs, Mira thought, but she could not understand what it was the Lankko made proud about them.

"They don't look much now, but when they attach to a prisoner, they glow in such beautiful colors. Jad Enzir liked them the first time I showed him. These wonderful creatures can make any of the prisoners tell the truth. And what's even more remarkable, the prisoners themselves wouldn't have any memory of what happened, that they had confessed the truth."

"Must be quite a sight when you use them," remarked Mira flatly.

"Yes. You should see them in action. Tomorrow, when they bring a prisoner in, I will let you watch," Lankko said. "But not in this room," he added. Lankko closed the box and went back to the cabinet at the far wall. Mira took out the rod she was still holding and returned it to where she found it.

"Now, come with me," Lankko said when he got back. He and Mira then went out of the chamber and locked the door before going to the adjacent room.

"This is the observation room." Lankko declared as he led Mira inside the smaller room. He sat on one of the comfortable seats next to the wall. "You see these holes on the wall?" He raised a curtain and showed round viewing holes through which he looked.

Mira sat next to Lankko and kneeled on the seats so that she can also look through the round hole. She had a good view of the Karbo and the whole chamber which they had just left.

"Pretty neat, right? This is where you can watch the proceedings and see my psylugs in action." Lankko sat comfortably on the soft cushions and stared at Mira as she looked inside the viewing hole. "Now, my dear, what else should we do tonight?" He touched Mira's hair.

"How did you create those psylugs?" asked Mira, pulling back her hair from Lankko's hand.

Lankko shifted in his seat. "How did I create the psylugs?" Lankko repeated as he looked at Mira's hair.

"You must be a genius to be able to do all these you showed me," Mira rose from her seat. "Oh, I love a creative genius!"

Lankko looked almost embarrassed with Mira's declaration of admiration. "Let me show you something else," he said. "But you must never tell anyone about it."

"What is it?" said Mira. "You're making me so excited." She jumped up and down.

Lankko led Mira through a flight of stairs and several locked doors before finally arriving at an antechamber. Lankko then took out his set of keys and opened the massive doors made of heavy wood. When they got inside, Mira was amazed at what she saw. Her gaze, however, focused on a large circular glass filled with glowing liquid placed on a platform high above the room. She looked closely and saw that the light was coming from a round object immersed within – a blue pearl.