Coal Part 14: 1st Draft

Ciara woke up with a headache. "What the fuck-?" she started. She tried to move, but her arms and legs were tied to a chair. There was a light bulb swinging back and forth in and out of her line of sight, and it took her a few seconds to realize that she was in her father's old wine cellar.

"It's good to see you're coming around." said a masculine voice Ciara didn't recognize. The man grabbed the swinging light bulb, so she could see his face. It was the balding fat man who had been at the R.D.I. the day before. Ciara knew he wasn't there to help her. She could tell by looking in his eyes,which today looked dull and lifeless. He seemed to opening some kind of a toolbox.

"How much did she pay you?" Ciara asked immediately, hoping to buy some time before the man started doing whatever it was he was going to do to her.

The man took out a pair of brass knuckles and put them on. "I don't need money. Twinkie's making me head of the R.D.I. as soon as her daughters come to power."

Ciara laughed. "And all you have to do is knock around some kid who's barely eighteen. If my hands were free, I'd give you a motherfucking standing ovation." The first blow came, nearly knocking her to the ground. Ciara spit out blood. "Come on! Twinkie gave me stronger hits when I forget to pick up her dry cleaning-" The next hit knocked her, chair in all to the ground.

"Shit!" cursed Debra's lackey. He hadn't held back the last time and had broken a knuckle. A chair leg had broken when Ciara got hit the last time, and she was able to get her legs free. Ciara had never taken any form of martial arts, but she knew enough to kick the guy in the balls and get the hell out of there.

Once she was in the kitchen, she met Fola, who was just then bounding down the stairs. "Where the hell have you been?"

"I just smelled blood. What's going on?" asked the big cat, tearing off the ropes still keeping Ciara connected to the chair.

"Debra is what's going on. She set me up to get tortured, and she took my Aunt's identity somehow-"

Fola interrupted with a loud roar. "NO ONE FUCKS WITH THE QUEEN!" Then Fola nearly took the kitchen doors off it's hinges trying to get outside.

"Shit!" cursed Ciara, covering her ears. "Wait! We have to make a plan. Otherwise, we could be walking into a trap. Chances are The Vicks are already impersonating me too." Ciara spit out some more blood in irritation. "They knew exactly when to act! I finally told Dom the truth. He trusts me totally now-"

"Quiet!" Fola ordered her suddenly, pushing her out of the way before she could be tackled by her torturer.

"You little bitch!" said the torturer. "You're not getting away!"

Fola tackled him, pinning the large man under her paws. "Where is The Queen of Swaziland?" Ciara asked him.

"Oh my god! What's holding me down?" the man asked. Ciara laughed when she saw he was pissing his pants.

"An invisible lioness. She doesn't like it when people torture her friends." Ciara responded in a matter-of-fact way.

"Get her off me!"

"Tell me where my aunt is! And tell me what Debra and her girls are going to do to her and Prince Dominick!"

"You mean that black woman was...I had no idea..." muttered the man. Fola growled and dug her claws into his flesh, just enough to draw blood. "Ah!"

"If you waste any more of our time, Fola will eat you."

"Humans taste just like roast pig." growled Fola.

"She's with Twinkie. Debra tied her up and put her in the back of her limo."

"That would be helpful-if we knew where Debra went!" Fola roared, fitting her mouth over the fat man's head. He screamed.

"No! We need more information." Ciara put her hands over Fola's maw to keep her from swallowing the man.

Fola released the fat man, growling in disappointment. "Hurry up then!"

"Where was Debra going? Did she tell you?" Ciara asked the fat man.

"She mentioned something about calling Prince Dominick and meeting him at the palace! Please don't eat me!" howled the fat man.

Fola roared, making the fat man cower with his hands over his face. "We have no more use for you. Leave us!"

The man scrambled to his feet and slammed through the door. "We're taking my mother's Delorean. It isn't exactly inconspicuous, but it'll get us there." Ciara told Fola. They piled into the car, and drove to the palace gates.

Since there was no ball or celebration that day, the palace gates were closed, guarded by the Wachovian Royal Ground Servicemen, or Wa.R.G.S. for short. A heavily armed group of Wa.R.G.S. stopped Ciara some ten feet from the gates. "State your business." said the red-beret-wearing commander.

"There's an imposter posing as Queen Zene of Swaziland. She kidnapped the real queen and put her in the back of her limo. You have to help me."

The commander scratched his beret. "The Queen of Sweeza-what?"

"The imposter hasn't been through here?" queried Ciara in suprise.

"I've never even heard of this place, let alone a queen. Why haven't you gone to the Wachovian National Police with this information?"

"The imposter has direct access to Prince Dominick with her disguise, and I thought she would be headed here first." The commander looked suspicious. Ciara lost her cool. "It's Debra Vicks! You've got to stop her!"

The commander finally realized the gravity of the situation. "Stay here. I'll contact His Majesty the king." The commander turned away and talked into his headphone out of Ciara's earshot.

"I don't know what's going on, but I don't like this. Debra would have made a grand entrance posing as Aunt Zene. She's done something else, I know it!" whispered Ciara nervously. "Can you smell Aunt Zene or Debra anywhere?"

Fola grunted. "I'm not a dog! If the queen was calling for help, I'd hear her before I smelled her, unless she was bleeding. Which she isn't."

"What's your name, ma'am?" asked the commander when he had returned.

"Ciara Carlotta Avedis, daughter of Marquis Adrian Avedis and the late Princess Amara Mutumbo of Swaziland." Ciara held her breath, not knowing if the commander was even taking the whole situation seriously.

The commander had an impassive expression. "Please step out of the car, ma'am."

Ciara hesitated. "Do as he says, or he'll think something's wrong. Don't worry. I'm right behind you." said Fola. The commander gave the command to open the wrought iron gates. Ciara nearly choked as she took in her first look at the Royal grounds. The lawns were perfectly manicured, trimmed with giant shrubs and fruit trees that were grown to form an archway over a twelve foot wide cobbled path leading up to the grand double doors of the palace. Ciara felt Fola nudging her forward. "Go on. Nothing's wrong. Yet..."

The unlikely twosome followed the commander down the path to the double doors. The commander pressed the intercom. "This is Commander Rion'oak. Requesting permission to enter with one...visitor."

Static and then..."Permission granted, commander. Escort the visitor inside to the foyer." The double doors opened by themselves, and Ciara was almost blinded by the huge chandelier hanging just above and in back of the doorway that caught the outside light. She had to cover her eyes as she stepped inside, following the commander.

To her surprise, she was immediately seized by two Wa.R.G.'s, one on each side. "What's going on?" She asked in surprise.

"You are under arrest for willful and unlawful private disturbance. Do you wish to make a statement?" He nodded at his two subordinates to start hauling Ciara away.

"What did I do? I was only trying to warn the-" sputtered Ciara.

"Silence her now!" barked the commander. The Wa.R.G. flanking Ciara on her left immediately gave her a precise tap to the back of her head with the butt of his gun, effectively knocking her out.

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When Ciara came to, she was in a 6-by-10 dank cell, which smelled like it hadn't been cleaned in centuries. The walls were slimy and dark with mold and leaking water from above, bringing her to the conclusion that she was underground, probably in the palace's old dungeon that hadn't been in use in nearly a thousand years. There was no window, and the door on the cell had only a sliding strip of metal at eye level. For meals or inspection no doubt.

"Fola?" whispered Ciara as loudly as she dared. "Are you out there?"

"I'm here. They didn't rough you up too bad, did they?" called out Fola from the other side.

Ciara groaned. "Any more knocks like that, and I might just stay down."

"What kind of an attitude is that?" said Fola excitedly. "We might be in the middle of a coup, not to mention your lover, and the queen-"

"He's not my lover!" snapped Ciara out of embarressment. "Well, maybe he is, but you didn't have to put it like that..."

"You humans and your decency. What a load of lizard shit!" Fola suddenly moved away from the door quickly. "Someone's coming!"

Ciara heard several people walking towards her cell. Suddenly, the strip of metal towards the top of the door was flung aside, and she was staring Debra Vicks right in the eye. "You bitch!" said Ciara immediately. "You couldn't take care of me yourself, you had to send some overweight motherfucker to try to do me in! Why don't you try to slap me around now like you always do!" She tried to reach out through the gap in the door, but Debra slammed it closed before Ciara could even get close.

Ciara could hear Debra's laughter from the other side. "Silly little girl! I've been waiting my whole life for this! Did you really think I was going to let you fuck this up for me? My chance to become royalty? You don't have a clue!" Debra gloated.

Ciara took a deep breath and decided to say it even though it was going to sound cliche. "Where's my aunt? What have you done with her?!"

"I still need her magic. She'll be alive until I'm in with the royal family, and then I'll toss the bitch."

"You don't know who you're fucking with. She's a queen!"

"I could give two shits about some jungle amazon! She's obviously not much of a queen if she can't take a hit. Or five."

"When I get out of here, I'm gonna break that fat ass neck of yours." said Ciara. And she meant it.

"You're not ever getting out of there, so you might as well try to get comfortable." chortled Debra. Ciara could hear her walking away.

"Come back here you bitch!" screamed Ciara pounding on the cell door. Debra just laughed in response, slamming a door closed behind her. Ciara waited a moment before calling out for Fola. "Did you hear that, Fola?"

"Yes. I didn't like the idea of calling for help before, but this kidnapping situation is over my head."

"Are you going to get help from Swaziland?" asked Ciara hopefully.

"Swaziland is too far away. I was thinking of some local salvation." Ciara heard Fola padding towards the exit. "I'll send help down here to get you out, while I'm working on how to reach the queen. Sit tight."

Ciara crouched down on the floor and thought about her family and Dom. "Am I cursed? Why do things have to go so bad right when everything was start be okay for once? I should have never sent Aunt Zene that letter. Then she would've been okay. And Dom was taking care of himself just fine until I met him. I should have left well wnough alone. Debra used me to ruin everything and hurt everyone!" She pounded the wall in back of her, and brick gave way a little. "No way..." Ciara pushed the brick a little further, and it fell out of the wall, letting in some bright sunlight.Ciara heard an audible squak.

A bird came into view on the other side of the hole. It was very large, about the size of a vulture. There was something familiar about the color of it's bright scarlet feathers..."What the hell is wrong with you? I'm here to get you out!"

"Marta?" Ciara couldn't believe it. "Oh, I'm sorry about the brick. I didn't know anyone was coming that way."

The bird, despite her size, manged to squeeze through the hole in the wall. "I brought a key." she offered Ciara an old skeleton key for the locked cell.

"Wait, I thought I was underground."

"Nope. You're just below the kitchen." Marta's feathers brushed a particularly disgusting patch of mold on the walls. "Yuck. I gotta preen myself after I get out of here."

"No time for that. We've got to get out of here." Ciara opened the cell door, and Marta flew to perch on her shoulder. Ciara looked at her quizically.

"What? I can't exactly walk as fast as you. I've got wings for a reason." whistled Marta, cocking her head. They walked up to the door that led out into the main palace. "Wait. Camara is supposed to be causing a distraction in a few seconds."
Soon enough, they heard a 'WHAT THE HELL-' and a loud thud, no doubt the sound of an armed guard hitting the ground after being encircled by a large snake that appeared invisible to him.

Marta directed her out a servant's entrance that had no one guard at all. Ciara crept around to the front gate, concealing herself in the shrubbery and found her Delorean gone, no doubt confiscated. "Great. I don't have any way of getting around now."

"Are you going to let that stop you? Don't you have a cell phone? Call a bus or something." Marta suggested, shaking her wing. "Whatever you do, make it quick. Camara can't hold on to that guard for long. She's got to meet up with Fola later."

"Where's Fola now?" asked Ciara.

"How should I know? I don't hang out with cats. They have the urge to eat me as an appetizer. The less I'm around her the better." Marta replied, already starting to preen her feathers.

Ciara sighed and tried to think. "Who can I call? Dad's in no shape to help me after Debra's little performance as Aunt Zene this morning. I don't want to get Mrs. Didora involved in any more of this, and Murphy The Messenger is on the Royal payroll. He might just break down and tell The Royal Family about this, and who knows how that will turn out. I don't even know what Debra has in mind, or how far oher plan has succeeded!" "I've got to get to a T.V." she whispered to Marta.

"A T.V.? What do you want with a T.V. at a time like this?" Marta squaked, hopping up and down on her shoulder.

"If I know Debra, whatever scheme she has in motion will be playing out in front of the press. This is her moment of glory. She'll be gloating somewhere."

The bird rolled her eyes. "Why can't you just call your mate and see how he is? Don't you have his number?"

"I don't think that would do any good. It's obvious Debra has gotten to him." Ciara sighed.

"You humans with your assumptions. How do you know that? Try and see!"

Ciara shook her head. "It could be a trap. If Debra has her hooks in him, she'll just use him to set me up. I have to see what's she's trying to do before I can warn him."
The guards were slowly but surely leaving their posts at the front gates to see what all the commotion was about inside.

"But you can't just leave! They could be right here!" exclaimed Marta, jumping up and down on her shoulder. "What kind of rescuer are you!"

Ciara grimaced. The bird, though highly animated and annoying, had a point. "What do you think we should do to get in? This place has five stories. Not to mention hidden passages. Even if I get back in there without getting shot, which miraculously hasn't happened yet, I could still never find Aunt Zene who is probably gagged and tied up somewhere."

"Well, there's only one way to find out..." Marta admonished.

Ciara sighed, hoping her decision wouldn't be disasterious. "I'm going back in."