jeriendhal | Fic: Captive of the Red Vixen, Part Eight

This bit is actually coming sooner than I intended it to. I'd meant for there to be more incidents between the Red Vixen and Rolas before coming to the revelation about his family, but it made more sense to let the secret out earlier to help cement their relationship.

As it turned out, the Red Vixen had been wrong about the prison loaf. Comparing it wet cardboard was really a deep insult to the disposable packaging industry. As it was, imagining what the ingredients actually were was his only source of entertainment. Not only was he unable to access the entertainment console’s library, he stopped receiving his daily news update, which was far more distressing. Even if there wasn’t anything he could do to help his family in this time of crisis, he desperately wanted to know what was going on.

He did discover that one portion of the wall unfolded to reveal a compact weight bench and treadmill, which he put to good use. He found if he kept himself to a strict regime, exercising as soon as he woke up, eating a third of the awful loaf, exercising more, eating another third, showering, and finally eating the last of the stuff, he minimized the time he’d have to devote to unrestricted thought. Because the only thing to think about was the crisis the loss of the Sallivera’s cargo and his own capture was going to cause back home.

Rolas was just completing a series of reps on the bench press for the second time on the fourth day of his punitive period, when the cell door enunciator chimed again. Before he could get up to answer it the door rolled back and the Red Vixen entered. Her face held a cheerful smile, and it took him a moment remember to pull his jumpsuit’s top back up, covering his chest.

“Oh, my. A very good afternoon to you, Lord Rolas,” she said. The look on her face wasn’t quite a leer, but it was bad enough

“You could have waited until I was finished,” he growled.

“For this, I didn’t think you’d mind being interrupted.” She tossed him a data chip, which he automatically snatched out of the air. “A message from your family, Lord Rolas. No money order attached to it, so I do hope they aren’t going to be difficult and try to negotiate your ransom down.”

“Negotiate down? I don’t think they would,” he said. To himself he thought, Though I doubt you’re going to appreciate their answer.

“Good then. Let’s see what they have to say.” She sat herself down in the conversation pit and motioned for Rolas to sit next to her. He opted instead to sit across the pit from her, which she acknowledged with a mock moue of disappointment. He slipped the data chip into the entertainment, after she typed in a code to unlock it. A moment later a holographic image of his mother and father appeared in the center of the pit, both looking very grave, both dressed in their most formal House uniforms.

“Rolas, we received your message two days ago, delivered to our hands by Lt. Hotspur,” his mother began. “When we heard that you had been taken for ransom, we were frantic. When we finally heard the contents of your message…” she bowed her head.

“Salli has secluded herself in her rooms,” his father continued, picking up the thread. “She is being watched closely, so she does not harm herself. When we came to this decision, she cursed us both in the Mother’s name. Goddess forgive us, I can not blame her for that. I could hardly do otherwise myself, were I the child and her the parent who chose this path.”

“The preparations are too far advanced, Rolas,” his mother said. “We dare not falter at this point, else we would bring disaster down on not just on our family but everyone who has sworn to our plan.” She sat up in her seat, her spine stiffening. “So to the Red Vixen, the cursed pirate who stole our son from us, I say this: You will have no ransom from House Darktail. We refuse to pay for our son’s freedom. Whatever happens to him next is entirely in your hands, and I can only pray you have not abandoned the Holy Den Mother’s grace to the point that you will take his life. That is a weak thread to hang my child’s soul by…” She blinked, lowered her head and closed her eyes. She drew in a breath and continued. “I pray for your survival, Rolas. In the Holy Den Mother’s name I curse the Red Vixen for taking you from me, I curse myself for leaving you with her, and I curse the one who brought so much pain on our House that such extreme measures are necessary. Be safe, my beloved child.”

“Be safe, Rolas,” his father repeated.

The message cut off and the hologram disappeared, leaving Rolas looking across at the Red Vixen. Her eyes were wide and her mouth open in undisguised shock. It was the first genuine, un-ironic, uncalculated emotion he’d seen on her face since his capture two weeks ago.

“What do they think they’re doing?” she asked, abruptly closing her mouth.

“It seems fairly obvious, I should think,” he replied.

“But… but you’re their son! They can’t do that to you! How could they do that to you?”

“Our House has accumulated a few debts, made worse by your taking of the Sallivera.” He let his voice go dry. “Obviously this is an economizing measure.”

“Five million credits isn’t that much for a House, even a minor noble’s House!” Strangely enough, she seemed less outraged at the loss of the still not inconsiderable ransom than at the idea of his family abandoning him to his fate.

“It is for us,” he answered simply.

“Then they should have asked for a loan from your countess. For the love of the Goddess, that’s what she’s there for!”

All humor dropped out of Rolas’ tone. “The countess we are sworn to holds House Darktail a grudge. She will not give us a single credit, much less five million of them. I imagine our circumstances are proving a vast source of amusement for her.” He crossed his arms across his chest and stared at her, “So what is my fate to be? I’ll grant you don’t seem inclined to murder me outright, so I can only assume I’m to be sold off to the Ardactavians or one of the more unscrupulous creo guilds as a slave.”

“Don’t be vile. I’d never do that,” the Red Vixen said, glaring at him.

“Really? You mean you’re going to let me go?”

“No, I certainly can’t do that. If word got out then I’d never be able to ransom anyone because they’d just assume I wasn’t serious.”

“Then what do you intend to do?”

“I don’t know, this has never happened before!” she said, her voice nearly a wail of frustration. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and rested a knuckle against her forehead. “First things first. You’ve got to stop being so bloody mysterious and tell me what in the Goddess’ name is going on with your family and your countess.”

“That’s none of your business,” Rolas declared.

“It bloody well is my business now, Lord Rolas. What kind family do you have that they would declare their love for you even as they abandon you to your kidnapper? What kind of insane twisting of politics would leave a countess of the Vulpine Farm Lords to prefer to deliberately undercut one of the noble families sworn to her House, rather than give them aid?” She looked to him, her expression appearing genuinely desperate. “Give me something to work with so I can figure out a way to help you!”

Rolas let out a long sigh. Did it genuinely matter, the prohibitions the Council of Farm Nobles had placed on the case, out on the frontier, before this strange, flamboyant pirate vixen who so obviously cared little for the laws of her people? “Very well,” he said. “It began nearly five years ago, when my sister Sallivera became engaged to Lord Kev Highglider, our Countess’ son…”

TBC