The impact sent Arjun sprawling to the ground hard enough that his elbows and hands were scraped and bruised. He focused, Healing the injuries, then, slowly picked himself up. His fears that the Order and Guards had somehow managed to ambush them turned out to be unfounded, though he did sense another squad of Guards in the street the girl had shot out of like a quarrel.

The girl in question – or young woman, Arjun mentally corrected himself – was short, buxom and moderately attractive, with shoulder-length curly dark-brown hair. By the looks of her, she appeared to be about his own age, perhaps a little older. Dark-brown skin and strong facial features suggested she was from the eastern region of Aiminia, where Arjun had spent much of his early childhood, parts that he remembered at least. Dressed in simple yet sturdy trousers and shirt, she carried a duffel bag slung over her shoulder. Somehow, she’d managed to cling onto the bag despite the collision.

All of these little observations came much later. What aroused his immediate interest was her kernel signature, which boasted as many as five opened Chakras, with the Plexus Awakened. And the opened ones – Spine and Throat – were as dense as his own, if not more so. More intriguing still, she’d managed to already Awaken all eight of her secondary Chakras, a feat Arjun himself was quite proud of as it was supposed to be rare before becoming a Master Cleric. She was also subtly Manipulating the ground while moving, though she seemed to be unaware of the fact. Could also be that she didn’t care if others found out.

A series of quick whistles broke the momentary silence, coming from the street the girl had run out of. Either the Guards had located them, or the girl was being pursued by them as well. Neither case boded well for Arjun and James.

“Are you blind?” asked the irritated girl in a clipped accent, an accent that brought back tons of memories.

Ignoring her understandable annoyance, Arjun eyed her footwear, which seemed mundane, yet clearly was not, a fact made apparent by her continued active earth Manipulation and the resulting faint spiderweb patterns of ocher. “Nice shoes.”

“We don’t have time for pleasantries.” James, after quickly looking over the diminutive young woman, nudged Arjun, and he reluctantly obliged.

Looking back he saw that she was following them, with what looked like one full squad of the Guards behind her in pursuit, whistling loudly, presumably communicating with other squads in the area.

A nagging sensation at the back of his mind made him frown.

Too preoccupied to give it further thought, Arjun picked up his speed. Since James had taught him how to recycle the toxic byproducts of exercise, reusing some and turning the rest into substances that exited the body harmlessly through sweat, he found he could sustain his speed for a far longer period than before. Otherwise, running for so long at such speeds would’ve been impossible. Of course, Arjun was still nowhere as proficient at it as the Battle Cleric, which hampered their progress.

James tried to lose the Guards and any pursuing Cleric by taking shortcuts through twisting alleyways and avoiding large avenues where other squads of Guards may be waiting to pick up the trail. Soon they found themselves in the north-eastern quarter of the city, a decidedly squalid neighborhood with gangs of starving children barely into their teens roaming the streets and sitting on front porch of ramshackle buildings. By some unspoken command, all of them vanished inside houses, leaving the area deserted.

Concentrating, Arjun could sense more than ten squads of Guards converging toward their location cautiously. And while he couldn’t sense how many Clerics accompanied them, with their unusually high density in Shillang, he knew it would be a large number. Far too many for the two of them to be able to handle.

“We can’t make it to any gate, can we?” Arjun asked, dreading the answer.

“No,” James said as the north-east inner wall came into view. “We might have to make our own gate, if it comes to that. But all the members of the Order in Shillang would then know our location precisely.”

Even though the Cleric seemed calm, Arjun felt he was anxious. Compared to me, he is calmness personified. Hands on knees, Arjun wiped his perspiring brows and took a few deep calming breaths.

“So you peeps are fleeing as well, huh? Count me in.”

Both Arjun and James whirled their heads around sharply, fixing the strange girl with two very different stares – one full of questions, the other suspicion.

She’d managed to follow them despite the fast pace they’d set. What’s more, she didn’t even seem winded.

Was it a simple matter of chance collision? Or was one of Fatewardens taking a keener interest in their lives? When one of the three mythical Guardians of Time meddled in your affairs, it rarely ended well for mortals.

Then again, probably the true reason was more mundane. More sinister.

Perhaps she’s a plant, placed in their midst to serve some long term goal known only to the Order. Either way, seemed they were stuck with her. With the Guards and Clerics so close, killing her would be more trouble than it’s worth, even for an experienced Battle Cleric. James probably came to the same conclusion. As a result, other than pursing his lips in an expression of annoyance that lasted less than a blink, he showed no reaction.

Then, up ahead, an unusual sight caught Arjun’s eye.

A tall slender boy about his own age, with delicate, oddly attractive features and pale eyes, peeked his head out from behind one of the houses adjoining the wall. The dust and grime all over his worn trousers and jacket, both of indeterminate color, made him look unkempt, though the short neatly folded glistening coal-black hair under his cap and spotless hands made for a contrasting picture.

“Who are you? The Guards back there were after you.” James’ eyes were locked onto the newest addition to their party. “Care to explain why?” Body coiled like a serpent, his posture promised violence. Wrong answer and blood would flow.

Before Arjun could utter a single word to defuse the situation, her frank and fearless reply made him stop. “Name’s Eve,” she said, utterly unbothered by the subtle change in the Battle Cleric’s body language. Arjun was certain she’d picked up on it. “What in Allfather’s name is he trying to do?” It seemed Eve had spotted the boy as well, who was waving his hands about wildly, gesturing for them to follow.

Arjun advanced toward him warily, with James trailing him. Satisfied they were following, the boy turned and scampered back to the side of the house. There, he stopped near one section of the city-wall, and pointed.

Pointed straight down.

Spurred on by an unknown premonition that promised joy unbound, Arjun gave the Cleric a pleading look, which earned him a small reluctant nod. And so, Heart full of hope, he approached the boy who kept pointing toward the wall, followed by making a series of rapid hand gestures, then he pointed downward, none of which made much sense to any of them. But Arjun had other tools at his disposal. Sensing he meant them no harm, Arjun approached with slow steps, hands spread out before him in a gesture of reassurance.

As the dwindling rays of Surya hit his face, Arjun realized the boy wasn’t a boy at all, but a half-aditarun girl, and she wished to help them escape. Standing before the towering inner wall of Shillang, Arjun awkwardly held out his right hand.

“Take my hand. It would help me understand you.”

Looking up, she met his light-brown eyes with her oddly calm golden-green ones.

Something somewhere clicked into place as two Hearts connected, and she instantly relaxed, then grasped his tremulous right hand with her steady left.

As expected, her emotions became much easier to interpret. It confirmed what Arjun had sensed earlier about her intentions. It also revealed something grisly.

She was missing her tongue.

The jagged edge implied it was chopped off by a blunt knife. The level and nature of healing – mundane healing – indicated this was done while she was still a child. He shuddered to think the pain she must’ve endured. Remembering the time constraints, Arjun shook the look of horror and stupefaction off his face. She herself had a knowing, resigned smile on her own.

“So we can escape through that section of the wall?” he asked, still holding her hand.

The half-aditarun girl gave an emphatic nod.

“Will we have to use Manipulation?” he ventured, since she already seemed to be somewhat familiar with their abilities, though Arjun couldn’t fathom how.

She shook her head.

“Can you show us the way, please?”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

The question brought forth the most wonderful sight Arjun had ever seen. A radiant smile that pierced his heart.

Before reluctantly letting go of her hand, he couldn’t help but ask. “What’s your name? I’m Arjun.”

“Aisha Antakanya.”

The soft unspoken voice inside his head startled Arjun, so much so that he staggered, almost falling over backwards.

Countless emotions, images, and feelings followed the voice.

Under the onslaught of so much information, most of it painful, Arjun’s mind almost drowned. Thankfully, that feeling only lasted a blink. What he gained in return was a mountain of information, most of it too vague to sort through, though some points of interest stood out, mainly because the associated memories and emotions were extremely strong.

Arjun felt that beneath all the grime, stain and dust, he knew – even understood – her, at least partly. He’d always been able to sense people’s emotions, if those emotions were strong enough. Physical contact made that emotional link stronger for some reason. But he’d never understood as much about anyone before.

An orphan with no knowledge of her parents, Aisha had lived a hard, lonely life. Growing up in the streets of Shillang had been a difficult, sometimes brutal experience, but it was a breeze compared to what she’d endured before. Something that was concealed, buried deep beneath her surface memories.

Arjun was both glad and troubled by their unique connection. He also realized something else, something equally troubling. But deciding to give her the benefit of the doubt, he swallowed all his questions.

“She’s half-aditarun and knows an escape route,” Arjun informed James, giving voice to the necessary bits. The Cleric and most certainly Eve, needn’t know all the other personal impressions he’d gathered so far. “And means us no harm.” He answered the silent query in James’ eyes.

With the Battle Cleric brooding in silence, Aisha turned and ran up to one section of the wall behind some broken barrels where a small portion of the mortar had been whittled away. In a surprising display of physical strength, with one mighty heave she sent a barrel rolling a few feet to the side, in the process revealing a circular hole in the ground with a diameter of approximately four feet.

“Is that the entrance to a smugglers’ tunnel?” James, still a bit mistrustful, asked, eyeing the hole.

The half-aditarun girl bobbed her head up and down.

“Aisha, where does the tunnel lead?” Maybe they had a chance of escaping this city without having to fight an army of Guards and Clerics, after all.

Aisha clasped his right hand with her left.

James glanced toward Arjun, his eyes flickering between their hands and faces. One would never guess by looking at him, but he was deeply concerned.

“One end to the mountains, other deeper into the city,” Arjun answered the unasked question.

“More than five squads and six Clerics,” Eve said, coming up to the three of them. She’d stayed behind while they talked to Aisha, her glazed dark-brown eyes clearly focused on the distant Guards, all of whom were closing in on their position fast. Arjun wondered if she had some Healing ability as well. That would not only be useful during the course of their escape, but also explain her incredible stamina. She certainly didn’t have her Stomach Chakra opened, let alone Awakened.

“So, you know him?” Eve frowned, eyes boring into Aisha. Then she blinked in surprise. “Or her, I suppose. Why did you pretend otherwise earlier?”

“We’ll have plenty of time to get to know each other better after we’ve managed to escape.” James took their luggage from Ria’s back, giving his trusted horse a mournful look. “Creators know I have a few questions of my own,” he said, almost to himself. Then, he slapped Ria on the rump, causing the mare to bolt. “We can’t take the mountain route. They’d be expecting it, and in all likelihood, have that end covered with scores of Guards and Clerics.” Turning toward Aisha, he asked, “Can you take us to Krudil? He’s a Master Artificer… His place is near Davon Street.”

Aisha gave a small nod. None but Arjun saw the glint in her eyes. He felt as if she was amused at the request for some reason. There was also another – stronger – emotion, veiled in carefully crafted evasions, hidden underneath the amusement. Arjun was so disturbed by their strange connection, however, that he wasn’t certain he trusted his own interpretation of those emotions. So, he decided to bide his time and remained silent. One misplaced word of suspicion and James would be all over the poor girl. Besides, he trusted her implicitly…in spite of knowing her for mere blinks.

“Good.” The Cleric tapped the ground once with his right foot, squared his shoulders and without further ado, jumped into the hole.

“About ten feet. Footing’s good,” James’ informed them, his voice echoing slightly. Arjun, Eve, and Aisha soon followed.

The tunnel was narrow, barely four feet across and perhaps five feet tall. Even Eve, the shortest member of their party, had to duck slightly. For Arjun, it was much worse. Incessant rains brought on by the Monsoon had seeped into the tunnel, from a nearby sewage by the smell of it. Also, the walls and roof had jagged edges from hasty excavation, which made the journey an even more painful process.

“We can’t afford to light torches, at least not until we’ve put some distance between us and the hole back there. The smoke and light may give away our position.” After inquiring with Aisha via Arjun, James took the lead, followed by the half-aditaru, then Arjun, with Eve bringing up the rear.

For the first few hundred feet, the only sounds were those of their footsteps, sometimes on dry soil, sometimes on water. Or what Arjun hoped was water. Before long, more sounds could be heard, most interesting of them was occasional sound of water dripping from the roof which created strange reverberations that felt oddly eerie. And of course, there were other, less pleasant, sounds – those of rats and other rodents. Arjun hoped he didn’t trip on one in the dark. The little buggers were lightning quick, darting between their feet as they traveled. With his earth senses he could feel where most structures were, and living beings, even small rats, emitted dense glow of kernel. Still, the strong odor of animal dung and accumulated refuse made the journey quite an ordeal.

After traversing about a mile, the tunnel gradually started to incline upward. Arjun stumbled on a rock protruding from the ground and bumped into Aisha.

“Can’t see a lava-cursed thing. Do you think we could light a torch now?”

Instead of replying, James took a sharp left turn, and a wave of relief and refuse hit Arjun. He could now see the distinctive soft glow of daylight in the distance, coming from a manhole up ahead.

“Careful. Sewers to the right,” James said in warning.

With the added illumination, Arjun realized they were actually padding across a narrow raised platform on the side of a stream of dark viscous liquid. Then, like a fist of Aimin, the smell, which had been gradually intensifying for the last hundred yards, hit him like a war-hammer.

“Urgh,” he coughed, losing his balance, almost ending up face-first into the murky depths of the gently flowing sludge.

Eve snapped out a lightning-quick hand from behind, grabbing hold of his collar, sparing him the ignominy of an unscheduled bath.

“Where now?” he asked after giving his rescuer a thankful look over his shoulder.

Aisha pointed toward a rusted ladder and gestured upward.

“Seems we climb now,” Eve said, heaving a huge sigh of relief, which was cut short as she gagged at the nasty smell.

“Not all of us. It’d be too conspicuous. Krudil’s place may be watched by the Guards, if not the Order,” James warned, putting his right foot tentatively on the ladder, testing to see if it would hold his weight.

“Why in the name of Aimin would they do that? They have no clue we’re headed there.”

“They have other reasons, of course.” James gave him one of his signature hard looks and proceeded to ascend the stairs.

Arjun had seen that look countless times before, and not just on James’ face. It was a warning not to ask further questions. Despite his best efforts, a deep sigh of frustration escaped. Why do people like hoarding secrets so much?

The climb was roughly twenty feet. Once he reached the top, James subtly Manipulated the iron lid, and after heaving himself up, furtively glanced around. Then, he swiftly covered it up and began descending.

“Just as I thought. We’ve to find another way of getting into the building. I spotted four Guards, and one Cleric…on just one side of the Aimin-damned house. I could try to take them out, but not before at least one of them raises the alarm.”

“Could make our own way in…if we’re subtle about it, the Clerics won’t be able to detect us,” Eve said.

“Thirty feet of rock, soil, and concrete separates us and that building. It would take a bell. We don’t have a bell.”

“They’ve entered the mouth of the tunnel we took,” Arjun informed James. With mounting tension and fear, he almost missed Aisha’s gentle tug. What she communicated, released some of the anxiety. “Thank Aimin. Aisha might know another way in.”

James gave her a skeptical look but forbore to comment. The meaning of his hawk-like gaze as he followed Aisha with his eyes, never missing one single movement, was clear enough. He didn’t trust her, but he did trust Arjun’s judgment.

“Well, why didn’t she say so sooner?” Eve huffed. “Come on girl, show us.”

Aisha gave her an irritated look and proceeded further down the sewer with steady steps. Arjun couldn’t blame her. Eve sure could get on people’s nerves.

About fifty feet ahead of the ladder, Aisha knelt and squinted, seemingly trying to identify one brick out of the thousands that made up the sides and arched roof of the sewage system.

“What exactly are you looking for?”

Aisha gave him a reassuring smile and placed her right hand on one brick which had eroded to almost half its original weight. A sharp click followed by a muffled thump sounded from somewhere beyond the wall to the left, and a hidden horizontal cylindrical passageway opened up.

Must be stonehornish-made, Arjun decided, looking at the cleverly created latch.

With their pursuers rapidly gaining ground, sliding on their bellies, four of them entered the passage without another word and Eve closed it off again, encompassing them in total darkness. Aisha took the lead. Mercifully, they didn’t have far to go, less than fifty feet, but in the claustrophobic space, it felt like a mile.

Finally, another thump followed, sounding louder in the enclosed tube, then a large door-like aperture opened up, flooding them with light. Soon, Arjun found himself standing in what appeared to be the cellar of a prosperous but disorganized merchant’s dwelling. Neat stacks of barrels – wine presumably – lined up against three of the walls, while small broken empty crates with strange sigils etched onto them were strewn about haphazardly across the floor. Following a weak gust of wind, an earthy musky scent mixed with oil, metal, and something else reached his nostrils, causing them to twitch. Rubbing the tip of his nose, Arjun was in the process of recalling where he’d smelled that particular odor before when his thoughts were cut abruptly short by a panicked exclamation from behind.

“Blessed Om! What’s that?” Eve pointed toward the far wall, the one opposite which they’d entered and which held a large oaken door possibly leading toward the rest of the house.

Taken aback by this rather novel form of expletive, Arjun almost missed the object she was gesturing toward.

Then, he saw it, and his jaw hit the floor.

In the next instant, a loud whirring noise reached his ears and the room exploded into action.