Han Yang and the rest of the boys hadn’t actually told him much about Vardan. They avoided the topic whenever they could and conversations often died in mid-air when they accidentally steered in that particular direction. From what little bits and fragments they sometimes let loose, Ru Meng knew that there was no one they trusted more than Vardan.

One look at the person in question and somehow Ru Meng understood how they felt completely. A pair of bright, smiling eyes shone through the long and dirty locks of raven-black hair cascading down the teenager’s face. They looked upon Ru Meng sympathetically and already the boy felt warmed in the presence of the teenager. Somehow, all his facial features had a gentleness to them that made you want to trust him but also a sort of cheeky joyfulness that seemed to be tempting you to do something stupid with him.

“Psst, you okay?” asked Vardan as he nudged Ru Meng lightly.

The chains rattled as Ru Meng tried to shift into a better position, perhaps sit up and not look like the pathetic, crumpled mess that he was. He didn’t want to leave a poor first impression. For some reason, he felt a strange desire to earn the approval of this stranger.

No one was watching over them. Not that they needed to— he was wrapped in chains that probably weighed more than he did and those chains were attached firmly to a giant rock.

“I’m f-f-fine, how are you?” stuttered Ru Meng through a sudden ache in his ribs.

“No one would be fine after a beating like that. I cried the whole night after Rayyan threw me to Liao Hua. You can ask Han Yang about that, I’m sure they heard me loud and clear, all night. Liao Hua gave me another beating for that, can you believe it?” Vardan replied with a laugh.

He stopped when he noticed Ru Meng wasn’t laughing with him.

“Sit up straight and breathe with your chest. Deep breaths. Helps a little with the pain and at least you won’t feel as nauseous.”

Ru Meng did as he was told. His ribs rattled and howled in pain when he tried to stretch his back, but he gritted his teeth and breathed anyway. It helped. Just a little bit.

“You’ve been watching us,” Ru Meng said.

“Well yea, there’s really not much else to do. Well, besides the work,” said Vardan with a stupid grin. Ru Meng turned to look at him and for the first time, he noticed the ugly brand on Vardan’s handsome face: a circle with characters Ru Meng couldn’t recognize written in it. The swollen, discolored flesh covered a good half of his right cheek.

“Your face, it—”

“Oh, this thing?” Vardan turned his right cheek, “It’s nothing. Healed ages ago. Don’t worry, they’re not gonna do this to you. I might have…said a few choice words to Rayyan to deserve this.”

Vardan seemed rather upbeat about the whole thing, but Ru Meng fell silent. His heart pounded in his chest. It ached the same way it did when he saw his uncle die. It felt like he was the one who had been hurt, even though it was Vardan who had to suffer the brand on his face. Why would anyone do something so horrible?

Vardan gave Ru Meng a light slap on the back of his head and said, “So, what’s the new kid do to deserve all this? Please tell me you got a few good punches in.”

Ru Meng snapped back to his senses; he was here for a reason, an objective he had in mind.

“I threw sand in his eyes. And made him run a little.”

“You tried to run?” Vardan chuckled and said, “You’ve been here three days and you already tried to run? You should come up with a better idea next time. There’s no way you would be able to successfully run away.”

“I know,” said Ru Meng, “I’m a kid with chains around my ankles trying to outrun an adult in tunnels that he knows better than me. There was no chance of me escaping.”

The grin faded from Vardan’s face, his expression shifting into one of curiosity and amusement.

“So why did you run?”

“Because of you.”

Vardan raised an eyebrow.

“Go on.”

“I’m in a hurry to escape. My father is waiting for me and there are only two ways of escaping: sneak away unnoticed, or defeat our captors. I can’t do either of those options alone.”

“Why me? As you can see, I’m not very successful at escaping either,” Vardan lifted his chained hands for Ru Meng to see.

“Because I know you aren’t the one who dug the escape tunnel. And I know you know who actually did it. It’s not you and it’s not Lan.”

Vardan broke into a wide smile.

“How would you know that?”

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Because I talked to Lan and he told me he did it.”

“Ah, that stupid kid…”

“Everyone thinks Lan did it and blamed it on you, but I had my suspicions. I talked to him and he never seemed like the kind of person who would do something like that. He’s not selfish. When I finally asked him, he said he did it. Why would he confess to digging the tunnel now, when he pinned the whole thing on you earlier? Because he’s trying to take the fall for you.”

“Why would Lan try and take the fall for me? He’s the one who ratted me out. That doesn’t make sense, does it?” Vardan countered.

“No, it does not. Not unless…you were the one who told him to rat you out,” said Ru Meng.

Vardan simply smiled, as if encouraging Ru Meng to keep talking.

“You took in Lan when no one else would. You helped him when he was too tired to work, you gave him food, you gave him friends. He becomes fiercely loyal to you, follows you everywhere you go and loves you like a brother.

One day, you tell Lan to do something for you. You pull him aside and you tell him: ‘If Rayyan and his goons find a tunnel and start asking for a culprit, you must blame me.’

You made him promise to do it, no matter what. You tell him that he might be ostracized by his friends, that Rayyan might suspect him, but he has to keep it all a secret.

Of course, all this preparation meant that you had to know of the existence of the tunnel before it was found. But why go through all this trouble if you were the one who dug the tunnel? You could just confess to what you did, and the result would be the same. You would still be here.

I thought for a long time. I really thought I was going crazy; that I was thinking too much. But there was only one explanation that made sense to me— if it wasn’t Lan who did it and it wasn’t you, it had to be someone else who did it. And you know who it is.

This entire ruse of having Lan pin the blame on you was just a smokescreen. Rayyan is smart. He sees everything. Almost everything. He knows what he is doing when he shows bias toward one kid over the other or when he puts certain kids in a group. He has the Muslim kids under his thumb; they believe what he says and think of him as a father figure. Meanwhile, the rest of the kids he keeps under control with fear and violence. He makes sure everyone has just enough to eat and plenty of work, so that they won’t even have the time to think about escaping. He’s very, very sharp.”

Ru Meng shuddered a little to think of that man. He hadn’t noticed how well he was explaining himself. He had never talked quite so much in his life as he did right now. Yet, for some reason, he couldn’t stop.

“So when Lan blames you for the tunnel, Rayyan’s focus is immediately drawn to him. He’s smart enough to suspect that Lan was lying and will try relentlessly to make Lan’s life hell. And he succeeded. He ostracized Lan from his friends and isolated you, the leader of the group, from the rest of the kids. Doesn’t matter whether it was Lan or you who dug the tunnel; in Rayyan’s mind, he’s dealt with all possible suspects. He made an example of everyone who crossed him—”

“—except he didn’t,” Vardan finally spoke. He broke out into brazen unrestrained laughter, like he wasn’t afraid their wardens would hear him.

His soothing, chime-like voice echoed between the limestone walls.

He rubbed a tear from his eye and said, “Oh boy, this is so stupid. How stupid unlucky is Rayyan?! Out of all the children out there he could have picked, he somehow managed to put three geniuses together!”

His laughter finally started to die down.

“How old are you?” asked Vardan.

“Ten.”

“My gods, you’re young. That makes you more of a genius than the both of us!”

“The both of us?”

“Well, if you’ve figured all this out, surely you must have some idea who the culprit is and why I tried so hard to protect them.”

“I don’t know the details and I can’t be sure, but—”

Footsteps in the distance interrupted their conversation.

The smile on Vardan’s face dropped. He grabbed Ru Meng by the shoulders and said solemnly, “No matter what they do to you, don’t cry, don’t scream, don’t beg. Don’t give them the satisfaction. Rayyan will try and break you in front of the other kids. Don’t. Clench your teeth. We can talk later. There will be time.”

Ru Meng swallowed his fear and felt it festering in his stomach. He nodded.

He knew this would happen. He had expected it, but he couldn’t stop his hands from shaking.

Vardan rubbed him on the head, tussling his already messy hair.

“Don’t worry. It will be fine. I promise.”

His bright eyes gleamed with hope and Ru Meng felt slightly more assured.

Vardan immediately turned away and pretended to be sleeping. Ru Meng leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes, preparing himself for what was to come. The ground felt damp and cool. Ru Meng wondered if any of the dampness was his own blood. His ribs hurt a lot.

Ru Meng felt the man’s presence before he heard him. The light of the flickering lantern was completely blotted out and the air seemed to solidify.

He opened his eyes. There he stood. Thin lips, jet-black eyes, no smile. Rayyan. The man’s face somehow looked more unnatural and ill-fitting without the disingenuous smile he always kept on his lips. For a moment, he just stood there, staring into Ru Meng’s eyes, his breathing so soft and still that Ru Meng wasn’t even sure if he was breathing.

“Ru Meng,” he finally said, pausing for an uncomfortable amount of time after that. The tone of his voice was so biting, Ru Meng could feel the edge of an invisible knife caress his cheek. He was holding his hands behind his back.

“What was the first thing I told you? Do you remember?”

Ru Meng didn’t remember. He felt his muscles seizing up and his breathing quicken. His mind felt like mud. What had he said?

“What did I tell you, Ru Meng?” Rayyan repeated, his voice turning uncomfortably sweet, “No wrong answers.”

“Y-you said you would take care of me.”

“I did, didn’t I? And what did I say you have to do in exchange? Just a little digging.”

He squatted down until his eyes were level with Ru Meng’s.

“I thought we made it clear on your first day. You shouldn’t run. I don’t blame you. I know how hard it is.

I’m not mad, Ru Meng. I’m sad and sorry. I really am. I hate doing this, but what kind of example do you think I would be setting for the others if I just let this slide?”

Rayyan took Ru Meng’s left hand gently and brought it close to him. The scarred skin hadn’t healed fully. It was a raw and pink mess, with rough, ugly scars covering the entire hand. The thumb where Ru Meng had cut himself had not set properly. It bent at an odd angle, crooked and awkward. He brushed it gently.

“A shame,” Rayyan said as he shook his head.

He tightened his grip around Ru Meng’s hand, squeezing it so hard that his nails dug into flesh and drew blood. The boy couldn’t help but wince in pain.

Rayyan shot a glance at Chen Jin. The short man stepped forward and unlocked the chains that secured Ru Meng to the rock. Rayyan strode away into a tunnel, dragging Ru Meng along by his wrist. The heavy chains and manacles bit deep into Ru Meng’s flesh as they dragged along the ground.

The handsome, dark-skinned teenager looked in the direction they left, chains rattling softly between his hands. He muttered a silent blessing for the boy.