The cave was silent, save for Ru Meng’s ragged breathing.
No one uttered a single word. Hakimi was still unconscious, while Vardan was too stunned to speak. The headless corpse had crumpled into a lifeless pile.
At last, Ru Meng opened his mouth and retched. His throat wheezed and his stomach heaved with every convulsion that ran through his body. Only a small amount of thin, clear liquid dribbled down his lips. His throat burned, but he couldn’t stop himself from retching.
What happened? What did he do? Ru Meng looked up for a moment and stared into the pale eyes of the man he had just decapitated. He fell to his knees and gagged. The enormity of his actions was only just hitting him now. He had killed a human being with his own hands, just like his father had killed his uncle. Just like his father.
Ru Meng gasped for air. It felt like the whole world was closing in on him. His ears rang and his head hurt like someone was squeezing it as tightly as possible. Everything spun and he couldn’t breathe.
He didn’t want to kill anyone. He didn’t want to be like his father.
“Ru Meng, are you okay?”
Vardan’s voice rang out by his ears, but Ru Meng couldn’t hear him.
The teenager stared at the boy worriedly. He turned Ru Meng around and helped him sit down with his back against the wall.
“Breathe,” he said, “take it slow.”
Vardan raised a hand over Ru Meng’s eyes and made him close them.
“You did good. You did really good, okay? You saved us all,” he said while giving the boy a warm and firm hug.
Vardan’s voice and his embrace were like a glowing thread in the middle of a dark and endless maze. Ru Meng clung to it with all his strength. He forced himself to clear his mind. They won. That was it. He had no choice. His friends’ lives were at stake. He wasn’t a killer. He was different. He did it for someone else.
But did you really? A soft voice in the back of his mind whispered.
Ru Meng ignored it. He knew they still had one more task to carry out. This wasn’t the time for this. Slowly, his breathing returned to normal. His throat still burned from the stomach acid, but he felt just slightly better.
When Ru Meng opened his eyes again, he saw Vardan by Hakimi’s side. He had just recovered consciousness and wobbled on his feet as he tried to get up. Vardan slung one of his arms over his shoulder to support him.
Vardan said something to Hakimi. The boy glanced at Liao Hua’s body on the ground with his sharp eyes for a brief moment before looking at Ru Meng again. There was a brief moment of awkwardness as they locked eyes. Hakimi nodded stiffly at Ru Meng.
“The other boys are waking up. We have to go talk to them, like we planned,” Hakimi said to Vardan.
Vardan looked over at Ru Meng to see if he was okay. Ru Meng nodded. They didn’t have much time. They still had to hurry over to Rayyan’s house to finish everything. He took a deep breath and got onto his feet.
Hakimi struggled a little in protest as Ru Meng took his other arm and slung it over his own shoulder, but reluctantly gave in after a while. He could hardly breathe without his ribs hurting.
Slowly, with Ru Meng and Vardan holding up Hakimi on either side, they walked into the other cave.
The boys had stirred during all the chaos and shouting. They sat in the darkness, bleary-eyed and confused, wondering what was happening. Neither of the wardens was sitting where they usually were. They murmured amongst themselves, but no one dared to make a move and do anything unusual out of fear of being punished.
Han Yang patted Chu Wen on the back and reassured the timid boy. Hafiz, Peng Nan and Wu Qing were cautiously looking around the darkness while trying to wake up Arjun, who was still sleeping soundly under his blanket. Suddenly, someone let out a scream. One of the kids in Hakimi’s group had found Chen Jin’s body.
“It’s okay, Osman. I was the one who did that,” said Hakimi weakly as he emerged from the other cave.
Everyone turned to look at him. Han Yang and the other boys of the group were confused at first, but their confusion quickly turned to elation when they saw the familiar face of the person holding the lamp. Vardan smiled at them and the boys rushed forward to him.
The reaction of Hakimi’s group was far more subdued. There was confusion in their eyes, but also fear and doubt. None of them knew what was happening. All they knew was that something had gone terribly wrong.
Hakimi tapped Vardan and Ru Meng on the shoulder, signaling them to let go of him.
“Explain the situation to your friends. Tell them what to do next. I’ll deal with those boys,” said Hakimi as he gestured at Osman and the others.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
He looked at Vardan’s concerned expression and added, “They’re good kids. They’ll understand once I’ve talked to them.”
Vardan let him go and watched him hobble over to the other side.
All of a sudden, Peng Nan tackled Vardan with a big hug, knocking the wind out of him.
“You’re ok!” cried Chu Wen as he flung himself at Vardan as well. Hafiz scratched his head and chuckled, while Wu Qing punched Vardan on the shoulder and tried to hide his teary eyes. Vardan laughed and gave everyone a big hug.
“It’s good to see you guys still have so much energy!” he said.
Han Yang pushed the younger boys aside and gave Vardan a huge bear hug, which he returned with equal ferocity. Han Yang then turned around and rubbed Ru Meng on the head. The other boys patted him on the back and fussed over him as well. Ru Meng said nothing. He simply smiled.
Once he had greeted everyone, Vardan looked around expectantly but he didn’t see who he was looking for. It was then that he spotted a small, shivering figure in a corner of the large cave. He nudged the other boys aside and ran to Lan’s side. He crouched down and saw the two blood-stained, bandaged stumps on his right hand. Vardan picked up his hand and held it between his own hands, gently caressing the boy’s palm.
“Vardan?” Lan opened his eyes feebly.
“It’s me,” said Vardan with a forced smile. He pressed his forehead against the boy’s head and whispered so softly that only the two of them could hear it, “Thank you.”
Meanwhile, Ru Meng tried to explain everything that had transpired as quickly as he could. By the end of it, the boys were still very much confused, but at the very least, they understood that Lan had been helping Vardan all along.
The look of guilt on Han Yang’s face couldn’t be more obvious. Ru Meng gave him a nudge and he shuffled his way over to Lan. Han Yang dropped to his knees and looked Lan in the eyes as he said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”
Lan shook his head and replied, “No, don’t apologize. I would have done the same if I was in your position. No way I would have let someone get away scot-free if they betrayed Vardan like that.”
The other boys stepped forward to apologize as well and Lan forgave all of them with a smile.
Once everyone had offered their apologies to Lan and passed out more hugs (during which Arjun finally woke up and passed out again thinking this was all a dream), they sat down next to Lan in a small circle.
Han Yang looked at Vardan and asked, “So, what’s happening, exactly?”
Vardan flashed a smile with his pearly-white teeth and said, “We’re breaking out. Free men. No more shitty food, no more digging rocks and no more Liao Hua. I’ll spare you the details, but we—”
“Vardan, what’s that?”
The lamp by Vardan’s side had flickered slightly. Han Yang saw something unusual on his face.
Vardan’s charismatic smile froze for a brief second on his handsome face, but he recovered almost instantly.
“This?” he said with a smirk, before pulling his long hair aside to reveal the circular brand on his face, “I thought a new look might suit me. You should have seen Rayyan’s face when I cussed him out.”
The boys were taken aback when they saw the characters seared into his discolored flesh. The cheery atmosphere vanished without a trace. The meek smile faded from Lan’s face and Chu Wen let out an involuntary whimper.
Han Yang looked down apologetically and said, “I’m sorry.”
“For what? Oh, cheer up, will you?” Vardan said as he slapped Han Yang hard across the back, “It’s proof I pulled off something absolutely insane.”
“For us,” added Hafiz with a sigh.
“You’re right. I did it for everyone and I don’t regret a single thing, so wipe those frowns off your faces. We’ve still got something more to do,” growled Vardan at the boys.
Everyone tried their best to fix their expressions, but they still looked down and defeated. Vardan shrugged and said, “Well, no matter what, at least Peng Nan’s still uglier than me.”
“Am not,” protested Peng Nan with a huff.
The other boys, however, couldn’t stifle their chuckles and broke out into laughter.
“I think you’re still the most good-looking of all of us,” said Chu Wen, awkwardly raising his hand as he did so.
Han Yang rolled his eyes and slapped the boy’s hand down. The others laughed again and didn’t stop for quite a long while.
When they finally settled down, the uncomfortable tension was gone. Vardan looked at everyone and said, “Like I was saying, we’re freeing ourselves. No more being slaves. But there’s still one thing we have to do before we’re free and until we finish that thing, you guys have to stay here. Do you guys understand?”
Most of the boys nodded, but Han Yang stared at Vardan unblinkingly.
“What is this one last thing you have to do?” he asked.
“Just a small thing. We’ll be back in an hour.”
“We? Who’s we?”
“Me, Ru Meng and Hakimi.”
“So you’re not bringing us with you?” There was indignation in Han Yang’s voice. The many bruises, scrapes and scratches on Vardan and Ru Meng’s body hadn’t escaped his notice.
Vardan looked Han Yang in the eyes. He shook his head solemnly as he said, “No, I’m not bringing any of you with us. It’s…too dangerous.”
“Then all the more reason you should bring us with you!” cried Han Yang.
“No. The three of us are already in deep. We are dead no matter what if our plan fails here. You guys, on the other hand, are not so involved yet. You stay here, so if anything goes wrong, nothing will happen to you all.”
Han Yang opened his mouth to argue, but Vardan looked at him sadly and cut him off before he could say anything, “Please, Han Yang. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt because of me again.”
Han Yang’s eyes drifted to Lan’s bloody hand. He said nothing. Hafiz placed a hand on his shoulder reassuringly.
After making sure there were no more objections or questions, Vardan made sure that everyone understood what they were supposed to do while he was gone. The boys agreed and promised to do as he said.
Vardan then pulled Han Yang aside and said to him, “I’m sorry to put this on you, Han Yang, but watch over the younger ones, ok? I know you want to help, but if I’m gone, someone needs to be there to take care of everyone.”
Han Yang nodded. He grabbed Vardan’s hand and patted him on the back.
“Good luck.”
Vardan chuckled.
“I was born lucky.”
Meanwhile, on the other side, Hakimi seemed to be finished as well. A few of the boys seemed distraught; one of them had even broken down into tears. Some seemed angry and in disbelief. Nevertheless, Hakimi patted their shoulders one by one and walked away to rejoin Vardan and Ru Meng.
“They’ll be fine. It’s gonna take them some time to adjust, but they won’t cause any trouble,” he said.
“Did you tell them what we are planning to do to Rayyan?” Vardan asked.
“No. They don’t need to know. All they need to know is that they are going to be free soon.”
Hakimi’s face was as emotionless as always, but somehow, perhaps because he had been spending too much time with him, Ru Meng knew he was not as calm as he was trying to seem.
Ru Meng cast the Spell of Metal-heating and broke the chains off of Vardan’s manacles. The dashing teenager rubbed his wrists slightly, before picking up the chains from the ground and brandishing them like a weapon.
“Alright, let’s go.”