Over a dozen boys sat huddled in a circle around a pot. A rusty oil lamp gave off a soft, comforting glow that lit up their faces.

The atmosphere in the cave was light and cheery. The boys exchanged smiles and patted each other on the back, stumbling over each other to get seconds from the pot. The cave was quiet, but only because everyone was too busy slurping up the stew to make small talk. It was the first time in years most of them were having breakfast. The rich aroma and warm taste of a properly nutritious stew were heavenly.

Even Ru Meng, Vardan, and Hakimi were too busy filling themselves to think about what they had just gone through. Ru Meng snuck a few worried glances at Hakimi and his right arm between spoonfuls of stew, but the boy seemed to be doing surprisingly well for someone with his injuries. He was even smiling. Vardan and Ru Meng shared a bewildered glance when they saw Hakimi smile.

Hakimi had been the one that told them all where to retrieve the stash of supplies that their wardens had left behind. In an act of extravagance, they threw almost every food item they found into a single pot and made a piping-hot stew with plenty of meat to go around. Most of it was smoked meat and dried jerky, which made the stew way too salty, but the boys enjoyed it anyway.

In no time at all, most of the stew was devoured and the boys gathered around their three heroes, prodding and hollering for them to tell them what happened after they left.

Vardan didn’t need any encouragement to launch into an epic embellishment of their adventures, greatly exaggerating the trials they had to face and their own heroics in the face of it all. Of course, he kept the grisly details to himself. It was very entertaining for the younger boys, who cheered and booed to the ups and downs of his story, but the older boys, particularly those who were part of Hakimi’s circle, simply rolled their eyes.

“—Rayyan had turned into a fire-breathing monster and when he opened his mouth, flames hot enough to melt stone came bursting out of his jaws. I had to dive for cover behind a shelf and—”

Ru Meng looked over to his left and saw that Hakimi had fallen asleep during Vardan’s story, sometime between when he subdued Rayyan’s lackeys with a single punch and when he caught a knife between his hands.

Ru Meng got up to help Hakimi lie down in a better spot, but an older boy beat him to it. One of Hakimi’s friends, boy Ru Meng heard the others call Ismail, nodded at Ru Meng as he wrapped Hakimi in a blanket and brought him over to a more comfortable corner of the cave.

Ru Meng sat down and listened to Vardan’s story again. He was too tired and too full to think about anything else, so he just let his mind go blank. It was nice, to just be here, surrounded by people he could trust without needing to think or worry about anything else.

Suddenly, as the story finally came to an end, Peng Nan raised his hand and asked, “So, what’s next?”

The question caught Ru Meng off-guard. It was true. What came next for him? He pondered the question for a brief moment, but gave it up after a few seconds. He just wanted to rest now, even though there was a strange feeling in the back of his mind that he had forgotten something.

Vardan flashed his signature smile as he replied to Peng Nan and the rest of the boys, “We rest for today. We will discuss what we need to do next once Hakimi has woken up.

You can go do whatever you like. If you’re bored, you can go organize the tools and boxes in the cave. I mean, I won’t complain either if you feel like going back to mining rocks or cracking them open.”

Everyone chuckled slightly. Vardan turned around and caught a glance of Ru Meng staring into mid-air and suddenly remembered something.

“Actually,” he said, “there’s something Ru Meng and I need help with. Hafiz, Han Yang, let’s talk over there.”

Ru Meng turned around when he heard his name mentioned. Vardan beckoned him to follow, so the four of them walked to a corner of the cave, away from earshot of everyone else.

“Hafiz, Han Yang, you two are older than the rest of the kids and I can trust you, which is why I asked you to come over to talk. You see, we freed everyone, but Ru Meng still needs our help with something,” explained Vardan.

Ru Meng looked up in confusion. Did he?

“We need to help him go get his sick father,” said Vardan, before explaining Ru Meng’s situation to the other two boys.

Father. Suddenly, it all came back to Ru Meng in a rush. That's right, that’s why he had been in this predicament in the first place! He came to get medicine for his father! How could he have forgotten? Guilt rushed through Ru Meng’s mind as he hastily tried to count how many days it had been since he last saw his father.

Seven days. A whole week. That’s how long it had been. Ru Meng felt sick to his stomach as he imagined his father laying there in the dirt, ill, cold and alone. Was he okay? Was he still alive? What would he say to him? Would he be disappointed? He had left him for seven days. Panic started to spread through Ru Meng’s mind and despite everything he had just gone through, he suddenly felt small and useless.

Another thing occurred to Ru Meng. A group of three bandits had been chasing him when he left. If they had scoured the entire area to look for him, it wasn’t unlikely for them to have found his father. And if they did…

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Only horrible things gripped Ru Meng’s imagination. He leapt onto his feet and was about to sprint out of the cave when someone grabbed him by the shoulder.

“Ru Meng, you ok?” asked Vardan.

Ru Meng nodded and tried to shrug off the hand, but Vardan’s grip was firm.

“Ru Meng, relax. We’re coming with you, alright?”

Ru Meng shook his head and tried to pull away. He didn’t want them to come along. He knew how dangerous this trip would be, especially if those bandits were still looking for him. He and his friends had just barely gotten away with their lives this morning with too many scrapes with death to count. He didn’t want them to be harmed in any way.

This was his burden to bear. It was his fault that he got mixed up with the bandits and separated from his father. He would not bring his friend into this.

“What’s the problem, Ru Meng?” asked Vardan, his bright, brown eyes filled with worry and concern at Ru Meng’s unusual agitation.

“It’s nothing, I—I—” Ru Meng tried to come up with an excuse so that they would leave him alone, but he couldn’t think of anything.

“What is it?”

Ru Meng was flustered, frustrated and flooded with all sorts of emotions. Sorrow at his predicament, worry for his father, anger at himself, guilt for dragging his friends into his problems. It was always like this. He felt so, so useless and helpless again, always causing trouble and bringing pain to the people around him. He felt like a mouse trapped in a misty maze. He truly didn’t know what to do.

A tired, but warm and steady voice cut through the fog.

“Ru Meng, we’re here with you. You have friends now. Talk to us.”

Ru Meng looked up into a pair of large eyes, so brilliant and full of life, they almost seemed like they shone with a light of their own. He took a deep breath.

Ru Meng let out a big sigh and explained the full scope of the problem to his friends, who listened patiently as he talked.

“—and that’s how it is. They might be waiting for me to come back. I can’t let you guys come with me.”

The boys were silent for a good while.

It was Han Yang who spoke first, “Well, we needed an opportunity to be heroes anyway. Especially after the three of you stole the show like that.”

Hafiz didn’t say anything, but dusted his hands and got onto his feet. It was clear what he was thinking.

Vardan simply extended a hand and said, “Come on, let’s go.”

Ru Meng hesitated for a moment before grabbing his hand and standing up. He still had his doubts, but somehow everything seemed like they would be okay now.

“But, don’t we need a plan or something?” he asked.

“We’ll figure it out as we go. We already did it once; we can do it again. We don’t even know if the bandits are still there.”

Ru Meng nodded.

Vardan quickly left a few instructions for the rest of the boys who remained.

The four boys then set off, diving straight into the winding tunnels of Luo Shan.

“So where are we going?” asked Vardan as they ran.

Ru Meng suddenly realized that he didn't actually know the way home. Not from here at least, but he had memorized the path he took all the way up to where he passed out at the old woman’s house. If he could find his way close to there, he might be able to remember how to get back.

He clumsily described what the old woman’s house had looked like to Vardan, hoping he might know where that would be.

Vardan paused for a moment in thought before he said, “Caves carved into walls for people to live in? Narrow pathways and somewhere close to the market? Sounds like one of the slums on the outskirts of the Nameless Town. There are a few caverns that fit their description.”

Vardan led the way at the very front and the others followed.

Ru Meng looked at Vardan’s back. He couldn’t help but be curious. How did Vardan know so much about the Nameless Town? He probably lived there, but why was he so nice and kind to everyone? When everything was always so bad and so dark and nothing was good? In fact, why was everyone so willing to help him? Not just Vardan, but Hafiz and Han Yang and Hakimi and Lan.

His thoughts slipped from his mouth as he asked, “Guys, why are you helping me?”

There was nothing good about him, after all. He was weak and stupid and was always a bother to everyone.

Han Yang patted him on the head and said with a smile, “We’re friends, aren’t we?”

Ru Meng rubbed a tear from his eye and said nothing.

Forty minutes later, they arrived at a narrow tunnel, with caves dug into the walls, much like the old woman’s house. Ru Meng instantly recognised the place. This was exactly where he had been.

Ru Meng scanned the rows of caves with his eyes and quickly saw a familiar cave several rows up in the air. The lights were out, however, and no one seemed to be at home. A strange feeling ripped Ru Meng’s heart as the possibility of seeing the old woman again appeared in his mind. His heart hurt, just a little bit.

He had trusted her and she betrayed him. What would he do if he saw her again? Ru Meng shook his head and cast the thought aside. He had something else more important to do right now.

Ru Meng took over and lead his friends down the tunnel, taking a left turn at the very end. He tried his best to recall every twist and turn, praying that he didn’t remember anything incorrectly.

Soon, as the tunnels grew more and more familiar, Ru Meng started to slow down his steps. They were back in the tunnel where Ru Meng had escaped the bandits.

He turned around and said to his friends, “We’re here. My house is right ahead. What do we do now?”

Vardan thought for a moment and suggested, “Tell us where to go and I’ll scout ahead and go look for your father. The bandits are looking for you, so they might not be expecting someone else. If anything happens, I’ll shout and you guys run.”

“No! I’m not letting someone else get hurt for me again!” shouted Ru Meng, the image of Lan and Hakimi’s bloodied hands flashing through his mind.

Vardan looked at him seriously and relented, “Alright, we can go together. If anything happens, we can take care of each other. You mentioned that one of the bandits controls rats, right? Everyone keep your eyes peeled for any rats.”

The four of them leaned against the wall of the tunnel and slowly inched closer, looking around the corner before they turned.

There, in the distance, was a small wooden shack. The ground was just as messy as when Ru Meng left it. A trail of blood and a variety of loose items scattered everywhere.

Vardan approached slowly and raised his lamp for a better look. There was no one around. No sudden movements either. No rats. He waved his hand and the rest of the boys trotted to his side.

Ru Meng glanced in a direction and the four of them walked toward the tunnel there. A few minutes later, Ru Meng turned the corner and came across a familiar sight.

The sound of water running. A small creek, running to the left of the cave. A small indent in the rocky wall, high up to the right, just barely noticeable by someone looking for a hiding spot.

A gaunt man lay unconscious on the ground right beside the creek.

Ru Meng immediately broke into a sprint. He grabbed his father by the cheek. It was still warm. Too warm. Hot, like a fever.

Ru Meng threw himself over his father’s body and hugged tightly. The stiff bones poked into his ribs. It hurt, but Ru Meng didn’t care. Tears flowed from his eyes like a stream. His father was alive.