The trio rested overnight in Velves for free, courtesy of the town’s 3-room inn owner who was only one of many that admired and respected the efforts of the Black Shield. With nothing else to do for the remaining three days of their voyage but think, Anwen reflected a lot. With the sudden revelation of the only home she knew being a former place of interest once belonging to the only constant in her known life—the Titanians and their legacy—she knew that Gareth couldn’t keep secrets forever. She never knew why they were kept from her in the first place. Gareth could’ve been anyone, anything, but she was just an innocent orphan that he somehow, in someway came across in the south and took to raise on his own. The day he decided to take her helpless, vulnerable self in was the day he became a father. What did he have to hide from his child? Why be so… distant from his own daughter? Anwen began to feel that Gareth had only taken her with him just to keep her alive. There was no emotion in their relationship. There was no tenderness or affection. It was like a bird taking care of its offspring simply because that was its instinct. But then again, birds didn’t pick up random chicks they just happened to find.
Once they reached the base, Gareth went down the elevator alone, coming back with a hand-powered wooden cart. One by one he brought up metal crates full of the Utrium that the Anbieter needed so desperately. Anwen, in a way, was glad that Gareth was sent out on this task. If he knew the warehouse’s location the entire time, he would’ve sent his own men to raid her home. She didn’t want to think of how that would end. Each crate weighed five vog*, which only Gareth had the strength to pull when all twenty crates were loaded onto the cart. Once all were secured and obscured with a large burlap tarp, they left almost immediately.
“We’ll have to rent a bullock cart once we return to Velves,” Gareth said as he heaved the cart, making it seem like light work. “I won’t be able to pull this thing all the way back to Marius.”
Anwen stared at the now-closed switch built into the ground that controlled the elevator. She hadn’t even been allowed to go in with Gareth. Now, she had to leave her home without even being able to enter it. She didn’t know when she’d return, if ever.
“Gareth!” she cried to the man’s ignorant ears.
“Gareth, stop hiding every single damn thing from me! How long have you known that our home was a Titanian warehouse? How long have you known this for!?”
He came to a halt, prompted to by Anwen’s furious voice. He only turned his neck, showing his expressionless face to her.
“Longer than you’ve been alive. Do you plan to stay put there?” he asked.
She turned away from him, stamping her artificial foot into the dirt angrily. She knew she couldn’t put her hands on Gareth, so she decided to take her anger out on the first thing she saw, the hard earth below her. She only noticed that Gareth and Vi were gone when a boot-shaped dent as deep as the height of her ankle in the ground had been formed. Seeing their forms in the distance appear like ants, she ran as fast as her body could take her.
“Wait for me, shitty old man!” she cried, words that wouldn’t reach his ears.
--
Traveling along the main road that led to Marius, they were only a day’s journey from arriving at Velves once again. With their temporary destination so close by, they should’ve slowed down their pace. Only, they could not.
“Wh-What’s this?” Anwen cried, as a section of the dirt road they were on had been washed out by an overflow of swelling water. “We can’t cross!”
“A tell-tale sign of summer in Yeupis,” Gareth sighed, knowing that the warmer temperatures caused yearly flooding that lasted about a month. “Unfortunate. We’re making a detour.”
He pushed his cart past the treeline, meaning they would have to cut through the forest.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“I don’t think going into the forest will help us get around.” Anwen frowned, begrudgingly following him as Vi trailed both.
“You’d know if you came with me on the trading excursions. There’s an abandoned village a bit up ahead. There’s a small stone bridge that should be high enough to keep us from walking through the water.”
Anwen made a sound of interjection. It wasn’t long before they reached the ghost settlement. Void of life and dreary feeling, the state of the town was a result of one of the numerous pogroms instated by the Titanian Crown. They had taken everyone and everything from it, including all memory of what its name once was. Its biggest contribution to the world was that its bridge allowed Gareth and his party to transport much-needed Utrium to the Black Shield which would perhaps, just maybe lead to the Titanian disease’s extermination from Earth. The bridge led them to another path, which would not take them to Velves again, but at some point, took them somewhere even better.
Looking at the copious quantities of steam arising from behind the pine trees, Anwen knew exactly where they were headed.
“Hot springs!” she cried in the most joy she had since leaving Marius. “We’ve got to go, Gareth! We need to stop by, just for a bit!”
“As long as it we don’t waste more time than we need,” he said. “We need a break, anyways.”
“Perfect!” Anwen said, darting down like a child receiving a set of new clothes from their parents.
The warm pools overlooked a flooded stream that thankfully did not overfill so much that it would contaminate the purifying waters of the springs. She used her artificial leg to test the pools for a comfortable temperature before she took her boots and coat off and sat at the moss-covered edge of one of them. She removed her artificial leg and touched the bruised skin of the nub—the remnants of her left thigh.
“I had it on for too long… maybe the Black Shield will help me make one that’s more comfortable and can be worn longer.”
She traced the scar patterns that lied just below the surface of her injured skin. They were the only evidence that she was born with two legs, that one of them had been forcibly severed before she met Gareth. She sighed.
“I hate not being able to remember…” she frowned. The earliest memory she had was of her waking up in Dr. Bernard’s examination room. Mrs. Bernard sat at her side, holding her hand. She only had on a hospital gown, which was a few too many sizes large for her. What was left of her left leg was sewn up and heavily bound in bandaging. Somewhere outside the room, she could hear Dr. Bernard and Gareth speaking to one another frantically about something she couldn’t understand. She couldn’t recall a single thing. She couldn’t even answer when Mrs. Bernard asked for her name. Anwen was simply a name Gareth gave her later. Felix estimated that she was about four years old using northern children as a baseline but given that southerners were generally shorter than their northern counterparts, it was likely that she was slightly older.
“I guess I’m just like that village.” She sighed. No longer able to stand the cool breeze of the darkening night, she looked around to make sure no one was looking before removing her clothing, shirt first. She had unbuttoned about halfway when a figure stealthily appeared at the water’s edge. In a fright, Anwen tumbled into the water.
“Can’t you see I’m—
Anwen stopped her tangent as her eyes once again met Vi’s dark mask, covering their face. Seeing the person who was given permission to kill her mere feet from her sent a chill down her spine, even though she was now in submerged in water from the elbows down. They held two burlap sacks in their hands, which they placed calmly on the ground.
“Gareth told me to inform you that we’re setting up tent for the night. He also asked me to bring you an extra change of clothes and some food.”
“Umm… thanks, I guess,” she said nervously. “C-Could I ask you something?”
“I may not be able to answer but go ahead.” Vi affirmed.
“Do you ever take that thing off?” Anwen asked, covering the top of her chest with her hand.
“The mask? Not in front of you or him. We can’t reveal our faces to those outside of the Black Shield while carrying out official duties.”
“Oh, I see. I have another question.”
Vi nodded to receive her second inquiry.
“So, your name’s Vi, right? That’s got to be short for something. It’s Olivia for sure, right? No, wait… Victor? No, that can’t be. Vic’s short for Victor, not Vi. Are you a man or woman? It’s so hard to tell with your voice being like that and that big ass cloak you—
“I cannot answer that. If Gareth succeeds with his task, I’ll tell you.” Vi said, before walking away from the springs, back to Gareth’s tent.
After making sure they were far enough from her, she pulled her drenched clothing off her body and tossed them to the edge of the water. She sighed, putting her back against the side of the natural pool.
“If Gareth succeeds?” she wondered to herself aloud. “Shit… that person really does intend on killing me if he doesn’t do this thing right. I… I really tried starting a conversation with my murderer, didn’t I? Damn it… I’m so weird… and lonely.”