CHAPTER 27-NO TIME TO DECIDE

Quickly, the two Consumers and the robot followed the sounds of shouting through the black tunnels.

“There are three tunnels ahead.” Cato said.

“The sound is coming from the left side.” Kad added.

“It is hard to tell.” Bimi said between pants. “Naika!”

“Keep it down.” Kad growled. “We're not alone in here.”

“Are you sure we are being followed?” Cato asked. “I cannot detect anything except us.”

“I can feel them, the same ones from the cavern.” Kad said.

“The ones with the strange energy.” Bimi said. “Why would they be following us?”

“Let's not find out. Come on, let's go this way.”

“Are you sure, Kad Ekisziku? Until I have finished my scanning, the probability percentage of each route is currently at thirty-three-point-three-recurring.”

“No time to decide now.” Kad said, taking the lead. “Just trust me on this one.”

“We would be wise to follow him, pushta.” Bimi said to Cato.

Great, now he trusts us? After getting himself and us nearly killed in the cavern of screams?

Kad turned to look at Bimi, smiling in the dark, followed by a bemused Cato.

It's not his fault. Things are different out here, didn't you say so yourself?

The tunnel on the left was elevated, carved out from stone by strange, primal means. They clambered into it, feeling the sounds of scurrying beetles and burrowing worms among them. Kad's nose grew numb from the chill, and the deeper the tunnel went, the deeper the chill grew. The sound of Naika grew dimmer the further they went.

Oh X alive, maybe we were wrong, I can barely hear her.

Still, he continued to leave them as light grew absent, and soon, a soft wailing stabbed at the stony ventricles that contained them.

“Do you hear that, Kad?” Bimi asked. “It does not sound like my muymum...”

“I hear it. It's not far away now.” Kad said in a hushed voice. “Although, I don't know how long this tunnel goes on for.”

“The tunnel goes on for approximately zero-point-three-five kilometres, Kad Ekisziku, then it bends to the left and what appears to be a slight decline. Though I must admit, I do not hear any noise that is not coming from us.”

“That's probably a good thing then.” Kad growled, feeling the jagged wall with the palms of each hand.

At the bend, the rock did indeed decline, the ceiling growing shorter. Kad steadied himself from knocking against it with his head, bending down to almost a crouch. Cato was forced onto all fours, trailing behind Bimi who walked slowly, his hands brushing against the deepening roof. The chill grew less aggressive, but its affects still lingered by Kad's nostrils and the tips of his fingers.

“Just ahead of you is the opening, Kad Ekisziku. There will be a short drop.”

Before Kad could answer, his feet found the absence of ground, and he plummeted to the hardened soil below. He landed on his elbows, gritting his teeth against the sharp pain.

“I see you found it.” Cato said from within the tunnel.

“Yeah I found it.” Kad hissed.

The drop was from a low ceiling, only seven foot from the floor, and he caught Bimi who slowly clambered and dropped himself into Kad's arms. Cato crawled out of the hole like a grotesque, metal beetle, dropping lightly and landing elegantly on his feet. Instantly, the robot began scanning the area.

“It appears we are in another chamber of sorts, but I can see moonlight from over there.”

The room was hollow, one of the widest they had seen since they had left the fallen museum from the sky. Cato walked swiftly forwards as the chamber continued like a vast hallway. At the very end, was a hole in the sky, soft rays of Hamara's glow filtered through. Kad and Bimi stopped, noses and ears twitching.

“Can you hear her, Kad?”

“I can hear movement, near where the gap in the ceiling is.” Kad replied, his heart suddenly beating faster.

“Over here. There's another tunnel!” Cato called out.

“Wait, Cato!” Kad shouted, preparing to run.

“There's somebody inside.”

Kad's fingers reached straight to his hilt, using a strap to pull it closer.

“Come on out, it's alright.” Cato cooed.

“Wait, psuhta!” Bimi called from behind them both.

Cato stepped backwards, his red eyes glowing underneath the call of the moon. Slowly, a young girl covered in scratches and dirt emerged. Kad could feel her energy immediately, and the three behind her, a mixture of Dvergr and Evean.

Its the captives from the cave!

Kad slowed his pace, walking quickly up tot hem.

“Mummy!” The girl called out.

Slowly, the terrified family emerged from the tunnel, their eyes squinting under the meagre offerings available.

“You...you're that other Consumey...” The Silver-Dvergr said, fear turning his voice pallid.

The High-Evean woman held her children close as they cradled her.

“The other Consumer...” Kad barked. “Did you see her? Was she with you?”

The Dvergr stepped back to his family, Shielding them with an arm as they began to shake.

“Answer me!” Kad roared.

The family trembled, a stutter caught in the father's voice.

“Pushta...” Bimi said softly, appearing behind him. “I am sorry my friends, it has been a trying day for us all. We are not here to hurt you, we are just looking for my granddaughter, was she with you?”

With terrified glares, the Dvergr looked to his wife, then back to the Consumers.

“She...she was.” The Dwarven man said with a tremble. “She led us through the tunnels, X bless her, but then we...she...”

“What? What happened?” Kad asked.

“The...they took her...” The High-Evean woman finished.

Kad felt his stomach disappear beneath his gut, his blood running cold.

“They? Who is they? And are these the strange people we thought were tracking us?” Cato asked.

“No.” Came the strained reply from kad.

Bimi's legs began to shake as he fumbled to the ground.

“Oh, my dear muymum...”

“Bimi.” Kad said, taking off his satchel, not wasting a moment. “Look after this family, stay here.”

“But, pushta...”

“Don't worry.” Kad said, tightening his scabbard. “I'll find her. I'll get her back. Cato, are you coming with me?”

“I don't know, I don't know where you are going.”

“We need to go find a friend. We think she's in trouble.”

“Well, if it's a friend who needs help, I will do my best, Kad Ekisziku.”

Kad fought against a smile.

“When was she taken? How long ago?” Kad asked the family.

“Half an hour ago.” The Evean woman said. “It was through the tunnel, she told us to carry on for as long as we could, she said she could hear someone coming to help us...”

“Right.” Kad said, cricking his neck. “You lot stay here, stay quiet and hidden if you can. Cato, are there any escape routes near here?”

“There is another tunnel that we passed. The temperature is zero-point-three-degrees centigrade warmer than any other near here, so I would reason it might lead to somewhere out of these caverns.

“Please X, let that be right.” Kad breathed. “Stay here for now, if anything goes wrong, if anyone comes through those tunnels that isn't us, book it through that tunnel and don't linger, got it?”

“I hear you, pushta.” Bimi said sadly. “And thank you for helping us.”

Clack.

*****

Silently, Kad crept through the tunnel, grasping at the walls and ground as it tilted upwards, almost like a stair. Behind him, the sounds of clanking metal eclipsed Bimi and the survivors. He inhaled deeply, feeling the faint trails of Naika, smelling uncertainty and fear waft towards him.

Please be alive, Naika. Just hold on a little.

The air grew fresher with every step they took, the must of the cave receding slightly.

“Tell me Kad, Ekiszika, who are we looking for?” Cato asked.

“Keep it down.” Kad hissed.

“Okay, I apologise.” Cato said without quieting the sound of his vocals. “She is a friend of yours, correct? What does she look like?”

“She's a Consumer, like us.” Kad whispered.

“I'm not a Consumer, I'm a scout unit for the army of-”

“Will you please keep it down?” Kad growled.

I'll never find her with this clanking piece of crap behind me.

As Kad climbed, there was something on the breeze, a dull, throbbing sound. A whimpering, a sob.

“I hear her.” Kad whispered. “Do you see anything?”

The red glow of his visors illuminated the tunnel with a scarlet gradient.

“The tunnel continues for approximately zero-point-two-five kilometres in an upwards incline.”

“Will you stop with the kilometres? I don't know how far that is.”

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Cato twisted his head from one side to the other, the confusion not simulated.

“Kilometres is the standard metric of measurement, Kad Ekisziku.”

“We don't use that in Peridios.”

“Would you like me to convert it into a different measurement? I can use legua or Astral-miles if that helps.”

“What the hell is an Astral-mile?”

“An Astral-mile is one hundred thousand, three-hundred and eighty-four kilometres used in measurement in spatial navigation.”

“Somehow I don't think that's going to be much help.” Kad said through gritted teeth. “Just keep quiet.”

Kad scrambled upwards, leading them to an uncertain culmination.

Why waste your time? The tin-bucket behind you told you there was an out, we should take it, not scurrying around like a rat in the walls of Spi'Ra.

Kad felt the cavernous, hollow home grow around him, no less cold and unforgiving. Ever was there the sound of an angry hive of machinery, the racketing roll of transport systems above their heads, and the black rats that crawled into orifice and took the rule of the streets. The pale faces of the downtrodden, condemned to living beneath the city, yet still bowing beneath it.

That was no home. These caverns do not reek of disease and urine as much as that place did.

A cool breeze welcomed them as they reached the precipice above them, bringing with it the sound of tears.

“Please...stop this...”

Naika!

Her voice was strong, but beginning to tremble, faltering under a great weight, and Kad realised the sobbing was not hers. The scabbard that contained his blade was close by as they reached the opening, the night sky peering in.

“Cato...” Kad whispered behind him. “Stay silent, okay?”

The mechanical man did not reply, but Kad could hear the servos and whatchacallits whirling behind the red veils of glass.

“Please, it's not too late...” Naika said softly. “Let me go...I can help you...”

Kad reached the opening of the tunnel, sliding to its side silently, pressing his back to the wall, and Cato mirrored his movements. There was an opening in the cavern, the lilac night blanketed above. The trees rolled with the gentle rushes of the breeze outside, creeping plants trying to crawl into the flesh of the mountain.

“Shut up!” A fierce voice growled, garbled with emotion.

Kad's nostrils flickered at the smell of blood. Some of it was recognisable, that of a Consumer's, but the rest was much less familiar, but not a stranger. His fingers clenched over the hilt of his weapon.

I know that smell.

“It was all going fine...” Said a woman's voice in the last rays of moonlight.

Naika whimpered as the blade by her throat nicked at her skin. There were pinpricks and scratches all along her neck and cheek, but she remained relaxed, both hands aloft, as the cloaked figure held her close. The captor flinched as the crimson gleaming of light from robotic eyes caught their attention, dragging Naika closer like a shield.

“Who's there?” The woman shouted, dragging Naika closer.

Cato looked at Kad, who remained still, still ascertaining their position.

Won't this woman just die already?

“I know someone's there! Reveal yourself, or I-I'll-I will...”

Kad sighed, relaxing his body away from the wall and stepping out from the tunnel entrance, his palms facing forwards.

“I'm coming out, alright?” He called.

As he stepped forwards with hands held aloft, he sensed the blood reaching Naika's cheeks.

“Kad!” She called out with hope.

“Easy now.” Kad said, Cato slowly following.

“You!” The woman shouted, pulling at Naika by the throat, choking her.

“I'm here, alright?” Kad said as calmly as he could.

Under the dim light, he could see the white robes beneath the ragged cloak, and the lilac skin of a Moon-Orkan beneath. Under her hood, he saw the golden eyes of Ular flash with fury.

“This was your fault!” Ular roared. “You and your tainted blood!”

Kad felt his heartbeat pulse with rage, but exhaled deeply, allowing it to be subdued.

“You didn't have to take it.” He said measuredly. “You could have just let us be on our way.”

Ular's teeth clenched, dribble and blood escaping pass her mighty, yellowed teeth.

“It wasn't meant to be like this...wasn't meant to happen at all, no...” She babbled.

“Please...let me go...” Naika urged. “He won't hurt, you I swear.”

Kad twitched his head, confused.

Does she speak for you now, too?

“Hurt me? H-h-hurt me?” Ular said, her hand trembling.

She released a guttural growl of frustration, contorting her body inwards like she was imploding.

“How could you possibly hurt me more than you already have?” She shouted, her voice sounding in the echo of the silent mountains.

Her head groped at the hood, violently pulling it back.

“All I have known is hurt! From you, from the priests, from everyone!”

Kad felt the wind from his lungs freeze as she revealed her bloodied face. A diagonal gash from her forward down to her right cheek had begun to cauterise, weeping burgundy tears. Her eyes were wide and bloodshot, still carrying the last, lingering vestige of a childlike innocence that had begun to immolate itself within her fury. Kad felt the fear spread through Naika like a toxin. The blade bit closer into Naika's neck. Kad stepped forwards, and Ular dragged her back until she bounced against the cavernous wall.

“Stay back!” She wailed.

“Kad- don't!” Naika called out with pain.

Kad gritted his long teeth together, letting his hands drop slowly.

“Don't even think about hurting her more than you already have.” He said coldly. “If you do, I'll finish what your spider-god started before you can even blink.”

Fear mottled Ular's eyes as tears began to flow.

“The spider...” She whispered. “He...he...he betrayed us!”

Kad licked his lips, feeling serpents writhe around in his stomach. Behind them, the robot Cato watched, confused but intrigued.

“He led us here...whispered to us in the dark...blood as an offering...a drink to sate an eternal thirst...”

Ular began to whimper, tears falling onto Naika's neck and collarbone.

“We...we only wanted our wishes to be answered...to hurt those who hurt us...the priests at the church...”

Ular began to choke on her own grief.

“Even now...I can still feel them...their hands...everywhere...begging me not to scream...”

Kad felt sweat pool under his mouth. His teeth began to itch.

“I only wanted to help the others...and Raca...sweet Raca...he was so beautiful...he told me that out here, we could finally be together...but I told him it wasn't enough...I was the one who brought them here...I'm the reason they...they...”

She relinquished Naika, holding her face as the tears began to spill. Slowly, The Consumer began to move away from her.

“I'm sorry.” Naika said gently. “I know this wasn't what you wanted.”

Kad hissed.

“Don;t say that to her! She kidnapped us, and the others! Children! All for her fetid cult!” He shouted.

Ular sobbed heavily, the knife shaking in her hand. Naika hissed back at Kad, turning to Ular, and took the Moon-Orkan's hand in hers.

“You sought vengeance, yes? Against the church of Voss Nova?”

Ular did not respond, still weeping heavily.

“Vengeance is never the way. My poppo taught em that, but it doesn't have to be this way.”

Ular squeezed the Consumer's fingers, but did not look to her.

“Naika...don't...” Kad warned.

“He's right.” Ular said. “After all I did, unleashing that thing to the world, do not talk to me so gently!”

Naika sighed.

“He knows a thing about vengeance too.” She said quietly. “Don't you Kad? But I think he realises now, I think you both can realise now, that it will not lead to a path, but it is the path. There is no destination to it, only a painful trial.”

Kad chuckled darkly.

“Now you sound like your grandad.”

Naika allowed a smile to grace her face as she took Ular's hand closer.

“We can help you, I promise.” She said. “We're going to a new settlement. Gentle Stream, it's called, it's not far. You can start again, with us. It's a place for all people, even those who feel unwanted and betrayed. A place we can all help each-other, live our lives in peace.”

“Don't bother.” Kad said irritably, his teeth gnashing above him. “You don't want a cultist living among your lot. What if she gets some idea in her head her spider-thing needs satiating again?”

Ular recoiled in pain, releasing another sob, as Naika threw a righteous look at Kad.

“Don't listen to him.” Naika said coolly. “It's a place for starting new. Even for someone like him, or someone like you.”

Ular's sobs began to dry, as she pulled herself back up slowly. She snivelled the last of her emotions out, and sent a cold stare towards Kad.

“No.” She said, the resilience returning to her voice.” I told you, he's right.”

Ular retracted her hand from Naika's and pulled at her cloak, throwing the Consumer back to her as her shield. The knife returned to Naika's cheek, perforating the right side, drawing a fresh bead of blood.

“For my people, we take the title of whatever first scarred us as a symbol of respect.” She called out, her voice rising to the top of the caverns and out into the mountain air.

“The priests left me with scars, but none on my skin. The wounds they inflicted me will never leave me, do you understand?”

Her breathing grew dark as it turned into a growl, and then into a sinister, bitter laugh.

“No more.” She said defiantly. “Now, I am Ular Spider-Scar, and I will have my vengeance, not for me, not for Raca, but because it must be dealt!”

Ular roared as she pulled the knife backwards, sliding the steel into Naika's ear. The young woman screamed as the blade tore through cartilage, spewing blood down her face.

“No!” Kad shouted, pulling at his scimitar.

He ran to them as Naika was thrown to the floor, the sound of metal footsteps pounding behind him.

Clack!

Naika sat in a pool of her own blood, both hands stemming the gush of blood that rained below, her severed ear by her knees. Kad gripped the handle of his scimitar so tightly, he could feel parts of his skin break. Ular had vanished, quickly fleeing into another tunnel, her tattered cloak billowing behind her. Kad could feel the heaping breath and unstable footsteps of the Moon-Orkan sprinting into a tunnel, and deeper into the mountains. With his sword in tow, he ran after her, but he was stopped.

Kad turned, hissing and spraying angry, volatile spit, as he looked to Naika, who grabbed at his trouser leg tightly.

“Kad...” She said, gritting her teeth through the pain. “Kad...help me...please...”

Kad growled as he looked back towards the tunnel.

“The woman is now zero-point-sixteen kilometres away and gaining, Kad Ekisziku, or in Astral-miles, that would be zero-point-zero-zero-zero-zero-”

“Shut up!” Kad shouted. “Go to the others, tell them what happened, but stay put, we'll come meet you shortly.”

Cato saluted, and turned, running back down the tunnel. Kad turned to Naika, pulling her gently upwards as the first blushes of dawn began to seep through.

“Are you okay?” He asked, taking her carefully to a ledge, careful not to step on her ear.

Naika murmured in response, letting herself down slowly, the soft glow of gold creeping up the mountains behind them. Kad took the last of his head-wrappings and quickly tied it around her head, below her second mouth. She winced, but held strong. He finished, wiping the blood on his trousers.

“How does it look?” She asked with a small smile.

“Not much different.” He said grinning.

He took her hand and squeezed at her fingers, exhaling the stress out of his system.

“I'm glad you're okay.” He said quietly.

“I wouldn't say I'm okay.” She said with a bitter laugh. “At least I can still hear you, I guess.”

“How is the pain?”

“It's horrible.” She said sadly. “Do you think I can have it reattached?”

“Out here?” Kad said, thinking of traversing the forests and jungles with wrapped up meat and the rancid smell of it after only a day.

He sighed.

“I doubt it, honestly.”

Naika's face crumpled slightly, and Kad squeezed her fingers again.

“I should get her.” He said numbly. “For all of this. She needs to pay.”

“Stop that.” Naika said sharply. “Don't talk like that.”

Clack.

“She abducted us! If things hadn't gone wrong, than she would have-”

“She made a mistake, khasha.” Naika said calmly. “She was lost, and angry, and she took it out on us, and look where she's at now. She's alone, scared and scarred. That can't be easy.”

Kad ground his teeth together.

“Yes, I know that happened to you, too.” Naika said, softening her voice. My point is, if you only try to fight with violence, that is all you will ever know.”

Kad released her fingers, pulling back.

“That is the only way I know how to fix things. If we let her live, who knows what crap she will pull with the next people she meets? What if more people die?”

“It won't fix anything, why can't you see that?”

Because we don't want to! Because it's too painful!

Kad stood up and walked away from her as the sky blushed a rosy pink.

“You told me you didn't kill the councillor, and I believed you. I wanted to believe you, but you wanted to, right? What happened?”

Don't listen to her! Nosy wench!

Kad contorted his face, a sharp throbbing occurring beneath his teeth.

“Was it because you believed yourself not to be a killer? Was it because deep down, you knew it was not the answer?”

“I didn't kill him because I was weak! Because I hesitated!”

“You didn't do it because you're not a killer, Kad.”

“I am.” He said, pain taking over. “I have killed.”

“To protect yourself, to survive.”

Clack.

“It was a message, to the racists and politicians, it was a warning that we could fight back.”

“You really thought that would work?”

Clack.

“He died regardless, didn't he? Have things changed?” Naika said. “For the world? For you?”

Clack.

“At least I'm out there, doing something to help our people!” He shouted. “While your grandad sits at his desk and preaches about how we all should be while we're eating stew made from cockroaches and rat turds!”

Naika stiffened.

“My poppo has done more for all people than you will ever do.”

Kad chuckled morbidly.

“I'm sure, yeah. Like you would know what it's all like outside your community centres. Hel, the only reason I'm here is because of how naïve you both are! You don't know anything, about this place, how the Guardsman really treat us.”

Naika stood up quickly, one hand still cupping her ear.

“I know a lot more than you think, Kad.” She said sternly.

Kad scoffed.

“No, you don't!” I'm sick of it, sick of hearing you two preach about all this righteousness, and you've never even experienced what it's like, have you?”

Kad heard the air slice before the impact hit, stinging his cheek, forcing the words on his tongue to die and become silence. Naika's breathing grew louder as the anger surged through her body.

“Don't you ever say something like that to me again.” She said, baring her teeth.

Kad was stunned, rubbing his cheek softly.

“I have experienced more pain in my life than I would ever wish on an enemy, including that psycho that cut off my ear for some stupid spider-god!”

The intensity made Naika dizzy, and she steadied herself, sitting back down onto the ledge. Kad watched, for the first time in a long while, feeling the anger drain from his body. A tense silence piled in between them. Naika dipped her head between her hands, rubbing at the back of her head.

“Poppo isn't my grandad.” She said, sadness ever-growing within her. “Someone abandoned us, my sister and me, outside of the community centre. I was only two, she was still a newborn. He took us in, after his children had grown and left.”

Kad listened carefully, the dawn continuing to grow.

“He raised Keidi and me like we were his own.” She said, emotion filling her voice. “He was so good to us, Kad. Always teaching us, always protecting us.”

Kad watched as Naika dissapeared into a wistful realm, but he knew the dream would not last, there was something coming.

“Until one day, Keidi never comes home.” Naika said, bowing her head. “Me and poppo were so worried, he was calling up all members of the community, sending messages to everyone on the walk home from her school, but still, we couldn't find her. For five days, she was missing. Five days.”

Naiak drew in a painful breath.

“Turns out, she had been arrested.” She spat. “Can you believe that? A thirteen year old girl, walking home from school got arrested. For what it was, we never knew. The official statement was that she assaulted a Guardsman. Pssh. He was Leonid, six-foot-five, great orange mane and sharp teeth, and he was trying to tell us he was assaulted by a Consumer girl with flowers in her head-wraps. Do you know what they did with her?”

Naika squeezed her hands together, letting the anger flow.

“They threw her in Braddock's Dungeon.”

Kad felt the very world grow cold around him.

Braddock's? Surely not, that's only the place for the worst of the worst...

Braddock's Dungeon was underground, occupying the northern half of the island, while his home, Spi'Ra, took the southern half. He had heard rumours, whispers of its terror, how none could ever escape, how criminals were packed so tightly within, they could barely move.

“That can't be right.” He said, hollow. “Why would they put a little girl in a place like that? What did she do?”

“She didn't do anything!” Naika snapped.

Her shoulders slumped.

“She wasn't the only one. There were other girls, all different races. I don;t know what he did to them, I can only imagine what they did to poor Keidi. They weren't put with the other prisoners, they were locked in a room and left to rot at the mercy of the guards. My poppo, bless him, he never stopped trying to help her, calling in every favour, canvassing every politician, but I knew it wasn't enough.”

Kad gulped.

“What did you do?”

“I broke in.”

Kad laughed, but Naika did not move.

“You?” He said, almost callously. “You broke into the largest prison in the world, and then got out again?”

He continued to laugh, but Naika still did not move.

“It wasn't as hard as they'd have you believe.” She said quietly.

Kad stopped laughing, daring to take her seriously for a second.

“You're serious?”

She nodded.

“I spent hours practising on picking locks. It was stupid. I didn't give myself time to plan or observe anything, I just...I just kind of went for it.”

Kad stepped towards her, sitting next to her on the ledge.

“But...how? It sounds impossible...”

“Like I said, easier than you'd think.” She said, flaring a smile that quickly died. “But still not easy.”

This all sounds so implausible, don't buy into this, Kad.

“I stowed into a Shifter-mobile that was carrying supplies into a truck. I waited in a crate of raw Fire-bird wings for almost four hours before I was finally sure I was inside. I was in one of the kitchens, waited until no-one was around, and left. I knew she wasn't with the other inmates, and that the individual cells were on the higher levels, so once I found out where I was, I headed there. I was on the fourth floor, and climbed, using rope and a grappling hook made of a knitting needle, I climbed slowly, keeping to the shadows. Eventually, I realised she was on the very first floor, and that's where I found her.”

Her voice dipped deeply into sadness.

“The other girls had been taken out for their evening meals, but they left the bodies of the girls who didn;t make it behind. That's where I found Keidi, still wearing her head-wraps with the flowers in it...”

Kad grew colder still.

“I...I'm so sorry,Naika.”

She nodded slowly.

“How did you get out?”

She chuckled darkly.

“When I saw her...my beloved Kitua...so cold...so alone and so...still...I couldn't move. I sat by her for hours, even after the other girls returned. None of them tried to talk to me, and I just didn't move. After a while, I don't know how long, we were released. I was lucky. Very lucky. It was a stupid plan, and I didn't think it through, but poppo and the other parents raised enough of a fuss that the girls were released, and I was too. They didn't realise that I wasn't the consumer girl they imprisoned.”

Kad growled angrily.

“What of the guard? Please tell me he got what he deserved.”

Naika snorted.

“Are you kidding? He's a Guardsman. He was relegated to office duties. Even got a promotion from what I heard.”

“Did you tell them your sister died there?”

Naika laughed bitterly.

“They didn't take any responsibility. Of course they didn't. They said a Consumer girl was released, so how could she be dead? It was stupid of me. Because of me, poppo and me would have least gotten some compensation to atone for their evil actions, but because of me, she died anyway and we didn't get a penny in return.”

The pair grew silent as the wind began to calm itself in the outside world.

“So you know, Khasha.” Naika said quietly. “I know what the Guardsmen are really like. I know how the world treats us, and how there's no fighting back against it. That's all I wanted to do, but I felt so powerless. Poppo tried to console me, but the anger never really faded. Even now, telling you this, I can feel it, like a caged animal inside of me trying to let loose, but I won't let it. I can't, not for myself, Keidi or my grandfather. I won't.”

Kad swallowed again but his mouth had become a desert.

“Worst part was, I spent all of this time thinking about how much time I wasted learning how to pick locks, but I guess it came in handy last night, didn't it?”

Kad laughed lightly.

“Yeah, it really did.”

The two remained in silence. He knew he had to coerce her into leaving with him, to rejoin her grandfather with the others, but something stayed him, compelled him to remain here with her, talking until the dawn brought its light to the world.

“I'm getting cold.” She said, shivering.

She pushed herself closer to him. Awkwardly, he went to reach his arm around her, but hesitated. Naika noticed this, and grabbed it, smiling as she pulled it around her shoulders.

Maybe we were wrong.

The sunrise rose above the mountains, setting the sky ablaze. Elsewhere, was the sound of mighty wings beating gracefully through the sky. Kad could hear the tremor in the wind, assuming it was a large bird out for breakfast, not knowing it was a great, green dragon, surveying its kingdom from afar.