“Do you envy the choices my station affords me? I doubt you understand the true magnitude of what leaders face—the harsh realities of choosing our people over theirs every time.”

—General Ranthom Forst, in a personal letter to a friend regarding his handling of the Diamosa Crisis

Zaina froze, unsure of what to do. They weren’t going to hurt these kids, right? She didn’t sign up for that.

Lady Sivanya stepped forward. “Hello, dears. You look a little lost.” She turned to the injured child, a young Diveldaran girl standing behind her friend. “You’re hurt. Let me take a look.”

The foremost child, a young Diveldaran boy with short, brown hair, spoke up. “We’re not lost. We know exactly where we are.” He glanced toward his friend. “But she is hurt. Can you help?”

Sivanya dropped to one knee and examined the girl’s leg. Even from her vantage point, Zaina noticed a deep-looking gash right above the girl’s knee. It looked incredibly painful—the girl was sniffing and fighting to hold back tears, but she’d clearly been crying before this.

“Oh, dear,” she said. “What happened to you?”

The girl wiped her eyes, sniffed, and then said, “I tripped and fell on an edgreroot. It h-h-hurts.”

“This is quite bad,” Sivanya remarked, “have you been walking on it?”

The girl nodded.

“Oh, you poor, little thing,” Sivanya chirped. Her eyes turned cold for a moment and her brow furrowed as if in thought. A wave of tension emanated from Zaina’s chest—what was she thinking about? These kids needed help. There was nothing to ponder.

Then, in a moment, it was gone. The charming warmth returned to Sivanya’s face, and she said, “You need to get home, and quickly—but we can’t take you, and I can’t well expect you to walk, now, can I? So come with us for the night. We’ll treat your leg, give you a good dinner and tomorrow we’ll figure out how to get you back home.”

The boy looked at his friend, as if examining his options, then turned back to Sivanya and said, “Why can’t you take us back home?”

Sivanya frowned. “I’m afraid we wouldn’t be too welcome where you live. But tomorrow we’ll find a way to sneak you back into the city.”

The boy’s hands fidgeted as he mulled this over. Then, he said, “You promise not to hurt us?”

Sivanya extended a hand with her index finger curled up. “Hook-swear.”

The boy wrapped his index finger around hers, and they each gave a light tug. “Okay. But I don’t think she can walk the rest of the way.”

“Of course not—and I wouldn’t expect her to.” Sivanya turned her attention to the little girl again. “I’m going to pick you up, now—it’s going to hurt for a second, but the sooner we get you back to our home, the sooner we can treat you—all right?”

The little girl nodded and extended her arms toward Sivanya, who scooped her and cradled her against her chest. The girl yelped and tears began to flow from her eyes, but she was trying to stay strong.

“There you go,” Sivanya said. “You’ll feel better soon—we have great healers.”

The little girl sniffed. “Thank you.”

“No need,” replied Sivanya. “Come, now—let’s get going.”

They set off walking at a brisk pace through the forest.

“So,” Sivanya said, “what are your names, little ones?”

“I’m Kalo, and she’s Vika,” the boy said. “What about you two’s?”

“I’m Sivanya, and this here is my friend, Zaina Quin.”

“Oh, okay.”

“I’m curious,” Sivanya said, “why were you two out here to begin with?”

“There were three of us,” Kalo replied. “My friend, Edorn, came with us. But he ran when he saw Vika bleeding—Edorn’s scared of blood.”

“Okay, then—why did the three of you come all the way out here?”

“Because,” Kalo started, “my dad says monsters live out in this forest—that it’s cursed. I wanted to prove it to Edorn because he says his dad told him it’s all fake, and there are no monsters, not really.”

“You came all the way out here looking for monsters?” Sivanya chuckled. “Did you even think of what you would do if you found one?”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Kalo put his fist over his heart. “My dad says fighting monsters is what makes a hero. And he says a hero’s heart always wins.”

“If only that were true,” Sivanya said. “Well, have you seen any monsters yet?”

He shook his head.

“How do you know I’m not one of them?” she asked.

The boy shrugged. “You seem too nice to be a monster. Monsters are mean and scary.”

Sivanya chuckled. “You’re too sweet. Well, be glad you didn’t meet any monsters today. These woods are no place for children.”

“Dad says fighting monsters is all about faith,” the boy replied.

“Perhaps he’s right,” she said, “but how are you supposed to fight something you can’t even recognize? What if the scariest monster is the one you don’t know to be a monster to begin with?”

The boy mulled this over. “I don’t know.”

Lady Sivanya loosed a heavy sigh, then tapped her earpiece. “Patrol group, this is Sivanya. We’ve found some injured children—we’ll be taking them back to camp. It’s likely the group we encountered earlier was a search party, so they may still send out their regular patrols. If there’s a situation let us know and we’ll return as quickly as possible.”

There was a brief silence, and then Rasmus responded, “Affirmative.”

They continued in silence for a brief time, until Sivanya turned to Zaina. “So,” she said, “it’s unfortunate that this wasn’t a typical day for patrols, but you survived nonetheless. How are you feeling about it?”

Zaina didn’t know how to answer, but she gave it her best shot. “Honestly? Stressed—disturbed—maybe a little shocked.”

Sivanya nodded. “I’d say that’s all normal for the early-goings. Tomorrow you can spend the day at the dig site, see how that works for you.”

“I’d like that,” Zaina said. She may as well try both to see where she could do more good. If there was anything she could do to prevent the coming storm, she had to try. “I’ll give both a try before I make my final decision.”

“Excellent,” Sivanya said. “I’m sure you’ll be an asset on whichever front you choose.”

They continued in silence. Vika had either fallen asleep or passed out in Sivanya’s arms by the time they arrived at the cluster of painted tents—Sivanya chose one for them to stay in and tenderly set Vika down on a mat. Then she tapped her earpiece again. “Ianaj, Donae. I need you both out by the homes, quick.”

They waited longer still, refraining from speaking to give Vika some peace. Within a few minutes two marked appeared, one an elderly female Govaran, with gray, leathery skin, a mass of white facial hair, and a circular, hunched-over body which supported a protective shell worn on the back; the other a young, dark-skinned human woman with her hair dyed bright pink and dark purple, and numerous piercings. She was beautiful, and her piercing blue eyes struck Zaina like a bullet; she stood with her arms crossed, not a care in the world.

“Thank you two for coming,” Sivanya said.

The Govaran spoke in a raspy, pained voice “Anything my Lady requires.”

The human examined Zaina, then turned to Sivanya and said, “Happy to help however I can.”

Sivanya addressed the Govaran, “Ianaj, would you terribly mind helping these children I found in the woods? The girl, Vika, has an injury that needs tending. The boy should be fine, but I’d like you to keep an eye on them—make sure no one messes with them, and see to it that they’re fed and happy.”

“It’s been many years since I cooked for Diveldarans, and many more since I properly stitched up a wound,” Ianaj replied, “but I will do my best.”

“Thank you—and if you need anything, let me know,” Sivanya said, then turned to address the human woman. “And Donae, would you be able to go back to the dig-site and let everyone know about our unmarked guests? Let them know they are not to be harmed, and that they will be treated as one of us for their brief stay. This sort of thing has happened before, so I doubt there will be any issues—but I’d like to make sure there are no surprises for anyone.”

Donae nodded and ran off while Ianaj sidled into the kids’ tent to attend to Vika’s leg. Zaina turned to Sivanya—she was staring wistfully into the tent as Ianaj went about gently waking Vika up. A deep, frustrated sigh came from Sivanya.

“What’s wrong?” Zaina asked.

“That was a mistake,” she muttered.

“What was?” Zaina asked. “Helping them?”

“Letting them live,” Sivanya replied.

“What the hell do you—they’re children!”

“They don’t stay children forever,” Sivanya said, staring forward with a sorrowful gaze. “In ten years they’ll be just like the rest of them—clamoring for our heads.”

Zaina didn’t have the faintest idea of what to say. Sivanya’s logic wasn’t wrong, but it was cruel, perhaps needlessly so. The only saving grace was that Sivanya hadn’t acted on her impulses.

Sivanya turned back to Zaina. “These are the kinds of choices I’m faced with as a leader—but none of it will matter once we get into the temple. Then, they can hate us all they want.”

“Well,” Zaina said, “for what it’s worth, I think you did the right thing.”

Sivanya’s lips curled into a deep frown. “I hope it’s worth more than I think. For now I imagine you’re quite exhausted—you probably want some rest.”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Zaina replied, wondering if she’d even be able to sleep. This whole thing felt bigger than her.

“You know,” Sivanya said, “if you want to talk about anything, or tell me anything, you can. You don’t have to hold anything back.”

“I’m not,” Zaina said, her heart pounding—was Sivanya getting suspicious? Had she been suspicious this whole time?

“I’m only letting you know. Look, we’re coming up on the tents now. Do you need help finding yours?”

Zaina nodded.

“All right, follow me.”

Sivanya led Zaina to her tent and bid her farewell for the night; she lingered at the door for a long moment, as if she had something she wanted to say or ask, but it must not have been terribly important—instead of speaking, she turned and left Zaina alone with her thoughts.

I should get ahold of Xyrthe. Once Zaina was sure Sivanya had walked away, she fumbled for her vis-screen and checked for any messages. There were two unread:

‘Safe.’

‘You safe?’

Zaina sighed and replied, ‘Safe.’

Confused thoughts and feelings still clouded Zaina’s mind, so she laid on her mat and stared at the ceiling of her tent. Light from Vyzria’s lone moon managed to dimly glow through the thin fabric. She hoped things made more sense on Xyrthe’s mission, whatever it had become. She was sure she’d hear about at least some of it—if she survived her own mission, that was.

Baby steps, I guess. Let’s make it through the night. Tomorrow we’ll see what we can do on the mining front.

Zaina tried to quell the chaos in her mind by closing her eyes and forcing herself to attempt to sleep. She hoped her brain might come up with an unconscious solution, or any solution at all. Before long she drifted off, dreaming about simpler times on Demelia.

The peace didn’t last long—something was touching her face, and she woke up with a start, sitting up—a hand yanked her hair, holding her in place and making her yelp. Then, a fang appeared at her throat, wielded by a steely-eyed Sivanya.