Lich ducked down, so that his face would be in front of the child's eyes. Her eyes stopped being attacked by the sun, so she slowly put her arm down, and looked at the masked man. The only part of his face she could see were his brown eyes.

“What's your name?”

Lich was getting more and more confused by the girl's behavior. First, she just came up to a random armed man, and then asked for his name.

“I'm Lich, and you?”

She was quite lucky that he was not hungry, or talking would not be the thing he used his mouth on.

“I'm One Five Three Five.”

After saying that, she lifted the sleeve of her crudely made shirt and revealed a tattoo depicting the number 1535. That was the way slaves in Windhoek were marked.

The newest slaves were already in the tens of thousands, meaning that this child would have to be marked around the time when this system was set up, and that happened exactly on the third anniversary of the bombardment.

“Were you born a slave?”

A good person would avoid the topic, but Lich was no saint. He was not much of a human either.

“I don't understand.”

What was a slave? She knew the word after hearing it from a few men who would take away her older sisters, but the meaning of it was not something she knew.

“Right. So when did you get that tattoo?” Lich pointed at her identification marker and asked.

He was very curious if she was one of the rare screw-ups. That was how children born from slave hookers were commonly called.

“I don't remember, but Mother said that I got it when I was born.”

Lich slightly smiled. His curiosity was satisfied, and he saw something as rare as a white crow, but slaves were always separated from their families in other cities, so a new question appeared.

“And who is this Mother?”

“The lady who took care of me and my big sisters. She would always talk to the men who came about my prettiest sisters. And she teaches us how to serve them, but I was too young, so she said that I would have to wait for my next birthday, which is in two months.”

Lich understood that the child was talking about a slave manager, and, from context clues, he understood that they were not being trained for labor.

“And why did you say she “took”, not “takes” care of you?”

“One day, instead of her, a few men came and took me and my sisters. They told me to come, so I came with them, but I can't find Mother anywhere.”

An increasingly clear picture was appearing in Lich's mind. The little kid was a slave in training. The revolt started. Some other slaves saved her.

“So, what are you doing here?”

“I was looking for Mother, but when I came back to the place where we live, everything was burning, and my sisters were gone. I was looking for them when I met you.”

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'So Fifteen was not looking for food, but for family.'

As always, Lich immediately renamed a thing that was weaker than him. It was something he did out of habit, and not for some malicious reason, like establishing his dominance or other such stupidity.

“Ok, Fifteen. Show me the place where they sell the best clothes.”

“Who is Fifteen?”

“You.”

“Ok.” She didn't object to new. “Follow me.”

They started walking toward the biggest building that was not destroyed. It normally functioned as the city hall, but after the revolts started, it transformed into a shelter for everyone standing on the side of slavers.

Around that area stood the most expensive shops in the city. With products imported from all of Africa, the stores were filled with everything a human soul would desire (Including slaves, of course).

Along the way, Fifteen asked Lich about the world outside the walls. He answered truthfully, and she asked him about something she never understood.

“If it's so bad out there, why did my sisters want to live in the city? How could everyone complain about living here when we get good food, good clothes, and Mother takes care of us?”

Fifteen was very confused about this matter. She couldn't understand the concept of freedom, because she was never free.

“Some people are stupid. They get all they need and still complain.”

Lich just couldn't be bothered to explain it, so he gave a 10% correct analysis to satisfy her.

“I guess you're right. Oh, this is the place you're looking for!”

She pointed at a row of collapsed buildings, but that didn't discourage Lich. There may still have been some merchandise in the basement.

Lich and Fifteen started looking through the rubble, and, after a few hours, they finally found the remains of a clothing shop.

There were very little clues as to which store sold what, and the only reason Lich found what he was looking for, was because he spotted a manikin's head.

Shortly after, Fifteen found a trapdoor locked with a padlock.

“Oh no, we don't have the key!”

But before she could complain about it to Lich, the padlock was destroyed by a pick, and he opened it.

“I guess that's it.”

A few meter long ladder was leading down into the basement. The pair climbed down, but did not ind what they were looking for.

Instead, a corpse of a woman who died of dehydration was what they encountered. She was closed in a cell, and the sand maggots already ate all except her bones.

But luckily, her dress was only slightly tattered, so Lich still achieved his goal.

“Ok. Let's sleep.”

“But it smells here!” Fifteen rejected Lich's words. She could not sleep in a place like this, after all.

“Then go sleep somewhere else.” But he simply didn't care.

“Ok…” Sadly, she had no choice.