CHAPTER 27-NO TIME TO DECIDE
“
“
“
“
“
“feel them, the same ones from the cavern.” Kad said.
“
“
“sure, Kad Ekisziku? Until I have finished my scanning, the probability percentage of each route is currently at thirty-three-point-three-recurring.”
“
“
Great, now he trusts us? After getting himself and us nearly killed in the cavern of screams?
It''s not his fault. Things are different out here, didn''t you say so yourself?
Oh X alive, maybe we were wrong, I can barely hear her.
“
“
“
“
“
“
“found it.” Kad hissed.
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
Its the captives from the cave!
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“they took her...” The High-Evean woman finished.
“
“No.” Came the strained reply from kad.
“
“
“pushta...”
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“us, book it through that tunnel and don''t linger, got it?”
“
Clack.
Please be alive, Naika. Just hold on a little.
“
“Keep it down.” Kad hissed.
“
“
“
“please keep it down?” Kad growled.
I''ll never find her with this clanking piece of crap behind me.
“
“
“
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“
“
“legua or Astral-miles if that helps.”
“
“
“
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.
That was no home. These caverns do not reek of disease and urine as much as that place did.
“
Naika!
“silent, okay?”
“help you...”
“Shut up!” A fierce voice growled, garbled with emotion.
I know that smell.
“
“
Won''t this woman just die already?
“
“
“
“
“You!” The woman shouted, pulling at Naika by the throat, choking her.
“
“your fault!” Ular roared. “You and your tainted blood!”
“
“that? Behind you?” Ular groaned through gritted teeth.
“
“
“
“let me go...” Naika urged. “He won''t hurt, you I swear.”
Does she speak for you now, too?
“hurt me?” Ular said, her hand trembling.
“possibly hurt me more than you already have?” She shouted, her voice sounding in the echo of the silent mountains.
“known is hurt! From you, from the priests, from everyone!”
“back!” She wailed.
“
“spider-god started before you can even blink.”
“betrayed us!”
“blood as an offering...a drink to sate an eternal thirst...”
“wishes to be answered...to hurt those who hurt us...the priests at the church...”
“feel them...their hands...everywhere...begging me not to scream...”
“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...”
“
“Children! All for her fetid cult!” He shouted.
“
“
“
“thing to the world, do not talk to me so gently!”
“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.”
“
“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.”
“
“him, or someone like you.”
“right.”
“
“never leave me, do you understand?”
“have my vengeance, not for me, not for Raca, but because it must be dealt!”
“No!” Kad shouted, pulling at his scimitar.
Clack!
“please...”
“
“Shut up!” Kad shouted. “Go to the others, tell them what happened, but stay put, we''ll come meet you shortly.”
“
“
“
“
“okay.” She said with a bitter laugh. “At least I can still hear you, I guess.”
“
“horrible.” She said sadly. “Do you think I can have it reattached?”
“
“
“pay.”
“
Clack.
“
“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.”
“
“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?”
“
Because we don''t want to! Because it''s too painful!
“wanted to believe you, but you wanted to, right? What happened?”
Don''t listen to her! Nosy wench!
“
“
“
“
“survive.”
Clack.
“warning that we could fight back.”
“
Clack.
“you?”
Clack.
“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!”
“ever do.”
“anything, about this place, how the Guardsman really treat us.”
“think, Kad.” She said sternly.
“
“ever say something like that to me again.” She said, baring her teeth.
“ever wish on an enemy, including that psycho that cut off my ear for some stupid spider-god!”
“
“good to us, Kad. Always teaching us, always protecting us.”
“
“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?”
“Braddock''s Dungeon.”
Braddock''s? Surely not, that''s only the place for the worst of the worst...
“
“anything!” Naika snapped.
“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.”
“you do?”
“
“
“
“
“was stupid. I didn''t give myself time to plan or observe anything, I just...I just kind of went for it.”
“how? It sounds impossible...”
“not easy.”
This all sounds so implausible, don''t buy into this, Kad.
“slowly, keeping to the shadows. Eventually, I realised she was on the very first floor, and that''s where I found her.”
“
“
“out?”
“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.”
“Please tell me he got what he deserved.”
“
“
“some compensation to atone for their evil actions, but because of me, she died anyway and we didn''t get a penny in return.”
“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.”
“
“
“
Maybe we were wrong.