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Previous chapter: Chapter 4
Chapter 5 (Alone)
I
bit into my lower lip as I stared up at the mayor. “There has to be something.”
The
mayor’s expression turned dark. “Don’t push me, son. According to regulations,
I should have you arrested for even suggesting we work with terrorists. But I know
Igu is your friend.”
The
mayor’s office closed in around me, and despite my heaving chest, I found
breath hard to come by. “Please.”
Clapping
his hands, the mayor turned back to his desk. “Escort Tima out of here before I
have to give orders for his arrest.”
Yalrein
bowed then grabbed onto my arm and dragged me from the mayor’s residence.
In
the street, I stumbled forward, lost in a part of town I should know like the
mining tunnels I helped craft. But all I saw were faceless buildings. A road that
crisscrossed with other roads and stretched for miles. Mocking clouds in the
sky.
Where
should I go? What should I do?
Igu
…
Clacking
sounds came from the left. Someone shouted, words just beyond recognition.
I
trudged forward, falling deeper into my haze of loss. Igu was going to die. No
one was able to help her. No one was going to help her. The Regime and all
their stupid rules and laws could rot.
A
horse screamed. Something hot smashed into my stomach and hurled me backwards
to crash I to the mayor’s now closed front gate. Words came down from the top
of the gate.
I
could barely suck in a breath.
And
nothing mattered.
What
was I going to do without Igu? She was always there for me. Looking out for me.
Helping me up whenever I fell. She’d been there for me for as long as I could
remember, and now that she’s in trouble, I was helpless. Hopeless. Worthless.
I
groaned as a strong hand jerked me to my feet.
“Damn,
boy,” Uncle Weron said from somewhere in the distance, his voice just above a
whisper. “What happened to you?”
What
had happened to me? I. I had given up. On my best friend.
I
shook my head. No. I wasn’t going to give up. Not now. Not while there was
still a chance. Even if it cost me everything. Even if I never got the chance
to show Aiga how great I was by winning in the arena. As long as Igu lived, it
was fine.
“Nephew?”
Weron asked. Everything snapped back into sharp focus. Uncle Weron stood in
front of me, the blacksmiths’ shop behind him. A cart driver, hauling food or
something, glared at me from the center of the road, his horse dancing back and
forth with about as little skill as I had.
“Uncle,”
I said, feeling at my shirt which ended in burned cloth around my chest. “Do
you have a bunch of small chunks of metal? Preferably, no bigger than one inch
by one inch.”
Weron
nodded in apology to the driver as he herded me across the street and into the
shop. “We have a whole mess of that kind of scrap metal, but why do you need
it?”
“I
want to try something out. I’ll pay for them as soon as next month’s salary
comes in.”
“No
need. We just throw that kind of scrap away.”
I
nodded then took a breath. “And can I borrow a horse. Preferably Guudra?”
“You
still haven’t told me why you need this stuff.”
My
other two uncles sat by the forge, one banging away while the other used his
power to cool the metal with water. Luckily, my mother was nowhere to be seen.
After
another deep breath to still my trembling hands, I nodded towards my other two
uncles. “Is it ready?”
Weron’s
brow furrowed. “Yes. Stop evading the question.”
“A
new shirt and some protein bars?”
“Tima
… you’re getting dangerously close to pushing my patience.”
I
looked up at my uncle and shook my head. “I can’t tell you.”
Weron
grunted.
“What
I’m going to do is already stupid enough. I don’t want to risk anyone else.”
And that was true enough. If Uncle Weron, or anyone for that matter, knew I was
going out to meet the Fevered Five alone, I’ll be locked up with everyone else
who had lost their wits. But I had no other choice, so I said, “I won’t give up
on Igu without a fight. So please, don’t tell Mother.”
Next: Chapter 6
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