by R. K. Gold
Yael pressed her tongue to the roof of her mouth. When she didn’t say anything, Pace continued, “After the war, it was turned back to a sanctuary for the Three, but a lot of people here still worship the one true god of Emerlia, so they trashed it.”
"But they're fighting, Emerlia." Yael knew not everyone worshipped the Three; most people visiting Eselport believed in the one true god, like Emerlia, but she always thought of the north as an opposing force to King Benny. How could they stand against him when they both pray for help from the same god?
“They’re fighting their king, not their god,” Pace corrected. “We knew she wouldn’t stop here, but we needed to find a safe space to stay for the night. I heard on the radio inside that things are getting worse, and I didn’t want you to do something foolish like take off without us in the middle of the night with a northern militia on the loose.”
“I’m sorry,” Yael said. She didn’t expect this kind of concern. Ms. White was only nervous about how it would affect her sales at the market. She had only just met Pace. It had to be about her eyes. Or the way she and the starborn connected in Wydser. He couldn’t actually be that concerned about her.
“We have to trust each other. I trust that lot with my life—”
“I’m not them.”
“But you are for now, and I know it's tough, but if this is going to work, you need to trust us. Even if it’s something small like seeing something for yourself,” Pace said. Yael nodded and followed him across the street inside the dark hostel. The front desk was empty, and the winding wooden stairs creaked. Eight gas lamps illuminated the dusty room, two to a wall. Yael imagined Dean had to hunch over and sidestep to walk through a hallway so short and narrow.
“Come on.” Pace waved Yael to follow her into the dimly lit hall. The lamps flickered on and off, and the numberless doors looked painted on. There was a hole in the floor covered by a red and brown checkered rug. Yael stopped in front of a broken clock hanging on the wall. Even the clock had no numbers. Only black lines indicating each hour and two hands.
Pace stopped at the end of the hall and knocked three times on the door.
“Who is it?” a high-pitched voice asked on the other side.
“Quit playing around and let us in.” Pace kicked the bottom of the door, and it swung open. Dean held back one of the twins with his hand firmly on the boy's forehead, and his arm stretched out. Lewis' cheeks puffed out as he tried to break Dean's grip but couldn't slip out of his hold.
“You found her." Dean sighed, and Pace kicked the door shut the moment they crossed the threshold. There was a single bed, which Brody sat cross legged on, and a dresser next to a square window. The shutters were closed, and a single lamp lit the room. She could see everyone but couldn't make out the scar on Brody's chin or the shape of Dean's nose. Lewis hopped on the bed as Pace and Dean broke off to the opposite corner. Yael could almost touch them with her toe if she sat on the foot of the bed. If she hopped on the mattress, she could kiss the slanted ceiling. She fanned herself off. There wasn’t a single fan in the room, and the window remained closed.
"Leave it alone!" Lewis swatted his brother's hand away as he tried to poke the bruise on his stomach. It was the only blemish on his terra cotta shade skin.
“Quiet down,” Pace whispered and moved his finger to his lips before pulling back the shutters just wide enough for a pinky nail to slip through. “We’re not in Wydser anymore. Skirmishes have reached Hizen before, and I’d rather not draw any attention to ourselves.”
“She’s the one still wearing a poncho like some airship runaway.” Lewis aimed a thumb at Yael, and Brody chuckled.
“Every attack has happened at night; we have to stay alert. You heard Armstrong. He wanted us to be in Krate by now,” Pace said.
“You know we aren’t going to Krate.” Dean’s eyes glossed over as he repeated his usual chorus.
“Armstrong is the bravest man in the world, and if he’s worried about the northern states right now, we have to be worried too.” Pace turned back to the window.
Yael scooted over and pushed her face beside him to catch a glimpse of what was going on outside. Two men walked down the center of the street. They were taller than everyone else, with broad shoulders and square jaws. One of them wore the traditional black uniform with orange stitching Emerlia soldiers wore on formal occasions. The other had on a button-down shirt and slacks like most people Yael saw in Wydser.
Dean poked his head out. “Loyalists?”
“The one on the right might be a solider,” Pace replied, but Dean shook his head.
“Wouldn’t be that sloppy if he were. Besides, those boots look like he just finished a day in the mines. They could be loyalists,” Dean said.
“Or paid disruptors, bold of them to put on a uniform though,” Pace said.
“We don’t know if they’re fighting tonight; they may just be scouting.” Dean dropped under the window. “Or maybe you’re right, just saw three more. King Benny might be getting a bit more aggressive.”
“All right, I’ll take first watch. Any sign of trouble, we make a break for it. Got it?” Pace asked his crew. His eyes lingered on Lewis and Brody. “Got it?” They both nodded immediately as Dean extinguished the only light in the room.
Yael pulled her knees close to her body. Dean lifted her to her feet, even though she put no effort into standing independently, and carried her to the bed. "I don't need the bed," she said, but Dean turned around without saying a word and lay flat on the floor. He took up a quarter of the room on his own, while the twins rested on his round stomach. The floorboards creaked, and the gentle hum of Dean’s snoring filled the room.
16
A blanket fell over Yael, and when she looked around, she saw Pace returning to the window. She was about to thank him when Lewis asked, “Do you miss Eselport?”
She looked over and saw Brody or Lewis glancing up at her with his head resting on the back of his hands. Of course, she missed Eselport. It wasn't even that she had been gone for long; it was just the possibility of never returning that draped over her as heavily as the darkness of the room.
“A bit, don’t you miss your home?” Yael let her hand dangle over the bed.
"Home? I've had a few of those, can't say I miss any, though." He rolled over and tilted his head back, so his face was upside down. "You miss home at all?" He nudged his brother, who yawned and lifted his head but kept his eyes closed.
“I miss sleep,” Brody said groggily.
“Did you always live in Wydser?” Yael asked Lewis as his brother made himself comfortable again and rolled over.
“We were shipped around from home to home but never left the capital,” Lewis replied. She could only make out his outline in the shadows.
“Never met our parents but know they’d be proud of us,” Brody said through a yawn.
Dean snorted and wiped his mouth. "I'm awake," he announced without getting up. It made Yael think of the times Ms. White knocked on her door to get her out of bed, and she called out without closing her eyes like she could push it back as some sort of dream.
“Just look at the life we were able to grow from nothing,” Lewis added.
“Biggest thing you’ve grown are your heads.” Dean chuckled. Within seconds, he was snoring once more, and Yael couldn’t help but wonder how someone got that good at sleeping.
“We were actually living all right at the second home,” Lewis said.
Brody sat up and yawned. “Yeah, I guess. I mean, it was as good as it could get. Got weird when they started seeing that inventor, though."
They? Yael couldn’t bring herself to ask. She tried, but her throat tensed up whenever she tried to form the words.
“Shhh.” Pace opened the shutters a crack and peered outside. Yael heard boots kicking gravel and heavy footsteps outside. Pace’s expressionless face was the only thing keeping her stomach from jumping out her throat.
“They were nice, but they weren’t family,” Brody added. Yael’s ears
perked up. They could’ve been describing Ms. White.
“What happened?” Yael asked.
“Honestly, I don’t remember our first home that much. I only remember being told it was a disaster. A couple from Dyznae moved to Colodian after the war and set up a foster house. They got paid per child like most homes," Lewis said. Yael knew that already. Ms. White received monthly payments from Wydser for keeping her.
“He says moved here; I say escaped. You don’t just leave a Dracar territory,” Brody added.
“I’m telling the story.” Lewis shoved his brother.
“Quiet, both of you, or I’ll strap you in place,” Pace said, and the silence crept through the room like ink through water. The only light source came from a flickering streetlamp outside the window. The voices outside grew, but they didn’t carry the same celebratory cheer as the gathering across the street.
“They were using children to sew clothes for the market district while getting paid by the government,” Lewis said.
“Honestly, I think we could’ve learned more from them if we got placed there second. Talk about the ultimate con. They were getting paid by the government to employ free labor,” Brody said.
"But, you didn't last long there?" Yael asked. Ms. White put her to work, but it never felt out of the ordinary. It wasn’t like Ms. White was having Yael do anything she wasn’t doing herself. “I take it the kids weren’t getting paid?”
“Of course they were, with a cramped bed and the blandest food imaginable, I imagine,” Brody said.
“Like I said, we barely remember. We just know what Harmony and Claudia told us. They were the ones who took care of us until Pace came along,” Lewis said.
“Big papa Pace.” Brody chuckled. Yael saw a round shadow fly through the air, followed by a loud thud. Brody groaned. “That hurt.”
“Good,” Pace said.
“I liked Harmony. Claudia was rarely around. She taught at the university, but Harmony always took good care of us. I remember when she tried to plan a trip to the south for us.”
“Yeah, that lasted long,” Brody said sarcastically. “They got tired of us always coming home with things they knew we didn’t pay for. Claudia was the one who finally said next time you mess up, we aren’t bailing you out.’”
“What did you do?” Yael asked.
“Messed up, of course," Lewis replied, and even though she couldn't see his face, she could almost hear him grinning through the darkness. “A couple of dragonflies were trying to shut down a weekly game, so we snuck into the eastern barracks.”
“You stole from the army?”
“Ehh—tried to. Didn’t get far.” Brody chuckled. “Those dragonflies aren’t nearly as dumb as they look.”
“We were gonna just take some clothes, maybe a few weapons, and of course any loose coin purses we could find. Unfortunately, when we came out of the cellar, we ended up in the armory,” Lewis said.
Yael gripped the edge of her bed. “They were all there?”
“Not at first. We thought we hit the jackpot, and that's what slowed us down. We tried to carry everything, and I mean everything! I'm shocked we didn't accidentally blow a foot off or get poked by a sword. We weren't exactly careful, just piling whatever we could on our arms. Before we could make our way out though, the doors flung open, and next thing we know, we’re back in the cellar, only this time in a cage.”
Dean’s snores cut through the darkness until he snorted like something blocked his nose. He woke up. “Lewis!” He raised his voice, and Lewis groaned in pain.
The lights outside grew brighter. “I knew it. I don’t like the look of this.” Pace scrambled over to get his bag.
Yael used her packed bag as a pillow. If she needed to make a break for it, she would be ready as soon as her feet touched the ground.
“And Claudia stuck to her word. We waited around in the basement of that barracks for over a week before they ran out of room and let us go,” Lewis said.
“They weren’t about to kill a couple of kids for failing to steal from dragonflies. It’s not like we hurt anyone,” Brody added. “We ended up spotting Claudia when we got out… Well, okay, it wasn’t an accident. We were pretty upset she let us sit in a cell, but then we saw her and Harmony together with that guy—yuck.”
Lewis cut in, “We had every intention of giving them a piece of our mind, but when we saw them, we just couldn't do it. We'd already put them through so much, and all they tried to do was give us the best life they could. So, we walked away. What makes it even harder is I think if we walked over to them, they would've taken us back, and we would've gotten in trouble again."
“Yeah, it was for the best we went into business together,” Brody said.
“Business? You pickpocketed pedestrians in the market ‘til Pace tracked you down.” Dean lifted his head from the floor.
“Yeah, so I guess we’ve been caught twice.” Lewis chuckled.
Yael lay back on her bag and closed her eyes. She understood all too well what the twins were saying about Harmony. Ms. White had always taken such good care of her, but there was perpetually resistance. Like she was just a temporary house guest.
The lights outside the hostel intensified. Yael lifted her head from her bag and could make out the stunned expression on Pace's face when he said, "We gotta go now!" Dean's snoring stopped abruptly, and was the first to his feet, scooping the twins up with ease. Yael slung her bag over her shoulder and hopped the bed more quickly than a bad memory. They burst down the hall, running on their toes to muffle their steps.
As soon as they hit the streets, Yael coughed from the smoke. The inn across the road was ablaze, and the heat from the fire squeezed her cheeks. The air felt solid and struggled to pass through her nostrils, instead laid bricks in her airways that could only break when she coughed.
A large man in the black and orange Emerlia uniform came around the corner dragging a man who tried to claw the soldier’s arm from his back. He was tossed aside with ease as more men in black and orange exited the buildings.
"Get the others and flip the tracks!" a raspy voice called to the crowd as a dozen men sprinted away. "Burn that down, smoke out any stragglers and—" His eyes caught the group of children as they stood in the middle of the street. Ash snowed from the inn, and in the silence, Yael felt painted to the scene. All she could do was blink and breathe. Even the fire quieted down, only existing in its orange colors.
The invisible grip snapped the moment the soldier shouted, “And round them up!”
The nearest soldier stepped out from their left flank. None of them saw the man until that moment. He reached down for Lewis, who ducked his grip while Brody grabbed the man's wrist. Before he could smack the child away, Brody sank his teeth into the back of the man’s hand. Yael went to pull Brody away, but the man flailed his arm and knocked off her glasses. He momentarily froze and shouted, “Boss, her eyes! Her eyes!" The sequence gave Dean enough time to reach him, and in two strikes, one to the soldier's gut and the second to his nose, the man toppled to the ground.
The man across the street moved on the children with a half-dozen others. They nearly had them surrounded when Pace took Lewis by the wrist and bolted. Dean scooped up Brody, and Yael fell into their wake. She heard the man Dean attacked groan, and from the ground, he said, “Her eyes! Her eyes! One white and the other red.”
The stampede of footsteps pounded the road. Yael glanced back and saw at least ten men pursuing them, and she was falling behind. For every stride Dean took, she had to take two or three, while Pace ran like a fox chasing a hen.
Pace took a sharp turn off the main road and down a dimly lit, paved side street. The brick apartments had bars on their tiny rectangular windows and trash along the route. The road itself was covered in potholes. They made another sharp turn down an alley, and Pace climbed the fence before Yael could even blink. The two twins hopped over next. There was only a single working light in the passage, so Yael cold only see their outlines. The bric
k buildings on both sides of them were dark and quiet.
Yael tossed her bag over the fence and grabbed hold. As she climbed, more light filled the area. She didn’t have to turn around to know the mob was coming. She could hear their footsteps pounding on the pavement. The fence caught her pant leg. She pulled, and it twisted the fabric further around her leg.
The large man in the black uniform was almost within spitting distance. She kicked her leg back and forth, trying to break the hold. Pace hopped the fence once again and leaned over. He extended his hand for Yael to take. “Cut her pant leg!” he shouted down to Dean.
Dean went to work on her pants as the crowd reached the fence, but his fingers were too thick. He couldn’t maintain a good enough grip, and the wiring was too tight for him to stick more of his hand through.
Pace leaned further down. His fingers brushed Yael’s. She kicked her leg as Dean sawed away until she heard the fabric tear. In her peripherals, she saw hands swiping at her feet. Two fingers swept the back of her ankle. She kicked her heel down like a piston to create some separation.
“Grab her!” a deep voice shouted up. Yael kicked back again but couldn’t break free.
"I'm on it," Brody said and took the blade from Dean. He was over the fence in a flash and cut through the fabric. The men were within spitting distance now. The flames from their torches blinded Yael's peripherals as she sprang her leg free and took Pace's hand. The fence scratched her stomach as he yanked her up, and before she could collect her footing, she fell over the side into Dean’s arms.
"No!" Pace shouted, and when she looked back, she saw Brody surrounded by their pursuers. They yanked him off the fence, and two men took him away.
“Brody!” Pace shouted, but he disappeared in the darkness. Lewis jumped on the fence to chase after his brother, but Dean dropped Yael to hold the twin back with both hands. He tossed Lewis over his shoulder and reached up for Pace.
"Come on, we gotta get out of here now." Pace didn't budge at first, then all at once, hopped off the fence and ran. "They brought some firepower!" he shouted, and they bolted down the alley. They ducked out, avoiding the main roads. No one said a word, but the emptiness of losing Brody filled every space they hid in. They could smell the fires burning and see the lights from the flames when they neared the road.