Chapter 26 - Darkness #2
The second after, we’re running. My lungs burn, and my mind hurts with the thought that we’re abandoning innocent people.
And I am the cause of their ruin…
The sea beckons in the darkness. The night breeze carries salty sand and the scent of the oil used to keep the torches burning at sunset. It welcomes Galen and me as we approach the beach.
There is something on the shore. Tiny lights flicker in the distance in two symmetrical lines, marking a landing path at the end of which someone waves a torch, signalling us to hurry up.
I allow myself a moment to stop and collect my thoughts while Galen, hands braced on his knees, exhales, “She made it.”
The rain has stopped completely, and the sand crackles like burnt wood under my feet. Galen is a few steps in front of me, and when he turns, my heart sinks into my stomach—his face is pale, but it’s not the moonlight making him look sick.
I hurry towards him. “You’re going to pass out.” My arms are outstretched, ready to catch his fall.
“Let’s get to the platform,” he groans from the back of his throat, “Tabitha will not wait any longer… I can manage.”
“Tabitha? What? You can’t be serious…” I blurt out, instinctively darting my eyes towards the mysterious silhouette on the platform.
Tabitha Lorne is the second most famous name that spreads from mouth to mouth among first-year students. Second only to Roden. Well, the third most famous, if we consider the Herionos noteworthy. And I suppose now they are more than ever.
She was the head of an elite circle of Harvesters who were granted special permission to stay on Horigos and run all their business and missions from there without having to report back to Libera.
They were given secret identities to live on the other side, to establish genuine relationships with the Horigeans.
But Tabitha was the only one who also married one of them, without Roden’s consent, and became the reason behind the establishment of so many laws forbidding relationships between us and them.
She was soon labelled a traitor, condemning thousands of Harvesters who joined her vision to be stuck on Horigos.
They were offered two options: to become watchdogs for Roden, compelled to obey his orders but forever forbidden from Libera, or to be stripped of their leftover rights—no more help from the island, a life of anonymity and struggle.
In a world where the shade of your breath decides if you live or die, many abandoned her, accepting to live off Roden’s scraps of generosity rather than having to watch their backs from Horigeans and Harvesters.
I throw Galen’s arm over my shoulder. “I think it’s better if you stop talking and I focus on anything but rebels and traitors. I’ve had my fair share of that in the past few days.”
A quick smile tugs at his lips but doesn’t spread further. His eyes are veiled; I’m not even sure he’s completely lucid. The skin of his arm is clammy and cold against mine. But I keep forcing us along the screeching wooden plank.
I squint at the towering outline of the figure in front of us. I don’t care if that’s Tabitha Lorne or if Galen has only imagined it. Whoever that is, they’re my only hope to cross today—now.
“Please help me; I can’t hold him any longer…” I yell at the stranger.
As I inch closer and the moon reaches its highest point, I finally spot a pair of coal-black eyes and thick, braided silver hair. A tall, strong woman steps towards us, carefully lowering the torch she’s holding by the platform’s edge to keep the flame burning.
The white of her teeth against her smooth bronze skin is like a perfect final brush stroke on a masterpiece.
Her words, however…
“Fucking bastards! Those dry, stinky pieces of shit. Look what they’ve done to my poor Galen.”
Her Galen?
She lifts her heavily ringed fingers to her mouth. “Oh—look at the state of his little, handsome face…I’m going to rip their balls off and feed them to their mothers—raw and unseasoned!”
I witness, in silence, the graceful beauty of an ancient goddess and the mouth of a living, breathing sewer.
But there’s something in her manner, the motherly way she welcomes Galen in her arms, the genuine worry in her eyes, the slight trembling of her voice, that reassures me.
“Let me see.” She lifts the blood-stained hem of his shirt, and her face darkens. “That’s a nasty one. Gun?” She looks at me, and I nod. “Well, not his first time, at least. The bullet didn’t get in; it’s a side wound, but it cut deep in the flesh.”
Not expecting any more words from me, the talking mountain turns and marches towards the end of the platform.
“What are you waiting for? Chop, chop! There is no crossing without a crosser, and this one,” - she looks down at Galen, passed out in her arms - “He won’t be useful for hours, I’m afraid. We’re lucky he’s still in one piece. Have you ever done it with someone unconscious, love?”
“Excuse me?”
She raises her eyebrows. “Crossing? Have you ever travelled to Horigos with someone knocked out?”
“No,” I cry out, “But can you take us to Sector 43?”
Every scratch, every little graze on my skin, every cut feels eventually real, and I fall to my knees.
Tabitha’s voice strokes me gently, “Oh, love, I can do better—I am taking you to meet your freedom.”
I stop sobbing and stare at her. The sound of that word feels so wrong after all I’ve been through. So unreal.
Tabitha snorts, “Shit, I forgot the word freedom is basically banned from this shithole. Ironic, isn’t it?”
Galen groans, twitching in her arms, and her face immediately turns grave. She motions to the dark space behind her, “We need to hurry the fuck up! Not gonna lie; I’ve never seen him this battered. You want him to live? Forget about this stupid island and follow me.”