Chapter 6 #3
“I think that one is for you,” Kaito muttered dryly to Eiko.
She elbowed him to shut him up.
“Glitterstones out,” he ordered quietly, and they all untangled their chains and uncovered their glitterstones, the light sprinkle of warmth an achingly familiar sensation, so far away from home.
“I think I can walk, now,” Rion said. “You can set me down.”
Kaito, Ky, and Ren had been taking turns carrying her, and it was Ren who now stopped and set her gently down.
Eiko strained to listen to her friend’s shuffling footsteps, trying to gauge how truthful she was being about her level of pain, but Rion seemed to only be walking with the slightest limp now.
A few hours later, that limp became more pronounced, but the others were too tired to resume carrying her.
“How did so many of your group make it out?” the lilting girl from Windspire asked, having crept up on them at some point.
“There are five of you—that’s three more than the lads from Oakensnare, and they trained their whole lives for this.
You don’t look trained. You look lost. Did you board the Kingsweep accidentally? ”
“I made a deal with my monster to get them out safe,” Rion stated, her teeth gritted. She was too distracted by her pain to censor herself.
“Oops.” The girl giggled. “You shouldn’t have told us that. Now we know you weren’t given any other powers in exchange for Silencing.”
Ky quickly snapped, “What does that matter?”
“Humans too weak to hold their monsters are a liability,” the girl said.
She sounded like she was … skipping? Was she not exhausted?
Did she not feel pain? “They’re a danger to us all.
The Godsguard are known to cull liabilities before they become a bigger problem—that’s why the section leaders are here, watching us.
That’s why they’re making us walk to Goldmoor.
To weaken our minds and bodies and give our monsters a chance to fight free.
It’s better if we lose control here than in a city with a population the size of Goldmoor’s. ”
“How do you know all of that? What are section leaders?” Rion asked curiously—she didn’t carry the bite that Ky did. She sounded perfectly polite, but Eiko knew her better than anyone.
She was feeling sorry for the girl … who must have looked even crazier than she sounded.
“Maelon was asking the soldiers from Goldmoor all about it. That’s Maelon.” She must have been pointing at someone. “He joined from Oakensnare. I’m Vana, by the way.”
“We’ve met,” a smooth male voice intoned. “Didn’t think you lot would make it out alive. Especially not with the blind girl. No offence.”
“Every possible offence taken,” Eiko said. “And we haven’t met. If we had, you’d be using my name and not calling me blind girl like a twat.”
“All right.” He chuckled indulgently. “What’s your name then?”
“Eiko.” She sniffed. “And this is Ky.” She gestured to her left, where her best friend liked to hover—he always favoured her left, while Rion favoured her right.
“And Rion.” She pointed to where she could hear her other best friend limping.
“Kaito.” She didn’t move her finger, because she had no doubt Kaito was hovering protectively behind Rion, waiting for her to stumble.
Kaito and Ky were protective hoverers. It was in their nature.
“And Ren is the one sulking behind Kaito.”
Maelon’s chuckle turned to a laugh. “Impressive, and point taken. You were probably better equipped for the Quiet than the rest of us. Better senses. We were stumbling around in there like baby horses, all knock-kneed and clumsy, running into each other and tripping over each other. I’m glad it was dark—I’d never be able to live it down, otherwise. ”
Eiko had been as well, but she didn’t admit it. She also had a feeling Maelon was lying. He really expected them to believe he had gone to all the trouble of learning Chasin’s silent language and hadn’t practised moving around in the dark? Not a chance.
“I’m not sulking,” Ren suddenly inserted, rather sulkily.
“Well … since we’re introducing ourselves now,” Eiko could pick out the Oakensnare accent—one of Maelon’s companions was speaking, “I’m Vaeron. You can call me Ron. And this here is Kaelen, you can call him Lenny.”
“You can call me Kaelen,” Lenny corrected.
“We’re going to call you Lenny,” Ky said.
Was Ky flirting? They had blood in their shoes, monsters in their heads, and his almost-boyfriend had been tortured only a matter of weeks ago—now was not the time.
He’s very attractive, Hymn told her.
Okay, fine, maybe it was the perfect time.
Wait, how do you know who’s attractive and who isn’t? she asked him. Do monsters find humans attractive?
I’ve watched humans go about their lives, he told her. We can see you and hear you clearly from inside the Quiet. We know what you find pleasurable and what you find frightening.
Have you seen me before?
No, he sounded sad. I would have liked that. You’re so nice and funny and caring. Usually, it’s just criminals who come to Blackreach. I lived in Goldmoor for a while, but I haven’t been anywhere else.
Do you have … like … a family here or something?
Yes, the sadness in his voice changed to despair. They tried to kill me today. You saved me.
Yikes.
She had been this close to humanising the monsters.