“Sounds like things have been rough.” I said, having pulled Pahhur aside. We had decided to wake Raven in a few hours by a watch that Pahhur had found.
“It's probably like this all over the place.” Pahhur said. “Just means it's all the more important that we do something.”
“I guess so. Just starting to feel like dead weight. I mean, you can't be hit by their bullets, Raven can reflect them, and Vyrse is a pro. I don't even have a weapon to defend myself.”
“I wouldn't say that. Yer incredibly clever; I mean you did manage to find a way out of that mess earlier.”
“Still, I would prefer not having to rely on you guys.” Pahhur thought for a little while.
“I'll see what I can do. Maybe we can find some sort of weapon or something.” She was munching on a bit of pipe that she had apparently picked up in town. I turned back to the orb; how many days had it been since this started? A week? More? I couldn't remember. My body suddenly felt heavy, weary from over use.
“I'll go wake Raven; its about time to change shifts.” Pahhur said.
I woke with a start. The sun was already shining over the horizon.
“Ah, you're awake!” I heard Vyrse say.
“Neko!” Pahhur called out. “I think I know where we're headed next!” Interested I grabbed some salted jerky and leaned over Raven's shoulder. Pahhur pointed to a blue dot nestled in a city.
“This one is being treated much like I am. They've formed a circle and aren't coming closer.”
“So, someone like you?” I pondered. We were packed up and on the move pretty soon after. Raven had apparently relented to Vyrse and agreed to start Syndil's training again; however he had agreed to let Pahhur 'sit in' as well.
“So, you and her have a thing?” Vyrse said, suddenly popping up behind me. I jumped.
“No! Of course not, I'm not, I don't swing that way.”
“Family then?”
“You could say that.” Vyrse eased himself next to me and matched my pace.
“You know, she walks like a boy.” I felt my heart skip a beat. “But that's what you get with the tomboy types.”
“What about you? You and Raven seem fairly close.”
“Oh yeah, we go way back. He was the first man who could stand up against me and my aim. But that was a long time ago. He's taking his wife's death real hard though, never seen him like this before.”
“Syndil is probably not holding up too well either.”
“I'd say she's doing better than he is. I remember when I used to train her, she had such kind eyes. She never seemed to take training seriously; I often wondered at Raven's decision to teach her.”
“Then why'd you make him train her again?”
“Well, that night I saw something I never thought I'd see. Her eyes, they were strong, determined. She was ready to fight.”
“You can tell that much from just her eyes?” Vyrse grinned at me.
“When you have been doing this kind of work for as long as I have, just a hand motion can tell you a man's life story. A look into their eyes will reveal their soul.” He stopped, a pained look crossing his face. “But, that's just the ramblings of a fool.” He said with a laugh, diffusing the tension in his muscles.
“Hey, they're moving...” I heard Pahhur say ahead.
“What?”
“Seriously, look, the ring of those Armor things around the city, they're moving aside to let us through.”
“Considering they lost about a hundred the last time we fought, maybe they're trying to reduce unnecessary losses.” Raven said. As he spoke the city came into view, it wasn't like anything we were expecting. The buildings seemed unscathed, and more, they shone golden in the setting sun.
God things are getting depressing.
ReplyDeleteYeah most of this week has been written up int the eleventh hour, but I got four term papers I'm trying to juggle. Still these chapters haven't come out too bad in my opinion. Constructive Criticism is welcome.