The Darkness in the Light

Chapter Twenty-Two

When we got back, our hidden little world was in chaos. Wygini came running up to us before we'd even reached Rewes, a lantern in her hand. She grabbed a hold of Jax's other side, taking some of his weight. I grunted in relief, unable to say much else. Slowly we all made our way back through the door to the reception area, and down the hallway to the infirmary. Wygini lowered Jax to the bed, and I rolled the pain out of my shoulders.

The doctor came, a man I'd yet to meet, and he quickly shooed all of us out except Jax and Joe, and I followed Wygini out of the room, worried for both of them. She stopped and looked at me, a brow raised, and I sighed.

"Tristan is okay. Gemma got shot. He took her to the hospital. I hope," I looked up at where the world felt like it was crushing down on us, desperately hoping my friend had made it to the hospital and was getting the help she needed.

Wygini nodded, and reached a hand out to touch my arm. Then she started back up the path, gesturing for me to follow. I did, and she showed me what had happened while we'd been gone.

The people that had been at the meeting this morning, ready to ditch Rewes and return to their old way of life, had started blocking off the tunnels and drains that lead into Rewes. They'd left all the tunnels leading to the council grounds open, waiting for us to return, but now they were working to block those paths off, too.

"How will anyone come and go?" I asked, and a man beside Wygini spoke up.

"Not all the tunnels are being completely blocked off. Our metal worker is crafting bars to put across, and we're going to put locks on the doors so that there's another barrier between intruders and Rewes. We are trying to make it a bit of a maze of dead ends to actually find your way here. And some of the dead ends are false ones."

"Who decided all this?" I asked, needing to thank that person. But the man just shrugged.

"We all sort of did. Once you left to get the leader, we stayed and we started talking about what we could do to help. Some of us are very crafty. I'm just here as the muscle," he laughed.

I smiled and continued to wander around the efforts. It soon became apparent that certain people had stepped forwards to organise and recruit everyone, and a small committee had been formed. People had voted on the best ideas, and fairly quickly gotten to work. I was amazed, and I knew Jax would be impressed when he woke up.

Eventually the day caught up with me, and I waved goodbye to return to my bed. I appeared in my room, the paint pots against the wall, and I collapsed on my bed with a sigh. Sleep reached me quicker than I could ever have expected.