commander

gerry

Nala

I leaned over to Anya, enclosing in her hand Torra's necklace. "I'm leaving to get Torra. Show this to Sasha and she'll let you stay. If I don't come back in before sunrise tomorrow, find me." Anya nodded and put the necklace over her long hair.

I finished my breakfast of pancakes quickly and excused myself to find Aurora. 

I rant the library, ripping a somewhat empty page out of a book, and finding a writing utensil. I am glad that throughout my years at the Bunker, I was given crayons to draw with, for now, I could draw something as detailed and beautiful as Torra. I folded and shoved the sketch into the waistband of the leather pants before setting out to find Aurora.

After running throughout the castle, I found a room with one of her arrogant handmaidens standing outside an otherwise ordinary door. 

"Hello." She curtsied perfectly and resumed a short standing height, looking dead ahead at the wall in front of her. 

I stepped in front of her short gaze, which met somewhere around my neck. "Open the door." I said, looking at the top of her head. She remained at her bored gaze, so I simply side-stepped and kick the door down. She looked at me, ultimately horrified before scampering off. I walked inside to find Aurora at a vanity mirror, dropping the pin she was fixing her hair with. 

"What are you doing you maniac?!" She screamed at the top of her lungs.

I grabbed her by a braid that conveniently functioned as a leash for her abnormally large head. "You, are going to ride to wherever the hell Torra is in my custody. Should I not see Torra in the next twelve hours, your allegiance leadership will most likely be assumed by me." I linked my arm with hers and pulled her out of the room and to whatever stables.

I looked around and headed down a hall with a cold draft hopefully from I reached for my necklace, touching at the empty spot on my bare chest. I removed my hand, my neck feeling an odd nakedness without the wax cord and familiar cold wolf tooth. I dragged Aurora through the cold hall and put her through the door, walking outside to reveal an Earth blanketed by thick clouds.

The sky truly was mocking me.

I found a tall building with a horse corral fenced in and walked there. That had to be the stables, and if it wasn't, I was preparing myself for a screaming match with my mother. Luckily, there were rows of large and muscular horses inside. I chose the two strongest horses, as well as a lasso hanging on the wall. I pulled on a leather and wool jacket so that I wouldn't get cold in what I hope isn't a long ride. Inside the jacket was a compass, but I figured it was better to leave it in the pocket.

Aurora sat pouting on a bench. I tied the lasso to the second horse reins and tied her wrists with a shorter, brayed rope. I helped her onto the horse, then boarded my own. "Go out the back. Unless you want to be caught." She smartly advised. 

I did just that, before taking off across a field and into thin trees. "Go south." I checked the compass, and luckily, North was pointing in the opposite direction. 

We rode for hours, my legs ached, and it had to be even more uncomfortable for Aurora, who was wearing a dress and could not use her arms properly. I honestly did not care, but she was slowing us down.

It was a little past noon when I pulled on the reins of both horses and came to a stop. We were in the middle of a forest, and I could hear the distant sound of human life, whether it be a family or an entire clan was not predictable. "Where are we?" I yelled to her, who was seven or eight feet behind me. 

"Sounds like we're an hour away." She said after looking at the village. Her eyes looked between me and the village in a shifty manner. "Why don't we stop for lunch? I know you're hungry." I smiled kindly before riding off to the cause of the noise. 

Aurora tried to remain calm, but a small vein in her neck pumped relentlessly. With every bit of my being, I hoped that Torra was here, in this small little village. The sound became louder, even spooking the horses. I gently pulled them forward, still controlling both of them. As the village appeared, houses branched from the center of the noise. I jumped off my horse and untied the reins and Aurora's wrists. 

"Are you letting me go?" She asked with naive hopefulness.

"I'm not getting caught with your wrists tied." I said and grabbed both reins, walking the horses into the village.

"Stop!" I heard a woman yell. Obediently, I stopped and held my hands in plain sight, similar to the random check-ins in the Bunker. "Who are you?" 

"Nala." I answered, and they gasped. The name was retired a millennium ago when the name was Ana's sister, the pariah. Immediately, the woman knew who I was. Any other child christened with the name would be killed.

The woman shouted in Minatonen for 'the boss to get down here'. I kindly took Aurora's hand and helped her down off of the horse. A person dressed heavily in wool took the horses to wooden bars, while Aurora and I were escorted inside the village. There was a calm plaza, with children running around while adults socialized. One tall building looked similar to a chapel with rows of chairs but was labeled with 'hall'. 

I was escorted inside, to meet a familiar-looking face. He was burly, wide, and a little bit extra on the stomach, but otherwise was strong and could take me.

"It's the not waiter." He joked, and I immediately remembered. The weird ambassador in the back when I met Aurora and she immediately assumed that I was a drink slinger. Aurora brushed her hair out of her face, and almost everyone noticed the abrasions on her wrist.

"Aurora, go stand outside." I looked at her and waited for her to leave, a guard going to stand with her. "Who is your clan leader?"

"I am. Gerard, but you may call me Gerry. Welcome to Shallow Valley." Gerry politely introduced himself. He was more memorable than I remember him to be.

"I am Commander, the title is non-negotiable." I smiled sympathetically, yet held a strong balance. It seemed to have worked because the room whispered but avoid looking or pointing directly at me.

"Are you allied with Aurora?" I asked.

"No. We simply entertain the idea of friendship to provide peace for our clan." He spoke and seemed far more intellectual than he appears.

"I am looking for an innocent, his name is Torra." I opened my jacket and pulled the drawing of Torra to show the room. "Aurora mentioned an underground base near the mouth of the Severn and Napoli. Do you know anything about it?" My dependence on strangers was very bothersome, considering I shouldn't trust them at all.

"Yes. It is a very secluded and ultimate feat to everything engineering stands for. It is theoretically impossible to find." The man complimented, and by the way the inside of the chapel looked, with the glass dome ceiling, the military base truly had to be incredible.

"In theory, you said. What possibilities are excluded from said theory?" I asked, hoping for something useful.

"The possibility of . . . a map." He paused and smiled as he pulled a map from the hand of one of his servants. "Your allegiance and the map is yours." He bargained, and I would not deny. They were not aligned with Aurora and held the map to my lover.

"Lanca and Napoli are both aligned with Shallow Valley." I said smugly, glad that my forces grew by the day. He stepped forward and grabbed my hand, kissing my finger and shaking it firmly. I took the map in the other hand before opening the scroll and reading the map.

In the center of three towers was the entrance, with a phrase written next to it. 'The crow looks down on war'. It reminded me of a story my mother had once shared with my brother. 

"What does it mean?" I asked, but Gerry was already gone. It was just me inside the hall, hopefully with Aurora still outside.

I tucked the scroll into a large pocket on the inside of the riding jacket, and walked out the heavy doors to retrieve Aurora and find Torra.