Finua

Chapter 31: The Boy Who Cried Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

"That?"

"A fence."

"That?"

"A tree."

"Hmm. That?"

"A dead person."

"Aaaand that?"

"You already asked me that. It's a tree."

"That?"

"That's a gate."

"Fence!"

"No, it's not a fence, it's a gate. A fence is where... uh, I don't think fences open."

"Hmm?"

"A fence is like a wall, and a gate is like a door."

"Oooohhhh.... uh, that?"

"Why do you keep asking about the tree?"

Ahka laughed, as if the goal of his own private game had been to annoy me, which it was doing.

We turned a corner and rounded a burnt-out building.

"Well now you have to ask about something else."

"Huh?"

"You can't see the tree anymore! Where is it?"

Ahka turned around, legs clamped on either side of my neck as he craned his head and shoulders to look behind him. One chubby finger sought to point out his beloved tree, and it faltered and hovered in the air as he realized that we had indeed walked away from it. He began to cry.

"Aww, Ahka's tree is rooted to the spot," I fussed, lifting him off of my shoulders and holding him in my arms as he bawled into my armor.

"Where is Kwer going?" Lugoke asked, obviously seizing the opportunity to talk about something else.

"I don't know dude, Kwer does her own thing."

And we had Vanessa, swirling behind us, keeping a barrier up between us and the throngs of others walking down the bloodstained streets of Berahd, building ruins on either side of us exposing their indestructible, pink, and useless endoskeletons. Nobody was indoors on this day of attempted and failed exodus.

"Well, you need to find her," Lugoke insisted as we walked. "She needs to be there with us."

"Yeah, you're right. We can't risk losing her in the crowd."

"Exactly."

"I was joking, dumbass, you can't lose a troll in a crowd of people. See? There she is, right there."

Lugoke turned around and saw Kwer's unmistakable bulk several hundred yards behind, lifting a carriage over her head and emptying the people out like so much seasoning.

"They are going to arrest her, Finua."

"Pfft, no they're not. Cerrex is still in charge."

"A charge so hotly contested that it would not stop the law of the High Queen!"

Around us, Vanessa shuddered, then rose into the air, above the crowd, and flew over to Kwer, herding her back towards us.

"See, Lugoke, here's your thing—"

"I am not interested in hearing my thing."

"When something dire is happening, you always try to act so blasé and detached from it. Like you're above any kind of crisis. But then you turn around and freak out over the smallest things!"