Resilience Run

Chapter 6

Even though Felice's reveal to Jagos had been less than stellar, the revelation to Jagos that I wasn't from this world was even less than that when Felice started asking me more questions about my world, and Jagos asked for clarification.

"What does Felice mean when she says 'your world?'" he asked.

"Oh... oh dear," said Felice, "Sorry, moor-acu."

"It means I'm from another world," I said, "Completely different from this one. Here, check this out."

I took out my cell phone and handed it to him. Jagos seemed completely mystified by the thing, which I expected. What I didn't expect was for him to figure out the touch screen almost immediately, and start playing a song from my phone, causing him to drop it in surprise.

"Ha!" I couldn't help but laugh as I grabbed my phone and turned off the music, "You figured that thing out pretty quickly. Don't worry, the glass is pretty strong, it's not broken."

"I'm sorry."

I turned to look at Jagos and was surprised to see that tears were streaming from his eyes and he flinched when I moved. I froze immediately, and felt double the pain, since Felice seemed like she wanted to cry too.

"Jagos, it's okay." I said, "I'm not mad at all, it was just an accident. I'm not going to hurt you."

Jagos seemed completely mystified by what I was saying, as if he couldn't comprehend the idea that I wasn't going to put my hands on him for making a simple mistake. I wanted to cry for the poor kid, but I kept my brave face on, and gently ruffled the boy's hair.

"Okay... Riley." said Jagos. I could see a hint of light in the boy's eyes, a small indication that hope was coming back to the kid. I gently put my hands on his shoulders and gave him a light hug. Jagos seemed to freeze up for a moment, but as I pulled away, he brushed his hand against mine. That was good enough for me; I called that progress enough. When I glanced at Rhys, she nodded slightly.

The journey we were taking picked up from there for a bit, but also became a little monotonous - we'd take the path as indicated by Rhys, stop to camp for the night, or if we got into a town, we'd take residence in an Inn - of course, that meant now there were three people sharing a bed, but Jagos wasn't too bad of an addition.

The days went on, and the journey kept us going, at least until we got to a small town called Bayshell, where a tavern keeper informed us that the roads were closed off, something that sent a chill down my spine.

"Why are the roads closed? What's going on?" Rhys asked. It had become a habit of her to speak for the rest of us, since Jagos never really spoke up unless he absolutely had to, and we all knew I needed to keep my head down as much as possible.

"Troubles on the roads, as far as I know," said the tavern keeper as he scrubbed one of his mugs clean, "Strangest thing though, the emperor himself started ordering some roads closed, though no one's really sure why.

"Got any theories to that?" I asked quietly, though my blood was starting to run double-cold, fear from both myself and Felice coursing through my veins. Jagos seemed to sense that something was up with me, as the boy suddenly took my hand and gently patted it. I smiled at him in return.

"We got a couple going 'round," said the tavern keeper, "Some of the locals think it's got something to do with that maiden that escaped the Run. Frightful business, that."

"Why do you say that?" Rhys asked, "We don't keep up much with the politics."

"Oh, the only surviving maiden of the Requiem Run escaped a while back," said the tavern keeper, "Apparently, she even escaped the castle grounds. The whole Empire's up in arms about it."

"Sounds serious." said Rhys.

"Eh, not everyone supports the Run," said the tavern keeper, "To tell you the truth, I probably shouldn't even be telling you any of this, since the Emperor's gonna start sending guards to all the holds to find the maiden. Lemme tell you, none of us here want that, those guys are awful."

"Sounds like a problem." said Rhys, "Any word on where the escaped maiden escaped to?"

"Not a clue," said the tavern keeper, "Empire seems to be trying to keep a lockdown on the situation, though no one knows why. Bigger cities aren't having much of a problem though, according to my cousin from the nearby city."

"Well, looks like we'll have to keep an eye out," said Rhys, "Thank you for your time."

"Hold on, aren't you two gonna get a room?" the tavern keeper asked.

"It's like you said, those guys are awful," said Rhys, "We'd rather not be around for that fiasco."

"More power to you," said the keeper, "Safe travels, you three."

I kept my mouth shut and my head down until we stepped back out into some fresh air, I took a big gulp of it.

"We need to get moving," said Rhys, "Looks like we're gonna have to camp out again."

"We simply cannot risk getting caught by those guards," said Felice, "They'll know for sure what moor-acu looks like. There's no doubt the Emperor would give them an exact idea of her appearance."

I hated the idea of camping out again, especially since the temperature was starting to go down, but I hated the idea of getting captured even more, so outdoor camping it was.

Rhys, Jagos, and myself made our way out of the town as quickly as we could, until we were once again back in the woods, following the path.

"So what do we do now?" I asked, "We already keep our heads down in the small towns, there's not much more we can do."

"I don't like it," said Rhys, "But we might have to duck through a city if worse comes to worse. The tavern keeper said the guards aren't getting as much milage in the cities as they were in the small towns and villages."

"But don't cities have those screen things?" I asked, "The things like TV from my world?"

"TV?" Jagos asked. Felice bent down to explain it to him.

"Projection screens." Rhys clarified.

"Yeah, those things," I said, "So people in bigger cities would know my face, right?"

"Are there any other options?" Rhys asked.

I tried to think of something, but nothing was coming up.

"Do I need a mask or something?" I asked after a bout of awkward silence. Rhys managed to stifle a laugh at that one.

The walk to the city was long, but also nerve-wracking. I had no idea what to expect, or what we might end up running into. I was making myself more and more anxious, especially when I could see the tips of the buildings over the trees of the woods.

"We're almost there," said Rhys, "Riley, is your hood up?"

"Up and ready," I said, pulling the hood even further over my eyes, so that I could only see the ground, "If I pull it any further, I'm gonna be completely blind."

"We could work with that," said Felice, "moor-acu could pretend to be blind and Rhys could carry her -"

"I'm just gonna stop that line of thought right there." I said, glad that keeping my head down to hide the redness that was spreading across my face. As much as I wouldn't mind being carried in Rhys' strong arms, feeling her warmth, and being held close so I could listen to her breathing -

"Ahem." Felice said, apparently listening into my thoughts.

"No peeking!" I said, out loud by accident, much to Rhys' and Jagos' confusion. I laughed it off with everyone, and quickly shut up when I realized we had made it to the city, and were starting to pass people.

"Are we gonna look suspicious already?" I asked, "I mean, two humans and an orc?"

"I think we'll be fine," said Rhys, "And if not, it's not like we're sticking around for long. We'll get some supplies, find a place to sleep, and leave as soon as possible."

"Lead the way," I said, "Mostly because you have to, because I still can't see."

Rhys chuckled and took my hand.

I loved how warm her hand was when it was in mine.