Exile

Part 26

Once again Atlas was anxious. Then again, there was rarely an instance where he wasn't, but now more than ever before. His eyes and senses were razor sharp.

He held Immi close to him at all times now so she wouldn't get lost, or kidnapped, or any number of things. Atlas blamed himself for the whole thing. If he had kept a better eye on Immi she wouldn't have been abducted. He vowed to himself that never again would he let anything like that happen to her. Never. Again.

And he would make good on that vow.

"Atlas," whispered Immi in his ear. Her breath was soft, somehow.

"What?"

"Are you okay? You look stressed." So she was concerned for him.

"Yeah, I'm fine, kid," he said, smiling at her.

"You're really only one year older than me," teased Immi with a frown on her face. "You're still a kid too, technically."

"Yeah, but you're more of a kid," smirked Atlas.

Immi frowned but didn't say anything else.

As Immi and Atlas exited the shop, Atlas heard yelling. Pulling Immi behind him, he peeked around the corner where he saw silver knights.

"Ugh," groaned Atlas. "Come on, Immi, we've got to find the others."

"What's happening?" asked Immi.

"Knights. Probably tracked us here."

 Immi looked mildly terrified but didn't talk.

Noticing this, Atlas moved even closer. "Hey, you'll be fine. I got you," he said as he tilted her face towards him.

Suddenly, Atlas heard footsteps behind them. "It's just us," said Cindie, who was followed by Italzi and Alana.

"We have to get out of here," said Atlas.

"Yeah, no duh," whispers Alana, rolling her eyes. He ignored her.

"There's no way we're getting out, though," says Italzi. "They have the entire perimeter of the town guarded. We're going to have to wait or fight our way through."

"Of course, we are," sighs Cindie.

"Let's just wait for them to move on," said Immi. " I don't wanna get kidnapped again." Immi smiled, but Atlas knew she was afraid.

"I agree with Immi," said Italzi, so that's what they did. The group hid in a restaurant and waited for the knights to move on.

"Italzi," whispered Atlas.

"What," she said and scooted her chair closer to him.

"You see that waiter," he said, nodding his head towards a young scrawny boy who was eyeing them suspiciously.

"Mhm, I get it," she responded and got everyone up and out of the restaurant. Right as they walked out, three silver knights came to the doorway.

"Hey, you guys," said one of the knights. "Let's see identification," the knight held out his hand waiting for papers.

The group stood there awkwardly until Alana handed over her I.D.

"Alana," mumbled Italzi and kicked her foot.

"Hello, knights!" said Alana enthusiastically."I'm Natalia Carwel and I'm here with some of my friends to go shopping. I don't think they remembered their papers."

The knights examined Alana's fake I.D. and then returned it to her.

"Sorry for the bother, Mrs. Carwel, but please tell your friends to remember their papers next time they leave their village."

"Of course, sir!" said Alana, bowing. "Thank you for your service." She looked at the rest of the group, and they bowed and said "Thank you for your service."

"How did you do that?" asked Immi after the knights walked away.

"I'm lucky I look exactly like my mom. Before we left I took her I.D. in case of a situation like this. She never leaves the village anyway so she won't be missing it."

"That was actually smart," marveled Atlas.

"I know," said Alana. "Even I surprise myself sometimes."