Veiled Shadows

Chapter 10

Kravimik leads us back through the maze of hallways and into what appears to be a breakroom. He flips on the light.

Damn, there was electricity this whole time? Why were we sneaking around in the dark?

Kravimik stalks over to the refrigerator and opens it to remove three cans. He hands them to us. 

"Sparkling water," he says, cracking his open and taking a big gulp.

I stare down at the drink in my hand in confusion. It's raspberry lemonade. "Where did you get this?"

"I stole it. Along with my other provisions."

He leans out of the way so I can look into the fridge. Is full to the brim. Most of its contents are packages of meat but he has a whole shelf dedicated to sparkling water.

"And no one spotted you?"

He gives me an assessing look. "An Ogre has many weapons at his disposal."

"So then you killed whomever saw you?" Eko demands, setting his untouched drink on the round table in the middle of the room.

"There are scalpels and there are swords. Both are tools that can be used." Kravimik says, crushing his empty can between his hands and taking another.

"Is that what you used on those children?"

Kravimik sits in one of the scattered chairs and it groans under his considerable weight. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Kravimik," I interrupt.

"You can call my Vimmy," he grins over his sparkling water, "You earned as much."

The size of his tusks makes me want to shudder and I wonder how he can talk around them.

"Vimmy, then. Vimmy, we came here to ask for your help."

He considers me. "You can ask but I make no promises."

"We need your obsidian blade." Eko interjects.

Kravimik, Vimmy, laughs. "And what, pray tell, do you need that for?"

We do our best to explain. It takes a while since every time I try to tell the story Eko interrupts and every time Eko tries to tell the story he leaves out important details. The whole time, Vimmy doesn't say a word, just watches us as we stumble through.

When we finish he takes his time, considering everything we've said.

When he finally speaks, his words catch me off guard. "So it was you that caused the prison break. They'll execute you for that without a doubt."

My mouth hangs open. "I- well I- that is-"

"And you," he continues, turning to Eko, "Nailed to the wall? What'd you do to deserve that?"

Eko scoffs, "You mean to imply you went unscathed in the bowels of that prison?"

"Their worst crime was my clothing."

He gestures to his loincloth and in doing so it shifts. I quickly look away.

"Oh, come now, little succubus," He says, his deep voice sending a shiver down my spine, "There's no need to feign modesty."

"How did you-?"

"I imagine any of the members of the seal would know what you are," he reaches out and runs a finger down the length of my arm.

Eko is so fast he's a blur as he smacks Vimmy's hand away from me. "Do not touch her."

"Staking your claim, big boy?"