Adrenaline surges through my body. If Hari wakes Zi, I'll be completely overpowered. I quickly shoot a dart. Tai appears to block it but must have missed because Hari collapses to the ground. There is a momentary sense of relief, but suddenly Zi continues ver furious yell from before. Ve sits up aggressively, assessing the situation. Despite ver distress and obvious anger, Zi's movements quickly become controlled.
"Zi, we only have one enemy left before we can leave this island," Jomira informs as ve rushes to Zi's side.
"Miya, get us out of here!" I command.
"I can't! The damage to my wing is preventing me from getting us off this rock." Miya responds, burdening me with fear.
"Listen," I say as I toss my gun and bag aside, and raise my hands, "I know when we've been defeated, and I don't want to be left on this island, possibly injured or unconscious, with a group of hostiles who are involved in murder and rape and have a grudge against us. I understand that you don't trust us and don't want to take us along. So..." I hesitate, as I detest suggesting this, "perhaps you could tie us up and drop us off somewhere safe?"
"Are you sure about this?" Miya whispers to me.
"What other choice do we have? Besides, I'd rather take our chances with them than with the officers," I whisper back.
"They are the reason we're getting out of this situation alive," Tai interjects. "It wouldn't be right to leave them with these goons."
A moment of contemplation passes before Jomira speaks up again, "We will do as you've requested. Zi, I know you're in great distress right now-"
"My grief can wait until we're in the air. I'll restrain them." Zi says.
"If it helps..." I meekly add, and Zi glares at me. I gesture toward the sergeant, "That one no longer has genitals and cannot use their legs."
Zi's glare shifts to the sergeant, and rage emanates from ver face. "You really believe you did something, don't you?" Zi looks at me. "If you weren't here threatening to report me as a murderer, making all of our lives that much more difficult, I wouldn't hesitate to kill this scum. Ve will most likely harm more people because of you, and I despise you for that."
Zi stares fiercely into my eyes, allowing those words to sink in for a moment.
"You say that as if I haven't done anything." I say.
"You haven't. Ve will simply have some mage inflict those injuries on another unfortunate soul. Why do you think they have you report other officers instead of punishing them like everyone else?"
It dawns on me that Zi is referring to the use of trait magic. I hadn't considered how trait magic could undermine Rirmevu punishments. Even though I've been an officer for a while, I can't recall ever hearing about trait magic or seeing any indication of its existence.
"The ministry would have trained me to combat such magic if they knew I might encounter it in the field," I assert. "And they haven't. So it's clear that trait magic must be uncommon, and the chances of it being used to heal Sergeant Makali seem low."
"Yeah, sure. I hope you're right, for your own sake. But I'm telling you right now, you're wrong, and you better watch your back. Let's keep moving."
As I walk past ver, Zi kicks the sergeant in the head and spits on ver. "That felt good. I only wish we could stick around to hear ver screams of pain when ve wakes up."
~~~
Ropes dig into my arms and legs as I sit restrained in the basket of the small emergency air balloon we took from the larger airship due to a lack of enough crew to fly the ship.
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Disarm Evil
خيال علمي**New Chapter Every Wednesday!** Dima is a little person with a habit of starting, and occasionally finishing, craft projects, though when on duty Dima is fierce, cold, and calculated agent of justice who's quick thinking and sharp aim makes them a...
