Souls On Souls

We Did It!

*LONG CHAPTER*

Janher, still in the unknown forest.

Blood. A dark red stripe, glistening and shining on top of the disturbed snowfall. And that horrible colour, a colour that brought back too much, led Miles' eyes to perhaps the most awful thing he had ever seen.

Clavis, clawing her way towards the treeline. In the centre of the clearing stood what could only be recognised as a prison cart. Large, heavily manned, and containing Kivotu's worst criminals, sent to Hiltengosk for life. That was what Hiltengosk was used for; life sentences. Which made it even stranger that Juneau was being sent there. And it was yet to be confirmed whether or not Loredan told the truth in saying that she was his fiancee, meaning that she could've been an emissary that simply found out too much, and was now being trapped in that hellhole.

Miles took a step forward. He caught Clavis' eye and she shook her head imperceptibly, her face contorted with pain.

He stepped forward again. Loredan's footsteps crunched rapidly behind him, leaving the boy standing next to him.

Miles heard the sudden intake of breath. Heard the subconscious step Loredan took back.

"What happened?" he asked anxiously.

"I don't know," Miles snapped. "She's hurt."

Loredan took a step forward. "We have to go get her."

Miles scowled at him, pulling him behind the cover of his body.

"Currently, that cart doesn't know we're here. They think Clavis was a lone assailant. That's our only cover. We can use that to our advantage, but 'feelings' and 'emotions' can't get in the way. Is that clear?"

Loredan frowned, clenching his jaw. "Do you not care if she dies?"

"Do you ever listen to what you're saying?"

"What do you- oh. But the point remains the same! We can't just leave her there!"

Miles sighed. "I'm not going to leave her. Never have, never will. But you're gonna have to listen to me. So once again, I will ask. Is that clear?"

Slightly reluctant to have to trust Miles, Loredan finally agreed.

And so, the plan was set into action.

***

Loredan took a deep breath and stepped out of the treeline. It had been a few days since he had spoken Janherian, and it was soothing to slip back into his native tongue, even if it was in this life-or-death situation.

"Excuse me, Mister Driver? Have you seen my sister anywhere?" he called up to the driver.

"What's that, son? Your sister?" the man answered. Loredan considered himself very lucky that he wasn't already dead. "What's she look like?"

"She's slightly shorter than me, very skinny, and has really bright eyes. We were making our way to our grandparents' house in Kinam, and we got separated." Loredan replied, doing his best impression of an innocent teen. (This wasn't too difficult, considering that he was already an innocent teen.)

An expression of guilt crossed the driver's face. "I, uh, I'm not sure, kiddo. Maybe she went that way." He pointed to the west. "There's a river over there, maybe she went to wash."