Mianite- Season 3

Chapter 30: Andor's Alternate

Malachai's POV:

"This is the home of the leaders of Zincite," one of the Galena leaders explained to me. "It technically belongs to Elaina, but obviously her husband, Jeremiah, lives with her too."

"Why are we going in?" I asked, peering fearfully at the doors being pried open. 

The leader turned around and gave me a fearsome grin. "Just a friendly visit, to see if anyone's home."

I swallowed nervously, but followed the rest of the leaders. They stopped short, however, upon reaching the door. The leader in the front grabbed the doorknob and desperately tried to open the door, but whoever had been in the house last had locked it. It was a huge door as well, with intricate patterns carved into the thick wood. Whatever it was made out of, it didn't look like it would be easy to get through. 

"Everyone, stand back!" the leader commanded. He and a few others stayed on the porch, but the others quickly rushed away from the door. Realizing what they were going to do, I stood back to avoid being hit by any splinters. 

The leaders began to throw their weight into the doors, trying desperately to break it open with their weapons. One leader with a sword tried to break the lock, while the others kicked the doors with all of their might in an attempt to knock it down. 

The door was growing weaker and weaker. 

And then, with one loud cry, a leader launched himself at the door. Everyone expected him to painfully bounce off of it, but, to our surprise, he crashed right through it. The door toppled, almost in slow motion, to the marble floor on the other sound. As I had predicted, splinters soared in every direction, and I had to duck to avoid them. Destroying the rest of the doors as they went, all of the leaders filed into the house. 

And found even more than they had been hoping for. 

"STAND BACK!" a woman shrieked, her voice carrying over the delighted cries of the Galena leaders. As I got closer, I saw a woman with long brown hair, who must be Elaina, pointing a very dangerous-looking weapon at the leader in the front. 

To her side stood a very familiar lady. 

"Safire and Elaina, huh?" the leader cackled. "Must be my lucky day."

"There's someone else there," the leader next to me muttered. "I want to pursue them, but whatever. Elaina and Safire are more important to me."

"I'll follow them, then," I answered, ecstatic at my sudden opportunity to escape. "If they're running, they must be unarmed."

"Go ahead," the leader said, brightening at my suggestion. "But come back if they get away, alright? We don't want you separating from the group for too long."

"Got it," I answered, turning the corner and hurrying at full speed down the corridor where, seconds before, two people had been running. 

Alyssa's POV:

"Where do we go?" Andor hissed, his turquoise eyes swimming with terror. "I don't know my way around, and it looks like we might have hit a dead end!"

"Don't panic," I told him, although panicking didn't seem like such a bad thing, considering the situation we were in. "Let's just find a room and hide out in there."

"WHO'S THERE?" someone hollered from a few rooms away. A man, clearly furious, probably armed. Coming for us. 

Time to panic. 

"This way," I told Andor, my voice shrill and trembling. I slipped quietly into the nearest room, pulling Andor into it with me. 

His eyes met mine, and I could see that he was about to burst with fear. We hid in the darkest place in the room, a small area behind the door. If anyone was to peek in without taking a good look around, we wouldn't be spotted. 

I was visibly shaking, and Andor looked like he might be too. Silently, so as not to alert the attacker of our whereabouts, he reached out his arms and pulled me closer to him. I closed my eyes and buried my face in his shoulder, desperately hoping that we wouldn't be found. 

All around us, doors were opened and slammed shut, and the heavy breathing of whoever was out there was clearly audible. In the distance, where Elaina and Safire were, gunshots and faint screams were heard, and I could only hope for the best. 

Although nothing seemed to be in our favor. 

And then, as Andor and I both held our breath in an attempt to make no noise at all, the man burst into the room. His silvery-white hair glowed in the light, and he immediately pointed his gun at the area behind the door. 

"Andor?" he gasped, lowering his weapon when he saw how frightened we were. "Alyssa? You... you guys are alive!"

"Malachai," Andor breathed. "You're not injured?" He released his grip on me, allowing me to pull away from him, but I didn't. I simply rested my head on his shoulder so I could face our surprise attacker at the same time. 

"I was healed by Galena." A wide smile spread across his face, and he extended a hand. "I can rescue you now! You won't need to have to worry about Safire ever again."

Neither of us moved. 

"Come on, we don't have forever!" Malachai urged, his smile slowly slipping from his face. "We have to go now before Zincite's guards get here!"

I finally spoke, softly, but insistently, so he would get the idea that we weren't joking. "Look, Malachai, Zincite's guards aren't going to hurt us. And they wouldn't have hurt you, if you hadn't burst in and threatened to kill a bunch of innocent people."

He was suddenly outraged. "Alyssa, do you hear yourself? They're evil! They almost killed me, and they kidnapped both of you!"

"Safire meant no harm to you, but you were about to get her killed," Andor added. "And they didn't kidnap us. We came willingly."

"This is ridiculous," Malachai snarled. "Something's wrong with you two. How could you possibly see kind, innocent souls in this city full of traitors?"

"Something's wrong with us?" I echoed. "As in, maybe... Zincite's brainwashed us?"

"Yes, like brainwashing," Malachai said, confused as to why I had suggested that. 

He was even more confused when we started laughing. 

"Look, you're coming with me, like it or not," Malachai answered, not anywhere near as amused as us. "These people are disgusting and despicable, and if you're truly one of them, you need to be treated as one."

We weren't laughing anymore. "Listen to me," Andor said, his voice low. "You and I aren't so different, you know that? I learned a lot of things here, even though I've only been here for a couple of hours. We're alternates, Malachai. Our minds think alike. And I know that you can open your mind, and see both sides of the story here. I know you can see our side. You just don't want to."

He shook his head. "No, no, no. Don't try to talk yourself out of this. Alternate or not, I couldn't care less, Andor. Now, you're coming with me, and the rest of Galena."

"What if we refuse?" I snapped, glaring furiously at him. 

Malachai shrugged, raising his gun so it pointed at us once more. "If you're the one who's unarmed, it probably isn't your place to make the decisions here."