Society of the Kuvek

Chapter 13

    I walk beside Ferixc and am careful of Terin behind us; I'd rather not have him hit in the face by a great amount of branches. We walk behind the twins and they are unusually quiet, I think they took a liking to Sars after their game. We walk out of the woods; Wequ stops and we do as well.

    "When we get to the truck I want everyone to meet in the living area, we're not going to leave yet," Wequ says and promptly turns around and continues walking. We soon arrive at the truck and all step in, Terin comes in last and shuts the door behind him. I walk into the living area to see Wequ and Dujuik sitting on the couch, facing each other and talking; I sit in the grey chair and wait for Wequ to say something. I wait for close to thirty minutes before I hear the sounds of a loud and close explosion and the truck shakes with us.

    "What was that!?" Dujuik exclaims, jumping up from the couch.

    "Stop!" Wequ commands, though I'm not sure who she's talking to, as Dujuik is not the only one who jumped from their seat. Wequ walks to the elevator and presses the button, so quickly that I can't be sure to what floor she is going.

    "Come on," Wequ says as the door opens and no one argues, we simply step in after Wequ. The door closes and the elevator ascends with its typical loudness. When the door opens, Wequ steps out and we follow her out and into a large room I've never seen before. We all stand around awkwardly, looking around the large, cluttered room filled with stacks of papers and even many wanted posters of Sars. Wequ sits down and motions for us to do the same; we sit in a semi-circle around Wequ and she clears her throat, clearly uncomfortable.

    "There is something I have to tell all of you," Wequ starts, taking a breath, "the SKD is run by Ferse," she says in a rush. At first no one reacts, but then – wait, what!?

    "What did you say?" I ask, trying to be sure I heard correctly.

    "The SKD are Ferse," she repeats, though slower this time.

    "We've been working for Ferse?" Dujuik asks in disbelief and Wequ sighs.

    "Listen, and let me explain," Wequ says and everyone is quiet, with our full attention to her; I sit quietly, though with unanswered questions still running through my mind. If they're Ferse, why do they recruit Kuvek? What do they do with the weapons we give them? The Kuvek? Why has Wequ never told us this before?

    "I know you all have questions and I will try to answer as many as I can," Wequ says, "The SKD stands for Society of the Kuvek's destruction; they find Kuvek that are rebellious and instead of killing them, they founded the SKD, using Kuvek to find Kuvek. They give orders to find weapons as a sort of transport for them, so they don't have to use Ferse. The times we've strayed from orders, hurting or killing Ferse and bringing in unnecessary weapons usually results in death for the Kuvek. I always manage to change their records for our favor when no one is looking," she finishes.

    "Why have you never told us this before?" Dujuik asks, looking uncomfortable and confused, trying to process all of this information. I don't blame him, it's a lot to understand, I'm just glad he had the same question as me, because I don't think I would have been able to ask; Wequ, however, simply looks sad.

    "I worked for the SKD many years and my reasons are very personal," Wequ starts, "the SKD held my husband and my three children captive. I learned recently, thanks to Sars, that the SKD had killed my husband and eldest child many years ago but kept the two youngest; last year, Sarea managed to release them and they are no longer with the SKD," Wequ says with sorrow in her voice as she tries to hold back her tears.

"I have a question," Ferixc says from beside me.

    "Yes?" Wequ prompts.

    "If we're no longer working for the SKD, what do we do?" Ferixc asks and Wequ looks as if she's about to answer but stops as she notices something behind us. I turn around with everyone else to see Sars stepping out of the elevator, somehow she managed to escape the SKD and come up through the elevator without a sound.

    "The answer is simple," she says, "we fight." Sarea walks across the room and stands next to Wequ, she hands Wequ a couple of thick, brown folders with papers peeking out, the edges singed and blackened. Upon noticing this I look closer at Sars and see that the hem of her jacket and sleeves are black with soot, her hands and face however, are untouched.

    "Did you get what I asked?" Wequ inquires of Sars as she takes the folders.

    "Yes," Sars responds, "and nothing else is left of the headquarters, they were holding no one, but we should leave, the Ferse move fast." With that, she stands and we follow her into the elevator. Sarea doesn't press any buttons, she simply presses her palm to the metal wall, and once everyone is inside we descend silently and step out once the door opens. Ferixc walks to the driver's area and we soon start moving.

    "What are those?" Dujuik asks, gesturing toward the folders that Wequ is holding.

    "They are records of the Kuvek working for the SKD and records of the prisoners that they are holding," Sars quietly answers and pulls out a book and starts to read; I wait in silence with everyone else until Ferixc steps out from the driver's area.

    "I've driven us away from the headquarters of province eighteen and we're now parked somewhere in province twenty-two," Ferixc says, looking around the room.

    "So, what's going on?" he asks and Sars puts her book away and looks at Wequ, as if telling her to explain.

    "I've been planning to take down the SKD for a long time," Wequ says, "but I didn't dare risk my family, and it wasn't until the day before yesterday that Sarea told me that the SKD no longer held my family hostage. I told Sarea of my plans and she agreed to help; I'm sorry I couldn't tell you what we were doing but the SKD would figure out if you knew that they were Ferse. That way, the only person we had to worry about passing their lie detector test was me, and Sarea had to help with that-"Wequ says but is interrupted by Terin.

    "What do you mean? How could Sarea help you pass a lie detector test?" he asks and Wequ looks to Sarea, who very slightly shakes her head and Terin sighs.

    "Never mind, I'm sorry for interrupting," Terin says and Wequ picks up where she left off.

    "After Sarea was taken and after we left she found these files and burned everything else. Now, we need to act against the SKD if we ever wish to bring the Kuvek back," she looks at us, "is everyone okay with this?" Wequ asks and a chorus of yesses follow and Ferixc and I nod.

    "Okay," Wequ says, "I had better tell you my plan; we need to first destroy the SKD, Sarea will start that by first letting everyone know that the SKD are Ferse and we will then take part in destroying the SKD and Ferse institutions, releasing prisoners as we go," Wequ says.

    "How will Sarea alert everyone about the SKD? That could take years and there's not a Kuvek powerful enough to give that kind of signal," Terin questions and Wequ looks at Sarea, who shrugs her shoulders.

    "Sarea is Kuvek, that, among other things is why the Ferse hate her, but her gifts are different and more powerful than most, she can send signals to anyone she wants, even non-Kuvek," Wequ says. I don't believe it; Kuvek are powerful but not that powerful. I AM I feel flash in my mind and I startle, I can feel the words and though Kuvek are used to this, I am not and I immediately look up.

    "Are you okay?" Ferixc asks and I nod in response; I look at Sarea and she looks at me, her ice blue eyes flashing gold. YOU CAN RESPOND, JUST THINK THE WORDS Sarea tells me. HELLO? I think and Sars responds, HELLO. HOW ARE WE DOING THIS? I ask, I'M NOT KUVEK. NO Sarea responds, I'M IN YOUR MIND. WHAT?! I think, trying very hard not to visibly panic, though I am mentally. Get out, get out, get out, get out, I think, there are some things that I don't want anyone to know. RELAX Sars says and her voice in my head is calming, I'M NOT ACCESSING ANY OF YOUR MEMORIES, ONLY WHAT YOU ARE THINKING AND FEELING RIGHT NOW, JUST LIKE YOU ARE WITH ME Sarea explains and I relax a little. WHAT DO YOU WANT? I ask. NOTHING AT THE MOMENT, I JUST WANTED YOU TO KNOW THAT YOU CAN DO THIS ANY TIME, JUST THINK MY NAME she says. OKAY I respond and I feel Sarea's thoughts leave mine; I look at her again and her eyes are back to ice blue.

    "I'm going to go up," Sarea says, putting her book away and standing up.

    "Okay," Wequ says, "I'll drive us a bit further, we have much to do." Sarea walks off and I watch as she steps into the elevator and the doors shut behind her.

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