Washed Away

Chapter 15 - The Secret Tunnel

Syrena fainted the moment Amara and I told her about Milo's disappearance, so we were left with the task of figuring out what the hell to do.

"We should tell the Dux." Amara stated, fanning her mother's face with a tea towel. "Make him send out some Servatores to try and find him."

"We can't afford to lose anymore Servatores here." I commented, pacing around the room wringing my hands. "We need them here to help rebuild the city."

Amara groaned and sat back on her heels, holding Syrena's hand as her mother lay on the sofa unconscious.

"Well, what are we going to do then?! My little brother is out there in the wilderness where he could get ambushed my Shadows at any moment!" She cried, burying her face in her hands. 

My heart constricted as I realised how much she's gone through: her little sister getting kidnapped, her father and brother going out to fight the Shadows and now, to top it all off, her little brother was currently out there in great danger. I knelt next to her and wrapped my arm around her shaking shoulders.

"It's all going to be okay." I whispered. "Listen, if the Servatores or the Dux can't help us, then there's nothing stopping us going out to find Milo."

Amara's head snapped by and she stared at me, tears glistening on her cheeks.

"Are you crazy?" She hissed. "We will get ourselves killed!"

"What else can we do?"

She stared back down at her hands. "I... I do not know."

I stood up, brushing off my shorts. "First of all, let's go and see the Dux. We'll take it from there."

Amara sniffed and wiped her eyes. "What about mum?"

I looked over at Syrena. "She'll be fine... she'll wake up in a little bit."

Amara took my word for it and stood up, her legs wobbling. She gave her eyes a final wipe and turned around, her eyes full of determination.

"Let us go and get my brother back." She said, I grinned and patted her on the shoulder.

"That's the spirit!"

*_*_*

"What do you mean you cannot help us!?" Amara snapped, clenching her hands into fists. "My little brother is out there all alone and all you can do is sit here and do nothing?!"

"I am really sorry but, what can I do?" The Dux replied calmly. "All of the Servatores here are preoccupied at the moment with rebuilding the city and I cannot afford to lose any more of them." 

"It doesn't have to be many." I pushed, moving so I was standing next to Amara. "Even if it's only a couple we would truly appreciate it!"

The Dux looked at me and sighed, shaking his head. "Sorry, but no means no."

Amara yelled in frustration and stomped out of the room. I quickly apologised to the Dux and followed her out, finding her slouched in a chair in the waiting room.

"We'll find a way, I promise." I said, sitting in the chair next to her. She looked up at me and gave me a half-smile.

"I guess that leaves us to the challenge of finding Milo then." She stated. I saw in her eyes how serious she was and nodded numbly, not quite believing that we were about to do this.

"Lead the way, Amara."

Outside on the streets, I could see the amount of damage the Shadows had conflicted on the city. Piles of burnt wood and ashes littered the streets and blackened skeletons of houses towered over us, giving the whole scene a chilling atmosphere. We pushed past several of the city dwellers and ended up bumping into Damon.