Diffraction

Chapter Fourteen: The Order

"Most members of the Order of the Golden Sun refused to comment—unsurprising given their assumption of corruption at all levels of City governance. After extensive effort, I secured testimony from one who spoke positively of the subject's deeds—but only on condition of anonymity, for fear of expulsion from the Order."

"Don't worry, Kaela," Tandy told her doll, "it's just the wind."

She inched toward the back door of her family home, clutching Kaela's fabric frame harder than she'd ever admit. The strange sounds had died down, along with the cries for help.

Seven summers old, Tandelwyna crept toward the wooden door, fresh out of bed, in a linen nightgown down to her knees. Her soft footfalls were silent on the hard boards of the kitchen. Momma left the porridge on the oven. Smells like it's burning. Momma never burns nothin'—Da does that.

She hadn't seen her little brother yet. Maybe he's still sleepin'?

"Haid?" she called in a soft plaintive voice. She thought of the tricks he pulled, and tried her best imitation of her mother. "Haidrinal? You better not be playin' Fractured with me 'gain."

Tandy looked through the space in the door between wood slats. Fresh-washed clothes hung on a line in the small yard, drying in the morning sun. She didn't hear Rawr barking like he usually did at the morning errand-runners. Rawr always loves to scare the runners.

They got Rawr when he was just a pup, and Tandy named him, or so Da said. Three years younger at the time, she cackled every time he growled at passers-by near the Market Square. She imitated him, and the name stuck.

Tandy put her hand on the latch and slowly turned it down. The door was old and squeaky if you just tried to open it. She got caught sometimes sneaking in when she was supposed to be in her room because it squeaked.

She peeked outside, her black braids swaying. "Rawr? Haid?"

Just laundry, flappin' in the wind. And... feet?

Two bare feet lay in the grass around the corner of the house. Momma's feet. Tandy knew them anywhere, from following them through the crowds at the Market. Flecks of red colored the ankles and calves.

Tandy crept out the door, careful to make no noises. She inched toward the corner of the house, ignoring the tickle of the grass between her toes.

She popped her head around the corner to see what Momma was doing.

But she wasn't doing anything.

Momma lay there in a pool of blood, holding Haidrinal's body tight in her arms. And Rawr—or something very much like Rawr but all black—stood above them. Snarling. Chewing.

Looking at Tandy.

Rawr sprung at her.

Tandy screamed and sprinted through the house. Da rushed down the stairs, calling her name, but Tandy was out the door.

She heard him cry out, heard the growl and ripping of flesh inside the house. Above her, shadowy birds circled and swooped down upon their prey.

Tandy kept running, clinging to Kaela, screaming as loud as she could.

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