Heart Glass

Part 5

"Stop!" Raid scrambled after the Knight as he dragged his limp father away by his collar. "Please!"
The Knight didn't turn to look at him. His Coriglass armor glinted in the sunlight. "This man has not arrived to mine in four days."
"He's sick! He just needs a few more days--"
"Look at him, you Wreck scum. He's not going to get better. He'll be dead within the week."
Raid pulled on his mask, desperate to hide his face from the Knight, in case he recognized him as the water fugitive, then grabbed his father and held him tightly. "I am not scum, and you are not taking my father away from me!" He glared at the Knight.
The Knight turned to him, his face dispassionate. He dropped Raid's father's head. Raid caught him. His throat felt more parched than ever as the Knight squatted, his eyes boring into him.
"You are worthless. You impinge upon the citizens of the Shine. I should kill you here for making my life even harder than it already is."
"You don't even know what a hard life is," Raid grit his teeth. The Knight growled and raised his fist, and Raid braced for the blow. It knocked him to the ground, his cheek throbbing with familiar pain. Blood trickled from his lip to his chin. He never let go of his father's shirt.
"Yeah? How about I leave you with your daddy, then, to watch him slowly die?" He snarled, then whirled around to rejoin his gang of other Knights.
Raid's stomach dropped and his heart pattered. He was relieved that the Knight was leaving his father--in fact, his group was leaving Beta empty handed, which would be a great source of relief for many. But at the same time, he felt the finality of his father's future hit him like a wagon full of Dia.
"Raid!" Tani, Troi, and Gaib ran towards him.
"Stones! He's worse than..." Tani closed her eyes, as if chastising herself for not checking on his father sooner. "Oh, Raid." She and Troi had been his father's friends since before he could remember. Raid knew she was more than concerned for Raid--she was mourning for her friend, too.
"This isn't good, kid," Troi looked at Raid, squeezing his shoulder. "He needs...a real doctor, at the very least."
"Where could I get one of those?"
Gaib's eyes narrowed. "He looks so sick...Maybe you should go to the Shine, and...find a real doctor..."
"Absolutely not!" Tani said firmly. "How could you suggest something so dangerous to your friend? You think we're treated like dirt here? We are lucky compared to city Wrecks. We get much more water and food than they do--we have the rebels aiding us! And the Knights give us some so that we don't drop dead our first week. In the mines they at least sort of need us. In the city, we're either incredibly cheap labor or in the way. Besides, a Shine doctor has much better things to do than help a Wreck with no money."
Gaib flushed and looked at the ground, kicking at the warm sand.
Raid sighed. "How much is pure Dia worth? Isn't there some kind of monopoly going on that makes it ridiculously expensive?"
Troi shrugged. "Yes, but not nearly enough that you can just hand a doctor a bag of Dia and call it good." He scratched his chin. "You know what could do that, though? A tree seed."
Raid raised an eyebrow, then glanced around at the dunes and quiet tents that surrounded them. Nearly everyone had left for the mines. "And where do you suppose I get a tree seed around here?" It was a good idea. From what Raid knew about the Shine, having a tree on your land was a mark of the highest class, handed out by King Stoneface himself. Oh--King Horace. Whoops.
Troi hummed, meeting Tani's eyes. They seemed to have a brief mental conversation, ending with Tani grimacing.
"I don't want you to risk getting hurt in the city, Raid. Your father is one of my closest friends,"she closed her eyes. "He wouldn't forgive me for letting you leave."
"We could go with him!" Gaib beamed.
Tani pinched the bridge of her nose. "Gaib...no. Besides, there would be no one to stay here with..." She fondly elevated Raid's father's head. "Let's take him back to the tent."
As the four worked together to carry him about twenty feet to the canvas tent, Raid tried not to be stupid. He tried, very hard, not to go against Tani's demands and begin planning in intricate detail, an escape.
Within the week.
Three days, he'll be dead.
Raid couldn't sit around for three days and watch his father die. He had to help him. He had to save him.
How would he get through the desert? His bladers couldn't last the distance between Beta and the Shine.
Raid made sure his father was as comfortable as possible, adjusting the thin blanket and rolling up his own mat to slide under his father's head. Raid winced when his side started to throb.
"I know, I know, I'm terrified. Shut up," he muttered. He pulled on his mining suit, zipped it up, lugged his boots from their place in the corner and shoved them onto his feet, and ducked out of the tent, immediately surrounded by his concerned friends. He swallowed back his ideas temporarily. He would have to wait until the perfect moment.