The Caste - On Hold, major edits and title change.

Chapter Six

Camlin woke Corvus and Ardelia to eat one last meal before they set out for Pontiac. The smell of bacon cooking tempted Corvus out of his bed. Ardelia got out of bed after putting up a fight; rather, Camlin picked her up off of her bed to force her out of it.

"I don't understand why we have to go now. It's dark and cold out there," Ardelia whined, snuggling up to Camlin.

"Because, kid, it's safer for us to travel at night. Fewer people to rat us out, and less of a chance we run into Enforcers who stop us and ask too many questions. Remember, Corv has a bounty on his head." Camlin hugged Ardelia and kissed the top of her head. "Now, go eat, Segna cooked us breakfast. Enjoy it because I can't promise you when our next real meal will be."

Segna smiled at Corvus and Ardelia as she handed them plates loaded with bacon, eggs, and mashed potatoes. "Cam is right; you may not eat again until we get to Pontiac."

Segna looked human and beautiful with her wig of long white hair with bangs that flipped to the side of her face. She wore a black military style jacket that covered her exposed metallic spine, and black skin-hugging leather pants to match. As Corvus and Ardelia sat down to eat, she slipped daggers into her sleeves before reaching for a two-handed sword.

"Are those piercings on your face, Segna?" Ardelia jumped up to get a glimpse of the jewelry that adorned the bot's face. "Makeup too, wow, Segna, you are going all out for this trip."

"Yes, Ardelia. You aren't the only girl in this family that likes to add extra holes to her face or look pretty," Segna answered.

Camlin smiled at Segna as he smoothed out his blue tunic to hide the daggers he had hidden in the belt of his black breeches. "You always looked..." His voice tapered off.

"She always looked like what?" Ardelia tilted her head to the side sucking her lip ring into her mouth.

Camlin tucked more daggers into his combat boots before strapping his two-handed sword to his back, ignoring Ardelia's question. "I have mapped out all the coordinates of the Envirotron spheres between here and Pontiac. Farkus and I both believe they are less potent under moonlight, so that will give us a little more safety. As long as we don't run into anyone on the road, we should get to Pontiac with no issues."

"Are you certain we can trust Farkus?" Corvus asked.

"We don't have a choice not to trust him, kid. He's been on the inside of the Caste operation; he knows more about their inner workings than I do," Camlin said. "Ardelia, if you have finished, wake your adoring fanboy up, please."

"OK, I have a couple things to finish on him before we leave. Corvus, you will love it." Ardelia ran off to fetch Farkus.

"Why am I afraid?" Corvus watched as Ardelia left the room. He helped Segna clean up from their meal.

Corvus' received his answer as Ardelia returned with Farkus in tow; the Chrombot looked human. Ardelia had dressed him in brown leather flight pants, a black hooded sweatshirt, and a beat up brown leather flight jacket. Farkus wore brown leather gloves on his hands to hide the cogs and circuits that ran up his arm from his fingertips. Ardelia had given Farkus a chinstrap beard, and a dark brown spiked wig. Except for the fact Corvus' hair was long and black with the same undercut Farkus had on his wig, and Corvus was much paler in tone; the two could pass for brothers. Corvus glared at the Chrombot in disgust.

"What's wrong, my brother? Don't you like my new get up?" Farkus asked with the same smirk he had given Corvus on their first encounter at the dock.

"I don't know what I find more disconcerting, the fact you are calling me your brother, or the fact you resemble me," Corvus said.

"Haters gonna hate..." Farkus began. Ardelia had been teaching the bot to speak more human like.