Girl of Steel and Stone

Chapter 12

Chapter twelve – Roan Thorn

The second day of the third week started just like all others. With no breakfast – they never had breakfast here – and a direct start in the fields.

It all went wrong at about three in the afternoon.

Suddenly, all of the people above fifteen stilled. Head swiveled around, searching, looking for something.

Next to me, Nico whimpered.

We had become fast friends and I knew that for something to make him cry it had to be real bad. Except about his sister, than his eyes always rimmed with silver.

'Nico?' I asked, hoping he knew what this was about.

'Attack,' he ever so softly said. He continued working but he sent furtive glances everywhere.

'What do you mean, attack?' I asked.

The six year old looked at me with blue eyes that were way too old.

'An attack tonight. You don't hear the birds or wildlife anymore. That means there are people in the forest. Somewhere. And since we don't hear cars, it's not the King's soldiers. So, we'll have an attack tonight. Probably. It has happened a few times that they went away. But there're no caserns 'round here, so we're an easy prey.'

Fuckerdefuck.

Tonight was it.

I felt a heavy weight settle on my shoulders.

'Karl will probably explain everything to you this evening. About how we work, I mean,' the little boy said. 'I hope Death doesn't look at you,' he said softly. 'I like you.'

My heart hurt.

'Hey bud, I won't die, promise. I may not be a villager, but I know how to wield a gun really well.'

He smiled tentatively. A smile that dropped almost instantly. 'Maybe I'll die.'

That made me shot up. 'You're not going to die, buddy. If I have to go and talk to Death himself to get you back, I will.'

He shook his head. 'Dead is dead. Dead is gone. You can't take people back from the dead.'

I see 9 here.

'I don't care. I'll keep you alive, 'kay?'

''Kay,' he softly said. He looked around once more. 'Come on, go back to work. Mom's heading this way, and she's angry. And jealous. She's always jealous.'

Whenever Mara wasn't near he called her mom. It broke my heart.

If I could I'd take him with me to Daqu....

Maybe I could. That would have to wait for later.

That evening Karl called me to sit next to him. That's different. I usually sat between the small ones. I always gave them my carrots. I could eat them, I was so hungry. But they still had to grow and I still had some flesh on my bones from all the food at the Academy.

'Thorn,' Karl said. The way he said my name made me think about Cali Rayan. I was thinking about her way too much lately.

I'd wondered what color her eyes exactly were. Some kind of grey.

She wasn't pretty. She was actually kind of plain. But that promise of Death in her eyes and the strength she exuded made people turn and look at her like she was the most beautiful woman in the whole of Daquan. No wonder Riggers had a crush on her. Poor lad.