Anarchy

Aydin

The strong scent of cabbage and pheasant overwhelmed me as I crawled back through the creaky wooden door to my small home. Cold gusts of air found their way through the cracks of wood in the floorboards, chilling my feet as I strode to where Maggie stood, slaving away over the stove top.

I planted a soft kiss on the top of her fragile head, wishing her good morning and grabbing hungrily at the two apples which lay forlornly on the dirty counter. Our home was like any other; we weren’t in the slums like some were, and we definitely weren’t in mansions like the people in the Greater Region. But we made do with what we had, because we knew no different.

“Where have you been?” She spoke monotonously, her hand moving instinctively as she stirred the stew. I shrugged, not willing to explain to her my plans, and sat on one of the stiff wooden chairs that surrounded our crooked table. I dug my teeth deep into the first apple; chewing it slowly to savour its every texture. It was rare that we got delicacies like that, smuggled in from the Greater Region by dealers to be sold at the markets. Sweet, fresh fruit wasn’t something us ‘inferior’ people were seen to be worthy of.

 Maggie stopped what she was doing, hobbling over to me and placing her hands heavily on my shoulders.

“Nina, listen to me.”

Her elderly voice chirped worriedly in my ear, and I could see the same emotion mirrored in her ancient eyes. “There are dangers out there you don’t know of yet. You are still so young.”

 Her sad eyes bore deeper into me as her cold hands cupped my face, but before she could continue, the door swung open again noisily. I smiled at her as convincingly as I could, willing her to believe that I would be ok, and turned to face the figure walking through the door. At the sight of what he was holding it took all of my effort to suppress a groan. I shot a glare at Maggie, who in turn raised her hands innocently swivelling back around to face the stove.

 I returned my attention back to the small woven sack the boy was carrying, bits of wood and metal creeping out between each loose thread. It wasn’t as if it was a bad thing he was holding, in fact I knew it would help, but I knew exactly what Maggie was up to. My already narrowed eyes became tiny slits as I stared up at him, waiting for him to admit why he was here. But when he didn’t I rolled my second apple carefully onto the table and stood almost nose to nose in front of him.

“Aydin, I don’t need-“

Aydin placed a long thin finger against my lips, cutting me off, and smirking down at me. His messy light hair hung over his face, hiding his deep brown eyes, but I could see the corners of his lips twitch into a smile. I’d missed him.

Aydin and I had been best friends for a very long time, in fact I couldn’t remember my life before him, and he’d always been uber protective of me. I guess that wasn’t about to change now. I sighed defeatedly as he pulled me into a warm hug. I took in everything about him, his massive build making me feel small and childlike in his arms.

“I’ve missed you.”

The words came tumbling out before I could stop them, but even as I did I felt myself become even more comfortable in his embrace. I felt his chest rise and fall quickly as he laughed quietly into my hair, his hot breath tickling my ear as he whispered back; “I’ve missed you more.”

I felt my heart thump suddenly harder and faster in my chest and mentally slapped myself for being so stupid. He was my friend, nothing more, nothing less. I wasn’t going to let my stupid feelings get in the way. I suspended myself slightly away from his muscley body, dangling my small frame from his neck and smiling up at him.

“Anyway, you may not need me, but I sure as hell need you.”

He leant down and planted a gentle kiss on my forehead, sending my cheeks bright scarlet.  I hit him playfully in the chest and reached behind his back to grab the sack he was holding. Maggie who had been listening in on our whispered conversations broke from her cooking pot to wiggle her thin eyebrows at me. I scowled at her, hoping Aydin didn’t notice, and emptied the contents of the sack out onto the table. A small hill of weapons amounted on the wooden surface in front of me, light spraying of the silver plains of the blades and hitting my face. I felt my eyes go wide as I took it all in. What’s going on?

I felt the weight of my own beautiful dagger filling my pocket, and my hand reached for it instinctively. I could see Maggie out of the corner of my eye turn around to watch me, flattening out her grimy apron absent-mindedly, but my gaze remained situated on Aydin’s beaming face. Obviously noticing the shock inscribed in my own face, he handed one of the smaller knives to me. It had a curved blade and I could tell that if I ran a finger gently along the edge of the blade it would cut me like scissors through paper and leave crimson droplets flooding down my skin. The thought alone made me gulp in fear. I was in way over my head. What was my plan anyway, and what did Aydin and Maggie know about any of it?

“Look, I know you, Nina.” His eyes found mine briefly as I scanned the table once more, and he flashed me a comforting half smile. “You’ve always talked about one day taking them down and lately… I don’t know… things seem different. I’ve seen you down by the river…” I watched his eyes flicker momentarily to the bulge in my pocket where my knife was hidden and I felt my body stiffen. He couldn’t possibly know what I had been planning. Hell, I didn’t even really know yet.

“I’m just asking that whatever stupid, crazy plan you’ve concocted,” His hands reached out to my own, taking them tightly and running his thumbs soothingly across the palm of my hand, “You let me come with you.”

I opened my mouth to retort, but only a pitiful croak escaped my lips. His smile spread right across his face at the realization that I wasn’t going to fight him on this one. There was no point, he would win. He always did.

 His grip on my hands loosened, but he didn’t let go, instead wrapping his fingers inside the small, empty gaps mine made. I felt my cheeks go hot again, and dipped my head low so he couldn’t see. Maggie chuckled behind me and the shock of the noise sent me stumbling backwards into Aydin’s arms. I whipped around to face her, a hand plastered over my rapidly beating heart. I let out a deep breath as I recovered but Maggie only stared at me thoughtfully.

“You two better be going then,” She tapped my lightly on the leg as if ushering me out the door, or closer to Aydin, I couldn’t be sure. “I want to be able to live in a world where I don’t have to hide in a box of corn every day, for at least a little while anyway.” The sarcastic glint that had been playing in her eyes suddenly turned sad. I hated seeing her like this. She had lived a long life, but it hadn’t exactly been a happy one. When she was only 16 this whole thing had started and people like her were suddenly outcasts. She had lived almost Eighty years since then in hiding, just waiting for someone to come along that could finally save her. Someone like me.

I straightened up, gathering the weapons back into the pale woven sack in a quick sweeping motion. I held her old fragile body in my arms and whispered my goodbyes. I could only hope she’d be ok without me, and that she could look after Paulo. It was them I was doing this for after all. I remembered the prophecy Maggie had spoken only a couple of days before.    

“They will come. The ones who will save us all. The ones who will restore what once was.”

I looked up at Aydin’s towering body and automatically felt safer. I could do this. We could do this. His hand slipped comfortably into mine as Maggie stuffed bags of food she had been preparing all morning under my arms. We were big at heart, but there was no way Aydin and I alone could face the mod army in the greater region. We needed people to stand behind us. People we could trust.

Something was nagging at the back of my mind, something I was trying to ignore, but it kept slipping to the front of my brain. The second part of Maggie’s prophecy.

“They will be betrayed but we shall rise!”

I felt my throat constrict with fear. What did it mean? Who would be betrayed?

I couldn’t help but feel as though something horrible was going to happen to me. To us. But I couldn’t think about that now. My feet moved one at a time, one after the other. I had no control, no idea where I was going. But I knew where I was going to end up.

Wherever freedom was.