Chapter Six
One of the patrollers took his sliver whip and threw it in the air. Extending five or six feet, it wrapped around my ankle. Before I even knew what happened, he tugged and yanked me off the cliff, causing me to fall onto the muddy ground. The wind was knocked out of my body, and I could feel the cold, hard stares of the patrollers on me as I stood up to inspect the damages; a few cuts on my knees, a gash on my elbow, and a bloody nose.
“What a softie,” the guy with the whip said.
One of the others spoke up. “Maybe we should just kill him,” he suggested, his glowing red eyes staring at me ravenously. “There’s no way this sissy can be the Lucid.”
The guy with the whip stared at me with raised eyebrows, as if debating the submission as a possible outcome. Eventually, he shook his head and said, “No. Empress Rilue will be happy to have a fifth Anti. She adores Tascaques.”
Most of what the patrollers were saying made no sense whatsoever. What was all this talk about a Tascaque and an Empress?
Ellie pushed her way into the circle, obviously not intimidated by the guys with glowing red eyes and their shiny black bulls. “He’s right,” she said.
I gave her a look of dread, wondering if this girl was on my side or their side. “Empress Rilue is too fond of Tascaques. Killing him would just result in your imprisonments.”
All three patrollers with the long swords glanced at one another, realized that they had come to a stump. Eventually, they sighed and nodded in agreement.
The guy with the whip looked at one of the others. “Sarrol, escort these two.”
He grunted and rolled his eyes. “Why do I always have to do it, Recaro?”
Recaro gave him a glare. “Because you’re the biggest whiner out of the group, that’s why.”
The rest of the patrollers began to chuckle, and I could see Sarrol begin to blush. It soon passed and he stood up straighter, trying his best to appear vigilant. “Fine,” he said in a slightly deeper tone.
Once the other guys had set off, Sarrol stayed back. He gazed at us with his menacing red eyes, two small stars giving off a blinding shimmer of light. I jumped when he reached down and pulled Ellie’s hair back so that her ear was next to his mouth. It didn’t rip off like I had expected, which indicated that it was, indeed, her real hair.She didn’t have cancer in this bizarre, messed up dream world.
“Don’t embarrass me,” he hissed. “I have more status than you, just remember that.”
Ellie didn’t even wince. She just stood there, back arched, Sarrol’s mouth a few inches from her face. “You embarrassed yourself, bud,” she retorted.
He tugged at her hair violently, causing her to let out a scream of surprise and agony. “Don’t forget what I can do. It shouldn’t be that hard, considering what happened not too long ago.”
Ellie struggled against his grip, causing him yank her hair once again. “It was a long time ago,” she said angrily. “But it was against the law.”
“The law is stupid,” Sarrol said angrily. “Empress Rilue should’ve changed it.”
“It’s not up to her. It’s up to the people,” Ellie said.
Sarrol looked at me, as if he hadn’t noticed that I was standing there the entire time. “Don’t know what we’re talking ‘bout, huh?” He chuckled softly. “Hopefully you won’t have to find out.”
