Elemental Rush

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight:

            I regained my senses enough to get back to my quarters. Nobody came to get me the next morning, and I decided not to leave. The walls caged me, though I had three rooms to roam. For the first time, I picked up the deck of cards and shuffled through them.

            I played a couple of games before growing bored. Poker was more of Felix’s thing, and he spent most evenings with a group of sentries winning and then losing his week’s wages.

            By the time dawn arrived on the second day, I couldn’t stay in my room for another second. I dared to venture into the hall, only to find it silent and empty. Alex’s conference room was likewise barren.

            The streets of Tarpulin usually teemed with vendors, shoppers, Elementals buying sticky buns for breakfast and pork buns for lunch. The square lay deserted. The only sign of life in the entire city was the lazy drifting of smoke from chimneys as the people stayed sequestered inside their homes and cooked their grits and sausages over the open flame.

            I strode through the streets, uncaring about the noise my sentry boots caused. Once in the outer rings of housing, I moved quieter, hoping not to draw attention. I crept to the front door of a house where the shutters had been hastily locked. I leaned against the door and listened.

            I couldn’t hear voices, but then I didn’t need people to talk to know what they were thinking. I could only hear one mind inside the shack, and it was a woman.

            I don’t know how much longer I can survive without going to the market, she thought. Only one piece of bread this morning, one at lunch, and one at dinner. I can grind some of the corn in the cellar for cakes tomorrow if the square doesn’t reopen.

            I wanted to knock and ask her what she knew, but I doubted I’d get the truth. I hadn’t received any messages from Alex, but I was sure the townspeople had. I wondered what lie he’d fed them, who’d had to die to make it believable.

            As long as it isn’t you, I thought, then immediately wished I could recall it. Sentry training had focused on schooling emotions and remaining impassive about all things. I’d struggled with it, but with Felix’s constant reminders of Its you or them, Adam, I’d made it through the courses.

            The Supremist said three days to clean up, the woman thought. Surely the market will be open day after tomorrow at the latest.

            With that information, I stole away from her house, wondering what exactly Alex needed to clean up.

#

            That night, a noise from my balcony woke me. The sentry who lived inside me, who’d been sleeping for the past few days, was instantly alert. I sat up, quieting my breathing and straining to hear the slightest sound.

            The night was mild, as usual in Tarpulin, but I slept with the balcony door open at night. The air soothed me. I slowly turned toward the door, where the screen shivered in the wind.

            Suddenly, a shower of soil hissed against the glass. There one moment, gone the next. The noise it made was barely louder than a whisper, but it sounded like a shout.

            I crept from bed, scanning the balcony as well as examining the dirt now littering the stones. For some reason, I didn’t feel like danger lay outside, but opportunity. Still, I approached with caution.