Elemental Rush

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine:

            I didn’t leave the city right away. I attended to my duties the next day, standing guard near the Supremist’s fortress as she gathered the townspeople to the market square. She gave some speech about equality and the need for educational reform. I didn’t listen to her.

            Instead, I watched the people. They shifted in nervous clumps. No one spoke, and when the Supremist finished her speech, they all turned and headed to work. The merchants set up their stalls and opened their wagons. The people shopped, though little was said beyond the discussion of prices.

            Not a single Elemental attended the meeting or lingered in the square. I didn’t know if there had been any survivors, but I knew if there were, they wouldn’t have hung around here. Clearly, the Supremist did not want Elementals in Tarpulin anymore.

            I wished I knew why. In the past, I’d have asked my brother for his speculations. Now, I regarded him with a wary eye, tensing when he moved closer to me. “Care for a sticky bun?” he asked. His voice grated against my eardrums, because I’d heard him speak softly, lovingly even, to Alex.

            He’d been keeping secrets from me, and that was something we’d vowed we’d never do. I felt something inside me wither, but I kept my face impassive. “Sure, I haven’t eaten yet.” I followed him into the market to his favorite baker, telling myself I needed to play the right part.

            I’d been trained in the art of espionage. Three of the best months of my sentry education were spent as an undercover agent inside the Elemental Academy. I labored as a training partner during the day, and at night I snuck around the school. My assignment had been to find out which instructors were performing well, and which weren’t.

            It was while I was hanging out in the rafters of the Earthmover’s lair that Isaiah spotted me. His instructor had noticed nothing, but he was an excellent Elemental. I’d given him high marks, and as I bit into my sweet bun, I wondered if the Earthmover instructor had been killed in the Academy.

            “What have you been doing the past couple of days?” Felix asked.

            “Playing cards,” I said. The lie sounded smooth coming off my tongue. I was a gifted liar too, and I knew I could participate in the game Felix had apparently been playing with me. “It was boring. I hate cards.” I tossed him a half-smile, and he returned it.

            “What about you?” I asked, glancing into the square for no reason. I just didn’t want him to think I cared where he’d been or what he’d been doing.

            When I met his gaze again, he shrugged. “The same.” His voice wasn’t choked or scared. He could lie better than me, and I didn’t know why I expected any less. Maybe he’d been lying to me about a lot of things, for a long time. I’d never know. Sentries made sure of that.

#

            That night, I took twice as much food as I normally ate. I wrapped it in a paper bag and brought it back to my room. I had decided to leave, but I knew I couldn’t just flee into the night. I needed to plan, to carefully consider what I’d find in the wilderness that would aid my survival. There were wild animals, but they were hard to catch without the right equipment.

I knew a river ran north of here, all the way through the United Territories. It had been deemed too dirty to drink about fifty years ago, but I hoped maybe I could filter or purify it somehow.

The next morning, I asked for a fresh set of sentry uniforms, claiming one of my sets had been damaged during the burial of the Academy. I usually had two. One to wear while the other was being laundered. With this addition, I’d have three—enough to travel with and have a clean set when I needed it.