Defying Equilibrium

Chapter 17: No matter what

Miles away, Dare had no idea of the tragedy that had just befallen his family. He laughed with his best friend, and his thoughts were on his mission, on rescuing Liana. He was focused on keeping those around him safe. Never did he think that tragedy would strike so close to home.

He was walking with Dakora, who he had taken a liking to in the past few days. She really was an extraordinary girl, that much was clear. But everything else about her was a mystery.

"What's your last name?" he asked.

"Ain't got one," she replied. "Just Dakora."

"How old are you?"

"No idea."

"Where are you from?"

"A small town called Fitzroy Vale."

"And where's that?"

"I have no idea."

"How do you not know where your town is?"

I haven't been back there since I left the forges, and I'd never left the town before that. So I really couldn't say."

Dare sighed. It was impossible to find out anything about her, because she didn't know anything about herself.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

She shrugged. "I didn't when I left home. If my parents had any more children when I was gone, I'm none the wiser."

"Well, haven't you tried to find out? Have you even seen your parents since you escaped?"

She shook her head. "Why would I want to see the people who handed me over to my captors?"

Dare was shocked. "But...but they're still your family..."

"Family or not, they abandoned me to those thugs because my magic scared them. They didn't know what to do with me, giving me over was easier. I have nothing but hate left for them."

"I can't imagine hating a member of my family, no matter what they did. I'd forgive them."

"You and I grew up in different worlds."

"Family is family, no matter what, no matter where you grew up."

"Look, can we not talk about this?" Dakora asked, sighing. "I'd rather not discuss my family. Tell me about yours."

Dare let the subject change go. If Dakora didn't want to talk, that was fine by him. "Well, I'm one of five children, five boys. Nico's the youngest, he's four." Dare gestured to about his hip-height. "About this tall. He's a bit of a handful at times. Then there's Sol, he's eight. I'm the middle child."

"They sound like a lot of fun."

"They are. They're fantastic. My two older brothers are Xander, who's seventeen. He looks a lot like me, we used to get mistaken for each other a lot until he cut his hair short. Although he's nothing like me in personality, he's a quiet, shy person who generally prefers reading in solitude to talking to people. And then there's Jackson, the eldest. He's a Shielder."

"Your brother's in the Militia?" Dakora asked, shocked.

Dare smiled ruefully. "Yeah, he is. I don't know what he'd say if he saw me now. He'd probably think I'm a traitor."

"I thought you said that 'family is family, no matter what'? Yet he'd still call you a traitor?" Dakora asked, thinking that she'd proved him wrong.

Dare shook his head. "He'd call me a traitor, sure, but that wouldn't change anything. My brother cares for and respects me, even if we didn't always get along in the past."

"You fought a lot?"

"All the time. Jackson and I disagree on a lot of things, and we used to fight all the time. Even so, I can't imagine life without him."

Dakora smiled. "I admire you and your family, you know. I wish that I had what you have."

Oscar walked with Sansu, a little behind Dare and Dakora. Sansu had become more and more withdrawn as the journey went on, wanting nothing more than just to talk to her sister again.

"We'll get her back, you know," Oscar reminded her.

Sansu made a non-committal 'hmph', as if to tell Oscar that he was going to have to do better than that.

"I promise," he added.

"Don't make promises that you can't keep."

"I'm not. I promise we'll get her back safe, Sansu. We will."

"Hmph."

"No matter what."

"Hmph."

Oscar sighed. Talking to Sansu these days was like talking to a brick wall. Gone was the energy, the spark, the vitality. What was left was this hollow shell of the girl she once was, a puppet that only acted human. They needed to get Liana back soon,or they would lose them both.

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Louise felt lost, so far from home. She knew no one,and no one wanted to know her. After being scripted, she had been shipped off to join the forces protecting the border of Damakis, and now she walked along the Shielder's base, trying to find her way to where she was meant to be. And she didn't even know where that was.

She looked desperately for a friendly face, but saw none. No one she knew or recognised. Damakis was a very large territory, so it was unlikely that she would run into anyone here, so far out of the city.

Turning a corner in the tunnel-like corridor, her eyes fell upon a large wall, covered in writing. The writing had been etched into the stone wall, in long columns. On closer inspection, she saw that they were lists of names, hundreds of them, thousands even. On top of the wall was an inscription in larger writing that read, 'The scarred, the broken, the fallen, we salute you.'

There was someone etching some new names into the bottom right corner of the wall. Louise walked over to him, and tapped him on the shoulder. He was a tall, gangly boy, a bit older than her, and he had a face that looked like it smiled easily. It wasn't smiling now, though.

"Excuse me," Louise asked. "But what's this wall for? What are the names?"

"You new here?" the boy asked kindly. He didn't look like he belonged in a place like this.

"Yeah, just got here. I'm Louise."

"Alfred. And this," he said, gesturing to the wall behind him, "is what we call 'The Wall of the Dead.' Clue's in the name. That's what the names are. When someone dies here, we etch their name into the stone."

Louise gasped, craning her neck to see the top of the wall."But there's....so many names...."

Alfred smiled a sad smile. "You're telling me."

"Whose name did you etch into the wall?" Louise asked him. "Was it a friend of yours?"

Alfred laughed a little, but without humour. "Not a friend exactly. More a... comrade. We were in the same training group, and then the same battalion, and we were always very competitive with each other. We were always trying to outdo each other. Maybe we were friends. I don't know. Maybe we could have been, if we both made it out of here."

Alfred walked away abruptly. Maybe he was grief-stricken for his friend, maybe not. Louise didn't know what to think about the people here. Taking a step closer to the wall, she read the name that Alfred has just inscribed on the wall, and gasped. No...surely not....

'Jackson Dare'