Carmine (Completed)

Chapter 38

Out of all the suggestions, this was his best idea? 

I walked briskly and cut through the slim crowd of people. It seemed I was on my own again. Five would be with Janilla, since they were supposedly following Janilla’s thoughts. 

They would not be able to track me, but I was wearing an enclosed mantle over my head to block the face. Seeing me would be their last and best option, still, I was shaking profusely.

To think Corona was so close to me, she could touch me. I was foolish to think I could take her on. She might have been here for a long time, watching, stalking me like injured prey, waiting patiently for me to drop lifelessly for her to devour my dying flesh.

Cursed be that vulture, for failing was not a choice I would have chosen. My feet navigated the narrow streets as I went further down the sloping mountain.

The plan was risky as I was on my own. If I escaped this city it might not matter. I would be far from here. Corona will come for Five and Janilla. 

Naturally, he would warp to where I was, and then we could go from there. I just hoped she was not as stupid to go on a murdering spree just to prove a point.

Corona was not an idiot, for that was a bluff I was sure.  

Leaving them behind seemed like a mad idea, but what choice did I have? I reached the first gate in the inner wall and easily passed without much of a look at me by the guards.

That was good, now, this part of the city was where the truly disadvantaged and poor lived. It was still not bad, the buildings were taller here if not in bad repair. 

There were very few merchants or road peddlers like there were in the middle of the city. It was mostly domiciliary buildings, while lines of clothes crisscrossed above the narrower paths I took. 

The smell was the only bad thing. No sewers, meant the dirt road was the resting ground for the dung. 

Walking, I kept my head straight, but my eyes ever wavering. Soldiers were fewer here and I predicted that made the local brigands happier than usual.

Whereever they be in this dismal space, as the light barely touched the street, yet veering across the walls with a hesitant crawl of the day’s rise.

“Can I get a copper?”

I fidgeted. Turning, I looked down at a young boy. His clothes were marred, while his eyes were large and dreamy.

His palm was held out waiting for me to bless him. I needed to leave the city, but I guessed I could help this child and his family as well. 

My hand took out a gold coin. The child grabbed my hand and Corona’s voice seeped into my conscious. “Cockroach!”

I drew back and the child’s hand shifted into expanding black smoke. Grabbing my gun, I fired and the smoke blossomed into my face.  

“Feel the burn!” Doubling over, I flung back and I rolled from the intense ache that caused me to cough. I winced and shifted upward to see Corona stepping out of the dark shadows and the dissipating smoke.

I moved my hands on the ground frantically only to hear the crunching sound of Corona’s sandal on the gun.  

Behind me was a Shyia male fully suited in silvery jagged armor. In one hand, a long sword with an elaborate swirling pommel while the other hand held a round silver shield that had interlocked spirals spinning towards the center. 

Corona said, “Thought you could run away?”

I cried out, “Guard! Guard!”

Corona smiled. “We are in the dumps of the capital where cockroaches like you live. Guards do not frequent here.” She gestured with a wave of her hand. “Hell, they hide and look away as is their duty and purpose.”