It was true that the blood hadn’t spread much.
“That’s good to hear.”
“Now where should we find each other?”
“There’s a small bookstore, all the way into the bazaar. He knows the exact location,” Mathias cast his eyes on the man in Bernhardt’s arms.
“Wonderful. He shall be my guide.”
“If you’re having trouble you can ask someone. They’ll know where if you ask for Derek’s bookshop.”
“Understood.”
Bernhardt was a seasoned “outlaw” who seemed to have spent time in Quinta in the past. There was no need to worry. If there was anything to be concerned about, it was Mathias’ own ability to escape.
“All right then…”
They swapped looks, then set off in separate directions.
They were near the edge of Quinta, but on the side that originally bordered the interior. The citizens living here had enjoyed comfort, and the houses were large. Most were empty now, though. The privileged had been the first to flee the district.
Mathias turned a corner each time he sensed someone nearby. He vaulted into whichever alley was narrower. At the same time he took care to move away from the wall and in towards Quinta’s heart.
He was making his way down a winding street hemmed in on both sides by two-storied buildings when he came to a dead end.
This isn’t my day…
There was a building in front of him, a commonplace brick structure with two floors. On his side there were no windows at street level, no foothold to scramble up on. Nor was there any tree, or even barrels or wooden boxes lying around.
He immediately made an about-face. There was an intersection just ten meters ahead.
A few figures appeared there.
The larger half of them had special-purpose blades slung in sheaths on their waists. The ones with rifles caught Mathias’ attention, too. Even in the faint moonlight, the crests stitched to their chests were clearly the Garrison’s.
He couldn’t advance. But he doubted retreating would improve his fate.
“Shit,” the crass word escaped his lips. That, too, he could never have imagined a year ago. Six months with outlaws had changed him in no small measure.
“Stay where you are!” came the interpellation.
What do I do? Should he surrender himself and wait for his comrades to break him free? Or should he try to fight his way through, hoping for the best?
Unable to decide, he almost stood still doing neither.
Just then, one of the soldiers punched one of the others in the pit of his stomach. When the unsuspecting victim doubled over, he had his head driven into the wall.
“Captain?!” a third soldier piped, the lantern in his hand illuminating his bewildered expression. This one suffered a gouging blow to the side of his head, crumpled onto his knees, and hit the ground. The soldier who’d kissed the wall lay limp next to him. The lantern, fallen too, flared all the more brightly for a second.
“What in the…”
Mathias stared at the soldier who had snapped─he assumed─pick up the hand lantern. The only one without a rifle, this “captain” instead wore the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment and twin sword sheaths. From below, the warm light illuminated her face.
Amanda was scowling hard.
“Must you be such a handful?”
“Right. ‘Captain’ meant you…”
“You’re taking responsibility for this.” She indicated the two soldiers sprawled by her feet. “This gets reported, I can’t stay in the Garrison. I’ll have to go into hiding.”
Like Mathias, Klaus, and the others.
Is she going to kill them to protect her place in the Garrison? he suddenly feared, and asked as much. “You’re not…silencing them, are you?”
“You can be a real ass, Mathias.” She looked up again, and two cold eyes bore in on him. They conveyed her irritation. Of course she wouldn’t silence them, which meant there was no going back for her thanks to him.
“I’m sorry.” Relieved, Mathias dipped his head in apology.
“Maybe that isn’t enough.”
She looked away, then dropped into a crouch to pry a gun from one of the soldier’s hands. She held it out. She was urging Mathias to take it.
He shook his head. He wouldn’t use guns within the town limits. If possible, he didn’t ever want to touch one again.
Amanda gave a loud snort but laid the gun down anyway. She knew Mathias’ history. She wasn’t going to insist.
“Follow me.” She turned her back on the scene and started to run, lantern in hand.
“We managed to deliver the equipment. They found us when we came back over the wall.”
“I know.”
“Gabriele’s still with him. I told him we’d meet at the bookstore.”
“Got it.”
Amanda appeared to know every backstreet in Quinta. She took lane after lane without a moment’s hesitation. They passed the occasional pedestrian, residents who were night owls or who were up absurdly early, but never came across any soldiers.
They emerged into a broader street, one Mathias had never been on before.
Amanda came to a halt before a sturdy-looking but bland two-storied building made of stone. She stooped at the wooden door, put her lantern on the floor, and opened the lock. She’d been in possession of a matching key.
“Where are we? It doesn’t look like a house…”
“This leads to the underground reservoir. We can use it to get through the net.”
The net of soldiers blocking their way, Mathias supposed. “You’re impressive,” he said.
Without answering, Amanda picked up the hand lantern and stepped through the doorway.
The flickering flame illuminated a pitch-black corridor. They continued forwards until they came to another door. This one had no lock. They opened it to reveal a stone staircase leading a long way down.
The lantern’s light cast their shadows against the wall. Mathias felt a stream of cold air on his skin. They had descended about two basement floors in a normal building.
The space opened up. There was a landing, and around it a black, glossy expanse of water. Countless stone pillars, spaced at regular intervals to support the high ceiling, rose from the surface like colossal trees.
“I didn’t even know this place existed.”
“That way.”
Amanda raised the lantern, indicating something to the right. Alongside the wall there was a stone footpath about half a meter wide that appeared to wind around the entire area. It probably connected the landing they were on to others. Each would lead to another exit, and Quinta itself.
Mathias nodded and stepped onto the path. Amanda followed from behind, using the lantern to illuminate the way. The light reflected off the water, and whenever Mathias dislodged specks of sand, multiple ripples spread across the surface.
After a minute or so, he halted, sensing something.
“What is it?” Amanda asked from behind. She held the lantern out over the water, casting more light on the path ahead.
“There’s something…”
Mathias realized what it was before he had finished.
Without any light source, and without making the faintest noise, someone was approaching them from the opposite direction.
She stopped just five meters away.
“Hello, Mathias.”
It was Rita.
It was their first meeting in half a year.
Mathias had even avoided the public executions at the hands of the plaza Titan. Soldiers would be carrying flyers with his picture and looking for him.
Not for a single day in those six months had he not thought of Rita.
She looked as though she’d lost weight. Her cheeks were sunken, her eyes severe. Her light blond hair was cropped short; that at least was unchanged. Gone, however, were all traces of her laid-back personality.
It was as though she was, in fact, another person entirely.
“Rita…”
What to say? There were so many things he wanted to tell her.
He’d imagined this moment, their meeting again, their having the chance to talk, over and over. What he would say first, what he would say second, Rita’s reaction─he’d run a thousand different scenarios through his mind.
All of that was gone. He couldn’t think of a single thing to say.
“Hello.”
The one word, stupid, useless, was all he could muster.
Idiot, forget greetings. Apologize. Yes. First, apologize.
“Sorry.”
He racked his brains for words to follow. But none came, however much he tried. He began to fret.
Rita watched him with an unreadable emotion in her eyes. Without a word, she drew the blade at her waist with an echoing screech of metal.
“Move out of the way.”
The sound was matched from behind. Amanda’s elongated shadow shifted angles. He realized she’d drawn her blade and rested the lantern on the floor.