Chương 18: Chapter Eighteen: Refugees

Aiden barely had time to process this when they were interrupted.

"Father," Ashala burst into the room, ignoring Aiden, "others come!"

Gunesh was on his feet. "What others, darling?" Aiden noticed his voice returned to the same soothing, calmness he remembered from the day they first met.

"From another cave." Ashala looked close to tears. "They have no water."

Gunesh hugged her. "I will take care of it. Send them in."

Ashala's eyes flickered over Aiden before she turned and ran out again.

"Does this happen a lot?" Aiden wondered if he should sneak away but couldn't come up with a good reason.

"Often enough," Gunesh said. "But less frequently than it used to."

"I take it that's a bad sign."

"Yes," Gunesh said. "They do not come because most cannot travel."

Aiden felt the man's despair. He didn't have time to offer any words of regret, however. Ashala returned with three people. All appeared young, little older than Aiden himself. They were horribly thin and one cradled a splinted arm. The one woman among them had shrunken so far into herself the only living thing about her was her burning eyes. The two young men looked defeated but weren't quite so far gone.

"Pendro, Kalona, Sorch, from the Caves of Atlo."

Gunesh offered his hands to all three.

"I am Gunesh of Home Cave," he said. "You are welcome here. How many do you bring?"

"Half a hundred," Pendro said. Gunesh nodded but Aiden saw Ashala flinch.

"All young, like you?"

"Most," Pendro said. "Some younger. The oldsters! they sent us on. They would never have made the journey across the waste."

"We almost didn't ourselves," Sorch said. The other young man had an angry face and a rasping voice, sullen and harsh. "Lost most of our number to a sand storm and the rest to starvation."

"We haven't had enough water to sustain our cavern for several months," Pendro said.

"We should have left long ago." Aiden knew Sorch's type. Hothead.

"And yet, we remained," Pendro said. Aiden liked him already, appreciated his quiet strength. "Until we could remain no longer. We have no resources but these to add to your stores." He offered a small bag. Gunesh bowed over it.

"Our thanks," he said. "We have plenty to share while your seeds grow and room for you all if you join us."

"We have nowhere else to go," Sorch said.

The woman remained silent the entire time and Aiden wondered why she was there at all. Her fingers toyed with something hanging around her neck, spinning it over and over again. Her eyes drifted, attention lost somewhere else. Then, her roving gaze settled on him. She didn't see him at first, didn't focus. But as she looked at him, her vision sharpened. She took in his clothes, his skin, and then the yellow Portal Key resting on the table. Realization lit her face. Aiden flinched from the horrible hope lighting there.

"Guardian!" She shrieked. He was forced to look away when she did. The inside of her mouth was raw, a few teeth hanging on to her damaged gums. She shambled forward a few steps, skeletal fingers twitching as she reached for him, paper-thin skin writhing.

The two others stared at him. Aiden was half out of his seat before Gunesh gently restrained the woman.

"Not a Guardian," he said. "A stranger, bearing a Key. But as lost as we are. Be at ease, sister."

She didn't hear him. She stumbled away from Gunesh and shuffled forward with much more speed than Aiden gave her credit for. She fell to her bony knees at his feet, huge eyes tearing through him as her wasted body collapsed against his legs. A black stone laced with red dangled from her scrawny neck, swinging and glistening in the firelight.

"Please," she stank of old sweat and death. "Please save us. Take us away from here."

Aiden stayed frozen, unable to act. Massive pity rose inside him as her feverish eyes trapped his and refused to let him go.

"Knew you'd be here." Her rough voice was harsh in the silence she forced. "You must help us!"

Aiden couldn't take it. His body unlocked. He backed away from her, trying to pull free, feeling horror cross his face despite his attempt to hide it. She clung to him, spindly fingers hooked like thorns in his pant legs.

"Save us! You must save us!"

He looked up, hoping for help, but received none. The two who had traveled with her were staring at him with a mixture of hope and despair. Gunesh and Ashala would not meet his eyes.

Aiden freed himself of the desperate walking corpse and grabbed the Key, bundling her into his pack as he ran from the room, Kalona's wail of despair following along behind him.

***

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