Chapter 6: The Hunter and the Prey

Back at the office, Anders has lifted one of the bodies over his head and with a grunt of effort and a blistering string of half-incoherent curses he throws it at the wall, where it impacts a bookshelf with a sickening crunch. Anders is not a small man, certainly, but no one would normally expect such a feat of strength from him. Blood streams down his face from a cut atop his head, and the body of his sister lies at an awkward angle at his feet.

Verrian stares at Anders in shock as she stands in the doorway. "Anders! What are you doing?"

She doesn't come into the room, keeping an escape route open in case he decides to try throwing her against a wall.

Coreene has only the time to share @Verrian:: "What? Wait!" before Verrian is out of range of her telepathy. She huffs slightly, but continues on her mission. Verrian is strong, and will be fine... she hoped. Best to focus on what she was doing and get everyone out of the city safely.

The sound of Verrian's voice makes Anders turn, halfway to picking up another body -- this one lacking a head.

"Kasia? Kasia, is that you?" he says, his voice cracking. "I thought they killed you. I... watched them kill you. Kill all the guards as they were leaving."

He collapses to his knees, tears streaming from his white eyes. "They blinded me then. I was no use to them anymore. The one in the grey robe, he just reached out and took my sight. And laughed, Kasia."

"I understand, Anders. They were just evil. But why are you throwing all the bodies around the room? Where do you get the strength?"

Anders' shoulders slump in an expression of defeat. "I was angry again. You know how I get angry sometimes. And I thought you were dead. I didn't know what else to do," he says softly, his white eyes filling with tears again. He steps forward toward the sound of the voice, and his knees buckle. He wavers, reaching his hands out blindly for anything that might support him, but finding nothing, he collapses to the floor. "I... I just need to rest now."

Verrian stifles a sigh of relief and quietly closes the door to the office. Moving quickly down the corridor, she opens the first of the two closed doors.

Behind the door to the office, Verrian can hear Anders calling, "Kasia? Where did you go?" but it’s a weak voice, as though his stated anger has drained him completely.

Inside the side door is what must have been a storage space, though it’s long since been raided by looters of anything valuable. It must have been in recent use, though, as there are faintly muddy footprints on the floor, and trails in the dust that suggest something, maybe crates or boxes, have been dragged out recently.

Leaving the door to the storage space open, Verrian moves to the other closed door and opens it, as well.

This room appears to be a secondary office. There are two desks in a rather cramped space, only a couple of small windows allowing any light from outside into the room. Like the storage room, this room is nearly empty other than the desks. Even the chairs have been taken. Like that room, there is some evidence that it was used recently -- the same footprints, for example.

Verrian turns to go, but out of the corner of her eye, she spots the corner of a piece of paper jutting out from beneath one of the desks. Reaching down to pick it up, she sees that it's a short letter:

Verrian reads the letter quickly, impassively, then tucks it into a discreet pocket. She takes a deep breath, then heads back down the corridor quickly and opens the door to the office to deal with Anders.

Anders sits on the floor, back against the desk. His breathing is labored, his head bowed, and he might be asleep. However, as the door opens, he struggles to lift his head. His words are slurred as he says, "Wh... who... is it?"

Verrian hesitates. She's tempted to pose as his sister, but decides that honesty is more appropriate.

"It's Talva."

Well, for certain values of honesty.

"Talva? Who’s... oh."

The name is unfamiliar at first, but it finally connects in his tired brain. "Sun and moon... are they all right? I... they had my sister, Talva. You don’t know what they’re like. I gave you all away and... and they still killed her."

His voice is hushed, harsh, squeezed almost beyond recognition by his constricting throat.

She approaches and squats in front of him. "Most of them escaped. We ran into some trouble in the tunnel. A magical creature attacked us. Erannik didn't make it.

"Anders, what was going on here? What were they doing with the magic users?"

"Erannik... no..."

Anders wraps his arms around himself and bends forward at the waist as though about ready to vomit.

"I don’t know what they were doing... they needed someone to join the resistance... Livia knew our mother, they... they welcomed me..."

Verrian closes her eyes and sighs. She needs to get out of here. "Anders, the city is burning. There are fire creatures destroying all the buildings. We're near enough to the gate that I could probably help you to get out, if that's what you want."

She pauses. "Is that what you want?"

"Fire creatures? They... I heard them say something about the fire creatures... enslaved beneath the city by the Haran council...but I didn’t know what they meant," says Anders with a gasp.

But the energy leaves his body just as quickly. "Leave me here... she’s dead, isn’t she? That voice I thought was hers... it was you, wasn’t it?"

His head drops again. "Leave me here."

"Yes, it was me. When I came in, you were cradling her body."

She swallows, but her voice is steady when she says, "You asked me to kill you before."

She leaves the question asked, but unvoiced.

"Would you do that?". His eyes follow the sound of Verrian’s voice and don’t quite meet her eyes, but it’s close enough to make it feel so.

"Just... don’t tell me when you’re going to... do it. Please?"