Clouds of Tyranny Page 6

  CHAPTER 6: GIRL TALK

  After dinner, Ruthie retired to the women’s designated dorm as Terra hung back to explore her new home. She waited for all to be clear in the dining room before sneaking on further. She found her way through the door marked “Returners.” She creaked the door open slowly and peeked her head in; from beneath the cracks under each door was darkness except for one. Smith’s light was out and that’s all that mattered. Terra opened the door further and strafed her way through the half-open door shutting it quietly behind her. She tiptoed down the hall stopping at each door to press her ear against them and listen in. She heard a loud vibrating growl as she approached the second door on the left, “CRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!” heard Terra as she pressed her ear to the door. Whoa! That’s some bad snoring, thought Terra as she pulled her ear away and looked at the door that had a name carved into the wood. “Pearl?!” she said loudly. She clasped her hands over her mouth. “What are you doing in here?” whispered a voice from behind her. She turned to face the voice behind her; it was Locke. “I was…” mumbled Terra just before Locke grabbed her by the arm and drug her to his room and shut the door. As he was closing the door she just stood in the center of the room facing his back while rubbing her hands, like a child caught red-handed.

  He locked the latch on the door and turned to face Terra; his eyes were blood shot with bags beneath them. Terra just looked into his eyes and could tell he was either extremely tired or he was crying earlier (which was highly unlikely.) “Now,” said Locke, “Answer my question. What are you doing back here? Did they get to you?” “Who?” asked Terra. Locke lunged toward her and grabbed her by both arms, “You know damn well!” he yelled. “N-n-n-no. I was just curious, that’s all. And,” she mumbled looking down to the ground, “I wanted to see you.” Locke released his grip and rolled his eyes as he sat on his bed and looked up at her, “Don’t, okay? Just don’t. Please go.” She sighed and walked to the door and with her back turned to him she said, “You can’t say you don’t feel anything and if you don’t let anyone in you’ll die alone and unhappy.” She unlocked the latch and as she opened the door a crack she heard Locke, “Alisa. Ask Ruthie cuz I can’t talk about her anymore. The memories hurt enough.” Terra turned her head and smiled at Locke as she left his room and shut the door.

  When Terra got back to the women’s room she saw it was very active; girls playing cards on their beds, a couple writing in notebook, and even a couple young girls in the corner singing together. She walked past everyone to her bed, which was next to Ruthie’s; Ruthie was sitting on her bed writing in a tiny leather bound book in her nightclothes; plaid pajama pants and a loose fitting white T-shirt. Terra sat on her own bed next to a pile of folded clothes and looked at them. “Those are for you,” said Ruthie not looking up from her book, “Thought you might like some clean duds.” “Thanks Ruthie. Who’s Alisa? Locke said to ask you.” Ruthie looked up at her with wide eyes as she closed her notebook, “Alisa? You mean Locke’s ex fiancé?” “He was engaged? Him?” “Don’t be so surprised, he may seem cold to you but that’s because you don’t know each other yet. He was cold to me when we first started traveling together when I was just knee high to him even though I’ve known him all my life; it doesn’t mean he doesn’t care. His heart doesn’t extend to his emotions; he hides them very well.” Ruthie smiled at the thought of back then, “I remember when I had just turned eleven years old, right before we joined the Returners, we were in a camp town called Malijo. They welcomed us with open arms when we arrived. Said they always needed workers and that they would treat us ‘right’. So, me and Locke did some manual labor all day long and they fed us and provided shelter. Next thing I knew my hands and feet were bound and I woke up in a dark cave with a small fire with four men looking at me with impure thoughts. They approached me and attempted to sexually attack me and cut off my clothing; they even told me they were going to do everything they could think of, and then cut my throat. Out of nowhere Locke showed from within the darkness and killed them. That part isn’t surprising, I know, but then he untied me. Locke held me for an hour; I could feel his tears drop on my shoulder at the thought of losing his only friend. That’s when I knew that I was family to him. That’s when my little girl crush ended; that’s right, I had a hard crush on him once too. But that faded away when I saw him less like a companion and more like a big brother.” Terra glared at Ruthie trying to convince her, “I don’t have a crush,” said Terra. Ruthie scoffed and continued.

  “Him and Alisa were engaged about ten years ago in a little town called Listka,” began Ruthie. “Listka? He mentioned Listka when we left Sangrohl.” asked Terra. “That’s where I was born. Locke was actually in the room when I was removed from my mother’s stomach; she died in the process and my father was killed a year later, so Locke has been my only family for my entire life. Anyway, it took me and Locke years to travel up here where we met the Returners, but that’s a different story.” “Oh. So, you’ve been through a lot together.” “Yes,” continued Ruthie, “Anyway, Alisa was the daughter of the town’s blacksmith, Jorgan. They were so in love, Terra. You ever read a story about true love? That’s what it was like; they didn’t need anything but each other. Just about every night you could walk to the ridge at dusk and you would see them watching the sunset, or each other.” Terra smiled as she heard Ruthie tell the story, but was also sad for Locke; obviously it ended. She was also a little jealous.

  Ruthie’s eyes were glossy with forming tears from the memories of their past. “I was very little, but I remember thinking she was the most beautiful person I had ever seen; I wanted to be her. She had blonde hair as gold as stardust, glowing green eyes with thick eyelashes, and a firm slender body that would make any man’s flesh emit steam. That part was out of Locke’s character, he enjoys a ‘meatier’ gal,” giggled Ruthie, winking at Terra. “But it wasn’t Alisa’s physical beauty that captured Locke’s heart. They just had a magnetic attraction to each other; they could talk about nothing for hours or… do nothing for hours.”

  Ruthie’s nostalgic smile faded, “Then, with four weeks till the wedding, it happened.” “What? What happened?” “Locke and his would-be bride went for their usual afternoon walk along the northern shores of Listka. A short time later Locke returned to Listka with Alisa cradled in his arms unconscious from a sting from a sand mantis. The stinger rose from under the sand and spiked her through the back and into her heart. The doctor couldn’t bring here back, she was in a comma till the day he left. It was a sad day, but what made it worse was that Locke was banished from the town by the blacksmith. Jorgan who was also the town’s founder. Locke left the next morning.” “But, I thought you and Locke…” questioned Terra. “Yes, I ran away a week later and found the camp Locke had made for himself. After a year of exploring the entire island we decided it was time to see more of the world; we had had enough of the island of Listka. ‘How big is our world?’ I asked Locke. He simply smiled and said ‘Lets find out’. So, we made a boat and sailed north to the southern point of this continent.” “Wow, poor Locke,” said Terra shaking her head from side to side. “So, you’ve seen a lot,” said Terra. “Yup, and a lot more to see. I’d like to see the western continent one day. I’ve heard stories of large ruins made of steel and glass.” “Hmm, weird.” Said Terra.

  Terra rummaged through the pile of folded clothes on her bed and found a teal blue nightgown with short sleeve. Terra, being a shy girl went to the bathroom to change, then washed her face. She got into bed and read a few pages from the book Ruthie had given her. She read about the INO (Internal Neuron Osmosis), which enabled people to use their mind to alter the elements to their advantage. As she read on she learned that the INO started with the ‘cloning’ of living beings. My ancestors weren’t born into this world? They were created?, thought Terra confused. She folded the book and laid herself down on her bed and felt the soft pillow under her head and slowly fell asleep.

  Terra was awakened the next morning by the sound
of the women’s dorm’s inhabitants moving about the hard cold floor. Terra had rolled to face the wall that stood against her bed in her sleep. She let out a long-winded yawn and rolled to face her friend, who was in her pajama pants and nothing else. “Oh god! Sorry sorry sorry,” exclaimed Terra as she attempted to cover her eyes with her sheet. Ruthie giggled aloud, “Wow, you really are as shy as you look.” Ruthie pulled on her tube top underwear followed by her shirt. “Okay, it’s safe,” laughed Ruthie sarcastically. Terra turned to look at the now fully clothed Ruthie who was wild-eyed and giggling at Terra’s red tomato-like face. “You look like a radish Ter,” exclaimed Ruthie, “I’ll be in the dining room; breakfast in ten. If you want you can change in the restroom over there. Make sure you check in the cupboards for people waiting to see you naked,” laughed Ruthie slipping her leather gloves into her pockets as she left for the dining room. Terra emerged from her bed and began rustling through the stacks of clothes left on her bed the night before, which she placed on the floor before retiring. She loves dresses and skirts and ribbons and anything girlie, but was disappointed at the pile of clothes consisting of nothing she normally wore; fatigues, vests, gloves, hats, and boots. Terra sighed and grabbed random objects then headed for the bathroom to change. She entered, closed the door behind her and locked both the knob and the security bolt. She stripped down to nothing and grabbed a piece of underwear bottoms and slipped them on. “Okay, what to wear?” said Terra looking at the pile. “This isn’t too bad,” Terra held up a pair of dark green Capri pants with zipped pockets on either side. She continued rummaging through the articles of clothing until she found something girlie; a purple wire bra. “Hmm, too bad no one will ever see it,” sighed Terra as she slipped her arms through the straps and closed the clasp. She went back to the clothes and just stared intently at it. “Really? No bright colors at all?” sulked Terra. She angrily grabbed a black tank top and slipped it on before going over to the mirror to model for herself; she looked at herself in the mirror. “Hmm, not bad. At least I look thinner in black.” She grabbed the hair tie from around her left wrist and placed it between her teeth while she gathered all her long hair in her right hand and slipped on the hair tie with her left. “There!” The ponytail really made everything else work in her eyes. She went to the sink and washed her face. To the left of the sink was a shelf with folded towels and toiletries. After brushing her teeth she returned to her bed to retrieve her weapon and the two magazines and placed them on the bed next to her as she sat down to put on the big military boots. She looked down at the boots hoping they would transform into cute little sandals magically.

  “Excuse me,” said a small voice a few feet away, “Here, these might be of some use to you.” Terra looked to her left and saw a young girl about the same age as Ruthie with pitch-black hair and bronze skin. The girl handed Terra athletic jogging shoes and a pistol holster that would simply slip into her belt making her .45 easy to access. “Thank you miss-“ asked Terra. “Jojo, nice to meet you,” said Jojo just before walking away and leaving the dorm; Terra was now the last one in the room. She tied the shoes and stood up to attach the holstered gun to her hip and placed the refills in her side pockets zipping them up.

  When Terra finally got into the dining room, she went to where Ruthie was sitting; the same spot as the night before with the same people. She sat down at the vacant seat where a steaming bowl of oatmeal was sitting and looked around at the familiar faces. Clyde’s bowl sat next to his shining spoon with his face buried in it while Pearl, Ruthie, and Ray ate with a little more dignity. “Uh, where’s Locke?” asked Terra. “Mission in Pan’dier,” said Pearl. “Yeah,” added Ray, “Reconnaissance. Chuck and Lars are in Cormire getting supplies.” Terra’s face was blank. “Locke is gathering information on the empire,” explained Ruthie in a non-derogative way. “Why is everyone else here? Shouldn’t he have help if the Empire’s involved,” asked Terra. Ray just glared at Terra as he chewed his slop, “He didn’t have help to retrieve you.” “Hmm,” said Pearl with a sharp grin, “I see what’s going on.” Clyde finally lifted his face out of his bowl, “What?” Ruthie smiled, “It’s a girl thing.” Terra was worried, I hope he’s okay, she thought. Pearl slammed her spoon into her bowl and stood up, “Alright! Clyde, Ray, let’s go.” Ruthie stood and hugged Clyde, “Be careful.” “I will,” said Clyde kissing Ruthie on the cheek. “Where you guys off to?” asked Terra standing up out of respect for their trip. “Turklane,” said Ray adjusting the collar of his trench coat, “We have gotten reports that the imperials have removed a good percentage of their men from Turklane; so now is our chance to liberate the town.” Terra nodded and noticed a metal gadget protruding out of Ray’s sleeve attached to his arm, “How do you know they left?” “We have a reliable source, let’s go!” said Pearl urging Ray and Clyde to go quickly. “Well, good luck,” said Terra waving goodbye as they headed for the door guarded by the same boy that received the password from Locke the day before. The boy opened the door for Pearl, Clyde, and Ray as he nodded ‘good luck’ to them, “Shamshir.” Pearl nodded as she walked through the door,” Got it!” she said assuring the boy she now knew the daily password.

  CHAPTER 7: PAN’DIER THE MERCHANT TOWN

  “Smith, you dirty son of a bitch,” mumbled Locke to himself as he trudged through the underground sewers that led to secret entrances to a dozen small towns in the area surrounding the Returners HQ. This particular tunnel led to the smelly sewers under the town of Pan’dier; a town known all over as a place to buy rare and hard to find items such as adamantine metals, ore, and some of the most expensive garbs in the world. The black thick water was up to Locke’s chest while he slowly traveled through the sewers with his father’s Damascus sword held high above his head as to not get it tainted with the excrement of Pan’dier’s inhabitants. He was working the time of day through his head, Okay, I left just before sun up…three hours in the mine rails…hmm, almost four hours in this smelly cavern…or does it just seem that long? Noon sounds about right. Just then Locke saw what he had been waiting to see ever since he stepped foot into the sewer system; the small exposed window leading to rear of the town from the sewers. He speed walked to the opening and looked out for witnesses and saw no one in sight. Locke pushed his sword through the opening and sighed, “Hope I didn’t gain any weight since last time.” He sucked in his stomach and jumped up into the opening and began pulling himself out to the light of day.