Medio: Stowaways ~ Present

She had to admit, even with her track record, that had been far from the best plan she ever had.

For the entire day, Raz, Herm and the kid had no choice but to stay hidden in the cargo wagon, a small cramped space in which they could barely move and could not even dare to risk making noise or they could be caught by the guards of the caravan. Even some time before the world entered into its final throes, Raz and Herm already had some experience with the harshness of life and so could only see their present situation as another horrible situation to add to the list.

On the other hand, for their growing worry, the kid they had grabbed with them seemed strangely accustomed to the situation. Or at least, that’s how they interpreted it. After all, how could he not be when he simply stayed still and silent for a couple of days now if he hadn’t been through something like this before?

He barely ate, he barely drank water. Truly, if things went on as they did, getting him out of Sueño could end up proving meaningless. Escaping the claws of violent death just to die out of apathy? That won't happen.

This is not going to stand, I got to make him open up. That was Raz's determination on the third day of the journey, and she knew precisely the moment she could strike. Normal guards take turns to watch over the prisoners and lookout for any bandits, but in the end times, there are no longer any bandits as almost all commerce hit a standstill.

And for the prisoners, well, having a dozen people all chained to each other solved that problem by itself. If they wanted to do anything, they needed to bring the entire group for it. If one of them tried to escape, they would have to somehow coordinate the escape of the entire group while somehow making sure the guards would not notice the rustling of the chains.

Those restrictions also prevented them from trying to attack the guard, because even if they had the numerical advantage, the guards were armed and would only need to kill one of them to make all attempts useless. In the end, no one wanted to risk the idea of being tied to a corpse the rest of the journey for chances so vain as escaping into the woods in desolate lands, simply waiting for the waters to take it all.

The guards then chose a particular rotation of guard then, one more adequate for the leisurely situation they found themselves in. Meaning, they had sneaked in booze and were taking turns getting drunk each night. That meant only half of the guards were watching them, and that was the time when the prisoners could share their food and water with the stowaways without being noticed.

Raz took Herm by the arm and then the kid too, who was stiff due to being sat in the same position the entire day, but followed them without resistance. It didn’t take them long to reach the border of the forest, covered enough where the hammered guards would not be able to notice them.

Below one of those trees, Herm sat the kid down, who still did not want to respond. Raz looked at him worriedly. She certainly was the one with the idea of having this conversation, but that didn’t mean she knew how to start it.

“I’m sorry for the rough ride, it is the only thing we could find to get out of the city.” Started Herm, cutting the silence before it got oppressive.

“Yes. It all happened so fast, that we barely had any time to process it all. We are sorry for not taking time for this until now, but how are you feeling about all of this?” Tried to continue Raz, with her voice slightly shaking.

The kid stayed quiet, looking at her emptily. The longer she looked at him, the more her heart started to crack. She had longed to have a kid for so long now, and seeing that she was unable to even console one, it plunged the knife in the wound even harder.

Now that she was finally going to have a kid, the world was coming to an end. The world always had a way to crush her dreams, no matter how determined she was to keep moving forward as best as she could.

Herm saw Raz's hesitation, and decided to steer the conversation himself.

“Look, kid. I know how this all looks, but I promise you this is not how it ends. I have a house in the exterior ring of Yatro, in a beautiful green field from where you can see the entire city. When the sun sets, it does so behind the city, and you can see the silhouette of the castle and the enormous walls. It’s a spectacle unlike any other.”

Herm was kneeling in front of the kid to see him at eye level. Raz did the same at his side and took one of the kid’s hands in hers, and when seeing that, Herm did the same.

Raz felt ashamed for her inability to connect with the kid, but she could intuit where Herm was trying to go when talking about the fieldhouse.

“A lot of children have arrived in Yatro after all of this. Children whose parents abandoned them, the children of soldiers who went to fight the beasts and never came back, or simply the kids who managed to arrive in the city but their parents did not. I was part of their caretakers, and the community they all formed together is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.”

Raz remembered the days in that field, when she could still forget about the rising waters or the endless beasts. She would have been perfectly content in that little beautiful bubble, but when Ases decided to go to Perdida to dissuade the beasts from attacking, she could not leave him alone. When Perdida fell, and he found out off the Gods expedition against the beasts, she decided to accompany him again. She could see the pain in his heart, and even when he vehemently said that he would not join the expedition, she could only wonder if some part of him actually wanted to accompany them.

No, she could not allow herself to fall in that line of thought. When all was said and done, she did not regret coming out of Yatro, going to Sueño or saving the kid in front of her. She followed her heart in every step and now was the time to reaffirm herself on it. If Ases said he would come back, he would, so her role was simply to wait for him and do everything she could for those she found on her way until then.

“We will bring you with them. You’ll be able to be with lots of other kids, and the caretakers will make sure you are safe. I promise you.”

Finally, something seemed to crack on the kid, but instead of hope, he just started crying.

Raz shot forward and hugged him, while the whimpers threatened to become full blown bawling. Herm looked back, worried the guards might hear them, but they seemed to be unaware of everything.

“Are… are you also going to leave me behind?”

That single question was enough to break what was left of Raz’s heart. How could she have been so blind.

“No… no, my child. I’ll never do that. We are not gonna abandon you, don’t you ever fear that.”

Who knows for how long his mother had fallen eternally asleep in her house, leaving the kid to fend for himself in the beast infested city. He didn’t even have the chance to say goodbye to her, of course he would feel terribly alone, even if they had been with him ever since they left Sueño.

She hugged him, rocking him slightly, doing all she could to avoid the full blown crying that would reveal their position to the guards. With what seemed to be a miracle, the kid kept crying non stop, but managed to stay silent enough to avoid being discovered.

The three of them stayed together on the forest’s edge for a couple of hours, telling stories to the kid about the place they were going to. Even if soon there would not be any safe haven in the land, the least they could do was help him keep hope until the last second.

When their time started running out, they came back to the cart. But before arriving, there was a last question to ask. One that they should have done from the start, but had been postponed by circumstance until now.

“Kid, sorry for taking so long to ask, but what’s your name.”

The kid looked at them surprised, as if he hadn’t noticed until now that he had never told them.

“Yke. My name is Yke.”

Reassured by how eager the kid now seemed to talk with them, they steeled their hearts back with renewed conviction. They still had a tough journey ahead, but it was one they were sure they could complete, as they had a new reason to arrive safe and sound back to the walls of Yatro.