Into the Ring

Epilogue

*A Month Later*

Crouching low, my entire body pressed against the rough bark of the branch I'm on, I wait. Green branches sway above me and shakily frame the night sky. It's a good night to do this, thankfully. The New Moon makes it so there is no light but the manufactured kind. A dirt path lies below us with tracks in it from multiple trucks carrying poached goods; ivory, meat, trophies. And something we'd just learned about earlier this evening; children.

"You know, I remember this being a simple mission when it first started." Okoye points out and my eyes reflexively look across the road to where she should be hiding despite the fact that I can't see her. Jac activates night vision and her warmth become clear to me. I smirk.

"I believe I'm the one who has to leave in the morning, which is only a few hours away, so I don't know what you're upset about." I return and see her head swivel my way.

"We didn't have time for dinner! I'm starving." I hum a quiet laugh and look down the road to the tree nearest me. Nakia lays as I do and is shaking her head slightly.

"Besides, this is more important. The first mission out with the princess is nothing to be upset about." My smirk turns into a more genuine smile.

"First cleared mission you mean. I believe that during her first week here she disappeared one day and caught smugglers in the province nearest us with that cute boy of hers." There is laughter on her tongue and a soft, amused hum comes from Nakia in response.

"Okoye..." I disapprove before hearing the quiet rumble of engines. "Here they come." Three trucks just as we thought, shiver down the hill towards us. Firm in the plan of action, my fingers dig into the bark of the tree. I scan the heat signatures quickly before reporting. "Two men in the front of each car, each carrying about ten to fifteen children. All men are armed."

"Ugh, guns." Okoye murmurs.

"Right. Stay to course." Nakia says before we all burst into action. Okoye takes the first car, simply landing lithely on the hood and using her spear to reach in the car and slit the men's throats. I'm next, swinging through their open window into the bench seat. The man in the passenger seat reaches for me and I break his arm, then punch his throat to prevent a scream. I open the door and shove him out before turning back to the driver. A gun fires and I feel the searing pain glide across my forearm. With an annoyed grunt, I twist the gun out of his hand then ram his head into the steering wheel before taking over. He falls out of the car with a little shove towards the open door. Okoye's car comes to a stop a little before mine and we exit, looking back to find Nakia fared just as well. A quick glance at my arm reveals it's only a flesh wound. A graze at best. We each move to the back and open the doors to find little boys and girls curled up together, but one stands and aims a gun at me. My night vision fades to reveal a dark-skinned boy with an AK in his hands.

"Baya kundibulala ukuba andibulali." He tells me with shaking hands and fear swimming in his eyes. My hands raise and I nod. Roughly, he says they will kill me if I don't kill you.

"Ukhululekile. La madoda ahambe." I speak carefully, knowing my grip of the language isn't the best. I told him he is free and that the men are gone. His eyes search the area behind me, apparently realizing that the men would have come around if I was lying. "Faka isikhali phantsi." Gently, I tell him to put the weapon down. His brown eyes bore into me. I put out a hand. Carefully, he lowers the gun into it. A sigh of relief leaves my lips as I unload the weapon and toss it to the wayside. "Enkosi. Ukhuselekile ngoku. Uvelaphi?" I ask the group where they're from.

"Kwimigodi kwiphondo." A girl in the back responds, her bright red and orange tainted by dirt and leftover blood on the floor. Should have known by the color of her clothes that they're from the mining province. I nod.