Scars of Gold

Chapter Two

Icy panic flooded my chest. If we were caught now, I wouldn't make it outside to find my mother.

"What should we do?" Fari asked, her own eyes wide with fear.

I bit down on my lower lip. The punishment for being caught out of bounds wasn't as severe as if we were caught breaking out of the city, but it would mean reduced rations for a month, and our portions were small enough as it was.

Volcaria hadn't always been this way, but I'd never known it any different. A blood feud, a broken engagement and a territory dispute almost two decades ago had spiralled into a war for control of the continent the Etealians and Lathrians had shared for centuries. The Lathrians had won and used it as an excuse to rob Etealia of its resources, using the kingdom's people to extract them, a penance they claimed was for our own moral improvement.

If my friends and I ran for the end of the corridor, the Lathrian guards would hear us and I wasn't sure we'd be quick enough to stay ahead for long. But at least we'd have tried to lose them. Waiting to be caught seemed ridiculous.

Before I could suggest we ran for it, the door behind us swung open. As the guards rounded the corner an Etealian stepped out and lent against the door, shielding us from view. "Good evening, officers," he said with surprising confidence. "Strange time for a patrol."

Behind him, we froze.

"It's after hours. You shouldn't be out of your dorm," one of the guards grunted in response.

"Just making polite conversation. That lot are getting a bit stale: 'Why does everything smell like mud?'; 'Which flavourless sludge do you think they'll be serving us for dinner tomorrow?'" He yawned. "What's new in the land of 'yes sir', 'no sir', 'how many generations of Etealians shall we make to suffer over a meaningless territory dispute, sir?' Are the twins up to their usual tricks?"

"The twins will be brought in any day now; you don't need to worry about them."

The twins were the leaders of the weak resistance movement some Etealians still clung to. They were violent and unpredictable, preferring mayhem over progress.

"With such sterling guards as yourselves on the beat, that's sure to be the case." As he spoke, he reached a hand behind his back. Unseen by the guards, he made a signal that was impossible to mistake: he was beckoning us into the room.

We looked at each other. Certain punishment if we were caught by the guards, or potential murder by a stranger inviting us into his dormitory. They weren't odds I liked. Mel shrugged, then started towards the doorway, leaving us with little option but to follow.

As we stepped through the door, one of the guards spoke again: "This door should have been locked earlier. Please return inside and we'll lock you in."

Great. Now we were going to be stuck with the probably-crazy person. Tears stung my eyes as I realised I was never going to reach my mother.

I expected a room much like our own: filled with bunks and weary Etealians, but the sight that met me made me reconsider our saviour's motives. We weren't the only night-time visitors to the room: almost fifty Etealians had crammed inside; men and women in a wider range of ages than I'd ever seen in one place outside of the canteen. Beds had been pushed to the sides to make space in the middle of the room. Paper was scattered on the floor between them. No one spoke, but every face turned towards us. The door closed and we heard the echoing footsteps of the guards as they passed.

"You've picked a bad night to sneak out after dark," the guy who'd distracted the guards said from the doorway. His words were serious, but the smile on his face suggested he was impressed.