Amity and Enmity

Chapter 36

Day: 1230

Days Left: 4250

Lives Saved: 6

Junior did not know how long they had been waiting for Rita's scouting team to return. Would they be in any danger? From what he had heard from Talon and Jules' reports, this group did not appear to be hostile in any way, seeming to want to be left alone. But now that Annika had incited war between the two tribes, what would this group do next?

The man and the woman held captive looked like, with every minute that passed, a sense of hope had been lost for their friends' safety and return. Even the seven imps at this point had become docile, a few sleeping and others biting at their claws. The minotaur woman would occasionally look between the destroyed house of the princess and then to the empty wheelchair of the elderly woman; that was when Junior caught a glimpse of something underneath the pile of blankets: a mask.

Whilst the elderly woman, the gardener they had nicknamed her, was not present, it was still best to hang onto the mask and have it in their possession.

"We should get that mask," Junior suggested to Bam.

"Huh?" Bam blinked out of his deep thought of boredom. "Ah, yeah." He stepped forward, causing the imps and the man to flinch in caution, eyes watching him. Bam hesitated, only stepping further forward when his friends raised their weapons in preparation to defend and threaten.

He took another step to the wheelchair, reached out his hand and-

Bam screamed as a nearby imp lashed out at his arm, biting into it. He kicked the imp away, retreating to a safe distance with the gardener's mask.

"What the fuck!" Bam shouted, shoving the mask into Junior's arms before inspecting the small bitemarks in his arm. "The things feral! It's-"

Then he froze; they all did as they saw the sobbing imp's horns shrink away, its skin turning into rosy cheeks, eyes blue, long blonde hair, and there instead of a tiny monster, was a young girl, no older than twelve, crying and cuddling her imp mask to her chest. She reached out to the man and the woman but to no avail as the rope tied around her tiny body constrained her.

"But that's..." Bam mumbled. "Why- why- ah fuck!" He kicked the ground, scuffing up grass. "I hit a kid! I just fucking hit a kid!" Bam's fingers gripped at his hair. "I didn't know it was a kid! Why is there a kid in the Abyss!" He grabbed Junior by the collar in panic before pacing around and yelling more swears.

"Stop swearing in front of the kid!" hissed Bruno, horrified at this revelation, his eyes turning to the other imps. "Are they all kids?"

The minotaur woman nodded slowly, managing to reach a finger out to the crying girl who held desperately on. "It's okay," she hushed. "It's okay, Verity."

"Why didn't Jules tell us this!" Bam looked to Junior.

Junior stared at the crying girl, then glanced away, remaining unresponsive to his friends' panic and questions.

He hadn't attended all of the report meetings, but if Annika had been informed about this, surely she would have told him.

Right?

Or perhaps she did not know. But how could Jules have been here for a month and never discovered this?

No, no, that was improbable. Jules would have reported this to Talon; Talon would have said this to Annika; and Annika...

"Hey!" Bam shook Junior's shoulder. "Hey! Annika must not have known about this. I mean, why would she order us to attack and not tell us about there being seven kids? Or an old lady in a wheelchair?"