Naihabi Ridge

Chapter Eleven - Carry On

Oriole

The desert sun beat against my skin and the sand dug into my knees as I watched two well-built men drag Avi into the dark building behind him, and once the door had slammed shut, there was only the distant howling of the wind through the empty depths of this godforsaken ghost town.

I let him go.

"He'll never make it... he'll never come back..." I looked at the servant girl as she stared blankly at the closed door, muttering to herself in what seemed to be disbelief. "Why didn't that convince him to run?..."

Why did she care so much about Avi when she'd only just met him? Or had they met before? I shook my head. It didn't matter if he would never return. If he never came back, then what would the warden do? She had never lost a student before...

"This was definitely not supposed to happen..."

I looked up at the servant again, annoyed at her for interrupting my thoughts, and then what she said clicked. "What did you just say?"

She looked at me hesitantly, like she forgot I was there. "Sorry?"

"'This definitely wasn't supposed to happen.' Did you have some plan for what was supposed to happen?"

She looked taken aback, then she just stared halfheartedly into space. "No... no, I suppose not."

When did this girl come into the situation? What was she thinking about? I bubbled with irritating questions that wouldn't go away, which only irritated me more. I found myself staring at the girl's face, not knowing why, but not bothering to look away, either. She had soft features: a round jaw and eyes the color of clovers in spring, her hair falling in loose braids of dark, ashy brown, and her frame was delicate-looking—graceful, in a way. It all irritated me, and I dug my fist into the sand, yanking it out seconds later from the heat.

"Gah," I stood up and brushed my pants off. There was nothing we could do for someone who was already gone. All we could do now was continue on like he would have wanted us to.

I had learned that the hard way.

"Get up," I told the servant. "I'd imagine your master will be frustrated."

Something in her eyes changed and she snapped to a standing position, then bowed. "I apologize for my rude behavior, ma'am."

About time she remembered.

"I must be going, ma'am. I can never be sorry enough for my incompetence." She bowed again, then scurried past me.

For a moment, I was wistful, but the moment was quick and I was composed again. Who's side was the servant on, again? I turned from the building and started back toward the warden's courtyard. She would give me something to do. Anything would be better than thinking of the summonings.

I would only have one goal: to unveil the plot behind Naihabi Ridge. If I could do that, there was the chance that everyone that was summoned could still be alive and could be saved. But... but there were other outcomes that it could be, too.

The warden was grim but determined, and we set out almost immediately to the east breakfast building to discuss our findings with Grengal and the others. She said nothing she didn't need to and walked straight toward Grengal, diving headfirst into the most pressing question she had.
    
"What have you learned since I brought Itoma?"
    
He stared down at her with raised eyebrows, then motioned toward an emptier area to talk. "Something you won't want to hear."

"They're what?" The warden hissed, staring intensely at Grengal.
    
Even though I was several feet away, I could hear her. I wasn't supposed to listen in on their conversations, but I inched forward anyway, looking nonchalantly in the other direction.
    
"You heard me, Celive. Now be quiet, or someone curious will overhear."
    
I nearly flinched. I could feel his stare on my back, but I didn't dare move an inch.
    
"You think everyone who's been summoned is dead?"
    
My stomach lurched and I resisted any visual reaction. What could that possibly mean?
    
"I told you to be quiet, but from what I've collected, yes. All of the refugees that have been summoned so far have been at Naihabi Ridge for at least a month, and the training here is brutal. We think they are physically strengthening the refugees for something, though we can't know for sure what it is," He lowered his voice even more and I strained as hard as I could, but could only make out a few words. "We... it may... testing..."
    
Then I heard them whispering urgently. I couldn't understand what they were saying, but I knew Grengal had made a break through and the warden hadn't been expecting it. I strained my ears, tried to listen, but all I could hear was the unintelligible hissing of whispers. How irritating.
    
Finally, the warden came over to where I was standing and put her hand on my shoulder. "Let's go."
    
I nodded, and we were off. We returned to her quarters, and as soon as the door was closed, I stared at her obsessively. "What did he say about the summonings?"
    
She stared back at me strictly. "I am under no obligation to tell you."
    
I raced forward and pulled on her sleeve. "Look, if you need an obligation, I'll give you one, but I need to know!"
    
"Oriole, what is all this?" She yanked her sleeve loose and locked the door from behind me. "You've never begged like this before. You've never wondered this desperately about what goes on in my conversations. If you can give me an honest reason, then I might consider answering your question."
    
My mind had been buzzing with irritation and urgency and billions of unanswered questions, then it was silent. There was no way I could answer her question...
    
"I noticed, you know, that you were listening, but it's apparent you didn't hear much." She calmly walked past me and sat down at her desk.
    
"I..." no words would come to my mind to express the empty feeling of hopelessness that filled my thoughts. I couldn't tell her the answer, no matter how hard I tried. It was only a question. Why was it so tantalizing?
    
"You must answer my question, Oriole, or I will not answer yours. Equivalent exchange, as you like to say."
    
"But..." But how can I answer your question when I don't know the answer myself?

+++

I stared blankly at the the wood of the door to the warden's quarters. I couldn't answer her question, so I left. I shut the door, then stood and stared at it. Why did I care so much about the summonings? The chance that I was going to be the next one summoned was almost nonexistent, if physical strength was the key. But Avi was summoned, and I was almost sure I'd be able to beat him in physical strength.
    
I turned away from the door and strode down the steps and onto the sand. I walked and walked, not exactly sure where I was going, until I found myself in front of the southern sleeping cabin I was staying in. Having nothing better to do, I went inside and to my bunk. I sat on the stiff and creaky substitute for a cushion and grabbed my little pull-string pouch of possessions from under the sunken pillow, then opened it up. I pulled out the worn picture of me and the newly-formed resistance just after our village was bombed and we were taken here, the four of us that were left. It was Everis, Izara, Rivan, and me against the rest of Naihabi Ridge. It seemed like it was us against the world.

All three of them had been summoned in the last summoning purge and I was left alone against the Ridge. Against the world.
    
But then the warden reached out to me, offering me her suspicions and opinions for my cooperation, and ever since then, she'd been like a mother to me. I helped her try to figure out the plot behind Naihabi Ridge, and she was my ally, but before my ally, she was my guide. She helped me through the hard times, and I helped her through hers. Equivalent exchange, I had called it. Equivalent exchange, indeed.
    
I put the picture back in the bag along with the coin of the resistance. It was really only a carved piece of broken wood from one of the Ridge's gates, but it was the last thing I had from them and I wouldn't leave it behind. I rummaged through the rest of the pouch, pausing to look at old rings and necklaces from my village, then stuffed them hurriedly back in the pouch as I heard someone shuffle through the sand by the entrance. I shoved it back under my pillow as the warden peered around the corner of the entrance.
    
I stood, and she moved swiftly across the space between us. "Come with me, quickly."
    
I didn't question and followed her as she retraced my steps back to her quarters. She checked to see if anyone had followed or was listening before she shut the door cautiously and locked it with a metal latch—one of the few metal things at the Ridge—then she turned to me and spoke in a quiet but deadly serious voice.
    
"I know what the people behind Naihabi Ridge are doing to the refugees." Hey eyes burned with passion and determination. "We can stop them."

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