Chapter Seven
We walked through the Tärkein, going past carts displaying every single type of food imaginable. Some of which I never even seen or heard of before. People with either weapons or baskets walked amongst one another, almost all of which had looks of exhaustion.
“Ellie,” I said after dodging a guy swinging around an axe, “who are these people? I mean, why do they have to be here?”
“They’re all hunters or gatherers,” she elucidated.
I looked around. It made sense, due to their supplies and equipment. “So,” I said. “Where are we off to now?”
Ellie let out a laugh. “Did I mention that you ask way too many questions?”
I smiled back. “You might’ve said it before.”
Soon, we had arrived at the end of the duplex and at a large archway. Its borders were engraved with designs so detailed that it appeared to have taken years to complete. Almost as impressive, it stretched all the way to the stone ceiling half a mile above.
The archway led to a circular room, dimly lit by the flicker of torches that were mounted on the walls. The patrollers were waiting for us at four tall pillars at the center of the room.
“What took you guys so long?” Sarrol said. His red eyes shone off like a demon in hell. “We’ve been waiting for ages!”
We caught up with them. “I needed to go to Eeloy first. I’m a hunter for a reason, you know,” Ellie said with as much annoyance in her voice as possible. “Come on, Sarrol. Just because you don’t have to do much in this entire damn place doesn’t mean that the same goes for the rest of us.”
Sarrol opened his mouth to protest, but a sharp look from Recaro made him stop. “She’s right, Sarrol. But Ellie, this is also a fault on your part. The Empress always comes before your duties, you know that, right?”
She looked down at the ground to hide her anger. “Yes,” she mumbled. “Everyone knows that.”
Recaro shook his head. “Stop it, Ellie. We all know that you don’t like the Empress. But you have to be careful expressing your dislike towards her publicly like that. It can cause trouble.”
“If there’ll be any trouble around here, it won’t be caused by me,” Ellie retorted. “Don’t forget who’s running this city in the first place. Who’s making all the calls.”
“You know what?” Recaro spoke in an aggravated tone. “This is no time for arguing. We need to go up and inform her about this Anti here. This is priority. Got it?” He looked at Sarrol and then Ellie, who both gave him a curt nod. “Kill me,” he sighed sarcastically. “Anti, get over here.”
At first it didn’t register who he was talking to, but when I saw him staring at me with his glowing red eyes, I knew he meant me. “Darrel,” I said as I walked up to him as confidently as I could. “Don’t call me Anti anymore, please.”
“I don’t do well with names,” Recaro replied, “so ya better get used to the name Anti.”
Ellie stayed behind while I caught up with the patrollers. They resembled shadows in the flickering light of the torches, dancing on their black capes and clothes. Their baggy black pants met high metal boots at the kneecap, sharp spikes sticking out in every direction. The bottoms of their heels were hobnailed as well, threatening to stomp on someone’s body without hesitation. Just the thought of it made me cringe, but I tried my best to keep my head high and to fixate on the group of demons without flinching. This was done rather successfully, but it was just a mere mask of the true fear that began to cloud my mind.
