Dead and Buryd

Chapter 38: From the Outside In

Each day became like the last, a slow monotony that did not change nor falter. Every day the guards came in twice to do the inmate count, every other day they let them out into the yard. Past that, there were only the events between the four walls of the block, which luckily were few and far between.

Georgianna learned quickly that there was a certain hierarchy within the compound walls, and that the best way to survive was to stay as far under the radar as possible. A pair of brothers, Ta-Dao and Vajra, had asserted their dominance. Ruthless and efficient, the men acted like the elders of a tribe, though Georgianna had heard that they had previously been outcasts, travelling alone before the arrival of the Adveni.

Hearing the stories, Georgianna heeded the warnings to stay off their radar, to make herself as invisible and inconsequential as she could. Keeping a low profile, however, was harder than it seemed when she already had a reputation.

While Edtroka had told her the truth when they last spoke, that she was no longer a medic, but an inmate of the compound, within the walls of the block the other inmates were not so keen to forget that she had ever been of service to them. She was not called by the guards to help prisoners, or soon-to-be dreta, but the other prisoners were quick to call on her expertise when needed.

There wasn’t much Georgianna could do. Without supplies, she couldn’t sew wounds or even treat a virus. There was nothing to be done but to patch things up as best she could and hope the guards would pay enough attention during count to give injured prisoners the treatment they needed, a hope that was often dashed.

Since the day he walked her into the block, Edtroka had refused to look at her. Each day during count she would watch him, waiting to catch his eye. However, even when he was the one reading off their names, he turned his head the moment he reached her. The other guards were not nearly so affected. In fact, a few of them seemed genuinely amused that the medic who made such an effort to visit the compound was now one of their permanent residents. She received more than one taunt or amused smirk as they passed her on count, or as the prisoners were led out towards the yard.

She waited in constant fear that this would be the day she’d be taken back for more questioning, that they would demand Nyah and Alec’s whereabouts, or the people who had helped free them. It never came. The longer she remained in the compound, the more sure Georgianna became that Maarqyn wanted to question her himself, that he was waiting until he owned her and he could torment her in any way he pleased.

Every night, once the doors had been locked after count and most inmates returned to their cells, she lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling, trying to figure out what she had missed. Someone had to have betrayed them. That was the only answer she could come up with that made any sense. There was no way the Adveni could have known without being told. She had wondered once or twice whether Nyah and Alec had been talking and Maarqyn had overheard them, but why would Maarqyn have let them run if he already knew? Was it an attempt to capture more Belsa? Whatever roads her thoughts took her down, they never led to any answers.

The days were slowly getting shorter, the heat not quite as unbearable as it had been before. The air, previously so dry and unforgiving, began holding the promise of wind, maybe even rain. While the other inmates were praising the relief the cooling weather brought, Georgianna could not help but feel depression as the heat began coming to an end.

Every year around this time, before the Adveni anyway, the Kahle would be getting ready to leave Adlai, travelling south to Nyvalau where they would live out the freeze. Since the Adveni had arrived, fewer people travelled. Most were forced to suffer the harsh northern blizzards in Adlai. The lucky few who were allowed to travel petitioned for passes from the powerful Adveni volsonnae.