Elef was ecstatic.
From the moment he heard the siren’s howl, he knew this would be the day he had been waiting for.
His superiors had given him no information, but Elef was not a fool: he had listened to the rumors going around in his company and he had figured out that captain Prauss suspected someone would betray the Exarch.
Something had happened in the Rook a few glassturns ago, this was clear. Perhaps the traitors, whoever they were, had made their move. Elef could not know, busy as he was patrolling the streets. But he did notice some colleagues warn all passersby to go back to their homes.
He had found it a wise precaution: if the traitors were hiding among the citizenry, that would limit their freedom to act. So he had joined his colleagues, even if they were of another company, and now he was going door to door giving the order to stay inside.
It was a simple matter. He knocked, the people inside saw his uniform, listened attentively and then obediently gave sign that they understood.
The thought that he, a son of lowly farmers, commanded such respect never failed to elate him. He had worked long and hard to enter the Watch, and just as long and hard to earn his promotion to decarch. Now every single citizen was in awe of his authority. Also, his parents were finally being treated with the deference they deserved.
However, he still hadn’t reached his true goal. Yes, today he would rise even higher.
His daydream was interrupted as he saw a known face in front of him.
Long chestnut hair, thick eyebrows, amber eyes, a small, slightly upturned nose, pronounced chin.
«Fyra Eufyina!» he called out to her.
The girl stopped, turned and looked at him. Her temporary surprise gave way to annoyance.
«What do you want?» she asked, with the haughty tone she always assumed when she talked to him. Undoubtedly, she was convinced he wouldn’t notice. But today he was going to give her a lesson. You didn’t talk like that to a decarch of the City Watch.
«Did you not hear the alarm? Go back home immediately, and stay there. By orders of the Exarch.»
She seemed to scrutinize him for a few instant, narrowing her eyes.
Then she said: «Alright.» turned her back and resumed walking.
Her prompt compliance satisfied Elef, and yet the young man could not help finding it strange. He had expected he’d need some more effort to convince her.
Then he became suspicious.
«I’ll accompany you. I know the way to your house from here.»
«Thank you, but strange as it may seem to you I know it as well. Don’t bother.»
At that point he was certain of it. Fyra was trying to deceive him. She had no intention of going back home.
She was always like that. She paid heed to no authority whatsoever. Even when she was being given advice for her own good, she ignored it out of pure spite. Elef really couldn’t stand her.
Still, he could not let her go. In the end, no matter how detestable she was, she was still a citizen he had a duty to protect. Also, if something happened to her, he would feel sorry on a personal level. More for Kalos than for her, but still.
So he set off following her.
Reaching an intersection after a few dozen steps, just like he had feared the girl kept going straight instead of taking the street that led to her home.
«You’re going the wrong way.» he said, though he knew expecting her to be more agreeable after being caught in the act was naive. He knew her too well.
She ignored him.
«Fyra Eufyina, if you don’t turn back immediately I will be forced to arrest you.»
She kept ignoring him.
Elef felt his anger rising. He had been more than gracious with her, even if he knew from the start that the only language an idiot like her would understand was force. Probably, no, certainly she was acting like that because she thought his threats were toothless. He was going to prove her wrong.
He walked faster, rapidly drawing closer.
When he reached her, he firmly grabbed her shoulder with one hand.
«Maybe you don’t understand the gravity of the situa-»
Suddenly he felt a forceful jerk, and an instant later he found himself lying on the ground.
«Oh! Sorry!» Fyra said, leaning over his head in a completely different position from where she was before. After a moment of confusion, the young man realized it was him who had moved, ending up in front of her as if he had jumped over her shoulder.
«It happens sometimes,» she continued «when people touch me without warning. You’re not hurt, I hope. I’d feel sorry if you were, even if, uh, more for someone else than for you.»
She offered him a hand, but Elef slapped it away.
«T-This is assaulting a public officer! You won’t get away with this, I swear it!»
His patience had reached its limit. Not even the thought that this would be the last day anyone looked down on him could keep him calm anymore.
He was about to draw his mikra, when a voice rang out to the two of them. «What are you doing? The gates have been opened!»
Elef turned to the voice. He recognized a fellow watchwoman, wearing on her breast the gray fist of his own company.
«I was trying to explain to this citizen here that she has to go home…» he said.
«Go home!? Didn’t you hear the orders? The citizens have to go to the harbor, you idiot!» the woman scolded him.
All Elef managed to say in reply was a dumbfounded: «…What?»
«Listen, never mind. You.» she said to Fyra. «Head to the harbor, as fast as you can, and if you have any relatives take them with you. We’re evacuating the city.»
Fyra started running, as if she didn’t need to be told twice.
Then Elef’s companion laid eyes on him once more. «And you’re coming with me. The enemies have entered the city, we have to hold them back until the evacuation is complete! Move!»
This woke the young man from his daze.
Elef immediately stood back up and followed the watchwoman.
Yes, the enemies had entered the city, and only he and his companions stood between them and the defenseless citizens.
His parents had given him the name Eleutar. It meant “born free”, but it was also the name of one of the heroes of the Winter War.
Today he would cover himself in glory and finally become worthy of the name he bore. He would no longer be only a decarch of the City Watch.
Today was the day Eleutar Krommynid would become a hero.
«Being betrayed in this way… was not a possibility I had considered.» Stefan said, speaking slowly.
Helena looked at her father. She looked at the beads of sweat on his brow, at the pained expression on his face, and at his hand grasping his side. While they were leaving the Rook, they had met more watchers of Zalekh’s company. They had managed to run past them, but not before they unloaded all their dolikoi in their direction.
Her father had denied having been hurt and kept feigning being fine, so she was forcing herself to act as if he were.
«No man or woman of good heart could have expected that, my Exarch.» Astor answered him. «You had granted Zalekh a place among your guards, and elevated him to captain. His ingratitude will not be forgotten, nor will it go unpunished.»
«No, Astor, now is not the time for begrudging each other.» Helena’s father replied. «Zalekh is merely… a foolish boy. Rather, tell me: are the preparations complete?»
«Yes. The boats are ready.»
Boats? Helena wondered.
«Where are we going, Astor?» she asked, even as she realized that she sounded ridiculously clueless.
«The day this crisis began, I asked your father permission to set up an evacuation plan, so that we’d be prepared for the worst.» the captain answered her, tersely but respectfully. «There are boats waiting for us at the harbor. We’ll row past the Tuon and flee on the other bank.»
«But the other bank belongs to…»
«I know.» Her father interrupted her. «But what other choice do we have?»
Looking in front of her, Helena now could make out the large crowd assembled in front of the harbor’s landing. Half a dozen large boats had been moored on the riverbank, and uniformed men and women were making the citizens board them in an orderly manner.
Once they were closer, the young woman started to hear the voices of the people amassed there. Some were worried, others were despairing, other still were furious.
«Where will we go now? What’s going to happen to us?» «Don’t worry, Mom. I’m here with you, and there’s Kal too…»
«Here, Grandpa, Grandma, this way. Relax, It’ll be alright…»
«There’s not enough boats for everyone! That was the reason I told you to hurry when we heard the warning! Now we’ll be trapped here and it’ll be all your fault, Artor! And of course your father is out of town right now! I knew it was going to end like this!» «Of course, Mother…»
«Kara! Did anyone see my wife? Kara!»
Captain Astor made a gesture with one hand and one of the watchers approached them. It was a man whose jacket seemed a little too small for his frame, and whose posture suggested profound laziness. As he walked toward them he opened the flask he held in one hand and drew a long sip, but in doing so he wet his black unruly beard. Helena had seen him before, but no name came to her mind.
«Barys. How goes the evacuation?» Astor asked.
«What do you expect me to say, Captain? Not well.» the watchman answered, putting the flask back inside the jacket. «You can see it too, there’s too few boats. Counting the space for food supplies and equipment, there’s enough for twenty people on each, but…»
«Can you make more than one journey?» Stefan cut in, in a pained voice.
«If you order us to, we will, my Exarch. But sooner or later the enemy is going to reach the harbor, we don’t have a lot of time.»
Helena ignored the lack of respect in the man’s voice and said: «How many boats have sailed already?»
«How many? None, Helena Dorina.» Barys said. «We’ve just finished loading the first one, they’re just waiting for you.»
«For me?» she asked, puzzled.
Barys led the three to one end of the boats’ landing, to a boat already almost full. Among the people on board, Helena identified Ergon, who seemed to be looking at nothing in the distance, with dullened eyes.
«Quick now, Helena.» her father said to her, motioning her to get on the boat.
«No!» her reply was immediate. She had realized what he was trying to do.
«Don’t start arguing with me.» he insisted. «They’ve been waiting just for you.»
«I can’t leave you here!»
«You have to get to safety… But I can’t be the first to leave. I am the Exarch, I have a responsibility… I have a duty toward these people.»
«If you have that duty, I have it too! I am your daughter!» Helena felt her frustration rising, but she forced herself to calm down. There would be no use in screaming, on the contrary it would make the situation worse. She had to find a way to convince her father, and find it fast, before he was ready to respond.
«What… what duty do you have toward them? The duty to make them panic? How do you think they will react, seeing you in such a state? You’re wounded!»
«I am not wounded. It is…» her father clearly suppressed a groan «…only a scratch.»
«Father,» she took the hand he kept on his side and forcefully moved it, revealing a hole in his gilek and a dark spot around it. «you need to learn to be a better liar.»
Helena saw that now he was the one desperately looking for a way to talk back. She did not give him the time to find one.
«Get on the boat. I will stay here, in your stead.»
Her father opened his eyes wide: «Helena…»
«Don’t start arguing with me. They’re waiting just for you.»
Now that she had turned his own words against him, her father seemed to concede. He boarded the boat and sat down, trying to not worsen his wound.
«Astor. Go with him.» she told the captain, who up to that point had stood by silently.
«No.» her father stopped her, raising a hand. «You stay with her, Astor. Barys, I entrust myself to you for this crossing.»
The other man who up to that point had stood by silently got on the boat and immediately started to assign the oars and give instructions.
Slowly, the boat began leaving the shore.
By the time it was about ten feet away, her father called out: «Helena!»
She heard him say something, but the cacophony of voices around her made it difficult to hear.
Maybe: «Don’t die.»
Once the boat had left, Helena shifted her attention to the crowd. She saw a sea of confused faces, worried faces, faces tired and devoid of hope. On her right, a girl was trying to comfort an old couple. On her left, a young man in civilian clothes who nevertheless held a watcher’s dolikos was trying to convince a woman and a girl who was probably the latter’s daughter to board one of the boat, unsuccessfully. However, the scene her eyes were drawn to was that of a man shouldering his way through the mass of people, followed by three children. Looking in the direction, she saw a woman, with two more children, who seemed to be calling the man. As he reached her, the man hug her tightly, then he looked at the children with obvious relief. But a moment later, Helena saw his expression change. She saw him say something to the woman, although she could not hear the words. The smile vanished from the woman’s face as well, as if she had realized something terrible, as she answered him. Immediately the man shouted, looking around frantically: «Auntie! AUNTIE!»
At that point, Helena drew closer: «What is happening? Can I help?»
When the man saw her, he looked puzzled. But then he looked at Astor, and this made him realize who he was speaking to.
«Helena Dorina, I thank you.» he said, respectfully bowing his head. «My name is Kydalim Andorid. It’s about my aunt. When we were ordered to head to the harbor, our children were not home. I and my wife split to go find them, but in the confusion each of us was convinced my old aunt was with the other. I have to find her! She’s very old, and…»
«Do you mean her mind is no longer with her?» She asked, instinctively.
«No, no! Earth, no.» the man, Kydalim, responded immediately. «Her mind is all very much still with her, the issue is… she is voiceless. She lost the gift of speech many years ago, when she was still young, before the Liberation.»
«I see.» There was no need to say more.
«So she must be afraid and in need of help, unable to speak with anyone. I have to go find her.»
«You can’t go alone! I’m coming too!» the woman spoke out.
«And we abandon the children alone, Kara?» the man replied.
Seeing that they were about to start a heated discussion, Helena said: «I can send a few watchers to look for her, all I need is for you to describe us how this woman looks like.»
«I’ll go.» a voice behind her.
Helena turned and saw the young man she had glimpsed before, the one who was trying to make the two women board a boat. Looking closer, she realized he was a green-eyed boy, younger than her, and yet he had spoken with the mature determination of someone many times his age.
«These are my neighbors, I know the old lady they speak of.» he continued «If there’s anyone in the Watch capable of finding her quickly, that’s me. Send me, Helena Dorina.»
«What is your name?»
«Kalos Aregonid.»
Helena felt this boy named Kalos would have volunteered with or without her offer of help to the couple.
«So be it. Kalos Aregonid, go and make this family whole again. May no one of us be left behind.» She proclaimed. Yes, that sounded sufficiently inspiring.
«I’m coming with you.» another voice.
This time it was a young man about her age, with black hair and dark eyes. But he was not a watchman.
«Ark, there’s no need.» said the boy who had volunteered.
«Yes, there is. Watchman or not, you can’t go alone.» the other replied.
«But you are a civilian.» Helena told him.
«I know. That means I don’t need your orders or your permission, Helena Dorina. I merely said out loud what I am going to do.» he replied. He had spoken with extreme impudence, but what struck her was the coldness in his gaze: in those eyes, there was a feeling she was unable to read.
Before she could ponder what that could be, she heard a third voice: «Hey, if you go I’m coming too! You two will need someone to protect you!»
Another civilian, a girl with chestnut hair, wearing a control band. Helena did not bother trying to dissuade her. «Does anyone else want to join?» she asked to the small circle of people that had formed around them.
She had spoken in jest, and yet two hands rose from the crowd. The people parted and made way for a green-eyed girl and another young man.
«Agatha, no. You have to stay with Mom…» said the boy around which this bizarre group had coalesced.
«Mom said it’s better if I stay with you.» the green-eyed girl interrupted him, apparently putting an end to the arguing. Helena thought she saw a quick hostile glare the girl gave the other one, the one called Fyra, but it lasted a mere instant, so perhaps it had been only an impression.
«For me it’s the same.» said the other newcomer, the young man. «I mean, her mother didn’t tell me, mine did, and more precisely she said it’s better if I stay with all of them, and she didn’t use those exact words, but… you get the point.»
«Kal.» Kydalim said. «Would you… would all of you really do this for us?»
«Of course.» the dark-haired, cold-eyed youth, the one called Ark, answered immediately. He even seemed to smile slightly.
«You don’t even need to ask!» echoed the girl who had joined right after him.
The others joined them, nodding.
«Trust us.» Kalos finished. «We’ll find her.»
Kydalim, clearly moved, put his hands on the boy’s shoulders: «…Thank you. You’re a good kid. You all are wonderful. I am in your debt. We’ll be waiting for you on the far shore.»
He took his wife’s hand and left toward the boats, with their children in tow.
The five who remained set off back toward the city, but they had made barely a few steps when Helena heard a shrill scream: «Where do you think you’re going,Artor?»
Pushing and shoving through the crowd, a woman made her way to the group. She reached out and grabbed Ark by his arm.
«Leave this stuff to more capable people! Come on, I found a boat!» she told him.
«That’s great, Mother. Then get on it.» he answered, with utter indifference. He did not shake the woman’s hand off, but he made no movement in the direction she was pulling him either.
She seemed to become even angrier: «That’s what I’m about to do! But you’re not going to leave me alone, are you?»
«I’ll come back as soon as I can.»
«And what if you don’t?»
«I trust you’ll find the strength to carry on.»
«Listen, Artor,» by now the woman looked desperate «this isn’t one of your books. Stop acting like a fool!»
«Mother, I am going. You’re free to follow me, if you so wish, although I’d rather you wait here, or even better you get on board one of the boats and flee to safety. Whatever you choose to do though, I am going. This will not change.»
Finally, the woman gave up. She let the young man go and retreated into the crowd. As she left, Helena heard her murmur: «Crazy. His father abandons me here while he has fun with some lover somewhere, and he is completely crazy. What did I do wrong…?»
Ark did not watch her leave. He looked at his companions and they set off again, in the other direction.
Afterword
Here we are.
Like I said, I am going to monetize this humble work of mine.
I opened up a Patreon.
For those who don’t know, Patreon is a website where you, the audience, can “fund” with a monthly sum the creators that please you. The name itself comes from the word “patron”.
Besides granting me a way to buy my groceries and pay my bills (and so granting this work a way to continue), by funding me you’ll have early access to the following chapters I already wrote: up to three chapters ahead, depending on how much you’re willing to give.
If you don’t feel like making a “monthly subscription” but you still wish to economically support me, I also set up a Ko-Fi page.
Ko-Fi offers creators a similar service: you can make a one-time donation, to “buy me a coffee”.
I like writing. Years ago, I chose this as my path in life, and I want to walk it as far as I’ll be allowed.
I’ll be grateful for any contribution that will help me do so.
And I’m grateful to everyone who has read up to this point as well.
I hope you’re liking the story so far, and as always, tell your friends.
Saiai Webnovels 
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