Chapter Sixteen
A victory has nothing to do with luck or fortune. In a war no such things exist. A victory depends on your skill, courage, and ability to handle the unforeseen. And an inability to do so isn't the enemy's luck, just a reflection of their superior ability.
- Roku Yinguoren A.C. 187
"Well, these walls are pretty."
"Only you would say that."
I could faintly see Duo's eyes as he turned them towards me. "You remember then?"
"Of course I remember, how could I forget? And they used to try and tell me you were the bully."
"It was true."
I smiled as I slowly dredged up memories of my past. And never – in the years before the… incident – had I ever imagined getting into a mess like this with Duo. He never had a surname you know. Not before he was eleven. He said he couldn't remember. That, or the child in him simply didn't want to.
A bully? Duo? Nah… It was the other way around back then…
"Back off Toby!" I stepped towards my friend sternly. "He doesn't need that from the likes of you!"
"Since when have you cared about street rats?"
I shoved Toby hard in the chest. He stumbled backwards and landed with a satisfying thump on the floor below him. I received a glare halfway between surprise and shock. "Kin?"
"Yeah?" I stood protectively in front of Duo while pinning down Toby with my gaze.
"What're you doing?"
"What're you doing?" I mimicked.
Toby got slowly to his feet and watched me carefully for a moment.
"I'm not friends with you anymore…" I continued.
Toby glanced about his supporters. He had always been the leader of the pack so to speak, but this was the first time anyone had rebelled against him. Oh well…What a pity for him then…
Toby, reassured that nobody else was about to turn rebel on him, took a step towards me. I cocked my head to one side and smiled at him with a sickly sweetness.
That was the last straw.
He punched me – hard.
I found myself flat on the floor. Pushing myself to my elbows I fingered my cheek gingerly. It was already feeling tender to touch.
"Why you dirty…"
I reached out a hand towards an enraged Duo and stumbled to my feet. "Duo don't! He's not worth it!"
Toby acted as though I wasn't even there. "Me? Dirty?" He wrinkled up his nose, in an exaggerated show of being able to smell something foul. "Not me, but something else… Oh yeah! That's right! It's you isn't it priest-boy!"
And that was the start of one of Duo's first fights…
"Liushu?"
Obviously Duo knew what he was doing. I would have never thought to call him anything but Duo. "Yeah?"
"You okay over there?"
"I'm good."
"Whatcha doin'?"
I remembered that phrase with a small sigh. That used to be the limit of his vocabulary. "Just remembering stuff. From a while back."
"What stuff?"
"Purely random stuff. Toby for one…"
Duo cursed loudly at the mention of the stupid little twig. His voice echoed around the cell almost frantically. Like it was searching for a way out. I looked at the small square of light on the back wall gratefully. If it weren't for the fact that I wasn't alone, I would be having problems. Not something you need to know about just yet though…
I looked up as the classroom door was suddenly slammed behind a very angry-looking boy. He was dressed in a priest's shirt that almost came down past his knees, and had long hair that was tied into a tidy braid behind him. Another one from the church? They were never around for too long. I'd tried to make friends with some of them, but they came and went too quickly to keep track of.
The boy smashed his books onto a spare desk at the back of the room and slouched into the seat, with a dark and disapproving scowl spread over his face.
His blue eyes caught my green ones for a second. Seeing me, he pulled a face. So, naturally, I pulled one back. Then he snapped his gaze away.
Quietly I slid my book into my desk and passed several rows to take the seat next to the boy. I couldn't explain it, but I was intrigued. Normally I stayed well away from kids from the Maxwell Church, but for some reason, he was different.
"Who're you then?"
He looked up at me, seemingly appalled at having been spoken to. "Duo," he mumbled, only just audible over the general rabble.
"Is that short for something?" I saw a puzzled expression pass across his face before continuing. "I mean, my name, Kin, is short for Kinborough."
He shook his head, sending his braid on a small dance across his back. "Nope. Just Duo. I run and I hide, but I never lie. That's me."
"Are you even listening to me?"
"What? Did you say something?"
"Never mind." Duo's voice held a slight element of teasing in it. "But I swear, I'm going to go slowly insane if you insist on disappearing into your little dream world every two seconds."
Our attention was suddenly captured by the door, which had opened. Not forcefully, but with a certain feeling of dread.
"You two. On your feet."
I looked towards Duo with exactly the same expression that he cast at me.
Here we go…
