Chapter 14: Vitorcine

Yoyox and I had failed miserably. We were left only one job from Duani, and that was to not tell ANYONE how she got out of the castle, and now Queen Dove was ordering us to tell them all everything. I really wanted to tell them. They probably needed the information… but I really don't want to piss off Duani. She has very creative punishments for doing something stupid.

I looked over at Yoyox, hoping that he would have some thought on this. He was looking at me with that look in his eyes that meant he didn't know what to do either. We were going to have to improvise.

Everyone was sharing what they knew, and we already knew what they knew. We did what were trained to do. We gathered information. Duani was being held under a post office on Linden Way in the very last resisting city. The resisting city was desperate for information. They couldn't understand why we seemed to be everywhere at once.

There was a knock on the door to the meeting room.

Everyone in the room grew quiet. No one was supposed to bother us while we were having a meeting. It had never happened before in the year we had been doing this.

"Come in," Her Majesty called.

The door opened and a nervous child stepped in.

"Clara?" Yoyox asked.

I crossed my arms.

Clara gave a shaky bow to the queen, and turned slightly so she could look at Yoyox and me. She was rubbing her hands together in front of her. She was small, about six or seven years old. Her dress wasn't patched, but it was old. It must have been her best dress.

"I found out what you wanted me to find out. Duani is in the very last cell on the lowest floor. She's under the basement." Clara said. She stopped two times to lick her lips.

Taybur Sibigat looked up from Clara to us. "What do you have to share?"

He was suspicious.

Yoyox started filling them in. He was vague. He didn't give out any names. I waved the girl out of the room and she left silently. I think only Ysul noticed the door click shut, and that might have just been my nervous imagination acting up.

When Yoyox finished, Taybur Sibigat was still looking at us like we had not told him something. I pulled on a lock of my hair, and made the decision.

"We also know how Duani got out of the castle without anyone noticing." I said.

Yoyox turned like I had just told them how many people we had in their divisions.

"Vitorcine! What are you doing? Duani will have our heads if we tell them!" He said frantically.

I looked at him levelly. My decision had actually been two. Duani wasn't here. She couldn't lead us. One of us – me or Yoyox – had to step up and be in charge. We had to make decisions. We couldn't be following the directions she left. The rules and stakes had changed, and we had to adapt.

"Dunai is not here. She is not in charge any more. I respect her, but I disagree with her. This secret way out of the castle it not worth her life. You agree with me or you don't." I said, glaring straight into Yoyox's eyes.

Yoyox froze and stayed that way for a long while. When he started to move again, he was shaking his head. "I will not be a part of this," he said, and walked out the door. He didn't slam it, but from the lines of tension I had managed to see on his body, I could tell he dearly wanted too.