Chapter 3

It happens so fast I almost miss the trigger. Someone leaps for the Shaman. The figure flies out of the crowd who react as a mob. Shouts, screams, and a sudden stampede. People rush to get away and Khiara, Gwen, and I are little more than obstacles to their escape.

I'm pushed back by the surge of people. Gweneth on my shoulders throws my balance off and as I'm hit she's thrown back, pulling me along with her. Khiara grabs on, pulling back towards him.

"Run," he yells.

Tightening my grip on her legs I twist. The press of bodies is almost too tight to move. They shove from every direction. Desperation and fear fill the air along with screams. Khiara bodily picks someone up and throws them up and over the crowd, fighting his way in front of the two of us.

"Follow," Khiara barks.

There is no need to answer him and even if there was I cannot get a deep enough breath to speak. My brother fights for every step we take. Gweneth crouches, bending over until she is next to my head with her arms wrapped under my chin. I let go of her with my right hand so I can push people away.

We get knocked side-to-side repeatedly. Khiara is making headway, but it's slow going. The screams filling the air are a mix of rage, fear, and despair. Then, over all the other sounds, I hear the machine. The sound of it is unmistakable as it powers up. The giant wheel turning makes a thunderous banging. Cold rushes over my skin. That thing is evil and I have had my fill of seeing its bloody work.

Khiara glances over his shoulder then looks to his left. I get his intention. An alley that will get us out of the worst of the crowd. I nod agreement and he turns in that direction. He pushes, pulls, and punches while I sweep my free hand back and forth to keep my next step clear.

Khiara breaks through. I'm right behind him, stumbling as the press of bodies disappears and we emerge into the alley. Others follow us but the alley is too narrow to allow anything like what we just escaped.

I glance back and an overwhelming sadness fills my chest. I want to rage, to let loose a roar, to find some way to reclaim what my people were. But those days are gone. We are lost. All I see looking at the crowd rioting is that there is no hope. The future is over.

Turning away I rush to catch up to Khiara who has pressed on into an alley. I follow his lead both because he is my older brother and because he knows the alleys. When we were younglings he ran with some of the gangs who haunt the alleys. Before he came to his senses and righted his life. He still knows them like the back of his hand. Much better than I do.

The alleys are even worse now than they were then. Many times I ventured into them to find him, bring him home to our mother, but the intervening years have done nothing to improve the state of the alleys. How could they when the entire city has gone to rot.

Khiara looks all around us, including inspecting the rooftops, then stops. When his eyes land on Gweneth hunching over my head, clinging to my neck the look on his face stabs into my heart.

I am sorry brother.

He cares for her, but I do not believe she returns his affection. I think that she is interested in me. I know I am in her. Her small, alien form is a delight, of course but more than that I enjoy her. She has a vibrant personality and a sharp mind. I have enjoyed getting to know her since she was placed in Khiara's home.

Now that the Maulavi seem to be done with questioning her and the other humans, accepting them at face value I hope, we have fallen into a comfortable routine. She has, more than once, been both the cause of both an argument and the settlement of one between Khiara and I. That's a big statement since the only other person that has ever settled an argument between the two of us was our own mother. Usually when we disagree the only way I get his stubborn ass to change his mind is to avoid him for an extended period of time.

I haven't been able to use that approach since she came. I could but I do not want to. I tried it once but I missed being around her. Playing games with her and learning more about her and her alien Star People.

The pained look in his eyes is gone as fast as it was there. Khiara is very good at hiding his true feelings and thoughts. Always has been. He takes a deep breath, looks around one more time to check our surroundings.

"Did you see what happened?" he asks.

"Someone attacked the Shaman," Gweneth says.

Khiara darts an angry glance at her. I know him well enough to know that he isn't angry at her or her speaking her mind, he's angry at himself for the feelings he has but won't express. That bothers me. I haven't told her how I feel either, of course, but she's also not living in my home. He could tell her and then he would know.

But that is not Khiara's way. He hides his thoughts and his feelings, expecting those around him to read them, or understand him without words. I would pass judgment on how this is a terrible idea, but I do the same so what room do I have to?

"Who?" Khiara asks.

"I could not make out the person," I answer.

Khiara nods as he scratches his cheek above his full beard. The raspy sound of his days growth, I've always been jealous of his ability to grow one so thick and fast, echoes off the close stone walls.

"This is bad," he says.

"You think?" I ask, trying to make light of the situation.

"Yes," he growls, his hands balling into fists. "Do you think to make light of this? You know what the response of the Maulavi will be? And do you really think that they won't decide, sooner or later, that the humans are involved?"

"Me?" Gweneth asks, her voice high-pitched and squeaking.

I feel the fool because I hadn't thought about it. Feeling stupid makes me angry. I lift Gwen off my shoulders making sure she is steady on her feet before facing my brother.

"I do not make light of it," I glare, stepping into him.

He growls, his brow furrowing as he puffs his chest out. I pull my arm back, ready to punch him in his know it all face when Gwen grabs my bicep.

"Stop," she says, inserting herself between the two of us. "Not here. Not now. Please."

I don't take my eyes off of Khiara and he doesn't mine until she says please. The moment she does it's as if the word deflates him. He drops his shoulders and lets the air out of his chest.

"She is right," he says, shaking his head.

"We need to get her to your house," I say. "It will be the safest place."

"For now," he agrees.

The echoes of the ongoing riot have not stopped echoing down the alley and now that I'm no longer focused on my anger I realize it sounds like they're getting louder.

"Guys," Gwen says, pointing behind us.

I look over my shoulder and see a mob pushing through the debris and garbage of the alley. I growl, hook an arm around her waist, and run in Khiara's wake.