CHAPTER 14

CHAPTER 14

 

James was just staring at the setting sun. His face was serious. Heara carefully approached him, stepping on the rooftiles. She sat next to him, waiting for him to   say something. But as he didn’t say anything, she started the conversation.

“Well, it’s clearly not a coincidence anymore. Too many of our people have gone missing in a too short time. I think there’s a traitor between us. I don’t know who it is, maybe one of the kids, maybe someone else, I don’t know, but we’ll have to close down to a very tight circle. Too bad it can’t include Jack and Joey anymore…”

“No.”

Heara looked up.

“What?”

“We can’t have anyone anymore. The rebellion is over.”

“W-what?” Heara asked again, almost scared.

“We can’t do this. If we do, we’ll put everyone in danger. Especially the children. No. We won’t do it.”

He got up. Heara stumbled after him.

“But James, we have to! We have to stop her!” Heara said desperately. “We are the people’s only hope.”

James didn’t look at her. Instead, he was staring in the distance.

“We were.”

He dragged his feet to the edge and swiftly jumped to a lower roof.

“James, wait!” Heara pleaded as she followed him.

But James put out an arm to stop her. She looked down on the street and saw two men standing there.

“Soldiers.” she whispered.

“Let’s go.” James whispered back.

They turned around, but before making even a few steps, they were blocked by someone. Heara bumped on cold armor and looked up to see a big man with a ratty moustache and a gleaming helmet. He grabbed her roughly and turned his head to another guard to his right, who was holding James.

“I think we have quite a catch here. Don’t you, bro?”

“Yeah, definitely. We’ll surely be rewarded for this one.”

“I wonder how much we’ll get?”

Both men grinned.

“What I wonder is how you even got your fat buttox up here!” James snarked.

The guards frowned.

“I’d choose my words more carefully if I were you, bloke, cuz we’re the ones who’ll decide the most what happens to you.” the guard holding him said.

“You decide nothing.” James said, kicking him where it counts. Since he hit the metal shorts, it hurt about ten times more than it normally would have. The guard pressed hi slips and looked like he had just bitten a very sour lemon.

“Enough of the rubbish!” Heara’s guard said, and lifted her straight off her feet.

“Let go of me, you brute!” Heara shouted, but the guard ignored her.

James tried to do something, but his guard put a hand on his neck, preventing it. They clumsily got off the roof and carried the prisoners through the center of the town. Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at them. Heara couldn’t face the embarressment, so she just looked down. All the people they had disappointed, all the people they could have saved. Tears swell up in her eyes and threatened to fall. From being treated like a princess to being treated like an outlaw is a great fall, isn’t it?