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  She looked back up at the commander, who had a look of annoyance on his face. He was surely agitated by Gogenanth’s interference, and perhaps he even wanted to see Lilaci finally lose a fight. Lilaci was motioned to join her group back in the outer part of the ring. The fight was called a draw, which she was fine with. She was the first girl to ever fight a boy in the pit, and the word spread quickly that she held her ground, and didn’t lose. But . . . other rumors began to spread, about her and Gogenanth.

  Part II

  A Kiss, and a Bitter Goodbye

  Chapter Nine

  The month rolled on slowly, and everyday Lilaci walked by the Keln, and whispered to Gogenanth. She told him to hold on, and she thanked him for saving her, even if it cost him his current confinement. In her entire life up to then, she’d never had anyone stand up for her, or protect her, and she was truly grateful.

  It saddened her greatly that he was being tortured so, with his knees tucked up into his chest and his arms unable to move every hour of every day, just because he saved her in front of the wicked Scaethers. Unable to move any part of his body, she knew he was being subjected to cramps and unrelenting pain. He was fed and given water sparsely through the day, but she felt depressed as the days dragged on. She wasn’t expected to fight at all during the month, which was quite surprising to her, as she was worried she’d have to fight many girls at the same time, or worse, multiple boys.

  Elan, her teacher, had shown an ample amount of respect for her during the month. After the fight in the pits in front of the Scaethers, Lilaci was given two full days without lessons, and she was led to a private hut to relax and recover— all the while, she worried over him. She spent the two days lying in a bed with soft linens, and reading from a collection of books that were in the hut. Her favorite was a story of a young girl who rose from the streets of Voru to become the queen’s servant, a high honor in the kingdom.

  The day finally came when Gogenanth was freed from the Keln, and Lilaci went over, with the rest of the girls, and watched. One of the teachers unlatched the door, and two of the teachers went and grabbed him under his arms. Lilaci was shocked at the sight; he’d lost so much of his weight, she almost didn’t recognize him as the same boy. She had to shield her eyes, as his pants were covered in dried piss and feces. There was a hole in the bottom of the Keln for defecation, but he was unable to move or clean himself.

  As they pulled him from the box, he collapsed to the dirt and coughed harshly. Veranor appeared from behind the girls and slowly strode over to Gogenanth, and then stood over him. His shadow looming heavily over the frail boy, who had to hold his hand over his eyes to look up at the predatorial commander framed in the harsh sunlight.

  “You have paid your penance, and you will return to your training . . . Once you are fit and recovered,” the commander said. He seemed to scan the boy with either a look of remorse or disdain, Lilaci couldn’t tell which. And then he turned and walked back off from where he came.

  Lilaci saw Gogenanth lift his head, and glare at the commander as he walked off. She’d never seen that look in his eyes before, and it scared her. It was a look of utter hate and rage. The two teachers went to grab his arms to help him up.

  “No,” he said in a raspy voice. He gathered his strength and shifted one knee to the ground, and with a muffled grunt he stood on his own, it seemed to pain him greatly. He hobbled off in the direction they ushered him. She watched as he was led to a single, small hut that already had buckets of fresh water outside it. They were going to bathe him and bring him back to his normal physical stature.

  Thoughts flowed through her mind of the torture and rearing they put them all through in Sorock. Every now and then it would come back to her that they were going through a system of brainwashing, and it made her question her own thoughts, and her own ideas. She would ask herself, is this a real emotion, or was I trained to think this way? One of the only times she was certain she was right and pure in her thoughts was when she questioned the authority of those running Sorock. She knew that wasn’t something they wanted from the girls and boys they were training to be soldiers and killers.

  To her disbelief Gogenanth was forced to return to sparring on his second day out of the Keln, and he was beaten by the other boys. I never imagined I’d see the boy I’ve grown up to know and love beaten so badly. After all, he was Oncur until that beating. They put him up against two of the strongest other boys, and he didn’t stand a chance. They’d waited a month for their time. They pummeled him easily, in front of all of Sorock. Once the male instructor clapped his hands and the fight was ended, I wanted nothing more to run to him and comfort him. But this is Sorock, and nothing of that sort would be permitted. He didn’t look at me, instead he sunk his head into the sand, and passed out. Then I felt something strange—not any emotion, but a feeling of being watched. The palace, I feel as if they’re watching us, or me, from up there in their golden pyramid. The statue of the god facing us seems to be eerily watching too— Dânoz, the Great God.

  But Lilaci still snuck out every night, hoping that she would find him waiting for her in their secret corner of Sorock. Yet, night after night, she found the shadows silent, and alone. It took a full week for her to find him.

  She was sitting alone in the shadows, watching the clouds float past the light of the moon, and listening to the song of the breeze as it drifted by. Her heart raced as she saw him creeping low in the shadows. He had regained a bit of the weight he’d lost, and he gave her a wide smile as he neared her.

  He went and sat next to her with a sigh of relief, and she quickly wrapped her hands around his arm and laid her head on his shoulder. He put his hand on her knee, and they sat there for awhile, and she felt their hearts beating in sync.

  She didn’t wait an hour to speak, no. Only seconds later she whispered, “Thank you.” Then she looked up at him, his eyes were gentle and soothing.

  “I thought of you, often,” he said. “It makes me happy to see you well.”

  She didn’t plan on doing it, but instinctively she sat up on her knees, and looked deep into his eyes, reflecting in the moonlight. She watched as his eyes began to well with tears, the first time she’d seen such emotion in him.

  “Don’t, Gogenanth. It’s okay. You’re safe with me now.”

  “I don’t weep for my pain, or my time in that cursed place,” he said. “I weep for us. Can we never be free to be together under the light of the sun? We are cursed to live our lives like this forever. The only happiness we’ll ever find will be in secret.”

  She watched his eyes and lips as he said that. He’s the only thing that really matters to me in this world. The only thing that can ever belong to me, and the only thing they can’t ever take away. If I didn’t have him, I’m worried I’d go crazy and lose myself.

  Lilaci leaned in slowly towards him, letting her eyelids drift shut, and she delicately pressed her lips to his. Her lips began to quiver as she did so. She’d never kissed anyone, and she’d never wanted to do it so badly in her life. Pressing her lips to his, he wrapped his arms around her, and she sank into his body. It was the safest she’d ever felt, and she ravenously kissed him. In his arms she felt warm, and it was if she was off in a far-away land, where the commander, the teachers, and the Scaethers could never get to her. He was her rock, the only family she’d ever need since she lost her own long ago.

  After a long, passionate final kiss, he pulled his lips away from hers. She looked into his dark-green eyes, lit with the light of the moon.

  He paused, seemingly wary of his forthcoming words. “We need to leave this place,” he said.

  She pulled back in awe and disbelief. “What? Why? How?”

  “I think I have a way for us to get out of here,” he said. “But I’m not sure if it’ll work. There’s something growing inside of me, something . . . Different.”

  Lilaci didn’t know what to think of that. Something different? What does that mean? “You know what they’ll do to us, if w
e try to leave. That’s desertion.” They’d hunt us down and kill us.

  “Desertion, that’s the perfect word, isn’t it,” he said. “Even if we do make it out, we’ll have to survive and hide in the desert the rest of our lives.”

  “I don’t like the desert,” Lilaci said. That’s where I was taken from my family, after they killed them. I have nothing but bad memories of walking the sands anymore.

  “We both have been through hell in the desert, but . . . We’ll be together, and we’ll be free.”

  “Gogenanth . . . You knew we can never be free. Look at you and me, we are made to be this. Every time anyone sees us, they will either be afraid of us or try to capture us again. We surely would have great bounties on our heads.”

  “I don’t care,” he said. “We can cross the desert of water if need be. I can’t live as one of the ones who took my family from me.”

  She paused in silence, thinking of what to say next. Looking down at her hands, callused from holding weapons, and riddled with small scars, she said, “I don’t want to either.”

  “Well?” he asked.

  “What did you mean when you said there is something different inside of you?”

  “—In the Keln, I feel as if some sort of power found me when I was alone in the darkness. It’s hard to explain, but I feel as if it may help us to leave this place— If I asked it.”

  “You mean magic?” she asked. “All the magics died long ago with the dragons.”

  “I don’t know if it’s magic,” he said. “I need to figure it out more, but what do you say Lilaci. Leave this place together? So that we may be free?”

  Lilaci didn’t know what to say, she was frightened and hopeful thinking of the possibility of escape, so she said, “Let me think about it.” She leaned in and kissed his lips again, imagining them together on the sands, free and safe. They shared that embrace until the light of the sun began to show over the vine-covered walls of Sorock, and they both returned to their bunks.

  Through their night of Lilaci’s first kiss with Gogenanth, so much was distracting them with thoughts of fleeing and being free, that they didn’t notice the person spying on them. A jealous person who wasn’t about to let them remain happy and hopeful.

  Chapter Ten

  Lilaci and Gogenanth made a vow to meet in their spot together in one week’s time, so she had that amount of time to decide— to risk everything and flee, or stay in the safety of Sorock.

  I wish it was an easy decision. Sure, I hate it in Sorock, but now it's all I know. I’ve lived here almost my entire life, I wish I was a normal girl, and not a Lu-Polini . . . but then, I also wish my family had never been taken from me because of the way I was born.

  Is it worth forsaking our lives for the small chance we’ll make it out of our imprisonment together? And what was he speaking about that was growing inside of him? There was so much to think about in such a short amount of time, but there is one thing I’m absolutely certain of— I care about him, and the answer ‘yes’ is growing to be the clearer answer with each passing day.

  Two days after the kiss the two shared in their secret corner of Sorock, under the moonlight, Lilaci arose from her bunk when the streaking fingers of the sun’s light crept into their bunkhouse. She stood and walked over to her basin and performed her normal routine for the morning along with the other girls. That morning though, she felt the eyes of another watching her. She peered over to see Fewn looking at her, smiling. Lilaci was put off by that, as Fewn turned her back to her and went and left the bunkhouse.

  Lilaci stood there in front of her basin and tried to figure out why Fewn had the arrogance to smile at her so. She was so preoccupied in her own mind, she didn’t notice someone standing directly behind her. She turned swiftly to face the woman.

  “Elan,” she said, while giving a bow.

  “Lilaci,” she replied.

  Lilaci didn’t know what to say, she’d never seen her teacher in her dwelling that early in the morning.

  “Come with me,” Elan said. Lilaci could sense a tone of disdain in her voice. It wasn’t an unusual tone for her, but Lilaci never enjoyed what came after. It was usually followed by a harsh lesson, or worse— punishment.

  Lilaci walked after her without question, as they went out of the bunkhouse, and onto the streets of Sorock. The other girls watched as she was led past them, and back towards the front gate. Lilaci looked over as Fewn was smiling and waving her hand at her, she was confused and startled by the sight.

  “Where are we going?” Lilaci asked Fewn.

  “The commander’s office.”

  “Why are we going there? Do we not have lessons today?”

  “Patience, my girl, we are almost there.”

  They were quickly at the front door to Veranor’s office, and Elan knocked twice.

  “Enter,” he called from inside the dwelling.

  She opened the latch from the outside and they both entered his office. The first thing Lilaci noticed was Veranor sitting behind his desk. His shoulders were straight and his face perturbed. The next thing she noticed was two other teachers standing on both sides of the door behind her.

  “Commander,” she said as she bowed. She then turned and bowed to each of the teachers behind her.

  “Lilaci,” he responded, not standing. He ushered her to sit with his hand, and she did so. She sat there for a few moments, waiting anxiously for someone to speak. Then he did. “Lilaci, we see in you the potential for greatness.”

  “Thank you commander, for its an honor to hear that, coming from you.” That answer just flies from my lips as if I’d been waiting to hear the commander of Sorock say that to me my whole life. In my inner core I disdain everything about this place, but on the outside, like the part of me that is a shell, I feel a sense of great satisfaction from those words.

  “You see,” he said. “You’ve done things here that the other girls can only dream of. As you know, we’ve put you through more than them, testing you harder, and each time, you’ve exceeded our expectations.”

  “Thank you sir,” she said.

  He stood from his seat, he looked taller than normal to Lilaci, who was beginning to feel vulnerable as he walked around his desk and stood next to her. He stood close as he looked down at her. “You are going to become something great. You are going to serve our gods, and our kings and queens.”

  “Of course, commander. That’s my destiny.” She looked up at him, and he was nodding his head, a vein coursed in his pale forehead. He lifted his hand quickly and struck Lilaci across the face, harshly, and it burned on her cheek. He lifted his hand again to do the same to the other cheek, but Lilaci quickly caught his hand, surprising not only him, but Elan as well.

  Lilaci didn’t speak, but looked firmly into his eyes, and she could see a rage coming over him. She continued to hold his hand.

  “We know where you’ve been going at night,” Elan said. “We know you’ve been meeting with Gogenanth.”

  Lilaci released her grasp, and lowered her head. They know? They knew? Gogenanth, I’ve got to warn him. I care not for my own safety, but they’re going to punish him again. Maybe even worse this time. I’ve got to tell him. Oh, Gogenanth. I’m so scared.

  “We’ve known for awhile,” Elan said.

  “Fewn,” Lilaci whispered in hatred. That bitch told them. I know it. I’ll kill her for this.

  “It matters not who told us,” Veranor said. “We let you continue to see him, partly out of my own curiosity, to be honest. I wanted to see how your relationship influenced your abilities. It was encouraging, until—”

  Lilaci looked back up at him in fear.

  “Until you spoke of leaving!” Lilaci tried to stand suddenly and run, but the two teachers grabbed both of her arms, and Veranor’s fist went swiftly into her stomach, knocking the wind from her lungs. “How dare you!” he screamed. He hit her in the face, it would’ve knocked her over, but for the two holding her up.

  “I’d rather die than s
it here,” she said. “This is no life, rotting, being a toy for you to manipulate. I didn’t know if I was going to leave with him, but now, I’d have gone with him that night if he’d asked me to, had I the chance to go back.”

  Veranor stood back and his eyes went wild with rage. “Perhaps you should’ve tried that night.” He wiped the sweat from his brow and tried to collect himself again. “Here’s what’s going to happen—”

  Lilaci struggled to free herself from their grip, but they held on tight, and they were both older and stronger than her.

  “—You are going to accompany me to the other facility, and I will continue your training personally,” Veranor said.

  “You’re taking me out of Sorock?” she asked in surprise.

  “We are leaving immediately,” he said. “Elan, would you accompany her to the front gate?”

  “No, I’m not leaving yet!” Lilaci yelled as she fought to free herself from the seat.

  Then she felt an arm reach around her neck and squeeze. Lilaci’s arms were held down, and then she found herself unable to breathe. Elan and the other teachers lifted her from the seat and began to drag her out of Veranor’s office. A conniving grin came across his face.

  “No!” she tried to scream. “I’ve got to say goodbye.”

  “I’ll tell him goodbye for you,” he said as she was dragged out onto the street and shuffled towards the front gate. She looked up to see a wagon with two horses at the ready by the guarded gate. She saw there was a lock on the outside of the door on the wooden wagon.

  “No! No!” she yelled out, and fought with all her strength. But she wasn’t strong enough and they threw her into the dark interior of the wagon. She turned to jump out of the wagon before she was locked in, but she was too late. The door was closed and a lock was latched before she could get out.