Chapter 10 | Della | Head

The exit of the hole is a damp cool cave with puddles of water in it. Moss stuck to the walls of the cave, and some light leaks in through cracks on the top of the cave.

Water splashes on Della’s feet as Cinzia's footsteps echo in the cave. "Catch her!" Della says, staring at her escaping back and Fodor’s footsteps join the echoes. From Della's talk with him in the hole, she knows that he's in his forties and has served in the military before the Gorons took over. He's large and tall, her head only reaching his shoulders. He brings Cinzia back, forcing her hands behind her.

Gandharva did mention that she often tries to run away but in this situation? Really? Della sighs, shaking her head. "I know you want to escape, but you won't survive in the wildlife. You're a small girl who's never been outside the walls."

"...I don't want to escape," Cinzia shuffles her sandaled feet. "I just want to meet my parents again."

"Stay with me and I will help you find them. I promise I won't treat you like the Black Diamonds do.”

Cinzia nods, but Della has Fodor keep an eye on Cinzia anyway as they walk outside the cave and find themselves at the foot of a hill. "So the gate is on that side?" She asks, pointing to her left. She remembers walking next to this path while reaching the 5th.

Alex nods. "Yes, Your Holiness, it should be there. The hole was dug in the complete opposite direction." Alex is younger than her at nineteen and has only been outside during practice drills. He is as tall as Fodor, but only half as wide.

Della looks down at the bags. "What do we have in these?"

"Weapons, unlawful research material, uhm, Your Holiness's dress, and the emergency bag. Food and water and such."

"How long will the food last?"

"A week if we eat conservatively. Water...maybe three days."

Della points to the direction she thinks she came from. "I sense the river there, but we need to be certain. Do you have a compass?"

He fumbles through the emergency bag and shakes his head. She scowls. "The first thing you will do when we get back is to add a compass to that."

She looks at her barefoot right injured leg. “Fodor, climb the hill and get me the directions to river and an abandoned human district. I can...sense that it's surrounded by ruins, so it should be easy to make out. I also want you to get the general directions of all districts you can see from the top of the hill. We will make our way there.”

Fodor reties his shoelaces and runs up the hill as Della holds Cinzia's left wrist and sits down on a rock with her. Arjun eats dried beans on the rock opposite them, chewing with his mouth open. “Yuck,” he says, but eats them anyway.

There's a pleasant smell of the grass in the air and a cool temperature despite the sun shining brightly above them. It rises in the east and sets in the west.

When she had dropped from the airship, the 5th was to her east...so she just she has to go in the direction where the sun is setting. It's that simple...but it doesn't hurt to have Fodor confirm it.

She tightens her hold on Cinzia's hand. “Now, can you tell me about your situation? I know how you must be feeling—away from your family.” She pauses. “Where are your parents?”

Cinzia buries her face in her knees, sobbing, and Arjun gets off his rock, touching Cinzia's knee with his hand. “Why are you crying, Cinzy?” he asks.

Cinzia ruffles Arjun's hair with her free hand, sniffing. “I don’t know where they are. I don’t know anything. I want to see them...but these people keep me locked up.”

Della looks up at Alex, glaring at him, and he looks down. “Y-Your Holiness, I—I really don’t know anything about this,” he says. “You can ask her. I’ve never even seen her before!”

Della lets go of Cinzia’s hand, one inch at a time. She needs to talk to Gandharva. “Don’t worry. It’s alright now. I will make sure nothing bad happens to you anymore."

Fodor returns in twenty minutes, and his light blue t-shirt has become dark blue in patches. He takes a stick draws a rough map on the ground—it contains the river, the ruins, and the districts he could see.

Della stares at it, biting her lip. A district marked on the map is on their way to the ruins. It’s the one she escaped from. “We're going to attack this place before we find shelter.”

And so they begin walking to the west. Fodor leads the way, scouting for any danger. Cinzia carries Arjun and walks in the middle, watched by Della and Alex from behind. Arjun looks around curiously, asking questions and laughing at everything. “What's this?” He asks. “You saw, Cinzy? I saw it! It was a yellow flower. Why is this tree so big? I see butterflies! Look, look!” Cinzia hugs him.

Della has Alex hold her hand and help her walk to keep up with the others. He avoids meeting her gaze and holds her hand lightly as she speaks, detailing the attack.

When they get close to the black walls, Della has Alex stop near a tree with the children. She looks down at the bag of the unlawful weapons. It has two iron spears that don't fit in the bag completely, and the cleaver she had when she attacked the 5th. "Hide your face. We can't let them find that the 5th is involved.”

Fodor covers his short dark hair with a handkerchief and the rest of his face with a cut piece of his sleeve. Some of his beard shows underneath the makeshift mask but except for that and his brown eyes, nothing is revealed.

Della and Fodor crawl next to black walls, and she knows that she has walked this path before. She is certain now—this is the 17th. She used to be inside those walls, desperate to get out. “Mum, Dad, Royce, Caslav, Ethan…” she whispers.

The activity hall is the biggest building in the district, and Della sits in front of a table, dressed in a pink dress for her thirteenth birthday. There's a specially requested large cake in the center of the table and her parents are decorating the hall. Ethan stands behind her chair. When the adults are not looking, she puts her finger in the cake and licks it. Ethan gasps, and says—

“Ow.” Her forehead hits Fodor's shoe, and she stops crawling, back in the present again. She looks beyond Fodor to find a Krot guarding the gate. “Go,” she says.

Fodor clutches the spear tight in his left hand and when the guard looks in the other direction, he climbs a tree as silently as he can, hiding on the tree branch.

She crawls backwards until she can barely see the guard then stands up, shouting, “I surrender!”

The alien turns and shoots two beams that wildly miss her sides. Her eyes widen as she falls down on the ground, crawling backwards. What? No warning? It walks towards her instead of running, clearly wary of the earth beneath it.

She shrinks behind a tree, leaning against it to take cover. A laser beam hits the side of the tree's bark. The slow and cautious footsteps get louder as laser beams keep hitting the trees near her. Then there's a feral cry and the footsteps stop.

She cranes her neck to see Fodor jumping down and thrusting a spear into the alien’s nape. When he removes it, there's a hole in its neck, and blood gushes out on the grass.

Della beheads the dead Krot with her cleaver without much trouble. “Good,” she says to Fodor as they walk to the gate, the severed head leaving a bloody trail from her right hand. “You will be rewarded for your bravery.”

His lips curl up in a smile. “I’m not sure I believe in any of this anymore...Your Holiness.”

She laughs. Of course. Anyone who has spent even a minute with her would know that she's not some kind of holy figure.

There's a transparent spherical sensor just like the 5th's gate, and she puts the Krot's head in front of it, letting her mind wander. She could take a sneak peek at Royce, Caslav, Khanya. Maybe her mum and Ethan if he hasn't gone to take the Numen yet. Does he miss her? Is he...okay? She just needs a look.

There's no hissing of air, and she narrows her eyes.

She thrusts the Krot's face closer to the sensor. Pulls it away. Tilts it to the right. Tilts it to the left. Turns it upside down. Closes both of its eyes. Keeps both eyes open wide. Keeps one eye open. Puts the tongue out. Makes it smile. Cleans it with the hem of her smock.

Nothing works.

“Why isn't this working?” She smashes it against the sensor over and over, her right hand trembling. "Why? Why? Why?" The sensor shatters into sharp fragments, but the gate remains closed. The same gate she has wished to get out from her entire life--just on the different side this time.

She laughs and throws the head as high as she can. It reaches a tenth of the wall's height and rebounds off it, falling in front of her with a splat sound. “Change of plans.” She stomps on it over and over, still laughing. “We're going to attack all nearby districts before we find shelter.”