Ander

The pronouncement was quiet, but it still seemed to ring throughout the room.

Ander sat there next to Asha, resolve slowly growing inside him. Even though he didn’t really know these shapers, they were his people. He had thought that his life in the Tenzen valley was hard, but It was nothing compared to what the shapers of Spectralia lived through every day. Ander had Cyrus to help encourage him while these poor people didn’t have anyone.

“What can I do to help?” He asked.

Asha looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

“What do you think you can do? You’re in Spectralia now, in the same situation as us. There’s nothing you can do.”

“There has to be something. If you need to escape the hunters, I can help you leave the city. We can find a place for everyone in the Tenzen Valley.”

“That won’t work. We can’t move all of these people.” Asha said, gesturing around the room with its sick occupants. “Besides, we know at least some of the guards are working with the hunters. There’s no way we could leave the city without being chased.”

“I came through the gates and no one stopped me.” Ander said with a frown.

“You got lucky. Several shapers tried to leave through the gates last week. I watched from a distance to see if they could actually leave. All of them were detained by the guards and taken.”

Ander let out a sigh at the revelation. It looks like I walked straight into the dreadmaw's den, he thought before voicing a question that he had been mulling over.

“What happens to the shapers after they are taken?”

“I don’t know.” Asha said, her brows knitting together and drawing a shadow over her face in the already dark confines of the building. “We’ve never seen a shaper after they’ve been taken. We do know where they are sent immediately after they're captured, but after that, we know nothing. I doubt they're being killed though. The hunters always make sure to take them alive.”

Ander let out another sighed. The shapers in the city had been backed into a corner with no place to run, and he was included in that group.

“What if Mora were to buy all-cure for everyone here. They would recover, and then you could try to flee the city.”

Asha laughed.

“Do you know how much all-cure costs? Mora is a kind person, but there's no way she could, or would buy us that much all-cure. We certainly don’t have the money for it.”

“I would give her the money.”

Asha simply snorted at the statement and Ander felt his cheeks heat.

“I'm serious!” He said, trying and failing to not sound defensive. “I have fifty saree I can spend on medicine.”

Asha’s expression went from skeptical to nervous the instant he mentioned saree. She glanced around the room as if expecting one of the slumped figures to jump out at them.

“Don’t joke about having that much money in the southern quarter,” she hissed, “That kind of talk will get you killed at best. If people here even suspect you have a single coin, you’ll end up gutted in a back alley.”

Ander flushed further in embarrassment, but he didn’t back down, he simply lowered his voice to a whisper and continued with what he needed to say.

“I’m not joking. I really do have fifty saree I can spend on medicine.”

“Where'd you get fifty saree? Asha asked, looking baffled.

“From a friend.” Ander said, not sure how to describe Cyrus.

Asha moved, bringing her face right up in front of Ander’s, staring him in the eyes as if searching for something. Ander’s first instinct was to move away, but his back was against the wall, so instead of moving, he stared right back into her eyes, noting once again how intense they were.

“You’re serious, aren’t you?” Asha finally said, moving back to her original position.

“Yes,” Ander replied, his voice cracking a little. “I have the money, and I want to help.”

“You’re crazy. I’ve never met anyone who would spend two flecks to help another shaper, let alone fifty saree.”

Ander let out a nervous chuckle, not knowing how to respond. He hadn’t talked this much with anyone besides Cyrus. This much social interaction was completely new to him.

“No really,” Asha said, not seeming to realize what the laugh meant. “This is more than I ever expected, thank you for helping us.”

“I’m not the only one helping the shapers,” Ander said, a wry smile on his lips. “haven’t you been helping the shapers here for weeks? We’re not fools for treating shapers the way everyone should treat them. I’d say that the people of Spectralia are the fools.”

Asha let out a laugh. It was a beautiful sound that seemed to break through the solemnity of the dark room, and it brought a smile to Ander’s face.

“You’re right,” Asha said, her laugh quickly replaced with a thunderous look, only emphasized by the shadows in the room. “and someday I’m going to get back at all of those people who have trodden over us. They’ll pay for what they’ve done to me- to all of us.”

Ander fidgeted at the words that so closely mirrored what he had felt only a few days earlier. He didn’t like how quickly she had transitioned something as pure as laughter to this deep dark hatred.

I guess this is what Cyrus didn’t want me to become. Ander realized thinking back to their conversation from the day before he had left the Tenzen Valley. He didn’t want me to become so focused on the people who have wronged me that I wouldn't be able to live a happy life.

The thought almost brought tears to his eyes. Thank you, Cyrus, Ander thought, hoping that the old farmer was doing well.

“Perhaps you should be more focused on helping the shapers rather than trying to get back at an entire city of people who only do what they do because they haven’t been taught any better.” Ander said, “Simple revenge won’t get you anywhere.”

“It will get us somewhere.” Asha insisted, “You said that the people haven’t learned any better, well then I’ll teach them that we're people too. I’ll show them what people are capable of when they refuse to be beaten down. I’ll teach them that shapers won’t be quietly oppressed any longer.”

“If you do that,” Ander said in a hushed tone, “you won’t fix the problem, you'll only push away the people who might be willing to accept you.”

“Don’t be naïve! If I do nothing, things will just continue to get worse. People don’t learn unless you beat the lesson into them. Shapers will always be stepped on unless something drastic happens.”

“Maybe,” Ander said, “but if you destroy yourself and countless others in the process, will the change be worth it?

Asha looked at him with a flat expression, her eyes wiped of all emotion. She spoke a single word that caused shivers to run up and down his spine.

“Yes.”

***

They didn't have another full conversation that day except for when Ander had gotten curious as to why Asha wasn't sick like the other shapers in the building. Apparently, she had only started helping these shapers recently. She refused to say anything more, but Ander got the impression that something terrible had happened. He filed away the information for later, but decided to direct his attention to a more pressing issue.

He spent the rest of the day caring for the sick shapers, and the time passed quickly. Ander allowed himself to get lost in the work. His interactions with Asha had left him feeling unnerved, and the quiet work of seeing to the shapers needs gave him something else to focus on, much like the work on Cyrus’s farm had once allowed him to escape the troubles he had with both the town and his family.

It was some time after nightfall Asha told him it was time to go, and they left the building. After stepping out the door, Ander was once again reminded of the poor conditions that the shapers were living in. Although is nose had become accustomed to the terrible smell from inside the building, being outside the stuffy confines of the structure was liberating. He drew in a deep breath, relishing the simple joy of breathing in fresh air.

He wasn’t able to appreciate the feeling for very long because Asha started off, moving swiftly, not even looking back to see if Ander was following. Walking through the city was far less interesting now that the sun had set far beyond the horizon. All the sights that he had seen in the morning were completely obscured.

The beautiful buildings with their carvings and engravings were reduced to dark lumps, and even the giant tower of the Novian church was only visible because of the swath of darkness it created in the sky where it obscured the stars.

Asha's quick pace brought them to their destination quickly. Asha knocked on the door to the Verdant Spring, and a few moments later Mora opened the door a crack.

“Come on in.” Mora said, swinging the door open the rest of the way. “How was your trip around the city.”

Ander followed Asha into the inn, a broad grin growing on his face.

“It was amazing.” He said, “Spectralia is incredible.”

“It’s not that incredible,” Mora said dryly, “but I bet you saw some things that you never dreamed of in Payra.”

Ander was about to reply when he heard an exaggerated cough. Ander looked over to see Asha tapping her foot against the ground with an impatient expression on her face.

“Oh yes, just a moment.” Ander called out as he started to rush toward the back room where he had slept the night before. He entered the room and grabbed his pack. From it, he drew out the pouch of coins that Cyrus had given him and moved quickly back toward the inn’s common room.

As soon as he entered the room Asha’s gaze locked onto the pouch of coins, but she didn’t move from where she stood.

“Mora, we need a favor.” Ander said, handing her the pouch. “We need you to buy all-cure for some sick shapers.”

“All-cure?” Mora asked with a frown that only deepened when she opened the pouch and saw its contents. “Why do you need all-cure? A specialized medicine would be far more effective, not to mention far cheaper than all-cure.”

“The healers won't help shapers.” Asha muttered, “We don't know what kind of sickness they have. We need all-cure for general healing.”

Mora turned to Asha, obviously intending to ask her a question, but she was cut off by the door to the inn. It crashed open with such force that the entire building shook. Dark figures flooded into the common room from outside the building. The figures surged toward them, and the room erupted in chaos when Asha picked up a chair and swung it into one of the dark figures eliciting a grunt of pain.

What’s happening? How did they know about the money? Was the first frantic thought to run through Ander’s head as he tried to understand the situation. Asha continued to fend off the figures with her chair, and Mora had made the pouch of coins disappear somewhere, it had been replaced by a long dagger that she was wielding with obvious skill.

Several of the figures that Ander realized were men in dark clothing looked like they wanted to move in on her, but they seemed nervous about the knife in her hands. Ander had to stop paying attention to Asha and Mora as several men moved towards him.

The men were wielding batons, and they looked like they were eager to use them. Ander raised his fists, and the men in front of him paused. He wanted to believe that his fists had made them hesitate, but even he knew that his lean frame and poor stance weren’t intimidating. It was far more likely that they had stopped because Mora was screaming for guards at the top of her lungs.

“Just grab the and boy and the girl!” A gruff voice rang out from the doorway. “Ignore the woman!”

Of course, Ander thought, they don't know about the money, they're here because we're shapers. Now that the initial shock had gone, this was the only logical conclusion. Somehow the dark clad men had learned their location, and they had come to capture him and Asha.

The men in front of him immediately began to advance, and Ander moved away until his back hit the wall. Fear started gnawing at him, and in desperation, Ander swung a fist at the first man to enter striking distance.

The ruffian was obviously expecting the move because in casually dodged the clumsy swing and brought his baton around, aiming for Ander’s head.

Ander tried to throw himself to the side to avoid the blow, be he wasn’t fast enough. Instead of hitting his head, the baton landed heavily on his shoulder. The pain was incredible, and the force of the blow drove his body toward the ground.

Ander used the momentum to roll away from the men, trying to gain distance, but his attackers were quick to follow, so the maneuver didn’t gain him much. Ander tried to scramble away, and while he was moving, he caught sight of Asha. Her body had gone completely limp, and she had been thrown over the shoulder of one of her attackers.

Oh architect, Ander thought, please let her be alright.

He looked back toward his pursuers and was shocked to find that they had closed in on him far more quickly than he had expected. Ander turned just in time to see the baton falling toward his head much faster than he could dodge.

The blow connected, and he fell into oblivion.