The Enemies

Karmian Long Blade

Before I start:

Anna
This book is under editorial assessment plus I constantly re-writing myself. Please feel free to leave a comment with any constructive criticism. If you decide it is worth reading that is,  🙌🏻 the chapters are exactly as they appear in the book - not chopped for the sake of Wattpad. So I want to 'sorry' to those who struggle with more extended parts. And hope you still enjoy it.

Rhea

Hatred can do wonders in the destruction of the human race.

But so can kindness and love. Or so Tadgh says. Those concepts are two large for me to grasp. I may start with patience.

The huffing of six men is all I hear in the complete darkness of the vehicle. Staring up, I try to avoid hot fumes in my face. Sultry and revolting. My eyes should be fixed at the ceiling. Well, if there were light. Like water, the stale air suffocates me with each breath. The place is so small we almost hug each other, stuck in this hell for what feels like an eternity. The sweltering heat and sweaty hands brushing mine repulse me to the point I am about to vomit. These men are my comrades, but I loathe each and every one of them.

Not Tadgh. Tadgh I can endure.

This intricate torture is the only way into Dronland, quite ordinary southern town, now occupied by Drellians. Not small, not large - something in the middle. Something so ordinary one will strangle the brain, thinking of how to distinguish it from the rest of Karm. And will come up with nothing.

'Are you alright, Rhea?'

Tadgh's voice is barely a whisper, but kindness and concern are still there.

'Peachy.'

I have just swallowed bile. So my answer is curt. In the darkness, I find his hand and squeeze it. Apart from being my best friend, Tadgh is my light and my hope in humanity. Joolls and I try to measure up to him.

After thirty-six inhales, the evil thing comes to a stop, and the doors open. I practically jump out, my mouth sucking the fresh air with a loud hissing sound. I am a fish out of water, desperate for oxygen.

My vision is blurry but I still register red and grey mix into a sad picture of Dronland. I breathe through my nose, bending down and putting hands on my knees. The wet block-stone pavement stares back at me. Scattered all over the place, tiny puddles remind me of black mirrors. I never see my reflexion in them, only pieces of me as if I were broken. Which I am not. I am a chaos, full of complexes and phobias morphing into one wholesome mess. Miserably perfect in its entirety.

'Flint, keep it together and get into position.'

My nausea is the only thing that stalls my reply to Sergeant Warren, the dumb meathead who considers me a regular private. His measly threats sound like a buzz of an annoying fly. I grant him with a murderous glare, anyway. And he draws back unconsciously.

Yes, precisely my point.

'I think he is afraid of you.'

Tadgh pets me on my back while I close my eyes. It only reminds me of the six hours spent in the vehicle and nausea returns with a vengeance. And my eyes fly back open. I grunt unsure if the sound is caused by the nausea or revolting scenery of Dronland in front of me.

'He considers me volatile and dangerous,' I reply at last.

Everyone already in position, and only Tadgh stubbornly remains at my side. Drellians now occupy Dronland. Tough, I cannot imagine who would want to live here anyway with those dark streets and red brick walls all around. It is not a town, more of an asylum for the pea-brained. The road we end up on is no exception - narrow and dark with tall houses on both sides and a train bridge covering us from Drellian drones. Everything made of red bricks, of course. Spatters of red on the devastatingly grey land.