XXVIII : Salo

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Salo woke up to the sound of gunshots and yells.

He brought a chained hand to his head, massaging the top of his forehead. How long had he been out? Judging by the dull taste in the back of his throat, it must have been at least a couple of hours. The first thought that crossed his mind was water. The second was interrupted by a sharp woosh right beside his ear.

The boy's head snapped to the right. There was a gaping hole in the coach's wall.

"Can you be a bit more careful?" a voice shouted in his face. Arden. Salo wiped a hand across his moist eyes, examining his surroundings. A prison wagon. Memories of the fight in Bela's house started flooding back in his mind, washing away any hint of grunginess.

Another gunshot. The carriage was trembling as it lurched across the pebbled road. Salo's glance fell to his shoulder. A familiar face stood behind the doors, peering at him with what he translated as amusement. The thief rose his head abruptly, ignoring the biting pain on the nape of this neck. "Iona?"

"You two know each other?" Nora yelled over the hammering hooves ringing in their ears. Her face was drenched in sweat and her black hair was clumsily sleeked back into her hood.

The coach took a sharp turn, launching all five figures toward the left. Arden and Ailyn were still chained to the floor as Iona fumbled with a ring of keys, and the latter looked ghastly. Her skin was pale as paper.

Salo placed a hand on the wall for support and steadied himself on his feet. They were wobbly and he could barely feel his knees. "Where are we going? And why?" he asked, his voice as wavering as his shins. "Who are these people?"

"Seyali. None of them seem to be Ascended. If they were, this carriage would have been blown up a long time ago." Iona tried another key on Arden's chains. It didn't turn. "I hope we're going to a small emergency hideout in Fuka Ishik--"

"Hope?"

The woman sighed, turning to glance at Salo. Her smile was tight, betraying she didn't like to be interrupted. "I hope the driver knows where we should go."

Salo swallowed hard. This is a disaster. How had they found them? Bela had claimed her house would never be placed under suspicion, that the Mushans didn't even know she owned it. Even if they did somehow suspect her and came to the premises, how did they enter without being noticed?

Perhaps they had made a sound. The boy felt a wave of guilt wash over him. If he and Ailyn weren't having that petty argument, they might have still been in Musha now.

There was a resounding thud on the coach's roof.

Iona's frantic gaze caught Salo first. "Go," she blurted out, her eyes wide.

"Go?" he repeated hesitantly. "Up there?"

"Stop stalling and go to the damn roof, Canbar."

The boy sighed and clicked his lids shut. In the darkness he could see Lephar Blom smiling proudly at his bruised face after his first mission, Arden staring at him shocked in the narrow alley. Iona thought he could do it. She thought he could fight off a Seyali soldier. But what did she know? She hadn't been there when Salo had foolishly taken the bomb back at his headquarters. She hadn't seen his sloppy movements in the burning factory.

As if predicting his reluctant reaction, Iona grabbed Salo's shoulder and gave it a sharp shake. Her gaze was somber but not threatening. Anxious but not scolding. "You're a bulky dude, Canbar. Maybe they'll just run away at the sight of such muscle." Even after speaking those words, she pressed a pistol in his palm.

This wasn't the time for compliments, yet Salo's lips quirked up. There was one thing Lephar Blom insisted on the most apart from his ridiculous privacy policy, and that was exercise. Hard, exhausting, nightmare-inducing exercise. The boy bobbed his head in agreement and, with a last exhale, he drew the doors of the carriage open and grabbed the top side of it.

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