“Stop struggling, kiddo,” the fat soldier said.

“Let go!” Kyu shouted.

“Come with us,” the skinny soldier said.

“And let you kill us? No thanks!” Lya shouted.

“Uhm. They probably won’t kill ya you know,” the fat soldier said.

“Muckley, will you please shut up?” The skinny solder said in an irritated voice. He turned toward Lya with a ferocious expression. “If you know you’re going to die then just follow us without resisting!”

“Nuh bro. They told us to capture’em alive. Did ya not listen, Iplomir?” Muckley clicked his tongue a few times.

Iplomir clenched his teeth. “Shut. The hell. Up.”

“And plus, they’re young girls. The ones above like to sell them as slaves. They look pretty darn cute too. Hehe.”

“I swear… If you…”

“Iplomir. To your left.” Muckley got serious all of a sudden. Iplomir had been in the same squad with Muckley ever since he enlisted as a soldier, and although Muckley was annoying to say the least, Iplomir knew to listen to him when he was serious.

“Clag”. The sound of a broken tree branch. Iplomir handed Lya to Muckley, while Muckley covered the sisters’ mouth. Silence shrouded the dark street. Iplomir lumbered to the source of the noise. Again, “clag”. Behind that corner. Iplomir held his breath raised his sword, ready to slash at whoever was there. In an instant, he bent the corner and swung his sword at the figure in front of him in one fell swoop. His sword impaled Tar’s clothes. Iplomir crouched down to look at the body. “This is… hay?”

A small figure appeared behind Muckley and dashed into him, faltering him. It was Tar. It turned out that Tar removed his clothes and stuffed some hay inside, after which he laid them on the floor. He then threw tree branches at the wall to attract the soldiers’ attention, and wrapped around the house to ambush Muckley from behind. Iplomir realised that this was all a distraction and sprinted back to Muckley, but there was quite a distance between them so he couldn’t regroup with Muckley that quickly.

Lya was quick to follow up. As soon as Tar bumped into Muckley, Lya bit Muckley’s hand and started running. Noticing Muckley’s grip loosened, Kyu pushed the fat man with all her strength and slid past him. However, Muckley was a trained soldier. How could three children overpower him that easily? They simply caught him by surprise.

Muckley grabbed a small round stone from the ground and shot it toward Kyu. Although shallow, Muckley did have martial arts background, and the stone carried much of his strength. The stone flew in a straight line and hit Kyu’s back. Kyu fell and lost consciousness almost instantly. There was a small patch of blood on her back.

“Big sis!” Lya cried. Tar grabbed Lya’s hand and dragged her away.

“Let me go now!” But the boy didn’t listen to her, so Lya bit his arm and his grip loosened. Lya tried running back to her sister, but Tar was quick to catch her with his other arm. Lya bit his other arm again, but Tar simply gritted his teeth and continued running.

Muckley picked up another stone and shot it toward Lya, but Tar pulled Lya just in time to avoid the flying stone. Muckley lost sight of them as they rounded the corner.

“Oh darn. We let them go… Whoopsie,” Muckley scratched his head.

Iplomir finally caught up to Muckley. “What are you doing?! Chase!” The two of them alerted other soldiers and the whole lot of them started chasing Tar and Lya into the narrow street.

Lya was ready to bite Tar a third time, but before she could open her mouth, Tar stopped in place, raised his hand, and slapped Lya. She froze in place with her cheek reddened.

“Do you want to die, Lya? Run for now.” Tar held Lya’s hand and started running again. For the next few minutes, Lya kept swearing at Tar, calling every possible relative of Tar nasty names, but at least she stopped biting. “When did this girl learn so many swear words? I don’t even know some of them,” Tar thought.

They squeezed into a narrow alleyway and hid in one of the abandoned wooden boxes together. An image flashed in Tar’s mind. “Isn’t this alleyway…”

There were a few close calls in the next ten, fifteen minutes where some soldiers were close to discovering them, but eventually left emptyhanded as they did not bother to check under the boxes. Things started to quiet down.

“We’re getting back my sister,” Lya stated, like a matter of fact, but Tar was torn inside. He fell in deep thought. “If we go to the temple, on the way we might encounter some of the people we met in the Barn, and they can definitely help us. Most importantly, now that I know Mr and Mrs Compass didn’t die, they should be in the temple. If I wait long enough, they’ll surely be there.”

Tar never knew this little misadventure of his would lead to being separated from Bern and Ev, and he felt tremendous guilt. “Are they looking for me? I don’t want them to be worried… What if I never see them again?” His heart ached as the image of the blood-dyed calligraphy board popped up in his head.

“Alright. That is good enough justification to go to the temple instead of saving Kyu. I’m sure she’ll understand.” Tar stole a glance at Lya, whose determined eyes peered outside the box.

“We’ll die for nothing if we try to rescue her sister. Waiting for Mr and Mrs Compass in the temple is the right choice. It should the right choice, but…” Tar knew that once he gave up trying to rescue Kyu now, there might not be another chance. Lya would regret it for the rest of her life, and Tar knew that feeling. “Even if I survive by going to the temple, I’ll be too ashamed to be showing my face ever again! I don’t deserve to live if I do that. I’m a man and I’ll take responsibility for what I said. I said I’m bringing them to safety. Thus, bringing them to safety I shall.”

Tar made up his mind and told Kyu, “We’re saving her. Once the patrol here loosens up, we’ll tail the two soldiers who got your sister.”

Lya smiled brightly at Tar’s words. Cramped inside a wooden box, Tar could see her face clearly. “I didn’t have time to properly look at her, but now that I do, she really is cute,” he thought. “I can’t explain why she looks familiar though.”

“Have I seen you before?” Tar asked.

“Hmm, no I don’t think so. What’s your name?”

“Tar.”

Lya chuckled sweetly. Tar thought she was laughing at his name and turned his face away from her in embarrassment.

“I’m not laughing at your name, idiot. I just remembered there was some kid named Tar who claimed to be Torc Im’s son.”

Tar widened his eyes in shock.

“If I recall correctly, isn’t this the exact same street where he got beaten up?” She chuckled again. “He looked so pathetic.”

“…”

“Why are you not saying anything? …Don’t tell me you’re that Tar?” She raised her eyebrows. Cold sweat dripped down Tar’s back. He gulped and said, “No, obviously. I’m not a traitor’s son!”

“I’m just joking with you, don’t be so serious! Of course you’re not the Traitor’s son. Torc Im’s son will never help anyone beside himself.” Tar’s heart tightened. Maybe it was because he felt guilty saying that his father was a traitor, or maybe it was because he was labelled as someone who couldn’t be anything but selfish.

“Why are you shaking your head?” Lya asked. She didn’t know that Tar was trying to repel a very dark thought. Tar was disgusted at himself for thinking about this even for a moment.

“I should leave her to die with her sister.” That was what he thought when he realised she was the one, who, back then…

The more he told himself not to think like that, the more his brain worked on it. “They shamed me. They humiliated me. I saved them and what did they do? Step on me. Spit on me. It’s more than enough reason to not save them. It’s just payback!” Tar trembled. He feared the person he might become. It was easy to lead Lya to her sister, and let her recklessness do the job for him. In that case, he didn’t abandon her, no. He simply did not save her in time! How tragic! And then he would meet up with Bern and Ev, be comforted, cry by himself for a little bit, move on, and then realise it would be better without those sisters anyway!

Tar grabbed Lya by her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. “I swear on my name. I’ll definitely save your sister, and I won’t let anyone hurt you. I promise.” Perhaps those were words Tar wanted to say to himself, but Lya felt very warm when Tar said that, and she knew that she could trust that pair of unwavering eyes.