Hermia galloped out of the black cell and up to the surface. The night's wind was pushing her along, seeming to tell her to deliver it faster.
She burst through the doors, and practically ran to Gagh Onomia. She whispered the news in her ear.
~*~
The class was filled with chattering and laughter as the children strode into the room. Zack Grasto, Marla's father and Mind teacher, quickly slid past them and dropped his bags at his desk. He hushed the children.
"Hello again." He said, having just come with them from their previous class. "So this class…" He fumbled through his papers. "We are going to be…" He finally found the paper. "Blocking! Blocking people from our minds. Let's get into our usual partners?"
Elliot turned his chair to face Dalisay behind him. As did several others such as Marcus and Andrea, and Violeta and Maria.
Elliot smiled at Dalisay. "You block?" She nodded, and so they began. Elliot was the only person Dalisay trusted enough to risk him entering her mind - which she actually allowed and prompted when she struggled to tell him things.
After numerous attempts and fails to keep her mind shut against Elliot, he suddenly frowned. Dalisay didn't feel him in her mind, but she knew he was still using his powers due to the blue lightning that flashed across his dark brown eyes.
His hand shot up.
"Yes, Elliot?" Zack Grasto asked.
"There's a strange… language."
Grasto frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Someone's thinking in a language and voice I've never heard before."
"Do you know who?"
"No."
Grasto leaned forwards. Everyone was paying attention now - Elliot had never heard an unknown voice before. "Can you repeat the words?"
Elliot cringed. "Erm… Gifts sith jack…?"
Grasto went white. "Hunter tongue…"
Everyone froze. Grasto launched himself to the doorway, and was about to yell a warning when - BANG. A deafening series of explosions went off. They were followed by screams.
Grasto told the panicking children that they had to be quiet. And so the shocked kids did.
The deafening explosions transformed into a deafening silence.
No one made a sound. No thing made a sound.
Ears grappled for something to hear, but remained starved.
An mind-ripping scream burst to life in the silence. It was full of pain and panic… and was cut short.
Sobbing from Maria now muffled the dead silence. She was quickly followed by Violeta, and two other kids in the class.
If it were possible, Elliot tensed up even more. "They're coming closer - they can hear the crying." He whispered, his intense eyes staring at the doorway into nothingness.
"Oh, fuck this." A deep gruff from Marcus said as he ran out of the room, closely followed by Andrea and a tearful Violeta.
A sudden thought reached Dalisay's mind - not in the same way they were reaching Elliot's. She clutched his arm. "We have to find Marla and Kiara! They're alone in development!" Without waiting for his response, she raced into the hallway. He ran after her. Grasto called for them to stop.
They carried on running until they reached a wooden door. They pushed through it.
Marla was frantically signing at Kiara. It was barely intelligible.
Elliot quickly shut the door behind them, then turned to Marla and started calming her down. Dalisay slowly signed what was happening to Kiara, who moved her hand to cover her face.
"What do we do?!"
Dalisay looked to Elliot. He was pushing his hands through his hair. "We need to go."
"Go?"
Elliot locked eyes with Dalisay. "Go. Leave! Run!"
"No!" Marla protested, her eyes wide and hands trembling. "W-we can't go!"
"We have to! If we stay, we die."
"What about my parents! And my brother!" Marla exclaimed.
"They'll be fine - your parents are smart, and Marcus and Andrea left to go find Castan."
Kiara reached for Marla's hand. "We have to go."
"I-if we just leave, we won't survive a da-" Dalisay argued.
"Yes we will." Elliot said.
"-Not without our weapons! And what about food and water!"
Elliot frowned. "Okay, so we get our survival bags. We made them last lesson, our weapons are in them."
The group agreed. They opened the door and sped down the sloped hallways, trying to stay as quiet as possible.
Just as they were nearing the survival room, Elliot stiffened and pushed Dalisay back around a corner. The other followed suit.
"You don't want to come near me!" A voice cried out. Dalisay recognised it as Kelly Brown's. "I'm very powerful! I could kill you in seconds if I wanted to!" This was a very brave proclamation for someone who'd been born without powers.
The Hunter she was facing laughed. A whimper came from behind Kelly - Maria Gable, a child psychic, was cowering behind her. The Siense Hunter strode forwards, blade in hand. Kelly moved to protect Maria further. "I'm warni-" Kelly fell to the ground.
Before Maria could even scream, the Hunter cut her down too.
The man let out another satanic laugh, and carried on down the hallway, away from the corner the terrified group had hid behind.
Kiara unfroze. She stepped out and saw the bodies. Her breathing stopped. She hadn't heard what had happened, but could see the sound of the Hunter's retreating steps.
"We have to go."
The group stayed frozen.
She repeated, "We have to go." Then grabbed Elliot by the arm and started walking away. Dalisay and Marla followed, almost throwing up at the bloody sight.
The scared group found the classroom and rushed to get their bags. They armed themselves - Elliot with his staff, Kiara with daggers, Marla with a spear, and Dalisay with her bow and quiver.
They took a few deep breaths, and hovered at the door. Kiara held her hand on the knob, watching for sound waves. She signed it to be clear. Elliot agreed. The door was swung open.
Elliot and Kiara led the group. Their powers made them perfect scouts.
The Karsan cave system had been designed as a hideaway. It had been made with the threat of The Hunters in mind. This meant there were many an escape route - which was good luck for our group.
Dalisay fell to the back. In hindsight this was not a good idea because both her powers and weapon made her quite unable to fight in close-quarters. Really, it should have been Marla, but she was too scared to be on the 'front lines'.
Silence ruled the system - only ever undercut by fear-filled screams.
Elliot led the other teenagers to another section of the caves. The room was covered head-to-toe in ancient books, their spines crumbling from the touch of the air. He lifted up a large tapestry in the far corner, revealing a locked wooden door. Elliot removed his chain and dog tag from around his neck, and inserted it into a slit below the handle. He twisted it. The door came creaking open. The children tumbled through. They shut it tight behind them.
The tunnel was depressingly dark - not a large improvement from the purple lantern light from the caverns. No slither of light was available.
The children began silently feeling their way through it. This resulted in a few hurt toes - "Ow…" - but overall, kept them safe from The Hunters.
When they finally reached the other side, they squabled about whether to leave or not.
"I thought we'd already agreed?" Elliot signed, Dalisay agreeing with him.
"That was when I wasn't thinking!" Marla whisper-shouted back. "Now, I think it's safer here!"
"I'm with Elliot - if we don't leave now, we may never have another chance." Kiara signed back.
"Three against one." Elliot said, before gently pushing the end door open, allowing the frosty cold in.
The group slowly slithered out of the tunnel and began running down the mountain, guided by Elliot and Kiara.
The trek was a long one, driven by adrenalin - and many more fights had occurred before they finally slid through a slit in a mountain into a safely hidden cave tucked away behind Siége.
Elliot stood, leaning his back against the cave wall. Rucksacks surrounded him, having been dropped a few minutes after their arrival. Their weapons, however, had stayed in their clutches.
"We can't wait it out!" Kiara said, keeping her voice quiet but passionate. "They'll widen their search to this mountain soon - and Elliot won't be able to keep this up much longer!"
"I'm with Kiara. Elliot will need to sleep soon - and when he does, we'll have to rely on Kiara to tell us if something is coming - which depends on them making noise!" Dalisay argued.
"But we're more at risk if we go!" Marla said. "We'll be out in the open!"
"Listen," Kiara started, "I have experience with this, and it's more risky to stay put. We have to keep moving."
"Bu-"
Elliot stumbled forwards. Everyone fell silent. He held a finger to his mouth. Strange sounds, that were now familiar, drifted down to the small cave's entrance. What sounded like a… pair of Hunters speaking came closer. Rocks tumbled from above. A shadow passed over the slit entrance. The whole cave held it's breath. Another shadow passed over.
A throaty… laugh? Slithered into the cave as the Hunters walked past. The sound of it was menacing in the currently tense minds of the scared.
Each second that went by felt like agonisingly long hours of terror.
The Hunters left.
Elliot relaxed and collapsed back against the wall.
~*~
"Five more hyft have been found by the patrols. Two - both shapeshifters - were killed after an attempted attack." Lagh Fhel Nania reported to Gagh Onomia. Hermia was stood to the side. Lagh Fhel Nania continued relaying what Gegh Harry Green (the lead Siense) had told her. After she finished, Gagh Onomia dismissed her and turned to Hermia.
"Check on our favourite hyft, would you?" Gagh Onomia snarled.
Hermia followed her mother's orders, and made the trip to the pitch black cells. She opened the cell door. Helena was draped across the rotten chair, her face hidden by stringy hair. The grease had practically stuck the hair to her face. If Hermia didn't know the reality, she would have thought Helena was dead.
The grim sight triggered an unfamiliar emotion in Hermia.
She closed the cell door behind her, and did something she never thought she'd do with a Karsan. She asked about her life.
"You have a daughter." Hermia stated. There was no reply. "You've said that." Helena didn't move. "What's her name?"
Silence held, and Hermia cursed at herself for trying to talk to such a creature, "Gyft kyst."
Helena shifted. It was slight, but nothing escaped a Hunter's heightened senses. Helena started opening her mouth. The act of tearing her lips apart was comparable to moving mountains. A soft croak tried to leave her throat. Hermia imagined it must have been agony to even attempt that.
"Wh…" Helena managed. "Wha… Whaat dooes thhhat… mean?" She slurred.
Hermia frowned. "What does what mean?"
"Gi… Giftkiss…"
"Gyft kyst?"
A pathetic attempt at a nod left Helena.
Hermia's deer-ears twitched in concentration. "...Doesn't translate exactly."
Helena breathed heavily. "...T…try."
The young Hunter wondered whether she was allowed to teach the creature Syel. Only two of the numerous ranks of Siense were fluent in the language. It is meant for Hunters - the race not the organisation. Although… many of the Siense did know a few words and phrases… They even used 'gyft kyst' frequently. Hermia tried to remember what some of the Siense had once described the phrase as the most similar to.
"Gyft is an… insult. A serious one."
"You… Just said it."
"Yes."
What sounded like a pitiful try at a scoff escaped Helena. "... Annd 'kissss'...?"
Hermia's ear twitched again. "Kyst... A stronger word for stupid."
Helena gave no remark. Hermia heard her breathing slow and deepen. She was asleep.