Page 46 of Barbarian Daddies

This time, however, it’s locked. I wait a while before I see someone come out. It’s not a guard, though. It’s a young man dressed in gray and white. Judging by his size and frame, he’s likely a scholar or a technician of sorts. He doesn’t look like he was built for battle. But I hear keys jingling in his coat pocket, so I tap into this crazy courage and run up to him from behind, careful not to be seen. I take the big knife out of my bag and quickly bring it up to his throat.

“Don’t move a fucking inch,” I hiss. He’s taller than me, but the blade can still do damage with a single flick of my wrist, and I think he knows it, too.

“Don’t hurt me,” he whispers, frozen on the spot.

His black hair is combed into a ponytail, his skin a light red. He can’t be older than twenty, so he lacks some experience. Good. I need him scared and gullible.

“Don’t scream, don’t move, do as I tell you, and I won’t hurt you,” I say calmly. “Do you have keys to the research lab?”

“Wow, you came back,” he gasps, looking to our left.

I follow his startled gaze and notice our reflection in a shop’s window. The lights are off inside, so he can tell precisely what I am just by looking at the damned reflection. “I’ll slit your throat, boy. Don’t think I won’t do it.”

“I believe you. I can give you the keys,” he replies, seemingly not as scared as before. I’m confused, but I let this moment unravel slowly, watching his every move. “And I won’t tell anyone, either.”

“Why not?”

“Because we’ve been wracking our brains with this plague for so long,” the young Sunnaite says, then sighs heavily. “I’ve heard the rumors about the work you were doing with the Fire Tribe. I also heard about the attack. They were looking for you, but they were eager to destroy your work, too.”

“If they succeeded, all they did was burn the physical notes and samples. Everything else is in my head. They can’t destroy that. I just need the research lab.”

“Do you know how to use it?”

I think about it for a moment, though I don’t know why. I already know the answer. “Not all of it.”

“Listen, let me help you,” he says. “I can help you.”

“How do I know you won’t betray me and hand me over to the first guard you see?”

He shakes his head slowly. “I’m going to reach into my pocket and give you the keys, okay? I know where the guards are, what their movements are throughout the night. Oftentimes I come here to work alone, so I know each of them, I’ve noticed their habits. I can get you in, and I can show you how every piece of equipment works.”

“Why would you do that?” I ask.

“Because a cure for the plague would stop everything from getting worse. The Sky Tribe would have no choice but to comply with the will of the people. The Fire Tribe would call for peace. I know it. The people are still hoping for it. At least, the ones I’ve spoken to in this city.”

I look around, my ears twitching at the sound of drones flying somewhere nearby. “What’s your name?”

“Kingo,” he says. “Kingo Khal. Of the Khal clan. I was of the Khal clan, anyway. Well, my mother was of the Khal clan.”

“Was?”

“They took her when she was still pregnant with me,” the kid says. “She was a Fire Tribe woman, and the Sky Tribe snatched her during a territorial dispute. She was dragged up here to Sapphire City. I was taken from her as soon as I was born, but I was allowed visitation rights until I turned sixteen. She was forced to bear five more children after me, until the plague finally took her.”

Oh, God. I can only imagine his grief, his pain, his frustration. Knowing this, witnessing this misery, being forced to live without his mother and away from his people. “I’m so sorry,” I whisper, tears pricking my eyes.

“I did my job. I kept my head down. I studied the plague and its effects, and I’ve been working on a cure ever since I could operate the lab machinery,” Kingo says. “Believe me, I don’t want what the Sky Tribe wants. They took me from my mother, they forced me into a life I never asked for. Maybe if I help you, I will have a chance at a life of my own choosing.”

“Then perhaps it was fate that made our paths cross,” I reply. “Alright, Kingo. I’ll take my chances and trust you. But at the first sign of treachery, if I so much as get a whiff of malintent, I will slit your throat. You hear me?”

“Yes, madam,” he replies, his gaze fixed on my reflection.

I think I know why I’m tempted to trust him. In many ways, he reminds me of Dahlen. Young and ambitious, yet look at him. Still searching for a cure. Still trying to be the better man in a society that has already abandoned its most precious values, its core ethics. I couldn’t save Dahlen, but maybe I can give Kingo a better shot at a decent future.

“I’m Cynthia,” I tell the kid. “Let’s go.”

Ten minutes later, we’ve snuck inside the research lab. Kingo has kept his word up to this point. We avoided every guard patrolling the building. My eyes scan every piece of equipment in the first room we go to, and I listen carefully as Kingo explains how the machines work. I’ve got one ear on the door, though. Just in case. That’s the trouble with fight-or-flight instincts while in enemy territory. You can’t turn them off. Survival is key.

“This is where we put the blood samples in and get a full reading,” Kingo says, pointing at a centrifuge-style piece of equipment. “Blood type, DNA, proteins, everything. It’s one of two machines left in all of Sunna that can do this, and we no longer have the information nor the experts needed to build more.”

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