Page 33 of Barbarian Daddies

On my way out, I stop by the laboratories and have a look around. I recognize some of the devices, but I will definitely need more time and some user manuals to understand the rest. Judging by the labels and the documentation left on the work desks in each of the rooms, however, I can tell they’re doing molecular-level work here. Which is precisely what I need.

I lean over what looks like a centrifuge when the sound of footsteps alerts me to a new presence close behind me. Instinctively, I jump to the side and bolt out of the room just as the mercenary was inches away from catching me.

“Get back here!” he snarls and runs after me.

I’m screwed. He’s faster. Taller. Stronger.

The adrenaline coursing through me has my legs operating at a whole new level. I go back the way I came, zigzagging through the hallways and practically flying down the stairs until I reach the service door.

More than once, I feel him breathing down the back of my neck, but I always manage to elude him. Maur and Kai have taught me well in the event of a Sunnaite chasing me. I’ll give them all the credit in the world when I see them again. If I see them again.

Until then, however, I need to lose this fucker before he gets more of his buddies to join the chase.

“Stop!” I hear him shouting from behind.

But I’m already at the bottom of the steps and making my way down the main street before I take a sharp left turn and lose myself in a maze of dark and sinuous alleyways. By the time the other guards are alerted, it’s too late. I’m halfway across the neighborhood and headed for the south gate. Mina said I’d have a better shot at escaping through there.

My heart is still beating like a drum when I reach the southernmost neighborhood of Sapphire City—and for good reason, too. The warning sirens are wailing all over, their screeching alarm rippling across the city to notify the population I’m on the loose. Drones are flying out, scouring the streets at a low altitude, searching for me. Soldiers spill into the alleys and down the stairs, doing the same.

I am running for my life, desperate to reach the service door. But how the hell am I going to get out? Word must’ve reached the wall, too. They must know I’m coming.

A few minutes later, I’ve avoided another search party, and I find myself standing before a cluster of ragged buildings with shuttered windows and a massive blackwood tree growing in their communal backyard. Most of the tiles have fallen off the dingy roof, but the residents replaced them with wooden planks. This isn’t the pretty side of town, I quickly realize. I’m in the slums, and the guards will soon track me down here, too.

Looking around, I see no other choice but to try and reach the blackwood tree. It’s tall enough to get me over the wall, though I’m not sure how I’m going to land on the other side without breaking a bone or two. I have to try. It’s my only option with the little time I’ve got left.

Bracing myself, I sneak through the rusty old gate and dash across the pavement until I reach the communal gardens.

I run to the blackwood tree and start climbing, one branch at a time. Some of them bend too much for my comfort, while others are too slim and moan under my weight. But I keep going. There’s no other way, and I can already hear the goons getting closer to the building.

“Dammit, I have to get out of here!” I embolden myself to go higher. “You’ll need this,” a man says, startling me.

My hands grip the branches so tightly the bark hurts my skin, but I manage to look down and see an old man with graying hair that used to be black as night and tired red eyes that were once fiery bright. He carries himself with dignity despite his slender frame, but I can tell from the width of his shoulders alone that he was bigger in his heyday. I don’t know what to make of him, though. I don’t know what to make of the generous length of rope he’s holding, either.

“Please, don’t tell them I’m here,” I reply with a trembling voice.

“I won’t. But you need this to climb over the wall without breaking your neck. There are sharp rocks and violent waves on the other side,” the old man says. “Trust me, I’ve seen a few go down the wrong way.”

I pause for a second, staring at him. The humming of drones is getting louder. They might make it to this district soon. “Why are you helping me?”

“Because,” he says and starts climbing after me with cat-like movements, surprisingly agile for his age. “Because I am tired of these people and their miserable ways. We’ve been at it for decades, and nothing has changed. They keep talking about the glory of Sunna, about how they’re going to save us, yet all they’re doing is taking our daughters and forcing them to carry their children. And now, they’re doing the same to women from other worlds. That’s not the Sunna I know.”

“They took your daughter?”

“Daughters. Three of them,” he says, then reaches out and hands me the rope. I notice the hook on one end, perfect for anchoring it to the tree. My mind is working faster than ever at this point. “We’re poor. My wife died of the plague when the littlest was only three. They said I was lucky to have three before they took them all away.”

“And because you’re poor, they thought you wouldn’t fight back,” I say.

“I tried,” he says, pointing at a deep scar running down his neck. “So, here, take this. I don’t want them to win. And if you make it back to the Fire Tribe, tell them they have friends in the slums of Sapphire City.”

“I cannot thank you enough.”

The old man gives me a wry smile as I take the rope and hook it onto my shoulder before I continue my climb. “You can thank me by getting out of here and surviving so you can come back and take this city back from Selina. I’ll talk to folks. We’ll stay out of your hair.”

“Please, be careful.”

“Don’t worry about me. Worry about yourself,” he says, making his way back down to the tree base while the soldiers’ voices echo from beyond the dilapidated buildings of the apartment complex. “Once you’re on the other side, head north and don’t stop until you reach the white cliffs. Only then will you be able to safely return to the plains and the Sun River Plateau. Their drones don’t have that kind of range.”

“Alright,” I reply as I reach the top of the blackwood tree. “Thank you.”

---