Page 144 of A Simple Truth

“I just needed to cry for a bit,” she retorted, her voice turning defensive. “You will need to let me go soon, or they’ll start looking for me.”

“Who will start looking for you?” I probed, noticing the slight shift in her tone and her face at the mention of them, whoever they were.

“People,” she replied nervously, scratching her arms until they were almost bleeding.

“What is it that they make you do?” I asked, aware of the skimpy clothes she had on, though clothes mattered very little compared to the dull survivor’s look I had seen so many times before.

“Nothing I cannot do,” she answered this time harshly, but her lip quivered at the words. She wiped away her tears, “Sometimes it’s just hard and sometimes I need to cry about it. If I cry now, I won’t cry in front of them. And I don’t want them to see me like this.” She tried fighting her tears, but she couldn’t stop them, as heavy sobs came back to the surface, suffocating her words. “I can’t go back, I just can’t…” she finally broke down.

“Come with me. You don’t have to go back there,” I offered as the last remnants of the sun settled behind the horizon.

“You don’t understand. I can’t. You’re not from here. If I go, my family will suffer,” she replied. “If I don’t go back now, they’ll think I’ve run away, and they’ll come for my family.” She wiped tears with her hands. “And it’s not like I could go anywhere, it’s a deadly desert for miles and miles ahead. We have nowhere to go other than Elfland, and I’ve heard what they do with anyone trespassing their borders…” Her voice shook as she shrugged.

I glanced over to the rocky area, to the tired village hidden by the dunes.

“Give me your clothes, then,” I replied without hesitation.

“What?” Her eyes widened.

“Here, give me your clothes.” I started pulling my shirt off. “I will go in your stead,” I responded. Her eyes grew even bigger as she opened her mouth, unsure, though, the tears had stopped. “We look similar enough. It’s dark, it’ll be fine,” I assured her.

“But they’ll…what they do there…you do realize what it is that I do there?” she asked.

“I do realize…and that’s precisely why I am going. You want to leave; I need an excuse to get inside. It’s a win-win.” I gave her a half smile, shoving down the protesting reason within me.

“There is nowhere to go, even if I wanted to…” She shook her head. “There is no escape from this place.” A little shiver ran through my body at her words.

I had believed the same thing before. Simply because it was the truth for me then.

And yet, now I was here. Alive and free.

“Sometimes Lady Fate works in mysterious ways, don’t you think? But I for one am a bit tired of her theatrics.” I winked at her, trying to ease the thick tension. “If you want to get out of this place, whatever it is, then come with me.” She stood there not entirely sure, not convinced. “I can’t promise you a blissful future, but I can promise you freedom and a choice,” I told her, aware that no promise of riches would ever overcome the promise of choice to someone who had it taken away before.

“Okay,” she mumbled, as she stopped scratching her arm.

“Okay, good.” I smiled despite the anxious feeling in my stomach.

“But if we are going to do this, we need to hurry, we all have to be back by dark and I’m late,” she said, concern mixed with determination filling her face. I nodded and we rapidly hikedthe sandy hill back to where Aurelia was already saddling the dragonfly.

“Change of plans, ReyRey,” I declared, pulling off Tuluma’s necklace, placing it into the saddle bags for safety. The stranger girl stared wide-eyed at the large dragonfly and angel-like girl next to it. “You go back home, and take her with you, send Xentar or anyone else willing to help here.”

Aurelia paused, examining the girl and I, wordlessly questioning what the hell happened. “Are you really planning on staying here?” Her voice laced with concern as she watched me hastily exchange outfits with the stranger. “Finn, I don’t think it’s a good idea. Maybewego back, andwecome back with help…” she started, and I knew it sounded more reasonable, more logical.

“Maybe she is right…” The stranger now wearing my shirt agreed, succumbing to the doubts within her eyes. “I should go back.” She panicked, her eyes darting back to the mountain as her face filled with dread at the sight.

“No. I can do this. Truly. I might not be able to save the world, to free every slave, to bring peace to all the suffering hearts, but Icanhelp you now and that is what I am going to do,” I replied with confidence in my tone. At those words, the rising fright settled within me, yet Aurelia still wasn’t convinced as she opened her mouth to object, so I added, “Aurelia, I survived over a year in the Rock Quarries, I will survive a couple of days here,” I assured her with a lopsided smile.

I survived this long, and I’d survive more.I reminded myself.

The stranger turned to me; her eyes filled with disbelief but also a flicker of hope.

“Find Anfissa, tell her that you’ve helped me. She’ll help you. Tonight is a bidding night... Each girl will be auctioned for the night and regular rules don’t apply.” She grimaced at that. “Whyare you doing this…?” she asked as I helped her climb into the saddle, buckling the belts to hold her tight in place.

“Not so long ago, a stranger found me half-drowned, and knowing that I was a runaway slave, she still chose to save me, giving me a second chance at life. Sometimes to change the world means to help one troubled soul at a time. She helped me and now it’s my turn to help you.” I tenderly smiled at her, petting the giant insect before they swiftly took off into the night.

86

GIDEON

---