THE LAST KEEPER

”Hand over your blades,” the man said as soon as sagiri stepped into the carriage. His name was Molwa. It was surprising and odd how they had not run into any instructor inside and outside the central Pentagon. As if Molwa had chosen the perfect time to get him out. It even sounded more quiet than usual as if every instructor had suddenly been summoned somewhere else. sagiri handed over his blades. He was sitting in the back seat with the guy who had the commander’s sash, facing each other. well other than the fact that sagiri had closed his eyes and pushed his senses out in conscious slumber.

”I knew Red wanted to set us up on a suicide mission that day. I mean, with a psychopath leading this school, there was no chance of getting out alive. So I just asked for a favour I was owed,” Molwa continued as if he had outsmarted the entire Galka War Academy. So it meant that ten intruders had broken in that day instead of eight.

”What favour?” Sagiri asked. He really wanted to know whether a whole commander had betrayed Galka just for a favour to an abductor.

”Well, it’s more of a threat. If he didn’t help me get you out, I’d kill his mother, wife, and kids. I mean, it’s a small favour I’m doing him. He gets you out, and I spare his family.” Molwa answered with glee, and Sagiri took in a sharp inhale of breath. So that was it? The man was holding a commander’s family over his head, and he was threatening him to do his will.

The commander did not look scared when they met. He was holding his head high, even as he was being coerced. It was the division commander for academics, Akama. He was in charge of curriculum and assigning different instructors to different units. Guess every man has a weakness, and if someone threatened your whole family, then even the strongest of men could fail, too. Warrior families were kept secret, especially to a man of such a rank, and he wondered how the intruder had found out about the academic’s family. He was the one driving the covered military carriage, with Molwa and sagiri at the back.

”What did you do to the instructors?” Sagiri asked, even though he already knew the answer. It was even more odd since it was night and most students could be training their secret arts alone.

”Well, I had some help moving the schedule around.” Molwa gloated.

”Even so, how do you think you are going to get out of the front gate with a student?” Sagiri asked, seeing a loophole in the man’s plan. A student, once they entered the Galka War Academy, did not go home unless it was once a year, and they were escorted back and forth with an instructor. The exercise did not happen to fourth-year cadets, however, because once they graduated, they went straight to war college.

”Don’t get too excited. That is where my man comes in. he is a junior at the gate, but he has ambition. how do you think I was able to find dead Akama’s family?” he snickered, answering Sagiri’s other question. So there was a betrayer after all inside the walls of Galka War Academy. There had never been a shortage of those, even in the history books sagiri had read in the central Pentagon library.

”What is in it for him?” Sagiri asked. Every betrayal in all history had been driven by a goal that was fueled by greed.

”I didn’t take you for a smart one, but it seems you know quite a lot even if you have been here for less than three months,” Molwa said with a smile. ”You will see,” he added, answering directly before he rested his back on the seat. Sagiri could almost taste the plotting and canning roll of him in waves.

Sagiri closed his eyes back up as they started the journey again at full speed from the inner nonagon to the outer one.

”Go quickly! Those fools will be back in no time.” The man yelled to Akama, and Sagiri jolted at the loud, unnecessary voice before falling back to a meditative space to think. It was a long way from the outer nonagon to the inner one, and he knew it could take time. His only hope was that Salka or Lotaga, who still found time to peek at him sometimes, realized he was gone and raised the alarm. It was night, and if they didn’t find Naga or realize he was gone, then Molwa could have a full night’s head start.

As if answering to his thoughts after a few minutes, the carriage came to a sudden stop. making the two suddenly jolt forward, almost running into each other. They were not even halfway, and sagiri held his breath.

”What is it, Akama? Don’t tell me a horse pulling this wagon is dead?” Molwa asked with irritation laced in his tone. He pulled the curtain separating the front and the back to see the reason for the sudden stop. It was dark, but the mood was full, and with the stars littering the sky, it was easy to see. There was a long pause, and Sagiri shifted his face to see what had made the carriage come to a stop. Somehow Lotaga was standing in front of the carriage with his bow drawn. Sagiri’s eyes widened. The man stalking might have come to his own good, but he was injured, and if Sagiri could guess. He was still seriously hurt and had not healed well. The wound caused by Tonga’s axe was deep, and it could take months to heal. Well, for normal people. Not him.

Sagiri scrambled out of the wagon quickly, and Lotaga’s eyes flickered when he saw him, but quickly went back to his abductor and Akama, who was still as calm as possible.

”Just run him over,” Molwa said, and Sagiri panicked.

”Lotaga, just get out of the way, we both know that your hand is still bad and you can’t shoot,” Akama said, still seeming unfazed.

”Damn it. This brat and ruining plans. Let me just kill him.” Molwa said retrieving his blades said and after his display in the pit and Lotaga’s current condition, Sagiri felt even more panicked. He was starting to get attached to Lotaga. He was just too reckless and obnoxious to die.

”If you touch him, I’ll kill you both.” The words tumbled out of Sagiri’s mouth loud enough for Akama and Molwa to hear, and Molwa stopped in his tracks. He did not know if he could beat a commander yet but he was not going to allow them to do whatever they wanted. He then turned to Lotaga who was now looking at him skeptically.

”Hey Lotaga, quit being a nuisance and get out of the way. It is my choice to go with them. I am tired of being held prisoner.” Sagiri said with as much sincerity as he could master. ”You need to run back to the inner nonagon and do whatever Salka asks you to.” He added some mockery to the last part. At the mention of Salka without properly addressing his name with a title, Lotaga’s eyes flashed with a certain anger, and he pulled his bow further back, now aimed at Sagiri. Perhaps mentioning Salka was not the wisest choice. It seemed the man, after all, held Salka in high regard.

”I don’t believe you!” Lotaga said, cocking his head to the side. ”I am injured, not retarded,” Lotaga said and Sagiri sighed. It seemed he needed more convincing than just hurtful words. He had studied that too. How to get your way just like a betrayer could.

”I killed Naga. He should be rotting in the combat pit. The stupid boy was blaming me for his brother’s death. Perhaps if his brother were more qualified, he could not have died. Now move out of the way, or you’ll be next, Salka’s brat.” Sagiri steadied his voice and added as much malice as he could into it, even taking a leaf out of Tonga’s speech. He did not want the man to die for him, and if making him think he was a betrayer and heartless, then that was the way to go.

Lotaga stood for a long moment, his bow drawn as if he wanted to strike Sagiri in that moment before he finally lowered it and stepped aside without another word.

”Try to mind your own business next time, lotaga or Salka couldn’t have thrown you out of his battalion,” Akama added insult to injury, and Sagiri fought the urge to flinch. He did not know that Lotaga had been eliminated from Salka’s team. Salka’s team was one of the most elite teams in the whole of Tagayia. It contained eleven members. The other six worked outside the Galka War Academy, and the eleven only came together when it was necessary. They were so fierce that they could trample a small city by themselves in one night. unmatched in battle and deadly.

Lotaga must have worked hard to join the team, and he had been eliminated because he had gone on a solo mission. Sagiri did not need to be told that the man had acted on his own. It was evident that Salka had been surprised to see him in the small clearing, half dead. He must have disobeyed once again.

Sagiri felt guilty after the way he just talked to him, but he had no time to dwell on it. Better have a broken heart than a dead one. He stepped into the carriage, not looking back, and the abductor followed him.

”I did not know you were that cruel?” was the first thing the man said. ”You might have meant well, but that was brutal. I mean, the guy almost died for you twice, counting today, and you broke his heart as if it was nothing.” Molwa continued, and Sagiri shifted uncomfortably. He had always wanted to have a friend and someone for him, just like everyone, but now it was starting to seem that every time someone came around him, they were prone to getting hurt. He had allowed himself to get stabbed even though he knew N’varu wanted him to live badly. He had now said hurtful words to Lotaga, even when the gut was ready to die for him.

”You should stay quiet.” Sagiri gritted, closing his eyes back up. It was going to be a long night indeed. And he just hoped he could find a solution to all his problems by morning.

After what he had just said to Lotaga, Senraki was surely going to kill him when he caught him. He was now in bed with the enemy, and there was no way of escaping.