Chapter 13: Hunted
Kia followed Ambuya, keeping close to the wall and grateful for the solights illuminating the foot-wide ledge. Her grip tightened on the scruff of Fiata’s neck. How have I ended up being chased through caves yet again, she thought, squinting into the darkness. Behind them, Kultaseni, Jared, Rhocyn strapped to his chest, and about seventy men, women and children picked their way out of the tunnel. A child’s sniffle occasionally broke the silence, hushed with a comforting murmur.
The murder of a child had been judged among the most heinous of crimes in Emankoran culture, and it was no different on Falaichte. The sudden deadly plasfire had killed half of the children playing in the valley, injuring a few more, but, by sheer luck, more than a quarter had escaped. It was a
