Vow Of Silence

CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

1st PERSON: Pelomina Lorenzo-Capiz

“You want to go see?” he asked, I froze.

Chuckling as I looked at him, “See? Klaus, I can’t just go see him—we’re hiding from him, remember?” I reminded, and he shrugged,

“Okay, but I’ll bet you all my life savings, he wouldn’t know it’s you,” he assured, waving me off as I breathed deeply and tugged at my cloak for more coverage, now that he pointed it out, the possibility of seeing Lykus made me skittish. Should I?

I gulped, “Alright… but what if he sees me and does recognize me?” I argued, and he scoffed,

He rolled his eyes, “What? Mina, I’ll be honest with you,” he paused, bringing his hands together with a clap with all the fingers pointed at me, “what business does he have with you now? It’s been what? three year—”

“Four years–”

“—Yes, four years!” he exclaimed, his shoulders slumping down with a sarcastic grin, “He still hasn’t found you, and guess what, now he has his little child to care about,” he went on raising his index finger, “And mind you, raising a child take up all of your time, I remember when I was with, Seth, he’s a particularly difficult child,” he followed making me smirk.

I suppose so; I heaved a deep breath and nodded at him for a sign to change venues. We’re already garnering enough attention just from his hair alone. He got the message and draped his arm over my shoulders as we walked back to the tent.

It seems that some of the other members also came back, those from both ‘stealing’ and ‘public service’ sectors, which is wicked now that I brought those words together. The diner was still ongoing. Seth opted to keep it open until late at night, trying to make the best out of it, and seeing as it’s only passing fellow travelers who’d eat late at night, it’s good for networking.

We hung around to help until closing time. Klaus’ suggestion still rang in the back of my head. The possibility of seeing Lykus again? I’m not sure what emotion I should feel, guilt? Remorse? Anger? Betrayal? No, it should be mutual guilt on both his and my part. I left him, sure, but I’m not even his real wife, to begin with.

And to him… he said all those things about waiting for me to get strong enough to carry a kid, that we wouldn’t rely on the possibility of taking in a concubine to do the childbearing responsibilities. When we talked about it, it felt like it would happen in the very distant future… so it felt somewhat like a stab in the chest when I found him in that state on that night, with Marianne Heilman to boot.

I wanted to be angrier, but let’s not blow this out of proportion. We were both wronged. He more than anyone.

Once the few customers of the diners left, we were quick to wrap up. Most of us just want to sleep, but for me… I want something else. I wanted to ask Klaus if he was serious about his suggestion earlier. I think seeing Lykus was worth more to me than anything. By anything, I mean whatever emotion I harbored for him is irrelevant. I just want to see him.

Which was selfish, because honestly, I’m just seeking for one-sided closure. Seeing him living his life perfectly fine is all I needed to know.

No sooner than an hour later and the makeshift tent was all gone. The linen sheets were rolled neatly, packed, and ready for our next location. I'm not sure when or where we're heading next, we’re split between two cities.

One thing’s for sure, we’re not going anywhere near Temog, let alone Okuzal. The border alone is dangerous for people like us. I could defend our name and say we're not 'technically' bandits, but we steal and go from town to town trying to generate a fortune form its resources, or lack thereof. It's like we're bandits who don't know how to do our jobs properly. I’m pretty sure we’d be put down on sight. So if we’re really going to see Lykus, it’ll just be me and Klaus, maybe.

I mean, if we’re really in a tight spot, it’ll be hard, but I could just forget about—”Mina!” I heard a sharp whisper behind me and I whipped my head to look at Klaus, trying to make a subtle gesture at me to follow him. I looked around under my eyelids to see if anyone noticed. So far, the other members are all busy preparing to sleep for the night. Making their own tiny little tents because heaven forbid we all share the space.

I agree with that though; we tried that one time, and nobody could sleep because apparently, the general populace of our group has sleep apnea. Sleeping was out of the question.

I followed after Klaus as we trekked a pretty long way away from the other members, “So,” he began, “When are you planning to take a look at the big ol’ demon?” he asked and I sighed at the nickname, I couldn’t blame him though he built that reputation for himself. I suppose no one else in the world would know how kind and caring he is…

Except… his family, his new family.

“I… don’t know, whenever we could, I wouldn’t want this to hinder any of our movement, I mean... " I trailed off, “I just want a little peek,” I finished with a shrug,

He hummed, placing a thumb on his chin, “Well… we’re planning to move tomorrow, we could just go to Fih-Tsu first then move on to Saligaw,” he said and I nodded, I’ve been acquainted with enough world maps to know where Fih-Tsu and Saligaw are and it’s beyond far from Temog. They’re North East, which is the literal opposite of South West.

“So… we could tell them to meet us at Saligaw,” Klaus suggested,

“What?”

He grinned, crossing his arms, “What? You don’t think we could pull it off?” he asked, and I just frowned at him in confusion, making him click his tongue, “Mina, come on, we separate from the team and tell them to head on to the next locations and we’ll just catch up to them,” he explained, making it sound easy like the group would be A-Okay with hearing that.

They love Klaus more than anything in the world. There’s simply no way they would even consider letting Klaus leave, especially if it’s to Temog.

“Klaus, I don’t mean no disrespect, but I don’t think you should leave the group alone,” I reasoned and he wave me off with a chuckle, heaving a breath right after as if I just told him a joke and not an established fact,

He inhaled a sharp breath, “Crap, you’re right… oh–oh, how about this, we leave it to Seth—”

“Hell no,” a voice refused with a growl, lo-and-behold, speak of the devil and Seth shall appear. Walking into the light and out of the shadows he hid in, clicking his tongue, “I knew you were acting all weird since before,” he paused, crossing his arms, “You haven’t asked for a break in over two years,” he noted and I groaned.

“That was my giveaway?!” I exclaimed, and he shrugged,

“Yeah, you never leave in the middle of work,” he said with a rather approving nod, “But what is there about leaving me in charge and going to Temog?” he asked,

Klaus raises his hand at me to cut me off, gesturing to himself to say he’ll do the talking. Which is no good, he and Seth share a single brain cell, they're the two sides of a coin, and somehow they’re both tails because honestly, when together, there’s not much thinking going on between these two.

“Seth, have you heard the news?” Klaus began,

Seth rolled his eyes, “I haven't,” he responded and Klaus just shook his head,

“Well, to catch you up, simply put, Lykus has now produced an heir,” Klaus informed.

Seth frowned, “... but he’s a man,” he argued, and with that Klaus frowned, seeming to also think about the statement.

I sighed. This is what I mean,

“W–Well, not like that, you i***t, of course, it’s his concubine that pushed the bloody child out, but he helped,” Klaus explained, and I just silently groaned.

Seth then nodded, pursing his lips with a frown, gesturing for Klaus to go on, and Klaus did, “And to have… some sort of end to our Mina’s decrepit chapter of life, we’re planning to take a peek at him,” he narrated and Seth cringed so hard I could see it under all those bandages,

“That sounds perverted,” he noted,

Klaus mimicked Seth’s expression, “You’re the only one who thought that and now you put that vision in my head, I feel filthy,” he retorted, making Seth chuckle.

After that little recap, Seth took a deep breath and rolled his shoulders, “So, when are we going to take a ‘look’–” he paused, giving a firm glare at Klaus who nodded in approval of the more appropriate term, “–at Lykus?” he finished but this time Klaus shook his head.

“We?—Seth, you can’t tag along, what about the others?” Klaus argued,

Seth waved him off with a scoff, “Klaus please, they're not children… they are grown people, able to discern what is right and wrong,” he reasoned and before Klaus or I could say anything, he raised his hands up, “In fact, I’ll go talk to them, because we can’t just coddle these people! They need to understand that we might not be around forever,” he went on and at that I paused.

“Alright, but who could I entrust the team to if not for you?” Klaus asked, raising how brows at both Seth and me.

Seth cringed at him and scoffed, “Klaus, stop lying to yourself, I wouldn't trust myself with the team either, just put Lydia in charge,” he argued shutting down Klaus’ sentiment, making the maroon-haired man stammer, but before Klaus could make his counter-argument, Seth clicked his tongue, “Just stop making excuses and take me with you,” he bellowed.

Lydia is one of the older men in the group, very meek, mellow, and sweet. He’s also a fugitive with four alleged murder cases in his name. Lydia is the third member. So it was Klaus, Seth, and then Lydia. So for a teenager, to have murder cases, and be eerily kind, kept the team at bay. He’s a perfect choice. He did lead the team every now and then, but never for a long term. Until now.

Gulping as he glared at Klaus and me, Seth’s shoulders slumped, “the Southern west is dangerous, if either of you dies at Temog without me being able to do anything, I will follow you in the afterlife and beat the sh*t out of you,” he warned and at that, I hummed.

“Damn it… he’s right,” I sighed, running my hands through my hair, which is easier to do now compared to four years ago since I chopped it just down to my jaw. Being improperly cut, with the dagger Yulsey gave me, it somewhat became choppy and jagged, maybe because the tension caused by the weight of the hair was released.

My hair grew out ever since then but somehow it never got straight again so I just prefer to keep it short. I do have a thin section of hair I haven’t cut since I did with Yulsey’s dagger. But that’s a different story.

Klaus huffed, “Alright… I’ll talk to them,” he promised, and I nodded,

“Just lay it down easy, don’t just tell them you’re leaving,” I reminded and Seth nodded,

“If you could do anything about it, don’t tell them we’re heading to Temog,” Seth added in,

Klaus sighed, “Alright, alright, I get it, I’ll tell them tomorrow,” he said waving us off both as he walked back to the tents and cue our disagreement,

“Tomorrow?!” I hissed, Seth seconded this by cursing under his breath, and I followed after him, “you need to tell them now, they'll be disoriented if you put them on the spot tomorrow,” I explained, and he grinned at me, shaking his head.

Until his smile slowly melted out of his face once he realized both Seth and I are serious, “What the… I can’t believe I’ve raised actual children—alright, I’ll talk to them,” he said and I sighed, remaining planted on my spot with Seth beside me,

“This is not going to end well,” he called,

“He’ll know what to do… I hope,” I chimed,