Chapter 138 Chapter 138: At the Capital

Chapter 138 Chapter 138: At the Capital
Senna’s POV

We didn’t say much on the walk back to the capital. But as we got closer and closer to the capital, we all became a little anxious. We heard the screams before we even saw the capital.

“We stick together,” Kalev instructed us. “Junie, you stay close to Senna.”

Junie gave a curt nod. She wrapped her hand around her knife.

We approached the capital and the first thing we saw was that the walls had been compromised. The gates had been knocked down and a stream of people from the sectors were running through them.

We stayed close to each other as we went through the gates. It was pure chaos inside the gates. All around us, people were running and fighting. Things were on fire. The scent of burning wood and hot metal was so thick we almost gagged.

“We have to find Thistle,” I told Kalev. He nodded and led the way. We passed noble’s home, all of them barricaded with the nobles hunkered down inside. We didn’t engage in any fighting. We didn’t have to. A lot of the nobles had already been killed, their bodies laying by the roads in bloody heaps.

Halfway to Kalev’s, a man lunged at Junie, his knife held out. I pulled her away.

“We’re with you,” I told him sternly. His eyes flickered recognition.

“Senna?” he said. “Oh my god. Look. It’s her. She’s really here. It’s Senna?”

Several nearby people stopped, mid-fight with a few nobles. They turned to me. The moment they realized who I was, they rushed towards me.

They all started hollering my name.

“I don’t like this,” Kalev whispered in my ear. “This makes you a target.”

“For who?” I asked. “Look around, Kalev. There are barely any nobles left here.”

It was true. The streets had been overrun with sector borns. None of these people were going to hurt any of us.

“We have to go,” I told the crowd. “We’re looking for someone.”

They nodded, their eyes filled with awe as they parted to let us through.

We made our way through the chaos to Kalev’s estate. The front door was open. We stepped inside and it was eerily quiet. Kalev motioned for us to follow him.

“Thistle?” I called out. There was no response.

We crossed through the corridors and glanced into open rooms. But they were empty. Suddenly, a man emerged. He had a knife clenched in his hand, his eyes wide with terror.

“Endrick,” Kalev said. He looked at Kalev as though he didn’t trust what he was seeing. Then he recognized Kalev and lowered the knife.

“Oh my god,” Endrick said, moving to embrace Kalev. “I thought…I thought we were coming to kill me. It’s been…it’s been awful. The sectors came out of nowhere. They’ve attacked the city. They…”

“I know,” Kalev said, placing his hand on Endrick’s shoulder. “We’re not here to hurt you. You can stay with us. You’ll be safe.”

“Where’s Thistle?” I asked.

Endrick lowered his eyes. My heart dropped.

“He’s okay, right?” I said.

“I don’t know, Senna,” Endrick said, his voice low. “I haven’t seen him.”

“He’s hiding,” I said confidently. “We studied the maps. I showed him the tunnels underneath the palace. He’ll be down there.” I had been very clear about it. The moment he felt like he was in any sort of trouble, he was to hide down in the tunnels. Thistle was a smart boy. That’s where he would be.

I led the way with everyone following behind me. Outside, it was becoming increasingly more and more quiet.

We descended the narrow stairs to the basement. Then we went to a door that led to an underground tunnel. Inside the tunnel, it was dark.

“Who’s there?” a voice called through the darkness. The voice was high and tight, clearly afraid.

“It’s Senna,” I called back. “And Kalev. Who are you?”

“Senna?” The voice was followed by the soft choke of a sob. Moments later, Thistle was in my arms. Tears brimmed in my eyes as I held his small frame. I’d been terrified that something had happened to him. Relief washed over me. He was there. He was alive.

“I did what you told me to do,” he said. “I hid.”

“Are you okay?” I asked him. We moved back towards the door so we could see. The light filtered in just enough so that I could see his face.

“Yes,” he said. Then he looked over his shoulder. “It’s okay,” he called out. “These are my friends. You can come out now.”

A dozen people emerged from the dark tunnel. Maids, a butler, and a few other assorted staff. They all had wide eyes. The maids wrung their hands.

“I brought them with me,” Thistle said. “They were innocent, like me. So I told them about the tunnels. We’ve been hiding out there.”

“You saved all these people?” I asked him. He nodded. “Oh Thistle. That was very brave of you.”

We all left the tunnel and stood in the basement floor.

“So what now?” Korrigan asked.

“We go back upstairs,” Kalev replied.

Back upstairs, we went to Kalev’s bedroom, which gave us a view of the streets below. People were still fighting. Nobles were running, trying to get out of the gates. I saw several children crying, sitting on their bums, their hands clamped over their ears.

I had wanted this. I had wanted the sectors to rebel. But seeing all these dead bodies was hard. Noble children had lost their parents in the fight. Some noble children had probably been killed too. I wished there had been another way. I wished we didn’t have to kill so many people.

One child was holding a dead woman in her little arms, her face stained with tears. My heart clenched for her.

“Do we join them?” Isolde asked.

I shook my head. “They don’t need us.”

“Happy now?” Petra’s voice came from behind us. We all turned around. She was standing at the door, her face stoic. “This is what you wanted, right? All this blood is on your hands.”

She clicked her tongue and shook her head. Then she left.

I looked out to the path beyond the gates. There were still hundreds of sector borns walking along the path towards the capital. There were dozens of dead bodies lining the streets.

Yes, this was what we’d wanted.

No, this wasn’t what we’d wanted.

It was complicated.