The sky was dark orange. The crashed cars of the T formation were as
still as statues. On Scythe’s car, the two doors at the top of
the T opened. Zareen and Rowani quickly got out. She pulled Manira
through from the driving seat, while Kiyor stumbled out. He helped
Rowani pull his father out. Despite having a bruised knee, Scythe
walked efficiently. Two Sorcerers appeared. The group standing up
hurried away. All they could see was a terrace of stately homes
stretching towards the horizon.
“We have to get away and into hiding,”
Scythe told them. “News of the Vilkon outbreak will be heard by
everyone and every noble will be tracking us down, one by one, for
money and power…” He was almost murmuring this.
Zareen looked at her husband. “Scythe? Are you alright?”
He suddenly fainted. Kiyor caught him.
“What’s wrong with him?” his mother panicked.
The younger Vilkon shook his head as he felt his
father. His hand stopped. He lifted his father’s top to find a
bullet nestled within a wound.
“Oh no,” murmured Kiyor.
Seeing this put Zareen in greater panic. “He will be alright! Won’t he?”
“He will be if we can get him off the street
and if I can get the right equipment,” ordered Kiyor firmly.
Rowani looked around her. “You! How would you be able to do it?” accused Manira.
“Because he passed First Aid now shut up!” snapped the hysterical Zareen.
Manira ignored her. “Rowani! Where’re you going?”
“One of my Dad’s partners lives here,” she answered.
She carried on looking as she jogged past each front door. She stopped
in front of one and ran to the door. She kept pressing the doorbell.
After a minute of frantic pressing she stopped. After what seemed to
her as forever, the door opened cautiously. A man gazed at her with a
worried expression.
“Takari it’s me Rowani! Listen! Someone
out here is hurt real bad and needs attention. Can we come in
please?” Shocked, the man inside nodded. She smiled gratefully.
“Thank you.” She looked up the street where they crowded
round Scythe. “Over here!” Turning back to Takari, she
quickly said: “Please don’t say a word, I’ll explain
everything.”
Kiyor picked up his father and ran with his mother
and Manira to the open front door. Rowani held it open as they ran
through. Kiyor hurried into the living room on the right and lay the
sleeping Scythe on the luxury sofa. He then went into the Kitchen to
get some things. Rowani closed the front door. The red-haired bodyguard
wandered into the room on the left, which was a dining room.
“Will you be needing anything else?” asked Takari.
Rowani shook her head. “No thanks. We’ll just be staying here for a short while.”
He nodded and went back upstairs, tired. Zareen had
joined her son in the kitchen while Manira inspected what was going on
outside the window. Rowani joined her there.
“They’re efficient,” reported
Manira, watching the security forces outside. “They’re
clearing away all the junk and now they’re dealing with all the
casualties. Anybody of Kron’s Sect they arrest.”
Kiyor started dealing with his father’s wound. Rowani sighed. She crossed her arms.
“What now?”
“What d’you mean what now?” asked Manira.
“Well…the Vilkon family has fallen
apart, the main power that has kept the other major families at bay is
now gone.”
The bodyguard shrugged. “Means more
entertainment in the Dark Kingdom. D’you think you’ll ever
go back there?”
Rowani stared out of the window. “No. But I
don’t know what Mother will say…or do.” She turned
to Manira. “What about you?”
“I think so. I am on Dorania’s payroll after all.”
Miss Kirilian seemed once again distant. “I
wonder how many Vilkons died from tonight’s battles.”