[quote]She offered him a cigarette, and he took one with a grateful nod. He waited for her to light it when he remembered. "Shit!" He muttered. "That person, that I was supposed to get the letter to. They're in danger. Like, more danger than we are. Arrow-y type danger."[/quote]

Switch flashed a grin and exhaled a billow of smoke to hear him express concern for another. He was definitely more than he let on. [b]"Yeah, those arrow-slingers call themselves the Crystal Knife. Everything's black-and-white to those zealots, won't see reason. They consider people like us to be worse than the demons, and whoever wears the mask to be the epitome of evil. Brainwashed band of dimwits if ya ask me."[/b] She tipped back her head to stare at the ledge from which Ronken had fallen to his demise. [b]"You delivered the letter, right? So I know where he'll be headed. You coming? If you get left behind I'm not coming back for you again."[/b]

She led the way out of the alley and broke into a run through the hissing steam and rivulets of blood that lined the once-familiar street. By this time the riot at the capital had gone silent -- but from here it was unclear whether this was because the people had won, lost or died. There certainly weren't any victory chants to be heard, either.

Switch turned a corner and darted around a lonely whirring battle-mech, its half-eaten pilot crumpled inside. The machine was stuck on a cycle of raising and lowering itself due to the corpse pinned against a lever.

[b]"I saw some people running this way earlier,"[/b] Switch informed Ronken, slowing down so he could keep up. [b]"You know this city. There's an emergency shelter, isn't there? Underground? Somewhere like a cave."[/b] She pointed at the end of the street, where a tall boy rushed with a quiet toddler in his arms and seemed to suddenly disappear into the ground.

What they discovered there looked like an oversized manhole, but the cover was inscribed with the town's triangular symbol for [i]emergency[/i]; removing it would reveal a metal staircase that led down into a gaslit corridor. Ronken might remember, from his early schooling, that the old catacombs underneath the city had long ago been repurposed by well-meaning humanitarians as a disaster shelter -- in case of war or gas leaks or robot uprising -- but due to neglect it instead harbored drifters and thieves and dirty rainwater.

[b]"Ladies first."[/b] Switch flashed him a grin and gestured with a flourish at the stairwell.

[quote]"Whaaaat es ah raaas-un?" The words came slowly to her memory, and didn't sound quite right, but she thought she had gotten close. Using words again felt strange, like the first time she had used her folk-weapons. Realizing the boy was still waving his hand at her, Feela followed uncertainly.[/quote]

[b]"Not [i]raisin[/i], [i]ration![/i]"[/b] the boy huffed impatiently. [b]"It's food that's for emergencies. Like when the world blows up. It's different from regular food because it probably tastes bad, but it's what we got. C'mon!"[/b]

The boy raced ahead between gaping dark doorways and broken pipes; he knelt beside an oversized manhole-cover, and with a grunt heaved it out and onto the street. Metal stairs led down beneath the road, illuminated inside by flickering gaslights.

At the bottom of the stairs, the corridor led toward a bright open archway, where several flights of metal stairs led down to the floor of a cavernous domed room, big as a cathedral and stuffed with people. Under the lights of several dozen gas lamps -- which illuminated the high walls filled with sealed crypts -- cityfolk, mostly teens and children, sat on blankets or comforted one another or stood in line for soup and bread. Their voices were a dull echo-noise in the vast empty stone, but [i]fear[/i] was the prevailing emotion.

If one looked closely -- and knew what they were looking for -- one might spot a few people scratching at patches of alarming black crystal that grew on their arms or face. Two of these lay in a section of the shelter reserved for the wounded, where they were wrapped in bloody bandages and writhing in pain while the crystalline slowly crept over them -- and none of the doctors could identify what it was or how to stop it.

One young man walked between rows of children with his head covered by a towel to hide his crystalline face and glowing red eyes. He walked with a stiff gait, his shoulders squared, giving off an air of danger and quick reflex if anyone dared approach.

On one end of the room, the little boy removed his gas-mask and gestured Feela to come on inside, bounding ahead down the metal stairs with clanging footsteps.

On the opposite side, at one of the many entrances to the shelter-room, Switch looked over Ronken's shoulder at the mass of refugees huddled below. [b]"Well this is a massacre waiting to happen,"[/b] she muttered. She hadn't spotted anything unusual, at least not yet.

[hr][quote]The runners' quick steps reverberated down the staircase to Meryn's hiding spot.

The crumpled letter that had been in her bag lay where it'd fallen on the ground at the foot of the stairs, unnoticed. [/quote]

The old man squinted at Meryn through the eyes of the mask she held up for him, and he studied her dreams with a quick gaze before she disappeared into a dark corner like a pursued mouse. His lined expression was grim, and his steady eyes watched her without blinking -- but just before the cloaked intruders made it to the bottom of the stairs he stepped on the crumpled letter and kicked it with his heel into the dark space behind a bookshelf.

The first of the intruders stepped to the floor and gave a low bow. [b]"We apologize for the intrusion, Sir,"[/b] a young man spoke out of the hood.

The second cloaked person leaped the last few steps, crossbow clanking against her back. [b]"Has anyone else come through here just now?"[/b]

The third, larger than the other two, immediately began walking the perimeter of the library, taking careful note of the sigil carved into the center of the room. [b]"A safety net,"[/b] his gruff voice echoed. [b]"The fall won't have hurt him."[/b] He continued around the room, peering into every crevice and corner, his footsteps quickly making their way toward Meryn's hiding place.

[b]"Her,"[/b] the woman corrected. [b]"I saw her face."[/b]

Should Meryn dare to look at their dreams, she would find bright and confident colors, determined and righteous, tinged with a horror and sadness at what had befallen the city -- which only fueled their unwavering resolve.

The old man, meanwhile, had put on a feeble charade of fear and confusion, his hands jittering and his mouth jabbering. [b]"Th-there was a masked man just-just now,"[/b] he stammered, swinging a crooked finger around the room before he pointed through the doorway behind him. [b]"Didn't say a word, just whipped right past me! Who is it? What's happening? [i]Jiminy Cricket[/i] is it a robber?"[/b]

As if on cue, the front door in the next room creaked. The largest of the marksmen had just stopped in front of Meryn's hiding place -- he turned suddenly and followed the others past the old man, in pursuit of whoever had just exited the far door into the street. The front door squeaked and slammed behind them, and the bells and gears rattled on the shelves.

The old man stayed where he was for a few moments, just to be sure they were gone before he grumbled inaudibly to himself and shuffled over to where the sealed letter was pinned behind a bookcase. He snatched it up between gnarled fingers, then shuffled again and sat down on the bottom step to pop the seal and unfold it under the shifting light from above.

[b][i]"The eyes will pass to the Silent One,"[/i][/b] he read aloud, [b][i]"The Rogue will walk between. The Hunter's knife in the cavern light, the last the children will see."[/i][/b] He exhaled loudly through his nose. [b]"Confound the blasted Prophet and her blasted riddles."[/b] He huffed and waved the page at Meryn. [b]"People live and die over this rubbish."[/b]