Proem

Zekiah’s shirt was wet. His pants were wet too, and the rain had begun to soak into the fabric of his socks. Still, he sat still in those bushes behind his house, unable to muster up the courage to move. It felt like the Earth was swallowing him whole.

Thirty minutes of silence had passed since the noises stopped, but still, his savior and his sister were nowhere to be found. Zekiah bit his lip, tears he didn’t have pricking at his eyes. Was this really how his story would end?

A loud thud jolted him out of his thoughts. Zekiah flinched away from the door, pressing himself into the rough twigs scraping at his cheeks. A bloodied figure came out of the house and stumbled out into the rain. The figure wheezed, clutching at a red welt on his dark skin. Ah. It was his savior.

Zekiah bolted out of his hiding spot, letting the twigs rip into him so he could tackle the man with a hug. He clutched onto him for dear life, and a slender hand weakly rubbed soothing circles into his back. Zekiah looked up at his savior and the man smiled down at him in return.

He spoke softly and with a conviction that Zekiah no longer had, “Shh, it’s okay. You’re okay now.” The boy didn’t believe him, but he remained silent nonetheless.

The two held onto each other for a good few minutes, Zekiah desperately clutching the bottom of the man’s shirt as the rain drenched them both. The man huffed in laughter, kneeling down to meet the boy eye-to-eye.

He murmured kindly and gently as if he was afraid Zekiah would bolt. “Hi there, I’m Soterre. What’s your name?” Zekiah looked into his pearly eyes and felt a wave of comfort wash over him. He answered shyly, “Zekiah.”

Soterre nodded. He smiled at the young boy, standing up and grabbing his hand. “Come on, Zekiah, there’s a safe place I can take you. The Queen’s Guard won’t be able to find you there.” He gently pulled the boy forward, leading him away from the house.

Zekiah resisted, his brows furrowing. “Wait. Where’s my sister? Where’s Wini?” Soterre looked a little taken aback by his question. He knelt back down on one knee, squeezing Zekiah’s shoulders. The words caught in his throat as he spoke, regret and guilt lining his face. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t get her back.”

“W- what? No!” Zekiah shrugged off Soterre’s hands, bolting back towards the house, a sense of urgency filling his veins. “WINI! WINI!” He slammed himself into the back door, pounding on the wood as tears rolled down his face. “GIVE HER BACK! GIVE HER BACK!”

Soterre gently gripped his shoulder, pulling him back as he continued to yell. He turned the boy around, enveloping him in a tight hug. Zekiah continued to sob, weakly hitting the firm body in front of him. “No… no… please.” He hiccupped. “She’s all I have left.”

“That’s not true,” Soterre whispered. “You have me now, and I promise I’ll protect you.”

Zekiah couldn’t answer over the force of his sobs.