19 Luke

When we got back to the Hive, all that can be said was that we were greeted with surprised looks as we came in with a full carriage of goods rather than just a few sacks. The most surprised of all were Danev and Riu when they came out from their previous locations. It wasn't so much of a positive look of surprise on their face, but rather one of shock, and anger.

"What the fuck is this!" yelled Danev as he approached us. I hoped off from the back of the cart where I was seated and looked around at the combination of faces. The majority looking longingly at the newfound stash and their next meals.

"All the food we'll be needing." Retorted Heddik.

"2 or 3 sacks! The fuck is hard to understand about 2 or 3 sacks!?"

"There was…an altercation."

"An altercation." Repeated Danev. "What fucking altercation?"

"They fought back"

"They're supposed to fight back. Make it look real."

"Yeah. That's what I thought, except they chased us down and tried to beat the shit out of us. They fucking stabbed Luke"

Danev turned to me and angled his head to the side, signaling for me to show him. I pulled down my right sleeve, showing off the cut, that thanks to the leaking blood, looked bigger than it was. It caught the attention of many around me. Even those with worse wounds even felt sympathy. I was just glad I wasn't being laughed at. I'd seen people suffer much worse, but most of them didn't live to tell the tale.

"FUCK!" yelled Danev, loud enough for those past the wall to hear. "Damnit! What fucking now."

That was when Riu intervened, putting a hand on Danev's shoulder, easing him. "Relax. What's done is done. We'll take what we got inside and use it well."

"You know the Fire Nation will come looking for it."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Rose comes to worse, we bit off more than we can chew, and we'll just have to spit it back out."

Danev turned to our group again. "You-You didn't kill any of them, right?"

"No." Replied Lannit. "Just knocked them out. They should be fine."

"You better damn hope so."

I had a hard time falling asleep that night. It wasn't the cut. They put a bandage on it and it was feeling a bit better, but nonetheless, sleep didn't find me easily. The scene that kept replaying in my head was when they asked me what I wanted. What I wanted to do to the soldier. Did they want me to have him killed? Is that what they would have done?

I told them to knock him out. I could've just told them to leave him alone. Sure, they would be pissed, but he'd be better off. I could have killed him, but I didn't. I could have done worse. I could have done worse, but nonetheless, I chose to have him hurt. Was is just a split-second decision or did I want him to experience pain as I had when he stabbed me? I didn't hate him, but, it seems that I wanted him to feel similarly to how I did. Did he?

I lay in bed, awake, unable to drift off. I looked around the room for something to distract me of which there was none. I didn't have my own spear anymore. A week ago, some of Miro's people stole the spears off of our guards. From what we heard, they were trying to break in, looking for something. They didn't tell me who exactly it was. They knew that I used to be in touch with Miro's gang not long ago. Only around a month ago. They trusted me, but not that much. Not yet.

It was when I finally felt myself drifting off that there was a loud booming noise coming from the courtyard. I rolled off of my mattress onto the stone-cold floor and opened the door to my room, peeking into the hall. Already, other Hornets who slept in the same hallway as me were opening the doors to their individual rooms, peeking out to get a sense of what the disturbance once. One such individual was Lannit who was looking side to side in the hallway until he saw me, to which I just shrugged.

The booming noise had stopped, but was rather replaced by an ensemble of footsteps. Miro's? No. Too organized for Miro. That meant.

"Fire Nation" said Lannit.

Our actions had caught up to us.

I slammed the door behind me and along with the rest, we rushed outside. We were some of the last to enter which was surprising considering I thought I had been one of the first to hear, but nonetheless, we joined the group of Hornets already gathered in the courtyard, face to face with the Fire Nation.

The Fire Nation's numbers were large. Around 20 soldiers and 2 troops mounted atop 2 rhinoceros hybrids. The 2nd half of the creature, I was unable to identify.

From between the 2 lines of soldiers walked a man in a separate uniform different from those of the average infantryman. He was an officer of sorts. I took me a moment to realize he was the captain from the execution. His name had come to be vilified in the slums.

"Zar'un" called Riu from the crowd, pushing his way through to the front. "Here for your food?"

"That's only the half of it."

"The other half being?"

"Your savages killed one of my men."

Riu refused to turn his head to point anyone out, but I could feel Danev's cold stare somehow burning a hole in the back of my head.

"What makes you sure it was one of my men?"

"Our soldiers can point 2 of them out right here."

My heart skipped a beat. The odds were against me.

2 soldiers were brought to the front, bruised, badly. I didn't see the one who I had ordered to be knocked out. My stomach managed to twist itself into a tight knot within myself. It hadn't been me to deal the blow, but I felt responsible nonetheless.

The 2 soldiers looked through the crowd. The rightmost soldier pointed the 2 of them out. The one who had been knocked from the cart hadn't witnessed the fight. It was the other one, not the one who stabbed me, but the other, who did the fighting and the blaming. Yet, among those to blame, I was free. The soldier pointed out Lannit and Heddik. The only one who would recognize me was now six feet under, or, given the tendencies of the Fire Nation, ash in a vase.

As the rest of the soldiers moved forward to apprehend Heddik and Lannit, the few armed Hornets, including Riu and Danev, took a step forward in an attacking stance to defend their comrades.

Zar'un was not amused. "Hand them over"

"We had a deal." Exclaimed Riu. "We get a portion of whatever shipments come in and you leave us alone."

"And you broke that deal when you killed our men and stole more than your portion."

"Your men attacked us!" yelled Heddik, the accused, from the crowd.

I looked up to Lennit next to me, who was just still. He was scared. I could tell.

Zar'un didn't reply to him, but to Riu once again. "Where's the food?"

Riu made his decision and he pointed over to the kitchen where Zar'un diverted 5 of his men to head. When individual Hornets attempted to get in their paths, Riu was the one who called them off.

While the soldiers took our food, there was a loud silence that stood between the two armed parties, one far more heavily armed and armored than the other.

The 5 soldiers came back, rolling the cart between them up to Zar'un who promptly investigated the supply cache.

"Where's the rest?"

"I'm afraid you'll have to cut us open if you want it all."

Zar'un shook his head. "Fuck it. Now we'll just be taking the killers and- "

His movements forward were halted as Hornets took steps forward themselves, stopping Zar'un in his tracks.

Zar'un looked up to Riu who was heading the offensive. "Hand them over."

"You got your food. Now leave."

"You know it's not that simple."

"Fuck yes, it is. Leave."

Zar'un sighed and somehow gave a glare even colder. "Last warning. Hand them over."

"No."

Zar'un signaled a spearman over who already had his target picked out. He thrust his spear into the crowd, striking a younger Hornet who only fell when the spear was pulled from his stomach.

It was then that Lannit stepped forward, past the crowd and the armed perimeter, throwing himself to the cold hands of the armored Fire Nation soldiers. Heddik, reluctantly, followed. They were taken to the rear of the Fire Nation line.

"And the third."

Riu looked up from the corpse. "There is no third."

"My men saw 3 attackers. Don't hide it."

That was when Danev stepped forward and said, "You already got him." He motioned to Sunji's corpse on the cold stone floor, bleeding from a mortal wound in his stomach, already dead.

The lie was enough. "Then we're done here."

The line of soldiers turned alongside their mounted escort, and made their way back towards civilization.