Chapter 42

Emeric felt nearly a hundred eyes fall on him as he entered the small village. His skin prickled as memories of the Domes and all the spectators came to mind. He remembered how their eyes had bored into him with hate, and later awe. Now, entering the village with the help of the two men, he felt the same, judging, yet scrutinizing sensation coming from all the people watching him.

The only difference between the village and the Domes were that everyone watching him now were Etreshian like he was. He could barely believe his eyes when he saw all the Rogues working together to complete daily tasks. When he had grown up with his parents, he hadn't been aware of any Etreshian settlements. He had always believed that he, along with his parents were among the last Etreshians left on Chayr. Now, he saw, he had been evidently wrong.

As he was being lead to a building, he searched all the children's faces for Kedo, but the young Rogue was nowhere in sight. He felt a slight panic rising up in him, but forced his emotions to stay calm.

The door was shut behind him as the small party of warriors lead him into a minute, yet spacious building. The two men supporting Emeric eased him down onto a bench where he sat down gratefully. His ankle throbbed with an unrelenting pain that made Emeric clench on his teeth almost permanently.

"Thank you." He muttered as he tried, but failed to ignore the agony of his leg. They'd done all the introductions on their way, now Radclyf gazed down at Emeric's leg. "That doesn't look too great. We'll have the physician take a look at it." Emeric nodded his thanks.

While they waited for the healer, Emeric frowned slightly, "How did you know to look for me?" He asked after a while. Radclyf grinned slightly, "Your little friend told us about you. We had scouts out searching yesterday, but when they returned with nothing we were quite ready to give up the search, with Elites in the area and all."

Radclyf paused for a second then chuckled softly, "When Kedo heard we wanted to call off the search he brought out another side of his character that I wouldn't have thought existed. For an eleven year old he can become quite a terrifying sight."

Emeric couldn't help but grin. That sounded just like the young Rogue he knew. "Anyway, we promised to go out searching once more. I have to admit we were rather shocked when we found you. We all thought that you were lost to the Elites."

Emeric bowed his head slightly, "Well, I'm in debt to you. I don't think I would have gotten far without your help." Radclyf shrugged the words aside. "Don't fuss about it. It's what we do."

Before anyone could utter another word, the door flew open and a sour faced Etreshian strode in. He glared down at Emeric with as much distaste as the spectators in the Dome. He appeared to be in his forties, but his face looked older after years of hardship. His black hair was oily and combed back only adding to the unkept look that he reflected.

"Who is he?" He asked dejectedly. Emeric felt uncomfortable under the judging eyes. Luckily, however, Radclyf stepped in to spare him from any more discomfort. "He's a new arrival. Rescued him just now." Radclyf spoke in a calm voice, but he seemed weary of the sour faced man.

"Oh is that so?" Sour face asked rudely. "If I'm not mistaken, Rad, there's a system to follow when new arrivals are brought in. And he," The man pointed a malicious finger at Emeric, "He did not go through the system." Radclyf sighed irritably.

"He's injured Sarthen. You can ask your questions after he's been treated." Radclyf defended Emeric, but up against a hard headed, sour faced man like Sarthen, any attempt of negotiating was hopeless.

Sarthen gave Emeric a once over and then insolently concluded, "So what, he scratched his foot, doesn't look too serious. He's not some wounded puppy." Emeric was starting to feel offense at the man's words. He, being Sarthen, cared about no one but himself.

Radclyf took a deep breath, he obviously was losing his patients with the rude man. "I don't care about your opinion Sarthen, right now my only concern is making our guest comfortable. So why don't you run along and go aggravate someone else." Rad's words stung with sarcasm.

Sarthen arched a challenging brow, "Guest? You call him a 'guest'? For all we know he could be a backstabbing spy working for the Elites. And you brought him right into the heart of our project."

Radclyf pinched the bridge of his nose, luckily, before he could lose his temper, the doctor arrived. He was a respected man and Sarthen wouldn't dare bicker with Rad in front of the elderly man. Sarthen shot a deranged look at Emeric, "We're not done here. I'll deal with you as soon as he's done his fussing" With that, Sarthen stormed out of the room.

"Looking forward to it." Emeric muttered under his breath.

"Don't mind him. He's just the famous thorn in everybody's side." Radclyf explained, but somehow Emeric sensed that Sarthen was going to cause much more problems than the others suspected. He was going to have to keep a careful eye out for the sour faced stranger.

*****

An hour later, Emeric found himself sitting on a medical bed with fresh bandaging around his mangled ankle. There hadn't been much that the physician could do. He'd applied a paste to the wounds that would ward off infection and pain and he had provided the clean bandaging. The main conclusion was that Emeric had to stay off of his foot if he wanted it to heal properly.

He desperately wanted to leave the cabin to search for Kedo, but he was currently having an interrogation with sour face Sarthen. Apparently, what he had meant with the 'system', was that he had to question any new arrival to decide if he was worthy of becoming part of the 'rebellion' as he called it.

"Why are the Elites after you?" Sarthen questioned. Emeric had been answering his endless curiosities for an entire hour and was growing tired of Sarthen's unrelenting desire to find something wrong with him.

Emeric snorted, "I thought that much would have been obvious, I'm a Rogue. The Elites hunt Rogues. It's what they do..." Emeric's words were coated with sarcasm. Sarthen glared at him angrily, "Why were they after you in particular?" Emeric sighed disdainfully ,"Because, like I've told you, I escaped from Scoalgeoc's Dome. Calvert must have sent the Elites after me."

Sarthen shook his head, "You're lying. No one just simply escapes from the Domes." Emeric grit his teeth. The conversation had gone down this road five times before. He was growing tired of the rude, hard headed Etreshian.

"How would you know?" Emeric challenged. "Have you ever been in one? No. Have you ever tried breaking out of one?" Emeric arched a brow when Sarthen didn't reply, "Another no, I presume. So, seeing your lack of experience in the matter, what makes you so sure that it's impossible to get out of one?" Emeric's tone of voice was challenging and for a few seconds Sarthen remained silent.

Without another word, Sarthen gathered all the papers that he had been making notes on and stood up. Emeric shot him a confused look. "Finally giving up on your senseless argument?" The younger Rogue questioned in a peeved manner. Sarthen glared down at him, "No. I just have enough proof to have you kicked out here for good." And with that said he strode out of the room, leaving Emeric with his tormented thoughts.

Emeric had been instructed to stay in bed for the remainder of the day to allow his ankle time to rest. He managed a few more minutes before he gave in to the temptation to get up and move around. He took hold of the crutches that the healer had given him. With them, he could walk or rather waddle, around without having to put any weight on his foot.

He silently opened the door and crutched out of the cabin. He blinked a few times as his eyes adjusted to the dark exterior. An assortment of sounds met his ears as he made his way around the village, searching for Kedo. He was met with a couple of strange looks, but mostly, the people shot him welcoming smiles now that they were aware of the new arrival. There was one pair of eyes however, that made his skin prickle. He turned and saw Sarthen watching him lethally. Emeric shivered involuntarily under the harsh stare.

"Emeric?" A shocked voice asked from behind the cripple Rogue. Emeric slowly turned as he heard the familiar voice. One he had thought he would never hear again.

Emeric shut his eyes with relief as he spotted Kedo standing a few paces away. The young Rogue rushed forward and grabbed Emeric around his waist, burying his face in the older Rogue's stomach, simultaneously hiding the relieved tears that flooded his eyes. Emeric clutched Kedo tightly, not willing to ever let him go again.

"Where the hell did you go?" He demanded, not able to stop the words from slipping through his lips.

"I'm sorry." Kedo spoke, his words were muffled against Emeric's torso, "I heard you yell and... I...I couldn't leave you. I just wanted to help." Kedo desperately explained. Emeric's heart broke when he heard the guilt in Kedo's quivering voice. The young Rogue had only wanted to help after all.

"It's alright." Emeric spoke softly as he ruffled Kedo's hair. "I'm just glad you're alright."

The Etreshian's nearby smiled warmly at the heartfelt reunion. It was evidently that the two Rogues knew each other well...They could easily be brothers.

Sarthen on the other hand seethed as he watched the new arrival. He would prove to the others that he was right, that the unsuspecting Rogue was a spy. Then he'd finally earn the others' respect. He'd prove it, no matter what extent he would have to go to prove his point...to make Emeric confess. He smiled evilly as he watched the young boy hugging the new arrival. "No matter what extent." He whispered to himself.