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Here’s the next chapter, this one again from Tamarin’s POV. He has a traumatic flashback in this one, and I’m not sure yet if I’ll keep it in there or not. His chapters are cross-posted in my WIP, so if it doesn’t make sense, I’ll prolly take it out.

This scene is happening simultaneously with Jin’s arrest, just across the city in another district. I think it’s around two days after the raid, right?

Anyways, please tell me what y’all think 🙂

 

Tamarin huddled under the blanket Kenma had given him, shivering in the slightly chilly room. He had no idea where he was, but from what he could figure, he was in a large, open basement that had several adjacent tunnels or hallways connecting to it, possibly inside an underground passage system.

There were a lot of people in the room with him, all of them seeming busy. There were a group of young women, maybe nurses, who were carrying some supplies into one of the larger rooms, a few teenagers were setting up some fans and cleaning out the ventilation system, and in a corner a group of older men and women played a card game.

A few little children were running around while a frazzled young woman looked after them, and a boy waved to Tamarin as he helped a sickly looking girl into a side room. Tamarin waved back shyly and pulled the blanket closer to himself. There was a soft tap on his shoulder.

A young girl peered down at him curiously. Her amber eyes sparkled as she smiled shyly. She was holding the hand of another girl, who seemed slightly older than her. “I’ve never seen you around before,” she said, her voice musical, “are you new? If you are, welcome! I’m Sunmi, and this is Ahli! What’s your name? Also, did you break your arm? That’s too bad.”

Kenma emerged from an adjacent room, running a hand through his dusty orange hair. “Sun, please stop harassing Tamarin, he’s been through a lot tonight.” he smiled tiredly at the assassin. “Sorry about my little sister.” he said as Sunmi pouted and sat down on the couch pulling Ahli down to draw on some paper laid out on the coffee table.

Tamarin shook his head. “It’s fine.” he said with as much cheer as he could muster in such a situation as he was in. He glanced down at his wrist, which had been fractured. The Sparrows had helped fix it up for him, so at least it was set as well as possible and he wasn’t as banged up anymore.

He tried to reassure Kenma. “I don’t mind. I have, er, siblings too.” his heart cracked a little at the mention of his team. They already really were like siblings, and he hoped they were doing all right.

(Oh, if only that was the case, little one.)

Tamarin frowned, but ignored the annoying thoughts popping up in his brain. He turned his attention back to Kenma. “So, what’s up?”

Kenma sighed. “So, I talked to some people, and they said you can stay here at the new Knot House. A friend of mine in the Government is gonna swing by in a bit to check on how everything is going, and do a quick security check on you if that’s okay. We won’t meet here, since it could be bad if someone else catches wind of where the Sparrows are, so we’ll leave in a few minutes. We have a duty to protect as many of the people here as we can.”

Tamarin let himself process the info. “Okay, yeah. That sounds fine. I get the whole security thing in any case. Thanks for giving me a place to stay right now, while I figure how to get back to where I live.”

“It’s no problem.” Kenma replied easily. “We take in people all the time. I still have to talk to Cade about opening up another room, but otherwise, you’re good to stay for as long as you need.”

Tamarin tilted his head. “Sorry, who?”

“Oh! Cade?” Kenma asked,. “He’s kind of like our leader. All decisions are run by him first.”

“Did someone say, Cade?” another kid with orangish hair popped his head in the room. He bore a strange near-resemblance to Kenma, but his eyes were a deep blue. “I’m actually looking around for him right now, but the layout of this new place is a little strange.”

Kenma shrugged. “Sorry, Kirat. I’m not sure where he is, I’m just explaining Cade’s role to my friend, here.”

Kirat perked up, not unlike a dog or a wolf would. “Friend? “ he spotted Tamarin and waved. “Oh, hey. Kirat Huruan.”

“Tamarin Kell. Nice to meet you, Kirat.”

Kirat grinned. “Likewise. Anyways, I gotta run. Also, Kenma, I think you’d better go if your meeting’s still on. Kay, see ya!”

Kenma looked up at a clock on the dusty walls. “Yeah, we probably should. Tamarin, are you ready to go?”

Tamarin nodded. “Sure. Where are we headed?”

“The Hawfinch district.”

Like that meant anything to Tamarin, but he agreed anyway and followed the teen.

 

 

Tamarin blinked in the mid-afternoon sun. It had been around twelve hours since he and Kenma had escaped from the government sentries, and a thick fog rested just above the streets. They had walked for quite awhile before stopping at the aforementioned meeting place where they’d see Kenma’s government friend.

Sure enough, they heard footsteps approaching, and a young man emerged from the fog to their left. Her had dark silvery hair and heterochromic eyes, on silver, and one a rose gold with a red scar running through it from his brow to his chin. He was quite a bit taller than Kenma, and seemed a little older too.

“Rin!” Kenma bounded forward and wrapped the teen in a hug. If he had a tail, Tamarin was sure it would be wagging.

Rin gave a breathy chuckle and mussed Kenma’s hair. “Hey. How did it go? Is everyone safe?”

Kenma nodded. “I think so. The signal was clear, but we were really rushed. We sent back a couple of scouts to check the area for anything we missed yesterday, and I found Tamarin here.”

Rin turned his gaze to Tamarin. The assassin froze. Rin’s eyes were calculating, and he seemed to look right through the younger.

“My name is Rin Amber.” the government agent said finally. “Your name is Tamarin?”

The assassin nodded. “Tamarin Kell. Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.” Rin answered. “Where are you from?”

Tamarin bit his lip. “Um, not…here? Sorry, it’s hard to explain.”

Rin and Kenma exchanged a look, communicating through facial expressions quite clearly. Kenma seemed to want to trust Tamarin while Rin wanted to trust Kenma’s judgement, but was still wary.

Tamarin stood by awkwardly, shifting his weight from leg to leg as he waited for the author to finally get on with the story instead of dragging this out because of her writer’s block. He thought absent-mindedly of his team, and if they were okay- if they’d survived Aster’s ambush. Wait a second… nevermind.

He wondered about Chulaye’s mental state, hoping she was okay after Emery pushed himself in front of Chulaye to save her… and if Emery and Singkae had gotten as lucky as he had, landing in a place where he could get help and stay safe.

He hoped Cantinah was safe, especially after she’d saved Tamarin himself. He grimaced as his mind unbiddenly replayed the image of Cantinah collapsing to the ground, blood flowing, as Lehri screamed and covered for Tamarin, who was stiff with shock.

Tamarin remembered his breath hitching until he couldn’t breathe. He remembered his knees hitting the cold tiled floor, hard, hands following to catch himself from falling on his face, pain shooting up one of his arms like liquid fire. His right hand clutching at his throat as he stared at Cantinah’s limp form, and the blood on his hands staining the white tiles red. Red with guilt, red with sacrifice, red with the blood of their leader as she’d thrown herself blindly in front of the youngest so he could live, while nursing her own injuries.

Tamarin choked, barely feeling the pain in his side as he faintly comprehended Lehri taking down the last Thirteen grunt and rushing to him and Cantinah. As he gagged, Lehri pressed a cloth to his nose, eyes darting wildly between him and their leader, who was still bleeding out, unconscious now.

Lehri flicked Tamarin’s forehead, bringing him abruptly back into reality, blood rushing in his ears as he coughed harshly. “Tamarin! Start a holovid now! We have to warn inform the others but I have to apply pressure to her wounds and somehow cauterize them before whatever was in those bullets can cause an infection, and I still have to assess the damage done to the rest of her body, and I need help!”

Tamarin sat back on his heels shakily, regaining control of his breathing slowly as he nodded and tapped his wrist implant, quickly pressing the record button and seeing the blue scree appear in front of his right eye. It was cracked and slightly blurry, but he turned towards Lehri as she frantically started working on Cantinah.

“We were ambushed by some Thirteen thugs.” She said to the camera, her voice shaky. “Luckily they thought we were the only ones in the building and didn’t search the rest before engaging in a fight, and we… took them down. We’re all alive but…” Lehri choked back a sob.

“Cantinah’s down.” she said. “She’s not doing well at all. I’m doing everything I can, but I might have to try to get her admitted at a hospital because her injuries are so bad. There’s only so much I can do without my tools and I don’t think it’s safe to move her in this state.’

‘You need to go on without us. I’m sending Tamarin down. I’ll call Henru and Joon, but all we can do is hope for the best. She’s lost so much blood already.” Lehri was crying now, tears streaming down her face, though she remained calm. Tamarin felt hot tears well up in his own eyes as his shaking increased. “She saved our lives.”  Lehri whispered. “Let’s hope we can save hers.”

The recording was abruptly shut off and Tamarin moved to help, his heart seizing again. He watched Lehri alternating between giving Cantinah chest compressions and hurriedly examining her fractured limbs while pressurizing the bullet wounds with her knee.

This was his fault.

Their leader was dying because of him.

Cantinah started breathing again, and coughed, blood dribbling down her chin as her eyelids fluttered.

Tamarin took another step forward before faltering. “Lehri…”

Lehri looked up, her face tearstained. There were lights already outside the door. “Go find the others!” she said. “You have to warn them. You have to go.”

Tamarin nodded, he tripped as he stepped backwards, hissing as he caught himself on his bad wrist. One of the guys that had ambushed them had slammed the butt of his rifle into Tamarin’s wrist hard, and he was pretty sure it was fractured.

But there wasn’t time to throw a pity party. He had to go get the others. Tamarin picked himself up and ran, breathing hard as-

“Tamarin?” Kenma was gripping his shoulder and shaking him anxiously, looking disturbed.

Tamarin blinked, head hurting as he registered where he was. He turned to the worried orange-haired boy slowly, mind still foggy and memory fresh with the sight of that night. “Huh?”

Kenma frowned. “We need to get you back to the Knot House.” he said. “Rin said you’re cleared, so yeah. Um, are you okay?”

Tamarin blinked again, shaking his head harshly to try and wake himself up. “Uh, I think so… ugh! Sorry, yeah, I’ll be fine. I’m sorry, I kinda spaced out there for a second.”

“More like ten minutes.” Kenma laughed, but his expression was tight and still upset. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Tamarin nodded, head growing cleared with ever second. “Uhuh. I’m fine. I just got to thinking, and I remembered a bad memory. I’ll be okay, really. Sorry to worry you.”

Rin fixed him with a concerned look, two toned eyes flashing in the early sunlight. “It’s alright.” he said. “Just get back to the House. You look like you could use a rest, kid.”

Tamarin nodded. Sleep sounded really nice.

The assassin forced a smile, hoping it seemed genuine enough to convince the other two he was really okay, although he was clearly not. “Okay, yeah. Sounds good. Sorry again.”

Kenma let his hand fall from Tamarin’s shoulder. “Okay. And you’re fine. Let’s just head back. We can get you some food and a bed.”

Tamarin waved goodbye to Rin as Kenma gave his friend one last hug. He hoped he could maybe escape from his thoughts when he slept.