by Kate Sander
"Where'd you find that kid?" Senka muttered. "I don't trust her."
"Drink this," Tory said, ignoring the question and approaching the bed.
Senka listened, gulping the water.
"Ugh," she said as her stomach turned with the waves.
"Keep it down," Tory said.
"I'm obviously trying to keep it down," Senka snapped. Tory patted her arm. "And you didn't answer the question. You guys have been super secretive about it since we burned Tomo." The memory made her stomach quiver.
Tory sighed, "We've been secretive because it's embarrassing, alright?"
Senka opened her eyes and looked at her friend. Shoulders slumped, staring at the floor, the woman in front of her didn't look like the General of the Melanthios army that she knew.
She looked broken... and there was something else. Something Senka recognized.
Senka sat up, nausea momentarily forgotten. "I'm sorry I hadn't noticed," Senka said, laying her hand on her friend's shoulder. "What happened, Tory? I've been through shit too. It helps if you talk about it."
"It's so embarrassing," Tory said, burying her face in her hands. "I was surrounded. How could I let myself be surrounded? Without a weapon? And they..." She sobbed into her hands.
Senka hugged her, her own past flooding her memories as well. She knew exactly what they'd done. Exactly how it felt.
"It's not your fault," Senka said hoarsely. "Tory, it isn't. Sometimes people get the drop on us. And we realize we aren't invincible and we can't kick everyone's ass."
"The kid saved me from them," Tory said, sniffling. "They didn't do what they were planning. They started, then Eris came and killed them. A teenager had to save me. Who am I, if a teenager has to save me?"
"You're a General of the Melanthios army. You're the keeper of the Remiel. That stone can do anything, you said so yourself. You're a badass." She squeezed Tory against her shoulder. "And you're human. And humans are weak."
"The kid's a Zoya," Tory said. "She's stronger than me."
"Physically? Maybe. But she's human too. As am I. And you're still the strongest I know."
Tory sniffled into her shoulder again.
"You're sure that book doesn't tell you anything?" Tory said, gesturing to the beautiful brown leather-bound book in the corner of the room. "Even the Ampulex thought it would end all wars if they sent their army to get it."
"Well," Senka said, "it actually tells me a lot. A copy of The Lord of the Rings that's thousands of years old. We always assumed that this place, where Zoya come from, is an entirely different world. But I think it's the future of my time. And that tells me a hell of a lot."
Tory sniffled.
"Thanks for not making fun of me," she said. "I watched an entire monastery die to protect it. People gave their lives to protect that book. When you told me that it was an old work of fiction… That hit hard."
Senka understood. All this stuff hits hard. They sat in silence for a while, each lost in their own thoughts.
"Thanks for lying," Tory said.
"Hm?"
"About the book telling you a hell of a lot."
"Well, it tells me we're in the future," Senka said.
"That doesn't really do much though, does it?"
"No. Can't see how it could."
"So thanks for lying."
"Anytime."
BUY VOID NOW!
