The Wilds (Part IV of the Runner Series)

Chapter 3

all places, characters (except my oc's), and terms, belong to so1tgoes
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Kay runs her thumb across the surface of the metal and tries not to think about the torture it caused the poor Scorcher.

Of course, that turns out to be an exercise in futility, because as soon as the sun catches the silver surface of the neck band and exposes the scratches and long-dried blood, her mind whirls with everything that could have possibly happened to him. As she pulls the Scorcher's skin away from the metal, she spots tiny needles lining the inside of the ring at random spots on the metal. Kay has to force herself not to picture the tar-like blood that oozed from the punctures in his neck when they attached the band to him.

"You don't recognize this?" she asks, possibly for the fifth time, but her mind won't let go of the question until she gets an answer that satisfies her still-healing mind.

Luca shakes his head softly, answering her again in his calm, deliberate way of his. "I do not recognize the band, but I recognize the name branded into it."

She finds a clasp at the back of the band, but the dried blood around the creature's neck makes it difficult to remove it. Heart pounding, Kay tries not to focus on the tiny holes and blood along his neck as she smooths her thumb over the words etched into it. The Precept. The word is familiar, the meaning somewhere deep inside the back of her head, but she cannot seem to place why it would be branded on the metal like this.

Kay takes another look at the poor creature. At some point during his life, he was content, possibly with a family, and the Madam had to rip that out from under his feet. It's completely unfair. Not just to him, but all of them. They're still out there, somewhere.

"We have to find where he came from," she hears herself say, her eyes trained on the horizon. "The Madam's second lair. We have to find it."

When he doesn't reply, Kay turns around to face him. Luca's eyes are closed as he breathes deeply, once, through his nose. When he turns to look at her, her eyes are tired. "You promised that we would finally have peace."

Kay doesn't reply straight away. With a heavily beating heart, she makes her way toward him, carefully reaching up to hold his face between her hands. Over the months and months of being with him, his beard has grown back to how it used to be when she had first seen him, all that time ago back in the palace's infirmary. Her familiar Luca has been back with her for a long time, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

"I can see it in your eyes, Luca. This situation bothers you as much as it bothers me." His eyes meet hers then, so blue and so familiar it causes her chest to ache. "You and I both know that we're not the type to sit idly by when we know something is not right."

When he closes his eyes, Kay leans up and presses her forehead to his, letting Luca's familiar touch wash over her. Back when Babel still stood flashes before her eyes, a time when she was at her lowest forcing its way back to the forefront of her mind. It threatens to take over her head, but Kay pushes it down before it can.

"This won't be like before," she assures him, unsure if she is telling the truth or not. She doesn't know—it's the plain and simple truth. But she needs to convince not only Luca, but herself too. "I'm not going in there as the Runner. Or as the Mistress. I'm going in there as me—just Kay Knight."

When she pulls away, heart hammering, Luca's face is stoic. There are too many scenarios running through her head, different things to say if Luca were to refuse. Would she go by herself? She has faced worse on her own, but the prospect of doing this one thing by herself scares the ever-loving shit out of her.