It all dawned upon me when Yakob said, ‘He doesn’t deserve it.’

  “Were you perhaps the one who discovered the tomb?” I asked, wanting to confirm what I had concluded.

  By Yakob’s shocked expression, it seemed I was right. The man’s eyes went wide open, while Marsus opened and closed his mouth a couple of times as if trying to say something but failing.

  “B-but they promised not to reveal our identities,” Marsus stuttered, looking between Yakob and me for an explanation.

  Yakob’s shocked expression slowly morphed into one of fury. “Those bastards! What did I expect from those backstabbers?!”

  “Calm down, brother,” I said, trying to defuse the situation. “The guild didn’t betray you. I reached this conclusion on my own, and that’s why I asked.”

  Yakob raised his eyebrows at me. “Do you take us for fools, Brother Yomon? You’ve been nice to us, but that doesn’t mean you can insult our intelligence. No one knows who discovered the tomb, except for the Guild. That was part of the deal we made with them.”

  “If I took you for fools, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. As I said, I reached this conclusion. No one knows who discovered the tomb, not even my father. I swear it in front of God.”

  That seemed to appease Yakob a bit as his clenched jaw relaxed. “Then, could you tell us how you knew?”

  So you’re really the ones who discovered it.

  “Father told me earlier today about the situation. He’d said that a mercenary group discovered the tomb, a clue.”

  Marsus opened his mouth to speak, but was stopped by Yakob, who nodded at me to continue.

  “Another clue was that you were hiding your wrist.” I pointed at Yakob’s right hand, which he drew back instinctively before stopping himself.

  “I first doubted you had a Bracelet; you don’t have a visible sack, too. But my father had said that the mercenary group that discovered the tomb had done so through special powers. Plus, you said that Heler was a loser for not meeting you guys, and—no offence—but you guys don’t have anything that seems worthwhile, which implies you used your Bracelet twice. For the discovery and for what you wanted to tell Heler.”

  Marsus seemed to lose his patience as he spoke. “Bullshit! They’ve clearly ratted us out. You couldn’t have possibly figured all that out with these stupid clues.”

  That got me irritated a bit. Although I was open-minded when compared with the usual Bara, I still didn’t like to be disrespected. Still, I understood his frustration and kept calm.

  “As I’ve said, this is all speculation. But what really led me to this conclusion was you, Yakob.”

  Yakob was dozing off when I mentioned his name. He pointed a finger at himself, a surprised expression on his face.

  “Yes, you. First of all, you’re a noble—a former one. Those usually have… weird powers. Secondly, for a foreigner, you speak our dialect very well. Your accent is almost unnoticeable, and with your familiar face… you’ve been here before, right? That’s when you discovered the tomb.”

  Yakob didn’t confirm, opting to dodge with a question. “That’s it?”

  I shrugged. “Yeah, that’s it.”

  Yakob sighed as Marsus took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. Sipsus looked the same as always, confused.

  “And you were telling me that I was bad at lying?” Marsus spat after a bit.

  Yakob glared at his friend before looking at me with a weird expression.

  “I won’t deny nor admit to anything, brother. I hope you understand. Although I’ll say your perspective.”

  I smiled at the compliment, which made me even more certain about my conjecture.

  “I’d ask you to keep this a secret. Of course, I can’t force you, so you do as you want.”

  I didn’t say anything at that, still uncertain what to do with this info.

  “It’s been… a pleasure knowing you, Yomon.” Yakob extended his hand for a shake, which I took.

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  “The pleasure’s mine. Before you go, are you willing to share what you were going to tell Heler?”

  Yakob shook his head with a sad smile.

  As expected.

  “Then I have an offer for you.”

  ***

  After finishing with the mercenary trio, I headed back home. I wanted to ask who had helped me at the assaniation. I was still… displeased with my father, so I headed towards our quarters, wanting to find my sisters.

  As usual, they were running around doing different chores, although Asima—the youngest—wasn’t helping, playing with a kitten—a Lian. It had yellow fur with brown stripes and elongated, tilted eyes. I always thought they looked creepy, and that might be to a fully grown one jumping me on one of my escapades. Thankfully, that had ended with a few shouts from me, intimidating the dog-sized cat.

  I approached Rama, who took notice of me as a wide smile grew on her face.

  “Brother!”

  The other two turned to Rama before they followed her gaze towards me, and then they all ran at me.

  “Ooof.” My breath was driven out of me as the three cuties collided with me in a hug. “Took you long enough to wake up.”

  “Actually, we were at Amina’s house. We just came back,” Simama refuted me.

  Always the smart ass.

  The hug lasted a little too long, so I pulled back, only to notice that my shirt had gone wet from Asima’s crying.

  “What’s the matter?” I asked as I lowered myself to her eye level.

  “I-I thought~Sniff~you wouldn’t be able to w-walk again.”

  I gently caressed her cheeks with a finger, wiping her tears.

  “Ha! Your strong brother, unable to walk again? Nonsense. Only a lion could take me down, an awakened one at that.”

  That seemed to appease her as she gave me a cheeky smile.

  “…Yeah.”

  “Hmm, I was thinking. Didn’t you guys lose last time at Up and Down?” I said as I stroked my chin.

  “Actually, you’re the one who lost,” Simama corrected me, again.

  “I think Smama’s right,” Rama agreed, then Asima joined in. “Yeah! You’re the one who lost!”

  “Right, right. I lost. But… how about a second match? The winner this time can make an order to the loser. How about it?”

  Rama nodded meekly, as if she found the idea of putting stakes to a game uncomfortable. Simama stared at me, her eyes doing visible calculations. Only Asima agreed immediately.

  “Yeah!”

  “Any order? So, if I were to ask you to let me hold your sword, you’d have to agree, right?” Simama asked.

  “Sure.” I had no intention of giving my sword, even for a moment, to my ten-year-old sister, but that wasn’t going to happen in the first place, as I wasn’t planning on losing.”

  “Then I’m in.”

  “Yay!” Cheered Asima.

  I immediately closed my eyes and started counting down. “Ten… nine.”

  “Hey, you’re cheating!” Simama said as she ran away, her scurrying legs’ sound coming from my right.

  “…Eight…”

  Up and Down was a game where a seeker had to catch the hiders. If the seeker were to find a hider—not catch him, he wouldn’t immediately lose; he could try to escape, but there was a catch. The found hider would need to abide by a single terrain—anything on ground level, or down for short. If the hider managed to lose the seeker, he could hide again, but if he were to be found a second time, then he had to run on anything above ground level, or up for short.

  “Seven… six…”

  The way to win was simple for the seeker. If he managed to catch a hider, then that hider lost. So the seeker had to catch everyone to win. But it was a bit more complicated with the hider, as there were two ways to win. First, reach the place where the seeker started his count, or the difficult way, cycle up and down once, then hold hands with a fellow hider. But if the hider didn't manage to hold hands—only escape, then he’d have to start a new cycle of up and down.

  “Five… four…”

  So:

  First find—>down.

  Second find—>up.

  Third escape and hold hands—>Hider wins.

  Third escape, didn’t manage to hold hands, but out of sight again—> repeat up-down cycle.

  “Three… two…”

  Another rule was that if half the hiders were to reach the counting place, the seeker immediately loses. There were other rules, but that was the gist of it.

  “One… hidden or not, here I come!”

  I opened my eyes and scanned the surroundings.

  They’re becoming really good, I thought, unable to spot any evidence of their whereabouts from a quick scan.

  The red columns and decorated railways shaded the terrace in front of the rooms, creating many blind spots. Nothing could be heard except the tickling of water from the fountain, the chirping birds, and the faint sound of the guards training in the distance.

  I decided to check behind the fountain, as that was where Simama had hidden last time. She had circled it until I gave her my back before she started running to the counting place. Unfortunately, this time, there was no one there.

  “Hmm, Amidus was right. This game really helps in building survival skills. But still, giants created it to teach the lesser species? What loads of stupid myth,” I spoke aloud, wanting to bait the girls by revealing that I had advanced beyond my starting positions

  Meow!

  The cat!

  The sound had come from my right. I slowly followed it, while keeping an eye on the counting place, not wanting to be flanked by close hiders. A tail could be seen jutting out of a column. Turning the corner, I found Asima holding her kitten as she tried to shush it, clearly failing miserably.

  Upon noticing me, Asima tried to make a run for it, but with her five-year-old short legs, didn’t manage to get away. With a swift step, I held her robe. But at that moment…

  “Done!” Simama shouted, having managed to sneak behind me in the few seconds it took to catch Asima.

  I twirled around, only to find Rama making a run for it.

  No, you won’t!

  I was faster than her, cutting her way to victory, but I didn’t manage to catch her as she slid back and hid in the shadows of the columns.

  “Up!” I shouted, reminding her of her terrain.

  I crept closer to her while keeping the counting place behind me. Rama could now only escape using the terrace or the furniture and other elevated stuff, which weren’t many.

  A swift shadow jumped from the shade of a column to another, then another, cycling between many up and downs as she broke my sight of vision. When this happened, Rama could run on both terrains, not confined to a single one.

  I intercepted her again, making her hesitate. But this time, I was closer, and before she could run off, I jumped above the railing and reached for her, catching her wavy black hair.

  “Ahh!” Rama squealed. I quickly let her go, and she fell.

  “Are you okay? I’m sorry; I—”

  “No, it’s okay. I’m fine.”

  I helped her to her feet. She gave me an exhausted smile, sweat running down her forehead.

  “You did well,” I encouraged the shy girl. Although she was the oldest girl, at 13 years, she was the least confident of them.

  “Not as good as me, though,” Siamam said from behind me, having caught up to us.

  “How did you do that?” I asked, perplexed by how the girl had slipped away.

  “Trade secret, can’t share.” Simama shot me a wink.

  We played a few more games before my father came, admonishing us for wasting our time. I didn’t speak to him, opting to only nod when spoken to. I was confused when he didn’t give me his mind after shutting the door during his speech.

  He’s probably just tired from all the meetings.

  When father left us, I asked the girls the question I had come here for, but none of them knew who had saved me.

  Time passed quickly as I helped my sisters with the chores. As a man, I wasn’t supposed to do housework, but my mom had disagreed, saying that a man was gentle and helpful with girls. Father had been annoyed at first, but after Mom died, he mostly ignored it.

  Evening came with the chirps of the night roaches. I still didn’t want to speak to my father, so I headed to the guards’ quarters, seeking anyone who knew.

  Torches illuminated the training grounds, revealing a few guards who were still out. The rest were either out on missions, on vacation, or in their rooms. Warrior Somani was here training, probably unable to get time to himself from his teaching duties.

  I watched in amazement—I never got tired of seeing this—as liquid metal flew from Somani’s sack in a stream before it began to spread and take a wide, circular form in front of him, shielding most of his torso.

  A tributary deviated from the main stream, forming a thin, small disk. The two objects broke off the stream, but didn’t fall to the ground, held by Somani’s Flow.

  The lights reflected off their clear, shiny surfaces as their silver colour darkened a bit, signifying their hardening. Then, with a violent swirl of his arm, the disk flew, forming after-images as it streaked through the air. It impacted a dummy on the other side of the ground, bisecting it in half.

  Awesome! I can’t wait to get my Bracelet!