The Princess

Chapter 18
Sarasi
Why oh why did I run out? Probably my mother’s intuition kicking in. (If you read the prologue, then you know exactly why I ran out.)
When I ran out of school, one thought ran through my head. ‘I need to save Simon. I need to save Simon.’ It’s probably going to be my only chance anyway. The only place I knew where to find him was the marketplace. Bingo. I found him talking to an old man He had a strained expression on his face. It confused me until I saw soldiers drag the old man away. I felt bad for both of them. The old man because he was taken, and Simon because because he had to do it. But he won’t have to do it ever again.
“Hey Simon!” I called as I walked up to him.
“Hey! You never told me your name.” he ended his statement as a question.
“My name is Sally.” I told him, then mouthed ‘Sarasi’.
“Oh.” understanding dawned in his eyes.
“See ya!” I told him, not moving. His eyebrows came together in confusion.
‘You want to come with me and escape the Cleansers?’ I asked, mouthing the words.
‘Can’t. I still have that chip somewhere on me. I want to though.’ he mouthed back.
‘I can get it off for you. Just come with me. You don’t want to go back, do you?’ I mouthed, hoping he’d come.
‘Of course!’ he nodded enthusiastically.
‘Come on!’
‘Wait! There’s a guy that watches me. What about him?’ he mouthed, grabbing my arm.
‘What’s he look like?’
‘He has tattoos all over his body.’
“Like him?” I asked, talking out loud, pointing to a guy who had been watching us for a while. He was absolutely covered in tattoos.
“Yes. Like him.” he paused, “That is him! Let’s get out of here!” he took off running. I did too. That guy was close enough to hear and see what we were saying.
I looked behind me. Yes, he was following.
“Follow me!” I called, darting into an alley. Simon followed me. So did the guy. They followed me through the twisting streets. I even went down some streets that I didn’t know they even existed. You learn something new every day. Eventually, we lost him.
“Yes!’ I said, doing a celebratory fist pump. “We lost him!”
“Really? Can we get this chip out?” his eyes pleaded with me.
“Come over here.” I led him to my house. I had him walk through a contraption that Niya had me build so we could detect chips. She was very paranoid. She acted it out. That’s how I got the message. ‘Cause she can’t talk.
“What is that?” he asked after walking through it.
“I call it a chip detector.” I explained. “It’s all in the name.” I told him proudly. Niya got up from the shadows and walked toward Simon. His eyes widened as he slowly backed away.
“Simon. It’s okay. She knows where the chip is.” I have no idea how she knew where they were; I never questioned it. He stopped moving. He really trusted me.
Niya walked up to him and poked the top of his hand with her claw. Simon drew in a sharp breath that showed it hurt, but made no other sound. He is very brave. The chip fell out. Then she walked around him and put her claw deep into the back of his leg. The chip fell out, but Simon collapsed from the pain. I dived to catch him. This floor is hard. Very hard. He was unconscious. I took two bandages and bandaged the two incisions so they would stop bleeding.
“He had two?” I asked. Niya nodded. I didn't think anything of it. As least, not then.
After a few hours, Simon woke up with a groan.
“I thought I only had one. What was the other one?” he asked, wincing as he massaged the back of his leg.
“I think it was some sort of tracking device.” I looked at Niya for confirmation. Niya nodded.
“What time is it?” Simon asked.
“Judging by the sun, I’d guess...... about five or six o’clock.” I answered. Then we heard the sounds in the hallway.
“Have you seen a girl with fiery hair and ice blue eyes lately?” a voice asked.
“No. Not lately.” this was one of my neighbors who only answered the answer the person was asking for if they were specific. Like here. I saw them three days ago.
“That sounded close by.” Simon commented.
“It is. It’s just a few doors down. Just a few doors down! We need to get out of here!” I quickly pack up the few things I had, putting the bag of gold in with it. Simon’s eyes widened.
“Yeah, I know. I have money. So what? We need to get out of here.” I paused to hear how close they were.
“Have you seen a girl with fiery hair and icy blue eye?” the voice asked.
“When are you asking?” the neighbor two doors down answered. They were confusing. My eyes widened.
“We’re leaving. Now.” I quickly tied the things I really couldn’t carry to Niya and gave a few things to Simon. He looked surprised.
“You live with me from now on. I’m going to be like your mother. By the way, how old are you?” I asked him.
“I’m thirteen. Do you really mean it?” he seemed very happy.
“Yes. We need to leave. Out you go.” I ‘pushed’ Simon and Niya out the door.
When I stepped out, I saw a policeman outside the door talking to the neighbor beside my room. He froze when he saw me. I didn’t. I left the key in the door and ran.
“Hey wait!” he called. I had no intention of doing so. I didn’t stop. I kept running. I ran all the way to a bridge that was close to the ground, but there was enough room under there for Niya, me, and Simon.
“Hurry! Hurry! Get in! Get in!” I ushered them underneath. I went under too and began to wait.
After a while, we heard voices coming our way.
“Did you see a girl with fiery hair and icy blue eyes, a boy, and a cat come by here?” the policeman followed us.
“Yes. They ran that way.” a voice answered him.
“Thanks.” then we heard the sound of running feet over us.
“Sarasi, watch out!” Simon yelled. I looked at him in confusion, but then I realized too late what he meant. A loose board comes down when it’s stepped on. I was underneath it. The board hit me in the back of my head and all I remember is Simon darting out to catch me before I ‘fell’ face first on the ground. Then, blackness.

⚜ ⚜ ⚜ ⚜ ⚜ ⚜

I darted out to catch her before she face planted. My warning came too late. If only I had remembered earlier.
“Here boy. Have a pie.” I whirled around at the voice. It was the voice who answered the policeman. A woman was standing there with an apple pie. I could tell it was apple because of the smell. The woman was plump, with kind brown eyes, silvery gray hair, and an apron over her clothes.
“W-What?” I wasn’t scared of her, I was scared of the guy standing behind her. He was incredibly buff, with an anchor tattoo on one incredibly large bicep, on the other, there was a sweet-looking sword. The edges were serrated.
The woman saw my terror and laughed.
“You don’t have to be scared of Caem. He’s just my son. He keeps thieves and vagabonds away from my pies. If you’re a thief or a vagabond, then you have something to worry about. But you don’t look like it. Come.” It was not a question, it was an order.
I tried to crawl out with Sarasi, but Niya wouldn’t let me.
“I’ll take her. You go out and I’ll follow.” Niya instructed. I blinked in surprise.
“Do not tell anyone that I talk. It is not yet time for Sarasi to know yet.” Niya told me.
“So she is...?” I trailed off.
“Yes. She is the Princess. Her birthday is tomorrow. I don’t know how it will show itself, but it will. So I need you to stay with her no matter what.” Niya ordered.
“What will show?” I asked.
“Her magic.” she answered.
“You coming?” the woman asked.
“Yes, yes. I’m coming.” I told her, climbing out from underneath the bridge.
When Niya and Sarasi came out, the woman gave a little gasp of surprise. Caem started toward Niya like he was going to wrestle her or something. Then he stopped moving because he saw that she was dragging Sarasi.
“Step away from the animal, boy.” he told me. I had a moment of confusion, then I moved in front of Niya.
“What animal? I don’t see an animal at all around here.”
“Then look behind you boy. That’s where the animal is hiding.” the woman told me bitterly. I turned around. I think she expected me to freak out or something, because she had a satisfied look on her face.
“There’s no animal here. All I see is Sarasi and her Nyager Cat, Niya.” I told them. Caem had a very weird look on his face.
“Niya? You mean the queen’s old cat?” Caem asked.
“Uhhhh....” I trailed off.
“What? Niya’s still alive?” the woman seemed genuinely surprised.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I told them, nervously.
“Then that must be....” the woman gasped, “Come with us. Caem, we’re closing up shop. Miss Niya, please come with us.” Niya let Caem pick Sarasi up and take her into the house nearby. But she followed close behind.
When we got into the house, I had to ask a question.
“Did you really see us run by?” I asked. If she did, then she wouldn’t have been surprised to see Niya.
“No, I didn’t. But if police were looking for children, I always lead them off the trail. I want kids, you see.” she told me.
“But you said earlier that Caem is your son.” I told her, confused.
“I wish he was! No, I found him when he was just a boy. I raised him. Caem, put her on my bed.” she instructed him.
“Thank you for taking us in. We won’t be staying long.” Niya said.
“So the rumors are true.” Caem breathed.
“What happened to the Princess?” the woman asked.
“Her name is Sarasi. When the men ran over the bridge, the loose plank hit her on the head.” I explained.
“Oh. My name is Sama. What happened to you?” she asked, motioning at my bandages.
“I had chips in me.” I explained.
“That bandage needs changed.” she pointed at the one on the back of my leg. The whole bandage was stained red except for where it was tied. Looking at it gave me waves of pain and dizziness. The room started to spin.
“Sit down and stop looking at it. I’m going to change it.” she chided me. I sat.
She left the room and came back with a dishcloth, a bottle, and a clean bandage. Then I recognized the bottle.
“Oh no. You are not putting that on there. I won’t let you!” I told her, backing away.
“Now, now, you don’t want Caem to hold you down.” Sama chided again.
“He’ll have to catch me first.” I said. (I shouldn’t have said that!)
“Caught you.” Caem said, grabbing my arm.
“Nooo!” I yelled, thrashing in his steel grip.
“Boy, what’s your name?” Sama asked, pausing in her advancing.
“Simon.” I answered.
“Tell me Simon, why are you so scared of this good bottle of alcohol?” she asked.
“I’ve had bad experiences with it.”
“Like what?” her voice was soothing.
“They would torture me with it if I didn’t bring them any money in one day.”
“How would they torture you with it?” She didn’t ask who ‘they’ was.
“They would cut me and pour it into the wounds.” I said flatly.
“Oh my! That’s horrible! Alcohol is made to heal cuts and scrapes. Did you ever get a scar? Or did it ever take a long time to heal?” she asked.
“No. Only the deep ones took a long time to heal.”
“Then the alcohol was healing you as it hurt.” she went on before I could say anything, “When the alcohol hurts, it just means that it’s killing all of the bad germs so your cut won’t get infected. Just ask Caem here.” Sama said. I looked up at Caem. I looked back down at her. Then I looked at the floor.
“So? Even if it heals, I don’t want you t- Aieeeee! Ow! Ow! O-” She had dumped some of the alcohol on my leg. I dropped into oblivion.

⚜ ⚜ ⚜ ⚜ ⚜ ⚜

I woke up to hear Simon scream, then fall silent. That made me sit bolt upright in the bed. Bed? How did I..? Then a throb of pain came. I grimaced.
I got out of the bed in this weird house to see where Simon is. I saw an old woman, Simon, and a very buff guy through an open doorway. The old woman had blood on one hand and a bottle of alcohol in the other. The big, buff, tattoo covered guy was holding Simon down as the old woman was cleaning his cut on the back of his leg. Well. I never knew that if you were unconscious and something hurt really bad that you would move.
I could tell that it was hard for that buff guy to hold Simon down, but he was. The woman bandaged his leg back up again. She nodded at the guy so he knew to let go. Once he let go, Simon curled into a ball that would ‘protect’ his leg. The the woman noticed me.
“Oh! You’ve awaken!” she exclaimed, “I was just changing the bandage of your friend over here. My name is Sama. Simon already told us your name. This here’s my son, well, adopted son, Caem.” she introduced.
“Are you going to turn us in?” I asked, fearful of the answer.
“Oh heavens no! We’re sympathizers, supporters, whatever you want to call us. We’re on your side!” Sama said.
“You are? Well, that’s a relief.” I told them.
“What’s your connection with him?” Caem asked, jerking a thumb in Simon’s direction.
“Uh.. I’m taking care of him like a mother would. He’s running from the Cleansers. He used to belong to a gang that found Cleanser haters. He was used to find them.” I told them. Then, I went into great detail to explain about Simon.
“That’s very nice of you, but you and him need to go to sleep.” Sama said. I looked over toward Simon and saw that he was awake and had been for a while.
I looked out the window and was surprised to see it dark outside.
“Yes. You’ve been talking for a long time. Now, both of you need to go to bed. Now!” Sama ordered. There was no arguing with that tone of voice. We went to bed. Niya went to sleep at the bottom of it.