THE LAST KEEPER

Chapter 288: 288. REUNION

Weaving sand was tiring, especially since he wasn’t in the desert and his strength had been depleted rapidly. He needed to get the squads as soon as he could. With Nokai in his right hand, Sagiri started moving East. They were not out of the woods yet. He might have buried the stone beasts alive, but he knew the place was still crawling with them. The impact of his ascent had destabilized the whole valley, and soon their siblings pretending to be rocks could come crawling.

Even further east, the squads had heard the sudden, large impact that shook the place.

”What is that?” Someone said as everyone suddenly got alert.

”He is here,” Kiuga said, a small smile breaking on his lips. ”I knew he could come.”

Even so, the group dared not move. They knew their adversaries were not too far out. The place was dark anyway, and they could not tell rock from creature. That was not the only reason they were not moving, however. They were so cold that they could not move. Lips had turned white, and at this point, they were hanging onto life by a thread. Hunger and dehydration were their other enemies.

Sagiri, on the other hand, did not have time to waste running. He pushed the archive out to where he could perceive the Salka squad, but only stopped for a moment.

”I will go on right ahead.” He said, catching in a second.

”Did you have to wake the whole valley?” Matasi said, shaking his head.

”Fine. Go ahead.” Salka said, not stopping a moment, and Sagiri had a little challenge catching up at his running speed. The squad was almost there anyway. They moved awfully fast. Just like Sagiri was gone again. He pushed the archive out to just where he knew they could be and moved within the archive.

The place he stopped was so cold. There was only one opening above the ground, a few feet high. The heartbeats were faint, but he could hear them clearly now. He jumped in one huge leap and landed on the opening. His markings were still crawling under his skin, providing a little light to the otherwise dark cave.

The two squads looked nothing like warriors. Their uniforms were torn and darkened by dirt and dried blood, faces hollow from exhaustion, movements slow and guarded even while resting. Some sat against walls and some against each other. It looked like they were keeping silent and as steady as possible. It must have been Kiuga’s idea, and perhaps it has saved them. Any small movement, and the rock crawlers could have come to bury them alive. That could have proved harder even for him to find them. The rock beast did not have good hearing, but any slight movement and they could catch even from hundreds of vaara away.

Weapons lay close to every hand. No one in Boni truly slept, and it was evident they hadn’t slept for a moment. The moment Sagiri stepped into the cave, heads snapped toward him instantly, several blades half-raised before recognition settled in. For a second, nobody spoke. Sagiri looked over them quietly, eyes moving across the injuries and the bad state they were in.

Then he exhaled lightly beneath the mask.

”You lot look terrible,” he said flatly. ”Boni tamed you that badly?” Sagiri mocked. Served them right for acting stupid.

The tension inside the cave broke almost immediately after hearing his voice, the kind that only people at death’s door experienced when rescue actually came.

For a few seconds, nobody moved after recognizing him. The exhaustion hanging over the ruins seemed to loosen all at once, shoulders dropping, weapons lowering, some of them almost laughing from pure relief while others simply sat there staring at Sagiri like they were making sure he was actually real. Gavina was one of those who were wounded. She was a remarkable woman for holding on even after going through such. She let out a breath that sounded dangerously close to breaking. She was fighting the urge to cry, but blinked away her tears.

Typical Tsanka women strive to be cold even when softness is required. Her trembling lips, however, were all too telling that she was suffering. Lira was asleep. Somehow, she was managing better than everyone. Well, she had grown up in places colder than the cave.

”Sagiri,” weak voices filled the cold cave.

”Sagiri...” Kiuga breathed in relief.

”I thought you were better than this. I am disappointed.” Sagiri said in a slightly raised voice. Kiuga did not answer, but Sagiri could feel his guilt eating him alive. They all looked guilty. Sagiri looked at all of them in silence before shaking his head slightly.

”Idiots,” he said flatly. ”Are merits worth dying for?” A few weak sighs answered him, though nobody really argued.

They looked too tired for pride, and most heads lowered in shame. Sagiri stepped further into the cave, eyes moving over the wounded.

”What took you so long from the south anyway?” Kaka said. He still managed to look prideful even with the bit of shame rolling off of him.

”Unlike you kids who desire death so much, I was on my way to the Capital to retrieve something important, but I had to come, babysit, and beat some sense into you.”

”You should’ve thought this through instead of thinking with your manhood. If I took any longer, I’d be carrying corpses back instead.” His tone stayed cold, but it sounded more like frustration than anger. Then his gaze sharpened slightly.

”Enough resting. Can everyone here still walk?” Silence followed for a moment before tired hands started pushing against the ground, and warriors slowly forced themselves upright despite the pain, but sat down right after. They were hopeless.

”We need to keep moving. You are going to have to crawl at this point or get buried alive.”

”One instructor went to pull away the beasts, and he didn’t come back. The other has a broken leg.” Kiuga said, gathering himself, and began giving Sagiri the useful information. The injured instructor lay still and unconscious. The cold was the only thing keeping his wound up uninfected.

”I can’t perceive him. He might be dead or buried alive.” Sagiri said, and there were gasps.

”He can’t...” One of the girls stammered.

”That is what happens when you get greedy. People die.” Sagiri said his voice came harsher than he intended, but he meant every word.

”You are not kids anymore. You are to be warriors soon, captains and generals. You can’t lead your teams into danger just because of pride.” Sagiri chastised again. He had had to be a chief and responsible for life, and he could not imagine making such a careless decision.

”Sagiri is right. This was stupid.” Salka landed at the mouth of the cave in a crouch. He was too tall to stand straight in the place.

”Captain...” They all greeted in shock, even trying to stand straight, but most failed. Only Kaka was still standing straight.

”We need to move, they are coming in hundreds. The whole valley had come alive after your stunt.” Salka turned to sagiri before looking at the group.

”That is futile. They can’t make it three steps without collapsing.” Sagiri said.

”We have lost our instructor...” Pavire said, her voice hoarse. It was clear she hadn’t spoken in a while.

”If he went against them himself, he would be dead,” Salka said, and there were more grieved feelings flying around. That was the highest probability, however. Even the 21 surviving was still a miracle.

”Please, you have to find him...” Gavina said in a small voice. That was the most feminine voice he had had him use.

”They must be deluded from exhaustion, Captain.” Matasi’s voice said from below and behind Salka. ”We really need to move, now, Captain.” He insisted.

Everyone in the cave could hear the distressed growls of Salka’s pets.

”I can get them out. Will you be fine, captain?” Salka asked. Salka did not even ask how. He just nodded and turned around.

”Fine, we will catch up.”