We left his motorcycle propped up under a tree. As if anybody would dare touch a Sabrewing’s property. The playground looked lonely except for a few birds: tangles of rope and structures of reed sitting deserted in the pale dust. Here and there, miniature gardens circled by low, uneven rocks. I noticed Valentino staring at the fruiting cacti with their menacing thorns.

“There’s always some kid,” I told him, “who manages to get a thorn stuck all the way through their hand. Back in the day it was me.”

Somehow, Valentino managed to wince and smile at the same time. “I’m sorry, Your Excellency.”

“Oh, it’s nothing. Grandma Cielo is a great healer, in case you don’t know, so I always just pulled the thorn out and used a spell bead she gave me. The other kids were all in awe of me for a few moments, so that was good. My grandmas never let me away from their sight without making sure I carried a couple of healing spells, anyway. Sometimes they came in handy to help someone else. But mostly me.”

The restroom’s walls were so heavily scarred with graffitti you’d be forgiven for not noticing it was whitewashed once. ‘Cause it’s property of the town, nobody feels the need to respect it like you’d do to your neighbors’s houses. When there’s no more room to write in, someone whitewashes it all over again. And so the cycle begins anew.

Like I said, I wasn’t expecting to see anybody, so when I happened to glance at the restroom’s shadow and see a few people sitting on the worn wooden benches, I almost jumped behind Valentino’s back. I’m glad I didn’t, ‘cause that would’ve looked real stupid.

They were Tekitekis, six of them, teenagers, nobody I remembered meeting before. But then, they’re always coming and going. Because they won’t swear allegiance to the Megarchon, they belong nowhere. Barefoot, they wore sleeveless tunics of summer-light vicuña-brown wool and threaded colorful shells into their braids. Their mitemas should be close by, and maybe their families too.

Valentino nearly stopped in his tracks when he saw them, but quickly recovered, tipping his cap to them. They just stared back with deep-set dark eyes, looking kinda bored.

I was kinda surprised they didn’t run away the moment they glimpsed a white uniform. Anybody who hasn’t sworn allegiance to the Megarchon can be killed on sight, and nobody will care. Well, maybe not nobody. We trade with them. Ages ago, when the Megarchon’s lackeys dumped us in these hills to fend for ourselves, it was the Tekitekis who taught us to understand this land, to coax crops out of the arid soil. When they come asking for shelter, we let them into our homes and share what we have with them. If you start acting like a pawn of the Megarchon, a pawn is what you’ll become.

The inside of the restroom wasn’t bad, as I said: it too was about to disappear under its load of graffitti, but it didn’t smell bad and you rarely found anything frightening on the toilet bowls. I washed the road dust off of my face and instantly felt refreshed.

The Tekitekis weren’t sitting out there when we left, and I think I should’ve taken that as a warning. Instead I followed Valentino’s golden-vested back and wondered what I’d have for lunch.

“Run,” he said.

Thankfully, I didn’t just stood there gaping at him like a fish. I made a straight dash to the motorcycle. Valentino followed just a couple of steps behind me. I could tell he was trying not to overtake me, so I picked up speed. Something whipped at my ankles. I caught a glance of brown tendrils—roots? Whatever, I didn’t care to make sure of it.

The weak blows turned into a heavier, scratching drag. Before they could worsen, though, I was lifted into the air, magic crackling all around me, so high I could’ve kicked the treetops. My hat flew right off my head and floated peacefully to the ground. Like an idiot I stared at it, wishing I could reach out and grab it. That wasn’t important! I turned back as far as I could, squinting in the sunlight.

Valentino had been surrounded by the Tekitekis. A tangle of those root-like things had toppled him, wrapping itself around his ankles. Now it crawled up his legs, then his belly. But Valentino only looked at me, focused on taking me to safety. I was coming down, gently, at the edge of the park, until my feet touched the ground by the motorcycle’s side.

The Tekitekis blurred together in the distance, surrounding an unmoving shape covered in roots. My heart leaped into my throat. Could a bunch of teenagers harm a Sabrewing? Even six against one? Fine, I only really knew Sabrewings by reputation! But they had to be more than just a fitted uniform. Even if the Protectorate failed to deliver every single one of its promises, it’d never fail on the threat of power.

Though it felt like a century, I was only paralyzed for an instant. The tangle of roots shattered with a crack like splitting firewood, throwing off splinters in every direction. The Tekitekis were thrown off too. I ran back to Valentino, though a part of me already believed it was too late—too late for what, I didn’t even know. It hurt to breathe.

Valentino stood very straight, covered in dust from the toes of his boots to the tip of his braid. Before I could ask him if he was hurt, I saw the look in his eyes, and I forgot what I was going to say. It was the kind of look of someone focused on squashing a bug before it runs away.

The Tekitekis weren’t going anywhere, all sprawled on the ground as carelessly as fallen leaves, and at least one of them wasn’t unharmed—they’d fallen on the cacti, crushing a couple of plants and leaving a smear of blood on the ground before curling up on a pained knot. Well, it wasn’t serious or anything, just unpleasant. In fact, they should be on their feet already. But none of them were, ‘cause Valentino wasn’t letting them. As I reached him, he tossed the Tekitekis one on top of the other, as easily as he’d handled the laundry.

Sweat stung my eyes. What to do? They’d attacked a Sabrewing! You can’t expect to walk away from that. If Valentino wanted to kill them right there and then, I couldn’t stop him. His real duty was to escort me to the capital unharmed, not to obey my every order. And the Tekitekis had threatened me, even if only to get at Valentino.

They were dead! Dead! After attacking one of the Megarchon’s personal guard of honor, one of the Megarchon’s own blood relatives, the best you could hope for was a quick death before your corpse was thrown in the garbage. Even for a citizen of the Protectorate. Which they weren’t.

And if they were dead, so what? I’d done nothing. Yes, it was Valentino they were after, but they hadn’t been too worried about me being caught in the middle, had they?

“Please listen to me, Sergeant Vargas.” How I managed to make my voice sound so calm, I had no clue. Valentino didn't even look at me. I took a couple of wary steps closer. “Please, listen to me.”

Valentino still didn’t look at me, but he did whip his head to the right, where someone had just gripped his arm.

“Listen to him,” Vanth said.