Caius's Arc

Chapter 6 of 10

They skirted the factory's edge for another hour, passing rusted metal husks half-buried in the dirt. The scrapyard stretched ahead of them — twisted beams jutting from the ground like broken ribs, human bones scattered between them. Caius couldn't see the bones, but he heard the squirrel-kin's breath catch when she stepped over one. His companion stayed close to him, describing the terrain in short, clipped phrases: spine, ribcage, skull. The shard pulsed steady in his paw, and Caius realized this wasn't just a wasteland. It was a graveyard for a war that had never ended. Another camera stood at the edge of the scrapyard, its lens tracking them as they moved. The squirrel-kin froze when she saw it, and Caius felt the group stop behind him. His companion's voice came low and tight. "How many of these are there?" Caius tightened his grip on the shard. "I don't know." The healer looked back toward the factory, then at Caius. "But you knew they'd be watching us. You knew we'd have to cross this with eyes on us the whole way." Caius nodded slowly. He'd told them about machines and defenses, but he hadn't explained what it meant to walk through Nor while something still alive watched every step. His companion turned to face him fully. "You brought us here without knowing if we could make it past the factory. You didn't know the map was wrong. You didn't know how many cameras there were. What else don't you know?" Caius stood still, the shard burning against his palm. She was asking the question he'd been afraid to answer since they left the village. He'd promised them honesty, but honesty meant admitting he'd led them into danger he couldn't measure. "I don't know what's between here and the city," he said. "I don't know if the shard will be enough to keep us clear of everything. I don't know if we'll find anything when we get there." His companion stared at him, and for a moment he thought she'd turn back. Then she exhaled and looked at the others. "So we know what we're walking into now. We're following someone who's guessing." The squirrel-kin shifted her weight, and the healer touched the patch inside his robe. "He's guessing," the healer said quietly, "but he's the only one who saw this coming." His companion didn't respond right away. Then she nodded once and started walking again, and Caius realized the truth had shifted something between them. They weren't following him because he had answers. They were following him because no one else had even asked the question.