THE LAST KEEPER-Chapter 71: ALL FLARES

Salka did not get to sleep long even after he freshened up and ate. He forced himself to rest for an hour and half before he headed out. The cadets had already gone out, watchers took their positions on the walls and ground supervising instructors had already left. Fuwuka was standing on the highest point above the wall just above the gate staring at the dark landscape beyond the gate. It seemed that no supervising instructor had fired the white flare in case of danger.

He yawned and stood beside fuwuka who was staring into the darkness as if he could see anything besides the darkness. The man was not even wearing vision goggles like all the watchers. This rested around his neck. Salka retrieved his and pulled them over his eyes. He stared into the darkness.

"What is the plan?" he asked Fuwuka.

"We sent in only senior instructors and above rank out, junior instructors are watchers. Except Lotaga. He said he was put on watcher duty and I sent him on to the other side of the wall. The supervisors are spread out in pairs, but we are stretched thin." Fuwuka explained. Senraki briefed him about the situation and fuwuka was best at taking quick measures. The man did not know what taking it easy was. Another reason why Salka trusted him to take charge.

"Any eliminations yet?" Salka stared into the darkness watching cadets without flasks running back towards the gate.

"Seems they are being more careful today. Only fifty six eliminations so far." Fuwuka said with pride. It seemed the boys had learnt unlike the previous night that sometimes hiding was better than attacking an opponent with the same weakness as you. The filthy six were seated in the assembling space inside the gate in a meditative position where they could sit until the game was over. The entire reason for the exercise was to teach them how to fight when you had a weakness. The flask was a representation of a weakness. You have to hide yours but when it is exposed and could take you down any moment then another strategy is required. Like stealth, laying low, patience. Patience most of all was the main goal of the game. The two men stared into the darkness for another few minutes and it was silent for a while.

Then a flare went off. Not orange or purple but yellow. Neither captain moved. Yellow is just a distress signal but it wasn’t a fatal signal. Perhaps someone had finally encountered a scorpion. It was on the far centre but not even halfway to the heart of the terrain but it was still far off.

"Looks like someone is scared of the scorpions. Can’t be from Konate." Salka added. "are there supervisors in that region?" he continued to ask.

"Yes. There must be two around that region." Fuwuka answered, not worried at all. "Gravescale’s don’t like the sand so I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about." Fuwuka added. He had already debriefed all the instructors. From watchers to supervisors about the situation. It was already rare that a gravescale attacked so far from their nest. Moments went by and the two men assumed the problem had been solved but another yellow distress flare went off and Salka’s eyes narrowed.

"I am sure I situated supervisors 10 vaara apart. There should have been two or one in that area." Fuwuka said, narrowing his eyes. Torena stepped out behind the two with senraki. The two had arrived with the blast but caught fuwuka’s statement. Salka’s team was on the ground as supervisors but he did not know what positions.

"That is the second flare just a few feet apart. Do you think it’s two teams or just one team on the run?" Salka asked more to himself and there was silence as the men waited to see if a third could follow or a supervisor had intervened. Not long after another yellow distress flare went off and salka’s brows knitted together.

"That is plenty of time for a supervisor to get there. What is taking so long?" Fuwuka gritted. just as he was talking a watcher came by and bowed to salka.

"Captain Salka, watcher Lotaga said he was going down the wall to release himself but it has been two hours." An instructor on watcher duty came just then and saluted before reporting. Salka hissed with irritation. He had known that Lotaga could not listen to him but he hoped he could. He must have got bored staying put like the child he was and gone to chase some fun.

"Go back to your post and don’t move." Salka said with a serious tone. "I’m going to kill him this time." He muttered under his breath turning his eyes around to watch the darkness below. It had gone silent for a while with no more distress flares and Salka’s shoulders lowered. He however did not like that three distress flares were shot at the same time. He was about to scale down the wall and go check out the area himself when two red flares went off at the same time. Red flares were much more prominent, used even in battle and two had been shot just around the same area the yellow had been shot.

"What on earth is going down there!" Senraki said, coming to stand at the edge.

"I’ll go down and check." Salka said, already unraveling his hooked ropes.

"I will go with you. Fuwuka, get ready to use the white and green flares. Torena gathers healers on standby. We might need one." Senraki gave the order. The red flare could only mean a life and death situation and senraki never wanted cadets to lose their life before they even graduated.

"What the hell is going on down there?!" Fuwuka cursed.

Senraki and Salka scaled the wall quickly before they disappeared in the direction of the red distress flare. Salka could only hope that whatever it was, they were not too late. The white combat suit Senraki always wore shone even in the darkness providing no camouflage. He did not need any either. It seemed that he hadn’t been able to get what Salka had said out of his mind. He was carrying his two swords both sheathed to his sides.

"Try not to slow me down, Salka of the Bami." Senraki mocked, charging into the rocky terrain amidst a blur. Salka groaned at his childish tantrum and moved fast. Senraki was able to keep up, of course they seemed like two blurs disappearing by.

"I just hope no one dares to die without my order." Senraki said after a while of them moving. They could cover the distance in a quarter the time the students used to get there because of how fast they were. A student’s speed was nothing compared to that of a captain or a marshal. Salka just snickered. They soon covered more than half the distance.

They all felt the two rushed footsteps before they saw two cadets running at top speed. Their flasks were intact but they looked like they were running for dear life.

"Stop!" Salka commanded startling the two who almost tripped on their own feet at how fast they turned. They looked terrified as if they had seen a ghost and they were conveniently running from the direction the red flare had just gone off. They did not seem to even recognize his voice. They got into a defensive position, backs tights joined together and drew their daggers. They panted more from fear than tiredness and Salka wondered what they had seen.

He jumped from the high rock followed by Senraki.

"Salsal you are scaring them." Senraki said in a low voice and it scared the boys even more. He probably sounded like a pervert acting half his age calling unprofessionally in front of the cadets. Even with the moon it was still dark and the boys could not see them properly.

"Are you planning to stab your captain Zazarie, Bukata. What form is that even?" Salka said, stepping closer and the boys almost fell over in relive. They looked like they were just about to collapse in relief and they hanged over to breathe.

"You are on Sagiri’s team like I remember. Where are the others?" Senraki asked, jumping down too.

"He is dead." Bukata said after a moment of silence. "They killed him!" he said, tears of terror forming in his eyes. Most of the cadets had not gone to the field or killed before or seen someone die. That could start after three months. They could spend half the year before finals on small missions yet cadets breaking down was not a trait they had been taught. It was as if all the training went out the door at that moment. Salka could understand but he did not have time to calm down the boys.

"Cadet, calm down and give a record of the encounter!" He said in a strict tone and the boy looked like he was physically trying to pull himself together.

"Someone stabbed Sagiri. It-it has to be the twins or the intruders. He is b-bleeding so much." Zazarie was the one who answered, looking like his panic was forcing him not to feel because if he felt then he could not handle it.

"What else?" Salka asked.

"There were intruders disguised as Konate students and they wanted Sagiri." Zazarie answered before he collapsed. It seemed that the only reason the boy had not collapsed from watching his comrade die was because his mind was pushing itself to deliver the news before he let the shock hit him. He was actually much worse than Bukata in a sense.

"Why do they want him?" sagiri tried to get all the angles as he retrieved the white distress flare. It seems he was right about the intruder.

"Sagiri was acting not himself today. He-he asked us to leave before he got stabbed. Those intruders said he wanted to bury them and sagiri did not deny it." Bukata explained. Salka could not understand what the boy was saying. He probably was in shock and saying nonsense. Salka shot the white flare in the air before turning to leave.

"Carry your friend to the gate. The exercise is over." Salka said before him and senraki continued on their journey. He had brought the boy himself from the exam council and he did not want to imagine the worst. He pushed himself even faster now. even senraki was silent.

"Could a cadet really stab another? I wanted to corner them but I didn’t imagine they could go this far." Senraki cursed. He had played a game to catch them and with Kaka in the team and the other eight he had not expected for things to go this way. If the boy died then it would be completely his fault.

"Its not the time to blame yourself. We need to get the boy a healer." Senraki said, reading the man’s thoughts. He could not afford to think of anything other than saving the boy just yet. After a few minutes of pushing themself they finally broke into the clearing. The smell of blood had welcomed them long before. Even without the smell the scene was all telling. Six cadets were sprawled in different positions and the other missing. Salka’s heart stopped for a moment.

They are dead

I was late again

His thoughts chanted in his head. Senraki pulled forward to check the pulse of the closest boy. He breathed sharply.

"They are alive." He said and Salka breathed a sigh he had been holding. He was not phased by death but he was phased by seeing children die without cause. "They are just sleeping." His second statement was even more shocking. to add to the weirdness sagiri and two other boys were missing. They could not have all just fallen unconscious from the shock. Even so he knew Kiuga and the boy was far more advanced for his age. He must have been the one who made the call to send the two to seek help.

"Hypnosis." Senraki gritted. "There are intruders." Senraki tapped the boys one by one in the acupoints, jolting them out of the hypnosis sleep. They all looked disoriented for a moment before they shot up and wheeled around. Hypnosis just paused time for them and they probably were now getting back to the scene only to find sagiri missing.

"Sagiri? Sagiri!" N’varu was the first to go nuts followed by the others. It took them a while to realize that Senraki and Salka were standing beside them.

"Captain?" Kiuga said being the one who was least freaked out. The others saluted with the exception of N’varu who had gone completely mad. He was holding the sand full of Sagiri’s blood close to his chest as if he could suddenly materialize from the ground.

"Keeper noo!" he screamed, not caring and Salka was convinced everyone had gone mad.

"Kiuga, where is Sagiri?" Senraki asked and Kiuga did not hesitate to give a proper account of what had happened even about Maita and Kaka going after those who stabbed Sagiri. From what Kiuga said the intruders did not look like they wanted to kill sagiri. They wanted him alive. It solidified their speculation that the ones who stabbed him were the tamelku twins. Senraki retrieved the green flare and shot two in the air simultaneously.

"All of you head in the closest direction you see a white flare." He instructed and as if on command. White flares went off all over the terrain lighting up the sky. "Join the supervising instructors and head for the gate," he continued. N’varu had not moved and he was now sitting defeated staring into the darkness. Only for a long moment however before he got up and charged in a random direction.

"I think I should come with you too." Kiuga said and Salka paused to think for a long moment before giving in. The boy was young but he could be of help for what came next.

"Good. The rest go back." He instructed and the other boys did not need to be told twice before they were running back.

"So you are saying the intruders wanted Sagiri because they believe he is someone of importance." Salka asked as he bent down to look at the trail of blood. Sagiri must have been bleeding pretty bad from the trail of blood left behind.

"Yes. And he looked sick and in pain like that day at the dining wing, before..." Kiuga stopped. It seemed he did not want to think about what had happened.