The three of them stood there on the charred battleground, looking at each other. What should they do now? They were worried and confused.

 

It was Liz who talked first.

 

"We should first go to the city Rucco to meet Nana and then decide how to start looking for Juran," she said.

 

"How can you be sure that Juran is still alive?" Ethan said in an exasperated voice.

 

"Juran is too valuable for them to be killed right away", Ahir said. "They'll keep him as a hostage. But before they can use him as a pawn, we must rescue him."

 

"But how? How are we to know where to look for him?" Ethan said.

 

"That's why we need to find Nana first," Liz said. "She is the only one who can show us a way now. Let's hurry now! We must reach Rucco as soon as possible."

 

So the three of them had decided to go on with their journey towards the city of Rucco.

 

*********************************

 

The night had started to fade away. Patches of blue and purple appeared on the eastern horizon. Three horses trotted on the barren land towards Rucco.

 

Ethan and Liz rode side by side. Ahir brought up the rear, silently carrying out the task of wiping away traces of their mark on the stony ground. Their progress was slow and laborious, but they had no other choice there. The horses were tired from their long journey and battle. They could not take any more strain.

 

They had been riding silently for a long time. Liz was lost in her own thought, her face gloomy and stern. Ethan couldn't help but glance at her from time to time. Suddenly he spoke up.

 

"Liz?" He said. "Do you know Gailar?"

 

Liz was startled. "No! I mean I never had the chance to know him personally," she said absent-mindedly. "He and Juran had never been on a friendly term."

 

She remained silent for a moment. Then she said, "Ethan, I think we should not tell anyone about what Gailar did today. I've no idea how he did it, but I think he doesn't want anyone to know about it."

 

Ethan nodded. He had felt the same way, too.

 

A thought had been disturbing him for some time. He decided to ask Liz anyway. He turned his gaze away from Liz and said, as if talking to himself, "You are fond of Juran, aren't you?"

 

Liz was surprised by his sudden question. It showed in her voice. "I guess I am? But why do you ask?"

 

Ethan didn't reply. He felt too awkward and ashamed of himself.

 

The two of them rode in silence for some time. Liz broke the silence first and when she spoke, her deep and melancholic voice seemed to come from afar.

 

"When I was a child, I was quite awkward. My limbs were long and slender, making me look ugly. Other kids of my age often used to bully me. I had a brother who was just two years older than me. For my sake, he used to get into fights quite often. Then one day, some of the older boys who bullied me often, chased me. I climbed high up a tree and hid myself inside its leafy branches. The boys couldn't find me, but they guessed I was hiding close somewhere nearby. So they didn't buzz from that place. They stood below the tree, waiting for me to show up eventually."

 

Liz stopped and gazed into distance, as if she was trying to see things hidden far away in some distant past. Then she resumed her tale.

 

"My brother had seen me hiding in the tree. He fought with those boys so that I could escape. But they were bigger and stronger than him. They thrashed him brutally and left him writhing on the ground. I was so afraid that I couldn't come down and help him, but as soon as they left I climbed down and ran to him. He lay there, bruised and mangled, panting for breath. As I took him home, half-carrying and half-dragging him, I kept sobbing unknowingly, tears running down my cheeks all the way. All night we sat by the side of his bed, me and my parents, while he tossed in his bed feverishly, and by the time daylight came he was already gone far away..."

 

Liz's voice trailed off. Ethan didn't know what to say. Silently, he cursed himself for opening the floodgate of such a painful memory.

 

'So it's the same here, too!' He murmured to himself. 'The same tale of pain and suffering...of the strong trampling the weak!'

 

'Guess it's the same sordid tale everywhere!' He said in his mind.

 

Liz seemed to have recovered though. "Whenever I'm around Juran, it is my dead brother that he reminds me of," she said. "He's been there protecting and comforting me whenever I needed him. So isn't it quite natural that I'll be fond of him as well?" She asked.

 

Ethan could only nod in response. He was still going through Liz's tale in his mind. 'God! How much this girl had to suffer!' He thought in his mind.

 

But there was more to come.

 

"Has Juran told you about how he got us?" Liz asked.

 

"Not much really," Ethan said. "I remember him saying something like human weapons and tools and that he won you in fights."

 

"Well, I've been more of a tool than a weapon," Liz said. "I had been used in cleaning the glass fronts and windows of those skyscrapers!" She chuckled. "Guess, it's always more profitable to employ a human tool there than investing in a specific automatic machinery! Juran discovered me during one of my assignments. He then challenged my employer in a fight and won me over," she said.

 

Ethan had been listening to her intently. "What about Ahir?" He asked.

 

"Same there." Liz said. "Ahir's ability was used in excavation and mining. He had a gruelling life there. You can say Juran freed him, too. But none of us are actually weapons ourselves, though Ahir is really good with Cereb weapons."

 

"What are the human weapons, then?" Ethan asked.

 

"You won't understand unless you see one!' Liz chuckled. "Anyway, I must say that you surprised me there. I never knew that you were such a brave man! I like you!"

 

As Ethan fully grasped what Liz was saying he blushed deeply. Seeing this, Liz laughed hard.

 

"Why are you blushing like a girl? And, it's not me who's after Juran! There are some other persons too, who may be running after him!"

 

Laughing, Liz urged her horse which broke into a canter and the gap between the two widened. Ethan stared at her direction. He was happy to see that the veil of gloom had been lifted off her.