I stop again to repeat the signs I’d once taught him. “Red. Talin. Friend.” My head feels light. I barely know this prisoner. But I have given him my oath. He has saved my life, there by the ruins, when the Ghosts closed in and I knew all might be lost. I am sworn, until death parts us, to protect him, to lay down my life for him, to be there when he needs me. So I continue on. My hands are empty of weapons. The world around me seems to still and slow. He watches me, his fingers digging against the earth. But he doesn’t move. His wings arc black against the night sky.
