The Time of The Wall 32

Part 32


Olina felt worse with every meter she walked. The walls of the narrow corridors looked awfully depressing and always seemed to get closer. Ordinarily she had no claustrophobia, but it was uncanny to run around in a building so long without seeing even one ray of daylight. It only made her more aware of how huge the ministry was and how small she was by contrast. Horin had suddenly stopped, but she could not see why. Then she saw how he crouched down and opened a metal door on the ground. Under it was an even narrower  and darker shaft in which one could climb down an iron ladder. Olina swallowed when she saw this. "We do not have to go down there, don't we?", she asked disbelievingly. Horin looked at her and answered: "I'm sorry,  we unfortuntatly have to. We are still on the sixth floor and the exit is in the ground floor. Are you not used to crawl through such holed in your jobs? ", he asked a little disparagingly. He had remembered again what social position Olina had in Tigan. And he did not want to let her forget, in spite of the tense situation, that he was still of the higher rank.
Olina had got a little fright, as Horin made this remark. Till present he had shown no sign of the usual arrogance which normal Tigo normally showed towards her. She wanted to return a snappy remark. but in this case she had to be reserved. At least, Horin was the one who showed her a way out, and moreover, it would be a big crime to rebel against a higher ranked Tigo... particularly if he was as high ranked as Horin." Ehm.... Till present I still had not to do jobs in this direction. ", she said quietly. It was quite strange. With Amon she would have hesitated no second to throw some insults to his head or even to attack him with magic. But she actually had more fear of a person her size... and also respect. Horin only nodded to her without showing any particular emotion and showed with a movement of the hand that she had to climb down first. With some aversion but without discussion Olina put her foot on the ladder and started to go down.


As she had made a few meters, the older Tigo followed her and blocked out the little light that was remeaning in the shaft. Now she had to feel around with her feet to find the steps. Now the fact, that she was still barefooted, did not really help in that situation. The thin rungs which constisted only of rather narrow metal strings which squeezed painfully into her sole. She asked herself how deeply she had to climb... six floors in the Grodi scale were not a especially reassuring distance. It seemed like an eternity when her feet felt no more metal, but concrete ground. "The ladder ends here, master Horin." , she said and took a few steps backwards, only to bump into a wall. The shaft was pitch-dark and thus she could only make the postition of the other Tigo out by straining her ears. As soon as he had reached the ground, Horin was panting a bit. Now Olina pulled her flashlight out and lighted up the room. They were in an about two square metre space which was made of grey concrete walls and had a single steel door.

Horin looked a bit surprised when Olina switched on her light, however, he was relieved that he would not have to grope around in complete darkness. He pressed the handle of the steel door, but it was closed. "Damn..., however, nothing what we cannot solve." , he meant briefly and laid his forefinger on the lock. Some seconds later it became terribly hot in the small space and the steel all around the castle started to glow. It did not last long and a big piece of metal fell on the ground and the door opened. Behind it  was a wider corridor which looked not more inviting than all the others. But but at least it was lighted up.

It had been long ago since Olina had seen someone use such strong magic without showing a single sign of strain. She had to admit that she envied him.

Horin dusted off his suit which looked quite worn out now, and wiped  the sweat from his brow. He looked over to Olina, who also looked pretty beat. Besides, she wore no shoes and her feet were as red as a cooked lobster. Maybe they should rest for a moment.
"Well, you've already explained to me how you got here. But what is of more interest for me is how you deal with Amon.I think if he's like in his childhood, he's not the ... hmm quietest Grodi., "He said, trying to break the silence. Olina had to smile a bit and actually thought not long before she answered." Hah! Quiet really is not the word that I would use to describe him . I would say he is  quite rude and vulgar. And often it is not exactly the brightest crayon in the box. But at least he has not left me behind or injured me or let me starve. And sometimes he has some sensible ideas, and he comes to get me out of here ... it's something special that a Grodi risks his life to save a Tigo whom he does not actually like. "Horin blinked when he heard this. That Ranel's son had become like that under such clife circumstances was not really surprising, but it was not particularly encouraging. Ranel was indeed often a little oblivious to the world and even careless sometimes, but that his son had becaome like this, made him worried. "Hmm ... maybe the life in the lower class importuned  him.", Horin answered shorty.

"I think social exclousion  importunes everyone." Olina said sternly, wincing a little. She had just, if only indirectly criticized the Tigan system, which was not the smartest thing to do in the  presence of Horin. But he just nodded silently, then said. "I think we have to keep going straight for a while now, before the next slot comes." The moonlight child went ahead and wondered what this nod had meant. Perhaps he had not noticed her criticisim.

Horin was well aware what she alluded. Over all these years he had thought a lot about the society he came from and of course spotted some of its failures and flaws . But this was not Tigan and despite his instilled derogatory thinking about the moonlight children, many had disappeared from his old life.Then he stopped suddenly as he heard Amon's voice in his ears.
He had almost forgotten he was still wearing the headphones. "Very good, Amon. We are unfortunately moving forward more slowly than I thought. It was a few years ago that I went that way. We will probably still need at least half an hour. And I will not accompany you , since Biantara of course, has made some security precautions. She was quite frustrated that she could not get any information out of me. Of course she just could have killed me, but she thought that keeping me as a slave would be humiliating for me. Well, in that case she was right of course. And to really frustrate me, she has put me in a prison without bars. That is, I can move around everywhere in the building, but can't leave it. I also have a kind of explosive collar, but it is not around my neck, it is inside my body. The only one who can deactivate it, is Biantara herself.  And I do not think she would ever do this ... Well, you have to time your drive so that you would not have to stay too long in front of the ministry. Otherwise they would suspect you. ", he concluded his statements.

Olina turned briefly to Horin, as she listened to what he was saying. How sick could that Grodi be? To place an explosive device in someones body ... How cruel.



Amon looked at the clock, wondering where exactly Sles' house was, what the quickest way into District 12 would be and how long it would take to get there.Luckily the only subject besides math which he had paid a little attention to in his school days was geography. And so he knew that District 12 and District 5 were situated next to each other. Although hos starting point was situated at the farthest away from the border that faced District 12. But since there was mostly little traffic in both areas, Amon estimated that it would take about 15 minutes to get there. So he would have to start driving in about 10 minutes. Amon heard the excited conversation of the two Tigo, who obviously did not care about that he overheard every word.
But something disturbed him about how Olina and Horin talked to each other. For some reason it seemed to him that some kind of tension existed between the two.And it sonded almost as if Olina would submit to the older Tigo and that the older seemed to totally accept this attitude. Again an again his father's old friend called Olina 'moonlight child' in a derogative tone and quite contrary to Olina's usually so exaggerated whiny and sensitive behavior,she just seemed to swallow it, and answered him in an extremely respectful and short sentences. 
"Allight, I did the math ... I will start in 7 minutes ... but I still have a question ... how did you manage to make Olina that quiet and compliant. Have you been  something special at your  home? A celebrity or something? And why is this so important that Olina is a moonlight child ... After all, she is also a Tigo, right? " Amon asked straight out. "Or is it because you are Biantara's Tigo and Olina has not  master? ... could you clear that up for me ... Olina did not really explain much about it ..."


Horin took a while to process the question that Amon had posed. Grodi were known to be pretty straightforward, but even after all these years, he still felt caught by surprise when he was asked such precarious questions so bluntly. In addition, he now thad to be careful about what he would say. To give away to much information this way, was too risky. 
"Well, how can I explain ... In Tigan we have a very strong hierarchical system. In this I am system my rank is very much higher than Olina's, so she respects me, as one has to expect it from a moonlight child . They can best serve the system with their work force, and that is all we expect from them, nothing more. In a certain way they are also Tigo, but generally their magical abilities are limited, the same often goes for their intellectual abilities. Therefore, they are usually only used for menial jobs. "Horin said quietly. That was the general doctrine in Tigan and at least about the magic ailities he was so absolutely right. Olina appeared to be somewhat smarter for  the species she belonged to, since the Pearl on her earrings showed that she was a student.

Olina clenched her fists as she heard Horin talk like that. It was humiliating enough to experience all the chicanery of all the other the higher standing Tigo. But to actually hear someone talk about this in that manner, was somehow a lot worse. Amon had at least treated her unfavorably because she was smaller and nagging, but this Horin offended her for a lot deeper reasons. All of sudden a lot of anger gathered inside of her. She shoukd not just let this coming on her. But should she dare to disagree? After all, he has not lived in Tigan for years. So was he even still a part of Tigan society? She breathed deeply and was just starting to complain about the statement, as Horin said further: "However, I went made a lot of experiences in my time here in how it is to be considered and treated inferior because of origin and physical appearance.  After all, moonlight children are not guilty of their origin and disposition. However, it also makes them ideal subordinates. I think that it has also occurred to you to see Olina as a slave or a pet because of her size. ". They approached the next shaft and this one would be much longer because it bridged two floors . With an audible snort, he opened the door and saw Olina's grumpy face. He could imagine that she was not particularly happy about his statements. No one liked to hear that they are inferior. But he would not excuse for simply describing the facts . 'This is the last slot we have to climb down. After that, there will be normal staircases that lead down. "He said in a soothing voice and climbed down the ladder.

The girl followed him soon after, still pretty upset. Olina could not resist a slight groan. After a few meters, which afflicted her feet terribly, she heard something that sounded like far away steps. But she could also have been deceived. Every breath and every groan in this shaft was distorted oddly, and Horin showed no reaction.


Amon was far from satisfied with Horin's answer. It bothered him less, that he had told him so little about the moonlight children, but what made him upset was the attitude that Horin showed towards Olina. He himself, who had often had to deal with snobs who thought just the same way about people from his social class. Now Amon thought of the harsh descent of his own family after the disappearance of his father. They became a part of the class that they had trampled on, or at least never observed. At that time all his friends had turned away from the Wodni family . No one of that snobs wanted to help by any means,or even wanted to stay in contact. And with the statements Horin had just expressed so casually, the Tigo had just made clear that he was a snob himslef. Just the mere fact that the moonlight children would be dumber and less powerful because of their origin, Amon found utterly ridiculous. Since Olina had proven several times that she unterstood his highly intelligent ideas. But there was something else, that resonated: Something that did not exist in Grodan. It was the kind of racism against the moonlight children that made Amon ultimatly decide that he could not stand that guy, friend of his father or not.
He understood that Horin and Olina were from distinctive classes, but he did not understand the guiding principles in this racism. He just wanted to dig deeper to learn more about the moonlight children and their strange position in Tigo-society, but his  clock geminded him that it was time to drive off, if he wanted to be on time and would not have to rush. "Anyway ... I'm driving off now. I'll be there soon and when I am at the ministry, I will contactyou again. Then you can tell me exactly where I have to go." Amon said coldly and drove the car out of the garage and turned right.

Luckily it was not far to District 12 and because his family had lived in District 5 earlier , he knew quite a lot of ways and possibilities to reach the meeting pioint relatively undiscovered. Therefore, Amon could relax again before he had to go into the lion's den and turned on Sles' old car radio. As the music  turned on, Amon was hit by a noise level from the speakers he had never expected, he had to turn down the volume quickly, if he wanted to prevent a chronic hearing impairment. Amon looked carefully for potential witnesses to his noise, but could only find a certain satisfaction that the transmitter of the communicator is still active, which meant that Horin most probably had gotten a huge charge of the music. And he thought the snobby Tigo did deserve just that. "That was for you, Olina ...." Amon thought, and turned on the main road that cut through most of the fith district.  As he reached the end of the road, he did not like what he saw there. Contrary to all his suspicions, the Squad had actually built a road block, where they controlled everyone who wanted to leafe district 5. For a moment, Amon was inspired by the thought to just heroically break through the roadblock, but as he slowly approached the Squad memers with his car and saw their heavy weapons, he realized that he had to rely indeed on his brains... which did not please him very much. And the first thing that his brain told him was to turn  around as unobtrusive as possible and find a way around the road block. Although he wore a disguise and his face was still swollen, he still sat in a stolen car and he only had his driver's license, which identified him as Amon Wodni. So he looked around and indeed there was a small road that turned left just before the roadblock.

As slowly and quietly as possible, he turned into this road, which turned out to be one of the small messenger road that were reserved for the servants of the high society. It winded into all possible directions and almost lead through the whole district, so it was hard to keep his orientation, and after some time he did not kow wher he was anymore. He was just about to tell Horin to find another way to get Olina out of there, but then Amon could turn into a much broader street. First he did not recognize this area, but after a moment he realized where he was, because the big hospital ot west Grodan came into view . Seeing this building sent shivers down his spine when he saw that huge grey building. Ecause this was the place where Chieli, his mother was, and she was about to die slowly.

The thoughts about this fact had been pushed away by all these excitement of the last days with Olina, but now everything came back to him. It was a fierce fever that slowly devoured his mother, and if they were all still part of the upper class, she would have had a chance of recovery, but in such a hospital was more like a hospice for his mother. Suddenly a thought flashed through Amon's head as he looked at the building with a sad expression, the thought that perhaps Olina could help his mother.After all, she had been able to heal his serious injuries and thus she would have possibly the ability to help his mother. But  first Amont had to  reach, the Ministry for Security to get her. But the little time he had to get to the meeting point, made him a little desperate. But fortunately the road ahead was free and nowhere a  roadblock or a patrol car was in sight, so Amon could accelerate much more.

The small car rattled and struggled under the high speed, Amon demanded from the old vehicle, but the thought was so tangible, that it made him forget almost anything. Amon looked at the clock and actually was almost on schedule again.  But when he approached the boundaries to district 12, he slowed down so he would not draw any attention. With a little uneasy feeling he drove over the line  and behind it he literally immersed into another world. 
The buildings seemed grayer, even bigger, to be even more monumental and more terrifying than the hopeless looking rest of Grodan. In the rest of the city one could see that it had actually been planned as a green island that the ancestors had planned, But district 12 was only a long series of loveless, bunker-like buildings on the one hand headquarters of the Squad, and on the other hand, the training center for the special forces. And at the end of  the dark and desolate road throned the humongous  Ministry  of internal Security.
It was the only building that still was in the same condition for over 300 years and had been the headquarters of the glorious military which had once fought for the honor of Grodan. But now there were no enemies anymore and no other Grodi outside of this giant city.
As Amon was coming closer to it slowly, his fear grew with every meter. But Amon had to move on, if not for Olina, then for his mother, who was the only bright spot in its 19 year long life. Finally, he arrived at the big building and drove the  car onto the big parking lot, that was, despite its size, diminutive compared to  the Ministry . Amon scanned the place and parked between two larger vehicles, turned off the engine and grabbed the small screen. He carefully looked around, whether or not someone was watching him. But for some reason he just could see black and white dots.
"Hello Horin! Amon is speaking ... I'm now at the southern parking lot ... do you hear me? Hello?" Amon asked cautiously. Something worried him. But somehow he didn't know what it was. He would not admit it, but deep inside him, Amon hoped that Olina was allright.