The camp no longer sounded alive.

  Elira stood near the centre of it, breath shallow, heart still hammering as if she had not stopped running. Fires crackled where they had been kicked over or left unattended, embers snapping and spitting in the cooling air, but the noise felt distant, muffled beneath the weight pressing down her chest. Bodies lay scattered across the ground in shapes that did not belong to the living. Limbs bent at wrong angles, faces turned toward the dirt or the sky with equal emptiness. Blood darkened the earth in uneven patches, already drying at the edges, the metallic scent clinging to everything.

  She had seen worse higher up the hill. The image returned with brutal clarity. Jake’s body lay crumpled near the cages, eyes staring, eyes staring sightlessly at nothing, keys still hanging from his belt. Elira remembered the way her hands had shaken as she knelt beside him, the sick twist in her stomach when she realised that he must have known, what he must have allowed. She had not lingered. She couldn’t. Tomas’s hoarse shouts still echoed through the camp, pleas turning into screams somewhere behind her. The sound drove her forward. She tore the keys free and moved, forcing herself, hands shaking to unlock the cages, one by one.

  I can still fix this.

  She stood where her momentum had finally run out, the camp unfolding around her in stunned silence. No one spoke. People were banging on cages, wailing. Noncombatants pressed against tents or fire pits, some even to each other, eyes wide, watching as Kaizer strode through the aftermath in silence.

  Kaizer was still there, alive. He must have killed over thirty people by now. He walked through the camp as if the violence had already passed him by blood drying on his skin, posture straight despite the wounds he carried. Elira could not help but stare. Nothing was said. He did not look for witnesses, anything. He moved with the unhurried certainty of someone finishing a task. Elira realised, distantly, that she’d stopped to watch him. Stopped unlocking cages. Hands were stretching, trying to reach her. She noted the runes etched on the cages, muting runes.

  Iron bars loomed ahead of her. With each cage she approached, eyes of hope followed. Her mind drinking in the scars, malnourishment, people, basically skin and bone. Clutching at straws, watching her with hope. The keys felt heavier in her hand, metal biting into her palm as she forced herself to focus. “Elira,” someone whispered hoarsely. “Please.”

  She fumbled on each lock as she passed, hands slick with sweat and blood. It took her three tries before the key turned in the next lock, the mechanism giving away with a dull clank. She realised where the voice had come from. Her best friend, locked, barred. Her father had said that she had died outside of camp. Elira had believed him, but here she was, caged like a rat. The door swung open and the people inside surged forward, Kayla weakly hugging her on the way through. Many of the people inside could barely walk, barely move, some clung to her shortly, as if they might be dreaming if they let go.

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  Elira moved from cage to cage in a daze, unlocking, always unlocking. Stepping back as captives were freed and spilled into open air. Cries could be heard as family members united. Some staring in disbelief at the mayhem around them. A few simply sank to the ground where they stood, too exhausted, too weak.

  Elira peered into one of the final cages and froze. The girl inside was small, curled in on herself in the corner, knees drawn tight to her chest, arms wrapped around her head as if trying to disappear into her own body. She did not look up when the door opened. She did not react when Elira whispered that she was free.

  Elira knelt slowly, breath hitching, and reached out. Her hand hovered for a heartbeat before she touched the girl’s shoulder. The child flinched violently and let out a thin, broken sound that cut straight through Elira’s chest.

  Something inside her shattered then, a clear irreversible break that left no room for rage anymore, only a hollow ache and a sudden, devastating clarity. This was what she had been blind to. Not just the cruelty, not just the abuse, but the quiet way it had been accomplished and allowed to exist within the camp. The comforting lies from her father, reassuring her that everything was ok.

  Elira sank to her knees and pulled the girl into her arms, ignoring the way the child stiffened, holding on anyway because letting go felt impossible. Tears spilled down her face, hot and unstoppable, soaking into the girl’s filthy hair as other freed captives hovered nearby. A mother came up to her with a sob, grabbing the girl from Elira’s arms. The reuniting was bitter sweet.

  It was then that she felt it. A presence watching her, taking note of her actions. Elira looked up. Kaizer stood several paces away, half-turned as if he had been walking past when something made him pause. His gaze rested on her without judgement, taking in the open cages and freed captives. For a heartbeat, Elira thought he would come over, say something, tell her what to do, take charge.

  Instead, he simply nodded. The motion was small, casual and it did not last. Understanding struck her all at once. He had done what needed doing. He had gone up the hill to tear out the rot at its source, believing he would have to finish everything himself. He had returned to find her already freeing the captives, acting. He had shown her acknowledgement like no other before.

  Good, she thought, realisation settling into her bones. You understand now. It felt like a torch being passed to her. Not one of authority, but one of recognition. This is the world now, your naivety is no longer an excuse. This, too must be destroyed.

  Kaizer didn’t wait for her. He turned away and continued walking, passing through the camp and vanishing on the path. Elira watched as the trees welcomed him. Had the trees warped around him, bowed? No… that was just her mind playing tricks. Then, he was gone.

  With all of the cages open, Elira stood, walking to the commander’s tent. Inside was a gruesome sight. A half-naked girl, no older than 9 or 10 was cowering under the sheets. The commanders torn up body, lay on the ground in front of her. Elira walked over to the girl and hugged her. “It’s ok, he can’t hurt you now.” She held the girls hand for what seemed like an eternity. Eventually they moved. The entire camp began to gather near the Tailors shop.

  Questions rolled in, hesitantly at first, voices low and uncertain, asking what they should do, or where to go. The most common one.. “Where’s Kaizer?” Elira answered what she could. No speeches or orders came from above. As she spoke, softly and mentioned his name. She saw reverence in the eyes of a few. The same question was asked again and again, the one she couldn’t answer…. “Where’s Kaizer?”. She felt the shift. The way his name was spoken softer, with care, almost… worship. Elira didn’t deny it, she couldn’t.