“Let me.” She lifts the edge of her breastplate and rips the fabric underneath. “Dipped goatskin. We wear it under our armor. Very porous and the substance we dip it in is made from garlic. Helps leech out any infectants.” She wraps it around my arm tight. “I did not mean to come off rude earlier, if I did. For the past several months, I’m the one who’s been making the decisions, looking out for us.”

“It’s all good.”

She tucks the edge of the wrap so it stays put.

“And thanks for the goatskin or whatever it’s called.”

“Of course.” She holds a deeper gash lower on my arm close to her nose.

“What’s that?” I ask, pointing to the liquid she’s now holding.

“Oh, this is wine. Made from vineyards beside Yiyo.” She unstoppers it. “This one is going to sting.”

She pours it down my arm and I see red.

“FUCK! That hurts.”

She smiles. “I know, but it’ll help.”

“Thank you.”

“What remains of my tribe, my saisas, should be here soon.” She presses a coiled shape insignia on her armor, and it glows. My brows cinch.

“Geolocation. It’s a spell woven into the forging of our armor…. When our people had a forge and magic to imbue armor back in Yiyo. Now we only have what we inherited.”

A sore spot somewhere inside me churns with pain or shame or a mix of both, I don’t know. I did this to them. It’s my fault.

“About the thing I—uhm, did… I’m very sorry. I never meant—” Wails of pain ripple through the air. “Do you hear something?”

She finishes cleaning up the wound and turns to a barred doorway on the far side of the dome.

“Rue, Kai… in here!” Jhamal’s voice, laced with urgency, shouts from the doorway. We hurry his way. Groans of pain echo off the walls in the closet-like chamber where we find Jhamal. He’s bent over a table with straps, and scrawny pale legs are dangling off its edge.

“She’s still breathing. Help me get her up.” He grunts, helping the familiar pale-faced blond sit up. Her cheeks are sunken, dark circles around her eyes, and her hair is a matted mess.

“Bri?” I rush to his side and help hoist up my best friend. Her eyes bat open and my heart skips a beat. “You’re going to be okay.”

I’d feared the worst. When Jhamal said they had her, but I didn’t see her in the cells. I… My chin hits my chest. White powder lines her mouth and her hands are covered in pricks. What did they do to her? I want to ask, but the words are a lump in my throat.

Jhamal and I throw one arm over each shoulder, and Bri stumbles as we help her stand.