Honored (Book 2 of the In Search of Honor series)

He opened the door and I rolled inside to a narrow room with stairs leading up on one half of it.

“Their place is on the third floor.” Daniel called out.

The stairs looked like something this chair absolutely couldn’t traverse. Dan stood calmly next to me, waiting for me to go first. If he wasn’t moving to help, then it was probably fine. Hopefully.

I pressed the button to put it into the uneven terrain mode, and told it forward.

Daniel whistled behind me as it started ascending, “Wow! That’s some pretty neat thing you’ve got there. Never seen anything like it before.”

“It’s fairly simple.” Dan stated as my chair slowly climbed.

“Simple?! Says the outsider man who talked all weird,” Daniel’s retort sounded petty and lifeless. I missed Dan’s village way of speaking.

“I am not the same as the person who brought Liv to the Wall.” Dan’s voice was almost robotic in his response.

“You are still you!” I called out, afraid to turn my head in an attempt to look at them and unbalance this machine as it chugged along jerkily going up the stairs.

“Huh? What is she referring to?” Daniel asked.

“I’m part Wall technology now.” Dan voice was accompanied by the sound of movement.

What were they doing down there?

“Look at this arm of yours! Both arms! Are you all metal skeleton now?” Daniel’s words gave me a hint. Dan must be showing off his metal arms.

“No, part Wall tech, part human. The Wall calls abominations like me cyborgs.”

His words were glass shards on my conscience. How could he call himself an abomination? “You are not an abomination. You are alive and that’s all that matters!” I called again as my chair reached a landing.

This would be the second floor, so one more flight of stairs. I looked down at them as I turned the chair to go up the next set of stairs. They were both staring at me, but then Daniel glanced away and back at Dan.

“She’s right. Not many people get to survive what you did. Wall tech or not, we each do whatever we can to survive and move onto the next day.” Daniel clapped Dan on the shoulder and then winced and shook out his hand. “Metal shoulders too.”

Dan glanced at Daniel, then back at me, and my chair moving up the stair blocked my view of his face.

Dan jogged up the stairs, easily catching up with my chair.

“Were you that eager to join me? I’m not going anywhere fast.” Did he look worried? No, I must have been mistaken.

“You were out of my view. What if the chair malfunctioned?” Dan fed my fears about this little chair climbing these old stairs.

Behind him, Daniel slowly thumped up the stairs. I focused on the footsteps instead of Dan’s question.

The mood had changed, and no one said a word till we reached the landing at the top of the stairs.

“Only door in the hallway. Knock.” Daniel said quietly from behind me. Knock, just like when visiting someone in the village.

I rolled forward to the plain brown door, and knocked.

“Hello?” A woman’s tired voice called out.

“Hi Lauren, it’s Daniel. I brought some people to meet you.” Daniel called out.

“Let yourself in! My hands are full at the moment,” The voice sounded frantic and the clanging of something metal came from behind the door.

Daniel stepped around me and pulled out a key. The door swung open to a floor cluttered with pots.

“James got into the pot collection again,” A woman with her blond hair tied up in a very messy bun holding one young boy on her hip was attempting to grab pots from a black haired toddler who was running around clanging them together.

Daniel stepped forward and snatched a pot out of the young boy’s hand. “Got one!” He proudly exclaimed.

“Unky Danny!” The boy exclaimed, dropping his other pot and throwing his arms around Daniel’s leg.

The woman let out a tired sigh and looked over at the door. Her eyes had dark pits under them, “Hello, sorry for the mess and craziness,” she started, and then stopped, her eyes staring at me and going wide.

“You…” she whispered. Did she hate me?

She shook her head and grabbed the pots off the floor in front of us. “Come in.”

She led to a small sitting area just behind the kitchen with the little toddler still clinging to Daniel’s leg as he walked.

She carefully sat down, moving the small boy on her hip to her lap. “Sit down. Might as well talk like civilized folks.”

She glanced at me, clearly unsure of how a civilized person handled a person in a rolling chair. I rolled forward till I was in the circle of seats, and Dan sat in a chair next to me.

“I’m Lauren, and this little one is Samuel. The terror over there is James.”

Daniel pointed at me, “This is Liv, and the other guy is Dan.”

She held out her hand, and we each shook it.

“What brings you to a widow’s crazy house?” She asked straight up front.

“I wanted to meet you. Henry… I owe him my life.”

She glared at me, and then gulped, looking down at her children, “That fool. I told him to come back alive. That I couldn’t handle the rascals without him. And have you even done anything yet to make him saving you worthwhile! You promised us freedom! I want to leave this place!” Tears were streaming down her face as she turned to Daniel, “And you! You promised you would come help with the kids more! Where have you been! Henry…” Her voice quieted, tears pouring from her eyes as she buried her face in her young son’s shoulder and wrapped her arms around him tightly.

“My dear Henry wasn’t supposed to die. We were also supposed to leave. To go into exile away from this hell.” Her voice was barely a whisper.