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

Mr. Repair Man sat down on the ground next to the stairs with his black booted feet and black pants sticking out from under the brown cloak. The other two cloaked Wall denizens sat to his right, the two of them leaning up against each other.

I pulled Dan directly left to sit against the wall perpendicular to the stairs. “What are your names?” I asked, waving my hand in the direction of the two unknowns in the room.

“You don’t need to know their names,” Mr. Repair Man said, not giving them a chance to speak.

“I’m Cat!” the shortest one proclaimed with her high pitched voice.

In much mellower tones the other said, “And I’m Von. We are apprentices to Mr. Repair Man. As such we will be helping him with all deliveries.”

“They didn’t need your names. It’s a liability for them to know who we are.” Mr. Repair Man’s voice was raised in anger to his subordinates.

Cat laughed in her high pitched half giggle, “We aren’t removing our cloaks. It gives identities to us. Everyone wants some nomenclature to recognize people by. And why not? We are the lowest of the Wall.”

Von nodded and continued, “She is right. In our own way, we have castes built on a meritocracy. We were not smart enough to become researchers or to repair the better technology, so we are cast off to the City repair division. All we get to do is follow the orders of higher ups.”

Mr. Repair Man shook his head, “You two might have been cast off, but I chose to go to the repair division. I find fixing this old technology fun and interesting.”

Cat giggled. “You have always been considered a weirdo. Hell, your son chose to go and leave the Wall.”

“My children are none of your concern.” He snapped back at her.

Was this man Roderick’s father? I was afraid to ask, and no one else said anything about it.

The silence wrapped around the room and ate away at me. Dan’s warmth radiated against my shoulder reminding me of how much I just enjoyed being with him. He was a comforting presence here in this cold room that felt like I was back in the wall.

I should tell him the truth about my feelings. I should have told him back when we were trapped in the wall. I couldn’t bring myself to speak as the words sat like chewed up nuts in my mouth. For now I should just appreciate his presence, his warmth driving the cold away.

Cat straightened from her position of leaning against Von. “You know, Von has a great memory for reciting back spoken words. Why don’t you tell us what you want on your pamphlet? Then we can just print it and distribute it without all the extra steps of finding you, having you write it, going back to the wall, printing it, and yeah. All those extra steps. What do you think Von?” Her voice sounded so excited that it chased away the dreariness of this bare room.

Von nodded. “If Mr. Repair Man here agrees I see no issue. I am very good at reciting things.”

Mr. Repair Man shrugged, “Sure. You can be useful for something more than carrying things.”

I winced on Von’s behalf. Mr. Repair Man’s retort seemed uncalled for here. Von and Cat seemed like perfectly decent people. Neither of them seemed to take offense at Mr. Repair Man’s words. Maybe he was just always a bit surly and mean?

I looked between all of them. The black cloth of the front of their hoods stared back at me waiting for me to speak.

Dan gently held my hand, “It seems like a great way to get your message out faster.” His breath as he spoke tickled the side of my face.

“If I, ummm, mess up, you won’t include those in the final version, right?” I asked. Nervous to have more words for verbatim copied out.

“Don’t worry about that,” Mr. Repair Man said. “I will personally edit your pamphlet to make sure wording is correct and that it will speak to the people. We can even run it through a couple other people in the wall. We want you to succeed.”

That was a relief. I took a deep breath, air whooshing into my lungs, and began.

“The title should say ‘A Vision of Honor’.” I stopped, not sure how to actually begin. Von nodded, encouraging me to continue, but where did I go from there. I pulled on my memories of the conversation I had with Henry and I realized that all I had to do was describe my vision.

“I have a vision of a city where Honor is not something you inherit, but something you create for yourself. Honor is a concept connected to your individual actions, and others actions shouldn’t be connected to it. We are all equal, and we create our own honor. I ask that you join me in this vision. I ask that you stand for your own honor and join ranks with those who believe that everyone has Honor. Together we will tear down this system that only believes some people have Honor. Together we will create a new system where those identified and voted for by the people will be those leading the city. My vision is a City where people are free to leave if they want, or free to stay and partake in city life. Join ranks with the soldiers of true honor and fight back against the repression of this fake honor system to free the city from the cruel clutches of the castes.”

I needed to end this. I was rambling where did I go with it? I needed a battle cry to make people want to join. What would people want the most? They would want to rise in Honor. I smiled. I knew how to end it. “Join us and you can rise up in life to become Most Honored!”

Mr. Repair Man clapped his hands making me feel like I should bow or something. “Von, do you have that all down in memory?” He asked.

“Of course. Do you want me to repeat it?” Von asked as they shifted to lean against Cat again.

“No need.” Mr. Repair Man responded. “I’ve seen your ability in action before.”

Footsteps of boots with metal on them clanged against a metal floor.

“Hopefully those belong to your ally guards,” Mr. Repair Man’s voice was punctuated by the steps. A guardsman’s feet appeared in view with metal studded toes and metal shin covers over leather trousers. Then the waist and torso, and eventually heads came into view. Henry’s black hair and Daniel’s dark blond buzzcut followed by a bald man.

“I see you beat us here.” Henry commented.

Mr. Repair Man shrugged, “The tunnels are much easier to traverse than the streets. Especially when you are a wanted criminal.”

Henry chuckled, “Yeah, the whole rest of the guard that isn’t rebelling wanting my head is a bit of difficult terrain, but with helmets on and regular guard outfits on it’s easy to just be another one of the guards.”

“Is the new person our guide?” I asked while standing up; wanting to get on with moving to our base of operations.

“Yes, this is Norman.” Daniel responded to my question.

Dan stood up next to me. The three Wall people also stood.

Norman waved. “Nice to meet you Honored Exile.”

“Nice to meet you as well.” I responded. Hopefully he was trustworthy. I just had to trust that Daniel and Henry had found us a good guide.

“With this, it is time for us to go fulfill your requests. We will distribute pamphlets to the people as requested.” Mr. Repair Man said, and then he turned and headed to the door.

“Thank you for your assistance,” I called out to his retreating back.

He just waved and his two assistants followed after him.