Lunch had been a welcome break from all the hustle and bustle for Kamyri. She had been on her feet constantly since she opened her eyes in the dim darkness of the Sunless Dungeons. Although the work in the quarry and Jardun's cheeky comments about her disheveled hair kept her mind busy, every now and then a painful memory of Aesuna crept into her mind.

Although she hadn't had much contact with her in the last five years, she still shared a happy childhood and many wonderful experiences with Aesuna. No matter how far their different castes had separated them from each other, they had always remained sisters.

She had not yet told Jardun or the others about the recent events in the Square of the Golden. Maybe tonight she would find the strength to tell her friend Falis about this misfortune. In the solitude of her barracks, she might be able to organize her thoughts enough to be able to tell someone in complete sentences what was troubling her.

But here in the quarry people didn't talk about dead sisters, unfair treatment or poor health. Here, people only exchanged opinions in hoarse voices about which Worker had the most adorable horns or which Sun's son could lift the heaviest stones.

Whenever time permitted, Jardun liked to speculate a lot about the Sun Daughters. With his hair, which he himself claimed was the color of fire, he had already been able to charm one or two female Workers in his neighborhood. Admittedly, a reddish color of hair was not often seen among the otherwise blonde Sun's Children and promised a great catch. But Kamyri had known the talkative Worker for too long to feel anything but friendship for him.

An hour ago, Malog had personally prepared lunch for them. After delivering the news of Kamyri's punishment to Dothor and the other woodcutters east of the Una, he had returned to the quarry with a Springbok and in the small hut had chopped up last year's shriveled turnips for a stew.

Normally this activity was done by drawing sticks among those present, but Malog had strangely insisted on preparing the food for the Workers in the quarry himself today. With such a manageable group, this didn't pose much of a problem and apparently he wanted to clean out the shed anyway, repair a few shelves and have old tools replaced with new ones. According to his own statement, displaying his culinary skills suited him perfectly.

After sharing a meal, Kamyri quickly retreated into the shadows of the stone slopes and now enjoyed the company of the grunting Gray Carapace, which had rested its jaw, lined with two arm-length tusks, wearily in the shadow of the stone cart. Here she could at least be sure that no one would ask her about the reason for her iron collar. She didn't want to talk about it, not yet.

"They put a collar around your neck too," she sighed, tracing the pack animal's harness with her fingers. The answer was only a slight snort, which caused Kamyri to smile weakly. The Gray Carapaces looked dangerous with their finger-thick horn plates and huge body mass, but they had an inherent peaceful nature and were able to do the hard work without much effort.

One just wasn't allowed to poke them, because then they became really uncomfortable. During Kamyri's first visit to the quarry, one of the beasts had bolted because it had placed its foreleg awkwardly on a sharp pebble. The short but severe pain had sent the angry Grayrapace trampling down half the quarry.

She let her gaze wander in the direction of the hut. The laughter of Hagun and Worunor reached her lonely resting place. Jardun was probably entertaining the Workers again with one of his extravagant stories. He was great at that. Gukyri and Vaun, on the other hand, had stretched out on sleeping mats and were dozing in the shade of the shed.

The Workers were allowed to take a short break until the sundial passed midday. It was not uncommon for Kamyri to use this to get a little sleep. But today her wild thoughts wouldn't allow that, even though she felt more tired than ever.

"Do you also think that the gods found Aesuna unworthy?" she asked the Grayrapace and listened to his deep breathing. "She was my parents' pride and joy..."

I don't even want to know how much they are suffering...

Kamyri swallowed her words. Saying them only made it worse, more real and truer. No, she didn't want to talk about it, not even with the pachyderm, who didn't seem to be listening anyway.

The Sun's Daughter was dozing in a half-asleep state when the sound of quick footsteps brought her back to reality from her strange dream images. She squinted at her surroundings and saw Jardun's flame-colored head of hair coming toward her over the monotonous rocks. He was already wearing his stonebreaking gloves again and this time there was no grin on his face. He ran the rest of the way before coming to a stop in front of Kamyri, panting.

"So lonely here, Myri? I thought the Demons of the Night had taken you away." He grinned half-heartedly, but the haste on his face outweighed the well-intentioned taunt.

It's not like him to be in such a hurry...

Jardun was always one of those people who tried to extend their lunch break by any means necessary instead of going to work. He revealed the reason for his zeal in the form of a request:

"Malog says you should unharness the Grayrapace from the cart and lead it to the watering trough. Right now." Kamyri didn't have much to gain from this personal order.

"He says that, yeah? The beast has already drunk enough this morning," she replied, knowing well that Grayrapaces don't need much water, even in summer. "Do you actually know how complicated it is to harness this huge animal from the cart? That's chicanery! First the curmudgeon doubled my punishment and now I'm supposed to do double work too?" The prospect of having her well-deserved break interrupted didn't put Kamyri in the best of moods. Jardun noticed this straight away and raised his hands defensively.

"Hey, I didn't make that up!" he defended himself, shrugging his shoulders apologetically. "It occurred to Malog all of a sudden when he saw the visitors coming. Maybe they want to inspect something again..."

"What kind of visitors?" Kamyri sat up, alarmed. Her eyes quickly flew back to the small wooden hut. Next to Malog's red and brown spotted Springbok, four members of the Ruler's Guard were waiting with their light-colored specimens.

"Are those guardsmen?" Kamyri's heart skipped a beat. An uneasy feeling spread inside her. In the last few hours, an encounter with the Rulers had not given her the greatest joy.

"Does anyone else in Yaradan carry lances and ride white Springboks?" Jardun asked jokingly. "You should definitely hurry up. Malog's order sounded rather urgent. He said the rest period is over for all of us." Jardun placed a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder before heading deeper into the quarry to break rocks down to a manageable size with a chisel and hammer.

But Kamyri said nothing. All of her attention was on the four Rulers who now greeted Malog from the backs of their mounts. The rule that no Sun's Child was allowed to enter other castes quarters during the day only included two exceptions, in addition to the special position of the caste Supremes: either the work required it, such as delivering the stones to the Artists' quarters, or they were members of the Ruler's Guard, who were allowed to move freely to other quarters at any time of the day or night.

Lumondis Ryumal reserved the right of his guardsmen to check on things now and then as they pleased, to ensure that everything that happened in Yaradan was to his satisfaction. Kamyri always felt a little uneasy under the vigilant gaze that watched her work, and today the sight of the lancers gave her a particularly uneasy feeling.

With a quiet curse, she stood up, jumped from the ledge where she had just been dozing, down to the Grayrapace and, growling, began to work on the oars.

"Are you even thirsty, faty?" she asked the animal, which now also stood up and responded with a long bleat.

Doesn't sound very enthusiastic...

While she was grumbling under her breath and cursing Malog and the Rulers, she loosened the cart from its collar and, with several slaps on the left shoulder blade, instructed the Grayrapace to head towards the trough.

The ponderous animal began to move slowly. Only when it realized that this time it didn't have to pull a cart with heavy stones did its steps become a little more courageous.

Halfway to the depression in the rock where the rainwater collected into a small pond, Kamyri saw the four riders rushing in their direction on their nimble Springboks. The mounts, which resembled a goat in appearance but were more like a horse in size, were able to navigate the rugged rocks very well and were very popular among the Sun's Children due to their agility and speed.

Kamyri, however, couldn't get excited about Springboks. She was able to handle the smaller relatives reasonably well, but she always felt a certain nervousness around the specimens that reached up to her forehead, which was probably because one of the animals had tried to nibble horns and hair from her head not too many years ago.

Today the cross-slit pupils of the goat's eyes seemed to be constantly watching Kamyri and yet not really looking at her. There was something grotesque about her look. She would never be able to bring herself to ride such an animal, but that wasn't her place anyway.

To make matters worse, the four Rulers reined in their springboks in close proximity and came to a halt next to the Worker and the lumbering colossus. Irritated, Kamyri followed suit and stopped pushing the Grayrapace forward. She had only last seen one of the riders this morning.

Vhareg from the Enforcers.

The memory, still fresh, sent shivers down her bare arms. Even though he recognized her, he didn't show it. His face remained expressionless and cold, his blue eyes fixed and impenetrable, like those of the others.

"Are you the Worker who had a hearing with Lumondis Ryumal and the Supreme Ones this morning?" asked the Ruler to her jailer's right.

Kamyri didn't believe for a second that this group didn't know who was standing in front of them. The question was purely polite. Denying her name wouldn't make sense, even though something in her chest desperately wanted to lie.

"Yes, that's me," she admitted honestly and now looked carefully over the small gathering and all the cross-slit goat eyes that stared strangely blankly back at her. Before she could say another word, the Ruler raised his voice again:

"Then follow us!"

"For what reason?" Kamyri demanded. She couldn't make sense of what the guardsmen wanted from her now.

However, the Ruler didn't seem to like her brisk question. He turned his bleating Springbok so that he cut off Kamyri and her Grayrapace from the watering trough. The other riders followed suit and spread out to the other sides to close a circle around the Sun's Daughter. This gesture aroused suspicion in Kamyri and she automatically took a step back. Suddenly she felt cold sweat running down her neck at the sight of the many shiny lances.

"The Lumondis wants to reconsider his verdict. He is calling you to the Palace of Light," the ruler told her in a determined voice, but to Kamyri's ears it sounded as if Ryumal did not want to call her back to the palace, but directly to the Sunless Dungeons. She hesitated, but knew she had no choice but to obey.

Why? What have I done?

She saw one of the Rulers tighten his grip on his lance.

Are they going to attack me if I refuse to follow them?

"Come with us!" Vhareg demanded this time, "Or do you want to break the law again?" His threatening tone now drew Kamyri's attention fully to him. She saw two strange shadows flickering on his receding forehead that definitely hadn't been there this morning.

The Sun's Daughter swallowed and wiped the sweat from her eyes. Apparently the heat and tension were already playing tricks on her. She told herself that recent events were clouding her mind and that she should just comply to avoid a confrontation, but a small voice in the back of her mind whispered otherwise.

No, something is wrong here.

Kamyri could feel it. She didn't know exactly what she was feeling, but the sensation spread across her eyebrows as a strange tingling sensation.

First the lie about Aesuna and now this visit...

From the deep lake of her subconscious, a thought forced itself higher and higher until it broke the surface with a loud bang:

Flee!

Her heart screamed at this news with such ferocity that Kamyri couldn't help but obey. And suddenly everything happened very quickly.

"Her eyes!" Vhareg shouted, pointing his lance at the Worker. Whatever he meant, the others responded by immediately lowering their weapons towards Kamyri. At that moment the Worker reached for one of the blades, got hold of it and pulled. Thanks to her stonebreaking gloves, the metal didn't break her skin, but the Ruler at the other end of the weapon promptly lost his balance and slipped from the saddle.

The Springboks bleated at the same time and jumped agitated from their front hooves to their hind hooves, while the other three Rulers struggled not to be thrown off too. Kamyri, on the other hand, used the chaos that had arisen around her to swing up the side of the Grayrapace. With her left hand she clung to the beast's padded neck ring, with the other she still held the blade of the lance in an iron grip. Without thinking, she rammed the tip under one of the horn plates and the Grayrapace roared. Two or three times she hacked into the animal's side with the lance that had been converted into a dagger until it finally bolted in panic.

Springboks, frightened by the loud roar, dodged to the side, bleating in panic, as the moving colossus began to sprint, mowing down everything that came under its feet. Rulers fought for their secure seat, some failing, cursing. The howling Grayrapace left four Springboks jumping around wildly in fear, a cloud of dust and utter chaos.

With all her strength, Kamyri clung to the collar of her angry battering ram. The numerous impacts whenever the animal's feet collided with the ground sent hard shocks through her body, but she didn't dare lose her footing now.

Thoughts were rushing wildly in her head.

What did I just do?!

It didn't matter because she couldn't go back anyway.

If the Rulers capture me now, they will definitely put me in the Sunless Dungeons!

The words of the old Artist from the cell next door suddenly shot into her head like lightning:

"Anyone who breaks the rules eventually disappears... voluntarily or not... If the day comes, oh, it will come, go voluntarily. Find the Thinker!"

Apparently the day had already come today. The Rulers had wanted to take her, but for what? Kamyri didn't want to know, she was too afraid of the answer.

Was it his words that drove me to do this?

It seemed to her that after years of silent acceptance and all these injustices, her body had finally decided to fight back without asking Kamyri for permission. There was absolutely nothing she could do about it, it just happened, just like the incident on the Golden Square.

In the meantime, the Sun's Daughter had managed to stabilize her seat on the Grayrapace's back and dared a quick look over her shoulder. Two guardsmen had calmed their Springboks enough to give chase. The other two were still trying to soothe their panicked mounts.

Loud shouts directed her gaze forward again. She also heard Jardun's voice echoing from the hillsides, but couldn't understand what he was shouting at her. Everything seemed unimportant at that moment, everything except the wind that whipped inexorably into her face like the greeting of a new world and blew away all the bridges behind her.

Cursing softly, the Worker gritted her teeth. She couldn't turn back; she had sealed her own fate. There was now only one way: forward! She just wanted to get away, to free herself from the terrible fate that the Rulers had chosen for her, to face the wind and freedom...

But then her eyes met Malog and Kamyri's heartbeat quickened.

Can I also run away from him?

The one-horned Worker stared blankly at the chaos in the quarry, only a few yards separating him from his reddish-brown Springbok. Kamyri feared that in one swift movement he would rise and cut off her path. The Supreme One would probably somehow manage to calm down the raging Grayrapace or even stop it with his own hands. But that couldn't happen!

Kamyri had almost reached the grim Sun's Son and saw herself riding straight into the darkness of the Sunless Dungeons.

"No!" she shouted to all the hands that wanted to hold her and chain her, and gave the Grayrapace between her legs another stab with the blade. The animal roared in pain and accelerated its run.

Nobody will stop me!

Malog barely moved. He seemed to calmly release the reins of his Springbok from the post, but instead of swinging into the saddle, he let the strap slip from his hand. As the Grayrapace approached him with a roar, his Springbok bolted and also fled, eyes wide. Kamyri gathered courage to look at the Worker and froze when she saw that there was no fierce anger in Malog's eyes, but rather faith.

She had less than a second to notice the satisfied smile on his lips before she had already passed him and the Grayrapace was thundering inexorably south. The strangely peaceful expression on Malog's face irritated Kamyri, but she didn't have time to think about it now. She had made it out of the quarry, but what was to happen next?

Once again she realized that there was no turning back for her. Even if she could somehow get the Grayrapace to stop, four Rulers had seen her snatch the weapon from one of their own. There was hardly a greater betrayal in Yaradan.

But why? Why? Why?, the question about the reason for this action rushed through Kamyri's head. The wind blowing across the open ground whipped her face with all its force, causing her blonde tufts to flutter wildly.

She looked around again and now saw two guardsmen approaching a good distance behind her on their white Springboks. As soon as the Grayrapace calmed down, they would quickly catch up. The otherwise lumbering animal couldn't maintain such a pace long enough to outpace them.

But how am I supposed to outpace the guardsmen?

The further south Kamyri rode on her mount, the tighter the pincer between the floods of the Una and the thicket of the Weaver's Wood would close around her. Her only escape route was the Bridge of Dawn, but that would only lead her into the city and she wanted to escape from that!

Suddenly Kamyri knew it for sure: she was tired of obeying the Lumondis's nonsensical orders. She couldn't bear all the injustice any longer. She would rather lose her life on the run than have to bow down to the Rulers again. That was enough and Kamyri had nothing left to lose. She wouldn't give up, she would at least try to free herself from the Lumondis' invisible bonds!

Behind her she heard the shouts of the two guardsmen:

"Stand there! "

"Come back!"

"At the behest of Lumondis Ryumal..."

All the empty words couldn't change Kamyri's mind. She had already lost all respect for the Lumondis the moment he denied murdering her sister. There had to be a reason for Aesuna's death and she would find out sooner or later.

But I can't do that in the Sunless Dungeons!

She rode the Grayrapace further and further, pushing it to maximum performance again and again with the tip of her blade, until the ruler's guard finally caught up with her.

"Give up! You can't escape!" Vhareg shouted into the wind. Kamyri held out her lance in response. From the back of the fleeing Grayrapace, this was an extremely shaky affair, but the gesture had an effect. The Rulers kept their distance, fell back a little and decided to wait until the creature's strength ran out and escape was no longer possible for the stubborn Worker.

Kamyri decided to take a chance. As best she could control it with her pokes and stabs, she tried to steer the Grayrapace further south. The Una appeared in her field of vision, glittering in the sunshine to her right and rolling down the hilly terrain. The shadow of the Weaver Wood spread out to the east. From here, like a deep green hand, it seemed to creep closer and closer to the river. If the Grayrapace continued charging at this rapid pace, they would soon reach the place where the Workers usually cut wood, but it didn't get that far.

Out of the corner of her eye, Kamyri saw them approaching. They shot out of the undergrowth at the nearby edge of the forest as quickly as an arrow. The Grayrapace's panicked screams must have attracted them. It was only then that the Worker realized that her adrenaline-fueled stabs had damaged her mount worse than she had intended: hot blood poured from the animal's side, filling the air with its metallic scent.

No Taragir could resist this promise of delicacy, and to make matters worse, she had attracted a whole pack of them.

Kamyri cursed her own carelessness. Behind her, the big cats the size of wolves started to sprint and gave chase. At the same time, the Rulers stopped their Springboks so that they would not be targeted by the bloodlust-stricken hunters.

"No! No! No! Run, you stupid beast!" Kamyri shouted at the Grayrapace, driven by rising panic. White foam had formed in front of its mouth and the otherwise watchful eyes only showed the white inside. The animal was blind with fear and close to collapse. A knot formed in Kamyri's stomach. Instead of the Rulers, they were now hunted by a pack of bloodthirsty Taragirs.

It can't get any worse!

The next moment she felt a shock and heard the Grayrapace roar in alarm. One of the gray-brown spotted predators had dared to jump and was now clawing at the fleeing animal's thigh with finger-length claws. Their claws scratched deep furrows into the horny shells, but did not penetrate the flesh.

Kamyri whipped her lance around and hit the Taragir in the chin, knocking it off her mount's back. A second one was already jumping up from the other side, Kamyri aimed at it, but the predator's paws knocked the blade away and the lance shaft broke with an ugly splinter.

A hot pain shot through her arm. The Worker saw blood, gray-brown fur, a gaping mouth surrounded by sharp fangs. She twisted and turned between the Grayrapace's shoulder blades, trying to escape the teeth and claws of the slavering beast, kicking at it and almost losing her balance in the process.

Again the Grayrapace's painful roar tore through the monotonous rushing of the wind and frantic pumping of her heart. Hisses from several throats mingled with it and hurt Kamyri's ears. And suddenly a strong jolt went through her mount. The Grayrapace tripped over one of the charging Taragirs and hit the ground with its shoulder. With presence of mind, Kamyri let go of the collar.

Driven by its speed, the Grayrapace rolled over and crushed the hungry predator, which was still clawing at its lower back, under its weight. Kamyri, on the other hand, was thrown from his back, crashed hard onto the ground some distance away and rolled over the soil, which was sparsely covered with mosses and ferns, with her arm bleeding. Sharp edges of rock cut into her skin as she instinctively tried to shield her head with her arms.

The terrible screams as the pack pounced on their prey prevented the Sun's Daughter from losing consciousness. Panting, she pushed herself up from the ground and tried to focus on the scene in front of her. The images swung wildly in her head, but she clearly saw half a dozen Taragirs lunging at a gray shadow, sinking their pointed snouts into the narrow spaces of the horned shells and pulling out bloody snakes.

"Away. I have to go away..." Her murmured words seemed to be an order to herself. Kamyri straightened, ignoring the sharp pain that shot through her right arm, and staggered away.

But one of the Taragirs raised his head, turned his pointed ears to Kamyri's labored steps and let go of the bleeding mountain, which now only made choking sounds. It opened its mouth and sent an aggressive hiss after the fleeing Worker.

This concluded that Kamyri had been discovered and identified as additional prey. She only had one chance now. She ran towards the sloping river bank as quickly as she could. The Una had already dug itself deep into the stony ground and was the only thing that promised salvation.

As the charging Taragir reached out with its paws to sink its claws into her side, Kamyri jumped into the water and went under. The water-shy cat slowed down while running and remained hissing on the stony bank. With her flashing yellow eyes it watched her prey being carried away by the water for a few seconds, then, snorting angrily, it turned around and back to the Grayrapace, whose insides had already been dragged into the light of day by its fellows.