Bea and Lopo who did not know that Zuonn really bring the Ghiglea people was shock to see him. Because of Zuonn's big body, the Ghiglea people were totally unseen from the front. Dorsky keeps drinking until some of it spilled from his mouth. That hot drink does not seem hot again if you saw how Dorsky drink it. He does not care about the hot and drink it like a mineral water.
Bea and Lopo who was shock by Dorsky's uniform started to screaming unintentionally.
“WITCH!!! OH MY GOD!!! WITCH!!! THEY'RE HERE!!!” They freaking out until Dorsky also jump out from his place because shock to heard them. He stuttered and let the coconut shell slip from his hand.
Suddenly, everyone near them looked at Bea and Lopo who still screaming and pointed Dorsky. They also shocked to see the strange clothes that Dorsky wearing.
The Ghiglea uniform was made from a shiny silver material that reflected the bonfire light. For Sororice people who never saw anything except animal skin and rough cloth, it looked like something that came from another world.
And in a way, they were right.
“RUN!!! THE WITCHES ARE COMING!!!”
Someone threw a wooden bowl. Then someone else threw a stone. In less than ten seconds, the whole gate area turned into chaos.
“STOP!!!” Zuonn shouted with his big voice. “STOP IT NOW!!!”
But nobody listened to him.
***
Lucas grabbed Misty's arm and pulled her behind a wooden post.
“Don't take the gun,” he said quickly.
“Lucas—”
“Misty, if you take the gun, they will believe everything Bea said.”
Misty stopped moving her hand. Her fingers were already touching the bag at her waist.
“Then what should we do?” she asked. Her voice was shaking a little.
“We wait for Zuonn.”
“And if they kill us before that?”
Lucas did not answer. He did not have any answer.
***
Dorsky was the first one who got hurt.
A stone hit his shoulder and he fell down beside the bench. Two Sororice men came closer with wooden sticks in their hands, and their faces showed fear more than anger.
That was the thing Lucas noticed. They were not angry. They were terrified.
“HE IS NOT A WITCH!” Lucas shouted and ran out from his hiding place.
“Lucas!” Misty tried to catch his arm but she was too late.
***
Lucas stood in front of Dorsky with both of his hands raised.
“Look at me!” he shouted. “Look at my face!”
The two men stopped.
Lucas was not wearing the Ghiglea uniform. He wore a normal cloth that Zuonn gave him three days ago, dirty and torn at the left sleeve.
“I am not a witch,” he said again, slower this time. “And this man behind me is also not a witch.”
“He wears the skin of the sky!” one of them shouted.
“It's not skin. It's just cloth.”
“It's shining!”
“So does the water in your river when the sun hits it,” Lucas answered. “Is your river a witch too?”
The man opened his mouth and closed it again.
***
That short silence was enough for Zuonn to reach them.
The big man pushed through the crowd like a bull and stood beside Lucas. His shadow covered both Lucas and Dorsky completely.
“ENOUGH!!!”
This time everybody stopped.
Zuonn was not the leader of Sororice. He was just a hunter. But he was the biggest man in this city and everyone in this city had eaten the meat he brought at least once in their life.
“Bea. Lopo,” he said with a low voice. “Come here.”
The two of them came closer slowly.
“Did they hurt you?” Zuonn asked them.
“N-no...”
“Did they take anything from you?”
“No, but—”
“Then why are you screaming?”
Bea looked at Dorsky, then at the ground.
“Because he is strange,” she answered honestly.
Zuonn nodded.
“Yes. He is strange,” he agreed. “And when I first met Lucas, I also thought he was strange. I almost broke his neck.”
Lucas coughed.
“That's true,” he said. “He really almost did it.”
***
The crowd started to become quiet.
An old woman came out from the crowd, walking with a stick. Everybody moved to give her space, and Lucas understood immediately that she was somebody important here.
“Zuonn,” she called.
“Grandmother Vela.”
“Is that man bleeding?”
Everybody looked at Dorsky. His shoulder was bleeding a little from the stone.
“Yes, Grandmother.”
The old woman came closer, looked at Dorsky for a long time, and then did something that nobody expected.
She took a piece of cloth from her own sleeve and gave it to him.
“Witches do not bleed, foolish children,” she said loudly, without turning her head. “Everyone in this city knows that. Did all of you forget the story I told you when you were babies?”
Nobody answered.
“Then sit down and be quiet.”
***
Later, when the crowd finally scattered, Lucas sat on the bench beside Dorsky.
“Are you okay?”
“I lost the drink,” Dorsky answered sadly.
Lucas laughed until his stomach hurt.
“I am serious, Lucas. It was very delicious.”
“I know. I'm sorry.”
“What is that drink?”
“I don't know. Maybe you should ask Grandmother Vela.”
Dorsky's face turned pale.
“No. She is scary.”
“She just saved your life.”
“That's why she is scary.”
***
That night, Lucas lay down inside a small igloo that Zuonn prepared for him.
He looked at the ice ceiling above him and thought about what happened today.
He came to this world without asking. He got hurt in this world and felt everything like real life. And tonight, for the first time, he stood in front of angry people and used only his voice to stop them.
In his real life, Lucas never even complained when someone took his seat on the train.
“Which one is really me?” he whispered to the ceiling.
The ice did not answer.
Aksara