Not easily. Not cleanly. This was a true struggle.
But they were most certainly falling.
And for the first time in years…
Slave children smiled.
Their chains still dug into their ankles. Their bellies still empty. But their eyes…
Their eyes had stars in them.
Hope had returned.
…
When the final golem fell, they poured forward like a tide unleashed.
Hands clawed at the air. Voices collided into one another, frantic and pleading. A thousand tiny, broken pleas and confessions came. Some tugged at Kaiden's sleeves, some simply dropped to their knees and beat the ground with fists of helplessness. The cavern filled with a single animalistic sound: need.
Words came in dozens of tongues. A woman shoved herself forward, voice raw as wire: "Msaada! Tafadhali, tunaomba!"
A man near her cried in another cadence: "Madad kijiye! Kripya, bachao hamein!"
A child screamed a third plea: "Tulong po! Pakiusap, tulungan niyo kami!"
