Niss heard the clink of something being left in the large metal bowl. Silence for a beat, then the sun-walker started talking, getting louder all the time. She sounded angry. Niss wondered who she was talking to. She hadn't heard anyone else.
Footsteps, walking away. Niss crept out from her hiding space and made for the bowl that sat in front of the Old One. A handful of batteries. Good. The others would be pleased.
She scooped them up and turned to head back through the tunnels, but her hands were dusty from crawling and one of the batteries slipped through her fingers and fell to the floor.
"Hey!"
Niss reached down and grabbed the errant battery, before hopping through the rubble and back to safety. Dropping to all fours, she started to head for home.
She heard a noise behind her, and something touched her foot. She kicked out. There was a sharp cry, and she gave a quick grin that soon faded when her foot was grabbed.
"That's stealing, you sacrilegious little shit."
Niss scrabbled at the sides of her tunnel, but couldn't catch hold of anything. She was pulled back out into the nasty open space.
The sun-walker grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her round, only to shove her away again at the last second. Niss stumbled backwards onto the floor.
She tried to get up, but her ankle hurt, and she stifled a sob. She grasped the batteries tightly in her small hand.
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