Davin blinked, and blinked again, trying to see through the tears that flooded his vision. He dragged his sleeve (stupid thing, stupid girls’ clothes) over his eyes and then down to his nose, rubbing it fiercely. Ordhan’s features came into clearer focus. He looked troubled, in the distant sort of way that grown-ups usually looked troubled.
As soon as Davin understood what the guard was telling him to do, he began shaking his head vigorously. “No, no,” he moaned, trying to de-wobble his shaking hand as he pointed back towards the heart of the Alienage. “You don’t understand. I can’t tell them not to go! I don’t know what they’ll do to the girls, but it’ll be bad, and please, you really need to go now!”
Stooping down, he began to gather rocks into his arms. Good rocks, not too big but not too small, nice and jagged. He knew they were good rocks for throwing at people because those were the kind of rocks that had been thrown at him. He knew they hurt.
“We need to get going,” he said, steadying his pile of rocks with his chin. “You know where to go, right?”