663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCzJPWgTT4p
“Are you mental?” Adian tapped his nails on the desk. “Oh wait, you just took on a whole squadron of guards with nothing but a wolf and a prisoner. Why should I expect any less?” He looked down on the injured Venefica as she opened her eyes. She didn’t deserve Nesami’s favor over him, and he’d pry it from her dead hands if she did something like this again.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoRyvELGfpz
“I can hear you, filthy Tyzalian!” He heard the pounding of a fist on the door as Calysse shot up. Adian knew he shouldn’t have risked it. He shouldn’t have taken the trio away from the site of the skirmish with the claim they’d wake up in the dungeons. Narunis had locked the half-Tyzalian in the largest broom closet in the castle with the wolf before mending Calysse’s wounds. With any luck, the wolf would kill the girl and he wouldn’t have to deal with her.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxFAhWfVI5C
“What in Gehenna-“She glanced around in alarm before her gaze locked in his. By the confusion in her eyes, he didn’t know whether she’d remembered any of the battle at all. “Where am I and why am I in this overly colorful robe?” This caught Narunis’ attention.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJjvC4PKKnH
“Because your other robes were so dreadfully horrible.” She piped up from where she had gone to fetch water. The door to the closet shook as the girl pounded on the wood. If he didn’t know better, he might have let her out. Adian clicked his tongue at his sister before adding onto her statement.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKDTPUCW8Eh
“And bloody.” His eyes narrowed as they flickered down to Calysse’s bandaged fists. She’d nearly pounded her fingers to a pulp on the guards and had one overextended finger. With how hard she resisted, she was lucky she didn’t get impaled. When Narunis had been bandaging her, Adian had noticed how beaten her body already was on top of the wounds she’d sustained during the battle. Most had healed over with scar tissue, but some remained red and glaring.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP0m49ZWOtu
“Yes, bloody. That too.” Narunis smirked, her hands keeping the lock in place. Calysse moved her arms fully out of the sheets. Her eyes went wide as she noticed Narunis propped against the door emitting screams. Adian tensed as Calysse’s lips parted.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2pUE6Arzbg
“How bad was it?” Her tone was flat with angst; she remembered. Adian folded his arms across his chest. Narunis shot him a silencing glare before the door rattled again. “Where is Aislin?” There was a hint of respect in Adian’s mind for the Venefica. She’d gone through the dungeons to get a wolf she didn’t even know wouldn’t betray her. But that esteem slowly turned to irritation when he realized how many rules she’d broken. Adian pointed to the broom closet.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEHfA2dFHe8
“You’re lucky I didn’t take all three of you to the prisons.” He said icily. Calysse didn’t flinch as she moved her toe out of the sheets and slid out from the mattress. Narunis snorted in amusement as she shuffled to the other side of the room.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW03u22VZOa
“Very lucky.” Narunis added as she propped a chair up against the door as if she expected it would hold.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKu0h7GYz9q
“Unlock that door.” She demanded to him with her gaze pointed and fierce. Her hands hung at her sides limply as Adian pursed his lips. Who did she think she was? 663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKKCbdfSoT4
“I don’t take orders from you.” Adian’s stare flickered down at Calysse with his chin slightly tilted up. She was tall, taller than Narunis. Calysse just scoffed and attempted to swerve around him, but he predicted this and moved in her way.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRlvYoh6VuQ
“You take orders from Nesami.” She spat. What did she think saying that would prove? Nothing perhaps, but it irked him nonetheless. Adian waved his hand to Narunis, who clicked her tongue before unlatching the lock and removing the chair. The room was silent for a moment before the door swung open with a thud. The skinny half-Tyzalian scrambled out into the light gasping for air. The wolf however, prowled out of the closet with a vicious grace and pride.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg8VsjmIBgb
“I checked her files from the prison records, her name is Cassiara Serval .” Narunis paused, her scrutinizing gaze hot upon the prisoner. “She and her sister are spies for the Nytteot.” Adian stiffened as Cassiara opened her eyes. With any luck, the half-Tyzalian would recognize him from the dungeons as he did her. Narunis knew too, as he’d provided more than enough description of the girl when telling his sister.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAiNbakmaJr
“The word ‘spy’ is subjective.” Cassiara leaned against the wall and pushed a curl of hair that had fallen in front of her face. Narunis moved to Adian’s side quickly, as if afraid of the dirt on Cassiara’s clothes. Aislin prowled over to Calysse and lay at her feet like a tame house cat. To his surprise, the Venefica seemed fine with it, except for a slight muscle convulsion.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxUO02O5BqN
“Enjoy your moments of freedom while they last Cassiara, because soon enough, the guards will take you back.” Narunis trembled as the prisoner stepped forward. 663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVR03cmpH51
“I’d rather not.”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX9QCHsUE1w
“You don’t have a choice.”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOQbIiQIjXr
“But what if she did?” Adian turned his head as Calysse spoke. Her legs were crossed as she had gotten back on the bed. He couldn’t allow Cassiara to exit Tyzalian lands, especially not on a royal visit.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1OgFE0SbKT
“What?”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt18oSx0YR7
“What if she came to Indignor with us?” Calysse tipped her head and clenched her bound fists. Cassiara seemed to object, but Adian interrupted before she could utter a word.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRun2nkXGF6
“That is simply not going to happen.” The stern tone in his voice was foreign to him. Was it a mistake to talk down to her?663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu2IMTjpqfv
“And why is that?”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8aPNaRvZ8e
“Because if there are any more people on this journey we will look like a traveling circus.”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvylAkNx4as
“I hate to break it to you Lord Fonneraeru, but with her clothing choices,” she motioned to Narunis’ garments. His sister gasped and clutched at her sleeves at the insult. “And your...disposition; we already are one.” For such little time knowing her, she sure knew how to press the right buttons. Was it her goal to infuriate him? He may not have spoken fairly to her since entering the castle, but that was all for good reason. Adian felt he was arguing with a child that wanted a toy. He looked desperately to Cassiara, who was now fuming, as she hadn’t been allowed time to speak.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3s36qZ7EAp
“I’m not going anywhere without my sister, or with him.” This was unexpected. Could the voice he’d heard from the cell be the sister he’d heard of from Marleya and Nesami? Cassiara had just been granted freedom and she wasn’t going to take it? Calysse snorted as if she were amused and folded her legs onto the bed away from Aislin.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWBdXox74zv
“Are you joking?” The clawed Venefica was on the verge of laughing. Did she not understand the bond between siblings? For all Adian knew, she had no family. But that couldn’t be the case, right? Cassiara seemed appalled by her reaction and bunched her knuckles into fists.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz6LwDfqO8D
“Who are you to judge my priorities?!” This was turning into a fight. If anyone heard them up in the watchtower quarters, Nesami would have them all thrown in a place so dark they’d forget what the sun looked like. “You’re just as bad as them no matter how much you deny it to yourself!”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeiktjWT7VT
“Quiet.” Adian nearly jumped as Narunis slammed her hand into the nightstand by the bed. The authority in his sister’s voice made him shudder as her stance relaxed. “Adian, Calysse, and I are going to Indignor for the royal peace meetings. If you stay and try to find your sister, you’ve lost your only allies in the castle and will likely be caught. However, if you come, her highness Nesami might be generous enough to grant you and your kin freedom.”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf3vfpvgHDk
There was a chilled silence in the air as Cassiara and Narunis locked eyes. It wasn’t hostility or tension, but fidelity? Maybe. 663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmYTyjZh9UN
“As soon as these meetings are over, I’m coming straight back here.” What a peculiar thing to say as a prisoner, or former prisoner. Surely Nesami wouldn’t authorize Cassiara leaving, it wasn’t in her nature to let captives go, especially when they were half race. But Narunis seemed to have other plans already arranged. 663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡot9fh8ZNZ8
“I wasn’t planning to depart until I’d gotten my affairs in order, but judging on the circumstances, I think it’d be wise to go now.” Narunis’ gaze flickered down to her nails, her voice lost its previous daunting majesty. “I’ll have to notify Nesami personally, she doesn’t trust the lot of you.” Her eyes fell on Cassiara now before she continued on. “And one of you shouldn’t even be here.”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjueVoOz6nY
Oh how he’d kill to have Narunis’ position. With half the gold that glimmered in her irises, he could actually be a lord, possibly even an advisor to the queen. Adian felt despicable when he envied his older sister, but such a thing was so ingrained into him that nothing could get rid of it. 663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWaqnM22LJv
“I’ll round up a few palace horses then, and a chain for that thing.” He’d assumed Calysse wouldn’t leave the wolf with Nesami, not after what she’d just done. She was quick to object and took a place between Adian and the hybrid. The wolf growled pulled her lips back to show her teeth at his statement.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNBmsACdZNo
“Aislin will be traveling as an equal.” Her teeth gritted against each other. Did she have to dispute everything? It seemed reasonable to want the animal in chains, as it was dangerous and unpredictable. Narunis didn’t stay to watch them quarrel and was gone in a few heartbeats.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDrdXAE8UkN
“Very chivalrous, but I don’t think wolves can ride on horses.” Adian’s brows rose as he rolled his eyes. Calysse wasn’t going to back down over such a trivial matter. Judging on the fight she’d put the squadron through, she was brash about everything.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNRQkOwktr3
“You know what I mean.” Her tone was controlled but full of irritation.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwhyFFaWopt
“I don’t know how I’m going to listen to you two bicker for the next few months.” Cassiara began to stride past the pair, but Adian stuck out an arm to block her.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSDUdPEmOtR
“You aren’t going anywhere until Narunis clears our departure with Nesami.” He ordered. Cassiara hissed but stood down, her lips squeezing together as she sat back down.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkLyF2H83kK
Adian twisted the keys in his hand as he slipped out of the door. With a heavy sigh, he clicked the lock together. If she insisted on getting it all her way, when would he draw the line? His shoes clicked on the ground as he walked away from the tower dorms. In the back of his mind, he hoped no one would go up and find them.
--Narunis Fonneraeru--
663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPGLZd3bPvr
“I seek council with Queen Nesami.” Narunis nodded to a servant that stood at the door to the queen’s chambers. He seemed to tremble before sliding his fingers around the golden knob. The corridor was lined with majestic tapestries. They were much grander than the ones in the chambers, as those depicted other races. These depicted the Tyzalian in all their glory.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAT9JBMxUPj
She didn’t wait to be ushered in. This couldn’t wait. Despite her overly extravagant throne room, the queen’s quarters were strangely bland. There was nothing that portrayed personality in the furniture or the choice of decorations. But that was to be expected, as soon as a new ruler took over, they would take residence in there.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcnAtLiQtmn
“What business do you have here Narunis?” The sleek figure of the queen stalked into the main hallway. The way she walked made Narunis imagine a hunter circling its victim.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAeySf2yKD1
“Adian, Calysse and I are ready to leave for Indignor.” There was a hint of surprise in her eyes when she mentioned Adian, but she didn’t say anything about it.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1zBlClasSx
“The quicker the better.” She shooed Narunis away with the flick of a hand. A gesture Narunis despised.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOS8JsdJVS0
“Yes my queen.” She bowed her head slightly and shuffled out through the open door. No conversations with Nesami were pleasant, not since she’d taken the throne. With every glance into those golden eyes Narunis was reminded of the Great Divide. She was lucky Adian hadn’t been taken from her, as Nesami threatened it. The population of the Tyzalian lands had reduced by nearly half after all the non-golden eyed Tyzalian and the people born outside the country were exiled. The half-race got the worst of it. As most weren’t accepted in their other country of lineage either.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQgvulpD3kV
As she ambled the halls, her feet almost instinctively pivoted into the library. Narunis didn’t like books, not at all. But when her brother had been nearly thrown out of the country because of his blue eyes, she wanted to know why he hadn’t inherited the trait. Narunis’ hands still felt the ache of holding books open in the dead of night searching for an answer that would never come.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnC6ZAVBlZ7
The only explanation she had was a long shot. A book dedicated to the theory that the Tyzalian race is a more powerful cousin to the Chytir, or humans of Indignor had stated that people like Adian were a genetic anomaly that branched off. It seemed preposterous, but it was the only thing she had.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtbqzFgyki2
After passing the dusty library’s multiple entrances, Narunis began to climb up the tall flight of stairs to the scout’s chambers to fetch Cassiara and Calysse. No one glanced at her twice. Her robes flowed out behind her in the breeze as she stood on the landing, jumbling keys in her hands.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHo8xjdPXd1
“We’re going.” She announced flatly upon discovering how the girls and the wolf had thoroughly destroyed the room in her absence. Bed sheets were splayed on the ground along with a broken chair that had a considerably sized bite mark etched in its cushions. Cassiara sat perched on the top of a wardrobe fending of the wolf with said broken chair leg. Calysse was trying to restrain the beast, but to no success.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7w35mvgqOU
“Tell Calysse to get that animal under control, then I’ll go.”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZZ9OAAbHV9
“You tried to hit me on the back of the head with a chair, don’t act like you don’t deserve this!” Calysse placed her hands on the scruff of the wolf. Narunis then wondered why she tried to convince Cassiara to take part in the journey. Surely she wouldn’t have been better off with just Adian and Calysse, but this wasn’t boding well. The prisoner had already made an escape attempt.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwFmGi9cIeL
“Wrap this around the top of your head.” Narunis ordered as she tossed a discarded garment at Cassiara. She had the eyes for the part, and wasn’t too obviously Nytteot in body figure– but horns weren’t exactly normal. Cassiara caught the piece of cloth and held it as if it were a dead mouse.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU8Y1d4WA0t
“Why should I wear this?” Her tone was laced with disgust, but Narunis knew Cassiara would have to put it on one way or another. Without waiting for an answer, Cassiara began to sloppily wrap the fabric around her horns. The wolf backed down and allowed Cassiara to climb back to the floor.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡthfdv8yeca
“We don’t have much time, Nesami clearly expects us to be gone soon.” Narunis beckoned for them to follow her as she retreated back to the stairwell.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ33dTlHaLKC
663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq2k8AqEuwd
--Adian Fonneraeru--
663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjOP3UsgAEK
“No.” Adian held his finger sternly in front of Nux. The wretched creature had smuggled himself into his clothing satchel as a stowaway on the journey. “It’s too dangerous for you in the forest.” If anything were to happen to the animal, Adian didn't know what he would do. He had found Nux by chance, won him from a trespassing human hunter who had the means to skin and cell his coat. By won, he had just frozen his feet to the ground for a while until the man had come around. 663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM6ZbUsg2HL
The young fox just tipped his head and planted his paws into the saddle of the stallion. Adian clenched his fist as he heard the stable door open. Narunis was the first person he saw before he noticed her company. Cassiara was practically staring down the wolf and Calysse was admiring the horses as she passed as if she’d never seen one in her life. Or at least, one that wasn’t chasing her. Adian knew all about her escape from Indignor and was a bit hesitant about taking her back.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHATrujygfR
“Pick a horse.” Narunis said as she quickly mounted her mare. Adian felt Nux crawl down into his satchel from behind his back. So now the fox wanted to stay in there? As Cassiara chose her mount, Calysse seemed the most hesitant to even approach the non-caged horses.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKEmsIjOvG4
“What’s wrong?” He clutched the rope he’d tied to his stallion as he signaled Calysse to come closer. Her hands were clasped together and her jaw was clenched so tightly he wondered if it might snap off with pressure.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKe5t6AlpKD
“I don’t know how to.” Calysse muttered, obviously referring to riding horses. How could she not know? All Tyzalian are taught it from childhood– but she wasn’t a Tyzalian was she? At least not from Tyzalia. There was a certain fear in Calysse's eyes that shone bright and clear the closer she got to the horses. 663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlndSwBE88Y
“Well you aren’t riding with me, you either get on now or walk.” It was cruel to ask her to walk all the way to Indignor when she’d most likely already fled that distance just a few days ago, but it was the only option Adian could live with. Calysse grumbled and inched towards the last horse he’d saddled. Luckily it was a tamed gelding and wouldn’t buck her off, at least not immediately.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK5XjqHCWRy
Only Narunis noticed the occasional movement in his bag as he mounted the stallion. With quick nods to each other, Adian clicked the reigns. Cassiara and Narunis kept pace with him easily but Calysse was slow to learn the motion. After enough coaching and demonstration, she was able to tag along the back of the group. As they trotted along the path into the forest, the wolf trailed the pack of horses quietly. It was unnerving to have a predator on his tail, but Adian knew Calysse wouldn’t let him leave it behind.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMNyh5ablIQ
There was no conversation that went on between them besides the occasional comment on the scenery. They were too busy admiring the sunset to speak. This was likely the first time Cassiara had seen the daily event since her incarceration, maybe even the first time Calysse had admired it in a while. But from Adian and Narunis, this was something they took for granted.
