"I don't take orders from lapdogs," growled Sin.
Gabriel's smile faded. "Oh is that right?"
"You're nothing more than Sana's latest pet. Don't think that just because it feels like he's got your back, means it'll always be that way. You're worthless in his eyes and you know it."
Gabriel no longer sported his cocky expression. The look on his face had darkened and he glared at Sin with a look that could kill. "And what would you know about me?"
"I know enough to see that your nothing more than another one of his pawns."
"Shut your mouth," Gabriel spoke through clenched teeth. "You have no idea what it's like..." His words were almost inaudible, but Sin managed to catch it anyway.
Sin raised an eyebrow, wondering what he meant. He sighed and spotted one of the rogue spirits they were supposed to be hunting creeping up behind Banshee and Gabriel. Without thinking, he raised his bow and instinctively fired an arrow. The arrow flew passed them and pierced the spirit right in between its eyes. Gabriel turned around in a panic just in time to see the vermillion glow of the Solarian signal that soared into the sky as it reflected in the spirit's eyes.
Gabriel turned back to Sin who huffed a "You're welcome," before glancing back at Ri-is who was beginning to regain his senses.
"You should pay more attention to your surroundings. You could have ended up in the belly of that beast if it weren't for me." Sin's gaze refocused back on Gabriel but he was unable to make out the reason for his panicked expression.
•~•~•~•~•~•~•
As soon as those in the courtyard lit up in Solaria's red glow, Illya was able to breathe a sigh of relief. Sana, on the other hand, had eyes wide with anger. Illya leaned back, drumming her elegant fingers along her cheekbone as she watched his reaction with idle interest.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Seibel making his way over to her. He leaned in to whisper. "Yukimi and court physician Seimei have returned from their journey. They have an urgent message."
Illya looked at Callisto who turned his attention to the distracted Sana. "I'll meet with them. You stay here," he said before getting up from his seat.
She watched Seibel walk away with Callisto only to have the gnawing feeling at the back of her mind return. A long sigh left her scarlet lips as she threaded her fingers through her long locks. She knew better than to ignore her gut instincts, but it's not like she could get up and start causing a scene and hope that proof of any underhanded events taking place would conveniently show up when she needed it to, so she waited.
•~•~•~•~•~•~•
Seibel escorted Callisto to an empty garden where he greeted the pair in front of him. Yukimi and Seimei bowed respectfully. Yukimi raised her head to meet his gaze with a smile.
"Greetings Your Majesty."
"What was it that you had to tell us?"
Seimei and Yukimi looked at one another. Yukimi was the first to speak. "Master and I were in Theva when we heard that King Sana had come to Solaria for the archery hunt, but when we were on the borders of Theva and Sindaria, we saw the King walking through with a woman. She was tall and slim with long black hair and red eyes, carrying a staff."
"Li..." Callisto mumbled with a troubled expression.
Seimei took over. "They were speaking of two apprentices they sent over. We weren't able to hear the whole conversation because we were forced to leave before we could get caught but we did hear something about sabotaging the hunt. We don't believe they intend to harm anyone, but it did seem like they planned to stir up enough trouble to cause the Empress to sabotage herself. Not only that but something seemed to be wrong with the King. He could barely walk straight without the woman's help and he kept clutching his head whenever he spoke."
Callisto frowned and turned around, leaving to relay the information to Illya. Yukimi and Seimei followed closely behind him. He calmly walked back to his seat and leaned over towards Illya. Her expression was unchanging as she listened but he could tell that she was pissed. Callisto slid his hand under hers and linked their fingers together in a soothing gesture.
"If that's true then the King over there is an imposter," she whispered.
"We can't drag him out for interrogation here, look." Callisto directed her towards some foreign representatives in the crowd that observed the festivities in awe.
She sighed. "Of course. Of course, he wouldn't risk showing up in person. Why hadn't I noticed that! The King over there is probably a shi illusion made by Li." Illya raised a curled finger to her lips and she bit down into it.
"When they realize they can't get a rise out of us now, they'll no doubt try to cause a scene when the hunt's results are announced. We just have to deal with that. It's nothing we can't handle," Callisto reassured.
Illya shook her head. "No...they aren't going to leave without having accomplished anything...we don't have a choice. We have to wait for something to play out."
•~•~•~•~•~•~•
Gabriel watched as Ri-is pushed himself up off the ground and staggered to his feet. Banshee glanced over at him as if waiting for orders. He scowled at Sin who shrugged his animosity off.
"The least I could get is a thank you!" He joked.
"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU'VE JUST DONE?"
Sin's face contorted into a confused glare, clearly annoyed. "No, but obviously you have a problem with people lending a hand."
Gabriel scoffed, pulling off his shirt to reveal the many tattoos that coiled around his body. "Look, I'm going to need you to stay put until the hunt is over. Don't make this harder than it has to be. I'm in enough trouble as it is, having let you get that one score."
His tattoos began to shift and move and eventually peeled themselves from his skin and materialized. Two large serpents slithered off of him and sped towards Sin and Ri-is. Before they could fly away, the serpents caught their legs and coiled around them, restraining their movement. The snake on Ri-is slipped itself over his eyes so he wouldn't be able to cast any illusions. Sin moved to pry it off with his teeth only to have the tail of a serpent snap around his mouth. He chewed through it just in time for him and Ri-is to get blown away by a gust of wind. His body slammed into the mountainside behind them, nearly knocking him out but he remained conscious long enough to see a large raven standing in front of them, no doubt another one of Gabriel's tattoos.
"Can't burn them off, can't snap them off. Don't struggle," called Gabriel, who seemed to hunch over in mild exhaustion.
"Ri-is...I have a plan, the more tattoos he materializes, the harder it looks to control them. I'm gonna—" he was cut off by the serpent's tail which had regenerated.
Sin summoned one of his pistols. It was lux. He just barely managed to aim and fire it at the serpent around him. The serpent was rapidly engulfed in its portal and disappeared into it. Before he could do the same for Ri-is, the raven caged him in its talons, forcing Sin to take care of it first. For every beast Sin made disappear, Gabriel would have to bring another one of his tattoos to life, but the more he brought to life, the harder it was to control them, but Sin was relentless and it wasn't long before they had a full blown riot on their hands. Gabriel's beasts went wild, destroying the hunting grounds as well as any rogue spirits in their way. Since they weren't normal beasts to begin with, not even Banshee's wail was able to subdue them.
Once Sin was able to free Ri-is, they tried to make a break for it only to be cornered by more beasts. In the distance they could make out a very worn out Gabriel, hacking away with a tattoed sword. Every time he cut a beast down with it, they would return to his skin.
"Sin, he needs help. He looks like he'll pass out any moment now." Without giving his brother a chance to respond, Ri-is bolted back into the fray to help Gabriel.
Sin tried to follow him but was yet again trapped by another raven that pecked at him. "RAAH! STUPID OVERGROWN CHICKEN!" He shrieked as he fought it off.
Amongst the clamour, Ri-is somehow made it to Gabriel but before he could get his attention, a beast rammed into his side, causing him to fall towards Gabriel. Thinking that another beast was approaching Gabriel turned around and without hesitation, swung his sword down. What followed was not the slight relief of a beast returning to his body but rather an agonizing howl of pain that put Banshee's screech to shame.
Even with the crowd of beasts blurring his vision, Sin was able to see what had happened and he felt his blood run cold in a paralyzing sensation.
"RI-IS!"
ns 15.158.61.48da2
