6️

It was hard concrete, polished and mounted that my feet rests on. My boots were gone and with it the stash of daggers. So was my vest. The cotton shirt that I wore was thin enough to allow Dorin's tension to seep through.

He tried to wiggle his massive body through the coil of ropes around us, binding us both with our backs to each other. He was restless and of no help as it only kept squeezing us in outcome. Which infers that whoever had us, is a professional. It must be an acquired skill to be this good with ropes.

Rays of the sun reach through a small oval vent from atop, it indicates that we had spent the night here. Knocked off like a humble hostage.

Drugged with fatigue I rest the back of my head against the nape of his neck, as if on queue he halts his struggle. With tied legs and arms, there wasn't much room for a relaxing pose than this. We stay like that for minutes then hours before I ask-

"What are you thinking?"

His muscle tensed, he could've been dozing off but my question seem to startle him waywardly. We seldom discussed emotions, ample of our nights and weeks flew by while coming up with strategies and their feasible executions rather than a mutual convertge.

We did unspokenly discovered during this arduous journey that fate laughs at our plans while we defy its existence.

We were exposed without hope and aspirations. Nearest we have ever been to the soil of Antar. But in an underground bunker betrayed by-

"I will kill her"

Smiling I nod, though he can't see me.

"If they don't kill us first" I enhance.

He turns grunting, my head falls to the side.

"What do they want from us? And are you sure that you saw castle with them?" He asks, strained with hurt and betrayal from a girl he fell for.

Rolling shoulder to relieve a nerve I glare at the grey wall. It was made up of square block bricks and was laced with moldy watermarks.

"It's a parable of my eye. It can't lie- she looked apologetic for a reason"

"Such keen observation young man, must have known that little Castlena would never settle for a feckless chap" the bearded man strides in with assured steps and a beer jug in hand.

My line of vision follows him like a deranged predator. Forgetting that I am a useless heap of victim from his perspective.

His actions were enthusiastic and his smile wide. The reds of his hair resembled that of a fox's fur. He slides and sits in a lone chair while we looked up at him with our behind matted to this hard cold floor.

"Who are you?" I enquire with the last ounce on civility I had, he sips on his drink. His healthy white jerkin is held by a belt and golden links. On cue, a girl with ashen hair and a boy with soft pastel features walked in and stood on either side of him. With guarded expressions and a loyal stance.

Their behavior and his language conveyed his importance, they were not doltish burglars in seek of weeks leisure. They have us for a cause.

"No room for pleasantries I see" feet of crows form as he barters his eagled gaze between Dorin and i.

"Of course, we must bow down to you and sing ballads thanking for your hospitality with our musings"

My sarcasm buys me a throaty laugh, I take the break to notice the dark-skinned girl in beige tunic and knee-high boots, her bare arms were inked with white tattoos in close-knitted swirls. While the boy was a contrasting image of us all combined, he had angelic features with a subtle friendly smile when our gaze met. Lean and young he shuffled nervously.

"Your friend here is not much of a chatter is he?"

Dorin answers for himself.

"Untie me and ill show you how well my fist can talk"

The girl takes a step ahead- but the man waves at her to stay. The colors in his face flush off. But she does recite her mind if not in action.

"Speak such nasty, I will smack your ass back to where you came from"

Chewing on my insides I elbow Dorin to steer his anger clear for when we are free. And by the tone of them, they don't look like they are itching to kill us or turn us over. They want-

"We have nothing to negotiate with. We are considered traitors in your world. The most you could get is a week worth of bucks if you turn us in-

I pause when I see the impressive passiveness in him, I hate it. For some reason, it tells me he knew what he wanted from us. As if my intake was fascinating to his wits before he divulge into the subject.

"Who are you?" I ask again, this wise much stern.

"We are spies" comes a low voice, sweet as honey and neat as dew. His eyes are cast down and I couldn't quite believe if someone who looked so innocent would ever admit to being a spy. "We are as much of an outcast in the land of Antar as much as you all are"

This chokes disbelief out of Dorin.

"So what do we do about? You carry on with your rot and let us go our way"

"That's something we can't do" booms the man's voice as if Dorin is being unreasonable in his presence. But I had my own inquisitive row of suspicions.

"How do you know castle?" This gets me rewarded with a generous smile.

"I didn't know her, I wasn't made aware that my dear friend had children. Let alone four. You see son, this world is a complicated place to live in. Most of what you think of a person is an illusion"

I cannot agree more, he addressed me as a son. So castle hadn't been as foolish as she flatters to be.

"Mr. Birch is your friend?" I hide my distaste.

"Is that what he calls himself? He had been on duty for so long I seem to have forgotten his profile" the man spares a thoughtful second as I sat appalled.

It was painful to digest, to know that the individual I've been working for year's has been a spy on a mission trapped in Ivyaki. But it still doesn't -

"You can't walk the miles to ivyaki, but no one ever said anything about flying" it was the boy once again surprising me with his crazed enthusiasm. He read my wonder and replied with a whistle. And with the hoot flew in a magnificent white bird with its teal blue tips spread, its turfs on the boy's shoulder as he caressed its crown with childlike delight.

"We wrote to her, castle had found the letters we kept sending to her father whose loyalty to our county seems to have faded into anger. He believed none of his comrades made effort to save his family from the banishment when he risked his life to stay undercover in an Armins den" this while the scarred man continued. Too much to take in, I fall into a trance of sincere listening.

Traceable it was, a bunch of traitors falling into the trap stressed by a group of defectors. Because rats like us will never fall into the lap of highborns and be respected for what we are not. This is our destiny even if we manage to escape from what became of us.

"It still doesn't knittedly explain why we are being held hostage in a stinky underground bunker?" Dorin throws his weight at me as he attempts to speak with intimidation. I wince as my side burns at the suddenness.

"Finally a good one from you boy" the man irks Dorin and me with his manipulative dominance. He made us feel inferior without moving a pinky of his. So when he motions the boy with a flick, he rounds us and gently twists one single knot, and it comes undone.

All of it.

"You tied us?" I ask in awe as he slips his lenses into the bridge of his nose.

"Yes, its veritably simple physics. You could have just strained your wrist slightly and it would have unwrapped in seconds . It's for people who we want to trap and yet give them a choice in case of emergency" I raise my brow at him as he proudly classed us with his mastery.

We were guided out of the room and offered a tree stump to sit upon, we took it politely despite the lurking presence of castle by the corner. This space was fancier than the cell we were kept in, with table between us and a lantern hanging from the ceiling- I felt the need to lure at it longer than I should.

They gave us food and water, the one that didn't tasted like clay and salt. As much as we despised the vulnerability - it had been a month since we had real food served. When we were done - they were back on our hair.

It puts me off that he wasn't smiling anymore. His hair and beard stopped at same length, it was hard to say what he did with his expressive essence under the facial crowd.

"What are your gifts?"

Blinking, Dorin and I swap messy glances.

"Pardon?" Entwining my fingers by the tabletop I stare at the gingerly individual. His brows join in a frown.

"What are your abilities? The efficient power that got you all out of Ivyaki" his words are harsh and persistent. I visibly slouch in my seat staring at the ridiculousness of his question.

"Well, Dorin here is immune to freeze that sets in Ivyaki" luckily Dorin continues for himself in a practiced dialect.

"It's the common trait that certain warriors possess. My mother used to be one before things changed. She could survive without water for months"

It was basic, possession of certain survival strength among the high ranking warriors who serve the crown and its war with rexiles- a kingdom beyond their sea line who had been at war with Antar for centuries. Always a coalition but never the peace. They say there's no wound denser than a mother losing her child. And no harmony predicted when two powerful realms sizzled with hostility

It's a history preserved in books. And the one that flowed with the lives of influential Armins was a subject that gathered dust in my tattered shelf. The possibility of coming across them was laughable, steering protected from their path is a must.

So I never read about them with fervor or passion.

Armin- the title and honor bestowed upon the warriors of Antar brought a delightful future to its family. The higher their rank- the wider their responsibility, and luxury. Though many enter the trails - rare make it to the army, and rarest are the eccentric ones who enter the Noble Court of Azure.

It has to be the chosen one, to embark into the court one has to be blessed with the blood of ancestry or be enough significant to get selected by the four supremes. The lords and ladies of the court. They govern each of Antars corners. East - the land of fertility by Lord Marmoris. West - the home of inventions by Lady Amorist, South - the rot of war by Lord saga and North- the heart of squall and winter- the region we are in, and the abandoned one beyond the mountains of glaze by Lord Morana.

That was twenty-two years ago- the night of the birth of an heir. Of him. When my people were forced to leave behind their life and dignity.

"Do not wound your intellect with me boy. Now tell us the truth before I resort to unpleasant methods to do so" irately, Dorin stares at him. And I square my shoulders preparing the reflexes under the desk if this strange man who claims to be a spy goes dirty on us.

"Why won't you believe us? How are we to trust your side of the story when you can't comprehend ours" my voice shrills an echo in the empty chamber. But his blond gaze sparks with curiosity as he leans across.

"That's because I refuse to believe that three ordinary kids made it out alive of glaze"

I stare at his discolored scar, it runs down from the top of his brow to the right of his cheek. Intimidated by his abrupt flip of persona I safely ask.

"We were blessed and might have been fortunate"

He shakes his head. Discarding me as if it's not a substitute, or even worth a consideration.

"There's a reason why the people of Helios entered the glaze- it was a trick to make them run for the hills where once in, you get swallowed by its affliction. There is no way out of a spellbound prison unless-

My hammering heart wrestled with doubts, dread, and intrusive questions. Not alone in this, Dorin steals my words and voice.

"Unless what?"

There's a moment of silence that plagues my mind and chest. But then he says-

"Unless one of you were more powerful than the spell itself"

***

I drew a pattern on the mud with a stick, undoing it only to do it again. Without an image in mind, I kept slithering through my sludgy canvas finally coming to a conclusion that I can't remember the spirited body from my hallucination. Convincing each wise that it was it, a trick of my brain that led me to her.

A shadowed woman? A monster? A lost soul? I can't name her. Or her language or her reasoning.

"He waits for you"

I dream of it. Of her. Her words. Her voice. The pandemonium in her eyes. It's chaotic to believe in them. The tale behind my dreams and nightmares to be something. But I can't deny what it does to me. Or how helpless I am when they flourish into a reality. At times they are snippets in course of fever dreams, in rest its a past that's true in nature.

My dreams and visions are past and future. And I have no inkling of how to make them stop.

Flinging the stick into a fire lit in middle I look at the tattooed girl who seems to stare at Dorin with radiant dislike that she didn't bother to hide. Beside me was Noon, the boy who seem to have found a friend in me as he kept approaching me with conversations that I had to admit were interestingly diverse.

"Do you know why I am named Noon and her Night?" he nudges my shoulder and drowsily frowns at the dark-skinned girl with ashen hair. Her jacket and trousers were a closet of weapons while her appearance was an exotic delight.

"No. I presumably thought that you selected it yourself for a spy title" I quip as his drunkenly dowsed face goes stern.

"It's our real name"

"Is it so?"

"Well none of you bothered to ask"

My face leaps with a smile so wide at the ridiculousness of his statement.

"Similar to the resilience shown by you when we are desperate to not work with your chief espionage"

Tragic was it when I had wheeled towards Noon when we were offered the chance of an alliance. He was smart, perhaps someone who seemed to not be fazed by our denial like Night and Chief Caelum did.

Bile coats my taste whenever I had to address the foxy spy by his honor when I don't even belong a cent in the kingdom. They can tear this realm into shreds and I refuse to blink an eye at it.

What good is to be humane with a nation that celebrated our sufferings?

Sincerely mistaken by Noons friendliness, I had only challenged his witty brain into a chance where he became adamant on manipulating our insecurities to their cause.

"Patriotic now, are you?"

Examining his fresh features in the light of fire, I schooled my knowledge of how nervous and gentle was he with Castle. Almost as if was scared of hurting her with his toneless voice. I wondered if he would even be lounging beside me if he knew what I was underneath.

"I like to live without a purpose"

"That's a purpose in itself, though much less rewarding and unworthy"

"We are in search of safety, not prize" my reassurance is answered with a taunting smirk.

"And then? You find a maiden and be wed under a cherry blossom?" He grinned as i flattened my lips. Dorin beheld my stare of frustration with his own cynical ones. Next to him was castle- the girl who delivered us to a group of outcasts while still maintaining a passive pride. Atticus was with Caelum, the man in his prime forties seem to have found a spot with the baby.

"What we do has nothing to do with anyone's concern"

"It should be yours" infuriated I shift to slip him a piece of my livid swears that I learned from an old lady who once used to be a pirates mistress- but he caught me off guard "With a power like that, the one among you must be wasting it"

"None of us are" I deny it in a blink, the confidence that radiated from him is that of ages wisdom. He crosses his legs and entwines his fingers on top of his knee. And by then I realize who he was. Or what- a Ventim. The scholar.

A person born with a mind with no obligation. Their thoughts are a million things at the same time. Miles a minute and a fort of skills. He was young only in age, he spoke what he knew. He knew what we don't.

"You say that because you hadn't known fear. A potential gets unleashed when you do" he pats my knee once "With ivyaki as your habitual history, you all must have had challenges and odds that you fought against. But none as apex as an Antarian Armin. Or the ones dynamic enough to enter the court. Or the Sarkim of the kingdom himself"

It was subtle, the flinch of his gaze or the tick of his jaw- but he did crack when he spoke of him.

The one I steer my thoughts dusted and mopped off.

"I don't want a purpose, I crave for freedom" I sigh looking at the stars- thinking of how they had been accompanying us in our journey that might end tomorrow. My heart rattles, the stark distrust I have in them or with the fury that I had bottled up against Castle. The anxiety weighs with the thought a morning tomorrow in a town that ran in currency and trade in place of favor and needs.

More people than I've ever seen will be there, the tones of the native tongue with modern slang and their turbulent lives. So many things that I should be weaving my feelings with- I ask the one thing that tickled my mind regardless more than it should.

"Why do you want us anyway? How can we be of use when the most we could do is read, write and throw knives at the head to buy time during chaos?" I ask Noon. I know by now our conversation had an audience.

"I've lost my men in pursuit of finding something invaluable to my people"

My query is not responded from him, we turn simultaneously as Caelum walks over to us with Atticus perched upon his crossed arm, his scar was as red as his hair as hues of fire light up his presence. His tall stature towered even when he sat on the log next to Dorin. Demanding attention of all without a word.

The similar in manner he did when he introduced himself to us. He knew our names already, I should bow down In Thanks to Castle for that.

"An artifact that's been drilled deep into the voids of royal treasury. Under the protection of the supremes themselves. Owned by the Sarkim. Owned and guarded, but not accepted by it" he paced his gaze along the melodious flame, I couldn't breach my heart from believing him. His eyes were honest.

For the narration at the least.

"It's said that centuries ago a notorious man with scholarly gift practiced in hiding. Born of helios he decided to make his discoveries rather than joining a university that forbids the study related to alchemy. He believed there was more to magical dominance when the boundaries are broken than to learn what's humble"

Dorin chuckles, rubbing his palms he looks around as if to see we were with him on this.

"Seriously, it surely is entertaining in regards to Atticus's bedtime story. Sir Caelum- you indeed are a good baby handler"

Caelum though must be spited at Dorin's brattiness smiles with a shrug.

"I suspect you know that the town of Helios and its people were suspended outcasts even before the banishment. If you don't, that this must come as news that it has everything to do with this bedtime story of mine"

This shuts him up as I line his courage with a glare. Yes, the man was humongous- but stupid in ancestral level. We were trying to escape this group of psychotic spies- and it hadn't been a success so far. They had ceased our weapon, our ration, our enemy Castle, and any form of a loophole that could let us sway from their fort.

They had given us a period, and it ends tomorrow.

They want us to join them. And I curiously wished to know what had them so desperate to build a squad of their own.

"So - what happened next?" Its night who arcs an amused brow at me. I ignore her and listened. Its the best I do. Ignorance. Consistent with the emotion.

"He succeeded in his crusade. Developed something so lethal and beyond the order of power in Antarian hierarchy that caused an upheaval among the court. They wanted him dead and destroyed while he wanted to be appreciated and recognized. Hundreds of warriors died when he joined forces with the enemies. But he was captured and burned by the altar. It's said that it's an emerald ring that's survived in the tumble of his ashes. A ring in which he wielded his powers in. It cannot be destroyed or possessed unless its a host it consents" he twists the golden links of his cuffs as a silence brews.

"So- is it me or I yet can't be able to decipher how Dorin and I can be of any help?" I drawl, so thoughtful despite my decision to not golist in their cause, I ask plainly for the sake of conclusion.

"We want you to help us steal it, by earning a place inside the court" as Night propped straighter with revelation, I engage with Dorin in his fancy snort.

"Our stupidity ends in our visage. We just look the part. We are not precisely fools per se" I nod as Dorin waves his hand to go with his statement. None of them looked pleased. Castle seemed as ridiculed as we are. Other than not revealing my identity it was another thing that she seem to have taken aback with.

"We need you to do this.Thousands of lives depends on it- this is not a joke" Night says as my smile drops. Scorning, I sneer at her antics.

"I don't care about the thousands who abandoned us. And even if we did how are we to enter their high world when we don't even have credits to enter a market street?"

A hand grips my tensed shoulder in support. I look at Noon and the hope in his rimmed stare.

"It's simple" he begins. But the version of his simple is deadlier than a serpents venom. Twisted than a witches fantasy and haughtier than a wolf in the glaze.

And he made it sound like it was a possibility he believes in.

"You participate in Armins trial and finish with rank convincing enough to become the apprentice of an Heirs Oath, that is to become the student under the wings of General Hann Slantis"

Note: unedited. :) so...