Great British Create Off

There and back again, to the end and forever

Nox carded his hands through Spider's fur, grey and mottled with brown. It was a comfort more than anything, and the time-wolf pushed his nose into Nox's arms knowing exactly what he was doing. "Things won't ever be the same again will they buddy?" In response to his guardian's query, Spider huffed, and nibbled his sleeve, pulling Nox's arm away to distract him. It nearly worked, and the man looked fondly at his years-long companion. "You wouldn't betray me, would you. No, you've always been here." It was hard, coming to terms with what had happened, and maybe he was reluctant to let go, but Nox had decided hours prior what he needed to do. He found it startlingly easy to ignore the body ten feet behind him, not letting the sudden loss confuse him any more than it already had. "You ready bud?" Molten obsidian eyes bore into his own lilac ones. Spider would follow wherever Nox would go.

****

With a flash of light, Nox materialised into thin air. Shit.

He couldn't even glare at Spider in time before they fell face-first into a haystack. It was deep enough to soften the fall, but rolling out of the cart hurt considerably more. "I know I said I trusted you bud, but I at least expected you to land us on the ground." The ire in his voice was not heartfelt – Nox knew the time-wolf couldn't control the space he disappeared into, just the time. It was enough to chase his answer, the one he was promised and not given.

Nox stood, brushing the pieces of hay off his clothes, not that they were particularly presentable at any rate. "Alright, let's go."

His goal was a simple one. Find out why. Why he was left where he was. If Spider had been left behind, if Nox hadn't grabbed the fur of his best friend, there would have been no way off the deserted planet he was abandoned on. And now he was looking for someone who would know why. It was difficult, the medieval town was almost clueless, but the local inn had known the person he was enquiring about, apparently, they were a regular. When Nox asked about where they had come from, nothing came up, no information laid itself bare, but of course these things never did. On the way through the town, a stall vendor yelled his attention, selling fruit and veg, all the norm, but something caught his eye that drew Nox's attention. A lime, of all things, was nestled in amongst the apples and cabbages. Nox grabbed the sour fruit, chucked a few gold pieces at the vendor, and left the town.

His next destination was an odd one, tropical, one could say, and even more distanced from the modern world he had grown up in - somewhere he knew a few lime trees dotted the landscapes. Nox shouldn't have been surprised it was here, after all, it was their all-time favourite time period. He would know, he took them there more times than he could count. Ancient Greece, a spectacle of all time, and the beginning of so many of his time's inventions, contraptions, and concepts. They loved it more than he did. But this time Nox wasn't here to wonder at the architecture, he was here for one reason only, to find out why.

His purposeful strides took him to a small plain doorway hidden off the side of a pier with stairs down that would have frightened any normal unsuspecting person. Spider was the first to go down, pushing past Nox and scampering two at a time down. Nox smiled, he loved that wolf. The door at the bottom of the stairs was not plain, but ornate, carved intricately and depicting many a battle scene, and normally it awed him. Now he could barely stand to look at the thing.

The people in the circular room didn't see the boy and the wolf until a snarl, raw and promising violence, ripped through their conversation. They whirled onto the pair, eyes wide and in shock. Nox had been expecting the usual three suspects, those 'High Elders' as they proclaimed themselves to be, but what made him falter in his own steps was the youthful face he thought had renounced any claim to this organisation. A shadow passed over his face. Now he was even more pissed off.

"Val! What in gods name are you doing here?"

Val, the man in question faltered. "I was here looking for Rin-"

An arrow sailed past Val's ear, nicking his cheek.

"Get out." The unsettled animosity between them grated at Nox, but he couldn't let this get in his way.

"What are you-" A churning roar from Spider, who had doubled in size after sensing his guardian's wrath, sent Val backing away fast.

Now Nox turned his attention towards the three ageing men. "Why."

Their voices were fragile and wavering, but it didn't stop the obstinance in their tones. "Young man, this is a sacred place! You cannot be here-"

"Did you send her?!" Emotion watered down Nox's rage now. "She hated this place, she was going to get out, she promised me." The elders stepped closer to the door behind them but a snarl from Spider had them pausing. "When she had a knife to my back, I could feel it shaking. She has killed for years, it was her job for Hels sake, but there she was hesitating. You made me kill her – it was either her or me." A fire burned in his eyes now, and the elders had the decency to look afraid. "Now, I have to know. Did you order her to kill me or not?"

The three aged men looked to each other uncertainly, and that was all Nox needed to draw his sword and step forwards, wolf following in tow, with anger and no remorse in either of their hearts.