Enemies

Chapter 4

*Krait PoV*

Back at the Rejyen base, the Rookies’ second-in-command was pacing, glaring frustatedly at her teacher and swinging her sharp sword haphazardly at thin air in front of her. “They’ve caught her. Surely.”

The stately leader did not move. They’d been at this for hours, it seemed, and still the brilliant girl refused to see the point. Finally she decided to be as blunt as possible. “And if they have?”

“Then we go rescue her!!” The young Cazadora roared.

“You know she wouldn’t want that,  Krait.” The teacher reasoned. “She expressly asked us to let her have this mission to herself. We have complete faith in her.”

“Faith in her has nothing to do with this, and neither does her pride. She could be killed!”

“Or she could avenge herself, and dispatch that bothersome general.”

Krait stopped cold. Her gray eyes stormed,  her normally neat red hair flew wildly about her face. She pointed the sword at her leader, not like a weapon but like an accusing finger. “ You have two weeks. Then I’m going to get her, with or without your consent.”

She turned and strode out of the room. After a few seconds, her teacher did the same.

Out in the garden, the Tweens were playing, running, laughing and calling. It would be Choosing Time soon. Krait watched them, remembering the time when she, too, had been so carefree. Before her world had been divided so sharply, cut in two as if sliced cleanly  by a Cutter blade. The two warring sides, Tesze and Rejyen, that hadn’t torn each other apart yet only because without each other they could not exist. And the smaller division, closer to home, Krait thought. Let’s not forget that. The Rejyen Tweens were set apart once they graduated from the First School,  to live and learn their respective roles. The plain, smart, active Tweens were made into Cazadoras, to protect the borders, hunt for food, farm, manage the war and support the Rejyen base. The pretty, dreaming ones, who prefferred to sit and talk rather than run and play, turned into Novias, lived with the Teszes and were chosen by one of them. The Nesters also learned from their Esposo(The Tesze who chose them) the secret to creating life.

Krait walked on. The training grounds, where her Huntress friends called to her, telling her to join them. But she didn’t want their company. Right now she wanted no one’s company but that of her best friend and Commander, Thanatos.

She could remember their Choosing day, when she’d surprised them all. Krait had known right away she wanted to be a Huntress. She loved to run, play rough games, had always been entranced by the weapons the Huntresses carried, the things they knew and did. But Thanatos’s decision shocked everyone. She ran and played, was the fastest among them, but also sat down to trace patterns in the dirt, brushed her hair without protest, and loved to stand under the waterfall, letting the freezing water sweep over her. And she was striking,  exotic, even, with large, emerald-green eyes and shining ebony hair. She chose to be a Huntress, and soon rose to the top, becoming their leader. When Krait had asked her why she hadn’t chosen to be a Nester, she’d laughed,  saying that Nesting was boring, and she didn’t want to be stuck with Tesze prats for the rest of her life. She, like every Huntress, thought they were obstacles the world would be better off without.

Krait went to the indoor sparring room, selected her favorite Cutter and imagined the enemy in front of her. she stepped forward, sword flicking like a snake’s tongue, dodging blows and slicing, faster and faster.

But when Thanatos had been caught,  gone through that harrowing journey with no one to help her, and barely escaped, something had changed. She now hated the Teszes, wanted their blood and relished every chance she got to hunt down a spy. And she’d never failed.

Not until now. This had been her most important mission yet, to assassinate the Tesze commander who had captured her the first time. She’d been so anxious to do well.

Krait frowned as her imaginary adversary beat her back. Anxious was not the word, no. The word was murderous. Krait had worried. She did not worry easily.

And Thanatos hadn’t come back. There were rumors that the Teszes had used the Cloak to capture her. If she had been captured, Krait had no doubt this was true. They couldn’t have gotten her otherwise. She was too skilled for that.

If they were willing to use the Thousand-year stone for her…

Krait’s stomach knotted. With a snarl, she impaled the imaginary foe.

What else would they do to her?

Author's note:

hey guys, I'mback!  The dancing contest/exams week is over, my computer's fixed and I can write again! Hope you like this little look into the Rejyen's home life:D please comment, and hopefully now i'll get a little more free time to write and update more often. then again, maybe i'll just sleep through the entire break...*yawns*

yours,

Writer16