Number 100 Red Nova Sorcerer

Chapter 6: Resting Spot

As soon as I recover from my little episode, I rejoin the group, taking my place beside my brother and Crimson. They don't ask why I was late getting back to them, so I don't bother to explain what took me so long.

"So, how are we going to do this?" Bura asks impatiently. "If we don't want to fuck this up, we need to think of something."

"Oh, shut up," Crimson scolds. "We'll get to that as soon as we get out of this territory. Who knows what may be planted here?"

I look around, suddenly paranoid. Crimson may be right. If we make a plan right now with the enemy watching, then they would know exactly what we plan to do. We cannot risk that at all!

Crimson snaps us out of this paranoid state. "Come! We need to find shelter for the night. We cannot waste time dawdling here!"

We all follow with Amber and Bura following behind us. They seem to be having a heated conversation, but I care not to listen in. It may as well be a trivial matter.

Night soon falls, and we keep scouting the place for somewhere safe to sleep. Blackie eventually finds a deep cave for us.

"Wait here," Crimson says, holding up a hand. "I'll see if the interior is safe." He walks into the cave with his throwing stars in hand to eliminate any dangers that may be lurking nearby.

Blackie inches closer to me while he's gone. "What did she want to talk about?" he asks in a hushed tone. "Did she say anything hurtful?"

"No." I shake my head. "She said nothing that may have harmed me."

My brother seems unconvinced. "Truly? Because when you came back, something seemed wrong. Did something bother you?"

Once again, I shake my head. "No, nothing." I'm lying, of course, but I do not want him to worry about something so trivial.

Blackie frowns. "You know you can tell me if there is something wrong, Nova."

I'm about to answer when Crimson emerges from the cave. "It's a little dark," he states, "but it is safe. I can just make fire for light."

We follow Crimson into the dark, dank cave. He and I light fires in our hands so that we can light the way. It feels a little uncomfortable being here in the dark, but oh well!

The cave seems forsaken of anything that may have lived here. Tunnel systems litter the area; we have to bunch together to keep from getting lost as we move forward.

We soon get to the very back, where the cold and emptiness settles in on us like a blanket. I look around at the high ceiling and the far walls, feeling very small in the vast space.

"This should do." Crimson plants his hands on his hips, the fire on his hands not burning his tunic at all. "We will look for food when the morrow comes. For now, we sleep." (My class has been reading Shakespeare! X3 Things may sound very weird, and if it does, blame Romeo and Juliet!)

We nod. Blackie, Crimson, and I sleep together while Amber and Bura separate themselves from us for some reason.

~.The Morrow.~

I wake up to find Blackie and Crimson gone. I sit up, scanning the area tiredly. I spot a small dot of fire, and assuming that Amber and Bura are there, I crawl over to them since I'm too lazy to stand.

"Where are Crimson and Blackie?" I mumble as I settle myself beside them.

Bura ignores my question, but Amber answers me. "They've gone to gather and hunt." She looks into the flames, which are burning on wood logs. "They said to tend the fire while they're gone. Wanna help?"

I shrug and yawn. I feel the inside of my mouth heat up before I let loose a short jet of flame to make the fire bigger. "That should do. It was about to die."

"What, you're a dragon now?" Bura snickers. "Even more of a freak!"

I shrug nonchalantly again. "And? If I am a freak, you are a demon."

Bura is taken aback from this statement of mine. "What did you say!?" he demands. He stands up and walks over me until we're face-to-face. "Don't you dare talk to me like that, you little bastard child!"

The language if my witch mother stings me like a horde of poisonous insects, but I manage to remain calm. "I can talk to you however I want. I am not a child anymore; I have no reason to fear your petty comments anymore."

Bura loses all of his self control at this and lunges at me, holding me down with those white, paralyzing hands of his. I yelp at this sudden attack, taken by surprise and thus losing my concentration. I try to move my arms, but it is useless. That does not stop me from using my lower body, though.

"Bura!!" Amber shrieks in horror. "Let him go!" She grabs Bura to try and budge him, but he does not let go.

I'm about to deliver a shocking blow to my former brother when someone else intervenes, shouting with such familiar anger that I cannot help but recognize it.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" Blackie demands in such a loud roar that even Amber freezes.

Bura looks at my older brother with a sneer. "This little brat needs to know how to talk to those older than him!"

Blackie's nose twitches, as does the right corner of his mouth. "What!?" He gets Bura off of me by yanking the neck of his cloak upwards while using very little of his strength. "Just who do you think you are talking to!? He has no more reason to listen to what you say! If anything, you need to learn how to talk to him!" He throws him to the ground and turns his attention to me, now gentle. "Did he hurt you?" He helps me up.

I shake by head, but with my hand in his, I fingerspell how I'm feeling from hearing the words of my witch mother. Blackie nods, not showing anything from it in his face but telling me that he'll deal with them in his eyes.

Crimson chuckles behind us. "Well, that was quite the action!" He controls the flames to small embers and cooks the meat he and Blackie hunted. "You may want to save it for later, though. There is no need to exhaust yourselves early in the journey."

Blackie sets the nuts and roots to roast. "As soon as we eat, we'll go."

"We need to keep going north," Crimson tells us. "As long as we do not encounter enemies, we will be fine."

"How do you know?" Bura sits up with s suspicious glare. "For all we know, you could be sending us in the wrong direction."

"Why would I do that?" Crimson seems genuinely confused by this. "That sounds straight up stupid."

Bura growls. "Now you're calling me stupid!?"

"Where did you get a stupid idea like that?" He finishes cooking the food and sets it in a large bowl made of leaves. "Now, eat up."

We all eat a little of everything, and when we finish, we get rations of the food to take with us on the journey like when I was a kid. After that, we set off.