We Could Go Anywhere (Nimona)

Part 3

True to her word, Nimona helped Ballister pack in the morning. They were about to leave when they heard pounding on their door. Ninona let out a wolf's snarl. Ballister stood beside her, drawing a replacement sword. The door nearly splintered open to reveal none other than Todd.

"Sureblade." Ballister hissed. Nimona side-eyed him. It was rather impressive for a non-shapeshifter. Her attention returned to Todd.

"Punchable face guy?" Nimona's long-standing descriptor for Todd rolled off her tongue with such ease. The knight made an offended face. This gave Nimona the opportunity to tackle him and hold him up so that Ballister could remove his communication device and crossbow.

Ballister nodded to Nimona. She nearly threw him to the ground. He scrambled backward over himself. He wasn't willing to risk having to go through her to escape. "Nimona, we're wasting time. Let's tie up Todd so that we can finish what we started. I have a feeling that he won't have to wait long before the other knights find him, and I don't want to be around when they do."

Nimona turned to Todd, smirking. "This'll be fun."

Todd shivered. This was the person who broke Ballister out of jail with a rhino, an ostrich, gorilla, otter, and...whale, somehow. He uttered his first words to Ballister since the breakout. "You got what you wanted! Why let her tie me up? You let the Squire go!"

Ballister met his eyes. "Diego didn't get in our way. You're more...how one says, 'problematic'. Now that people know I'm not a murderer, I'm still somehow the most wanted man there is, despite me letting him go."

They fled into the night. Knights stormed their former Lair mere minutes later.

--Later...--

Knight 1: (emerging into Ambrosius' office; saluting) Your Royal Majesty, report. We've located Todd, but Ballister Boldheart and his miscreant are still at large.

Ambrosius: At ease. Stop talking about him like he's some sort of criminal. What has he done in the last few hours except not wanting to be seen by anyone?

Knight 1: Sir, he tied up Todd in what was thought to be his Lair. (stifles laugh)

Ambrosius: No need to hide it. We all thought about doing something worse to Todd while we were in training with him. Did he hurt him in any way?

Knight 1: No, sir. Only his ego's been bruised. The physicians checked him over before I came to give the report.

Ambrosius: Good, then he's done nothing wrong.

Knight 1: Sir, I wouldn't assume that just yet. Todd said that he tied him up because he felt like he was 'interfering' with something he had planned. Well, his sidekick tied him up under his order, at least. According to Todd.

Ambrosius: (sighs) Do we know anything more about this 'sidekick' of his?

Knight 1: Only that their name seems to be 'Nimona', as Todd said, he addressed them by that many times.

Ambrosius: (nods) Thank you, you may go.

The Knight left. Ambrosius pinched the bridge of his nose. Why couldn't Ballister see this 'Nimona' for the monster that she was? Maybe... there was more to the story. There had to be. She hadn't killed or appeared to have harmed Ballister in any way like she had the other knights while she broke him out of jail. Why had she broken him out of jail? Why had she helped him at all? There were so many things that didn't make sense. No one else knew--unless she's shifted in front of Todd--about her abilities. All he wanted was his boyfriend back. He acknowledged that as wishful thinking, considering that Ballister told him that they were done during their last interaction/fight at the Altered Serpent. All he wanted was the truth. Why did nothing make sense? He wanted to talk to Ballister. Ask him what was really going on. Why didn't he cast out this 'Nimona'? What happened to the scroll he'd given him? Had he done anything with that information? What was he planning, or was Todd full of shit, as always? Ambrosius tapped his finger on his desk. There is no way he could get Ballister to meet up with him again. Bal had a habit of closing off and brooding when something upset him. The best he could hope for was either to find him first and attempt to start a conversation or for him to come to him. There was no way that Ballister didn't know about his coronation. He'd hoped that he would show up so that they could talk, but no such luck.

[A/N: Guess that I'm going to this talking style with colons now. Anyway, thanks for reading!]

Then, he started thinking about the Squire. Diego had revealed everything he knew. He wasn't the very secretive type. He hoped that he was getting along well. Last he heard, his boyfriend was trying to make things right with him, as they'd had a falling out just before he'd been kidnapped. Maybe he should ask Jackson for advice since it seemed to be working.