They descended the stairs and then turned a corner. Laila followed discreetly behind them. She kind of wanted to see - and if given the opportunity, fight - whatever had sent the tsunami to try and kill her. She had asked Helena earlier in the evening if they had a portrait of Zadok or The Dark One so if they came, she could recognize them. To this, Helena had replied that they hadn't seen the One because he'd had a stupid hood over his head. Nevertheless, she followed in pursuit. Laila slowed down once when they both turned a corner and when she reached it, they'd disappeared. As she was about to follow anyway, she felt something cold at her neck- a sword- and she froze.
'Turn around,' said a familiar voice though she couldn't say exactly whom it belonged to. Laila turned around to see Fedrick holding a silver sword at her neck standing beside Nick who was holding a half obsidian and half bronze sword.
'Why, it's only Laila. I thought that...never mind what I thought.' Said Fedrick, withdrawing the sword.
'What are you doing up this late?' He enquired.
'I was about to ask you that.'
'Well, we went to our chamber but we realized it was our turn to do the night patrol tonight...so we came back. We were going to borrow some ice cream from the kitchen.'
'Thieves.' Laila sighed, shaking her head in mock disappointment.
'It was Fedrick's idea.' Nick came clean right away.
'How could you just hang me out to dry like that, dude?' Fedrick asked, looking at Nick in betrayal and panic.
'Speaking of which- gosh, I lost them.' Laila slapped her forehead.
'You lost what?' Fedrick asked, deliberating if he should make a run for it.
Laila didn't answer. Instead, she turned back around and turned the corner, only to be met with a knife at her throat again. 'Quit it, Fedrick.'
'Quit what? Keep moving.' Fedrick's voice came from behind her.
Laila tried to see in the dark, squinting, and when she recognized the five-foot-tall figure, her blood ran cold. 'Lita, what's stopping you, just move already.' Came a voice from behind the figure.
'Wait a second, Jake. Laila, what are you doing alone, where's Helena?' Lita asked, concern spreading over her face, as she lowered her weapon. 'And is that Fedrick and Nick behind you? A late-night kitchen raid on your first day, I suppose?'
Laila explained everything briefly, leaving the part where she almost punched Erika in the face and Fedrick's raid plan.
'Are you done, yet, Lita? I'm getting frostbites here.' Came a female voice which Laila guessed was Nora's.
'Yes, I just found some young Warriors out of bed, let's resume the search.' She lowered her voice, 'You three, follow close behind. And Fedrick- no raiding for tonight. Okay?'
Even in the night, Laila could see Fedrick's ears turn red as he nodded. They all walked in silence- with Lita and the Leaders in the front and Laila, Fedrick and Nick bringing up the rear. 'So, what do you guys actually do when there's an attack?' Laila whispered, loud enough to be heard only by Fedrick and Nick. 'Try to stay calm?' Fedrick whispered back, as Laila shot him a glare. 'Well, there are a few protocols for everyone based on your level of training. The full trained- and we have lots of them- are supposed to go to the frontline and fight. Few are chosen to take the undertrained and half-trained to panic rooms, or to retrieve everyone and take a headcount to make sure every Warrior below the fully- trained is present and safe,' He concluded quickly.
Suddenly, Laila sensed someone's presence and lunged forward and grabbed Fedrick's sword, 'Hey, you-,' he started. Disregarding him, she swiftly turned around and almost slashed out but restrained herself when she saw that it was just plain old Helena along with Erika. 'How did you see us?' Helena asked, amazed.
'I saw your shadows- kidding, Erika makes too much noise, I heard you,' Laila shrugged as she turned back around and walked on. Erika was fuming from inside already at the smug look on Helena's face and the way she whispered, 'I've a good feeling about her training.'
Erika rolled her eyes and caught up with the others. Helena followed, other fully trained warriors behind her. Fedrick wanted to ask Laila to give his sword back, but seemed afraid of the thought of what she could do to him now that she had a weapon.
Soon, they finished looking around and found nothing. And, indirectly, Laila had received a tour around- even the places she hadn't stumbled upon already. Most of them were like the training arena that Helena had shown her- full of weapons and practice-dummies, others were common areas, panic rooms, empty rooms waiting to be used, or few plain-white secret trapdoors containing magically-concealed drawers containing daggers, spears and whatnot.
A/N: My birthday's coming up in a few days, let's go! Lemons, teenage is so hard, though.
What do you think might've happened? Who do you think the garment belongs to? Leave your thought here and I'll reply if you're close enough.
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The Warrior- Laila Nomon
Художественная прозаAbout to be 13, Laila Nomon is saved from a hurricane storm sent to kill her by an enemy she didn't know existed. As the truth of her identity is revealed to be more than just an ordinary mortal, she must learn to co-exist and learn about this new w...