Innocent

~4~Xki

It's been a month since we found the soldier by the edge of the forest. We haven't had any news of Nyx, our only lead on this mysterious man is that redhead. We have seen her a couple of times but each time she manages to get away just before my team and I reach her. I haven't seen Azalea since my first night in town, I wish I knew who she was in daylight. Each day we set out to gather more information and each day we come back with no answers and more questions. I have a feeling that the redhead knows Nyx.

Today we are circling town, we question multiple people but they all say something along the lines of, we have heard of him but no one has seen him. It also seems that the mother tongue is Arabic which happens to be a language that was meant to be destroyed centuries ago, everyone here is fluent in Arabic, Spanish, and English. This is the only town we have found where almost the entire population speaks one language that no other people know, none of my soldiers know it because we were only taught English and very few in the palace know Spanish.

I am lost in thought when I see a flash of red in the corner of my eye. I whip my head around to try and watch the redhead to try and get her by surprise this time, it's getting embarrassing that the highest trained soldier can't catch a girl that can't be over the age of 12. That is another suspicion I have, how was she taught, how does she know all these streets so well, was it Nyx that trained her?

I managed to corner her this time. She lets out a yelp, but this time unlike all the other times we tail her she says nothing, she says nothing in Arabic. This was too easy, it had to be a trick. I look around my surroundings double checking anything out of place.

"This was a trap wasn't it," I say it as a comment, not as a question.

"What are you talking about, I'm only a young innocent girl," she responds with tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. Damn, she is good, those tears almost look real.

"Or maybe it was Nyx that told you to get caught. Mmm. Maybe you 'ought to tell me." I say calmly looking through her bullshit.

She drops the act and responds, "Maybe I do know Nyx. What I want to know is, why you want to find him?" she asks.

"Are you in the position to be asking questions?" I say with a smirk.

"Umm. Well, the fact that I could escape from here anytime I want and that means I have the upper hand. So yes, I do think I am in the position to be asking questions." she beams.

I walk forward to grab her wrist but she stops me, "You sure you want to do that? Do you want to test and see if I was bluffing? You want to lose your only clue to finding Nyx?" I stop.

"What's your name?" I ask instead

She gives me a pensive face, probably thinking if she should give a real name or a fake one. "Primrose," she says. I lift an eyebrow, "Yes, it's my real name. Nyx gave it to me." now that is something I can use.

"How long have you known Nyx?"

"You're not asking the right questions, dumbass." damn she has a foul mouth. "Four years. I'm ten by the way."

"He found you when you were 6 years old?" I ask slightly surprised. Her only response is a full belly laugh. I furrow my brows at her. "What the fuck are you laughing at?"

Her laughing comes to a halt, "Oh, you poor things," she says with a huge grin, "you're not even looking in the right direction, you're not even looking in the right book."

"Am I going to have to pry it out of you or are you going to tell me?" she is getting on my nerves.

"I will give you one clue." she holds up one finger, her middle finger. "Nyx has been like a sister to me." she winks turns and leaps against the wall. Before I can react she already used the force of her jump to get onto a roof. I don't bother following, we won't catch her.

Only then do I truly think about what she said, sister, Nyx is like a sister, she is like a sister. I doubt we can trust the clue of a 10-year-old but maybe that truly is the reason we haven't found Nyx yet, we were looking in the wrong book.

When I return to my room at the inn, I scan everything and make sure everything is in place, as a usual routine before getting in the tub, everything is in place.

As I sink into the water of the tub my mind wanders back to the first night I was in town. Azalea happened to have a lot of courage talking to me, is it possible she knew who I was? Maybe she was Nyx. I doubt a killer would go by the same name for all people. And why today, why did Primrose finally give us information on Nyx, was Primrose betraying Nyx or did Nyx tell her to tell us? That gives me one final question, does Nyx want us to find her, and why?

After I finish my bath I walk over to the dresser to get new clothes when I see something that wasn't there before, a letter. I quickly search the room, but no one. I checked the door, locked. I check the only window in the room, open. I check to see the distance from the ground, four levels. I finally go to the paper left on the dresser. I open the letter which I can only assume is from Nyx and it reads, You must have many questions for me. For example, why did I let Primrose give away an important clue to finding me? Well, the reason is, that I want to be found. I don't owe you an excuse for my killings but I will give you one anyway, kind of, I do love complex things. I'm guessing you searched the bodies, what is one thing they all have in common? I will give you a couple more clues before I say goodbye. We have spoken more than one time. I like playing dress-up, I love all the masks I can try on. Finally, my name may, or may not, or may, start with an A. -Nyx.

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I love how a 10 yo can't be caught by a high-ranking soldier, it just shows that age doesn't always matter, it also shows how good of a teacher Nyx truly is.