Elemental Thief Part I : Child of Calamity

Fledgling Trust

Davanos reclined back against the low retaining wall that overlooked the ocean, trying to force himself to be as calm and collected as he was trying to appear. He had been watching as most of the Courtiers had begun to leave upon the departure of the Princess and her two advisors.

More had left only a few moments later, expressions dark, when word of an attack on the jail had filtered through the crowd.

He watched that door they had disappeared into like a hawk, unable to look away, counting down the seconds as if they were hours, feeling as if he had been there a lifetime, knowing that it hadn't even been an hour.

The attack had surprised them, and Davanos wanted to know how.

How, with his team and all the others flying over the city, they had almost lost their prisoners to a brazen attack in plain daylight. He would have blamed the humans if he hadn't been on the ground himself moments before it had all gone down.

Had been flirting at court when a battle was going on.

But it didn't mean he appreciated being left out of the aftermath. And his gut twisted oddly when whispers of a familiar and reckless Captain having been involved and seriously injured in the incident. Although he had been less that polite to her upon their first meeting and her aloofness during the sail back here, he had found himself drawn to the woman. Certain that their paths were being pulled together, whether or not they liked it.

And he, a Captain of the Rulin City Guard, with plenty of experience dealing with criminals and decades of fighting training from the best fighters alive, was just sitting and waiting for more news.

It wasn't his country, or city, but it smarted like it had happened under his watch. They had barely heard of the incident through snippets of whispers that had run through the grounds over the past few minutes.

"Give them the opportunity before we force ourselves down their throat." His sister murmured to him, rubbing the back of his neck, calming the growing anger and tension in him.

Davanos sighed softly and turned to look at her, his eyes brushing past Byzan, who had returned from a flyover of the prison a few moments before and given them a complete report of what he had seen.

There was blood, there was death, but there was also calm, with the Royal Guard of Clairval manning the prison walls and gates. As for the prisoners, Byzan had confirmed that they were still within the walls. He could smell them there.

"What could take so long?" He was normally the calm one.

Compared to Eikos, he was the calm, thoughtful twin, the one who could take a deep breath before rushing headlong after something, but compared to Eikos, the only one worse was Anzael.

So him being calmer than Eikos didn't mean he was as levelheaded as he should be in situations like this. And his uncle wasn't even attempting to look relaxed, pacing, ignoring the calming words from his brethren, Chaven, and the cool, assessing look from Janzel.

"If one of your sisters had been in a fight and gotten injured, you're telling me you wouldn't stop to make sure we were alright, before barrelling into the next problem?" Mireya asked idly, drawing his gaze back to her, squeezing his neck enough to let the tension flow out of his body and mind, for the moment. "We do not know how gravely she was injured, only that the humans thought she should survive. His report didn't make it sound like it was a light scratch, and humans are delicate. Have some decorum, brother."

He was about to respond when that door opened, pulling his gaze, along with probably everyone else left in the courtyard. Duchess Tisaso stepped out, followed by one of her guard, a woman he hadn't seen before now, who was wearing nondescript leather armour, a cloak which was pulled forward, obscuring her face.