SAGE (under edit)

Chapter Twenty Nine - Sage Suragi

Raidan made an irritated sound, almost like a growl at the back of his throat, when he felt something poke into his side. He felt the jab again and made another sound, more like a warning this time, and when he felt his ribs poked three more times he opened his eyes just slightly, enough to see the grinning face hovering over him.

'Quit it, Sage,' he murmured, turning over so his back was to her.

Sage huffed, tipping her hand into her chin as she eyed her partner's back. 'I think you're growing lazy in your old age.'

'I am two years older than you,' he reminded her over his shoulder.

'But twenty-one sounds so much older than nineteen, don't you think?'

Raidan let out a martyred sigh and finally sat up, clearly too awake now to return to sleep. He faced Sage and said, 'Was that absolutely necessary?' His tone was still even, voiced without any inflection, but over the last year Sage had come to read what he wasn't revealing, and to hear what he wasn't saying.

She grinned. 'The joke or the way I woke you up?'

'Both.'

'Then yes. It's your turn to take watch,' said Sage, brushing herself off as she stood.

'Shuussshhh,' Nox slurred from underneath his trench coat, which was serving as a makeshift blanket. Sage rolled her eyes, and made a mental note to cure his hangover in the morning.

Raidan stepped around Sage, but as he did he, seemingly without realising, placed his hand on Sage's shoulder and brushed it across her back as he passed her. It was one of his many habits that he had developed over the last year, as if physical contact was a way of reminding himself that she was here, and she was unharmed.

She smiled at his back before settling down in the spot he had just vacated, the dry grass lush enough from the flourishment of spring that it was comfortable to sleep on. Raidan had left his jacket for her as well, so Sage pulled it on over her own and nestled into it.

Her smile still in place, Sage cast a look around their campsite lit only by the dim embers of the fire they had doused before falling asleep. There was a break in the cloud cover and the pale light of the moon brightened, falling through the foliage above them in columns. Sage could Dante, Toren and Nox still asleep around the dying fire, and Raidan's silhouette as it moved silently across the campsite before he climbed up the base of a tree to occupy the same bare branch Sage had used.

It was such a familiar scene, and such a peaceful one, that not even the thought of spending another night sleeping on the ground could ruin it. They had been forced to seek refuge in unmarked territory for the last week, having been forced out of an inn just outside The Palms City by Palm Soldiers on the hunt for Sage.

An official bounty was placed on her head six months ago, which Sage had been expecting. When Soldiers defected, the preceding six months was the obligatory timeframe for the Soldier's home region to try and hunt them down themselves and, if they couldn't, the Renark was to issue a bounty which opened up the rogue Soldier's capture to other regions. Sage's bounty, unsurprisingly, was high.

Higher than even Dante's, actually, considering what her crime was. So the Palm Soldiers had been a specialised group trained by The Palms with the sole responsibility of capturing bounties, and Sage had been their priority.

'The hype will die down eventually,' Nox had assured her, since the Palm Soldiers had been the fifth group attempting to capture her.

Her crime wasn't the only reason why Sage's bounty was so large, though.

'You have made quite the reputation already, Miss Lycrart,' said Toren as he returned from an outing, Dante a step behind him. Sage had been sitting beside Raidan, using their free time to clean and sharpen their daggers.