Magus {Complete}

7

"You were gone a while," Jika said as Kydyn shoved open the door. Cinder followed behind him, closing it gently instead of letting the warlock do it. He would have slammed it shut. The drive back had been precarious with Kydyn's mood increasingly foul.

"About damn time he star gazed. But then the rebels decided it was the perfect time to try to kill him," Kydyn snapped in return.

Cinder groaned as he walked past Kydyn and took a seat on the couch. Leaning back, he draped his arm over the edge of the arm and let the pillows support his weary body. Being exhausted didn't help in dealing with Kydyn's horrible mood. The man could turn the happiest moment into something disgusting. Cinder was secretly calling it Kydyn's personal talent. He was exceptionally good at it.

"Coffee?" Lyn was sitting down next to Cinder and offered him a hot cup of the pitch black liquid. Nodding, Cinder took it and cradled it between his hands. Blowing on it, he lifted his eyes from the cups dark depths to watch Kydyn pace the floor. It wasn't unusual for the warlock to be so agitated, but it was starting to irritate Cinder.

"If they want to kill me instead of use me, why did they wait so long? I've been here for months," Cinder asked after he took a sip from the mug.

"Does it really matter? They're desperate because now you're approaching white magic. You'll probably tip into it in a few days. You're easier to sway if you're neutral. Since they can't turn you black, they'd rather kill you than let anyone else have you. Didn't I already say that?" Kydyn threw off his question without a second thought.

"They must have thought they could get the jump on Kydyn," Lyn said, ignoring the warlock's dirty looks that were shot at him and Cinder. "Obviously they didn't, but he's right. They're going to get desperate soon. You've made a lot of progress in the past few months. And as to why they haven't tried all too much, you can thank me for that." Lyn pointed at himself with his thumb, a giant grin on his face.

"Lyn's been keeping the house wrapped in illusion. Taxing at times, but he's done a great job keeping us hidden," Jika said as he set a plate of snack food on the table and took his seat across from everyone else.

Cinder watched as Lyn's face turned a pale pink color. He kept his smirk though, but refused to look at Jika. "So yeah, there you have it. Kept all our asses in one piece. Great right? Totally confuses those bastards as to where we are or if we're even in the city. I guess the only other thing is why they've never attacked you two when you're out fucking around in the fields outside the city."

Kydyn snickered at Lyn's use of words. "Oh he wishes we were fucking. He'd enjoy it more than what I do to him already."

"Just. Shut up!" Cinder groaned and ducked his head down behind the cup.

"Want to tell them what you saw star gazing?"

"Hell no!"

"Oh now I'm curious, do tell," Lyn pressed, leaning forward as he stared at Cinder. Cinder shot Kydyn a dark glare before he took another deep swig of his coffee. It burned going down, but it helped ease the stress.

"Fuck," Cinder hissed under his breath. Leaning forward, he set the cup down on the short table between the couches and loveseat where Jika was seated. "I saw a couple of things. The first was the Capitol building in the middle of the night. I was starting to go toward it but then all these shadows came up and scared the hell out of me. One of them said they could see me. I ran away and ended up in Kydyn's room for some god awful reason–"