Unknowing (A Yogscast Fanfic)

Chapter 10

Zoey woke up late in the morning, confused as to why she hadn't been woken up by Rythian earlier. Her mind flashed back to the night before, her watching the mage sink his teeth into an apple, and then the scars...

She shuddered and wrenched herself back into reality. He wasn't going to hurt her, he hadn't yet, and she knew him well enough to see the compassion he had for her. Speaking of Rythian, she thought, where is he? Why hasn't he woken me up? She got out of bed, and, realizing she slept in her clothes from yesterday, quickly threw on another set of clothes, afterwards trying her best to comb the nest of hair that had formed whilst she slept. She put on her array of rings, then the cloak and boots, and padded down the stairs from her room. "Rythian" she called, peering into room after room, looking for him. "Rythian, come out come out wherever you are!"

She kept looking around, but she still didn't see him. Then she walked back up the stairs, and checked every room again, but there was nothing. Maybe he wanted to give her a break, and was just out in the woods near the castle. Or he was outside, that was always a possibility. She shrugged and kept walking, but abruptly stopped when she reached Rythian's room. She hadn't noticed the door was left wide open, something which Rythian never did. She stuck her head in the doorway, peering to see if he was there in his room. He was not. She straightened up, then took a few cautious steps in. The bed was unmade, the blanket hanging off the side, and one of the pillows on the floor. Also not something Rythian would do. She shuffled towards the bed, and was even more surprised to see that all of his rings were sitting there neatly on top of his bedside table. This made her feel very uneasy, and she grabbed the mage's set of rings, and shoved them in her pocket. Something was wrong, and she wanted to help Rythian as soon as possible.

She ran out of the bedroom, and bolted down the steps, quickly pausing to grab a sword from the chest in the kitchen, along with a few potions. She wasn't intending to use the sword on anyone, but if it made her look more threatening, she wanted to have it. Bursting out the door, she began to slow, realizing that she had no idea where Rythian could be. He could be in the woods, or snuck out and just walked somewhere, as he had done it before. Her mind raced, trying to come up with some place that made sense. She instinctively brushed her thumb against the ring on her forefinger, and everything clicked. There was no way her companion would ever go anywhere willingly without his rings. He didn't go to the woods without her, and his walks were never very far from their home. The state of his bedroom was to disheveled for it to be considered normal, even if the man himself wasn't exactly normal. So he was, what, taken hostage? Seemed unlikely, but what other option was there? When it came to thinking of the culprit, her mind blanked. Who would ever go after Rythian and succeed? "Well," she mumbled to herself. "Time to poke around then, see if there's anything fishy." With that, she braced herself as her feet lifted off the ground.

Rythian sputtered, trying to twist his neck away from the dagger resting there. Duncan saw the movement and made another slice, below the first two. "Don't move, you'll end up hurting yourself more."

The mage remembered what he was told before he faded into his memories. "What the hell do you think I'm going to do with Zoey? It's not like I've done anything to her whilst you were scheming this whole torture setup."

"Says who? For the record," another slice, this time across the cheek. "I don't trust you for shit."

"Duncan, what did I ever do?"

This awoken a rage within the scientist, who grabbed Rythian's collar and pulled him close, spit flying from his lips. "You know exactly what you did. Threatened me, threatened to kill my family. I had them leave, far away from here, and you know what? I never see them anymore, because I'm too afraid you'll trail me and end up hurting them!" His hand dropped from the collar, and he stepped back. "You have no idea what it's like being that scared, that weak." His voice broke, and he shook his head. "Did you ever think that your actions might have some sort of consequence?"