Nox Invictus

2A. : chapter two :

"You not only are hunted by others, you unknowingly hunt yourself."

- Dejan Stojanovic,
The Sun Watches the Sun

_____

With my hands clenched into tight fists at my sides beneath the fold of my cloak, I growled as I dropped him to the ground. My chin raised as I looked down at the man who dared speak such a way to my youngling.

" what kind of--" , coughs and spittle flies out of his mouth.
I turn my head to admire the flames dancing in the fireplace as my charge attempts to mask her surprise at my attempt on the unfortunate bastards life.

Let him rot, I hear Judas scowl in my mind.

____

"Tsk tsk, Brother. We must teach him manners and respect in such a situation." I replied ,with my voice laced in sarcasm.

I shake my head as though I were reprimanding him. But our entire party knows from the feral gleam in my eyes that I feel no such thing.

A coward should die a cowardly death.

"Lari, my dear. You're frightening the poor man, let him gather his wits about him. Perhaps now he will know how to better respond to our request." Fenrir sat near the fireplace, stretching out his powerful frame after the long journey to this dinky tavern, gingerly placed his arms behind his head and leans back in his seat. With his legs propped up on the table before him, balancing on the back legs of his chair I make the conscious decision not to teeter his seat so he falls to the floor.

****

Inwardly, I scoff at his comment.

'' 'Manners, he says.' What neverending rubbish the 'manners' of these mundanes are. '' Xiao Wei scoffs aloud as he stares down the man who remains on the floor gasping for air that I kindly decide to allow him to breathe.

' What if his chair were to lose balance?

I think in reply to Wei in our silent converation, and Xiao attempts to morph his laughter into a cough so Fen would not be aware.

As though he could read my mind, Fen's eyes met mine from across the room and I feigned a look of surprise as his eyes glared at me, amongst a room full of perfectly capable dangers. His glare only deepened and just to annoy him I fluttered my eyelashes and smiled coyly as though I'd never caused touble in my life.

But alas, I am one of the few more... adventurous of the group alongside Calcifer of course.

Oh, the mischief we'd make would put our noble patreon flustered with a beet tinted shame for at least 5 years.

But he didn't need to know that.

Our Uncle, the former General of the Scarlet Army, now retired for some time.

In our mischievous schemes, making him filled with his usual boisterous laughter. More than welcoming of our tales of the days events or watching as Cal or I, uninterested and bored would tire of droll and tiresome lessons for mischief , trickery, and a tad bit of venturing in forbidden places. where younglings such as ourselves shouldn't wander.

Like a room full of exploding things.

And Cals idiotic urge to use his fire ability in a storage area which held fireworks in order to make it easier to see in the dimly lit room as we hid from our tutors.

It surely....sparked the attention of our tutors to our whereabouts.