Trickery's Soldier

Crossbow- Coen

***This is the crossbow scene from chapter 2 of Trickery from Coen's POV***

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Trickery and I had just made it to the tree by the front gates of Blesswood. I was turning to ask him what the plan was exactly when suddenly my eyes were covered and everything went black. "Fuck" I spluttered. "Hey dick, a little warning next time!" I reoriented myself lifting my crossbow in his direction as he started to laugh at catching me off guard. I was going to shoot him, see if he thought that was funny. Just as I was zeroing in on his enegry to take the shot, I heard the group of new dwellers coming through the gate and Trickery's laughter get louder. "Turn!" He spoke, slighlty projecting his voice so that it boomed toward the dwellers. I began to smirk, knowing exactly what we were doing now. 

Lifting the crossbow the rest of the way up in front of me, I slowly turned until I was facing the crowd. I could feel their nervous energy and spikes of fear. "Stop!" Trickery spoke, and I did. I waited, knowing Trickery would tell me when to fire. As soon as he spoke the word, I intended to just pull the trigger and see what happened. I didn't care if the bolt hit one of the dwellers. They didn't matter. None of this shit mattered. But just as I was about to fire, my bow raised a few inches higher on a slight angle, and the shot went high completely missing the group, soaring over their heads. I could sense that Trickery used his illusions to make it seem like the bolt was shot straight and was going for them, but I knew it hadn't. 

What the hell was that? It was almost as if something compelled me to shoot higher. Not a physical force that I could feel, but almost like a mental push. Had Persuasion followed us out here? No...he wouldn't care if we shot some dwellers. He didn't care about much at all, other than us. I had an uncomfortable feeling about this. I never missed a target, whether I was looking at it or not. 

I started to remove my blindfold, feeling Trickery's curious energy behind me. I couldn't hear his thoughts but something about his shift in power told me he was confused about something as well. As I looked forward I a saw a slip of a girl piled on the ground. I assumed she was the one that would have been hit by the arrow, had it shot where I originally intended. She looked small, young. Was she even old enough to be a new dweller recruit? At least that was what I was thinking until I met her eyes. 

She was staring right at me with the oddest expression on her face. I began to walk towards her expacting her to finally realize she was in danger and cower, ut she didn't. She just kept staring at me. She was diffinately small but she was not young. She had a beautiful face and mane of curly blonde hair. She had large inquisitive eyes that were blazing with...something. How was she still staring right at me. I quickly took stock of the rest of her. Petite curves that demanded more of my attention. Attention I would not be giving them or her. What the hell was going on? I felt my lips drop into a small frown and I turned from her and walked away, not bothering to wait for Trickery. I felt unsettled. I needed to get out of here and I knew he would catch up. 

I was just about to re-enter the academy when I came to a dead stop. I had just ran away from a little girl.  What the fuck was going on. How had one little dweller made me feel so...well I don't know what I felt. Uncomfortable? On edge? Was it even her? I scoffed at myself. Of course it wasn't her. What the fuck was I going on about. I was so out of it. We all were. We were loosing our shit in this stupid place. We were gonna have make a trip back to Topia soon before we were no better than the stupid Sols we had to put up with every sun cycle. 

I turned my head, hearing Trickery approach. He had an expression on his face that I had grown to both love and fear. He was up to something. "What?" I demanded. "What are you going to do?"

He looked at me with a faux innocent look, but the gleam in his eyes gave him away. "I don't know what your talking about brother. I am not doing anything."

"Bullsen shit! I know that look." I scoffed back. I wasn't gonna fall for it. 

He let out a small amused chuckle. "Seriously. Im not up to anything at the moment. I am however very sure that life is about to get very interesting." He smirked at me almost knowingly. What was he on about?

"What do you mean?" 

"Oh, come on Pain. I know you felt it too. Something is brewing. Something is about to change. I have no idea what, but I would bet all Persuasion's tokens that that dweller you almost shot is at the heart of it." I frowned at him.

"Why did you redirect my bow?" I don't know why I asked that. I knew it was not him. His power did not work like that. But for whatever reason, that is what popped out of my mouth. 

He grinned back at me, waiting a click before he answered. "I didn't. But you already know that. I thought that last minute shift was curious." I glowered at him. I did not like this. "So, Rocks was kinda cute wasn't she? More appealing than that Sol this morning?" His eyes were dancing with mirth, but I was confused. 

"Rocks?" Who the hell was Rocks?

"The little dweller that has you all ansy." He answered easily, his smirk taking up his entire face. I bristled at his insinuation. "She hit the ground like a bag of rocks to avoid that bolt. It was almost impressive." He laughed out. "Pretty little thing wasn't she?" He goaded me. I huffed out my annoyance and started to walk away from him back into the building. I wasn't going to dignify that comment with a response. Pretty? As if I would even notice a dweller. And as that thought hit me I heard Trickery holding back his laughter as my entire frame tensed in realization. I had noticed. On the ground, in rags the dwellers call clothing, I had noticed her. I had desired to see more of her, if only for a second. 

Shaking myself off I decided it was ridiculous. So what. I glanced over at Trickery noticing that he was no longer laughing and looked thoughful. It seems he had found a new puzzle to play with. I on the other hand wasn't going to waist anymore time on the dirt dweller. She was nothing. Maybe Seduction was right and we just needed to get laid. Yeah, that was it. We just needed to get laid. Maybe find a nice little blonde with honey eyes....I stopped that thought process dead in it's tracks. Fuck.