The Knights of Grimm - Act 4 - Whispers of Arkhonex

Chapter 51 - Your Fault

Ortega

His head felt like it was beating, a pulsating pain on the side of his head where the baseball bat had struck him. It was dark now, and he could barely see through his stunned blurred vision. He could not tell how much time had passed, but the sun was indeed beginning to set by this point as well.

They were all running out of time.

The sixth day just ended, they were now going to be at the end of the first week. They now only had a week left to cure Horridus Morbus before the Moon shatters and the Shivering Dominion begins. But that was not what was on Ortega's mind right now, no...it was more the fact he was bound to a chair with some wire. He strained and slowly tried to break free but he couldn't. He shook his pained head as he tried to recover from the pain, and he started to look around, and he realised where he was.

They were still inside of the Creepy Abandoned House that they were attacked inside of in the first place. And he was between the very people he was looking for – Junior and the Malachite Twins. And two his left was Penny, she was awake unlike him, she could not really get knocked out like he could be by a baseball bat. She was staring at him with a gag over her mouth, shaking and trying to break free. There was a magnet placed on her spine, and it kept the panels that held the swords in place closed, which meant she could not break out. She was just as helpless as the rest of them were, and Junior looked badly hurt, judging by the blood that was trickling down the side of his head. "Junior? Malachites? C'mon..." He groaned, then he heard the voice of his kidnapper tut at him.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk...not even saying hello to an old friend, Darren?" She asked, and Ortega paused. He recognised her voice, it was with a slight Latina Accent and he turned to see her sat on a backwards facing chair with a large steel knife in her hand. She ran her finger across the serrated edge as she stared at him, and he stared back. He leant back against the spine of his chair and he exhaled through his nose as he looked at her.

"Hello Alvarez...been a long time." He said to her as the clouds above them slightly parted, and the glow from the Fractured Moon shone upon them. They could hear the hooting of owls in the forest outside and the crickets that chirped. Life flourished here, and yet the monsters were still everywhere. They expected the city to be Barren and Lifeless, not a bumbling habitat for all forms of existence. Natural or not.

Alvarez stared at him and she smiled, she was a pretty woman, around the same age as him, yet her sanity was clearly non-existent at this point. She was rugged, had not had a bath in months by the looks of it, dirt stuck to her skin and her hair with some fresh cuts and bruises. Her clothing was torn and moth eaten, and she was skinny too. She could hardly even stand, and looked quite pale too, even through her bronze skin. Her hair was extremely long now, with braids and old broken jewels woven inside of them. She giggled softly as she tapped the blade of her knife against the chair, and she stared at him. "How long has it been now? Ten years?" She asked her, and Ortega pondered on that one.

"Something like that, yeah." He said, and she chuckled again.

"You and I...we used to date, remember? Back in High School, before you met Robin Polendina...pretty Robin." Her jealousy was almost disturbing, since all of this happened even longer ago.

"That was a very long time ago...is that why you captured me? Gotta admit...I didn't think you were into this kind of thing." Ortega said as he glanced at the wires that held him on the chair. He looked at her and she laughed at him, not loudly though. Her voice was very soft, both because she was hiding from something and because of her poor health.

"You'd be surprised..." She said to him, and he stared at her rather menacingly now, he may have betrayed Jacques Schnee but that did not suddenly make him a saint.