(Book 5) Hayden Mackay and The Pride of Haima-Endira

9.2 Frenemy

The squeaky noise woke me up.

I was slouched down in my chair and jerked my eyes open. It was the indistinct sound of galloping horses, and the knights yelling and cursing to confine a trespasser that had come barging into the premise of the Sharad's palace. I stood up, bewildered, not knowing when I'd dozed off in the living room after yesterday's talk with Pruthvi. I lit the lantern to search for my jacket and then hurried outside to help them if required.

It was well before dawn and freezing outside. The porch was filled with snow. In the haste that I was in, I grunted and saved myself from tripping. The knights were the ones guarding our apartment, Nazira to be precise, during our absence. Leaning down from the rail, I watched them flinging sticks and hurling stones at one black giant familiar hound.

My heart skipped a beat. I watched it keenly until I made sure if it was the one. Dang! Knights didn't need my help, they needed to back off.

"Hey, stop!" I shouted, but the knights didn't listen. Their concentration was full on the strayed one, beating and poking it with a stick. One of them even had a musket pointed at it. The dog yelped and growled back at them.

A few lanterns from other neighboring apartments turned on. With the beasts causing a rampage everywhere, it was obvious for this sudden break of noise to cause panic among the people. Before everyone from the community woke up, especially Dhanunjay, and blabbed the whole thing to the King, I had to put a stop to this brawl.

"Stop! Stop!" I shouted running down the stairs and pacing hurriedly towards them. "The dog is mine!"

"Yours?" said one of the knights, finally stepping back surprised finding me stand in between them and the dog. "But Hayden Mackay, we never saw it before and it was sneaking inside through the barrier..."

"Yeah, we thought we lost it... a month ago. It must have gone searching for a bone...or a female version of it. Sorry for the trouble." I turned around at the hound. "You, get inside the house before I kick you hard! Go! Go!"

I pointed my finger straight at the apartment and glared wishing for it to understand. It wagged its tail, mouth shining with saliva and canine teeth overlapping a scar on its jaw. It gaped back up at me with its beguiling eyes. The knights stood glancing back and forth at one another. At last, the hound curled it's tail and whimpered before stepping towards the apartment. I apologized to the knights once again, and then quickly walked back making the dog follow me.

"Female version of me, huh! I wonder if there's such a thing," he said, as I closed the door and locked it.

I smiled warmly in greeting at the tall, beefed up man standing in the living room. After all this time, I could still detect the snide quality of his voice, and those shrewdish eyes ever so cold with mischief. Only the scar beneath his jaw made him look different from the last I had seen. He smirked, jiggling his fur coat to brush a few snowflakes away.

Then I had a good look at him as he removed his hood off his head. There were bruises and gashed all over his face, neck and down his palm.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Knight must have already made their morning."

I nodded, feeling sorry for him.

"Haven't seen you in a while," he continued, his eyes landing on the table where there were leftover cookies and soda from the last night. "Was worth it anyway. Congrats on your win against Shaytan Rup."

"Thanks," I replied.

"And congrats for making Shashi more aggravated."

I raised my eyebrows. It would have been a real deal if Shashi wasn't aggravated. I didn't know how to react at this unimportant statement and played it safe giving him a tight-lipped smile. "He should know by now that my intentions are never meant to brighten up his incredible life."