Cerberus Rex, Nameless

From Bad To Worse, 13

Feri looked back at Silas following her while he searched, twisting his head from side to side, all around for Asinis and Mr. Noarwin. His dutiful attention to her wishes reminded her of a dog. A smile crinkled her eyes. She'd known a few, rare, individuals like him in Nytvale, but she didn't make friends with them. It seemed a foolish oversight now. Silas's simple and straightforward earnestness subdued by his quiet nature had already proven its power against the enemies they faced in Waywin Wood. Remembering Silas's assault on their attackers solidified his form of innocence, though many might argue he wasn't innocent at all. He'd reacted out of grief, fear, and a sense of self-preservation. Different than the practiced innocence of those who had experienced life's tragedies and had learned how to deflect it through humility and submission. Feri had met a few claiming such strength, but none of them could prove it true. Silas's version was more child-like. Naive. Appropriate, if he were really only six years old. Feri glanced at him, finding it hard to believe, though she accepted it as fact. He had not undergone a normal birth. Magic could do whatever it liked as far as she knew. Why not create fully matured people as innocent as babes.

"Abby," Silas called after a time.

Feri's flow of thought stifled. "Yes?" The smell of warm bread in the bakery beside them sent pings of pain through her stomach. She'd forgotten about eating that morning. Stupid Asinis. Why couldn't he have left a note? She wasn't like Silas. She would have accepted it and waited for him to come back... unless he took longer than necessary.

"The spell I spent to find you has regenerated. Shall I use it to locate Klyde and Mr. Noarwin?" he asked.

The spell he used to find her? Feri spun to face him, almost knocking into the person walking past. She ducked under his round belly wrapped in a pinstripe, yellow plaid vest and the package he carried and looked up at Silas. "Spell?" she asked, not hearing the man's mumbled complaints under his thick, twisted mustache.

Silas nodded and showed her his palm. She didn't see anything but guessed she would if she asked him to activate it.

"Would it help?" he asked.

"You used it to find me?" she said.

He nodded.

"Then yes! Please." She cupped his hand and lifted it over her head, so he would activate the sparks of ether she had begun to sense.

Silas blinked curiously at her excitement. Then, as he started the spell's activation, his eyes shifted. "Oh. I don't need to." He pointed past her. "There they are."

Feri whirled around and shouted at the two figures coming towards them. Asinis winced, and Mr. Noarwin, wearing a cheeky grin, waved.

"Where have you two been?" she asked stomping toward them.

"My apologies, little lady," Mr. Noarwin said. He swung an arm around Asinis's shoulders. "I got restless in the middle of the night and dragged Klyde along for an evening out."

"Evening? It's morning! Do you know how worried I was? So many things could have happened."

"Oh my, we have a mother hen on our hands." Mr. Noarwin pushed Asinis toward her. He stumbled, and Mr. Noarwin straightened the collar of his fine coat. Then, he tossed Silas a pocket of coins. "Feed the misses, will you? People are sweeter when tempered by something delicious. Also." He slipped a small pendant over Feri's head. "Now you'll sound like any other gnome girl." He winked and then started away, giving her little time to examine the peanut-sized piece of iron imprinted with a flower in its center.

"Where are you going?" Asinis called.

"I'm off to visit a devil," he said, waving a hand behind him.