Curse Uncurse - ONC 2020 [Completed]

Chapter 9: Fight - Part 2

"...Unnaturals are primarily coming from the western side, but be vigilant! There have been smaller-scale attacks near the northeastern side of the town."

There are two Armsguard officers just a few dozen meters away, both recognizable by the shiny black on red insignia flashing low on their shoulders. Although for the man with ebony hair slicked to the back of his head and, coincidentally, one who uttered those words, the insignia holds a bit more ornamental detail identifying him as higher ranked than the other guy standing across from him.

Plamen stifles another complaint just on the tip of his lips as Vid's pointy elbow digs deeper into the muscle where his neck meets his shoulder.

Really. He shouldn't have let Vid drape himself over him. However, ever since they've been proclaimed Champions, Vid has started chipping away all his metaphorical walls to the point that the black-haired teen just does whatever he wants to, whenever he wants to, and Plamen has to deal with it.

That's why he's currently hunched on his knees, his hood covered head peeking over a truncated stone wall as he spies on two officers with a warm body pressed to his side.

He shoots Zima an expression that screams 'save me' but she ignores him in favor of concentrating to spread her ice shards around the perimeter as unnoticeably as she can.

They had agreed to search for someone they could rely on. Like Yana or the Commander. Or even Zlatan. And then ran off to find someone, anyone. Unfortunately, or perhaps, fortunately, they've found these two first. Plamen thinks of them to be idiots because if three 'children' could sneak up on them, then anyone can.

It was Zima who first broke their silence about five minutes ago and quietly proposed spying on the two Armsgurd soldiers to determine whether they can trust them.

It is a good thing the whole castle is a big angular circle. If it wasn't, they would have been caught an instant they'd started to the west side. One of the corners concealed their approach, and, luckily, there was a lowered entrance for servants, with low walls and a few steps leading to it.

Once the two men turned their backs to them, the trio ran to hide behind the closer stone wall. Zima took the steps, sitting down and started forming crystals while Plamen and Vid tried to get into the best position for spying.

Now, looking at the two Armsguard, Plamen tries to remember if he knows or at least if he's heard about any of them.

He has never paid much attention to the military ranks, mostly because he didn't need it at the time, so the only thing that differentiates two men in front of him is the colorful insignia, missing only a few details to be identical to Yana's. Yana, of course, has one of the highest Armsguar ranks beside the Commander himself.

Vid leans into Plamen's space, twisting his head to whisper directly into his ear, "Should we go more west? We're at north-west at best."

"There's the matter of Champions..." the higher-ranked Armsguard says and Plamen shushes the other teen.

Heterochromatic eyes narrow at the two men, straining, probably to see, but Plamen knows that if he hardly sees anything, Vid won't do much better.

"We have been informed the Champions left their accommodations," the lower-ranked man informs the other who is obviously his superior.

So the news travels fast.

"Unfortunate," the distinctive voice of the higher-ranked guy comes their way. "We need to deal with them fast, or the Elders will have our hide."

What the...? Plamen pulls Vid with him as he sits down behind the wall.

Opening her eyes at that, Zima stops with her spell, attention on two of her teammates, and Plamen can see she's equally surprised as Vid. Heck, he is surprised, too.