Blood and Gold: Chapter 5

[jiminee]

This is the fun chapter :)c
Chapter list

“He’s an asshole, what did I tell you?” Zisteau grumbles.

“I don’t actually recall you saying that,” Nebris says. “Not the asshole bit.”
“Aw come on. He was probably just acting all tough because of Aurey,” Vechs says. “Y’know. Showing off.”
Aurey blushes a little. “He wasn’t acting tough,” she says. “Just like a smarmy idiot. And his friend was just standing there, agreeing.”
“They’re harmless,” Vechs insists. “They probably just like intimidating non-locals.”
“How would you know?” Aurey asks, sitting down. “You haven’t met them.”
“That’s probably a good thing,” Zisteau says under his breath. Vechs makes no comment.
“He suggested assassinating the king,” Nebris says. “Like we’re stupid! He knows that would get us executed if we were caught.”
“He was just winding you up,” Vechs says. “You know what you should have said?”
“What?”
“’If killing the king’s so easy, why haven’t you done it already?’”
Aurey sighs. “I’m sure he would have a clever comeback for that. Anyway, I’m not here to play mind games. Just wanted to make friends.”
“Yeah, Mere, I’m sure you’re great friends with Guude and BdoubleO now,” Vechs says. “Those probably aren’t even their real names, either.”
“I’m going to go wash my hair,” Aurey says, standing up abruptly. Vechs watches her go, as Zisteau climbs the ladder to lift the rock.

“No matter what she does,” Vechs says softly, “I still admire that woman so much.” Nebris looks up.
“Huh?”
“Oh, nothing,” Vechs says, locking his fingers together and studying the map. They’ve made little progress on it, but Vechs has traced the route he took to the marketplace, and Zisteau has marked a couple of places of interest, including the place BdoubleO and Guude seem to hang around. Vechs checks the map and makes a mental note in his head.

Aurey returns from her wash in the river, her hair returned to its red colour. It’s Zisteau’s turn to make dinner, and he does so silently. During dinner, Zisteau is in a slightly better mood while Vechs shuffles the pack of cards. The four are settling into an easy comfort now, and the four glasses of wine on the table are half-empty. There is equilibrium now, compared to the imbalance of the previous nights.
“You’re settling in well,” Vechs comments to Nebris as he deals out cards. Aurey counts out coins for gambling.
“I think I’ve gotten to know some of you better,” Nebris says. “At least better than I did on the journey here.”

Vechs remembers the mostly silent journey through the forest between Lyren and Corax. He’d been half-angry, half-thrilled about the new member to the group, and was trying to let Zisteau know with his silence. Only once they arrived in Corax did they begin to work as a group with Nebris.
“I’m glad,” Vechs says.
“Yeah,” Aurey says, smiling. “We had a good talk didn’t we?”
Vechs looks at her.
“About, uh… Yeah,” Nebris says. He looks at his hand of cards intently.
“I’m glad you had a good talk,” Zisteau says. “We always try to get to know our members well. Makes it easier to work together, even if it does sometimes lead to stupid things happening.”
Vechs fans out his cards and looks down at them. He knows Zisteau is talking about him, in a coded way, sure, but it’s still there. The sting. He knows Zisteau thinks it’s immature and irresponsible of him to always date the new additions to the group, but it’s not as if he does it on purpose. Anyway, they know he’s changed. He’s made his vow, and is trying his hardest.
And he does have to try really blyxing hard when Nebris’ purple eyes are so often trained on him.

They’ve caught everyone but Vechs cannot go back. If he turns for even one second he will be seen and captured. Every breath feels like a scream as he darts around a corner into a narrow alleyway, the palace guards’ footsteps receding in the background as he shakes them off. Vechs makes his way through a complicated path towards the city wall, and grabs the rope he left hanging earlier. As he pulls himself over the wall, three screams echo in his ears.
“Vechs, we need you! Please help!” Aurey’s voice is high and hysterical, and he sees the rope burns on her wrists as she struggles to escape from her bindings.
“Vechs, blyx you! Blyx you!” Nebris is yelling. His voice is taut and broken.
Zisteau calls too, in a voice that stings with betrayal, of broken trust. “Cral! How dare you leave us. How could you blyxing do that!”
Vechs vaults the wall, unable to stop his muscles from pulling himself onto the tree branch. One of the iron spikes tears into his leg but he feels nothing as he slides down the tree and collapses, sobbing against the wall.

“I’m sorry,” Vechs says, sitting upright in his hammock. It’s almost midnight and he doesn’t want to wake the others, but it’s hard with the dream still lodged in his head. “I’m sorry. I would never betray you. I’m sorry.”

He’s shaking. He quietly steps out of his hammock onto the floor, dreading waking the others. Another night he might ask for the comfort of one of his friends, but he knows tonight is different. He wants to go somewhere, and he doesn’t want any questions asked. Tiptoeing out of the bedroom, not before grabbing his goggles and helmet, he puts them on and goes into the main room. Luckily, everyone got an early sleep tonight, at Aurey’s suggestion that it would be better for all of them.

He climbs up the ladder slowly, and when he reaches the top he heaves the rock aside. Stepping out into the cold night air he feels a sense of relief; he can stop being so quiet now. Putting the rock back he consults his mental map and heads westwards through the dim forest. The bright lights of Corax leak through the trees to his right, whilst the dark and threatening forest stretches on in every other direction. Searching around through the green night-vision of his goggles – a feature only he knows about – he looks for men. Perhaps they won’t be out in the open tonight, but he’s more concerned with finding their hideout.

When he gets near the place, he looks around. He knows their hideout will be hidden, but Vechs knows where to look. He’s designed many hideouts for Naziv before, and knows the tricks to conceal an entrance. Looking around for any light, he squints through his goggles at the ground and the trees. The silence is so still that when a twig cracks behind him, he jumps. Whipping around, he tries to steady his heartrate.
“Looking for somethin’, Vechs?” a voice says. Vechs is afraid. He does not recognise the voice, and it knows his name. Finally he sees the man as he steps out from behind a tree.
“Afraid of me? C’mon, I’m not that scary,” the man says.
“How do you know my name?” Vechs says. He does not recognise the man. He is tanned with brown hair and a smirk, his hands shoved in the pockets of his pants.
“Oh c’mon. Yer think we couldn’t work out the great Naziv were here?” the man asks, grinning. Vechs’ heart thumps. He’s not supposed to know.
“N-Naziv are here?” His skin prickles.
“Please drop the act,” the man says, coming closer. “Me and Guude were decent enough to give real names, yet your buddies Favern, Mere and Nebris were not.” He says the names with contempt. Vechs knows they’re busted.

“You knew who they were?” Vechs asks.
“Well, not at first,” the man admits. “We met Favern – or should I say, Zisteau – first. He gave me that blyxin’ name and I didn’t recognise him, just thought he was a strange lookin’ guy and thought nothin’ more. Later Guude says to me, ‘Wait a minute. Was that guy a Grax?’ and I say, ‘Nah, didn’t look different enough. Maybe he was half-Grax’ and then it hits me. I remember about the guy in all the news. ‘He’s wanted,’ I say. I pull out a poster I have, and it has his face on it. Matches exactly. ‘That’s Zisteau,’ I say. ‘He’s in a group called Naziv, they ran into big trouble in Feretan and only escaped in the nick’a time. There’s a pretty girl in that group, a handsome guy who wears these weird goggles, and another guy who’s always hidin’ behind a skull mask.’

Then Guude says, ‘He was alone though. And he says he comes from the north. Feretan is to the south.’ I thought it was a weird coincidence until we met the other two. Her bein’ a girl, and although her hair was the wrong colour she looked blyxin’ familiar, so I got out the poster again. She had them bright green eyes, cute smile – yep. Aureylian. Not Mere, as she told us. The other guy who calls himself Nebris didn’t have his mask on. I didn’t know if my theory was right until I ran into you. Black hair, stupid goggles, helmet: yeah, you’re Vechs, of Naziv.”
“Well,” Vechs says, trying to hide the fear in his heart, and the jolt he felt at the mention of Blame’s mask. Although the guy was wrong about that particular detail. “You caught us. I guess the jig’s up.”
“Hey, hey, no hard feelings,” the man says. “I just want to be friends.”
“That’s not what the others told me,” Vechs says. “They said you were quite hostile towards them.”
“Well now I know you’re Naziv,” the man says, “I respect you a whole lot more. I’m Bdubs, by the way.” He holds out his hand. Vechs takes it, knowing the man will feel his trembling skin.
“Vechs,” he says.

The man grips his hand tight and pulls him closer.  “We’ve been waiting for you,” he whispers, in a tone that makes Vechs’ skin prickle. He tries to ignore how seductive Bdubs’ voice is like this.
“Waiting?” he asks. He’s too close to Bdubs. There’s an awful shift in the air and a tension grows. Vechs wonders if it will be beneficial to make a move. He has seduced people before, for information, money or tools. If this guy wants to play, Vechs will play.
“Yes,” Bdubs says. His face is impossibly close to Vechs’. “We need you for something important.”
“What?” Vechs asks. He is aware of the warmth of a hand on the small of his back, pulling him close to the man. He knows it’s a mistake now; this guy is doing it intentionally. Bdubs is the one in control, and Vechs knows that he’s in a terrible position. He wants to resist but as always he is powerless to his own feelings. Hating the way he always caves, Vechs moves his head forward just enough to graze Bdubs’ lips.
Oh blyxing hell, I’ve done it, he thinks hazily as the man’s fierce kiss sends him into a different world, spiralling away from his promises and vows.

“VECHS! If you hooked up with that man I swear I will cut off your blyxing foot and shove it up your-”
“Oh, enough!” Zisteau yells, putting a hand on her shoulder. Aurey turns to look at him, sheepishly ending her tirade. “Yelling at him isn’t going to solve this.”
“I’m so tired of this, Vechs,” Aurey says, steadying her voice. “It was one thing to fall for every blyxing member of our group, but it’s a whole different thing to fall for the enemy.”
“He’s not the enemy,” Vechs says, straightening his hair. He has to admit, he did give Aurey, Zisteau and Nebris a shock, attempting to sneak back into the hideout in the early hours of the morning, his clothing and hair dishevelled and his goggles hanging loose around his neck. He hadn’t expected them to be waiting for him, but when he saw their faces he knew what trouble he’d be in. “And hey! I thought we weren’t going to talk about that in front of Nebris.”
Aurey sighs, and fiddles with the clasp on her cloak. “He already knows, Vechs. I told him about your habit.”
“He’d probably find out anyway,” Zisteau says.
Vechs glares at him. “Anyway, Aurey,” he says. “I did not fall for Bdubs.”
“Sure, you just banged him up against a tree in the forest in the middle of the night and came home with your clothes half-off,” Aurey spits, “but no way you fell for him.”
“It was purely sexual,” Vechs says. “No love involved.”

Aurey throws up her hands. “You blyxing disgust me. How are we ever going to get in the palace when you’re distracted by every mildly attractive person we come across?”
“We’ve gotten this far already,” Vechs says. “Sorry. Bad joke. Anyway, I totally seduced him, not the other way around. He’s wrapped around my finger now.”
Zisteau snorts. “Right.”
“He is! I said no to his offer.”
Zisteau narrows his eyes. “What offer?”
“Uh,” Vechs says. “After we – after our encounter, he said he wanted us to help him and Guude out in some sort of operation.”
“Us?” Zisteau’s voice has a new edge, one Vechs has never heard before.
“Yeah. Um. I’m sorry. He worked out we were all working together ages ago. He knows we’re Naziv.”
"Vechs," Zisteau says, his voice level and cold, "How did he know we were Naziv?"
Vechs hesitates.
"Vechs."
"He recognised you from a poster, Zisteau," Vechs finally says.
"They have posters?"
"Well," Vechs says. "They must have done artist's impressions after we escaped. I mean, they'd been staring at our mugs long enough to get an accurate picture, at least an accurate enough one that Bdubs saw the resem..."
Vechs stops talking, and his cup slips from his hand, thudding on the wooden boards. Zisteau looks up sharply, and sees that he's gone as pale as the moon.
"Vechs?"
Vechs is staring at nothing.
"Vechs!" Aurey says, standing up to go and shake him by the shoulders. "Snap out of it."
"What's up with him?" Nebris asks, looking at Vechs with concern. "He doesn't seem too hot."
"I think he's in shock," Zisteau says. "No blyxing clue why, though."
"Vechs?" Aurey's voice grows a tiny bit more anxious.
Finally, Vechs speaks.
"Blame was on that poster," he says, in the faintest of whispers. He is trembling. 

Comments

[ruddiestbubbles]

O.O I really love this story!!!!

[jiminee]

Thank you!