Krowe

Krowe

Chapter warning(s): Slight humor, Language

 

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Chapter 19: Time

 

The sky had darkened considerably by the time the white-haired clone had found his twin in the woods where Solas had vaguely specified. Still, White had nearly flown in the direction that Solas had come from and eventually he had found his twin even though it had felt like days had passed.

Red was lying propped up against a tree with his head resting on his left shoulder. Some of his lengthy red hair was in his face, shielding most of it from view. His body was still and he looked like a corpse.

White nearly panicked on the spot, but when he moved closer to the unconscious clone, he then became aware of the slight movement of Red’s breathing. Whatever Solas had done to him had put him in a catatonic state to the point that Red barely breathed at all.

The slighter male knelt down and felt his twin’s face like a mother would to her own sick child. He sighed and carefully checked the comatose man over. When he was positive that all his friend suffered from was forced unconsciousness, he gingerly picked up Red into his arms like a doting husband.

“I don’t know if you can hear me, Red, but…well, no matter how different you and I are, I will always come running for you no matter what brave or stupid thing you’ve done,” White murmured as he stared down at his twin. He was sure if red had been conscious that he would have said something smart.

Imagining what Red would have said to him in reply, White then walked away without another word. He didn’t run and he didn’t hurry. He knew Rozaline could take care of herself and in spite of the strange man, he felt that everything would be fine.

 

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“I assume that you’re here for something specific, hunter. I’m not one for playing games so I suggest that you stop beating around the bush and tell me what your true intentions are ,” Rozaline ground out in a firm and even tone that was further cemented by her unyielding, tough body language.

Instead of being put off by that or angered, Solas smiled and replied, “I like that in a woman. Straight to the point.”

“Don’t toy with me,” warned the very irritable female doctor.  

Solas sighed and stopped petting the Kerberos. The canine-like creature didn’t whine nor did it take its burning gaze from the woman across the room. It was highly alert, but it showed no signs of aggression, yet.

“I heard what the holy man’s men did to you,” the copper-haired man began grimly, but did not finish. It was almost as if he was hesitant or maybe he was just waiting for something.

“Surely you did not come all this way to tell me that.”

“No, of course not. Still, it’s a damn shame that that happened,” Solas mumbled with his eyes downcast so she didn’t have to see the pity in him. She seemed like a proud, strong woman and pity was the last thing she probably wanted to see.

Roz shrugged, “It happens.”

“It shouldn’t have to. If I were in your place, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself. I’d be broken.”

“Life is pain and hardship. Someone always has it worse than someone else. That’s just how it is,” the weary woman explained bluntly as if that’s all there was to it.

Frowning slightly from how bitter her words tasted, the bounty hunter remarked, “So it is. Life is painful and has it’s hard times. But…that’s not all life has to offer, you know.”

Rozaline glanced at her computer screen for a moment out of habit, or perhaps so that he couldn’t see the expression that has passed on her face as she muttered, “That’s all it has ever offered me.”

“I find that very sad, lady, but it’s not the first time I ran into an Original who had a heavy heart. I hope that whatever happens…you’ll change your mind in time. And maybe your heart, too.”

“Don’t count on it, hunter,” replied the dark-haired woman in such a way that implied how much faith she had in his words. And quite possibly in her own words, as well.

Sensing that it was better to drop it for now, Solas chose to drop that particular subject. He then stated in a business-like tone, “I know Krowe is a friend of yours. I’m looking for him. Have you seen him?”

“Nexis hired you, didn’t he,” Rozaline stated more than asked. She looked at him as if he weren’t really there. Every single emotion and feeling that stirred inside of her being was pushed down and shoved away out of view. Her face was like that of a pond on a breeze-less day; unmoving, beautiful, and placid.

Solas grimaced for a moment, but opted to admit, “Something like that, yeah.”

“I haven’t seen Krowe for some time. You’re wasting your time here. Nexis’ men couldn’t get a thing out of me and neither can you. You can go ahead and try…if you’re someone who likes to waste your time and gain nothing useful from it,” Rozaline spoke as if they were merely discussing something boring and trivial like dull politics.

“I believe you,” Solas started, but paused as if he didn’t know whether or not to comment on that. Instead of defending his own virtue, the hunter then inquired, “Do you know where Krowe is headed? I know you know something.”

Rozaline stared dead at him, eating him alive with her cold light blue eyes as she intoned, “I don’t know where Krowe is now or where he is headed. Even if I did know, I wouldn’t tell you or anyone else. His destination is a mystery to me and will remain one. And no, before you ask, I haven’t heard from him in a long time.”

“I believe that you don’t know, but I think you have an idea on where he is headed to. Care to enlighten a humble bounty hunter?”

“I think you know the answer to that,” answered the exhausted female doctor. She found it hard to even concentrate, let alone stand. Thinking was becoming too much for her, as well.

“I thought as much. Still, it was a pleasure to meet you, lady,” Solas said as he bowed to her before he turned to take his leave.

Normally Rozaline wouldn’t have said anything after that. She would have just let him leave, but she found herself blurting out, “What did you do to the red-haired man?”

“The clone? Nothing. Just knocked him out. I figured that was better than killing him,” Solas replied as he continued to walk away without halting once.

“That’s all? You came here to get information for your job, yet now you’re going to leave just like that? The men that work for Nexis never work like that. They torture and interrogate. If that doesn’t work, then they try other heinous methods,” Rozaline asked in an effort to understand what had just happened. This man was strange and she didn’t understand what his game was. She didn’t even know if he were human, vampire, or something else.

Solas would have just left at that without further explanation, but he couldn’t resist looking over his shoulder and saying, “Yeah, that’s all. I’m gonna do what I have to do, but I won’t hurt a lady. I like you, so I’m going to pretend I didn’t see you or the red one. “

Then the bounty hunter turned his face forward as he started to walk out of the door.

“You didn’t answer my question,” Rozaline called out suddenly and felt relieved when he had stopped before he had walked out through the door.

“Come again, little lady?”

“Earlier…I asked you who you were. You never told me your name. My name is Rozaline.”

“The name’s Solas, but if anyone asks, I didn’t see you and-”

Rozaline smiled a little and finished the sentence for him, “-I didn’t see you, either.”

 

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Nearly a week had passed since Sutkah’s attack on Mosa and since the arrival of the little human girl, Lila. The threesome of men plus one baby Makabre had traveled together for about a week. They had stopped every now and then so Annej could rest, but they stuck to the woods and avoided the main roads. Considering what their party consisted of, it was better to avoid people if at all possible.

Now and again there had been some sort of minor incident, but nothing serious. No sight of the creature that had attacked Mosa ever showed its face.

Yet each of them did feel as if something were following them. Stalking them. The feeling was there and it only intensified as time slowly passed on by. It felt like they were surrounded by a thousand invisible creepy eyes that seemed to watch every single move they made without fail.

Krowe kept Lila in a comatose state so that she would be easier to handle and so that she wouldn’t hinder their progress at all. The other two men suspected that Krowe was keeping her unconscious for not only that reason, but to give the girl the much needed rest that she probably required since it seemed he was such a pushover when it came to certain people. Plus there was no telling what a grief-stricken human girl would do once she realized she was in the company of vampires.

“We’ve been walking for days and days now, Krowe. I’m sure we’ve passed plenty of towns already,” Annej finally complained after many hours of tense silence.

Varka merely looked at them with slight interest. He was bored out of his skull since all they seemed to do lately was walk and walk and walk. The silence felt like it thickened as the minutes dragged by and even someone as solitary as the silver-haired Original found it to be maddening.

Krowe smiled and glanced at Annej as if they were going on a picnic. “For being such a sure one, you are right. We have passed several human towns.”

At that moment, the Original ended his silence by cutting in before Annej could reply, “What do you mean we’ve passed several human towns already? If you knew about them, why didn’t we stop?”

“Yeah, I’d like to know why, too,” Annej agreed as he glared over at the amused Reborn.

“As cute as it is when you two try to team up on me, I’d suggest you both give it a rest,” the dark-haired man suggested with his trademark grin.

“We’ll give it a rest as soon as you tell us why you’ve knowingly made us pass some potential human towns,” grunted the grumpy white-haired human.

Krowe stopped walking and waited until they stopped and looked at him before he replied, “Because we’re not headed to a human town.”

Varka quirked up a slender silver brow and crossed his arms. He then inquired coolly, “Oh? Where are we going then?”

“We’re going to the city of Soluth.”

 

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Valeficent stood out in the snow and didn’t seem to notice as snowflakes drifted down to cover her like a thin blanket. She merely stood still and unblinking as she waited patiently for something.

The night was oddly quiet and the moon sheathed by a good portion of grey clouds. The trees themselves bore an eerie resemblance since they were tall and dark like the Original female. Perhaps that is why she stood outside like that. Maybe she wanted to pretend that she held no other existence other than just to be there. To just exist.

When there was the crunching of footsteps behind her, the dark-haired woman sighed, “Took you long enough. If I were human I would have frozen to death out here.”

“My lady,” a voice spoke as whoever it was knelt down in the snow.

“It vexes me. Both of those insipid, intolerable brats should be dead now, yet they are not. I can feel it. They are so far away, but they feel close. Too close. Both the Black and White Wardens have failed. Neither of my brothers’ men could find two children on their own. It’s vile,” Valeficent spat as she glared at nothing in particular. She unclenched her hands when she had felt blood trickling down from her hands. She watched in rapt fascination as the dark liquid dripped down onto the stark white snow.

The voice then asked, “My lady, what would you have me do?”

“Find Annej. Find Varka. Then kill them. They must die. There cannot be further failure in this. There isn’t much time left before…you know.”

“I understand, my lady. What about your daughter?”

Valeficent inspected both of her hands as she watched the crescent-shaped cuts heal in a matter of minutes. She dropped her arms at her sides and finally looked over her shoulder at the person, “Follow her. Seffera will lead you to them. Of that I have no doubt now. It seems my dear daughter will have a use, after all.”

 

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