Topaz waited at the tent outside for Blade, leaning against a wooden pole that they placed to hold up a light of some sort. She wanted to peek inside, but she tried to keep her distance. She didn’t want to see his face at the moment.
“Ah, princess, you’re back,” Abaddon’s voice said as he blew out air. It tickled her skin and she yelped and jumped in surprise, turning around and round kicking him in the face. He caught her foot before it made contact with his cheek.
“Abby! Don’t do that!” she scolded him, trying to keep up her balance. He released her foot and she stumbled back on the ground. “Look, if you’re going to try to apologize about the whole thing, don’t. I already knew about your feelings, and I’m sorry. I was just surprised that—”
He laughed. “No need to worry about that, it’s Blade I really have a gripe with.” He ruffled her hair. “It’s fine. I just needed to vent out.” He looked at the closed tent. “So, is Blade going to come out any time soon?”
“You’re waiting for him too?”
He chuckled. “Yeah. He asked me to. I’m guessing you got the memo?”
“From somebody else. There was no way I would see him face to face at that moment.”
He nodded his head. The tent suddenly opened and the two looked at each other before heading inside. Standing with his back turned was Blade, and he turned around with a dramatic atmosphere around him. He turned around and faced the two with a cold frown and a serious gleam in his strange eyes.
Topaz wanted to desperately point out that he was acting entirely ridiculous and that he should rather stop this behavior. He was like a child.
“Now, I know that you both aren’t happy to see me, but we do need to establish some sort of agreement, no matter what our current relationship is with each other. We need to be able to communicate with each other, even if we hold our grudges. You think you two can do that?” Blade stared at them straight into their eyes, his glare piercing right through them. Topaz and Abaddon glanced at each other, shrugging their shoulders.
“Of course, I do have some urgent news to tell you,” Blade continued. “It’s concerning the town nearby. Unfortunately, rumor has it that the army had seized it overnight, or something like that. My father talked about this before we left on our mission.”
Abaddon nodded curtly. “So, you mean to say that this was his plan from the start? To move here so we can get close to that town?”
The young man nodded, still stealing glances from Topaz, who still didn’t completely grasped her situation. “Now, originally, he was going to send you and Topaz as well some others that… are among the elite to scout the area. Act like the citizens for a couple of days, send me all you can find. But Abaddon, you’re going to be the only one going on this mission.”
Of course, this angered the female, as she knew what was going on. Blade was keeping her here to reinforce that she was more precious than a little scout mission. She turned her head away from what he had to say, wondering why he summoned her in the first place, other than to indirectly tell her that she wouldn’t go on any individual assignment on her own.
Abaddon nodded. “Topaz,” Blade called. “I know that you weren’t listening.” She snapped her head up and glared directly into his eyes. They didn’t show any type of emotion at all. It scared her, but she stood her ground.
“You are dismissed,” he ordered Abaddon, and her companion left wordlessly, leaving her behind. Traitor.
Blade approached the trembling girl, who was biting her lip from slipping out profanities she wanted to say to him oh so bad. He wasn’t being fair to her. He knew that she could take care of herself and yet he didn’t allow to do as she pleases! She rather enjoyed going on these missions, and she—
“Enough pitying yourself, T. It’s not going to get you anywhere,” he told her calmly. She wanted to explode.
She finally had the resolve to look up in his eyes and scream it all out. But upon looking, he seemed a lot more serious than he had ever been in his life. She knew that that there was something else that he didn’t tell her. So instead, she kept her mouth shut and reluctantly let him speak.
“I didn’t mean it like that sweetie, but I had to tell you that you couldn’t be able to do that mission yourself,” he said to her. “Even if you weren’t here, I still would’ve given the responsibility to Abaddon, and he would’ve told you at one point. I needed to tell you here.”
“Then the next time you decide to call, then don’t indirectly show me that you favor him more than me,” she spat.
He placed his hand carefully on her trembling shoulder, but she slapped him away before he could do so. “Be careful, Topaz. You know who you are currently with,” he reminded her sharply. She turned away and puffed out her cheeks before returning to glaring at his face. His nice, beautiful—
“Look, I just need to ask why you brought me. Why did you send that person to call me here? What is the big news that you wanted to tell me?”
He sighed. “The only reason that I didn’t let you scout is because there was another thing that my father and I discussed. But I know you’re not going to like. However, with the way things are now…”
“Just tell me what the hell you want to say.”
“You’re not going, because you’re coming with me. We’re preparing to take down the city.” For a moment the two were frozen, and the girl’s head were filled with certain images and memories she didn’t want to remember. She didn’t have to even ask which one he was talking about, but she had make sure they were on the same page.
“…That city?”
He nodded, confirming her suspicions. “I can’t do that sir,” she mumbled quietly. “The last place that I want to go to is that city.”
Topaz stopped trembling. At this rate she was engulfed in a different emotion other than anger, but she couldn’t quite place what it is. Blade attempted to place his hand on her shoulder again and he succeeded. “We have to face what we have to face. Besides, I thought you were the one saying that you would save your friend no matter what,” he told her, but she didn’t listen.
“Yes, I did. After all, she saved me,” she said, noticing that he didn’t mention her name. Maybe he didn’t want to bring it up as her emotions were already on haywire.
“Topaz, you are an exceptional woman. I know that this is going to be hard on you, but you’ll have to face your past eventually. We all do. A lot of us have emotional baggage, and you know that. And I know that they don’t know the city as much as you do, so please, do this for me?”
The girl looked down. “I… don’t know how much the city has changed. All those years, I’m surprised if it has not changed at all. Why me?”
“Because, I know that you’ll be the one that he’s most shaken about when we get there. I’m pretty sure that it will be a little difficult, but if you do this, you can finally take revenge on your king.”
The girl gulped. Those words had a deadly undertone to them. She didn’t want to know what he meant by it.
“You will be training with me for the time being,” he told her. “As soon as we take over the captured city, we can head towards the capital. With that, you can finally take revenge on what happened all those years before. Victory will be ours. Justice will be served.”
He smiled and patted her head. “And you will be the hero. Wouldn’t that be great, Topaz?”
The girl sat down and truly began to think about this. She didn’t want to be known as less than herself, but…
“I’ll do it,” she said softly. “I will go with you. May I ask what the mission is?” she asked gently. She needed to know.
The boy shook his head and frowned for a bit, before finally giving her another one of her gentle smiles. “I can’t tell you yet, because I know that you won’t come with me afterwards.” Blade scratched his head. “I’ll see you in the morning, my right hand.” With that he silently dismissed her, and the girl slowly walked out of the tent, feeling strangely exhausted. After everything that happened so far, she just wanted to rest comfortably in her own tent. That she completely didn’t set up.
“Hey, you leaving yet?” Abaddon asked her as she began to walk. Topaz slightly jumped in surprise. Did he wait for her?
“Hey Abby dearest. I was actually going to set up camp. You want to help me? It’s still pretty bright out, even though there are technically more shadows.”
He nodded and the two left together to begin setting up her makeshift home. Perhaps later in the evening she would explore outside the camp before getting into some serious business right?
Going back to the city would be hard, but she can be able to pull it off, right?
The girl didn’t want to think about it right now. She didn’t want to bring up her past again, the reminder of her being a failure of letting her savior get captured in the arms of the soldiers, as she watched the king coldly glare at her before taking her to who knows where.
Is it even certain if she’s still alive?
The girl didn’t want to think about it. But one thought did cross her mind that very moment before falling back into routine again, continuing as she had before even thinking about returning.
And that thought would be the very face of the king’s son.
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