Momentum (Completed)

Chapter Thirty One: The Uninvited

(Nephele)

It had been a testing day, what with Lexio all but biting my head off and Lyra screaming to the world how much she hated me. I could feel myself starting to stress, but Imara had convinced me that I just needed to sleep for a few hours, to switch off from the rest of the world and regain my thoughts. It sounded like a pretty good idea so before long I was in my bedroom, snuggling into a pillow.

However, just when I thought I could finally settle down and relax, a loud and frantic knocking against my door disrupted me. I looked at Imara, who also seemed like he'd had enough of people for one day.

"Come in," I said, sitting up and rubbing the tired from my eyes. A blond-haired lad, probably one of Kassandra's group, came tumbling in, panting like he'd run a marathon. "Da?"

"Intruder," he wheezed, "intruder in camp." 

Without so much as a second glance at the messenger, I was up on Imara's back and rushing out of the door. I didn't need to search for this intruder because a crowd had gathered, and judging by the noise, Allissa was in the centre of it. Imara and I reached the crowd and they parted without so much as a complaint. It was probably due to Imara but a small part of me hoped some of them respected me enough to do so without the aid of my gargantuan liger. 

Finally I passed through the last line of curious and fearful faces and came to the middle of the commotion. Dimitri, Kassandra and Sana acted as body guards keeping the crowd at bay as none other than Allissa paraded around with a man all tied up in rope. 

I ignored the all-too-excited Allissa and the tail-wagging Conan as he bit at the mans heels, and focused on the captives' appearance. He was quite a short man with sharp features. His cheekbones, his eyes, his lips, his skin - they were all crisp and clear, instantly making him stand out from the crowd. 

He had dark hair that was swooped across his face; clearly, he was not from around here. His intriguing appearance told me he had to be of multiple bloodlines - he was hard to decipher. I took in his clothes. He was not wearing very much at all; he was bare chested but wore black spiked shoulder armour that clasped up at the back and he had piece of black leather that fell above his knees wrapped around his hips. That was all - he didn't even wear shoes. 

With caution, I approached him and I noticed how the black material of his clothes were dotted with the pattern of bright yellow eyes. It must have been homage to his Animus, but it worried me there was no sign of this animal at all. 

"Where did you find him?" I asked Allissa; noticing how the crowd went silent when I spoke. 

"He was a few miles south of the last house on this street. I found him snooping around without an Animus or much of a story." She tugged on the rope but the man didn't react at all. I didn't like how she had him tied; it reminded me of Uxor and I came to the conclusion that if this man really was here to cause trouble he'd be outnumbered and overpowered in seconds. 

"Untie him," I said, and tried to ignore the looks of shock or murmurs of disagreement that rippled around me. "Go on, untie him." Allissa did as asked and backed away. The man who was tied stretched his arms out - still completely unphased by the whole scenario - and then smiled at me. 

"Hello," he said, "I'm Angus." 

'Why is he being so nice?' thought Imara, 'I don't trust his calm. It's not natural to not even be a little worried.' 

"Why have you come here?" I asked. 

He sighed, "I've lost my sister. She came through here a few days ago, and I mean, I knew I'd lose her, but I thought I'd find her again - Mother said I'd find her again, so you know, I'll come across her eventually, but-"