CoE The Last Shapeshifter

Chapter Three

Nicko was keeping guard. On a guard.

Such a weird thing to say. It even sounded weird from inside her head, let alone if she had said it out loud.

After evading the other guards in Enmith Nicko had managed to hide away in the forests to the north of Enmith. She had to figure out what to do with this guard. He knew how to use a sword, as he had a confident hold on the weapon, which when one didn't have when unfamiliar with something. He could be useful if she managed to convince him to turn from his life of wealth, comfort and come to the 'dark side' as most of the official guards called the thieves like her.

The boy stirred. Nicko sat up quickly from her slumped position of comfort. Grimacing she rubbed her knee, another old injury that had chosen to resurface. She made a mental note to make sure she didn't show this to the boy until either she got rid of him or there was a mutual trust bond between them. She unsheathed her flamberge from its place on her back and sat in what she hoped looked like a wary and powerful position. Her sword looked menacing enough. Its blade was wavy in design, and worn looking with a long scratch down the middle of the blade, running almost to the hard leather handle that Nicko now held loosely in her hand. She could be embarrassingly wrong about her sitting pose but it was too late to change that; the boy was beginning to wake up.

Panic, that was the first reaction on his face. Nicko imagined taking a step into his shoes. He would be waking up in the middle of a forest where the sun was going to set soon, with a – hopefully – dangerous looking person with a sword out in front of you, no memory of how he got there and tied up. He sat with a start and Nicko could see a shout of surprise start to gather as the rope around his wrists pulled tight. If it was even possible, more surprise and shock dawned on his face as his eyes followed the end of the rope. Shock echoed on his face and he actually cried out in surprise this time when he saw what the rope was attached to.

The rope was under a two tonne boulder.

Nicko sighed. She had seen this all before, when she was younger and her father had done the same thing to another thief that had been following them. Tears threatened to leak out of her eyes at the memory. Shaking her head Nicko stood up and confidently walked over to the open mouthed boy, her flamberge raised in a ready position.

"Oi. You. Eyes this way and pay attention." She barked at the boy, impersonating the commanding tone that she had heard the guard trainers' use. The boy's eyes snapped to her in obedience to the harsh tone. Embarrassment bloomed on his face as he remembered what happened before he was knocked unconscious. Confusion soon followed at what Nicko guessed was the memory of her changings. Dammit... I had hoped he would forget about that. Looks like I'm stuck with him. Even though he only knows a little, I don't want him to go blabbing to Azmar.

"You listening?" The boy nodded, legitimate fear in his eyes.

"Wha-"

"Shut up and listen." Nicko cut him off before he could start rambling. "You are going to do what I ask you to do, when I ask you to do it. If you don't... I'll leave that to your imagination. Got it?" Nicko barked at the poor boy again. Meekly he slowly nodded his head. "Right then; first thing's first then. Name?" Nicko said, a little kinder than a few minutes ago.

"J-J-Jack X-Xaviel." The boy stuttered. Nicko burst into tears of laughter at the name. She had heard some strange names over the years but this boy's was just plain hilarious.

"What? What's so funny?" The boy, who Nicko now knew as Jack tried to stand up for his dignity, physically and metaphorically. Which only ended up in him falling back down on his bum and making Nicko only laugh louder. She sat back down on the rock that she had been sitting on before. "Fine then. Laugh. I hope you die of laughter, besides, your names probably as bad. This country has a really bad way of naming things and people."