Vivien and the Scoria

Chapter 11: Unexpected Alliances

"Twister?" I asked, opening my eyes slightly as the pain gradually receded to a manageable level. Twister's friendly, familiar face emerged through the haze of pain, smiling softly down at me.

"Hey there, sweetheart. How are you feeling?" He asked kindly, shooing Blaze out of the room.

"Really fucking sore. What happened?"

"Blaze brought you to the shop covered in blood with a nasty stomach wound that I stitched up. Apparently, you fought a Fellan and won."

I groaned at his words, all the events of the previous day rushing into my memory. Starting with the white figure, chasing Rael down, having a really wacked up conversation with her, going to the shop to deliver Rael and meeting Blaze, storming back to the house, seeing the white figure again and having some sort of conversation with it, speaking with Blaze in my underclothes, returning to Aernir, getting caught by the Scoria and the Fellan leader, the Fellan dying somehow, and then passing out with her sword.

Another groan passed my lips, and Twister's soft smile changed into something more like a grimace. "I take it you remember what happened now?"

"Unfortunately."

The door burst open at my words, and in tumbled two people, one of whom was Blaze, and one of whom was someone who I never wanted to set eyes on again. Rowan Faercrag, next Lord of Mount Api, also known as an absolute asshole and my arch nemesis. I'm sure I've mentioned him before.

Blaze appeared to have been trying to prevent Rowan from entering the room, but had failed, and ended up sprawling on the ground when he was pushed out of the doorway by Rowan. Clad in full uniform of the Guard, the Merasan human army, Rowan struck an impressive sight. Red hair carefully combed backward, brown eyes fierce, and muscles bulging beneath his uniform. Anyone who didn't know his personality would have swooned at his glorious face and body.

I, however, was intimately familiar with Rowan's asshole nature, and was not fooled by his appearance. "What the fuck are you doing here, Rowan? And this time, I want real answers."

"I'll give you answers if you give me some." He growled at me, and I bared my teeth right back at him. Gods, I hated him.

"Why should I tell you anything?" I shot back in retort, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Twister facepalm.

"Right back at you. I have the right to know what happened last night because I'm one of the Guard and it falls under my jurisdiction. However, I have no obligation to tell you anything, you insolent child."

"I am not a child! And if you don't explain what the hell has been going on lately, then I'm not answering any of your questions!"

"Hey! Vivien, Rowan! We're all on the same side here. Why are you fighting?" Blaze interjected, obviously having never witnessed Rowan and I going at each other before.

"He's the idiot who stole my title and made my life hell!" I shouted, at the same time that Rowan also shouted,

"She's the bitch who won't accept that my family has as much claim to the title as she does!"

Silence filled the room as Rowan and I stared daggers at each other, Blaze looked between us with a look of extreme confusion on his face, and Twister rubbed his face and sighed regretfully.

"This is exactly why you two have never been introduced to each other properly. All you do is fight and argue over a trivial matter. Now, both of you shut up for a minute while I make the proper introductions. Then we can start, all of us, on answering the questions that everyone has. Understood?" Twister boldly stated as he stood up from where he had been perched on the end of the bed that I was lying in.

We continued to glare at each other for a moment before I reluctantly nodded, Rowan following shortly afterward. Twister sighed in relief at this brief reprise from our arguing, and came to stand beside the bed end where my head was resting. "Let's move this to the map room. Rowan, Blaze, go set some chairs out. I'll Vivien get up and out there."

The boys left the room in a hurry, and I turned my head to face Twister. He placed a hand under my head and instructed me to rise slowly and carefully. I did as he had directed, muscles clenching in pain as I moved. Twister moved his hand down my back as I rose higher and higher until I was sitting vertically, breathing harshly through my mouth in an effort to stop myself from screaming out in pain.

"Not much more now, Viv. You've done the hard part. Now we just need to get you onto your feet." Twister murmured reassuringly, and I grimaced. Placing an arm around my waist, and the other over my shoulder by wrapping around my front, Twister guided me into a standing position. From there, he dropped the arm from around my shoulder but kept the one around my waist, and we slowly made our way out of the room and into the so-called 'map room'.

As we exited the room where I had been lying down, I began to recognise where we were. "Is this the shop?" I asked as we slowly walked down the hallway, past a door which was cracked open, through which I could see the all too familiar backroom of Twister's shop, where Will, Rin, Rosa, Tessa, and I had spent many hours over the years being mischievous and generally a pain in the ass.

"Yes, it is. I bought this back section a couple of years ago and turned it into a hideout for those running from Lord Tante and the Scoria. Rin, Rosa, and Tessa used to sleep in that room you were in before they left for Kygen. I use it for guests now."

"How did I never know about this?" I asked quietly, confused.

"The Hyden family is very good at keeping secrets, Vivien. Where do you think Will got it from? It certainly wasn't his mother." I had never met Will and Rosa's mother, as she had died shortly after Rosa's birth, before I had come to live with the family. Rin's mother, I had met a few times, but she was a terrible mother, and Rin had refused to see her after he turned 10. However, I had heard stories about both women, and could certainly agree that the Hyden children could not have possibly learned their lying skills from their respective mothers.

We entered a room at the end of the corridor, on the opposite side to what the spare bedroom had been. Inside, the walls were covered in maps, as was the large table that took up most of the space in the room. It wasn't the largest of rooms, so with the massive table and chairs that surrounded it, it was quite a squeeze to move around. Eventually, after some maneuvering, I eventually ended up seated on one side of the table, Blaze to my left, Twister to my right, and Rowan directly in front of me. There were plenty more chairs unoccupied, which made me wonder exactly how many people usually used this room.

"So. Introductions..." Twister began.