The Kingfisher

XII : Salo

"He's just a factory worker," Nora blurted out before Salo said something he shouldn't have. Eyeing the boy wearily, she raised her shoulders into a shrug. "He was just helping me with shopping. Barely speaks any Seyali."

Kage nodded slowly, staring into Salo's jade eyes through narrow sockets. "Is that so?"

For a moment, the thief panicked. He frantically looked back and forth between the two figures. "S-She say right. Honest woman," he stuttered, even himself flinching at his feigned Mushan accent. The prince's eyes bored into his for few more seconds, a rather unconvinced ascend on his left brow. Finally, his strained hands slackened and the shade slumped down the wall, the faint gleam of a fresh moon lustering through the windows.

"I want Ailyn and Ela," the prince said bluntly, picking at a few loose threads hanging from his cloak. "In the Seyali borders, three days from now."

Nora snorted, stifling a laugh. "What could you possibly offer in return for something like this?"

"A pardon," he suggested. "I hope you at least have the sense to realize you will eventually be arrested. You are wanted, little spy. Hand the Ascended over and you will be excused."

"Why not go get them yourself?"

It was something Salo was wondering, too. Nora's cabin was admittedly the closest to the factory, and maybe Kage started his search from there. It wouldn't take long to find the girls in the building just opposite from the one he was standing in, however. The realization dawned on him. He just arrived. The strange sphere preoccupied him.

A tight smile stretched his lips. "I don't suppose my sibling would be too eager to come with me, even if I did find her. You have three days to get them to the border."

"I'm not enough of a dupe to believe I'll get to the other side in one piece," Nora retorted, shaking her head vigorously. "The moment I step on Seyali soil, your minions will have the right to impale me."

"I'm a man of my word."

"Why am I having trouble believing that?"

He shrugged. "Perhaps you have trust issues?"

Raising her hand, Nora rubbed the faint bruise on her left cheekbone. "Trust issues," she repeated, almost mocking the man's words. "No deal. Find another fool."

"Have you heard of your mother lately?"

Nora froze, slowly returning her gaze to Kage. It was the glare that could petrify a man to an unmoving boulder, limbs numb and heart halted. The prince's golden eyes burned with a taunt, a hint of a smile playing on his lips. The darkness seemed to return as the room plunged into the shadows once more, soaked into a jeering umbrage that clang to Salo's skin. It was his turn to scour the blackness for the spy, gripping onto the fabric he found and yanking it close. A few stray strands of hair tickled his neck, and a panicked grasp seized his sleeve.

When the light returned, the boy collapsed on the bed. Beads of sweat rolled down his cheek as he panted shallow breaths. I just saw him. The Prince of Darkness. He's going to kill us all. The few contents of his stomach churned and swirled into a dazed spiral. He didn't know if he was glad to be alive or mad he didn't do anything to stop him. He had lied to one of the most important figures of Seyal. The country that was cooperating with his. The country that had Ascended.

Nora grabbed his forearm, hauling him to his feet. She squeezed his skin and stared at his eyes. "This stays between us."

"What?" Salo shook off her hand, but never severed their eye contact. "Are you crazy? We have to tell the others!"