"...Unnaturals are primarily coming from the western side, but be vigilant! There have been smaller-scale attacks near the northeastern side of the town."
There are two Armsguard officers just a few dozen meters away, both recognizable by the shiny black on red insignia flashing low on their shoulders. Although for the man with ebony hair slicked to the back of his head and, coincidentally, one who uttered those words, the insignia holds a bit more ornamental detail identifying him as higher ranked than the other guy standing across from him.
Plamen stifles another complaint just on the tip of his lips as Vid's pointy elbow digs deeper into the muscle where his neck meets his shoulder.
Really. He shouldn't have let Vid drape himself over him. However, ever since they've been proclaimed Champions, Vid has started chipping away all his metaphorical walls to the point that the black-haired teen just does whatever he wants to, whenever he wants to, and Plamen has to deal with it.
That's why he's currently hunched on his knees, his hood covered head peeking over a truncated stone wall as he spies on two officers with a warm body pressed to his side.
He shoots Zima an expression that screams 'save me' but she ignores him in favor of concentrating to spread her ice shards around the perimeter as unnoticeably as she can.
They had agreed to search for someone they could rely on. Like Yana or the Commander. Or even Zlatan. And then ran off to find someone, anyone. Unfortunately, or perhaps, fortunately, they've found these two first. Plamen thinks of them to be idiots because if three 'children' could sneak up on them, then anyone can.
It was Zima who first broke their silence about five minutes ago and quietly proposed spying on the two Armsgurd soldiers to determine whether they can trust them.
It is a good thing the whole castle is a big angular circle. If it wasn't, they would have been caught an instant they'd started to the west side. One of the corners concealed their approach, and, luckily, there was a lowered entrance for servants, with low walls and a few steps leading to it.
Once the two men turned their backs to them, the trio ran to hide behind the closer stone wall. Zima took the steps, sitting down and started forming crystals while Plamen and Vid tried to get into the best position for spying.
Now, looking at the two Armsguard, Plamen tries to remember if he knows or at least if he's heard about any of them.
He has never paid much attention to the military ranks, mostly because he didn't need it at the time, so the only thing that differentiates two men in front of him is the colorful insignia, missing only a few details to be identical to Yana's. Yana, of course, has one of the highest Armsguar ranks beside the Commander himself.
Vid leans into Plamen's space, twisting his head to whisper directly into his ear, "Should we go more west? We're at north-west at best."
"There's the matter of Champions..." the higher-ranked Armsguard says and Plamen shushes the other teen.
Heterochromatic eyes narrow at the two men, straining, probably to see, but Plamen knows that if he hardly sees anything, Vid won't do much better.
"We have been informed the Champions left their accommodations," the lower-ranked man informs the other who is obviously his superior.
So the news travels fast.
"Unfortunate," the distinctive voice of the higher-ranked guy comes their way. "We need to deal with them fast, or the Elders will have our hide."
What the...? Plamen pulls Vid with him as he sits down behind the wall.
Opening her eyes at that, Zima stops with her spell, attention on two of her teammates, and Plamen can see she's equally surprised as Vid. Heck, he is surprised, too.
"They are probably inside the Castle. The high Seer Zlatan or the Armsguard Captain Sol will not be in the way, both are being held up at different locations. We can proceed with the plan."
Plamen places a finger over his lips in a universal sign to keep quiet and pulls himself up just a bit, enough to peer over the wall once more.
"Don't forget, they are Champions. Therefore, we need to be careful."
With those words the man disappears into the closed off pathway, leaving his subordinate to stand watch.
"I guess father didn't have the chance to 'deal with the Elders'," Vid whispers, referencing their discussion with Zlatan.
"Or we're in deeper shit than we're aware of," Plamen offers.
Zima uses Vid to support herself and look over a low fence-like wall at the officer.
"So he's there to apprehend us," she mumbles after a moment. "Should we engage or sneak past him?"
"I don't think we have the luxury to lose time on him," Plamen replies, sharing his opinion. "Plus, we would need to detain him and that would, eventually, give us out."
"True," Vid agrees. "The longer they think we suspect no ill will from them, the more upper hand we have."
Plamen shoots him a strange look, and Vid swipes at him playfully with his hand to thwack him over his head, though ultimately misses when Plamen leans back, fingers passing his cheek in almost a caress.
"Oh, shove it! I can be smart, too," Vid complains in low tones when his attempt of retaliation fails. "Father trained me in strategy, I'm not that much daft."
With Vid's usual soft demeanor and clumsiness, it's easy to forget that the other Dragon Heir is intelligent, well taught, and carrying a certain edge to his personality.
"I know," Plamen says before Vid can think he's an ass. "I just didn't think you would be so cold and practical."
Vid snorts, but a tiny smile cracks on his lips, and Plamen knows he's been blessed. Friendship isn't something he's ever thought he would gain, but it has clearly happened.
Click.
He turns toward the sound just to see Zima regarding them with an arched eyebrow while holding the door of the servants' entrance open.
"Shall we?" she asks with a wicked smile.
***
It's not hard to find the commotion when all the sounds lead to it. Windows are just a bonus, an easy way to see if they're on the right path.
They're walking down an empty corridor; Zima leading, Vid in the middle and Plamen closing off, watching their backs. For now, they haven't come across anyone, so the idea of going through the servants' passageway was a brilliant one. Plamen asked Zima why she believed it to be their best chance when they've started. She glanced at him with that annoying I-know-something-you-don't look. The answer was simple, servants and workers are sent to hide, usually to their homes, during a siege.
A clash of metal on metal rips through space, making them eye each other briefly. Metal on metal? What's going on?
Rushing to the closest window, Plamen bolts it off, carefully awning it so they can look outside.
It's dark now, and the fat, round moon is hanging low in the sky. There are around a dozen of Armsguard near the forested area. Five of them are fighting some kind of creature.
It's an ugly thing, hunched on all fours, with coarse, leathery skin and a thin tail. It reminds him of Štiga he encountered during the Test. But unlike the monster back then, this one looks more animalistic, disfigured with spikes protruding from its back following a path where a spine should be. A blood-curdling scream leaves its gaping mouth, shredding out, making him tremble for a long moment.
So, that's the Unnatural. No wonder everyone is against the whole defeat the evil goddess and get our bodies back plan. He's forming second thoughts just by watching the disgusting thing.
He jolts from a wheezing sound at his right. Any other time Vid's face would have been hilarious, it's like he can't decide between disgusted and scared, which molds the lines of his face into a grotesque picture as one of his eyebrows violently twitches and lips move up and down in a wavy motion. But considering the situation at hand Plamen refrains from any kind of inappropriate reaction. Though, inside, he has no idea exactly how to react while desperately holding a blank expression on his own face.
Zima, on the other hand, looks like she swallowed a lemon, a pretty nasty one at that. Her brow is furrowed, and her mouth took a turn downward. She observes the makeshift battlefield, then stops, freezing for a moment.
"Look there!" She points in the direction of her stare. "Two Armsguard are fighting each other."
Two short swords are pressed together as two soldiers push with their weight. A woman, with medium length dark hair swept up and tied on the back of her head, and a man almost twice her stature. Surprisingly, he doesn't seem to have an advantage in that fight.
Plamen can usually see well enough in the dark of the night but the man's dark uniform makes it impossible to see if there are any wounds on his person. He's certain that the side of the man's head is wet with blood, though only because his dark spiky hair is flattened on one side of his face.
The question is, which one of them is the Elders' dog?