"I think you may have hit her too hard, Piotr." Scott said, looking
down at Raven with raised eyebrows. He lifted her hand and let it fall with
a splat on her face. "Yup, a bit too hard there, pal." Sheepishly, Piotr
rubbed the back of his head.
"Maybe I shouldn't have turned metal when I did it." He sighed. Kurt, out of pure habit, took his mother's wrist and washed it with a piece if cloth, shaking his head with a faint smile.
"Vell, at least it vill be quiet for a vhile until she vakes!" he laughed. "But, she vill beat you for touching her, Scott." He warned. Scott cocked an eyebrow, placing his hands on his hips.
"How will she know unless you tell her? She's out cold." He said. Laughing, Kurt picked his mother up and slung her over his shoulder.
"She's a vitch remember? She has her vays of knowing." He said, bringing her to the carriage and laying her down. "Once, vhen I vas very young, I vas forbidden to ever go to a large vaterfall zhat vas a few miles from zhe tower. Vhile she slept, I vent zhere und made sure zhat vhen I got back, zhat mein clothes vere cry und clean like zhey vere vhen she fell asleep.
Needless to say, vhen she voke up, she gave me such a talk about obeying her, saying zhat she knew exactly vhere I had gone und told me in detail every single zhing I did at zhe falls.
Trust me, she vill vake und try to do you harm for touching her, Scott." Kurt ended with a laugh, tilting his head to one side as he thought back to his childhood with a certain fondness. Scott gulped slightly.
"Isn't there any way to make her understand?" he asked. Smirking, Kurt rubbed his thumb together with his fingers to make the international sign for money.
"Zhis vill get you out of it." He said.
"How much?" Scott asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"In gold of course." Kurt added, giving a tooth-revealing smile.
"How much." Scott repeated with sigh. Kurt tilted his head to one side, narrowing his eyes in comic mimicry of someone thinking about something serious.
"Thirty." He said finally.
"Thirty!"
"She hates being touched." He said with a shrug. "Of course, you could alvays just let it go. . ." he added. Groaning, Scott dug into his bag and took out a bag of coins.
"This had better protect me Kurt!" he warned. Smiling, Kurt made the bag vanish swiftly.
"Do not vorry, mein herr. Mutter vill be most pleased vith zhis payment." He assured him. He looked over at Logan and smirked, walking off to get the horses ready to go.
"We had better hurry up if we want to get to that castle as soon as possible." Warren pointed out. "They've practically written whole books about how impatient King Graydon can be." Kurt snorted.
"I never zhought I vould hear a Gifted person ask to get to zhe castle faster." He said, shaking his head. Smiling, he turned to one of the horses, a chestnut stallion with cream mane and tail, and stroked its neck gently whispering to it in German softly. In a few minutes, the horse was moving with its partner at a trot.
"How did you learn to do that?" Kitty asked. Smiling, Kurt pointed to Logan who was busy releasing and sheathing his claws in anticipation of battle.
"If you have any questions about any of zhe plant und animal life, go talk to mein freund Logan over zhere. He knows all about survival." He explained with a smile. Smiling faintly, Kitty walked over to where Logan was and walked beside him.
"Is that true?" she asked.
"What is?" Logan asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"That you're the best at survival skills and the like?" Kitty asked. Logan snorted, looking over at Kurt who merely shrugged and turned back to the horses.
"I'm the best at what I do and what I do is survive." Logan said simply, taking out a cigar. With a snikt and flick, he nipped off the tip and lit it, taking in a deep drag and letting the blue smoke out slowly.
"It's not such a big deal to be able to survive in this world." He explained. "You do what ya gotta do to live and that's that." Shrugging, he looked up at a tree where a blue jay sat on her nest, closing the conversation before it got too long.
It did not take them long before they could see the large iron gates to the castle. Behind the large gates, a large courtyard with trees stretched out for five miles before it reached the steps of the castle itself. Hanging from the branches of the trees in pairs and threes were the bones, decaying flesh, or recent bodies of Gifted who were executed by the king in his fury.
The castle itself was a large white thing, sparkling with gold gilded windowsills and crystal windows that shone and sparkled in the light of the sun. There was a large bell tower with the ceiling made out of sparkling gold leaves. The two large bells were made from sparkling silver and gold, their music sounding beautiful when rung. Unfortunately, the bells were rung when an execution was about to be performed.
Guards were standing on patrol at the gates, their blunderbusses held over their right shoulders, making them look like tin soldiers.
Logan looked sideways at Piotr who nodded slightly, making himself look as relaxed as possible, despite the fact that he was ready to turn to steel at a second's notice. When they reached the gates, Scott took control as the leader of their troop, swaggering over to the guards and waving a dismissive hand at them.
"What in the blazes are you two fools waiting for? Open the damned gates and let us in!" he ordered, narrowing his eyes and making his voice as gruff as possible. He gave a face of mock indignation as a blunderbuss was aimed at his face.
"The king ordered you to be back by yesterday morn." One guard said, his voice harsh and angry. "He's very furious with you at the moment." Scott snorted, brushing the blunderbuss away from his face and placing his hands on his hips.
"What else is new with his Highness? Let us through or so help me, I'll run you through with my sword and open the gates by myself!" he snapped, his eyes narrowed dangerously.
"He wants to know your excuse for disobeying his orders and coming to his castle late!" the other guard said, making sure they saw that his finger was all ready putting pressure on the trigger. "He says it had better be important or else we're to shoot you all dead!" Scott shook his head with a sigh, acting as if both these men were complete idiots.
"If you must know, that witch Amanda got away from us after we took out her eyes." He said. "But don't worry. She ran off when her eyes were still bleeding badly. She'll be dead when we go and look for her again. The reason we came back is because we got two gifts for the price of a blind former witch; Hank McCoy and Raven Darkholme, the very Gifted people the king wanted to find and couldn't until now!" he said with a smirk.
It was as if the guards had been splashed in the face with ice-cold water. They quickly lowered their weapons and called for the gates to be opened at once, looking at the carriage with slight wonder as it passed by them.
"Nice job, Scott." Logan muttered, nodding his head slightly in approval.
"Did you have any doubt in my abilities, Logan? I could charm a bird from her nest if I wanted to." Scott laughed faintly from the corner of his mouth. He cocked an eyebrow as a trumpet sounded and he looked at Logan with raised eyebrows. Logan shrugged and looked at the main doors, as they swung open.
Kurt narrowed his eyes slightly as King Graydon came out of the castle, looking slightly excited but trying to hide it as best as he could, which was not very good at all. For some reason he could not explain, Kurt felt unadulterated hatred towards Graydon. He thought it was mostly due to the fact of his personality and mass executions, but it was something else entirely. He just couldn't put his finger on it.
Graydon looked like a lion. His tawny colored hair that was cut short sparkled like topaz, matching the sparkle in his crystal blue eyes. These good looks were the kind that could hide a man's true personality completely, and they did when it came to Graydon and his black heart.
"Is it true?" he asked, looking at Scott with a slightly tilted eyebrow. "Is it true that you have Raven and Hank in there?" Bowing slightly, Scott nodded and pointed with his thumb over his shoulder at the carriage.
"They're locked up tight in there. Raven's knocked out in fact from this one knocking her over the head with his club." He answered with a smile.
Graydon smiled.
Everyone but Logan and Kurt suppressed a slight shudder at the sight of the smile.
"Open the carriage and get them out here." Graydon ordered two guards. As the guards walked to the carriage, Scott looked at Logan and swiftly tried to intervene.
"Your Highness, we are perfectly capable of handling the two beasts ourselves. . ." he started.
"Oh no, my good captain. You've done enough by bringing them to me at last. Let these lazy boys do the real work." Graydon said, his smile becoming brighter and to them, more evil.
Kurt bit the insides of his cheeks until he could taste blood in his mouth as one guard roughly grabbed his mother, who was slowly waking up, and dragged her out of the carriage. Raven stumbled and fought weakly, starting to mumble.
At first, no one knew what she was saying, but then the color drained from Kurt and the other's faces as her words became clear.
"Kurt! Tell this stupid boy to let go of me!" she groaned. At first, they tried to pretend she was mad, but then she looked right at Kurt and pointed weakly at him. "Tell them to let go of your mother!" he cried.
Graydon looked at Kurt and the rage that was hidden in his beauty erupted like a volcano that had been holding it in for a century or two before finally letting it out.
"Maybe I shouldn't have turned metal when I did it." He sighed. Kurt, out of pure habit, took his mother's wrist and washed it with a piece if cloth, shaking his head with a faint smile.
"Vell, at least it vill be quiet for a vhile until she vakes!" he laughed. "But, she vill beat you for touching her, Scott." He warned. Scott cocked an eyebrow, placing his hands on his hips.
"How will she know unless you tell her? She's out cold." He said. Laughing, Kurt picked his mother up and slung her over his shoulder.
"She's a vitch remember? She has her vays of knowing." He said, bringing her to the carriage and laying her down. "Once, vhen I vas very young, I vas forbidden to ever go to a large vaterfall zhat vas a few miles from zhe tower. Vhile she slept, I vent zhere und made sure zhat vhen I got back, zhat mein clothes vere cry und clean like zhey vere vhen she fell asleep.
Needless to say, vhen she voke up, she gave me such a talk about obeying her, saying zhat she knew exactly vhere I had gone und told me in detail every single zhing I did at zhe falls.
Trust me, she vill vake und try to do you harm for touching her, Scott." Kurt ended with a laugh, tilting his head to one side as he thought back to his childhood with a certain fondness. Scott gulped slightly.
"Isn't there any way to make her understand?" he asked. Smirking, Kurt rubbed his thumb together with his fingers to make the international sign for money.
"Zhis vill get you out of it." He said.
"How much?" Scott asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"In gold of course." Kurt added, giving a tooth-revealing smile.
"How much." Scott repeated with sigh. Kurt tilted his head to one side, narrowing his eyes in comic mimicry of someone thinking about something serious.
"Thirty." He said finally.
"Thirty!"
"She hates being touched." He said with a shrug. "Of course, you could alvays just let it go. . ." he added. Groaning, Scott dug into his bag and took out a bag of coins.
"This had better protect me Kurt!" he warned. Smiling, Kurt made the bag vanish swiftly.
"Do not vorry, mein herr. Mutter vill be most pleased vith zhis payment." He assured him. He looked over at Logan and smirked, walking off to get the horses ready to go.
"We had better hurry up if we want to get to that castle as soon as possible." Warren pointed out. "They've practically written whole books about how impatient King Graydon can be." Kurt snorted.
"I never zhought I vould hear a Gifted person ask to get to zhe castle faster." He said, shaking his head. Smiling, he turned to one of the horses, a chestnut stallion with cream mane and tail, and stroked its neck gently whispering to it in German softly. In a few minutes, the horse was moving with its partner at a trot.
"How did you learn to do that?" Kitty asked. Smiling, Kurt pointed to Logan who was busy releasing and sheathing his claws in anticipation of battle.
"If you have any questions about any of zhe plant und animal life, go talk to mein freund Logan over zhere. He knows all about survival." He explained with a smile. Smiling faintly, Kitty walked over to where Logan was and walked beside him.
"Is that true?" she asked.
"What is?" Logan asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"That you're the best at survival skills and the like?" Kitty asked. Logan snorted, looking over at Kurt who merely shrugged and turned back to the horses.
"I'm the best at what I do and what I do is survive." Logan said simply, taking out a cigar. With a snikt and flick, he nipped off the tip and lit it, taking in a deep drag and letting the blue smoke out slowly.
"It's not such a big deal to be able to survive in this world." He explained. "You do what ya gotta do to live and that's that." Shrugging, he looked up at a tree where a blue jay sat on her nest, closing the conversation before it got too long.
It did not take them long before they could see the large iron gates to the castle. Behind the large gates, a large courtyard with trees stretched out for five miles before it reached the steps of the castle itself. Hanging from the branches of the trees in pairs and threes were the bones, decaying flesh, or recent bodies of Gifted who were executed by the king in his fury.
The castle itself was a large white thing, sparkling with gold gilded windowsills and crystal windows that shone and sparkled in the light of the sun. There was a large bell tower with the ceiling made out of sparkling gold leaves. The two large bells were made from sparkling silver and gold, their music sounding beautiful when rung. Unfortunately, the bells were rung when an execution was about to be performed.
Guards were standing on patrol at the gates, their blunderbusses held over their right shoulders, making them look like tin soldiers.
Logan looked sideways at Piotr who nodded slightly, making himself look as relaxed as possible, despite the fact that he was ready to turn to steel at a second's notice. When they reached the gates, Scott took control as the leader of their troop, swaggering over to the guards and waving a dismissive hand at them.
"What in the blazes are you two fools waiting for? Open the damned gates and let us in!" he ordered, narrowing his eyes and making his voice as gruff as possible. He gave a face of mock indignation as a blunderbuss was aimed at his face.
"The king ordered you to be back by yesterday morn." One guard said, his voice harsh and angry. "He's very furious with you at the moment." Scott snorted, brushing the blunderbuss away from his face and placing his hands on his hips.
"What else is new with his Highness? Let us through or so help me, I'll run you through with my sword and open the gates by myself!" he snapped, his eyes narrowed dangerously.
"He wants to know your excuse for disobeying his orders and coming to his castle late!" the other guard said, making sure they saw that his finger was all ready putting pressure on the trigger. "He says it had better be important or else we're to shoot you all dead!" Scott shook his head with a sigh, acting as if both these men were complete idiots.
"If you must know, that witch Amanda got away from us after we took out her eyes." He said. "But don't worry. She ran off when her eyes were still bleeding badly. She'll be dead when we go and look for her again. The reason we came back is because we got two gifts for the price of a blind former witch; Hank McCoy and Raven Darkholme, the very Gifted people the king wanted to find and couldn't until now!" he said with a smirk.
It was as if the guards had been splashed in the face with ice-cold water. They quickly lowered their weapons and called for the gates to be opened at once, looking at the carriage with slight wonder as it passed by them.
"Nice job, Scott." Logan muttered, nodding his head slightly in approval.
"Did you have any doubt in my abilities, Logan? I could charm a bird from her nest if I wanted to." Scott laughed faintly from the corner of his mouth. He cocked an eyebrow as a trumpet sounded and he looked at Logan with raised eyebrows. Logan shrugged and looked at the main doors, as they swung open.
Kurt narrowed his eyes slightly as King Graydon came out of the castle, looking slightly excited but trying to hide it as best as he could, which was not very good at all. For some reason he could not explain, Kurt felt unadulterated hatred towards Graydon. He thought it was mostly due to the fact of his personality and mass executions, but it was something else entirely. He just couldn't put his finger on it.
Graydon looked like a lion. His tawny colored hair that was cut short sparkled like topaz, matching the sparkle in his crystal blue eyes. These good looks were the kind that could hide a man's true personality completely, and they did when it came to Graydon and his black heart.
"Is it true?" he asked, looking at Scott with a slightly tilted eyebrow. "Is it true that you have Raven and Hank in there?" Bowing slightly, Scott nodded and pointed with his thumb over his shoulder at the carriage.
"They're locked up tight in there. Raven's knocked out in fact from this one knocking her over the head with his club." He answered with a smile.
Graydon smiled.
Everyone but Logan and Kurt suppressed a slight shudder at the sight of the smile.
"Open the carriage and get them out here." Graydon ordered two guards. As the guards walked to the carriage, Scott looked at Logan and swiftly tried to intervene.
"Your Highness, we are perfectly capable of handling the two beasts ourselves. . ." he started.
"Oh no, my good captain. You've done enough by bringing them to me at last. Let these lazy boys do the real work." Graydon said, his smile becoming brighter and to them, more evil.
Kurt bit the insides of his cheeks until he could taste blood in his mouth as one guard roughly grabbed his mother, who was slowly waking up, and dragged her out of the carriage. Raven stumbled and fought weakly, starting to mumble.
At first, no one knew what she was saying, but then the color drained from Kurt and the other's faces as her words became clear.
"Kurt! Tell this stupid boy to let go of me!" she groaned. At first, they tried to pretend she was mad, but then she looked right at Kurt and pointed weakly at him. "Tell them to let go of your mother!" he cried.
Graydon looked at Kurt and the rage that was hidden in his beauty erupted like a volcano that had been holding it in for a century or two before finally letting it out.