12. Separated
Callista woke up to Zepha's stern voice.
"No."
"No!?" Callista heard Zesha repeat, voice full of panic.
"Brother, you have to come back to the Gurak Continent. If you don't come back, I have the terrible feeling that Lord Zangurak may right away accuse you of being close to Callista, which is obviously true-" Zepha started.
"I'm not close to her!" Zesha almost sounded like he was half-whining now. "How many times do I have to repeat it? I have no such intimate relations with the human!"
"Oy, it's really obvious, Zesha. Give it up." Yin was heard muttering. "Besides, you said you wanted to know more about the Outsider, right? That you think something might be of use in the Lazulis Castle library? Then, maybe...maybe you'll find something there that you can't find back at the Gurak Continent. It might work out."
"There's a risk of Zesha coming to Lazulis, though." Therius spoke up. "If anyone finds out that I'm smuggling a Gurak into Lazulis Castle, not only would Zesha be at risk of death, but I would be of risk to be seen as a traitor and most likely thrown in the dungeon if not executed, and Lady Callista could be in more trouble than she already is in."
Callista had a feeling that she should step in by now.
"Morning...what is this all about?"
The other four turned to see her. Yin paused, before speaking.
"Erm...morning. If you're wondering what we're so passionately arguing about, it's about whether Zesha is going to accompany you and Therius back to Lazulis!" She beamed at this, while Therius face-palmed himself. Zesha just stared at Yin while Zepha let out a groan, rolling his eyes at this.
"Yin," Zepha started, "Do you seriously have to use the term 'passionately arguing' for something like this?"
"Of course! It's a serious subject, right? And we're all getting so riled about this, anyway, so we might as well be calling this an 'argument' rather than a discussion."
"Oh, Yin..." The older of the two Gurak twins paused, before speaking up again. "Zesha. If you don't come back with Yin and I to the Gurak Continent...Lord Zangurak will deem you as a traitor. If you come back later than us, he'll kill you. I don't want to lose you."
Zesha and Zepha made complete eye contact right then and there, both brothers gazing at each other with fading hope in their eyes. Callista knew that look-she had given that look before in the past-that look belonged to someone who was scared of losing someone significant to them.
She didn't want them to lose each other.
"Zesha." Callista finally spoke up. Zesha turned to make eye contact with her. "You don't have to go if you don't want to. I'm not forcing you to."
Zesha averted his gaze from hers, surprised that she would actually put him first before herself. He seemed to consider such a decision, to not go back to Lazulis-perhaps even bringing Callista and Therius back with him to the Gurak Continent-but Zesha finally shook his head.
"No." He finally spoke, looking up at the others. "I'm going to Lazulis. And I'll need the white knight and the Countess-to-be with me."
Both Yin's and Zepha's eyes narrowed at once, the atmosphere about them going from concern to something deadlier. Callista could feel their cold stares piercing Zesha and going straight through herself, and she nearly shivered at this.
"Brother..." Zepha's voice sounded nearly hollow. "Why?"
"Why, despite the consequences that will probably crush me to pieces before I ever get the chance to see you again?" Zesha let out a low, sad chuckle. "I just...I just have to know about the Outsider. If it's more than just a power source. If it's a threat to our land. And if it is...how to get rid of it so that our people will suffer less. I need to know, brother. I'll go through hell if I have to if I'm going to find out any of this."
Callista thought that Zepha might get angry, or try to even strangle his brother on the spot. But instead, the older twin gritted his teeth, swallowed his pride, and with both fists clenched tightly, he spoke again.
"It's your decision. I will not interfere with it. But once we leave each other, we are enemies to each other." Zepha spoke firmly, making eye contact with his younger twin. "Do you understand that?"
Zesha nodded quietly. "I do, Zepha. I do."
The other one smiled sadly, before embracing his twin for a moment and then letting go.
"Be careful."
"I will."
Before Callista could realize what was happening, she, Therius, and Zesha had departed from the Vono Islands.
They found themselves at none other than Stargazer's Tower, the place where Callista and Zael had watched the stars together only about a week ago. Currently, though, the place was abandoned-and Zesha and Therius both seemed grateful for this.
Callista, however, was still confused about what was going on exactly...
"Zesha?"
Zesha blinked in surprise, turning towards Callista. "...What is it?" He asked quietly, his gaze focused on her.
"Why did you want to bring Therius and I back to Lazulis? I thought you didn't help enemies."
Zesha seemed to wince, but quickly spoke up in response, almost too quickly. "I need you two to smuggle me into Lazulis Castle. I mean," He paused, before speaking again, "it is possible for me to simply teleport into the castle, but I would have absolutely no idea where the library would be, forcing me to search around more and be more likely to be spotted by guards..."
He seemed very, very impatient to get the information about the Outsider from the Lazulis library.
Therius paused, before speaking. "Zesha, you really do understand how risky this is going to be not just for yourself, right?"
"...I do."
And that was the beginning of a plan.
They just hoped that plan wouldn't fail them. If it did, it would bring some disastrous results.
The report with Zangurak had not gone well.
Even worse, the news about Zesha now being a traitor to the Gurak Continent and Zepha's blindness had spread all over the place. That was the hot topic among the people, the things that they whispered about to each other in the streets and in the halls of the Gurak Castle.
Yin and Zepha were equally both unhappy as the assasin tailor led the blinded right-hand man of Zangurak down the hall, towards his room. As they kept walking, a few Gurak soldiers were passing by them-and they were obviously talking about Zepha.
"Blind? Really?" The first soldier was asking. "I can't believe it!"
"You better believe it-he even nearly ran into a door frame earlier!" The other soldier snickered.
The third soldier laughed a bit at this. "With Zesha gone and Zepha unable to see, maybe we'll get the honour to be Lord Zangurak's right-hand men eventually!"
As the three soldiers laughed, Yin found herself incredibly enraged by it. She squeezed Zepha's hand for a moment, before she took out a needle.
The next thing that the soldiers realized was that the needle Yin had had punctured the third soldier's neck. The soldier let out a gasp, as if struggling to breathe, before he collapsed onto the floor, unable to move. The other two soldiers nearly squealed in fright, backing away from Yin as she took out two other thin needles, glaring at them with all the rage she could muster at her disposal.
"Excuse me," She started, glaring at all three soldiers, "But you are showing utter disrespect to your superiors. I suggest you apologize. At once. Or do I need to throw another needle at you?"
One of the two standing Gurak soldiers, (stupidly) tried to act brave, almost cocky. "Why should we listen to you, halfing? You're not even in our army!"
Yin's eyes narrowed. Another needle pierced the neck of that Gurak soldier, sending him onto the floor and unable to move.
"Do not," Yin continued, her glare only getting more rage-filled, "call me halfling, you inconsiderable fool. Be happy that I didn't grab the most fatal needles for you lot-you're not worth killing, obviously, and we're all Gurak here so surely I should be slightly more merciful to my own people..." She then pointed a third needle at the last warrior standing. Glancing at Zepha, he appeared to approve of this threat.
Ever since he went blind, Yin just immediately took on the role of his avenging guardian if anyone got him angry. And if he got angry, she was willling to be the one acting out his venting for him. Especially if people were talking bad things behind his back.
The soldier backed away a bit, holding his hands up. "P-please, I-I'm sorry! I won't do it again!" He howled, looking like he might fall to his knees out of weakness and fear.
Yin merely kept her gaze focused on him as she spoke. "Do you mean it?"
"Yes!"
"Every last word?"
"Y-Yes!"
"And you mean it until you die?"
"YES!" The soldier shouted. "I-I mean it, completely, until death! Beyond that, if I must! Just, please, please don't..."
Yin gazed at him for a moment, before pocketing the needle. "Yeah. Alright. I'll let you go, since you so nicely apologized. Though I suggest you bring your fellow troops to the hospital wing so that they'll get the antidote. And you might want to hurry-you've got forty-five minutes until they're paralyzed for life."
As the soldier turned to pick up his allies and drag them down the hallway, Yin turned to face Zepha. "You alright?"
Zepha merely nodded in response, saying nothing for a moment before speaking, a small smile ending up on his face.
"Good job, avenging guardian."
Yin merely smiled back, glad to see that at least someone was pleased with something.
"Thanks...Zepha."
Author note: I'm really sorry for the delay in updates.. (sweatdrop) Hopefully this fic will be updated sooner. Thanks for your patience and reviews so far! I appreciate it a lot! XD