Hello peoples. So, I'm pretty excited for this chapter. Had it planned for a while, so hopefully it's as good on digital paper as it is in my head. That's also probably why it managed to come a bit faster than normal. And yes, I did kind of have fun naming this chapter. Kind of in the same vein as the title of the story, is it not? (with a bit of shame I admit to never having actually read Of Mice and Men, or Pride and Prejudice)
Chapter 31- Of Pride and Prejudice
Keane found he couldn't move when he felt something roughly jab into his side, bringing him out of the sleep he'd been in before. He didn't open his eyes, instead only groaning slightly when whatever it was hit him once again.
"Come on, wake up already," an irritated voice just barely managed to reach him. Using much more effort than he probably should have needed, he turned away from the continued stabbing in his side. Why was he feeling so weak? It didn't matter, he just wanted to sleep some more.
"Hey, I said wake up," the voice growled, even more forcefully this time around.
"No Strat… tired…" the sleepy boy just managed to mumble back, not processing that Straton never talked like that, and certainly wouldn't be jabbing him so hard.
"I'm not this Strat person. Now wake up you idiot, if you end up dying it's not my problem," whoever it was speaking commanded. Finally those words seemed to set off a panic bell in his brain, and Keane opened his eyes and pushed himself into a sitting position as fast as he could, which was still almost painfully slow. His arms and legs felt sore and stiff, and he was still chilled from his wet clothes. He couldn't even remember lying down, he'd been leaning up against the wall of the cave…
"Finally. What in the world is wrong with you two?" the person who'd woken him up asked, already sounding fed up with all of this. Only then did Keane manage to focus enough to actually see what he looked like.
He had grey hair, a small braid coming down on one side and several orange beads strung throughout the rest. Black lines that tapered off to a point ran down the sides of his face by each eye, and he wore a sort of shawl with a black strip design on each side. The rest of his clothes were all brown, with the same design on the end of each of his sleeves. A bow and several arrows were strapped to his back, and he was wet from head to toe.
The boy was glaring down at him fiercely, not seeming pleased in the least.
"Who…" Keane asked after a moment, able to place that the boy was a Kim-un-kur, and around his age, but pretty much nothing else. The boy frowned, and despite a very clear reluctance threw a blanket on Keane.
"The people saving you and that other kid, got it Red?" was all he would say, only managing to further confuse Keane. He soon realize after a moment that 'Red' meant him, though, instinctively frowning slightly at the strange nickname, but unable to really figure out if it was supposed to be an insult or not. From the angry demeanor in the Kim-un-kur boy, probably.
Slowly more information started seeping into his brain, and with that the panic.
They had finally made it to the mountains, but had been caught in that huge rainstorm. They found a cave though. So why would they need to be saved? Just where was Straton?
Before he was able to actually ask any of this however someone else in the cave that Keane had yet to notice started speaking.
"Stop that, it's not their fault they were caught in that storm," a girl's voice said. Looking over, Keane couldn't help but breath a sigh of relief at seeing Straton sitting up, the Kim-un-kur girl who must have been with this other guy standing next to him.
He had a blanket wrapped around him as well and was looking the older boy over worriedly. He didn't seem like he was actually hurt or anything like that though, which Keane was quite thankful for. Just confused and apprehensive of whatever situation they'd managed to get themselves into this time, understandably.
The girl was a Kim-un-Kur as well, with grey hair and eyes like the boy. She also had several orange beads in her hair, two braids wrapping around her head to the back, and she seemed to be soaked from the rain as well. She wore a long tan dress, with a leather belt around her waste that had a pouch attached. Keane could just make out circular black markings on the backs of her hands. The boy just scoffed, rolling his eyes before glaring back at Keane as the redhead started pulling the blanket tighter around himself in an attempt to get a bit more warmth.
"It is too completely their fault. People like them shouldn't even be up here!" he argued, pointing at Keane as if it would further prove his point. Keane found himself glaring back at the slight disgust in the Kim-un-kur boy's voice when he said 'them.' Now that he was both warming up and waking up a little, he could begin to think again.
"We're just going to the other side of the mountain, we're not trying to bother anyone," Keane said, managing to find the strength enough to speak. The Kim-un-kur boy, although Keane couldn't help but concede that he was probably at least year or two older than himself, turned back with another sharp glare.
"No one cares where you want to go. People from Sailand are not allowed in the mountains, got it Red?" he ordered.
"That's not my name," Keane told him as sternly as he could, not about to let some kid probably only two years older than him tell him where he was allowed to go or not. It'd taken he and Straton forever and a half to get here, and they were not turning back now.
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize that I cared," the Kim-un-kur said, sarcasms dripping from his voice. Keane was about to start fighting back once again, not used to someone talking to him like this since he used to argue with the other princes. Before he was able to however, the girl cut him off for the second time.
"Akule, I just told you to stop it. We can't send them anywhere until the rain stops anyway," she chastised the older boy. The Kim-un-kur Akule didn't seem very pleased about this at all, but didn't say anything as he scowled at the cave wall.
"Um, thank you for helping us, how did you know we were here?" Straton said after a moment, breaking the awkward silence that had fallen. Akule didn't say anything, but the girl smiled slightly before speaking.
"We caught sight of you two when we were out hunting and decided to follow you to see what you were up to. We ended up losing you for a little while when the storm hit, but then found you guys in this cave," she explained. Slowly Straton started to nod, realization setting in.
"So I was right, there was someone following us," he said, the surprise he felt clear. Keane deflated slightly at the fact that he'd actually managed to miss them somehow. He really hadn't heard a thing though. At least, nothing that sounded human.
"My name is Naira by the way, and the angry guy is my brother Akule," the girl introduced them both. Before either Keane or Straton was able to do the same as well Akule cut in.
"I'm not being angry, I'm being reasonable. We made sure they wont go freeze to death like they should have, but I'm not about to let some Sailandic beasts like them take one step farther into our home!" he yelled. Keane instantly bristled at the insult. Not only did it tick him off with someone calling Straton something like that, but he had been the prince of a country. It didn't really show much, but he did have some pride in that fact.
"Beasts? You don't know anything about us!" he yelled back.
"I know that your people are savages who have absolutely no respect for life. Pretty sure that qualifies as a beast right there," he shot back at the redhead. Keane managed to push himself to his feet now, ignoring the soreness that ran though him at the movement, fists clenched.
He knew the horrible things his country had done. He knew that the Kim-un-kur had been targeted just as much as the +anima had been under his father's rule. He didn't need this kid coming and hammering it in even farther. Didn't he see that they were trying to leave Sailand? They didn't want to be a part of that anymore.
Sure, they didn't really have much of a choice in the matter, but they knew nothing about that.
"I guess it really helps spotting beasts when you're one yourself, huh," Keane practically growled.
"Keane!" Straton yelled, quickly getting to his own feet and grabbing the redhead's arm, pulling him a few steps away from the angry Kim-un-kur boy. Akule looked like he was about to pounce on him, something Straton found himself genuinely concerned about.
He'd seen more than enough arguments between the princes fall into actual scuffles. Usually they were broken up before anything serious happened, but there had been a few cases of busted noses and missing teeth. He could very easily picture Keane and that boy falling into one of those fights, perhaps even worse with no one there to stop them but himself and that Kim-un-kur girl. It wasn't that Keane was prone to violence anymore, he hadn't been like that for years now it seemed. There was something about that Akule boy though.
Something about him just seemed strikingly similar to that of the mindset of a prince.
"That's not like you," the blond said sternly, and reluctantly Keane allowed his body to relax. Straton was right, after all. And even still, it would be a bad idea to pick a fight with people if they could help it. Sure, this Akule guy was not making it easy, but Keane had to admit at least that he could understand his reasoning.
Despite this, he was still glaring slightly at the older boy when he spoke next.
"We already said, we're not trying to bother anyone. We just want to get to Asteria," Keane said after a moment, trying to keep his voice calm. It was true, they hadn't meant to run into the Kim-un-kur or anything like that. They were perfectly fine just leaving them alone and continuing on their way.
"And I already told you Red, no one cares what you want!" the other boy yelled back, not appearing to waver in his stance at all. Thankfully, Straton started speaking before Keane got the chance to.
"Please, just let us explain. We can't go back to Sailand, we don't have any choice," the blond pleaded. Akule opened his mouth to start arguing again, but Naira was slightly faster in her response.
"Why can't you go back?" she asked, ignoring the peeved look from the older boy for doing so. Straton glanced over at Keane before answering, both a bit hesitant on how exactly to respond. From what little they'd heard about the culture, not exactly having been taught much back at the palace, the Kim-un-kur apparently respected +anima.
Reluctantly, the blond decided to just go for it and see what happened. He'd already asked the two to let them explain, after all, and they were giving them that chance. They couldn't exactly say the other reason they couldn't go back, after all. He knew that would probably be one of the worst things they could possibly do.
"Keane's a +anima. If we go back he might get caught by slavers. Again," he told them truthfully. A second after he said it he tried to hide any panic about the fact that he'd used the redhead's real name. Thankfully though, no form of recognition showed in either of the two's faces, just surprise. And a bit of annoyance and disbelief in Akule's case.
"What? You're a +anima?" he asked, turning towards Keane. He simply nodded, taking off one of his gloves - which really, he probably should have already done, they'd been as soaked as the rest of his clothes - so that they could see the distinctive black markings on the back of his hand.
"I'm a mouse. Now do you see why we can't go back? We just want to get to Asteria where +anima aren't slaves, We're not interested in messing with you or your people at all," he explained, having calmed down considerably from the anger that Akule had managed to throw him into. Even still, the Kim-un-kur boy did not seem to be very happy about this, but looked like he was very reluctantly keeping himself from demanding to throw them off the mountains again.
"Whatever. There's still no way the two of you would be able to survive the journey across the mountains," he grumbled, not sounding pleased in the least. His eyes slid over to Straton, a bit of confusion showing in them. Keane instantly stood in front of the younger boy, having a bit of a de-ja-vu moment from when they'd been with that +anima group.
"No, he's not a +anima. He is my little brother though, so wherever I go, he does too," he told them, his tone leaving no room for argument. Straton almost considered abjectly slightly to the redhead acting so protective of him. He liked to think that maybe he wasn't completely helpless, and so far, besides being slightly rude, or at least Akule was, the two hadn't done anything to really threaten them.
He ended up staying silent though. Despite all of that, it did feel kind of nice having someone actually trying to protect him, after all. Plus, he would have done the exact same thing for Keane, had the situation been reversed.
Before anyone was able to speak next a huge crack from outside of the cave startled all four equally, reminding them of the raging storm still right outside.
"Well, like I'd said before, none of us can go anywhere until after this storm passes," Naira said, breaking the small silence that had fallen over the group. The two brothers nodded in agreement, not wanting to go back into that rain at all. Akule didn't do anything, simply leaning against the wall of the cave with an annoyed look on his face, obviously not liking the idea of being stuck in here for who knows how long.
The awkwardness that fell over the group after that was almost palpable, no one knowing what to say next while the continued drone of the rain pelted on.
"Um, thank you for helping us again," Straton mumbled, figuring that it probably wouldn't be Keane to try to start the conversation. As it was the redhead was attempting to ignore the continuous glare Akule sent him. Naira nodded, while her brother just crossed his arms, barely glancing at him while he did.
"That's fine. We couldn't have just left you two out here," she said. Akule simply rolled his eyes at the statement, obviously feeling that yes, they could have, but once again he didn't say anything on the matter.
"I'm going to start a fire," Akule said after a moment, surprising the other two boys slightly. "That is, unless either of you know how to," he added on. Keane frowned, realizing that he in fact had absolutely no idea how to start a fire.
"We've been in the desert, we hadn't needed to," the redhead said. The Kim-un-kur boy simply rolled his eyes, starting to take out several items from a pouch Keane hadn't noticed before.
"It gets cold in the desert at night, and you still need to cook your food," he said bluntly. All the while, the two watched as he started up a small flame, surprised and reluctantly impressed by the speed at which he worked.
"We managed," Keane mumbled at last. It was true, after all. They'd made their way through the desert. Sure, the trip had been far from perfect, but they did it.
"Right," he said, although the older boy sounded skeptical as anything. Keane quickly managed to keep himself from saying anything else, afraid to start another fight with him.
"Oh, we never really got your names. Yours is Keane, right? And you are…?" Naira asked, once again thankfully changing the subject. Keane just nodded, figuring that there probably wouldn't be too much harm in giving his real name out around here. He doubted the Kim-un-kur would really have too many sources of information about the Sailandic royal family.
"I'm Starton. It's um, nice to meet both of you," the blond introduced himself. Reluctantly Keane forced himself to nod in agreement. They had helped them so far, no matter how confrontation Akule seemed to be.
"Yeah, nice," the redhead mumbled, stealing a glance at the older boy as he did so. Akule was simply poking at the fire with a stick he must have found lying somewhere about the cave, not looking at either of the boys.
Keane couldn't help but wonder just what his problem was. Yes, they were from Sailand, so he could understand the initial hatred of them, really. He was a +anima though, so shouldn't that technically put them both on the same side? He'd experienced first hand some of the things his country forced people to go through, it wasn't like he approved of that. And they certainly weren't slavers in disguise or anything like that, so why did he still seem so hostile to them?
The grey haired boy seemed to catch onto his starting at that moment, looking up and glaring sharply at Keane, forcing the boy to look away.
See? There wasn't any reason for him to be like that. Maybe it was that remark the redhead had said earlier? But even that didn't really seem to fit.
Blinking in realization, he glanced back over at Akule before quickly looking away again. For some reason, he kind of reminded him of Myrrha.
Keane quickly dismissed the thought, taking to staring at the small fire flickering in the center of the cave, listening to the still strong beating of rain from outside. Yet another awkward silence had fallen over the small group.
He had a distinct feeling that was going to be happening a lot, as long as they were forced to stick with them. Hopefully, that wouldn't be too long.
Woo, new characters. Trying to get over my fear of female OCs, hopefully I wont stumble too much with Naira. I realized that ever since they left the palace, Keane and Straton haven't really interacted with hardly anyone their own ages, with the exception of Nasir for a chapter or two when they were with Kazana's group.
Well, I do hope you all liked the new chapter. As always, thanks for reading and please review.