Daevas -I- ✔️

Chapter 10.1: Missing Pieces

It had been four days since they left for the encampment. They walked from the early morning to the late evening. Unlike the humans, Ari's legs never bothered him. The heat from the sun and the cold of the night were nonexistent. However, his need for sleep persisted. Ari had not slept a wink. He could not in the presence of many that would do him harm if he lowered his guard. 

 The sun peeked out from the trees as Ari tried to follow closely behind Freir. Another person stood behind him and to the side of him as well, stopping him from catching up to Freir and set more distance between them. Ari tugged his hands growing terribly uncomfortable with the situation but moreover for the ropes bound around his wrists in front of him. He could feel them digging into his skin now. Ari looked around again, noticing the glances and silent words being passed with eyes he did not know the meaning of. When he tried to tug at the ropes again, one came and put a dagger to his throat, causing Ari to instinctively raise his head away from it.

"Do not think to try anything. Nolan had given us strict orders on what to do if you did try something and they are not so lenient as they used to be," one of the men said. His breath carried the stench of morning and meat. There were drops of blood spotting his black beard and a repugnant odor coming from him that Ari could not ignore.

The other one laughed and hit his arm. "Leave him be. He is still Nolan's favorite, after all." His bony hand slipped down his arm before he spared Ari a malicious glance with a matching smirk to go with it.

Ari felt more like a prisoner being escorted back to his prison cell than anything else. He did not care for Nolan and his words. However, it was Freir that worried him. He would have never done this and used his trust for him against him. No, not even for his own life. Even as thoughts such as those sifted through Ari's mind, Ari could not help but feel some sense of betrayal.

"Fr--"

"Quiet," the man with the bloody beard said to him, "or I'll gag ye myself."

Freir was further ahead and Ari did not like the distance set between them. Ari muscled his distaste of the situation down and did his best to ignore the two men. He walked in silence until a bony hand pressed against his shoulder, causing Ari to look at the man smiling at him with narrowed eyes. The man traced his hand down to his waist and pulled out one of Ari's daggers. He found a few more and dropped them to the ground.

"Anymore we should know about?"

Ari did his best to suppress the glare in his eyes threatening to surface, but it was in vain. The moment he felt his cold fingers on his skin, Ari elbowed him in his throat. The man wheezed and fell onto the ground and Ari watched as the man struggled for air. When the other man came, Ari ducked when he swung at him with a dagger. It nicked his arm. The man came at him again. This time he grabbed Ari by the collar and swung him to the ground.

Quickly, Ari reached for one of his daggers on the ground. The man grabbed his legs and yanked him back just as he grabbed the hilt of it. He flipped Ari over onto his back. Before he could straddle him, Ari kneed in between his legs and kicked him away until he fell onto the ground. Ari took this time to work on the rope tied around his wrists before any more would come and misunderstand.

Ari rose as soon as the ropes were uncut, but the man grabbed him by one of his ankles and pulled him back down.

"You will pay for this, you damned demon." Ari kicked him in the face twice. When his boot connected with the man's face again Ari heard a crunch. The man laid lifeless on the ground as well as the other one. Ari took in a deep breath and walked onward. No matter Ari's reluctance, he could not possibly think to leave without first understanding Freir and his intentions. He also had his questions he wanted to be answered before he went anywhere.