"Do you think that the person that started the fire knew?" Mithra whispered. Mithra and Sunniva had asked for a moment away to talk about what to do next.
She shook her head. "Probably not. They probably thought the Keeper was still here and was sent to finish the job. It doesn't look like we can stay here any longer though."
"Well…where do we go next? Nowhere is safe now."
Sunniva watched Ten and Veroth from a distance. They were engaged in their own intense whispering session, but Ten's gaze never left her. She stared back. "We go with them."
Mithra seemed skeptical. "We shouldn't trust them. Do you really want to go north?"
"I don't trust anyone, but for now it's our best bet…and I don't know if I should even enter the Northern Kingdom. But…what if we go with them, just north enough to get us to the Vault?"
The Vault was where Knowledge Keepers and scribes were trained. It was located in the neutral territory of the Borderlands. Since the Borderlands were a sovereign state unaffiliated with either Kingdom, it was their best bet for safety.
"Do you think they are telling the truth about being sent here by the Northern Council?! Do they know?" Mithra was worried that Sunniva did not seem to be taking any of this seriously enough.
Sunniva replied, "I'm not sure yet. But even if they are telling the truth, we still don't know their intentions. Though, I plan to find out."
&
"Now what?" Veroth asked.
"We head home. And we are taking her with us." Ten kept watching Sunniva and Mithra, trying to determine their relationship. He didn't believe that they were just two fellow scribes.
"Why? They are just going to slow us down and be a burden." Veroth crossed his arms over his chest. "Is there more to this mission than you're letting on, sir?"
"Her. I want her."
Veroth narrowed his eyes, "And what about him?"
"We take them both. She's not going without him, that much is obvious." Ten sighed, almost as if he was annoyed.
Veroth stepped into Ten's line of sight, intercepting his eye contact with Sunniva. Ten was ready to smack him when Veroth warned him, "We're not here on vacation or to pick up girls."
Ten replied tersely, "I am."
&
"We'll go with you." Sunniva nodded. The last of the fire of was still burning, giving her tan skin a warm glow in the dark night.
"I hadn't invited you yet." Ten smirked, "I didn't realize you'd want me so bad. We leave at sunrise."
Veroth made a gagging noise while Mithra shook his head.
Ten took one step closer to her. She held her hand up to his chest and pushed him back. "But first I need to know if we will be traveling as your prisoners or as your guests."
Ten scratched at his scruffy facial hair and glanced at Mithra behind her whose hand was curled up into fists. "I doubt I could take you both as prisoners even if I wanted to. That said, you will be guests of course."
"And once we reached the North?"
"Again, you will be esteemed guests of yours truly. You have my word as Ten Wonzigan, Captain of the Windward Army," Ten put his hand out as an offering.
Sunniva placed her hand in his and they shook on it.
&
They slept inside the stone temple for the rest of the night, garnering whatever bit of rest they could before setting out the next morning. Despite the unbearable heat during the day, it was surprisingly cold at night.
Sleeping on the stone floor felt like laying on ice. Sunniva was wide awake
Mithra and Veroth were snoring away while Ten stayed up for watch. Sunniva rose from the floor and lit a candle. She figured she could pack some things for the journey though there wasn't much left after the fire destroyed her personal belongings. Luckily, she kept a stash of coins in the temple's library.
"Where are you going," Ten asked her quietly. He was sitting in one of the window sills behind her. She turned to him.
"I couldn't sleep." With the candle in her hand, she walked towards him until the light illuminated his face.
He was undeniably handsome (in a rugged way), even with his unshaven facial hair and shaggy haircut, anyone could see that. It was also obvious that he had seen many battles. He always had a hardened look in his eyes even when he smiled.
She looked at him earnestly for the first time instead of shielding her emotions. Instead of her usual dead expressions, she appeared almost vulnerable. Worried, maybe?
"Can you tell me what the situation is with the Knowledge Keepers? You must know."
"All the Knowledge Keepers in the South have practically been eliminated. There will surely be none left by the end of this week. That is the intel I have. Keepers in the North fare better, but they are not entirely safe. Perhaps it is because in the North, Keepers reside in towers in more isolated locations rather than temples."
She nodded.
"Now let me ask you a question," Ten leaned over to move Sunniva's hair out of her face and tucked the strands behind her ear. She didn't flinch nor seemed phased by his action. "Why are you willing to go with me?"
She shrugged, "Mithra and I are scribes. After our Keeper left, we still stayed. Sometimes the neighboring villagers still come to us to seek information. This is all I've ever known my whole life. I know nothing else. Maybe we would have left eventually, but there is no point in staying anymore if no Keepers exist in the South."
Ten smiled at her. "Good girl. You have sensible reasoning and clearly some survival instincts. You are my guests, but if you are not cooperative things may change."
The last sentence he said in a cold tone. Sunniva felt a shiver run down her spine.
She didn't want to show him any fear, so she inched even closer. "Thank you for letting me know not to trust you. I was never that foolish anyways."
Ten scoffed and roughly pulled her to him. He clutched her jaw with one hand so tightly she started whimpering. His eyes smoldering with inexplicable anger. "I should be the one saying that."
Sunniva looked at him with confusion. That seemed to snap him out of it. He released her and she rubbed her aching jaw.
He could not scare her. No matter how menacing he tried to be, he could not make her fear him. She wanted to make that clear to him.
She reached out to brush her finger over his pierced brow. He flinched at her touch. For a millisecond, his eyes flickered with something resembling desperation.
"Even if I am at your mercy, Captain Wonzigan. You do not scare me."
They held each other's gaze in silence for several seconds.
If he felt apologetic about his actions a moment ago, he did not bother to say so. All he told her was, "Please, just call me Ten."