Chapter 4.2 ~ 1,005 words
HUNTER
HUNTER
This is still trash as always. Counting down the weeks. One more week before rewrites!
Spoiler! :
~*~
The wooden surface gave into the knife far easier than I’d thought, or maybe it was that I was being too forceful with it. But either way, the sharpened blade slid into the center of the wooden tabletop without as much as a resisting creak. I pried the blade from the wooden walls that encased it and slammed down on the table again, causing it to shake with a dull thunk, but no resistance.
“Hunter, calm down,” Grey said, flicking a chess piece in my direction. “Cutting up the table isn’t going to help time move faster.” As her arm moved, her brown hair readjusted itself on her shoulders and down the length of her back. She was relaxed as ever.
“I don’t understand why we attack at night,” I muttered, slashing another deep gash in the length of the table. “We have the power to make ourselves invisible. Our arrival is always a surprise because even if people are expecting us, we can just make them forget that. That’s how you use the influence right?” As I moved back to the starting point, the wooden fibers weaved together and ejected the blade of the knife out. I cast a withering look at Grey.
She didn’t flinch or even respond to my gaze as she set down the pawn between her fingers next to the growing pile of chess pieces beside her mask. Then, in another movement, she picked up a bishop and knocked over one of Blaine’s knights. “Check,” she said with a smug smile.
Blaine knotted his eyebrows and concentrated hard on the board. Grey turned back to me and looked through me with her crystal blue eyes. “It’s not about being seen; it’s about variety. Our last six attacks were daytime, havoc wreaking raids. Sir wanted to take a more tactful approach.”
“But we’re still raiding homes, killing people and instilling fear,” I hissed. “What’s tactful about that?”
“It’s about the message, Hunter,” she replied calmly, holding her smile tight on her lips. “Isn’t that right, Blaine?”
The other admin didn’t look up. Instead, his shaky hand reached for a pawn and moved it forward one more square, before looking up to signal it was Grey’s turn. Blaine was always more tense than Grey, especially around me, since he always kept his mask tightly on and guarded his thoughts carefully. Or maybe that was because he didn’t want Grey cheating again.
She chuckled and moved her knight closer to the pawn. Each of her moves appeared spontaneous, and it appeared she hardly needed any time to think ahead.
I stuck the knife in the table again and watched the pieces shudder. “Well, why do we have to sit back at home base when we were on the site just last night?”
“It’s not like it took you much effort to go between the two,” Blaine mumbled under his breath, still mulling over his ever limited options.
“There are several reasons, Hunter,” she began, her sweet voice taking on a tone of mock. “First is the fact that you were ordered. You’re a captain, Hunter, and you still do what I tell you to. Second is that it was in Sir’s plan, and going against that is treasonous and under heard of. Don’t be the first. And third is that… it’s just fun to watch you irritated. Just shows that you’re growing up so fast.”
As my scowl deepened, she let out a loud chuckle that bellowed from her stomach. It was a blend of cruelness and real elation, topped off with a confident smirk as she turned back to her game. Blaine put his finger on the pawn again, scanning the board carefully for any tricks or traps that Grey undoubtable laid. As he thought, he added to her points, “Besides, you’re privileged enough to walk with the admins, and admins don’t do grunt work.”
At that, he pushed the knight aside with the pawn and snatched up the piece.
I hated the use of “grunt work” for the fun parts of the raids. It was the attacks, the shrill screams that filled my ears that made it all worthwhile. As well as the occasional recruitment, whenever my previous husk graduated to grunt.
Grey let out a triumphant noise and pushed a rook into the unguarded queen. “Checkmate!”
There was a moment of pause. “That wasn’t there,” Blaine began, examining the board harder. “That was definitely in the spot over.”
“Please, Blaine,” Grey said, picking up his king from the board. “You were extra clear about the no influence rule this time, remember?”
“I’m positive that wasn’t there.”
“I’m not a cheater.”
As the discussion of the game’s validity began, I decided that was my cue to leave. If I didn’t, then I’d be dragged into another ‘exercise’ or ‘test’ to show that Grey couldn’t possibly have rigged the game again. She was too powerful for her own good.
Besides, the game was over and it wasn’t that interesting to begin with. I wanted to fight, to spar, to get my muscles moving and push the energy boiling inside me into something useful. If I was lucky, I might find Raine down in the empty fields, since the important grunts were marching to the field, scheduled to arrive right as the night fell, and the rest were in forceful sleep until the raid was finished.
I left my mask on the table beside Grey’s, snatched up my knife, and ducked out the room before either of them noticed. Her giggling was the last thing that followed me into the empty corridors once again.
The rest of the walk was a restless silence as my fingers twitched against the handle of my knife. Raine still owed me a spar anyway, since the last one was abruptly interrupted by her own husk trying to take their life. I had hoped I had been there to witness it, but Grey had another task for me that day. Maybe her long awaited rematch would finally occur.
The wooden surface gave into the knife far easier than I’d thought, or maybe it was that I was being too forceful with it. But either way, the sharpened blade slid into the center of the wooden tabletop without as much as a resisting creak. I pried the blade from the wooden walls that encased it and slammed down on the table again, causing it to shake with a dull thunk, but no resistance.
“Hunter, calm down,” Grey said, flicking a chess piece in my direction. “Cutting up the table isn’t going to help time move faster.” As her arm moved, her brown hair readjusted itself on her shoulders and down the length of her back. She was relaxed as ever.
“I don’t understand why we attack at night,” I muttered, slashing another deep gash in the length of the table. “We have the power to make ourselves invisible. Our arrival is always a surprise because even if people are expecting us, we can just make them forget that. That’s how you use the influence right?” As I moved back to the starting point, the wooden fibers weaved together and ejected the blade of the knife out. I cast a withering look at Grey.
She didn’t flinch or even respond to my gaze as she set down the pawn between her fingers next to the growing pile of chess pieces beside her mask. Then, in another movement, she picked up a bishop and knocked over one of Blaine’s knights. “Check,” she said with a smug smile.
Blaine knotted his eyebrows and concentrated hard on the board. Grey turned back to me and looked through me with her crystal blue eyes. “It’s not about being seen; it’s about variety. Our last six attacks were daytime, havoc wreaking raids. Sir wanted to take a more tactful approach.”
“But we’re still raiding homes, killing people and instilling fear,” I hissed. “What’s tactful about that?”
“It’s about the message, Hunter,” she replied calmly, holding her smile tight on her lips. “Isn’t that right, Blaine?”
The other admin didn’t look up. Instead, his shaky hand reached for a pawn and moved it forward one more square, before looking up to signal it was Grey’s turn. Blaine was always more tense than Grey, especially around me, since he always kept his mask tightly on and guarded his thoughts carefully. Or maybe that was because he didn’t want Grey cheating again.
She chuckled and moved her knight closer to the pawn. Each of her moves appeared spontaneous, and it appeared she hardly needed any time to think ahead.
I stuck the knife in the table again and watched the pieces shudder. “Well, why do we have to sit back at home base when we were on the site just last night?”
“It’s not like it took you much effort to go between the two,” Blaine mumbled under his breath, still mulling over his ever limited options.
“There are several reasons, Hunter,” she began, her sweet voice taking on a tone of mock. “First is the fact that you were ordered. You’re a captain, Hunter, and you still do what I tell you to. Second is that it was in Sir’s plan, and going against that is treasonous and under heard of. Don’t be the first. And third is that… it’s just fun to watch you irritated. Just shows that you’re growing up so fast.”
As my scowl deepened, she let out a loud chuckle that bellowed from her stomach. It was a blend of cruelness and real elation, topped off with a confident smirk as she turned back to her game. Blaine put his finger on the pawn again, scanning the board carefully for any tricks or traps that Grey undoubtable laid. As he thought, he added to her points, “Besides, you’re privileged enough to walk with the admins, and admins don’t do grunt work.”
At that, he pushed the knight aside with the pawn and snatched up the piece.
I hated the use of “grunt work” for the fun parts of the raids. It was the attacks, the shrill screams that filled my ears that made it all worthwhile. As well as the occasional recruitment, whenever my previous husk graduated to grunt.
Grey let out a triumphant noise and pushed a rook into the unguarded queen. “Checkmate!”
There was a moment of pause. “That wasn’t there,” Blaine began, examining the board harder. “That was definitely in the spot over.”
“Please, Blaine,” Grey said, picking up his king from the board. “You were extra clear about the no influence rule this time, remember?”
“I’m positive that wasn’t there.”
“I’m not a cheater.”
As the discussion of the game’s validity began, I decided that was my cue to leave. If I didn’t, then I’d be dragged into another ‘exercise’ or ‘test’ to show that Grey couldn’t possibly have rigged the game again. She was too powerful for her own good.
Besides, the game was over and it wasn’t that interesting to begin with. I wanted to fight, to spar, to get my muscles moving and push the energy boiling inside me into something useful. If I was lucky, I might find Raine down in the empty fields, since the important grunts were marching to the field, scheduled to arrive right as the night fell, and the rest were in forceful sleep until the raid was finished.
I left my mask on the table beside Grey’s, snatched up my knife, and ducked out the room before either of them noticed. Her giggling was the last thing that followed me into the empty corridors once again.
The rest of the walk was a restless silence as my fingers twitched against the handle of my knife. Raine still owed me a spar anyway, since the last one was abruptly interrupted by her own husk trying to take their life. I had hoped I had been there to witness it, but Grey had another task for me that day. Maybe her long awaited rematch would finally occur.
[next chapter link when it's been rewritten]
//editing notes
Spoiler! :
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[last updated: May 14th, 2017]
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