Chapter 27 - Helping Hand

It was dark.

With shaky hands she touched her eyes. They were open.

She looked around her, but all that met her was pure darkness. She closed her eyes tightly multiple times, but every time she opened them the same darkness greeted her.

Her fingers dug into the ground underneath her, unaware that small prickling needles poked at her skin. She watched in horror as the darkness around her morphed and twisted until grotesque figures with red eyes walked towards her.

Her chest was moving fast. She knew she was breathing hard, but she couldn't hear.

The figures came closer and closer until their horrid red eyes were staring straight into hers.

Her mouth fell open and she let out a silent scream.

Aether observed the scene from behind Nox. He watched in confusion as the girl fell to her knees screaming out in agony.

"Hey! What's wrong with you!" The red haired man yelled at his fallen comrade, but made no move to help her.

The girl kept screaming, her head falling back as she gazed at the sky, completely ignoring the others words.

Nox took a step forward and the red haired man took a step back.

Nox kept walking until he was in front of the girl. His eyes had a sinister gleam in them as he stared down at her. He reached into his coat and pulled out another dagger. He held it in front of him, twisting and turning it idly as he watched the girl wither and scream.

The red haired man watched from afar. A sickening fear sunk into his bones as he gazed at the Princes every move. When he saw him pull out the dagger, he panicked. "Wait, No!"

Nox didn't listen. With a flick of his hand the dagger cut cleanly across the girl's neck, silencing her screams. Blood dribbled down her body and onto the ground. Her lifeless body, with eyes still full of tears, fell to the ground with a soft thud.

Nox flicked the dagger, letting the blood splatter onto the grass. A sinister smile spread on his face.

The red haired man froze for a moment. The sound of his beating heart ringed in his ear and for a single second he was worried that the other could hear it. He gripped his chest unconsciously as if he were protecting it from being torn out of his chest. The moment he did so, he snapped back into reality. His eyes narrowed and his lips stretched in a thin line. He took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself and pulled out a second dagger from his bag.

"How dare you." He seethed. The air around him shifted. First moving in one direction before turning and churning until it was moving in a circular motion. The rocks and branches around him began to shake before slowly being lifted off the ground joining the wind in its circular motion. Before Aether could process what was happening a mini tornado surrounded the red haired man.

The air grew tense. Nox and the red haired man eyed one another. Though the latter was more tense and on guard then Nox was.

Nox had shifted most of his weight onto one leg. He calmly twisted the dagger in his hand like he was playing with a toy. A soft smile graced his lips as he did so. His eyes shifted from the dagger to the man making the other flinch.

The red haired man grit his teeth. The wind around him shifted, turning into mini tornados bouncing off into different directions as they launched towards Nox.

Nox did not move, instead the shadows surrounding him shot up from the ground, latching onto the mini tornados like glue. The blackness devoured the tornadoes like a cat eating a bug, leaving nothing but a few rocks and branches floating in the air.

While this happened, the red haired man wasted no time in trying to stab Nox, but Nox deflected it with one of his daggers. The red haired man frowned and attacked with his other dagger. Nox once again deflected it.

With frustration and aggravation the red haired man attacked without mercy. Nox's smile grew as he too began to attack. Blood sprayed in all directions, decorating the surroundings like a delicate painting.

Aether watched the fight with great apprehension. He was biting his lip while his fingers dug into the grass underneath him. The feeling of helplessness was overwhelming.

Here he was once again in a situation where his life was in danger and yet he couldn't do anything. In his other life he could have saved himself. He had enough money, enough power, but here? With this body- Ha- it was useless. Tears of aggravation weld up in his eyes. He wanted to help, but there wasn't much he could do. His head fell and the glint of a dagger caught his eye.

He gulped. 'That's right, I'm not completely useless.'

He held the dagger with shaky hands, 'I may not be able to help Nox fight, but I could at least do some damage.' Aether glanced at the trees behind the red haired man.

'If I could just get behind him, I could stab him in the back. It should wound him just enough for Nox to defeat him.' Aether smiled at the idea, but implementing it would be harder than thinking about it.

He looked for the best possible route before he went to stand, but found that his foot was stuck in a tree root. He tilted his head to the side and leaned down to get his foot out. He could have sworn there weren't roots here before.

His lips pursed as he tried to pry his foot out of the root. No matter how hard he tried to free his foot, the root would just get tighter and tighter around his ankle. He frowned even more. Getting impatient he reached for his dagger and went to cut the root, but the moment the dagger touched the root, the root came alive and began to crawl up his leg.

"Wha-!"

Aether's upper body jumped back as a vine flicked out in front of him almost touching his nose.

The black haired boy from before stood in front of him. One hand was gripping a dagger while the other was playing with a group of vines.

He was breathing harshly, his eyes slightly clouded as he moved his hand towards Aether. The vines on his foot quickly moved, wrapping around his entire leg while the vines surrounding the black haired boy's hand dashed out towards his face.

Aether wasted no time in bringing the dagger down on the vines crawling up his leg. He winced as the dagger came in contact with the vine. He could feel the vibration as the vine twitched, but to his horror it didn't stop.

The boy got closer to his hand mere inches from Aether's face. The vines began to wrap around his arms, holding him in place.

The boy smiled, "I…win."

Aether winced as the vines wrapped tightly around his hand making him drop the dagger.

The boy's eyes shined and at this moment Aether truly felt as if he were staring at a child. "Finally. I get to go hom-UGH!"

Aether flinched as blood splattered onto his face. The black haired boy in front of him stared at him with wide eyes. His mouth was agape and filled with blood. The dagger in his hand fell to the ground. His hands shakily touched his stomach where the tip of a blood soaked sword was.

The vines on Aether's body loosened. He wasted no time and crawled backwards as the sword was ripped from the boy's chest. The boy fell forward, his eyes rolling back as he hit the ground. His chest was barely moving.

"What the hell is going on here?" Leon's crisp voice broke through the clearing.

Relief flooded Aether's body and he let out a shaky breath.

Leon flicked the sword with a look of disgust. Blood splattered onto the grass dying it a deep red. He glared at Aether.

Aether gulped. The relief he had just felt was instantly replaced by a new fear.

He was in so much trouble.

"Aether!" Kirtiya ran up to him, pulling him in for a tight hug. "Are you okay? We were so worried when we couldn't find you." She squished his cheeks together and turned his head left and right, checking for any injuries. When she didn't see any her eyes brightened while she scolded him, "How could you just run off like that? You had everyone worried! I mean you should have seen your brother he was so-"

"Enough." Leon's voice was dripping with coldness. He walked over to Aether and hoisted him up by the arm. "What were you thinking?" Aether flinched at the cold look his brother gave him.

"I-"

"No excuses." Leon interrupted, "You are supposed to stay by my side at all times, yet the moment I took my eyes off you…" he gritted his teeth, "You could have died. Do you understand that."

Aether dropped his head, curling into himself slightly, his eyes downcast. "I'm sorry. I didn't think-"

"No you didn't." Leon didn't let him finish.

"Do not blame him." Nox walked towards them. The red haired man lay silent on the ground, a pool of blood forming under his body.

He stopped in front of Aether and Leon, his face calm as he spoke. "If it weren't for him, we wouldn't have caught the intruders."

Leon's eye twitched, "Intruders?" As if he had just noticed the person he had stabbed he glanced down at the barely breathing boy. With a frown he kicked the figure with little interest.

He scoffed, "How could this be an intruder? It's more like a little boy playing dress up."

"Although he may seem like that, he was indeed part of the group. Though I must say he was the weakest out of the group." Nox said, his face never changing.

Leon's frown deepened at the small taunt, but he chose to ignore it. Scoffing at Nox, he turned his focus at the young boy. Using his sword he lifted the servant's coat to see the crest on the boy's chest. "We should alert the Min family that they had a little rat within their walls." He glanced over at the other two corpses, "What families were they working for?"

Kirtiya ran over and lifted the girl's coat, "The Frill family."

"The Gemini family." Nox said, gesturing to the red haired corpse behind him.

"So they infiltrated three noble houses and high ones at that." Leon mused.

Aether avoided looking at the two dead bodies and instead gazed upon the young boy. His eyes drifted from his pale face to the small bag that he carried then to the forest that surrounded them.

He knew that the three hooded figures were still in this forest, but he wasn't sure if they too were coming for him. His eyes narrowed slightly as he gazed at each shadow and stump waiting for movement.

"What are you looking for?" Nox asked, his voice barely above that of a whisper. Aether jumped slightly. He wasn't sure when, but Nox had somehow moved next to him.

"Um…" Aether looked back at the forest then at Nox's calm face. 'Did he see the hooded figures as well?' He thought.

With a hesitant voice he whispered, "Did you also see them?"

Nox simply smiled.

Aether pursed his lips. It was a stupid question to ask. If Nox had also seen the hooded figures then he had also heard the conversation. He let out a long sigh.

He needed to tell Leon what he had heard, what he had learned, but he was also worried that once he spoke, Leon would never let him out of his sight again.

"Um, brother."

Leon's eyes snapped at him.

Aether avoided the others' gaze and spoke in a soft tone, "Um, I saw the three talking to three other figures. They, uh, mentioned how there was already a rat inside our house." His voice grew quieter as Leon's face grew uglier by the second.

"What?" Leon's face turned dark as he spoke.

Aether gulped, "A figure said that there was already someone inside the Frenzel house." Aether twirled his fingers as he looked down at his feet.

Leon went silent. The hand clenching his sword tightened and his chest heaved with every breath he took. His eyes seemed to glow an eerie red.

"Who?" He asked.

"What?" Aether responded.

"Who has infiltrated our household?"

Aether shook his head, "I don't know. They never stated their name."

Leon lashed out in anger. His shadows rammed at a tree at full force, splintering bark while sparks of fire devoured the leaves. He yelled out in frustration and anger.

Aether could understand Leon's anger. The Frenzel family was part of the top war families. It was unheard of for them to lose in anything. Them being unaware that a rat was roaming their walls was an insult to them and their name.

Kirtiya stood to the side. She crossed her arms as she tapped her foot. Her eyes wandered to the three intruders.

"So they infiltrated well known noble households as servants." She began, "And Aether saw three more figures who talked about another rat in the Frenzel household." She repeated to herself, but Aether still nodded in affirmation.

Kirtiya tapped her chin as she began to pace. "Then they must have been here on orders and their orders must have been related to the nobles of the Soline Empire and if that's true then leaving their targets sight would be going against orders." Her eyebrows furrowed, "If these three snuck out into the forest to meet with three unknown figures, then there must have been a reason."

She stopped walking and turned to face the three, "They must have been here to receive new orders. Could it be that they planned on placing more rates?" She whispered the latter to herself.

"Did they mention any other households? Or just the Frenzel household?" She asked Aether.

"Just the Frenzel household." Aether avoided their gazes as he spoke.

"That's odd." Kirtiya mumbled to herself, but Leon picked up on her tone.

Leon paused his rampage for a second, glancing at the boy on the ground once more then at Aether. "Why did they mention the Frenzel household and no other household, Aether?"

Aether rubbed the back of his neck and sheepishly said, "They received new orders. I'm not sure what exactly the new orders were, but…" he trailed off not really wanting to mention that he was their target, but then again…he gazed towards the two corpses and the boy laying on the ground, the three probably could already guess what the new orders were.

Could he help them here?

"They said my name, but I'm not sure why." He finally spoke. He let his head fall so they couldn't see his face. "They received a paper, but as soon as they read it they burned it. I only heard my name and after that…I ran."

The three nodded in understanding, though Aether could see a small hint of disappointment in their eyes.

'If they were in my shoes they would have stayed. They would have fought and gotten more information…' he bit his lip.

"Did they mention anything else?" Kirtiya asked.

Aether pursed his lips and began to shake his head, but stopped mid way as a single thought popped in his head. 'What If I told them about the future attack on the noble households?'

It wouldn't hurt right? He read the novel, he knows what happens, the plans, everything. It would be easy to tell them everything he knew, but that would only make him look suspicious.

'But, what if I only give them something small. A little detail that could relate back to this incident.'

He glanced at the bodies, a plan already forming in his head. He had to be careful.

"They-they talked as if there were others and that one was indisposed at the moment, but they never said any other household names or how many there were." He kept his head lowered and brought his hands up to his face, acting as if he was worried about what he had heard. "I'm sorry. I don't know anymore, but-"

"It's okay." Nox said. Ignoring Leon's burning gaze, he placed his hand on the back of Aether's head and pulled Aether into his chest. Aether was stunned.

Nox's voice was deep and soothing as he whispered into his ear, "It's okay, you did your best and for that I am grateful."

Aether gave Nox a puzzled look. He went to speak, but was ripped from Nox's embrace by an upset Leon.

"Don't touch him." He seethed.

Nox gave him a stiff smile and faced Leon head on, "I am only stating the truth." He glanced to the side and furrowed his eyebrows as if he was genuinely concerned, "If I didn't know better, it's almost as if you don't care about what he went through to gain this valuable information." He took a step forward, "Do you even care if he almost died? " He whispered the last part so only Leon could hear.

"You!" Leon seethed.

Nox smiled and turned his attention to the figures on the ground, effectively changing the subject of conversation. Non gently, he picked up the still breathing black haired boy. "We should head back and tell the Dean about this."

"The dean? We need to tell the King!" Kirtiya exclaimed. She picked up the girl by her dress collar and began to drag her, a trail of blood following her. Leon effortlessly picked up the red head and followed suit, though with a permanent frown painting his face.

"Aether." Leon said.

Aether didn't need to be told twice. He ran up to Leon's side and stayed close as they walked out of the forest.

A hooded figure watched from afar. The flowers decorating his bracelet glowed lightly. They twisted and turned until they floated off his bracelet and into the air in front of him. They spun in the air radiating a green light, a thin light connected to each flower and a distorted image appeared in front of him.

"New orders." The hooded figure said, "Capture Aether Frenzel and bring him to us as soon as possible."

"Understood." The image flickered and went black.

The hooded figure smiled.