Indigo

Amarantha stared at her former headmaster, her eyes wide with fear.
War? Against Headmaster Adlaw? What is this? Is everyone going insane?
“You can’t be serious. Headmaster Adlaw…why would you start a war against him? That doesn’t make any sense.”
Amarantha mumbled, her fingers starting to tremble. She hid them underneath the table instantly, unwilling to show her weakness.
“Adlaw is a cruel man. He has done nasty things to all of us, and we want revenge. Adlaw is scum.”
Mayari groaned, gritting her teeth and punching the table to make a point. As soon as the final ‘m’ dissolved into the air the rest of the table repeated the word in an uproar, clanking their glasses of golden liquid together: their brows furrowed and their teeth showing. It reminded Amarantha of a much more violent tea party at the Mad Hatter’s. She shuddered.
“You’re not like this, Headmaster…I don’t understand…”
“The girl is obviously imbecile-“
“Cecile, shut up!”
Mayari hissed furiously, sending the woman that resembled Kier a violent stroke of the whip that Amarantha hadn’t seen before. The leather sent a horrible striking sound, freezing Amarantha over. She didn’t like the superiority on Headmaster Mayari’s eyes. She treated everyone like…like animals. Everyone except Amarantha, that had been obvious.
Am I really that important to her?

* * *
“Are you really that important to her?”
Deacon asked Tyrell from his sleeping bag, a playful smile on his lips.
“Pardon me?”
“Amarantha, I mean. You’re cute and all but I sense no power from you whatsoever. Kier, on the other hand, is strong and handsome…I just think it’s a bit cruel you have to fight him over Amarantha when it’s so obvious the outcome…you’re so human with a complete lack of skills and power…”
Deacon’s venomous words slipped off his tongue easily. He wasn’t trying to harm Tyrell, he was just expressing his thoughts without thinking them, without filtering them. Tyrell laid very still, listening to the demon’s words. He knew he wasn’t as useless as Deacon described him, he didn’t know about Blaze but he still felt a pang of uneasiness. Would it really be that easy for Amarantha to discard him over Kier?
Kier’s ears perked up instantly. He knew Deacon was only being Deacon, he had always said whatever crossed his mind without thinking but Tyrell certainly didn’t know that. Would Amarantha hate him so much if he left her life-time friend being messed like this? He didn’t think so. As much as he regretted giving Tyrell any kind of reassurance he took one of the spare bones from the rabbits and threw it at Deacon’s back.
“Stop telling the boy lies, Deacon, and go to fucking sleep.”
Kier ordered in a quiet tone. The fire enabled him to see Tyrell’s surprised eyes. Kier snorted and rolled on his back. Was Amarantha alright? He could only wish she was. She was strong, but she was fragile under pressure. He needed to get to her and save her. The Nightmares couldn’t possibly-
There were sounds outside of the cave that cut off Kier’s thinking. He quickly prodded himself up and blew the fire out with an icy breath. He pressed his finger against his lips so that the other two would stay silent.
“Do you think its Nightmares?”
A high, childish voice asked. She was instantly hushed by several others as they tentatively walked into the cave. Kier perked up and flew towards them violently. There was a scream as he approached the three figures: two girls, one about his age and another one younger and a boy about the younger one’s age.
“Kier? What in the world! You almost fucking killed me!”
Annie spat, raising her hand to hit Kier but stopping in midair. Kier looked curiously at the other two and recognized Annie’s sister Anne who was very pale and still and Bert, in a similar state. Kier groaned,
“What are you kids doing here?”
“Kids? I’m your age!”
Annie said in an outrage. There was the sound of footsteps and wings and a few seconds later Tyrell and Deacon were standing by Kier.
“I asked a question, Anne.”
“Er, we’re part of Adlaw’s army. We’re after the Nightmare’s refuge….we’re spies.”
“Damn clumsy ones, at that.”
Kier hummed, his arms crossed over his chest.
“Hey, watch it! What are you after? Why do you have a human and…Ew, Deacon with you?”
“Look Annie, just because you’re a stiff, jealous bitch that couldn’t keep Kier because you were too-“
“Enough, Deacon. That is none of your business. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell Adlaw about my presence he hates me enough as it is, he might kill me if-“
“I don’t hate you that much. What are you doing here?”
Adlaw said as he approached in quick, short steps towards them.
“That is none-“
“Amarantha.”
Kier glared at Adlaw and then nodded curtly. Adlaw glimpsed at Tyrell and Deacon and then nodded in an equally curt way.
“I understand what you’re doing. You should know we’re on war. Mayari against myself. The motives are…complex. In reality, I’m just defending myself and trying to take Amarantha back. I understand you want to do this with as less people as possible and it’s a wise move. All of the students are with me and Mayari has created the Nightmares to serve her. Our goal is the same, I won’t stop trying to free Amarantha just because you’re trying to do that. What if you fail? I can’t have that…Don’t kill any of us.”
Adlaw stared into Kier’s icy eyes and then turned around,
“Let’s go.”
He ordered and the rest went with him, Annie rather reluctantly.
Tyrell looked as the figures disappeared into the woods. He sighed, he would have preferred more company.
“The day’s still young. Let’s rest.”
Kier mumbled as he entered the cave. Deacon went after him and then stopped, noticing Tyrell stayed where he was.
“I’m going to pee.”
Tyrell explained walking towards the woods.
“I’ll go with you. I can do wonders to your-“
“No thank you!”
Tyrell barked, pushing Deacon towards the cave. Tyrell waited until everything was silent and then he sucked in air, producing a soft, sucking sound. A millisecond after he felt a weight in his shoulder and reached to tousle Blaze’s feathers.

* * *

Mayari stood up from her chair and motioned Amarantha to follow her, leaving the table full of chatty, half-drunk people. They had been discussing war plans over dinner, all involving maasive amounts of violence and shedding of innocent blood. Amarantha reluctantly followed Mayari towards a room in the back of the house. The room was in fact a bedroom, a gigantic bed occupied much of the space. Mayari walked towards the bed and rested her body there, she looked much like a broken doll to Amarantha who stared at her from the doorway.
“I don’t like wars.”
Amarantha heard Mayari whisper. Amarantha wrinkled her nose, in a disgusted expression.
“Then why in the world did you start one?”
“Adlaw was being unreasonable…he didn’t want to satisfy my needs…he doesn’t care about me like I care about him.”
“What do you mean? You’re brothers! He loves you!”
Mayari snorted,
“No, I love him.”