Acclayne Book 1: The Game Begins

He was late. They hadn't arranged to meet, but then, they never did. Nevertheless she was becoming impatient; time was of the essence.

“Where is she?”

“Hello to you too.” Finally.

“Where. Is. She?”

“Some manners wouldn't go amiss. 'Hey, how's things? Remember that time I pushed you off that roof? Good times.' I mean, after all we've been through.” She put her small, pearlescent hand on his shoulder and circled him; a cougar eyeing up her next meal. He was even more delicious than she remembered – despite missing an eye. She felt him tense beneath her touch and she was struck with a pang of need. That he still held her interest after all this time was highly disconcerting, not to mention distracting.

“If anything has happened to her I swear-”

“Oh calm down Alistair... there's still time.”

“Shit! Do you not understand? We need her! This whole forsaken place needs her!”

“So you say.” She quirked a dark eyebrow at him, “Anyway; I've done my bit: I got her the Twin-Blade. Cough up.”

“I do not think so.”

“A deal is a deal Alistair – even with the likes of me.” She shrugged, “But I'm sure we can come to some sort of arrangement that will suit us both.” She licked her lips hungrily.

“You took what you needed from the girl; I can feel that you have it with you.”

“Hedging my bets I guess, I had a feeling that you might not be as co-operative as I would have liked.” She placed her hand on a patch of his exposed skin.

“Your pathetic attempts at trickery no longer work on me Cholden. I am older and wiser than when last we met.” His eye narrowed as he fixed her with a stare. The young boy she had once manipulated so easily was gone; broken by one too many sorrows. “Where. Is. She?”

She sighed, she'd wondered how long it would take for someone strong willed enough to show up and brush her off, of course it would have to be him. How inconvenient.

“You don't need her, she is weak.”

“If you believe that to be so Cholden then it is you who is truly weak. Now Where is she?!”

“At the palace...”

He growled and smacked her hard across the face. Juney pursed her lips before spitting the metallic taste of blood from her mouth.

“Oh don't tease me; you know I like it rough.” She said with a smile as she brought her hand up to nurse her cheek.

“Cholden, do us both a favour and fuck off before I decide to kill you.”

“You used to be such fun.” with that she was gone; sure that his threat was not an empty one.

***

“Bored.” Kaylaer lay on her back, upside-down on her chosen bed. “Bo-ored. So bored.” Malcolm was sat across the room from her on his own bed; reading a book.

“You can borrow one of my books if you like,” he said without looking up, “I brought a couple.”

Kaylaer turned over onto her side to look at him. “You know it wouldn't kill you to do something fun for a change.”

He didn't answer for a moment; not until he'd finished whatever sentence it was he was reading. “ Reading is fun.” He said matter-of-factly. “You're missing out.” He looked over at her in time to catch her pulling a face at him. Under ordinary circumstances he wouldn't have said anything - in case whatever he said was grounds for getting a smack in the face - but this was hardly an ordinary circumstance; “It's like I get to be on an adventure even when I'm just sitting around at home. All the experience, none of the peril.”

Kaylaer thought about this for a moment; “But wouldn't you rather be out on a real adventure? I mean, a bit of peril is good once in a while.”

“Well,” He said placing the open book on top of his crossed legs, “technically we are on an adventure and we've still ended up being sat in our bedroom.”

Kaylaer rolled back onto her back. “Touché.” Malcolm smiled to himself. “Pass us over something full of blood and guts then will you? I don't want anything even remotely educational.” She asked, “And you better not tell anyone.”

The two of them passed a few hours like this; reading, sharing the odd comment and laughing to themselves about nothing in particular. The hustle and bustle of the building around them reminding them that they were not alone. No matter how late it got it seemed that people never stopped coming and going; busying themselves with their own lives. The one person that didn't seem to go anywhere was the woman next door, and it appeared to the two children that she never shut up either.

“You think she has an off switch?” Kaylaer giggled. “They couldn't hear what she was saying but she certainly wasn't in a good mood about it.

“It's the poor guy stuck in there with her I feel sorry for.” Malcolm laughed.

“Assuming it's a guy!” Kaylaer laughed, “I've barely heard him say two words.”

“I know, I can't believe someone can talk so much.”

“Yeah, apart from Alaina obviously.”

“Obviously!” The two of them looked at each other which fuelled their laughter; until an unexpected noise caught their attention. A short distance away the door at the end of the hall slammed shut. An eerie silence followed, punctuated only by the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps. Then, nothing.

“What-” Kaylaer was interrupted by a loud knock. “Shit!” she sat up, “was that our door?” The knock came again; quick and sharp. Kaylaer, who was on the bed closest to the door launched herself across the room and onto Malcolm's bed. Not that he would be much use but there was safety in numbers- so she told herself.

“Definitely our door.” He gulped. Methyn had expressly told them that they were under no circumstances to open the door. Nobody knew that they were there alone and that was how it was to stay until he fetched them the following morning.

The knocking stopped.

“You think they've gone?” Malcolm whispered, but before Kaylaer could answer the knocking was replaced by a heavy and violent thumping; as someone in the corridor tried desperately to kick down the door to their room.