Markus
“Maybe that’s what’s happening,” Cydonia said in return, Antonius shifting uneasily next to her.
Wilhelm huffed. “That’s highly doubtful.” He dropped his gaze back to the map, eyeing the lakes. “Have there been any attacks other than the pixies?”
“The reports of the nix haven’t been attacks, per se. Just...a lot of ankle pulling.” Antonius said with a nervous smile.
Wilhelm sighed then, a forced sound like Harold did before he lectured Antonius. “Ankle pulling? You do realize that’s a mermaid tactic, don’t you?”
“Are...there... freshwater mermaids?” Antonius asked with a sheepish smile.
Wilhelm made a big show of rolling his eyes. “Yes. There are plenty of freshwater mermaids that your family created generations ago. The same man that that came from,” Wilhelm pointed to Cydonia’s spear, which sputtered in indignation, “made all the mermaids in your waters….” He narrowed his eyes at them. “How could you not know that? He was a King, for God’s sake, and your ancestor.”
“Cesar burned a lot of historical documents, wanted himself to be thought of as the only king of Kokabel, I suppose…” Cydonia said in defense of her brother with a little shrug, obviously not really bothered by his ignorance. “Grandfather was a fickle man.”
Wilhelm scowled but looked back to the map - giving Markus a dirty look when he leaned forward to look as well. Markus took a step back, but Wilhelm remained annoyed. “So there haven’t been any other official attacks besides this?”
“A bolotnik attacked a trade route, killed several villagers.” Markus supplied, pointing to the place on the map of the attack.
Wilhelm gave Markus a look over his shoulder to give a simple “No.” before he looked back to the map. “If your going to make things up, at least make up a more convincing story.”
Markus frowned. “You know the truths in my word, it is your family’s gift.”
“And is your particular gift stating the obvious, Markus?” Wilhelm snapped. “Just because I can tell most truths doesn’t mean that some don’t know a way around it. The deeply demented, for instance,” He said, eyeing Markus pointedly, “are very good at lying.”
Markus frowned. “Lying is a tactic used by the weak.” Cydonia coughed a little and Antonius looked sheepish. “Besides, I would never lie to our most trusted ally, especially not about this.”
Wilhelm shifted a little before he lifted his nose. “Well. Just because you believe fully and truly in your heart that it was a bolotnik doesn’t make it so. I need proof.”
Markus nodded slowly. “The corpse was destroyed, but-”
“How do you know it was one?” Wilhelm interrupted.
Markus thought about that. “I saw it with my own eyes.”
“And, before this, have you ever seen one? Have you ever even heard of one?” Wilhelm asked skeptically.
Markus frowned. No. He hadn’t. “Cydonia identified it as one, and I trust her.”
He saw Wilhelm slowly drag his eyes up to Cydonia. “And you think it was a bolotnik?”
“I can’t recall,” Cydonia said merrily. Markus gave her a funny look, but he was ignored entirely.
Antonius frowned then. “Can’t you just look into Markus’ mind?” Markus jolted, giving his father a startled look. Antonius realized his mistake and quickly added “Just to see what he had seen! So you yourself can make the identification!” Markus look betrayed and hurt and his Father made a move like he was going to come around the table to him, but when he inched left, arms extended, Markus inched right, making it clear he wasn’t going to let him try and comfort him. His father deflated with a miserable noise.
Wilhelm, meanwhile, scowled. “The last thing I would ever want to do is to go anywhere near his mind.” Wilhelm said with a disgusted expression. Markus relaxed as Wilhelm looked over his shoulder to eye him briefly, as if judging his words. After a beat, he sneered and turned back to the map with a sour look. “Well...Parliament requires more than just your word or my own for us to do anything about it. I need proof. Your Aunt and Father know this, which makes it all the more curious as to why you destroyed the bolotnik’s corpse.”
Cydonia pressed the tip of her spear to her lips with a girlish, coy look. “I might have let my rage get the better of me.” She teased.
“Well, unless I can provide enough physical evidence of Sariel, we can’t do anything about it.” He straightened then and, with a flick of a finger, the map rolled itself up and tumbled off the table to land neatly in the steel holder at Wilhelm’s feet. “We will need to investigate these claims before I can return home - and I’d like to return before all the solstice festivals are had, if at all possible.”
“That’s only a few days away.” Markus stated.
Wilhelm rolled his eyes over to Markus to give him a tight look. “Yes, Markus, it is!” He said in a slow, certain tone that Markus wasn’t at all used to. Markus nodded in agreement and Wilhelm scowled before he picked up his map holder and carried it from the room, the others trailing behind him. “Pixies are solid evidence, I’ll take the bolotnik as a possible second, but it can’t officially be counted. If we have evidence of a salt water nix, that counts as one. If there is evidence of a freshwater, I can argue that counts as two as they are so vital to Sariel.”
Upon stepping outside, Wilhelm sneezed, slapping a hand over his nose to look around suspiciously before he eyeballed a basket of flowers, having been placed beside the door while they were inside. He rubbed at his nose irritably, glaring down at it before he stepped aside for the others to step out.
“As none of you have ever seen one, I will personally have to go make the identification,” Wilhelm said then.
“Markus will go with you - Malia and I are needed here for preparation,” Cydonia said in a friendly tone, Malia shooting her a questioning look before Cydonia made a hand gesture. The sisters exchanged clever expression, Malia then nodding in agreement.
Antonius frowned. “Oh...how long do you think you’ll be gone?”
“Traveling will occupy the most time.” Wilhelm said as Florence picked up the basket of flowers to hold in her arms, his eyes tracing the basket with a tight look as she gave it to her mother. “Judging by the places of sightings, if we travel swiftly throughout the nights….we might be able to return in two days time. Maybe.”
The King gave a heavy sigh. “I suppose that’s not too bad. I don’t very much like it when Markus is away for too long.” Antonius admitted. “It wasn’t all that long ago that Markus almost died and I don’t - I don’t want to go through that fear again.” He came to pat Markus affectionately on the side of his helmet. “Beasts, Markus can handle. Rocks? Not so much!” Antonius said with a laugh. Wilhelm narrowed his eyes at him and the King looked to his son with a smile. “You know Markus,” He said to Markus, “Wilhelm is a mentalist as well!”
Markus nodded. “I remember.” Seeing his use of telekinesis solidified that fact.
Antonius sighed happily. “It’s so rare for us to have a pair of mentalists such as you two together at the same time, let alone the only two of your generation!”
“There are actually three of us, Sir. You forget Louis.” Wilhelm pointed out.
Antonius' smile tightened. “The third is insignificant.” He said tightly.
“Just because he is not part of the union between our families does not make him insignificant,” Wilhelm said in a preachy tone. “It’s thinking like that that leaves us unnecessarily vulnerable to his clan’s attacks. Ignoring a problem doesn't make it go away.”
“Right, right. Still.” Antonius said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I don’t think he should be counted by us, no matter what Helenus thought...”
Helenus, Markus thought. People would often call him the ghost of Helenus. He had heard that name before, somewhere else, but had just thought they were referring to Helen.
Markus slowly turned to his Father. “Helenus?”
Wilhelm sneered. “Who the bloody hell is Helenus?”
Antonius froze and a look passed behind his gaze, the same look as a frightened deer. “Hmm?”
“Antonius,” Cydonia said in a sing-song voice, catching her brother’s attention. She and Malia, positioned on either side of Markus, shook their heads at him and his father clamped his mouth shut.
The King abruptly changed subjects with a high, nervous laugh. “I wonder if they’ve fixed the road to Ros - Markus,” Antonius hailed, his son still looking confused and a bit irritated by how quickly they moved on. “Why don’t you go and check on it quickly, see if it’s a good path to take today. It’ll be the quickest way to get to the lakes by horse!”
Markus nodded once and turned this way and that until he figured out the direction he needed to go, mapping out the path he needed to take in his mind to get to the road in question. He walked several paces from the house before he then moved swiftly forward, racing a familiar path between buildings and streets that he knew were traveled little and thus had an unlikely chance of running into people. He stopped to position him on top of a tall hill, looking down to see that it had in fact been repaired after the wildfire there. Using this road would indeed be the fastest, especially considering they would be traveling by horse, as Wilhelm did not possess Markus' speed.
Markus returned the way he came and stood where he had left for his run.
Wilhelm was standing there beside the door with his hands clasped over his ears, his face red and eyes wide and wild as he watched Markus approaching, his jacket flapping violently in the wind Markus dragged behind him when he ran. Wilhelm abruptly dropped his hands away from his head to fist one at his hips - the other crossed his chest to his shoulder like he was taking an oath, before he abruptly swept it outward-
Markus was hurled sideways through the air and slammed face first into the second story wall of the building to his right before he collapsed backwards onto the ground with a cloud of dust. He heard his father terrified scream as he sat up, a tiny bit sore, but otherwise fine.
“Don’t you ever do that again when I am in the near vicinity!” He heard Wilhelm screech at him. “Your people might not care if they go deaf, but I care if I do!”
Markus stood up to stare at him, a bewildered look on his face as he shook off the dust, Antonius hurrying over to check him over with a distraught look. “What?”
Wilhelm looked furious. “Are you not aware of the noise it makes when you run that fast?!”
“The only noise I hear is your screeching,” Markus stated plainly.
Wilhelm’s eyes narrowed Markus was hurled sideways out of his Father’s arms, this time thrown higher than before and landing on his back atop a rooftop. It took the breath right out of him, and while he recovered he figured out what had happened. When he had caught his breath he stood and leaped off the roof to land near to Wilhelm, his own look of anger was mirrored in Wilhelm's face.
“That. Hurts.” Markus ground out.
“So does hearing that noise when you go running to-and-fro!” Wilhelm growled back at him. “You and your kin might have invulnerability, but I don’t. Loud noises like that hurt me. Being slapped on the back with a lot of force hurts me.” Wilhelm threw an acidic look at Antonius, who had the decency to flinch. “Being in the vicinity of you when you come running back also makes my skin hurt.” He shuttered before he fixed Markus with an acidic gaze. “Do not do it again or I will throw you to the moon!”
Markus frowned but nodded slowly, looking to Cydonia with a questioning gaze. His Aunt, as well as Malia, looked as guilty as they were capable of - though it could have easily been mistaken for coyness. He looked to his Father to see that Antonius was nodding enthusiastically at him. Markus then finally looked back to Wilhelm. “I will keep this in mind. I...was not aware that...you were so fragile-”
Again, Markus was hurled sideways - this time he got his footing and landed against the wall feet first, tumbling through the air to land on his feet.
“DO NOT CALL ME FRAGILE!” Wilhelm roared.
Markus’s face hardened as he came back. “I was not aware that you were not as invulnerable as I.” He said instead.
Wilhelm’s eyes narrowed, furious gaze flickered over him suspiciously before he relaxed a fraction. “No one is. What it takes to leave a tiny little crack on one of your bones, it would easily crush mine or anyone else's to dust. What it takes to heat your skin enough to turn red would turn my flesh to ash.”
Markus nodded. “I wasn’t aware of this.”
“Because you are used to it - that, and likely because you are highly uneducated,” Wilhelm said sharply with a bright eyed gaze, challenging. Markus nodded in agreement and Wilhelm deflated, rolling his eyes and whispering ‘prat’ under his breath. Markus thought this might be some sort of nervous habit, as Harold often did the same thing whenever he was in Kokabel. “Now, let’s dispel these rumors of nix and get on with our lives, shall we?”
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