Chapter 130: - The Slayer's Gaze
Lia watched Arnold with her eyes, focused and intent on his every movement; his nimble fingers entwined around the large wooden cup, his steady breathing that seemed at calm rest always, and his clear cut gaze that dove deep into Lia's soul.
"With you?"
"Is that a problem?"
Lia didn't answer, only turning to the Master who shrugged, keen on avoiding her gaze. Did he know about this? Was this his idea? Many things could have flooded LIa's mind at that moment, many suspicions that would have put her doubts and fears above her logical sense.
But she kept them down. Keep them controlled.
"What about the Fire Drakes? Will they be joining us?"
"You should know by now that your words yesterday, while they may have held some worth, held nothing to me. I will not change my punishment despite what you may think you deserve to say."
Arnold placed down his cup, folding his hands in front of him as he watched Lia, waiting for any sign of discomfort from her. He was daring her to bite back. But she, must to his disappointment, didn't do as he wished, only fiddling with the scrambled eggs greens on her plate.
"I don't believe your punishment was wrong, only harsh, considering Kara's mental and physical state at the moment. However, I won't deny that I'm a bit disappointed to not have them with us, I will make do."
Her gaze met his and Arnold could see that within her mind and within her soul, she was careful with every word she said, ensuring that not one thing she wished to say was left unsaid or spoken of in a distasteful manner. If he used the subject, it would appear as though he was the one engaging in an argument, not her.
"I should hope you do. After all, after this we will be facing life or death together."
But he had his own form of assault against her, for he still harbored resentment for her words yesterday.
"Just as you did at the Outpost…"
The Master and Lia stopped what they were doing, frozen for a moment by Arnld words, before Lia placed her spoon down and eyed the man across from her with an intent gaze. Lia kept her gaze focused on Arnold, his own eyes glaring daggers into her soul, cutting right through ehr flesh like it was butter on a hot stove.
"You were at the Outpost, as the rumors have told me. Battling a herd of stampeding monsters that destroyed the town, yet before that you defeated a large goblin nest. Several Hunters speak highly about you."
He gestured kindly toward Lia as if to compliment her on her achievements, but she had the unmistakable feeling that it was anything but a compliment, more like a hidden assumption he had against her. And she feared what his assumptions might lead to.
"I would thank them if they were here, but I hardly believe I did anything very… worthy of such praise."
But she wasn't one to back away from a game at hand, much to Arnold's sudden suppliers, which soon turned to interest as her words directly bit back at him.
"Oh? But they speak so highly of you in such praise, I wouldn't believe it all to be a lie, now would it?"
"You may believe what you please, but taking truth from rumors always has a tendency to turn sour for you."
Arnold scratched his beard, his face unchanging as his expression hardened with his next words, stealing a glance at Lia from the side to gauge her reaction.
"I suppose you're right. Rumors do have a tendency to turn up false, Dark Knight."
But once again, despite his envisioned idea of what Lia's personality was like, she showed no signs of faltering under the pressure, nor did she seem surprised at his words. She gave nothing away behind those red and gold eyes.
"I don't know what you mean, Sir Arnold?"
She played dirty, oblivious, but even as Arnold held his gaze against her's he could feel the challenge in those eyes.
'Ironic isn't it? To have such a gold gaze with eyes burning with such a fiery passion. It looks as though the hells have frozen over within her.'
They sat there like that for several minutes, gazing at one another with such an intensity that anyone passing by would cower away in fear, afraid some great battle was about to take place between the two of them.
The intensity was so great that the Master became overwhelmed by the pressure surrounding the two and their aurora's, reading a hand across the table in between the both of them in an attempt to stop this fight before it took place.
"Now, now. Lets not have an argument this early in the morning. Ha..haha…"
Turning to Arnold, the aster was firm with his words, yet still respectful of the man's stature and honor, his own name holding little against Arnold's.
"Now Arnold, despite what you may have heard on your trip to the Outpost, Randolph the Postmaster there holds Lia's name in high regard. So if you believe that she did something to your three murdered men, I'm afraid to say you may be mistaken."
Arnold said nothing, his eyes only having room for Lia's as he got lost within the fiery crimson that danced behind in her mind. Orange, yellow, and all shades of red danced inside her eye, inside her gaze and Arnold was lost within it, his own mind slipping into battle mode as his aura increased ten fold.
'She's not backing down. The nerve of this girl is so great I might just break the table before us!'
Similarly Lia's aura - though not as great as Arnold's - grew as well with each passing second that ticked away at the large grandfather clock resting at the side of the room.
Arnold's aura gave off an imposing feeling of defeat and battle, strength and courage, but Lia's gave off something different. Strangely enough, her's gave off a feeling - not of fear, but of one imposing fear on another.
Not fear, but feared.
The Master couldn't take the strength of their presence beside him, slamming his fist on the table with such a force that it shook the plates nearby, causing several maids and servants to jolt in surprise, snapped out from the imposing trance these two Hunters had set in between them.
"That's enough of this! I will have no fighting within my home! Arnold, your suspicions are unfounded and rash, they are not welcome her -"
"It's fine, your lordship."
Lia's voice cut through the air, silencing the Master who flinched at her words. He knew what she was going to say, he had already gotten a run down of her personality from Randolph, and right now this was exactly what he feared was going to happen.
Helpless, the Master could only hold his head in his hands, waiting for the moment when Lia would push the titan over the edge.
"He already knows, don't you Arnold the Dragon Slayer?"
The Master secretly watched Arnold, afraid of what he would do next, as many others present began to wonder the same, their own eyes intent to focus on him, ready for any possibility.
Would he jump across the table and fight Lia? would he slam his fists down in anger, splitting the table? Would he reach into the depths of his soul and find the heart to forgive her - unlike though still possible?
But his words next only served to insight fear back deeper into the hearts of those onlookers who questioned, not even knowing what hell awaited them next in this locked intense standoff.
"You killed them didn't you?"
His eyes grew cold and his voice levels deep, deeper into the bowls of his soul.
"You killed my men…"
***
Becka awoke with a start, feeling a cold sweat run down her face like she had just taken a dive deep into cold and clear river waters. The sun was pouring through the windowsill, bright rays of light shining through the many leaves of the various trees that dotted the garden.
Her face was dyed in a golden color, highlighting her beautiful features and colorful rosy cheeks. Her eyes were shimmering in the sun, her brown and golden locks falling down her back against her smooth skin.
Drowsiness set in Becka's vision as she rubbed her eyes hard, trying to focus her gaze on the floor beneath, taking several steps towards the bathroom where she could wash up for the day, chasing away the drowsiness that lingered over her.
The cool tile chilled her once snug and cozy feet, sending shivers up her spine as fresh and cold water from the sink, its metal and porcelain rim sliding smoothly against her skin as her eyes began regaining their vision.
There in the mirror, she saw herself, dressed in her loose nightgown that clung to her body like one of the pale sheets from the bed. It hardly fit and Becka cursed herself for packing anything her mom gave her for the trip.
'"It will fit," she said. "It will look nice," she said. Yeah right, I look like a girl trying to pick up a guy -"
She jolted in surprise, catching a small shimmer of two red eyes watching her from the dark corner of the room, swiftly turning around as he swiped her head left and right, intent on finding the person inside her bathroom. But, despite the fear that was jolting though her like electricity, she could see no one.
Not a soul, not a voice, not a sound. Nothing.
'It must be my imagination.'
She thought, sliding herself against the wall to support her slow fall until she was sitting on the cool tile below her, her eyes coming to rest on the ground.
'It must be…'
A sudden flash and at once Becka was taken back to the night before, a time when she was resting deep in sleep, entranced by a dream she could hardly recall now. But she remembered enough of that night from the one moment she was taken from that dream to reality. The moment her eyes caught sight of a man leaving her bedside, his eyes of red glowing in the night.
'...It wasn't my imagination was it?'
Becka reached up towards the sink, trying to grab anything she could to steady herself as she rose from the ground. But when her eyes landed on her legs, she stopped, frozen in place as the light from the bathroom window reflected across her skin.
'My legs…my legs!'
She stood up slowly, taking careful and wobbly steps forward, making her way towards the room. She was amazed, entranced, and in disbelief.
Becka could walk, run, jump, skip and hop. She could move her legs left and right, up and down, all around! She could walk and she was crying now, kneeling to the ground as tears streamed down her face, staining the carpet below her.
Her leg looked better than it had ever been before, felt better than it ever had before. Her skin felt smooth to the touch, her blood she could feel coursing through her veins, pumping through her heart like a beating drum.
Once the tears were dry, Becka's mind flashed back to the time last night when she had only caught a glance at the man with red eyes. His face was cold, his skin was dark - shaded by the night's empty shadows.
He didn't look human. Yet he wore the mask of human shape, skin and flesh.
'....just who are you?'
***
"You killed them, didn't you?"
Lia remained silent, her eyes stained on Arnold whose own were silently raging with a fire inside his gaze. He was angry, yes, but Lia knew that it took cool and calm water to douse a fire, not more fire itself.
Fire may rage and burn one another out, but a raging fire is still a raging fire, one that burns everything in its wake.
"Answer me."
She could feel the edge in his words, the steel he had sharpened his voice with, and the pressure that set in suffocating Lia's own breath.But she kept calm, he kept ready. She didn't want to risk a war breaking out so soon on their departure. In fact, they hadn't even set off, yet here they were with gazes threatening violence against one another.
Even the Master could see this risk, chipping in where he could in his hopes to douse the fire growing between the two.
"Now, Arnold. I may respect your strength and word, but accusing another person of killing your men is where I draw the line."
"Did you do it?"
Arnold ignored him, choosing to keep his focus on Lia who was about fed up with this man's suspicions, and instead decided that it was time for her to bite back for the last time.
"So what if I did?"
"Now Lia we don't know if you have or not-"
"Then I would kill you."
"Do you have proof that I did something against them?"
"Do you think even if I didn't it would stop me from killing you?"
The Master threw up his hands, slamming them on the table as he stood, his voice echoing across the dining room though the walls and into the ears of any who was in earshot.
"Enough of this, now! I will not have this battle taking place in my home, in my land, with my own people!"
The tenseness died down, the Master falsely believing his own voice had chased the great away, but with one look at them both, he knew he was wrong. They hadn't stopped their fire raging inside them, only cooling it down for the chill that would set in soon.
First came the fire, then came the cold, then they longed for the warmth of the fire, and then they were all no more.
"Why did you kill them?"
Arnold's voice was calm, yet edged with enough hatred and cold chill to send shivers down the spine of all those present. But not Lia, who remained steady, still and poised.
"Would you believe me if I said it was out of self defense?"
"No. I would rather rip your throat out before I listened to another word you said."
He began to rise and with him the pressure of the room returned, the Master looking to the nearby guardsmen, but helplessly saw they would be of no help, too scared and terrified out of their minds to do anything against this titan before them.
"Arnold stop! You have no proof to accuse her, and even so, I will not allow you to kill her!"
Arnold smiled, a smile that set the Master from speaking in his nerves, to silence in his fear.
"I won't kill her. I will wait. I will let this mission end with her head on a pike."
With that, he turned and left the room, his large and heavy steps echoing across the floor as he made his way towards the two heavy wooden doors. To him this argument was over, to him this battle had been won.
But he was wrong…
"What if I told you that I killed them to save the lives of nearly a hundred men, women and children?"
Arnold's heavy footsteps stopped abruptly and though he didn't turn, the Master could see the man had his ears trained on Lia, his interest catching the hook and lure she let loose.
"What if I told you they allied with a usurper, a tyrant in her own right in an attempt to slaughter the entire town, simply to protect your honor? Because I, at the time, did not know who you were?"
"...And what does this mean for me?"
"I'm simply asking, would this change your opinion of me if I told you they were the ones at fault oh wise and merciful one? The Hunter who saves lives, does not condone the actions of his men who slaughter and pillage wherever they go. Surely you wouldn't, would you?"
Lia stole a glance toward Arnold, meeting his eyes as he looked over his shoulder. His face was strewn with anger, caught in the trap of her hook and lure.
"Does that change your decision on my death?"
He was a fish on the line, and this time, Lia was the fisherman, not him.
With one swift turn, he set off again, only one word echoing from his deep and booming voice.
"No."
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