Vitkus Twins

Chapter Twelve

“Azuloas,” Page greeted as she opened her door, her things were already packed away and sealed into scrolls. It was the only thing she and Launcelot could use that wouldn’t be missed; that mad man kept so many scrolls that it wasn’t possible that he have counted all of them.

Her partner was onto her, Launcelot’s partner was onto to him. Sarlic was slowly keeping them in an easily controlled environment; easily controlled by him and his best friend; Montserrat. The muscles in her legs felt like they were on fire. But no one could know, it was something she’d had to hide, and she hide it well; she was still needed.

Sometimes peace came at a cost and it was time she paid it. At least that was what she told herself.

“It’s nice to see you again, Page,” Azuloas told her picking up her bag, several scrolls filled, but he closed it without looking at what was on them. Storage seals no doubt, since all that was left in the room was furniture.

Page looked at him, he was taller than what he was the last time she had seen him. Which made sense, since he was six years old when she had seen him last, but he was almost the same height as Launcelot, meaning he was nearing the six-foot mark.

“How’s Launce and Clarice?”

“Launce is fine, Clarice is bored with her teacher’s,” Azuloas told her, thinking back to when he saw the two last; Clarice was bored with the Academy, but she was still at the top of her class. It helped that Julia was willing to show her more advance techniques or Azuloas feared she would go mad from the boredom. “Launce is still doing missions around the village; he’s more willing to work with us now.”

“That’s good, Launce didn’t play well with other children,” Page told him, she had feared that Launce had gotten worse. She didn’t want to be found by her partner, he had to leave his village because he had beaten his wife to an inch of her life. Both were highly trained, and she couldn’t stop him, he laughed as he told her about how he almost killed his unborn child.

“He’s still a loner,” Azuloas told her.

“And Launcelot?” Page asked him, she had spent the last ten years with him. They were cousins, she couldn’t leave him here to die while she got to go to safety. “Everyone will be returning tomorrow, and he told me his village would never take him back.”

“According to Viktorija, they won’t,” Azuloas admitted, Page blinking at the girl’s name; Launcelot had mentioned her. Called her his baby sister, told her that she was the holder of the Snake of Envy and had suffered from it. “She’s with him now; he’s coming back to Sashan with us. He’ll put into the Sekti Unit; both of you will go deep undercover. You won’t be found.”

“That’s good then,” Page told him, she looked at him before coughing into her hand. She didn’t know what was going on, but her body was turning on her and there was nothing she could do about it.

“When we get back, you’ll have to have that looked at,” Azuloas told her. “Coughing up blood isn’t a good sign Page.”

“There isn’t anything that can be done,” Page told him.

“We’ll see about that,” Azuloas shot back, before following her back towards the entrance of the cave; he just hoped that Viktorija and Aldona were having an easier time with their targets then he did.

-Hideout, Montgomery’s Room-

Aldona walked into the room slowly, there wasn’t a lot in it. Just an old man sitting in the middle of the room, with his arms and legs tied to his chair. Page or Launcelot must have untied him time to time so he could use the bathroom. His hair was white and long; almost as if no one had bothered to cut it for the last sixty years.

He sat like someone who no longer had any reason to live anymore; that they had accepted was what was going to happen to them and that slightly broke her heart at the thought of it. They wouldn’t be able to move like this, at least not very quickly.

At least not without breaking every single bone in his body while doing so. She was a medic-in-training and she couldn’t go around causing her patients pain or harm. Not on purpose, sometimes no one knew if something worked or not.

“So, you’ve finally come to put me out of my misery,” Montgomery guessed.

“No quiet, Montgomery Atspoguļo,” Aldona told him while walking behind him, pulling the card with the deaging seal, along with another seal that would keep him into a coma until she pulled him out of it. The seal would keep him healthy, but again, asleep until it was removed.

“Who are you?” Montgomery asked as Aldona put chakra into both seals, this could take a bit of time.

“I’m Aldona Vitkus,” she told him as the seals glowed a dark blue.

“Related to Rozalija Vitkus?” he asked her.

“Which one?”

“Wife to Valkoinen Meža, I was a child when they passed away.”

“He was Paslėpta liepsna for almost seventy years, the longest any one has held office,” Aldona said holding the cards out in front of her. “Which was better then his brother, I think he was in office for four years before he went missing.”

“I had to leave, that man wanted the Atspoguļo Clan gone,” Montgomery told her, milky brown eyes looking at the door in front of him. “The Fourth Paslėpta liepsna, the third died ten years into his office.”

“This might hurt a bit and you’ll be out of it for a while,” Aldona warned him the seals on her card glowed onto the floor, she would be fine as she had the cards in her hand. It would only affect the target, that was what she had read in Rozalija’s notes.

After the bright light was gone, Montgomery was still tied to his chair. He was now sixteen years old with dark brown hair and his eyes were closed, but she would guess that they would be the same dark brown as Julia’s.

Now she had found the seal among Rozalija’s things, now Montgomery could see that even when someone tried to break them; they still held on strong.

After breaking the chains keeping him tied to the chair, before picking Montgomery up. She went to meet with the others; she might have been closer to the exit, but she wouldn’t be surprised if she was last to arrive.

After all, she had to use a seal to take away a handful of years away from her target; but then Viktorija was having a ten-year reunion with her older brother and she didn’t know what was happening with Page.

-Hideout, Entrance-

“Hello Launcelot,” Aldona greeted as she spotted Launcelot giving Viktorija a piggyback, her cousin’s arms wrapped around his neck. Launcelot just looked at her, before bending down to allow Viktorija to hop off his back.

He smiled at her brother taking Montgomery off her shoulder without another word. Aldona was glad that she had taken him off her shoulder, because Montgomery off her shoulder the longer she had to carry him. Plus, Launcelot was kinder in the way he was carrying him, holding him like a knight carried a princess.

“Page,” Launcelot greeted.

“Launce, we need to go,” Page told him.

“Viktorija?” Azuloas asked as he walked over to Aldona, Viktorija just closed her eyes. Aldona and Azuloas would have to trust her, she was the sensor and she hasn’t let them down. Not even Launcelot and Page had the ability. None of them knew her range, but Azuloas had to guess that it was quite large.

“There isn’t anyone in thirty miles of this place,” Viktorija told them before walking over to Page, ink appearing on her hands as she placed it on Page’s shoulder. A small water drop appearing on Page’s shoulder as Viktorija closed her eyes, another seal quickly appeared next to the first; this one a small purple violet flower.

“This should help,” she told her, then clicked in the twins’ mind. They were Kazlauskas Clan seals, something that no one in the village would be used to. “You should avoid seeing my team, I don’t know how Etienne will react to seeing Launcelot.”

“Stay with us until you catch up with your team,” Launcelot told her, passing Montgomery to Page as he picked up his little sister into his arms.

“We could put her on our communication lines,” Azuloas told them, when Viktorija looked at him with hope in her eyes; that’s when he and Aldona knew. They would be adding her the moment they could; the moment they got home. There was no way they weren’t talking to her or trading seals with her. She was family, and Azuloas had a feeling that she felt the same. “The Kazlauskas Clan is cousins to the Vitkus Clan; therefore, we are cousins.”

“Then you’d be my only remaining family,” Viktorija told then, Aldona and Azuloas looked at her sadly. They had gained family members over the years, a grandfather who loved them enough to listen to them over council members. “I hope you don’t mind, if I write to you as well as to Launcelot.”

“Of course,” Aldona told her biting her lip. Nickname, if she was family; that meant she needed a nickname. Like how Azuloas called her Dona and she called him Azu. Vik? Didn’t work, Aldona decided, before grinning at Azuloas. “Torija, your nickname is now Torija.”

“We need to get going before someone returns,” Azuloas told them, it didn’t work when Page told them that; he didn’t know why it would work with him saying it. But he had to try; none of them would be hurt because they didn’t move fast enough. “When we catch up with your team, we should have figured something out.”

When Viktorija looked over Launcelot’s shoulder, she froze. Aldona as if she was seeing her worst nightmare come to life. Her skin paled and Aldona looked at her in alarm, Launcelot gently rocking her didn’t work and anything he whispered into her ear seemed to be completely ignored or not heard at all.

Aldona looked at Azuloas, before jogging over, putting her hand on Viktorija’s leg. The gentle blue of her chakra was calming to Azuloas, but he didn’t know if it was helping Viktorija.

“Torija? Torija?” Aldona kept asking, using her free hand to gently shake Viktorija’s arm. Azuloas didn’t know what he could do to help, but Aldona was the one who could help her with her overcome her shock. “Do you want to catch up with your team now?”

“No, no,” Viktorija told them, shacking her head as she looked at the entrance of the cave as if she had seen something they hadn’t; that she had sensed something that had sent her into shock in the first place. “I don’t want to spend any more time with Ismay then I have to.”

They would have to ask Launcelot, Page and Montgomery some questions about what else was with them; Aldona and Azuloas weren’t going to be happy if they had hidden some bogeyman type of creature from them; or didn’t think to warn them about it.

“Last get going then,” Aldona told them as she looked at Launcelot’s and Page’s things before sealing them into one of her leather bracelets. “Also, that reminds me; Torija, we didn’t give your team our real names. To them we’re Zyta and Eryx Pūķis-Dziedātājs.”

“Melthane and Hyacintha,” Viktorija agreed, Launcelot holding her tighter as they slowly made their way away from the cave and the thing that scared Viktorija to the point of looking like she could pass out at any moment. Going in the direction that Viktorija’s team had gone. “Makes sense.”