Crimson

It goes Boom..

Vita headed back to the quarters the Governor had allotted them .

He would wait for Nero to finish his reconnaissance before he made any decisions .

Inside , he realized that waiting had been a bad idea .

He could not shake off the feeling that something bad had happened and kept imagining terrible scenarios .

Was Juno okay ?

He had to be , he almost did not leave his house during the day .

He should be okay .

But , that was not enough , why could he not shake off this terrible feeling .

If he left now to check on Juno , he would miss Nero and right now , Larona's life depended on them .

He would wait .

He got himself a glass of water .

He changed clothes .

He cleaned his sword .

He washed his face .

He sat and went through the papers that he had picked from Larona's office , they still contained the same information .

The councilmen of Agrippa were still greedy old men .

He heard a rumbling from the sky and rushed out to check what was the issue now .

The sky was clear .

It sounded again but this time Vita saw the flash that came before it .

Thunder ?

In this season ?

Why would there be thunder now ?

No , he could not continue to wait with his mind in such a turmoil .

He would find Juno , ask him to stay home then find Nero and save Larona .

He whistled for Fabia and wore his boots as he waited .

The horse was by his side before his first foot had settled into the boot , strange .

He pushed his second foot in and looked up at the horse .

The horse had a strange , constipated look going on .

Vita stroked the horse as he led it out , Fabia was never this way .

As Vita and his horse readied to leave , Nero walked in .

Or stumbled in , depending on how you looked at it .

He was sweating profusely and breathing in short puffs , he looked up , saw Vita and stopped , getting on his knees .

It could have also been him fainting , Vita was not really versed in the ways of Nero's sudden insanity .

" Water ...friend get me water ".

Vita looked on waiting for the so called friend to spring up with the water .

Nero turned his head to the other side to look at Fabia .

" Fabia ...Get water for the friend of your friend ".

Fabia snorted .

Vita was running on very little patience , he moved closer to Nero's kneeling form .

" Did you meet the scout ?"

Nero nodded .

" Very strange person , wanted to meet up on the other side of the city ."

Wait...

" You did take a horse , right ?"

Vita could not put it past Nero to have forgotten to take a horse .

Nero gave him a betrayed look .

" Of course , I took a horse ".

Vita nodded and pointed at his obviously exhausted body .

" Why do you look like this then ?"

Vita looked down at his body .

" The horse ran off ".

Finally , some normalcy . Vita nodded .

" What did the strange scout say ? "

Nero got back on his feet and dusted his body off , he whistled quietly when he was done .

" Let's go , I got the location of where Larona is being held ".

Vita gestured for Nero to go ahead .

He stopped mid - gesture , there was something in their yard .

It was an animal that looked a lot like a donkey , except this donkey had too long ears , they were even drooping like a rabbits .

And the legs , the legs were so short , like a pony's or even a foal's .

What was going on with the existence of living beings ?

He watched perplexed as Nero approached the donkey / rabbit / pony combination , he climbed it and began to ride off .

Vita must have been mistaken when he thought that Nero could never surprise him .

He got on Fabia and went after Nero's parade .

They avoided major streets that might have had guards patrolling , favouring shadowed streets .

How Nero knew all of these streets was one of the vast reasons Vita respected Nero .

They were headed towards a more residential area , Vita had been expecting somewhere skirting the City's limits .

That way he would have been able to stop by Juno's house .

The residents of this area where not average residents .

He had not seen any houses , just gates and highly maintained exteriors .

That meant all of these houses were actually estates . He called out to Nero .

" Nero ".

" Where are we going to ?"

Nero was frowning when he turned around , he slowed down to allow Vita catch up .

" I am as surprised as you are . I am only going towards the location I was given ".

" How much farther ? "

Nero did not reply , so , he turned to look at him .

He was staring at a gate that they had reached .

" We are standing in front of it ".

Vita turned to the gate then , it was more prominent than the others they had seen .

" If we are standing in front of his gate , is the plan to go in Swords raised ?"

Nero chuckled , " No better way ".

Nero guided his ride forward and stopped abruptly , he turned back around .

" How exactly does one alert them of his presence ?"

Vita let Fabia move forward too .

There was really nothing that looked like it had been put there to announce your presence .

This was a place that did not welcome strangers , only people the Governor wanted to see came in .

Nero got off his ride and proceeded to the gate .

He held unto the rails and lifted himself unto them , when he was done situating himself like a monkey , he began to howl and rattle the gate wildly .

His ride brayed happily and used her nose to join in .

An explosion sounded .

Vita covered his head with his hands and went down , Fabia knelt too .

Nero fell of the rails and reverted to a foetal position , his hands around his head .

When the ground no longer shook , Vita looked back up and put his hands down .

He held unto the rails and pulled , the gate opened , the explosion must have weakened it .

He could hear sounds of people shouting , he turned to Nero who was looking frantic .

" Where's my horse ? "

Vita frowned .

" You don't have one ".

His ride must have been scared off by the explosion .

Vita signaled to Fabia and ran into the estate , going after the source of the explosion .

Nero was behind him , running too .

Deeper into the estate , they began to see people .

Vermillion servants swarmed the place running around with buckets of soapy water .

They were headed for the other end of the estate .

No one paid any attention to Vita and Nero .

Vita looked at Nero and nodded towards the way the servants where carrying the buckets to .

Nero nodded and ran off into the throng of servants .

Vita went around looking for the door they had all taken out , he found it easily , a back door for the servants .

He entered , it led to a kitchen .

A huge kitchen , almost as large as the one that had been at the shelter .

He walked through the kitchen and found himself in a hallway , it was some kind of servant hallway .

The money they had used to seperate their selves from their servants was staggering .

Vita finally reached another hallway that had more light .

It was more colourful too with maple coloured tapestries hanging from the top .

The hallway finally opened into another room , it was a lounge and the Governor sat , a drink in hand .

He looked rather distressed .

He dropped his drink when he saw Vita .

" How did you get in here ?"

Vita sighed , he hated over privileged men like this .

" Wait ...are you the one who tried to blow my house ? Are you responsible for the explosion ".

Vita shook his head .

" That had nothing to do with me ,I needed to ask you something which is why I am here ".

The governor's fingers tightened around his glass .

" You do know the Queen is my family , think of what could happen to you if I told her about this ".

Vita chuckled , " The queen sent me here ".

He took the glass out if his hands , he did not want the man throwing it during their conversation .

" Where is Larona and the Truth Prompt ?"

The governor stilled .

" I do not know what you are saying ".

Vita took out his sword from it's sheath , he placed it on the table that sat between them .

He began to stretch his muscles .

The governor gulped and sat back ,his robes loosened and opened up showing his hairy , bulging stomach .

Vita imagined sinking his sword into it , Would it make a whooshing sound and deflate ?

The governor noticed Vita's eyes moving from his exposed stomach to his sword that lay close by .

He flew to his feet , backing off .

" I accept you into my city and this is what you do ? You are unable to apprehend the thief yet you are here to dampen my efforts ? "

Vita hissed and picked up his swords adjusting it's weight playfully .

When he had the governor's full attention he swung his hands , the governor screamed and fell to the ground .

He must have thought he was dying , he kept screaming till he felt his chest for the sword and did not notice it , he looked up then and realized that the sword had never left Vita's hands .

Vita came forward and bent to look the governor in his eyes , he grabbed the man's almost non-existent hair and dragged his face closer .

" You were not loud enough , where did you say Larona is ?"

The governor was sweating buckets .

" She's down , the secret room below mine ."

Vita nodded and stood .

Another explosion sounded , this one closer and louder .

Vita fell to his knees and tried to block the loud ringing , he was positive his ears had began to bleed .

When the shaking and ringing finally stopped , he stood slowly .

The house was filled with smoke mixed with dust but the smell and heat of a fire were missing .

The governor was lying on his back , his stomach rising and falling .

Vita picked his sword and made his way towards the place the explosion had sounded from .

He found himself in front of a long winding stair case and above the stair case , at the very top stair stood a man .

He was dressed entirely in black and carrying someone , a woman .

He was also wearing the mask that the thief had been wearing when they had been ambushed in the forest .

" Let her go ".

Vita thundered , the smoke and dust were making it hard to talk or breath .

The thief took a step back and Vita jumped over several stairs in that moment .

The thief threw something at him , pins that Vita jumped back to avoid .

They did not touch him but instead exploded in the air .

It coated Vita's vision with a white cloud .

Vita ran forward despite this but he could not seem to reach the top of the stairs , still he kept taking the stairs .

The mist finally cleared and of course , the thief was gone .

He ran to the opened window , it led to the pathway the servants had been taking earlier .

He jumped out of the window .

" Vita !"

He turned around to find Nero running towards him .

" The governor did not arrest Larona because of the evidence she had , it's related to the thief ".

Vita nodded .

" I guessed so , he was here a moment ago to save her ".

Nero bit his lips , Vita knew that expression ,there was more .

" What else ?"

Nero sighed .

" The owners of The Haze and Larona are the thiefs supporters ".

Vita stilled , the owners of the Haze knew the thief ?

" Apparently , Larona has been sharing information to them , the governor already spread the word that The Haze is related to the thief ".

Vita's heart froze .

Every manpower Agrippa had would be concentrated at The Haze , and Juno might be there too .

He had to make sure Juno was safe ,then and only then could he make sense of all this.