His response surprised and made complete sense to her. And that was all it took. Cricket made eye contact with him, and the bond was forged.
Her eyes vanished and in their place, a solar eclipse took place in her eye sockets. It would be the most agonizing feeling of his life. The pain was impossible to describe--like having his heart pulled from his chest and shoved into his liver--times a thousand.
It was the most euphoric feeling of his life. Impossible to describe--like a thousand orgasms combined with the first time he'd tasted sugar--times a thousand.
The image of the eclipse in her eyes was seared into the back of his brain--permanent and all-encompassing. It probably felt like an eternity. It probably took all of a half-second. It was then that Abel would discover a truth that was never spoken of. Queens were not gift givers, offering up blessings and special powers to those who were deemed worthy.
Queens were batteries. Abel found himself to be a tank without gas for his entire life. A lightbulb with no source of electricity. And now, with the bond in place, he suddenly found himself with a full charge. He would know instinctively what his Innate was, what it had always been--he would find himself finally in a position where he could use it.
Which was good, because they were about five seconds away from being murdered.
When Abel came to from his trance, he found himself in silent tears for reasons he couldn't explain. Were they tears of pain? Tears of joy? The sound of the wolves that had already begun to run towards them didn't even faze him, Abel's weighty sword being lifted and swung as quickly and lightly as if it were a simple dagger.
His blade hummed as burning blue energy ignited and bathed the sword in its entirety, the steel grey eyes that were once his were now a burning blue, the same color as Cricket’s.
Gradually, the very sword that was swung had changed in mass mid-swing. The absolute power of the blade hitting the wolf had caused such a heavy impact that it not only plowed through the animal, but completely sent the poor creature hurling in the air, mangled with their innards, right onto the wolf's master.
The tip of the blade had buried into the soil at Abel's side with a dense collision, already preparing his attack on the remaining wolves. Abel continued his rotation as a hand reached for Cricket with a firm grasp of her shoulder.
Engulfed in blue, she could feel her weight rapidly disappear as she was lifted and tossed into the air above him, reaching nearly 14 feet and hanging there as if she were a feather. The soft wind even caused her to slightly blow away from them. Abel's sword was ripped from the earth with his continued momentum, the sword once again flashing blue to lose mass only to gain weight yet again in mid-swing.
Both wolves were brutally sundered in one cut, the blow causing their split carcasses to spring backwards and roll several feet away until they were lying motionless in the grass
Cricket, who gradually sank in the air due to her weight returning, was slowly coming back and started to gain some velocity as a result. He managed to catch her in his arms, albeit sloppily. The act forced him to plant his knees, nearly losing his balance.
She met his silence with her own for a moment,
"Nice catch."
The moment wasn't as sweet as it could have been, considering that their untimely death was still on the table.
"........" The executioner watched the pair, dismounting from his own horse with both intrigue and anger.
"Rage-inducing children."
Seeing that Cricket was indeed a queen, it was in his best interest to return her to the capital alive.
"Gambit, I am only going to tell you once. Return with me or the young mercenary dies."
"Liar," Cricket said immediately from behind Abel. There was no way a freshly made innate would be allowed to live, any more than she would be allowed to live her life in peace. Her sense of fondness for Abel only increased as he refused to give her up, and she hoped it would give their fresh bond a little extra something to work with.
The knight brought up his large, wicked, notorious greatsword and pointed to Abel menacingly.
Setting Cricket down on her feet, Abel rose and brought up his sword to defend her. Abel's eyes watched the executioner with newfound courage.
"I'm not letting you take her."
"Don't push your luck, boy." The dark knight warned
.
Abel's innate ability was perfectly useful for the situation that they had found themselves in. And thank the gods for that, because as useful as a healing ability or a tracking ability may have been in general, something that he could weaponize would be the only reason that they weren't both about to be executed.
The knight watched the two with a strong clench of his jaw. The fact that Cricket saw through his lie had finally caused him to throw away his patience. He walked towards them without a word, Abel already taking some steps of his own to gain some safe space ahead of Cricket. Much like the dozen troops that had plummeted onto the earth earlier, the executioner extended a hand over to Abel and Cricket to clench his fist, the air rippling around them.
"...!" Both Cricket and Abel were lifted from the ground as if a large hand had taken hold of them, they were taken about three feet up when Abel was quick enough to lunge and take hold of Cricket's wrist behind him.
"...?!" The executioner strained behind his helm, his arm shaking and struggling to lift, toss, or push either of them away from each other. In fact, Abel and Cricket would land right back onto their feet, Abel's steely gaze cutting through the executioner's tough, battle-worn armor. Abel sighed, silently, in relief. It turned out that Abel's Innate was much more useful against the Executioner than any of them had realized.
Both the Executioner and Abel, just then, would understand their conflicting Innates. Abel was capable of changing the mass of himself as well as whatever he had touched while the executioner could move and control objects without physical contact. The latter innate being largely affected by the weight of his targets.
Enraged, the executioner stormed towards them, Abel swinging his sword when the executioner came into striking distance. Their swords clashed but Abel was immediately overpowered by the Knight's strength. Abel's sword pinged off the executioner's armor and their swords clashed once again, but this time Abel's blade shattered and the Knight delivered a powerful heel kick directly onto Abel's chest, leaving the mercenary staggering backwards in agony.
Much to the executioner's surprise, Abel still held his broken sword up while his free hand grasped his chest painfully. He was still trying to fight.
"Admirable."
The executioner brought up a hand and a raging ripple shot out from his palm. It was fast, nearly impossible to see, and a nasty impact of force caught Abel on the side of his face. It caught him completely off guard, his feet even coming up off the ground from the incredible blow. Abel was unconscious instantly, tumbling several feet away from where Cricket stood. The hand had extended to Cricket now, the same force being applied with the same incredible speed. The attack hit her directly in her abdomen, every inch of air in her lungs being forced out through her nose and mouth. She was unable to breathe properly, the panic and doom engulfing whatever thought she may have had before the wrenching strike.
"You have wasted enough of my time."
The knight walked over to Cricket and grabbed her by her collar, dragging her towards Abel in an attempt to finish him off.
"The only joke here is the lack of respect."
He lifted Cricket higher so that she could see the motionless Abel within her dizziness.
"And now, you get to see the consequences for your defiance."
The executioner flipped his sword so that its point was down, heavy footsteps drawing closer to Abel so that he could eventually pierce the man dead.
How many years had he spent destroying anyone who crossed the Great Queen? How many of those years had been spent relying on his innate? How often did he have to actually dirty his blade?
They were fucked. She didn't even have time to try to run, and wouldn't have abandoned Abel if she could have.
Cricket gasped for air that wouldn't come, and would have collapsed if it weren't for the executioner lifting her by the collar. And for a moment she was ready to give up and give in. She was a runaway thief from the capital, and Abel had his innate for all of thirty seconds--how were they supposed to stand up against the infamous executioner?
Abel would die, she'd be dragged to the front lines of the war, and then she would die too. If the executioner even decided that was worth his time, rather than just killing her immediately after Abel.
The closer the executioner drew nearer to Abel the more focused he was in his sight. The young kid who dared to disrespect his authority and to challenge him so blatantly, so foolishly, had continued to fill him with irritation.
Maybe it was a survival instinct. Maybe a newfound loyalty. Either way, something inside of Cricket stirred--and while still gasping for air, she pulled out the dagger that Sophia had given her, that she'd kept stored attached to her belt. And then she was shoving it in between the shoulder and head portions of the executioner's armor. Right into his neck---while he held her up by the collar. She pulled it out and did it again. And again. And again.
Soon she was covered in blood, and at some point her feet were back on the ground.
"Hrrrk!" Cricket was let go, fingers grabbing at his armored neck. His sword was dropped at his feet, words unable to come out of his lips. Raspy gasps and scratchy heaves roared from beneath his helm, dropping onto his back while he continued to struggle and press at his wounds. Abel, still unconscious, continued to lie flat on the grass. Blood trickled down his temple, his breath steady and silent amongst the brisk wind. He wouldn't be able to answer Cricket or move from where he was. Couldn't tell her to run and leave him in the meadows among the other soldiers who died trying to help them. And he wouldn't be able to defend her from what should have been a corpse behind her.
The gurgles and pops that came from the knight had not stopped him from leaning up and grabbing his sword once more. Cricket could feel the fire of animosity coming from behind the slits of his helmet, embedded with fury that bellowed from the strong but destroyed voice box. Slowly but with difficulty, the sword sank into the earth. The knight, heavy, used the blade as leverage to climb back onto a knee. How was he still alive? How was he moving? His right hand glowed with that deep red aura, innate and clearly in use. The executioner was applying force to his wounds to prevent himself from bleeding out. He got onto his feet and shuffled towards them both, pulling the blade from the soil with only one thing on his mind.
Kill.
A whirling and powerful howl had rung through the sky before Gael dropped down between them from his leap. He snarled, a large group of soldiers following suit to immediately attack the executioner from where he stood.
"Are you both alright?" He took his eyes off their enemy to check up on the two, immediately seeing that there were no grave injuries on them. His nose even sniffed briefly to confirm it, scooping up Cricket within one arm while he took Abel in the other. Gael looked back over to the executioner to see the knight still cleaving through men despite his critical injuries. The knight couldn't have been mortal.
No.
The executioner was a monster.
Gael took off with the young recruits, deciding their safety was much more important. His leaps were enormous and his speed was unmatched, moving through the forest with the wind crashing amongst the three of them. Nearly glowing amber eyes peered down at Cricket, deciding to tell her their situation.
"Nadia sent quite a force. The camp is destroyed, we've lost nearly all of Morya's men as well as our entire band's infantry."
It was incredibly grim news, though for some reason Gael didn't seem to be affected by it. "I suppose it was a matter of time before you repaid Abel, hm?" A smile was caught at the start of his snout. "Though I certainly didn't expect a queen's bond. Incredible."
"We need Arava. Abel's head is bleeding. He's unconscious." As though Gael couldn't see that himself. But it was clearly far more of Cricket's priority than acknowledging her status as a queen, or that she was almost unquestionably responsible for the amount of hellfire Nadia had just shed upon the campsite.
Gael glanced down at Abel, eying the trickle of blood that blew against the wind.
"His pulse is strong and steady. He'll make it to Arava before anything serious happens to him. I promise."
Gael assured while he continued to run and hop through logs, grass, and rocks. Eventually, the three would make it far away from the ruined camp and into the mountainous regions, just outside of Morya's territory. It took most of the day, with the sun already stretching gold hues throughout the land. His route up one of the mountains would have been dangerous had it not been for his strong legs and powerful claws, occasionally shifting Cricket or Abel onto the same arm when needed.
Coming along a cliffside cave, Arava was already inside with a campfire flame that burned bright near its entrance. Sophia would be seen sitting at the top of the cliff above them, waving enthusiastically as a welcome. They must have retreated the instant they realized the camp couldn't have been saved. Gael set the two down inside and stepped back, not having to say a word about Abel before Arava began to look over him. Abel had suffered from a heavy concussion and some minor scratches and bruises, but other than that he would be fine.
"Both you and Abel can stay sheltered here for now. Guess we won't know how the rest of the band is doing until morning." Arava spoke, wetting a rag in a wooden bowl.
Gael quickly hopped over to the entrance and glanced back at them.
"You're safe now. I'll scout for the others, just try to ease up." Gael nodded to Cricket and Arava and leapt off to the side, the sound of sliding rocks fading along with his distance. Arava took both her hands and began to pry the broken sword from Abel's clenching fist,
A full minute of work in just that act alone.
"What?" He whispered, leaning up onto his elbows as he tried to process what was happening. Gently he slid back and leaned back onto the cave wall, unable to recognize the two between his lightheadedness and impaired vision.
"-and its numbing agent as well so that's--oh look who's up!"
Abel awoke to Arava explaining something to Cricket, as the young newly discovered queen seemed to mash something up in a mortar and pestle with Avara's guidance. "Be careful as you get up. You've got a concussion and you'll be light sensitive for the next several days."
The healer instructed the injured young man with her usual stern and unforgiving manner.
"It will be less than that." Cricket corrects quietly, awkwardly as Arava returns scrutiny towards her. She swallowed before continuing,
"Innates heal quicker than regular people. Stronger, faster, all that stuff. It's not drastic unless that's their actual innate ability, but the closer innates are to their queen, the quicker the recovery time, their response time--the stronger they feel."
Cricket fidgeted with her mortar and pestle, "It's why queens are kept on the front lines with their bonds." She gave a little shrug,
"You aren't my first bond." She explained to Abel as an explanation for how she knew all of this. Abel would have kept her secret, she knew that implicitly, but Gael never would. There was no point in hiding anymore. Arava furrowed her brow as she looked at the pair, "I've never treated an innate before, but we should be careful anyway. How do you feel?" She asked Abel plainly.
Abel's eyes seemed heavy, wincing from the light throbbing in his head. His vision was focused enough for him to finally make out the two of them. A dissatisfied frown on his face.
"Like a failure," Abel answered, eyes lowering to his lap.
"Respectfully disagree," Cricket said, returning to her mashing up of ingredients. "Your goal was to keep me out of the executioner's hands, right? Mission successful. You didn't even have to die achieving it."
"I lost again." He confessed his thoughts, remembering the impact that knocked him out.
He closed his eyes, deeply angry with himself. He didn't care about how long he'd be recovering. The first thing he would do as everyone slept would be to train. His body, his swordsmanship, and even the use of his innate.
Because it was right then he had decided that he was never going to lose again.
Cricket turned from him and looked to Avara, "Is this ready?" Content to ignore what she viewed as ignorance, Avara was happy to focus on Cricket's work.
"Not bad for your first time." Avara stood up. "I'll leave you kids to yourselves, the adults need to be informed that a certain someone is conscious again." She joked before departing.
"Give me your hand." Cricket insisted, slathering the mixture she'd been working on over where he'd broken his skin.
"Sorry." She said after a heavy moment, "I wasn't exactly in a position where I could have asked for permission for--" for solidifying the bond, "But it's still not fair. So, sorry."
Her apology was met with a shake of his head. "No, what you did was the right thing. I'm sure we wouldn't be sitting here right now otherwise." He watched her apply the mixture to his hand, letting the soothing feeling relax him. Eyes then went up to Cricket with a soft smile. "What you gave me wasn't a curse." He adjusted himself a little as he explained. "It's a gift. One that will be honed and mastered to a point where I'll take you and go all the way to the east like you wanted. And there won't be anyone at all to stop us from doing so. Not Nadia, not Thorne, or anyone else."
He leaned his head back and rested it on the surface behind him. It seemed like he was dead set on leaving with Cricket now.
"Things are a lot different than they used to be." Cricket acknowledged as he promised to take her as far east as she wanted to go. A far cry from the man who'd apologized to her for not being able to travel any farther with her than the valley earlier this morning. But then, there hadn't been a bond between them. "The longer we stick together, the closer we feel, the stronger you'll get. This is only the start of everything." She moved over, settling to sit and lean against the wall of the cave by his side.
"But it's not going to be easy. You're a target as much as I am now. People are going to want you on their side, or want you dead. There isn't a lot of room for inbetweens for queens or innates." She says softly. "I don't know what your goals were before that were keeping you here, but I can tell you that getting to the coast isn't going to be an easy dream." She frowned. "And I don't know what your group will do now that they know what I am, and what you are now."
He had a lot of questions but he just wasn't comfortable asking them. The soft gaze he had on his lap had conveyed that he was ready either way. As he had mentioned before, he didn't truly have a purpose. It was simply survival since he had awoken years ago. But thinking about it now, he was simply rebelling against the band of wolves simply out of petty reasons. At first, he was spiteful from his loss, forced as a recruit because Thorne would simply stop him. But now....
"If we are here, that means the camp is done for." He came to that conclusion fairly quickly, though just like Gael, he did not seem too affected. "Damn. I don't want to wait till tomorrow to see what our next move is." He was impatient, wincing from small adjustments.
She turned towards the entrance of the cave as he spoke about wanting to know the group's plan in the aftermath of the destruction of the camp. "I can go find out for you." She wasn't super interested in leaving his side, or facing the response to the camp knowing what she was. But she owed Abel more than enough to offer him a favor or twelve.
Abel's eyes darted just as she motioned over towards the entrance of the cave. His hand had shot out to gently grab her forearm.
"Wait." He exclaimed.
"Stay. You don't have to go." Slowly he let go, the thought of her leaving him just then, for some reason he couldn't explain, had caused discomfort. When Cricket did settle back with him, he looked away apologetically. "To tell you the truth, thinking about my own purpose, what I want...it's confusing. I need time." He leaned back again and closed his eyes. "Thorne will meet with us tomorrow. Depending on who shows up, there might not even be a band anymore."
The warmth of the flame would eventually lull them, eyes growing heavy until the two drifted away in the comfort of sleep.
When the morning came however, she would find Abel gone from the cave.
It wouldn't take her long to find him however. The sound of his sword hitting tough wood was faintly heard on the cliff above her. She would find Vix, Gael, Sophia, Velstadt, Avara, and Thorne nearby along with a little over a dozen others. Sophia was sitting with her legs folded, alone on the grass eating a bowl of heated oats and fruits.
"Ooooh! Cricket! Over here!" She raised a second bowl, just as hot, for Cricket while she watched a shirtless Abel hack in the sun.
Everyone else however, watched Cricket as she appeared, murmurs and whispers regarding her were impossible to hear.