The God's Game

North Strikes Back

Author's note
Following chapter depicts violence

The following week ,  River sweated everyday at a small work shop by the sea side , perfecting his compass for the Alistairs.

The task was far more exhausting than he had originally expected. The complicated inner mechanisms required long hours of hunching behind the desk and undevided attention.

River woke up before dawn , went straight to the work room,and toiled until it was well past midnight. Sleeping was out of equation, any way. Spending all day with his nose squished against the gold meant nightmares, paranoia,stomach issues, headaches and crippling exhaustion.

Aithan would come three times a day to bring him food and anything else he would need. He would cast a worried look at the amount of leftover food and dark circles under his eyes and reminded him to rest.

Raven never showed up. River did not asked about him either.

On the seventh night, the compass was finally completed. River checked the time and realized in few hours it would be morning.

He turned the compass on his hand, feeling quite satisfied . It was entirely made of the cursed gold , pointer and all . River put it away in a drawer and sighed deeply.

Then he heard something.

River ceased all movement and listened, holding his breath. But only the sound of waves crashing broke the silence of the night.

He was probably hearing things. River folded his arms on the table and rested his head on them ,hoping to catch a wink. Soon he fell in to a shallow and troubled sleep.

It was hard to say how much time passed. River jolted awake .

Before he could even register his surroundings, he felt the coldness of a razor sharp blade on his throat.

"Dont move "

He wasn't planning to. River clenched his sore hands to tight fists under the table.

"Dont make a sound, come with me"

River scanned the mess on the table top, looking for anything he could use as an improvised weapon.

The blade nudged closer to the delicate skin on his throat ,drawing blood. River put his palms up in surrender.

"Get up . I dont have all night" The deep voice growled against his ear in a way that made his skin crawl.

River slowly raised from his sit as not to provoke his captor.

"Good , no-"

In a blink of an eye, River grabbed a hammer from top of the table and swung it at the mysterious figure. But he caught River's wrist before it landed on his face.

The first thing that grabbed River's attention was his black eyes . The narrow, slightly upturned eyes were unnervingly familiar to him . The lower half of his face was covered with a black mask.

The man twisted his wrist, threatening to snap it like a dry twig but River refused to let the hammer go. His mind was whirling , who was this ? What does he wants?

"You are not fast enough ,kiddo" he jeered.

River scowled. Where had he seen him before?

The rascal put the blade at his throat again. " I would not struggle pointlessly if I were-"

River kicked him , as hard as he could manage , in the family jewels. The man doubled over groaning in pain. River grabbed the chance and slammed the hammer down on his skull.