The Red Orb

Chapter 5: The Nest

Kyrian was rather surprised to see my head pop up into the small nest moments after he had arrived to the area. He had placed himself upon a lone chair fasting the forward section of the ship, his cloak flowing over the back end of the wood and slightly fluttering with the winds of the sea. His stair on me did not follow with a remark, however. Rather, he merely came to roll his eyes away from my direction and back to open water. His breath, calm and quiet, was concealed by the roars of the breeze.

Pulling myself up from the latter, I was disappointed to find that the chair he sat upon was indeed the only one in the nest. Still, I managed to find a comfortable position as I leaned over the back rail to observe the fluttering sail behind crackle about like waves which carried us onward. "Kyrian," I spoke up. "Seeing we have some time now to relax, can I ask you a question?"

The elf for a short while took my question to thought, finally looking back over his shoulder, "I suppose."

"Why did you rescue me?" The fact of the matter had dug at me since I saw the man back in the dark whole of a prison. I could remember most of my past now to note I had not seen him before. And while some details of my most recent past where a blur I could tell by his gear he was no native to this area. 

He shrugged in response, looking back to the open ocean. "I was hired to get you out safely." The bluntness of the answer rather bothered my. Not that I didn't believe the answer, but I felt he was holding back or that the answer in it self just seemed too simple.

"hired?" I turned about my heels, "By who?"

"I don't know." He stated plainly, "I wasn't payed to ask questions and I never say my employer in person." He sighed seeing my confusion. Standing he too came to lean on the rails as I had prior. "I'm not one to ask a whole lot of questions when I'm paid for a job. It sounded like a noble effort and so I agreed to assist in your escape."

"Noble?" I laughed at the word. Deep down I could finally come to remember the reason I had been placed in that god forsaken place, and I was certain helping me escape would be considered anything but. "You know why I was put down there right?" My curiosity pushed my thoughts out.

"From my understanding you were framed." 

His answer nearly had me fall off the nest in the sheer shock. "Wait, how did you..."

"Like I said, I was given enough information to proceed with the mission," He again faced me, "I may not know who sent me but I can assure you that who ever it was had made it clear you were insistent." Kyrian chuckled again, shrugging his shoulder as a massive gust of salty air flew through our hair. "Whether it's true or not I don't know. Heck, I'm not even sure what it is you're being framed for."

"The assassination of the Emperor..."

"What!?" He suddenly leaped from his boots at my near silent answer, "You can't be..."

Breathing slowly I looked up to his eyes. "I don't remember much, but I've started to gain it all back." my fist clenched. "I was sent by a group of... well that's a bit hard to explain."

Kyrian studied my expressions but regained his bearings. "It doesn't matter now." I looked up to him almost instantly. But he merely shrugged. "What's done is done. If you were framed than you were framed. What matters now is we get you out of here." Sitting back down he relaxed his muscles, still keeping at least one eye on the distant sea; though, now the sun had completely fallen below the horizon. I was surprised at how well I could see despite the overwhelming darkness, but when it came to the vast stretch of ocean I still could find no detail. Kyrian and the ends of the ship were about as far as my eyes could pick up any detail with the clouds above causing so much darkness.

"Thank you." The pause ended with my quick breath. 

He looked over at me with slight disarray. "For what?" He didn't need me to respond for the answer, I could see the rhetoric in the tone. "I'm getting paid for this, remember?" He laughed once more, having his hand fall behind his head. I could tell he only partially meant it though. He seemed to have to large of a grin over his face for the attitude to be truly sincere. 

As for the rest of the night, the two of use just took small shifts as we attempted to watch over the darkness of the night. Every once and awhile I would be furniture to see the splashing of a nearby wave indicating the flapping of some joyful sea creature. But beyond such a rarity the night remained calm. That was until the brink of sunrise...