Victubia: An Origin

Chapter Nine

Minx, Krism and Pewdie stood at the foot of the bed, all looking at the unconscious masked man before them, not saying a word. Minx ran her fingers through her hair, playing with the purple highlights as her mind went over the night’s events. After the incident with Cry attacking a guest, the other invitees had made excuses and gone home, with one or two staying. They would rather face the dangerous ride home in the middle of the night than stay in the castle of a Queen with a mad right-hand man. One royal couple had even stayed in an accommodation down in town, or so Snake had informed her when he had come up to check on Cry. He and Jund had arrived along with SeaNanners, who had been today’s portal arrival, now laid a couple beds down from Cry. King Stephan had made a scene, of course- yelling about Victubia being deceitful, ready to attack them all, while two of his guards (or servants? Minx couldn’t tell the difference) pulled him up and walked him out. Minx sighed, her heart in her stomach and she clutched Krism’s hand, looking for comfort. It was Pewds who broke the silence.

“Where’s Ken?”

“He’s still delicate from his… encounter with the Nogitsune. The strange way Cry acted out there gave him a shock. I told him to go and lie down.” It was Mark who answered, delicately adding the last touches to the stitches in the back of Crys head. While the glass jug Pewds had used had the desired effect, it had caused several bad cuts on his head, turning his hair red with the blood.  

“Why would he do this?” Krism’s voice was heavy. It was now the early hours of the morning and she too was disappointed at how the evening had turned out, which caused Minx’s stomach to churn uncomfortably. She hated failing her friends. Failing herself.

“Cry? It wasn’t… him. At least I don’t think so. There was something wrong. I don’t know how to explain it.” Pewds hesitated, looking at Minx.

“It wasn’t your fault, you know. There’s something behind this. We’ll sort it.”

“And what if we do? Even so, we will always be known as the dangerous city, the one you don’t go to, the one you can’t trust.”

Mark passed them, looking exhausted at being woken at such an hour. He clapped Minx’s shoulder and gave her a small smile.

“If it’s any consolation, at least you’ve all had your fair share of the Infirmary now. It’s like a second home, huh?” He chuckled and began to walk out of the room. “I’m going to check on Dlive. I already sent home the nurse working on night shift, so could you stay with the patients for a few minutes? Thanks.”

They all sighed and turned back to watching Cry in bed as Mark left. To their surprise, he was no longer asleep, and had somehow managed to sit up without any of them noticing.

At first, no one spoke a word, all of them just looking at each other. Then Cry swung his legs out of bed, and stood up, straightening his waistcoat.

“Do you mind telling me where I am?” Cry’s voice was low, and Minx could not detect one specific emotion in his voice.

“Do you mind- excuse you? Do you mind telling us what the hell you did out there?”

Minx had not meant to get frustrated with her friend, but sleep deprivation and disappointment had welled up to create a burning anger towards Cry.

“Minx…” Krism squeezed her hand, warning her not to pursue the path of anger.

“You’re in the infirmary. I- uh, you were knocked out after you attacked King Stephan.” Pewds answered, evenly.

“Which bastard stopped me? That asshole had what was coming to him.” Cry let out a snort and walked forward, past Krism and round the bed, striding towards the door.