The devil laughed at Anitus, “Eat shit, chrome tail,” He gasped out.
Anitus raised his sword, and Amaro could not watch any longer. He dashed forward and cut the noxa’s horns as quick as he could. He grabbed Anitus by his shirt and pulled, “There, he’s out of the game, now come on let’s go-”
Anitus shrugged him off and stomped on the noxa again, grabbing onto his other wing, “They won’t need our help. Those Tibur are weaker than Rorik is. Besides, this bastard has some information I think we can get. You’re the leader of the noxa aren’t you, cur?” He started to pull on his wing. Amaro could hear bone popping as the noxa cried out.
“You don’t need to go that far, brother. It’s a game.”
“Look closely, Amaro. Would they not fit the description of the one who assailed Kaara? Using underhanded tactics and perhaps attempting to pour a love potion down her throat?”
Amaro paused. Perhaps Anitus was right. These noxa were elusive and underhanded. They were the ones who had taken things too far in the first place. Kaara could have died from their actions, and there was a chance this noxa could grow his wings back.
Anitus pulled and twisted, eliciting another pained groan from the devil, “We’ll start with what you want to know first, brother. Dog, tell us, which one of your ilk assaulted Kaara Tibur?”
The noxa said nothing, but Anitus twisted his wing again, “Answer, or I’ll pull this one off too!”
“Fine! I’ll talk, stop! Just stop,” The devil cried out, gasping out in pain, “The one who assaulted your friend was Kamyu.”
“Kamyu? Which one of you dogs is that?”
“Kamyu kindly crawl up your own ass, eat shit, and die?” the devil spat on Anitus’s shoes.
Anitus tore his wing from his body before Amaro could stop him. The devil writhed, gasping and groaning.
“It’s your tail next, noxa-”
“He clearly won’t talk, brother. We can always interrogate the other one when he wakes up,” Amaro said glaring at the noxa as he started laughing like a madman, “What’s so funny, noxa?”
The devil propped himself up against a tree, “You touch him I’ll fucking kill you. I swear it,”
Anitus kicked him in the head to send him right back down, “Big talk from a wingless bastard who can’t even beat us while we’re wounded.” he stomped on the devil’s wounds, “You’re going to kill us you said? That’s a threat, and you should know it’s against the law to threaten nobility. Do you know what the punishment for that is?”
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The noxa tried to move Anitus’s boot from his wound, but that only made him grind his heel in, “The punishment is death, noxa. And I don’t think there’s a single person here who would care if you turned up dead tonight.”
Amaro moved to push Anitus off of him, “Come on brother-”
“I know Kaara would,” the devil cackled, “A lot more than she’d care about you.”
Amaro felt anger surge in his gut, “What did you say, noxa?”
“I got real acquainted with Kaara. She loves me now.”
Amaro unsheathed his katana, electricity erupting from his body, “It was you wasn’t it? You assaulted Kaara didn’t you?”
The devil laughed in his face.
“What did you do to her? Answer me, devil!”
“Ask her yourself. She’ll tell you.”
“I’ll kill you!”
Amaro raised his sword to strike, but something charged him from the side. A sizeable bat drake snapped its jaws down over his arm and wrestled him to the ground, violently shaking his arm until he was forced to let go of his weapon.
Anitus blew flames over it forcing the beast to retreat, but not without picking up Amaro’s sword first.
“That’s mine! Hey!”
The beast snarled, the smoldering furs around its white mane standing up. It hunched its shoulders pacing back and forth. It stayed close enough to pounce, but far enough away to avoid Anitus’s magic. The agile creature could duck and dive out of the way with ease.
Amaro clutched his forearm. He recalled something Sancta had taught him about bat drakes. Their saliva slowed the natural healing factor of xiozians which is why they had often been used as war animals during civil wars.
This one was utterly feral. A snarling monster who had been let loose on the two of them while its owner hid in the shadows. Its body was littered with horrid scars, a sign that its owner had instilled fear into it for obedience. Whoever owned this beast likely did not value the lives and safety of other xiozians, nor this bat drake. The drake had nearly bitten his arm off. What would he have done if he was missing an arm during the Siren Ceremony? It’s not like he could blame the thing, though. It had been trained under a cruel master. The scar on Amaro’s nose was tingling. He felt a small kinship with this beast, in a way.
Amaro flashed forward with all the speed he could muster, but the bat drake was too quick. It sprung out of the way and stuck to a nearby tree like a squirrel. It climbed that tree as easily as one might walk. As Amaro and his brother sent their magic at it, the beast crawled and shifted like a snake to avoid them. It leaped from trunk to trunk, hiding itself. Amaro only spotted the tip of its tail, or the crest of its ears as it stalked them.
And then, silence. Amaro kept himself ready for almost a full minute before he noticed what was missing, “The noxa is gone!” Amaro looked over to the giant who had also vanished.
“But they left a trail behind,” Anitus said, pointing to prints in the snow, “They can’t have gotten far, let’s go.”
“Not without us you won’t,” Deka said behind them, dragging an unconscious Tibur by his horns much in the same way that he had done to Tulos.