“I wouldn’t move if I were you,” Sophia walked over to Shaun’s side with a black-bladed dagger in her hand. Her steps were deceptively casual, but Nick could tell that she was ready to strike at a moment’s notice.
“Buzz tends to get a little stabby when his perch shifts while he’s resting. We wouldn’t want that, would we? He doesn’t like people holding weapons near him either. I suggest that you drop yours before he loses his temper. His venom is quite potent.”
By now, Shaun’s eyes had gone so wide that Nick could see the whites all the way around. The red-haired man trembled in fear, trying to hold his body perfectly still despite the terror writ clear upon his face. He opened his hand and let his sword tumble to the ground, staring down in horror at the giant insect clamped onto his shoulder.
The moment that the sword hit the dirt, Greg took one last glance at his partner, then took off running without looking back, leaving Shaun and Aya to their fates.
I suppose there’s no honor among thieves after all. Nick thought about chasing after the older man and beating an apology out of him. But he found that he simply didn’t have it in him, despite his lingering anger at their antics. Hopefully, this experience would be sufficient motivation for the men to change their ways.
Shaun’s brain had finally caught up to the present, realizing that the wasp at his throat was being controlled by Sophia, a detail that made Nick intensely curious. Without turning his head, Shaun looked in her direction. “Please. Please don’t kill me,” he begged. “I’ll do anything you say, just let me live.”
“You’re scum. Just looking at you fucking disgusts me,” Sophia’s voice was thick with menace. “Preying upon those brave souls fighting to save the Earth, just to further your own advancement. You should never have come here. People like you are worse than deadweight. You’re human garbage, weakening our forces with the fate of our planet hanging in the balance. None of us are going to survive if we can’t climb the tower and defeat the guardian, you short-sighted fools.”
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She sighed deeply after her outburst. “Don’t worry, I’m not like you. We’re not like you,” she nodded to Nick, who had stepped out from behind the tree but was unsure how to proceed. “I won’t kill you, but I’m taking everything that you have. A bit of poetic justice is fair game at this juncture, wouldn’t you say Nick?”
“In that case, we can leave him with one canteen and a knife. Wasn’t that the plan Shaun?” Nick let his own malice shine through in his tone. He found that he took their attempted robbery rather personally, now that he had a moment to process what was happening.
“Please, no. That’s a death sentence. You can’t do that to someone, it’s inhumane.” At that, Nick shared a long look with Sophia, seeing his own incredulity mirrored in her face. Shaun must have realized the implications of what he was saying, because he kept on going without being prompted.
“Oh shit. I get it alright. Fuck. I have no idea what I’m doing, but we were wrong and I’m sorry. I swear, I’ll never try it again. Don’t leave me to die out here, please.” Tears were streaming down the young man’s face. He seemed so afraid that he was ready to soil himself, comprehending that his fate was now in the hands of his intended victims.
“Fine,” Sophia let out a sigh heavy with disdain, as the wasp on Shaun’s shoulder vanished in a puff of emerald light. “But if you ever pull this shit on another person, I’ll hunt you down and skin you alive, then let the beasts finish you off. Now get out of my sight,” she gestured with her dagger. “Head straight to the tower and make yourself useful. Untie that archer before you leave, she’s bound to a tree twenty yards north of our position.”
“Thank you. I’ll do it, I swear. I mean I won’t do it. Ahhh! You know what I mean,” Shaun turned to flee before Sophia could change her mind, tears of relief streaming down his cheeks.
“Wait,” Nick said, stopping the man in his tracks. “Drop the hand axe and the shovel before you go. Consider it payment for wasting my time.”
“Sure. I really am sorry. And you’re right. We never should have come here.” Shaun unstrapped the tools from his pack, tossed them to the ground, then sprinted off. The expression on his face said that he planned to run all the way to the tower before they could reconsider letting him leave.