Chapter 5

  Zorche

  This is embarrassing. Zorche whispers to himself. He had been holding the leash of Bailey just moments ago, but now Fiona, with her sweet soft hands of steel had taken it, his power, pride, and was basically dragging him along with an invisible leash too.

  Zorche was behind the rest of the group, herding them like a sheep dog of the fields. How humiliating, being led by a woman carrying the leash of outbounders, when he is a village guard and held nothing but the low self esteem that even then, still steadily dropped.

  ¨But alex-y~¨ Porter whines ahead of them, tugging on Alexander's sleeve, ¨ You're the one who had the map!¨

  ¨And you're the one who dropped it in the river yesterday.¨ Alexander grumbles back, snatching his ash-grey sleeve back.

  From behind, Zorche decides to at least do his assignment well, watching the outbounders closely, every twitch, every step, every interaction. But most importantly, their reactions.

  In front, between porter and alexander, They continue to squabble. Alexander pulls back from any touch, avoiding compliments like the rabbits to wolf teeth. If anything he seems to flush at anything of the sort.intriguing. Definitely using that. Zorche thought to himself.

  ¨Even tied up and forced to a knee, you both would bicker.¨ Bailey grumbles, running her fingers through her short hair.

  ¨Bailey, that is so cruel!¨ Porter whines, an overly-dramatic expression plastered across his soft-sheep face. ¨You're too calm! This village is so much more beautiful than back home′s yard!¨

  ¨Can you both be quiet.¨ Alexander snaps, eyes dead on the ground before him, dead on Fiona′s ankles. ¨Talk too much and you'll have nothing to use later, cause then you'll be useless. No value!¨

  The two silence, eyes widening, only to close half way and go to the ground. Porter's shoulders slump slightly, Bailey's raising. Alex then stops.

  ¨why should I even continue to follow? You have no information on us, you have no idea whether or not we can escape. Almiyan's sake, you people don't even know any weaknesses.¨

  Zorche's fingers twitch, Fiona trying to pull the leashes so he follows. Alexander's feet stay as firm as a statue, or the body of a fractus.

  Zorche then smirks. Walking forward, he steps in front of Alexander, he leans forward, grabbing His chin in his hand, ¨Are you so sure we dont?¨ Alexander flinches, stepping back only for Zorche to quickly follow suit, ¨Like you said earlier, you are all a lot easier to read than you think.¨

  ¨eh-tch,¨ Alex stutters, face flushing quickly, only to scowl and push past, ¨Fine! I'll follow for now.¨

  Zorche chuckles, he now had confirmed his suspicions, and for a boy, ¨kinda cute. ¨

  They arrive at Fiona's stone-muk house, two small heads peering through a singular eye-patient window in the front. Zorche, though focused on the outbounders and secretly Fiona's soft-steal hands, was buzzing with excitement to go inside.

  ¨If you buzzards even lay a finger on my siblings' head, those hands are gone for monsters. Fiona threatens, her words almost as scary as the hands they belong to.

  ¨Right-y, miss!¨ Porter chuckles, a warm smile as he notices the blond-and-orange tinted heads in the window. A black shadow passes behind them as he looks. The shadow was a bit taller, around 5′3 maybe, with floppily spiked hair.

  Suddenly the door opens, and a rush of rose-blonde hair swishes past and into Zorche's chest, arms wrapping around him as quick as a snake attack.

  ¨Doofus! I heard what you did when working the fields, why would you bring outbounders home? Are you trying to get us killed? ¨ the voice yells. The boy had lean-begginer muscles, a determined yet soft look in his eye, and the fury of his sister. Together it was a scary combo for a 14 year old boy.

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  ¨Fiona already punished me, and I apologized!¨ Zorche informed him quickly, ruffling the boy's already-messy hair. ¨And no, I was doing the opposite.¨

  ¨yeah, sure.¨ The boy says cooly, voice lowering to a peaceful tone. The boy took after his father′s accent, smooth as water and sweet as cactus juice. ¨whatever you say, ya cur of the crowd.¨

  Watching, Alexander scoffs, rolling his eyes as their weak banter. This earns him a tug hard enough to make him fall to his hands and knees before Fiona. Her eyes though green, as the forest, were as cold as ice when directed at him. Alexander's gaze looks up at her, like a wolf about to attack its prey.

  Alexander found out the hard way just how much her and her family were similar. A swift and quiet leg suddenly presses into the back of his head, making his forehead touch the ground before him, hands slipping to the ground at the sides of his head.

  ¨What a beautiful and fitting position for somebody so below us.¨ The watery voice flows through the air. ¨I think this is the face you meant to make at my dear older sister.¨

  Zorche watches, standing back. He had been the one to teach Senku such moves to show dominance, however the sadistic, salt-in-wound talk was all Senku′s alone. Zorche had learned that mouth much earlier, after getting a gut punch for accidentally stepping on the boy's flowers. Since then Zorche had been careful to watch his step and mouth.

  The young boy looks up at his sister with a gentle smile, before glancing at the other outbounders. For once, Porter's smile was gone, eyes wide as a cat′s in water. The blue-tipped wonder was holding his sister's hand, semi-defensive against the quick mover. For such a young boy who supposedly worked the fields, even somebody as peaceful as a porter was on edge by his swift strength. Not many people caught Alexander by surprise, Yet this village seemed to be full of people who could.

  ¨pardon my violence towards my friend, im usually not very aggressive.¨ The boys smooth voice explains, ¨I just care for my own and whats my own shall not be disregarded.¨

  Porter nods, loosening up a bit. The boy was certainly a bit more rational than the others, even if a bit scary. It was either that or he was a sociopath with anger issues. Either latter worked as long as they weren't in immediate danger.

  Zorche watches them all with an amused expression, Fiona′s handle on the leashes passed to him as she ran inside to coo away the worries of the two littles. Zorche, however, was soon irritated. His muscles ached to run inside and be with Fiona and her family, Inside the familiar embracing warmth of their small home. These outbounders be damned. Zorche scorned in his head, pulling Senku off the raven boy finally.

  When he sat up, his flower pin had almost fallen off, scowl on his face almost as red hot in fury as the painted mark of brown dirt between his brows where his head was forced against the gravel. The boy's black hair is messy compared to the sleek shine it had when they had first met a mere half day ago.

  Zorche sees this as the perfect opportunity to break the boy's guard down a bit, and work his way to learning about them. He knew that the raven wouldn't let anybody near or know anything about any of them unless he trusted them. And this was such a great opportunity that he just couldn't miss.

  Zorche walks over, kneeling before Alexander, taking his hand and pulling him up by force. ¨Even lowly dogs can have some dignity in this village, Senku.¨ Zorche soothes, hands drifting over to the flower pin, reclipping it as he stares into Alexander's eyes. ¨isen′t that right, Alexander?¨

  Alexander buffers, his face flushing as he steps back, only to be pulled back in by the hand Zorche holds firmly, the other hand dusting the dirt off Alexander's forehead

  Alexander head butts Zorches nose, jumping back like a cat. ¨Completely uncalled for, numbskull!¨ He snaps, venom weak as a mosquito with every word.

  Zorche just falls back, landing on his bottom, one hand behind him to support him as he leans back, the other wiping a bloody nose that had formed quickly away. He smirks, winking, blond hair falling just over his clear eyes. This only makes Alexander clearly scream inside, hiding behind porter and his diplomatic self to get away from Zorche and his bold moves.

  Zorche looks over, only to see the most disgusted look a human can make- coming right off the boy he directed, Senku. Zorche's eyes widened, he had seen the boy carry barrels upon barrels of dung from the farm to the fields day after day for 2 years now and even then he had never made such a disgusted face.

  Zorche just looks at him unamused, a silent shush passing between them about what just happened. Agreed far to fast for a deal not even spoken out loud.

  ¨Let's go in, shall we.¨ Zorche shifts topic. Even the outbounders were silent in shock of what just happened.

  ¨Zorche I thought you liked my sister.¨ Senku says quietly, ¨I didn't you you were into… men.¨

  Zorche coughs, turning to Senku with betrayal scribbled across his face, ¨I am not! I was simply trying to get him to loosen up so I can get information out of him- er¨ He blinks, realising his mistake in wording.

  ¨I see.¨ Senku says, lips curving into a small smirk, ¨I'll definitely try it out then.¨

  Zorche shakes his head, ¨You most definitely will not! Do you know how many times over your sister would kill me only to resurrect and and repeat? Not happening!¨