Chapter 45

**Marianna**

I stared at the interaction between Thyrion and Noch. Noch genuinely seemed to want to strangle Thyrion till he no longer had a heartbeat. Whereas Thyrion was trying desperately to let Noch know that he wasn’t going to put up any sort of fight.

“Noch, I don’t think blue is a very healthy colour.” I commented while Fog and Ara came sauntering towards our little group.

“He does look very close to passing out.” Fog noted with a smirk.

“Blue isn’t nearly bad enough… I want to see purple and then black.” Noch grated out as he increased his hold a little more.

At this stage Thyrion was starting to flail in earnest, trying anything and everything to throw Noch off of him. Being deprived of air made it hard for him to summon up the strength though.

I heaved a sigh. “Noch, let the poor guy go. What did he do to you anyway?”

Just as Thyrion’s eyes started rolling back, Noch suddenly let him go and he flopped onto the ground. “What did he do? He committed the greatest sin there is against me! He betrayed my trust in the ultimately worst way possible!!!” He fumed.

I could see Nana Ara trying extremely hard not to laugh while Fog just patiently bent down to the wheezing man to see if he was alright.

“So what did he do?” I asked again.

“He. Stole. My. Staff.” He said furiously while looming over me.

That was it? He stole his favorite weapon? “But I do that all the time.” I said curiously.

“Well Demon Child, unlike you, he got away with it, and that was a one of a kind special staff. Why do you think my current staff has so many spells on it?” He asked rhetorically. 

I frowned at this, remembering once where I had tried to unravel the arsenal of spells around the staff. “You DO have an insane amount of nasty spells on that thing. It nearly took my arm off once.”

“And what a glorious day that was for you to learn your lesson.” He said with a huff. He promptly took Thyrion by the hood of his cloak and started dragging him along back to the trenches.

“All of this for a staff?” I asked Fog while the rest of the group followed Noch and the flailing Thyrion.

“Indeed. The staff that Noch had back then was especially unique. A soul had been forged into that weapon, literally giving it a mind of its own. Think of it as Thyrion stealing and then selling his best battle partner into slavery.” Fog explained.

My eyes widened at the gravity of the theft. “Oh, that’s bad.”

“Yes, very bad. So it is little wonder why Noch feels the burning need to rip Thyrion into tiny little pieces.”

“Well then, I can definitely see the situation from his point of view. I wonder if he will actually kill him.”

“He might, or he might make some decent use of the dungeons until he gets it all out of his system.” Fog commented smugly.

I was not quite sure how I was supposed to feel about that picture. The dungeons were rarely ever used, their main function was for torture or to keep bad witches contained until the Council could take charge of them.

“Won’t the Nirns be taking up most of the space inside the Dungeons though?” I asked Fog as we neared the trenches once again.

“Oh, there will be no need to keep the Nirns in our dungeons. Junnie was able to contact the Council just after we received the fire message. Councilor Ferina already arrived a few minutes ago.” 

“That’s convenient…” I muttered.

“Meri!!!” Nelia yelled from the other side of the trench as a lot of official-looking witches came waltzing through a Gateway. Junnie was standing by the edge of the Gateway, animatedly talking to a blonde woman that looked ready for battle.

“Speak of the devil!” Yelled Junnie when she heard Nelia call out to me. One moment Junnie was standing by the Gateway, the next she was suddenly behind me.

“NO!” I yelled and immediately dropped to the ground. Junnie’s arms that were about to wrap around me were now hugging nothing but air.

I quickly rolled out of her reach and streaked through the Trench’s shadows to Nelia. Jumping behind her, I ended up using her as a shield to ward Junnie off. “Nelia! Save me! Don’t let her come close! Use your wand! Hit her over the head like you did with Noch and me!”

“What- WHY?! Meri, who is she in the first place?” Nelia asked in bewilderment while trying to look at my face. I refused to let her turn around though, I locked my arms around her middle and kept her facing Junnie. If worst came to worst, I could throw Nelia into Junnie’s path and then dive for Fog. If Nelia wouldn’t defend me against this fiend, Fog would… right?

“You’re just so precious!” Junnie squealed while wiggling her hips. “Come here and let me introduce you to a Council member!” She said, slowly sauntering towards us while holding her arms open. She looked like one of those fly eating plants. The moment she sensed you in her radius, those arms would snap shut and any hope for escape would be futile.

“I am NOT going to come anywhere near you, and there is no need to be within arm’s reach of you to be introduced to someone!”

“Now, now my sweet, come to Aunty Junnie and –,”

As soon as Junnie was close enough, I gave Nelia a small shove that had her fumbling into Junnie’s arms. 

“Sorry Nelia!” I yelled as I sprinted over to Fog who was now standing next to the blonde woman. As I hid behind Fog’s broad back, I saw Nelia looking undeniably confused in Junnie’s arms. Junnie looked just as stumped but didn’t really do anything to her like she did to me the first time we met.

I was peeved to see how unaffected Junnie was to Nelia’s cuteness. She didn’t go crazy with hugging her and keeping Nelia pinned to her like she did with me. We were twins after all, but Nelia was most definitely the better, less violent, cuter twin. I did notice though that the two of them shared the same body type. Maybe that was why Junnie always went after me…

I felt a big palm come down on my head and looked up at Fog’s amused face while I gripped his coat. “I must say, it’s highly amusing to see you reacting like this to someone, anyone really. You usually tend to clobber them as soon as they get overly friendly.” He chortled.

Pouting up at him I threw another glare to Junnie who was ruffling Nelia’s soft curls. “She’s a different kind of beast. She’s worse than an octopus in the sea. Once she has you in her grasp it’s impossible to get out of it. I’m not keen on being manhandled again thank you very much.”

I heard Noch burst out laughing from right behind me, where he was no doubt enjoying the show. Without thinking about it, I coiled in my right leg and kicked out behind me while twisting to see his face.

“Oemf!” Thyrion grunted with the impact and groaned on his slow decent to the ground. Noch’s arm that had been around his throat slipped off as he allowed him to flop to the ground.

“It’s not nice to use someone else as a shield.” I deadpanned as I straightened again.

“I could say the same thing to you, shame on you for using your own sister as a distraction!” He guffawed.

I was about to reply but strong slender arms stopped my rebuttal in an instant. Yet again, my arms were trapped at my sides and I was being squished into an unwelcome iron hug.

“Noooo!” I screeched like a banshee as Junnie wrapped me up under her chin. “Fog! How could you! You were my last hope!” I wailed helplessly.

It didn’t help that I accused him of letting me get captured. He wasn’t even listening to a single word I said. None of the members were. They were all too busy laughing at my expense. Even the new people from the Council seemed to be enjoying themselves with the crazy spectacle.

“Nelia! Not you too!” I whined.

“I’m sorry Meri,” she gasped for breath, “but you’re just so funny!”

It felt like all the wind had been blown right out of my sails. Why oh why did Junnie have to be so pushy. I could zap her, but the interaction felt like it had drained all the energy out of me. I frowned. Wait a minute…

I glanced down and noticed that Junnie was holding a charm against my skin. A charm that felt like it was indeed, pulling my energy out of me. 

“JUNNIE!!! WHY?!” I exploded as I tried to wrestle my limbs free so I could nab it, crush it and turn it into dust. Bite it if I had to!

She laughed and continued to hold onto me like I was nothing but a toddler. “I have already been shocked by you once before. I intend to enjoy this little interaction and not get hurt in the process, because I’m certain that if you had the chance you would turn me into kindling this time.” She grinned on top of my head.

“Bu- but, I don’t want to get hugged…” I whined as the fight left me.

“I assume that this is the little witch you were talking about last night Junnie?” The blonde woman asked with an amused smile.

“Indeed she is! This little ball of energy is adorable, isn’t she!” Junnie said happily as she twirled back to her. All I could do while being squeezed in her grip was to bonelessly swing around like a rag doll. I felt helpless, I didn’t like feeling helpless. I didn’t like that Junnie was smart enough to bring a charm this time. I didn’t like that she could so easily overpower me.

Apparently, I didn’t like a lot of things…

The blonde witch took pity on me and bent down to my eye-level. “My name is Councilor Ferina. I apologize for laughing, but it’s interesting for me to see Junnie taking such an interest in a young witch. It usually takes a while for her to warm up this much to anyone really, especially young bloods.”

“Why…” I whined pitifully. “Nana Ara was the same when she met me. You all are just crazy.” It was a fact. I had decided a long time ago that anyone that instantly liked me this much had to be genuinely insane. There was proof… namely Nana Ara.

Councilor Ferina looked confused for a second. “Nana Ara?”

“She’s referring to Arasule over there.” Noch explained as he pointed to a jealous looking Nana Ara that looked like she would like nothing more than to grab me away from Junnie’s clutches.

“Nana?” Councilor Ferina asked curiously.

“Arasule had given herself the role of Merianna’s Grandmother.” Fog supplied next with a shrug.

“Jasnine had proclaimed herself the twins’ Aunt as well.” Noch chimed in.

“Twins?” Councilor Ferina asked, sounding even more confused than before as she looked around the clearing.

“Yes twins.” Nelia walked up next to Fog and he put his palm on her head fondly. “This is Nelia, Merianna’s twin sister.”

Councilor Ferina glanced between Nelia and me a few times. “They don’t look like twins at all!”

“Just wait till the black in Merianna’s hair grows out again. Their hair is actually the same colour.” Fog said next.

“No thank you.” I piped up from underneath Junnie’s chin. “I’d like to keep this look. I think it suits me better than white blonde.”

“I think I’d prefer you back in your natural hair. The black actually makes you appear dangerous. At least with the blonde I can keep calling you Demon Spawn and actually make it feel like I'm making fun of you. With this hair colour, it's more likely to be true.” Noch said as he picked Thyrion up and threw him over his shoulders.

“Ha! That makes my decision to have my hair stay black even more sure!” I yelled in triumph.

Noch just gave me a withering look before he turned around to walk towards the Gateway back to the Order. “It’s your hair Demon Spawn. You will always be the Demon Child in my books in any way.”

I pouted with irritation and took a step forward without thinking, only to remember that I was stuck in a vise-like grip. Looking up, I saw Junnie smiling down at me. I didn’t like that smile one bit.

“Let me go please?” I hated that I actually had to ask that since my energy was still being sucked away by that blasted charm she was using.

“I don’t want to.” She grinned.

This was going to be one very long day…