Game of Dice and Dominos (Domino Series #1)

"Seriously, you guys are unbelievable." Zee -- Zara -- repeated in a singsong voice, folding her arms. Timo scrunched his eyebrows. What is she talking about? And why are the robbers suddenly allegiant to her? What is going on? He looked over to Marcus and Dark, who shared the same confused faces as Timo.

Zara gestured with her hand for the robbers to stand. They complied and tucked their weapons.

"Are you new recruits or something?" She scrutinized the robbers, shifting her gaze on one to the next. "And why did you attack us? Did you get lost or something and needed supplies? Y'all know that's not how your group rolls." She put her hands on her waist and furrowed her eyebrows.

"Not at all. We received intel that a group of three unidentified individuals have taken Truscott's heir captive." the rabbit-man, who had his knife at her neck earlier, spoke first. Zara didn't reply and only made a face that looked like she was processing what he just said but had a great difficulty in doing so.

"We thought you were selling the heir for ransom and we ought to rescue him. Didn't know it was you. Our bad." Zara turned her head towards the one who spoke. The voice came from a shorter man with a huge tail protruding from behind him. It oddly resembled a squirrel's tail.

"Can't say I blame you, though. We did do our best to hide our signatures." Zara said as she ran her fingers through her hair.

"Excuse me, but, who are you people?" Dark interjected as he scanned his head around the strangers. He then turned to Zara, "And how do you know them?"

"I don't exactly know them per se. Like I said, they must be new recruits--" she answered, but Marcus chimed in and cut her off.

"Alright alright, can we move along and get back to the introductions later, the sun's coming up. Our signatures won't be hidden for long, we have to get to safer ground."

"Agreed," the raccoon-man interjected. "You can come with us and rejoin the rest."

"Yeah, I guess it would be nice to have a reunion." Zara beamed a smile as if she were remembering a fond memory. Timo scrambled as he realized they were leaving.

"Hey!" he hollered to the group below, "What about me? All your other belongings are here too!" He waved his arms in the air to grab their attention.

"Yeah, yeah. We're coming." It was Zara who answered.

They packed up their things in no time and somehow disabled the spell -- or whatever it's called -- that bound him to the carpet. Instead, they strapped a dog tag on his neck and strictly instructed him to never take it off under any circumstance. Within the hour, they were out of their former camp site. They also somehow managed to pack away the deck into a backpack.

After a few minutes of walking through the trees, they arrived at another spot in the forest where a medium-sized tent has been set up. Where were the other tents camped? As soon as they entered the tent, Timo was overcome with disbelief. The tent that he suspected to be able to only hold about three people was enormous on the inside. It had at least four floors, with each floor bustling with oddly clothed people. Chatter filled his ears but as soon as a good amount of people started noticing their presence, the voices hushed and all eyes were on them.

Raccoon-man led them through what Timo suspected to be the main hall and into a door. The door led to a few flights of stairs and as soon as they reached the top, they entered a room. Half of the room had windows for walls while the other half, the half where the door they entered through stood, remained enclosed.

A tall man with an odd red hat-ears and red paw-gloves stood with his back facing them. He was looking out the windows with his hands at his back. Raccoon-man turned to Zara and gestured for her to approach red-hat man.

"Well well well, who do we have here?" A croaky voice stated. It came out of the red-hat man.

Zara let out a cocky laugh, "Please." A smirk formed on her lip.

"You got some nerve, showing up here." Red-hat man croaked again.

"Oh yeah? You want a piece of me Ronald McDonald?"

Tension suddenly filled the room. Were they about to fight? Did they walk right into a trap? Red-hat man turned around to face them. He looked like he was wearing a mask, it was as if a red panda had replaced his head. His eyes narrowed and his ears twitched, as if getting more alert. Timo looked over at Zara and she held a cold stare, sharing red panda-man's narrowed eyes.

"You little doofus." Zara said.

"Hah!" Red panda-man scoffed, "I'm taller than you now." Then they broke into laughter.

"He-hey, whazzap mate!" Red panda-man exclaimed.

"Ey Laura, how's it going?" She greeted back, "Man, I really gotta meet the new recruits. You guys are getting more numbers, I mean, there's already hundreds chilling in the main hall, I can't imagine how much more you got working on the field!"

Ehem. A cough made both of them jerk their heads to the sound.

"Mind telling us who these people are?" It was Dark who interrupted them, his temper barely intact.

"Oh whoops! I almost forgot." Zara chuckled then began introducing her friend, "This is Rory, he's the leader of," — she faces Rory — "what do you call yourselves again?" — she turns back to Dark and the others — "They keep changing their group's name so I can't keep track anymore."

"Hey. Duncan Laura, but you can call me Rory. I'm the head of the Anomalies, and one of the OGs too." He offers his hand out for Dark to shake. "Pleasure to meet you all."

Dark takes his hand, "The Anomalies? OGs?"

"Original Gangsters, don't you know your slang, Darcy?" Zara teased. Dark only shook his head with a disapproving scowl. Zara continued, "So, you decided to stick with 'the Anomalies' now?" She did air quotes as she said the words "the Anomalies".

"Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?" Red-panda man -- Rory -- shrugged. "That's what the doctors have called us, might as well give the name a new meaning." He smiled, only then did Timo realize that he had a black nose and whiskers. His ears also appeared to be a part of his head, rather than a headdress. His hair was a bright red, when brought next to Zara's, which was a dark magma, made it look brighter. He also had sideburns that spread a little to his cheek.

"The doctors?! Who--" Dark exclaimed. He shook his head and corrected himself. "What are you people?! Are you asylum escapees?! Mutants?!"

Timo heard Zara stifle a laugh but Dark was too flustered to notice so, when Rory glanced over at Zara with an expression that looks like he's asking her what he should do, she took the opportunity to smirk and nod at him.

Dark's focus was planted on Rory, even more so when he nodded and said, "Yeah, sure. We're mutants," in the most nonchalant voice.

With that, Dark took it as a signal to double his guard and pull Zara behind his back.

"Aww, is Darcy scared?" Zara asked with a voice as if she were talking to a five-year old. She tapped his shoulder and stood beside him. "Relax, Darcy--"

"How can I relax when you have once again proven your stupidity and associated yourself with these kinds of people?!" Dark exclaimed, gripping Zara's wrist as if never planning to let it go.

"Sheesh! That's way harsh, man." Rory interjected teasingly.

"Stay out of this!" Dark swatted him away.

"Okay that's it," Zara said, "the fun's gone."

"Fun?" Dark spat out, "You call this, fun? How can you--"

"Hep!" Zara interrupted, holding a finger on his mouth to shush him. "Let me finish." When Dark's expression was overcome with surrender, Zara lowered her hand and began to explain. "I've known these people," -- she gestured towards Rory -- "even before I've known any of you." She pointed her finger across Timo, Marcus and Dark and then back again. She then raised her eyebrows at Dark as if she were saying "Understood?"

Dark nodded and faced Rory, "I apologize for my words. I can be rash sometimes especially when it comes down to those I want to protect." He sounded sincere.

"Aight aight. Whatever ya say, mate." Rory shrugged and beamed a genuine smile right before his face faded into an expression suggesting that he had something up his sleeve, "Though if you're really sorry, I got a favor to ask." With these words, Dark's eyes grew more alert. Rory gestured for them to go to a different room to talk but Zara stayed put.

"Whatever you have to say, you can say in front of him." Zara jerked her head towards Timo. "It's not like he's a spy, he's the heir to Truscott after all and he's gotta learn these things at some point, so why not start now?"

Rory considered it for a few moments and sighed in defeat. "Fine." Zara beamed a triumphant smirk. "Sit." Rory said, gesturing for them to claim one of the scattered chairs in the room. When all of them had a chair, Timo scrambled to follow their lead. Beside him, Zara rolled her eyes but he pretended not to notice.

"One of our surveillance squads reported Everlune soldiers took over a village in Gothics — Nachtkinderen Village. It's not too far from here so--" Rory started to explain but Timo interrupted.

"In Gothics Mountain? Don't you mean near it? Gothics Mountain is too steep for people to settle their houses on. The forest there is also too dense to establish a village." Timo pointed out, remembering the tall-tree forest with thick trunks earlier; Rory was right, it was nearby. He was still confused as to why Rory's surveillance squad had reported a village at a place where it is impossible to even set up camp. Perhaps they were mistaken? A voice suddenly ruptured his thoughts, strangely, he wasn't annoyed.

"Okay, Mr. Technical, why don't you calm down a bit?" It was Zara who dragged him out of his thoughts. Somehow, it felt comforting, as if someone had saved him from drowning.

For the first time since he met them, he let himself surrender to Zara, and let her have the last say.

"The village is inside the mountain," Rory continued, Timo's eyes widened in disbelief, but he sealed his mouth shut. He didn't know anything about this strange new world, he might as well learn. "Gothics is hollowed, but any more mining would have it crumbling down."

Hollowed? How could it be hollowed?

"What's Everlune soldiers gotta do with any of this?" It was Zara who interrupted this time. She looked down and didn't meet Rory's eyes when she spoke so it was hard to read her expression but Timo could tell, from where he sat, that she was tense.

No one dared to break the silence. The three of them must have known better than to talk while Zara was in her zone, a reason that Timo is yet to find out. When she slowly lifted her head, she locked eyes with Rory and he took it as a signal to proceed.

"They want them to mine. If they refused, the soldiers would do it themselves anyway. But if they agreed, they were promised refuge." He snickered. "I doubt that's the case. The queen views them disposable, as part of a few failed experiments. Just like all the rest," Rory spat biterly, his tone grew darker as he spoke.

"Why don't the villagers just move out?" Timo interjected once again, surprised that no one has thought about it before. It would take an ample amount of time before they could evacuate all the villagers, but it was still better than not doing anything.

"I wish it were that simple. They can't see the sunlight. Ever. Do you know what they named their city? And why? Ever took a Dutch elective before, if there is such a thing."

"Nachtkinderen. Split it into two words and--" Zara filled in but she was cut off by Timo's mumbling.

"Nacht is night. Kinderen means... What does kinderen mean English?" Timo muttered to himself.

"Night's children. They're what you humdrums call vampires. But the Nachtkinderen people are friendlier and don't suck human blood unless absolutely necessary." Zara chimed in a matter-of-fact voice but he was still left confused.

"Humdrums?" he asked, and was all that he managed to say.

"Yeah, humdrums. Homo sapiens. Humans but not a descendant from one of the thirteen clans of Domino." she answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Thirteen clans? Domino?"

Zara opened her mouth to utter a response but Rory spoke first.

"Alright, enough, we don't have time for this. You can explain the rest of the shit to him later, right now we gotta plan to put together."

They nodded silently, including Timo, who was too overwhelmed to ask any more questions at the moment.

"Right. As I was saying," Rory continued, "we need to find a way to drive these damn soldiers away so they won't cause any more problems."

"How do you suppose we do that? I highly doubt that they'd spare us a second glance, much less spare us a moment to discuss this matter over tea," Dark questioned with a sardonic tone as if finding a breach in Rory's plan was a great achievement.

"Oh they don't give a fuck about us, but I do know someone who might make them shit their pants." Rory said, radiating a devious smile.

Marcus laughed, but it was dry and mirthless, "That'd be a good show."

"So you say," Dark's words were directed at Rory, almost ignoring Marcus completely. "Who in the world is powerful enough to order Everlune soldiers to stand down? And, might I add, who is also willing to help your cause. My apologies for being so pessimistic but the odds are quite low." He glanced over at Zara as if to check if she was on his side of the argument, but she was silent as death, completely lost in her thoughts. What was going on in that head of hers?

Marcus scoffed and rolled his eyes. Rory eyed Dark tauntingly. After a few moments of silence, Dark sighed and looked as if he had thought of a rebuttal to his own case.

"There is only one person I can think of who is as powerful as the king and queen of Everlune." He bit his lip, as if his surrender notched a piece of his pride.

Rory nodded cockily. The words that left Rory's lips brought a cloak of tension in the air and Timo was yet to find out why.

"The heir of Everlune herself." 

~**~

[Word Count: 2502]

Yes I know, the tenses switching is horrible, I'm sorry, I'm working on it, I promise :D

That aside, I still hope u enjoyed this chapter!!

I'd love to read your feedback and a vote will let me know if u liked this chapter!! ;))

What do you think is the deal with these Evelrune soldiers? And how are Rory and the gang gonna convince the heir of Everlune to be on their side? 

And vampires!! What do you think of vampires?? XD (they're not really vampires, explanations will come shortly XD)

Thanks for stopping by!! I do hope you enjoyed your time here!! :))

-axeli ❤️