Vera stared at the dancing flames in her palm, a faint flicker to barely light her position. She'd grown restless waiting for Cinder to return, passing the minutes with a small twig she was using to draw cats in the dirt. 

          Hide and seek was certainly boring when you were too good at it.

           She breathed out a heavy sigh, listening to the seldom drips of the leaking architecture, a faint whistle sometimes rising when the breeze picked up. No scrapes or shuffles. No gasps or breathing. 

           Not even a distant scream.

          It was boring.

          She closed her eyes, thinking through her plan once more. It would inevitably go awry, but failure was seldom the same thing when she played her pieces right.

          Vera felt a brush of warmth, the air tingling with a welcoming presence Cinder always brought. As she cracked open her eyes it was no surprise that her guardian had returned, only  with a grey and sulking feline to follow her into the dugout. 

          Perfect.

          With a small stretch she locked gazes with Káel's cat, a devious grin stretching at her lips as the feline fell perfectly into her plan. "Hey Jay, you look like a real piece of work if someone tries to give you a run. Want to protect the flag while me and Cinder actually win this for your dullheaded owner?"

          She saw the cat perk up in a way, his frosty blue eyes twinkling in Cinder's flickering light with an extra dash of amusement. Cat or human Vera knew the look all too well, Jeremiah didn't hold a shred of respect for Káel.

          "It's settled then," she said, getting to her feet and awkwardly hugging the sides of the already cramped space so she wouldn't ruin her art. When she'd pulled herself out of the cage, she gave the cracked hall a quick skim, heaving at a slab of stone to cover the entrance spare a crack just thick enough for the feline guard to slip out. 

          She held her dimming light to the crack, paying the smirking cat below a devious grin as they reveled in the essence of one another's pooling mischief. Although Káel hadn't the foggiest clue as to who she was, Vera had caught the look of recognition from a number of other acquaintances, but Jeremiah was the only one that had worn a face of welcome at the sight of her.

          "Sit tight kitty, we're winning this one."

          With a meow in response Vera waved the cat farewell, the halo of light dying as Cinder burrowed into her jacket. She didn't need the light of her guardian to see however, even in the darkest of rooms all that lay to stand in her way was lit like a target. Navigating out of the building was easy, and her plan even easier.

          She just had to make sure she was alone.

          Vera finally reached a kiss of starlight, squeezing out the closest window to land herself in broad view, the cathedral's empty field of rubble and dried grass stretched before her like a forgotten graveyard. She waited for a couple more seconds, silence strong upon her shoulders as she scoured every path before her.

          But nothing moved.

          "Okay Cinder," Vera whispered, pulling her guardian out to rest in her palms. "Lead the way."

           Cinder chirped, obediently spreading her wings to lift to the skies a few feet above, the small phoenix kiting Vera with one destination in mind.

          She broke into a brisk jog to keep pace with her gliding guardian, deftly jumping over the crackled mounds of rubble and scaling every wall she could get a decent grip on to cut time. Every flag was likely stashed in a manner similar to her team's, a waste of their most valuable resource to look for, time.

          It was all a waiting game for the molves, sitting on a black flag worth fifty points, when every other flag held the same measly weight of twenty points. But what Vera had found to be perhaps the most interesting rule of them all, was, unlike the last game, the molves bore ribbons worth the same amount of points as every other player on the field.

          And there was only six of them.

          Math was never her strong suit, but even a fresh recruit to Latos' forces could see that there was only one thing in the game worth having.

          Vera slowed as Cinder dipped to her eye level, the phoenix taking a cautious slow as she flapped just a few feet from her face. 

          Her mind raced with a spike of excitement, adrenaline tingling down her spine as she watched the ground to hide the sound of her steps. They were close.

           She couldn't hold back a smile as Cinder finally dropped to rest on her shoulder, a whispering chirp, dragging her feet in hungry silence towards the final corner before them.

          Closer.

          She reached the final barrier, back pressed to a sturdy blockade of whitened stone. Her beating heart the only sound in a blanket of eerie silence. But even with its bashing rhythm she dared a peek at the one and only thing she needed to win this game.

          Five molves, lazing in the emerald grass around a pitch black flag.

          -----

          "What do you suppose we do if we come across a Molve?" Truvius whispered, looking around at his surroundings to satiate his paranoia for the hundredth time.

          "Hide I guess. Unless you wanna try snagging its ribbon."

          "Yeah... No thanks."

          Truvius cautiously peeked around a viny stone wall, giving a thumbs up when he didn't see anyone. Káel played along with his game, despite knowing they wouldn't find anything. At least until Phantom spoke up, or their scout Shriek swung by.

          A loud scream pierced the air, the third one so far, signalling them to walk in the exact opposite direction of its origin.

          "I hope our teammates are alright," Truvius said, looking around with worry.

          Káel sighed, stepping on a large boulder to peek over the stone wall. No flags in sight. "They'll be fine, it's just a game."

          "Yeah, I guess."

          Káel grabbed the top of the wall, groaning as he pulled himself up to crouch on it and look around. "Most of the flags will be in buildings, I'm not getting anything from up here."

          A soft screech echoed from above, the two boys looking up at the unfamiliar spectator. It was a small bird, donning a coat of violet feathers and an orange ribbon, gliding above their heads like a living drone. 

          "A scout." Truvius muttered, his voice gripped with a serious weight that almost drew a laugh out of Káel as he grabbed his wooden whistle and blew it.

          Almost immediately, a feathered blue harpoon pierced the air, wings flattened for a faster dive as Shriek completely covered the tiny scout with his bashing wings, coming out seconds later with a bright orange ribbon in his talons.

          Phantom leaned in on Káel's ear as he watched Truvius' guardian dive towards them, flaunting his trophy to Truvius' outstretched arm. "Oh what was that word you sarcastically use?" he whispered, amusement nearly pulling a purr into his tone. "Bravo was it?"

          Káel eyed Phantom in confusion as Truvius congratulated his guardian, the realization stabbing into his back with a delayed bite.

          Shriek had brought more than enough attention, and anything with eyes would have seen the bird immediately dive to his owner. 

          And it definitely wasn't his classmates that would come running.

          Feeling a bit of the blood run back to his heart, Káel paid Truvius a breathless whisper. "We need to go."

          He stopped, still clutching the orange prize with an innocent smile. "Why?"

          Káel didn't even need to explain, one off scrape pulling their attention to a path just across from them, the pointed snout of a stone cased wolf prowling into view and the rest of it sure to follow.

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Quality Quip #26:

'Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery.'

~Malcolm X