*crack*
The loud noise of a tree branch braking made Yilas jolted in fear, she yelped a little before covering her own mouth. Mohsen on the other hand quickly transitioned into a protective position, turning his back against Yilas and his arms spread wide.
"Who's there?"
Mohsen's vision wasn't much better than any other beast, at best it could only be considered a slight improvement from Yilas's eyes. Therefore, he had a hard time pinpointing the position of the stranger, only using his ears was quite difficult since the desert was windy at night.
Only a few feet away from them, the two red globes flashed again in a split second but then disappeared just as quickly.
Yilas thought she had seen a ghost, she immediately got closer to Mohsen and grabbed onto his shirt.
"I think I saw some... something..." Yilas pointed to where she last saw the red dots but it had now completely emerged with darkness.
"Stay here..." Mohsen whispered lightly so that only Yilas could hear him.
"Don't!"
Mohsen approached it anyway, his heart was beating wildly not only because he was already exhausted. Yilas was holding his sleeve and not wanting to let go but she was too scared to leave the safe spot. She could only watch him slowly approach the darkness.
Mohsen suddenly stood up straight, he took a deep breath to calm his nerves and clear his thoughts. He couldn't possibly show any fear in front of the female he was trying to protect. Though exhausted, Mohsen opened up his left palm and in an instant, a small flame appeared out of thin air and stay floated safely in his palm.
Yilas watched her teacher with admirable eyes, even with all the training recently she still couldn't manage to control her abilities very well. Even though Mame ensured her that learning always took time, Yilas had thought she will never be as good as Mohsen.
"Hey! Whoever is out there! Come out into the light now." Mohsen commanded in the utmost authoritative voice. The flame in his hand was flickering and sparkling, it wasn't much bigger than his palm but it lit up about a 2-meter perimeter.
Yet, the only answer Mohsen had gotten back was the rustling sound of the wind playing with the sand. Feeling his patience growing thin, Mohsen lifted his whole arm over his head. His pose was like that of a pitcher about to throw the heaviest baseball of his life.
Seeing Mohsen was seriously angered, the voice instantly shouted out.
"WHow! Don't be so uptight, I was just messing around!" Suddenly, it dawned on Mohsen, he recognized this voice right away, which made him even angrier.
"ZASSAR!" Mohsen grunted every letter in the beast's name, yet, he was still calm enough to not murder the stupid horse at first sight.
"Yes...Yes..." Zassar waved away the irritated Mohsen and stepped closer, he immediately called out to Yilas who was hidden carefully under a thick layer of cloak "Ahhh... Beauty! There you are, I was missing you so much!"
The overly excited Zassar came running toward Yilas but was stopped mercilessly by Mohsen who was getting more provoked after being ignored.
"Zassar!" Yilas exclaimed after seeing the familiar centaur figure approach her, there were so many questions running through her mind all at once. "How did you? What are you doing here?"
"Of course I came after you. From now on wherever you go, I will follow, I will take responsibility for you." The long-haired dreamy centaur man claimed so firmly, he hung a deep smile on his face, stretching from ears to ears. If it wasn't for his questionable behavior, Yilas would have believed every word he had to say.
"How did you find us? Did anyone follow you?" Yilas asked timidly shaking like a leaf behind Mohsen. A million bad scenarios ran through her mind at once seeing Zassar.
"No, don't worry about it. I made sure nobody follows." Zassar was trying to brush the issue under the rug but of course, it couldn't pass Mohsen's sharp ears.
Mohsen got close to Zassar and grabbed him by the neck, glaring at him dead in the eyes.
"Did you follow us from the camp? Where's the rest, huh?" Mohsen interrogated in a terrifying manner as if he could snap Zassar's neck in just a snap. Zassar had to swallow his words in a gulp, even though he was bigger in size, he couldn't deny that Mohsen was more intimidating in every way.
"I... Nobody follows me, I swear... I saw someone from Yilas's tent was being taken away that's why I followed in the first place!" Zassar frantically explained.