Between a state of half awake and half dream, Yilas had questioned if she was experiencing death a second time but soon she realized that she hasn't. She could still faintly hear footsteps approaching her, though she had lost count of the time and days, she could only recognize that it was at night. The weather was colder and it was completely dark if not for the moon shining through the clear sky.
Someone was coming closer in a quick speed, it was part of exhaustion that Yilas couldn't saw who was approaching her. As quick as they came, they said in a hasten voice.
"Open your mouth." A clear yet deep voice whispered into Yilas's ears, it sounded like a young man.
Must be another one of the guards coaxing her to eat, Yilas thought to herself,therefore she didn't respond.
Yet, this stranger surprised Yilas, he had forced her mouth to open quickly when he couldn't got an respond from her within a few seconds. The manner was quite forceful. The thumb and index finger of this person squeezed down hard on either side of Yilas's jaw, forcing her mouth to open to a disfigured O.
Before she couldn't bother to open her eyes but now she did, in front of her was a stranger covered in thin dark clothes from head to toe but his hand was pale white and smooth of skin. To her surprise, it had seemed like the presence of this person wasn't welcomed by Byok's troops either.
Without a second to think, the stranger had shoved all something with a size of a golf-ball into Yilas mouth and proceed to covered her mouth and nose tightly with his palm. Forcefully making Yilas swallowed whatever he had put in her mouth. The big round thing in her mouth melted quick, enough for Yilas to gulped it down without water. Either Yilas was choking on it or eat it, so Yilas had to make the obvious choice.
"It's not poisonous." The stranger voiced once again, this time looking around before they whispered quickly, from the shadow of his shirt's hood, his eyes twinkled a blue color "It should keep you alive for a couple more days. Don't eat or drink the food they give you, it contains things to make you obey"
'No wonder…' Yilas thought to herself reminiscing the very pungent smells of valerian roots which she had known to have sedative effects. Before Yilas could converse her thanks to the stranger, he had gotten far away from her, jumping into the trees smoothly like a squirrel. Her mind was clearer and her body knotted stomach had felt much better immediately after being forced to eat the weird substance. But luckily, any stomachache or discomfort Yilas had anticipated was gonna come, didn't arrived.
After calming her mind and stop trying to guess who the man was, Yilas wiggled around, struggling to find a way to set herself free.
***
The group of 30 something beasts had marched across the vast forrest and land for over 7 days time. Nio, Viosus and and Sabal was within those beasts that acted as scout group for the entire pack behind. With the beasts that had the best speed, it didn't take long for them to reach half-way through the marked out route, which would normally take up to 10 days for normal beasts to finish.
"There's water ahead!" Nio accompanied by other flying beasts shouted out what they had seen, it should be a good time for them to rest since they had been on the move for 2 days and 2 nights since their last camped.
"Make camp there, we shall rest and recover…" Another beast from the Boar clan commanded all 30 beasts, they all nodded in agreement before speeding ahead in full speed.
Just after they arrived, Sabal and Viosus both transformed back into they human shape. Viosus didn't look happy one bit with their decision to stop again while they were only half-way to the city.
"We all need to rest, Viosus, look around you" Sabal spoke in a low tone, he pointed to the beasts who had just arrive after them, immediately collapsed onto the ground and roared. "It's not wise continuing with a tired pack, it only hurts us when we arrive."
"I know that!" Viosus breathed out heavily and walked away, getting himself some water from the small pond.
"What's wrong with him?" Nio just landed next Sabal, he asked looking to Viosus's direction.
Sabal didn't answer, instead he sighed and followed Viosus to the water. Nio quickly followed their lead.
That night during their meal, all the beast sat down next to one another around the fire and discussed their plan for their journey ahead.
"If we keep this up, half of us will die before we make it to the Goat's city!" A beast stood up and spoke loud, many of the beasts also voiced their agreement. "And the rest of the pack will not be able to catch up with us so quickly, there's a big chance the gap between us had already been too wide, they might loose track of the route we left."
The crowd of beasts rumbled loudly with roars and thumping noise of agreement. The beast was in charge stomp on the ground two times with his big feet, silencing the noisy pack.
"Our duty is not to wait for them, our duty is to set up the most beneficial site for them to come, it could be days after we had the city in sight before we can mark up camp. We need time to do our job well." The beast in command was big brown bear-type beast. Even in his human form, his feet and hand was still as big as bear's paws. His belly as big as that of 3 beasts arm's length. And the amount of food he was consuming was highly alarming. Yet Sabal still couldn't figure out how the beast could move so quickly as he did. And in term of strength, Sabal wondered if he could even strangle that beast by himself.
"Time is of the essence!" Nio stood up and chimed in "The time for the ceremonial sacrifice is closing in, their defense will be the weakest around that time, it is our only chance, we must act promptly." Nio puffed his chest and speak with great urgency.
"You just wanna see your female a day sooner!"
Some beast spoke out from the crowd and everybody burst out laughing, making poor Nio face turned red out of embarrassment. His voice went from full of confidence to zero within seconds.
"No…No, it's not it!" Nio choked on his words and his voice cracked, making the beasts laugh even harder at his naivety and softness.
"You beasts keep laughing now." Sabal's voice came up from nowhere, his sharp cold eyes glared at the beasts that was cracking up like a purple knife slicing up their throats. The mood completely shifted when he the rumbling hiss escaped at his chest shook the ground. It wasn't sure when the beasts here started to be aware of Sabal's presence but one thing they know for sure, only their commander would stand a chance against this beast. "Only under her presence would you know what true salvation is…"
Another hiss scared the shit out of every beast, sending death warnings toward their ways if they dare not to obey. Sabal disappeared into the dark forrest once again and went and had his meal. Since his way of eating was truly terrifying, he spared the beasts the sight and also his meal always tasted better when he was alone anyway.
After Sabal left for a short while, the command beast put out the fire and set everyone free to rest, leaving only a few to keep watch.
Nio was wandering around looking for Sabal and Viosus when he saw Viosus howling to the moon, it was truly out of character for him to do so.
"Why did you do that?" Nio approached slowly once Viosus had stopped, he was seriously curious.
"We are close enough to the city, maybe she could hear me." Viosus wear a deeply sorrow expression. They all wished for Yilas safety and even though the distance might be too vast, Viosus would still hope she would know that he was coming for her.
After looking down onto the ground like he was thinking very hard, Nio tilt his head all the way back and do a howl, though his voice was much weaker and the sound didn't travel like Viosus. It sounded a bird gurgling in its throat with some water.
Touched by his shared feelings and effort, Viosus rubbed his head full of burning red locks and joining in with his howl.