I'm quickly greeted by Akiyama and the tech who I left when I snapped to Thietian.
"Let the soldiers do their jobs, I have some people coming in to help me with the situation. Akiyama, you remain in charge while I am gone. Remember the rest of the Erl's army is making their way towards us. Have the heavy gunners and men stay watchful. Do what ever you have to, to hold them back. Don't be afraid to call in airstrike support or Turk for back up."
I turn to leave but Akiyama calls out, "Airstrike support might hit you and John though?!"
I turn and give her a wicked smile, "Yes, but you forget. I'm hard to take down." I give her a wink and head to my tent.
I walk in and immediately am greeted by the Shadows.
"We were informed you needed us. So you changed your mind then?" The familiar voice of the Shadow who came last time comes forward.
I scoff and shake my head, "No, I didn't change my mind. They took my husband and I'm going to get him back."
I walk over and grab my Katana and Kodachi and strap them to me. I turn to the shadows and nod.
"Let's go."
They all seem to hesitate as I start to head out, but the one I'm familiar with grabs my arm.
"Sin, we can't walk through the battle field with you. You will be seen. We need you to snap to a location with us."
"Where's the location?" I ask.
He let's go of my arm and removes a glove to hold out his hand.
"Why can't you just snap me there?" I ask hesitating remembering how it felt last time to touch his hand.
"We do not move the same way, it would not be wise." He hisses and holds his hand out again.
I grimace as I grasp his hand and the pins and needles start spreading. This time it moves quickly and soon I see where I should snap to.
The Shadow releases my hand and I'm back in the tent.
"What is your name?" My question slips out without me even thinking about it.
He looks at me, through his mask, an uncomfortable pause fills the air. I look away about to tell him never mind when he speaks.
"Vsar." His S and R rolled and made it sound even more like a snake hiss than a name.
"Vsar, well let's get going."
He nods and I snap to the place he showed me. I appear on the edge of the rains boundaries, the air is heavy with moisture all around. I look around for the Shadows and make sure I can't be seen by the Erl's forces.
A shiver runs through me and I see the shadows before me. We nod and head deeper into the jungle and soon rain begins to fall.
I follow them into the dense foliage that thins and thickens as we move up hill. The rain falls heavier the higher up we go, making the trek a hazardous slip-n-slide. My footing slips out from under me several times and if it wasn't for Vsar or one of the other Shadows grabbing me, I'd be back at the bottom.
"How do you guys not slip in this?" I ask frustrated, trying to wipe the mud from my chin that just hit the ground, again.
Vsar lifts his foot for me to see, tiny spike protrusions that move around. I look up to him as he puts his foot down and motions for us to continue.
I wipe my chin on my shoulder and muscle on.
'This is ridiculous, they wanted me to come here. Hello?! I'm here?!'
I can't help but start to get irritated as we get to the top of the hill and now begin to descend.
'Shit. I'm going to go down this like a damn water park slide, only it's not going to be a smooth ride.'
I hesitate looking down at the steep terrain I have to walk through. One of the Shadows behind me sighs and picks me up, holding me princess style.
"Whoa! I can walk it!" I say attempting to get down.
"Hush. No you can not. I am Sasine. I'm female, so don't worry."
"I wasn't worried..." I mumble and just try not to be a burden to Sasine. The way they were able to walk almost vertically down the hillside unnerved me, making me clutch onto Sasine.
A hissing sound came out of her that made me look at her.
"Are you laughing at me?"
"Yes, you surprise me." She nods and keeps walking down the steep terrain.
"How so?" I inquire curiously.
"Word of you that's made it into our circles, makes you out to be a fearless warrior. This side of you reminds me of a child though." Her hissing laugh interrupts her words but she clears her throat and continues. "You pouted earlier when I started to carry you, even though you would not make it down this hill without being hurt, and then clutch onto me like a frightened child when you know I will not drop you. It's a far cry from the Fae made warrior I imagined."
I turn red from embarrassment and tell her, "Sorry to not live up to your expectations, but in my defense, I am not one who likes people going around telling exaggerated stories of myself."
Sasine gives a light quiet chuckle that I can feel. "I understand. Everyone who meets my people think we are merely monsters, just because we look different. However, we have used this to our advantage over time."
I can feel her grin even though I can not see anything under her mask. I give her an encouraging smile, even though I'm not sure she could see it or not. Vsar turns and gives us the universal 'shh' before making his way through a jumble of branches.
I didn't notice when I was talking with Sasine, the rain has slowed down. We had arrived on level ground finally and Sasine set me down.
"Thank you." I whispered to her and she nods in acknowledgement.
We continue following behind Vsar and two others, with Sasine and two others behind her. We move through the vines and low branches of thick brush. It's quiet where we are, even the cicada call can only be heard in the distance and not near us.
The humid heat feels like it's draining me as we walk on, and I have to shake my head. It's the dark magic I am feeling right now, not the draining heat of the humid air.
We come up to a stream surrounded by large boulders all around and this is where Vsar changes direction and begins to walk up stream along the bank. There's a slight slosh of our feet in the water as we come around a bend where the banks have grown higher. Vsar leads us up a rocky side of the bank and pushes back some vines hanging over an opening in the embankment.
He lets us all walk into the cave opening and we continue on our way. It's dark and only getting darker, so I drop my visor and the night vision kicks in and turns off.....
'shit'
I reach out for whoever is closest and grip on to them stepping carefully.
I can no longer see anything and if it wasn't for whoever I'm holding onto I don't what would happen. It's making my anxiety levels start to rise, however, there's a cool breeze coming from somewhere which is refreshing and slightly calming.
Suddenly we come to a stop and Sasine's voice whispers next to my ear.
"Close your eyes."
I immediately do and can hear a boulder scraping against the ground being moved.
Light hits my closed eyes making me see grey, I squeeze the arm I'm holding and Sasine's voice speaks in her normal tone now.
"You may open your eyes now."
I slowly crack them open and within a few seconds I am looking around in awe. The area we were in was still underground, though with a high ceiling that had a multitude of holes letting in the natural sunlight. The ceiling was riddled with a maze of roots that the light peeked in between them. The center of the room had the most light, where a large hole was letting in the light.
There were plants growing all around, soft moss was under our feet and a small trickling stream flowed through the room contained within a channel of small river stones. It was a fairy tale place from stories right in front of my eyes.
"You are an incredibly hard woman to catch a hold of just to talk to, you know that right?"
My whole body freezes and I swear my heart stopped when I heard that voice. The fear must have been evident in my face because Sasine, who I had been facing towards, steps forward and places a hand on my shoulder.
Whispering softly, "We will not let any harm come to you."
I swallow and remember to breath before turning around slowly.
My heart is now beating again fiercely against my chest.
Bavarthos.
"If it was easy, it wouldn't be any fun." I give a smirk/grimace before getting brave and taking a step forward.
"I'm here so let's talk, but first I want to know where's John? Where's my husband?"
"So straight forward. You get down to business. I like it." His eyes widen in amused calculation, looking me over head to toe.
He smiles and the similarities between him and Thietian are uncanny. He was taller and his black hair was past his shoulders and hung, loosely. Other than those two things I would swear I was looking at Thietian.
I give a bland forced smile which only makes him chuckle in return.
"Come let's sit down, we have much to talk about." He waves his hand in the direction of the middle of the room, where there is now a table and chairs.
The Shadows head over and take a seat, so I join them to sit down. There's drinks and food on the table but I merely sit.
"Won't you eat or drink, Sin?"
The way he speaks to me makes my skin crawl.
"No, thank you." I responded flatly.
"It's not poisoned or drugged." Bavarthos rolls his eyes as he grabs some fruit and fills his cup with wine. He then leans over and pours some wine into my cup and hands the jug to the Shadow next to him.
"Where is my husband, Bavarthos?" He's starting to piss me off.
"Sooo pushy." He grins a mocking devilish smile gracing his face.