Vera...?
I immediately calm down after a second.
Of course not. How can it be her?
That shot was indeed accurate, but it does not mean that Vera is the only person capable of accurately shooting arrows.
I look up only to witness the hunting pack leader howling for retreat. Of course, I don't let them. Many vines lash to their feet, fighting to wrap themselves around each paw. No matter how much the wolves' fangs chomp down and vanish a shadow vine of mine, they still cannot match the number of vines I deploy now that my mind is limpid.
Zipping through the air, I can hear the arrows whistle as they puncture the necks of the hunting pack.
In their perspective, it may have looked like a staged ambush—your typical bait and annihilate.
I stand up, surveying my surroundings. Those arrows seemed as if they just magically appeared out of nowhere. Before I can turn around, a cold blade is pressed upon my neck, even nicking my skin enough to draw a single drop of blood.
If this person wanted to kill me, they would have done so already before I found their presence. So I turn around with that blade still pressed on my neck.
One by one, eight people come out of thin air, including the person holding the sword to my neck. A hand covered with a fingerless glove grabs her hood and as she removes it, the air distorts until her whole self appears.
A moment of silence enshrouds us for a few seconds.
"...How dare you wear that face", I say lowly, teeth clenched.
"Oh?" She leers at me. "I'm not sure if you're brave enough or stupid enough to show your face and say how dare I?" She tilts the blade in her hand nearer to my face. "You want me to skin that face off of you or will you do it yourself, irrumator?"
"That's enough, Tukare." A man places a hand on the girl's hand to stop her.
I stare at his hand on top of hers, and then look up at the same face as mine in a new light.
That's impossible! I—I saw her…wait a minute, did I really? There was no way to check her pulse then or—
Laris grips Tukare's hand tighter to make her let go. Impulsively, I launch a shadow vine at him.
A tad bit surprised, Laris backs away quickly as he uses his sharpened claws to parry. This alerted the other people who weren't busy checking on Letitia.
"Do not touch her", I directly say at Laris, walking in front of Tukare and obscuring his view of her.
Two pair of hands emerge from both sides of my head, suddenly gripping my head in an elbow choke. I look up to see the owner of those hands speak from behind me, "You haven't answered my question, irrumator—will you skin that face off or will you let me do the honors?"
Staring at her eyes, I can see so much malice, ridicule and fury. I don't even have to connect to feel them. I've known this person for nearly all my life to know how she feels in just a glimpse, but... It's so hard to imagine that my angelic sister would have turned into a person I can barely recognize.
But I suppose, she can say the same thing about me now.
Are you? Are you really Tukare? Or are you merely someone with the same face and the same name as my sister?
Hope begins to blossom inside my chest, like a flame that won't extinguish regardless of how hard I stomp it to death. At the same time, I feel like all the anguish, struggling, and emotion I have felt up to this point was suddenly invalidated. I don't know where to place this bad taste in my mouth.
This hope tastes sour.
No matter how long I stare at her, it was only for a moment in reality. Looking at her doesn't give me any answers at all. At least her stubbornness is familiar.
I breathe out, letting the color of my hair and eyes return to their normal shade. Her eyes widen, her arms easing their hold on me, until she completely lets me go and I am free to face her.
Oh. She's half a head shorter than me now. We used to be of the same height. Since when did she...
My eyelids lower, ruminating. I don't notice the stunned faces of the people around us as they witness two similar faces in front of them. Then, in a more stunning manner, Tukare tackles me in a hug. It would have been best if it had ended there but—
Letting one hand grip the other hand's wrist, Tukare crushes me in a tight hold, and then she bends her knees and lifts me up quickly. The world spins for an instant until sharp pain hits my head, my weight crushing my head and neck.
"Ahtt—" I gasp, biting my tongue to stop myself from groaning in pain.
That...that really hurt.
She lets me go and I roll over into a sitting position, clutching my head with both hands.
Was she trying to kill me? What if there was a sharp rock where she German-suplex-ed me?
Ah but—it's her. It's definitely her. Tukare only does that move on when she's furious or too shy. Though I'm not sure which emotion she's feeling has at the moment.
"Videre, you little shit—You're alive?! If you were alive, why the heck didn't you come look for me?!"
So it's fury then.
"And then you suddenly appear like it's nothing?! That's not fair—I didn't want to meet you like this at all!"
No… It's shyness.
Hiding her face, Tukare storms off to somewhere, not waiting for my answer. She places back her hood so I am unable to find her presence any longer. I can only stare at the place she had disappeared from.
"Alpha", a soft murmur catches me attention. I don't notice myself stiffening at the mention of that title, even though deep down, I know it's not that awful king.
"Oh, thank the moon goddess, she's still breathing."
I turn to see Laris, instructing people to bring back Letitia to their camp. Only three people with the addition of Laris, stay behind. He looks at me head on for a moment, letting the silence speak for us.
In the end, he concedes first and says, "You must want answers."
"..." Yes, but not from you.
Laris sighs, sounding stifled with the one-sided conversation. "Why don't you come with us for a while?"
A person whispers beside Laris, "Alpha, are you sure?" To which, Laris nods without breaking his stare at me.
He offers a hand at me. I slap it away, agitating the few wolves left behind.
"..." Don't touch me.
"You!" A guy grits his teeth that even I can see his sharp canines.
"It's okay, it's just a tap—what are you guys getting upset for?" Laris laughs it off.
Laris tries to calm them down as I stand up on my own. The shadows twirl around me, sipping into my hair and coloring my eyes once more.
The others grit their teeth, putting back their hoods and vanishing. Laris remains, looking around before handing me a hood similar to theirs, while saying, "Sorry, but we can't not be cautious with our main hideout. Lady Amani will get upset if we carelessly show the entrance. Well, it's not like they can get it in but, you wouldn't want other people banging or lurking at the front of your house gate, right?"
After a while, I reach out and take the white hood. Laris looks visibly relieved, a small smile even playing at his lips as he continues to look at me.
"I'm really happy you're alive and safe, Videre", he says as he wears his own hood, hiding his expression.
"..."
Alone, I wear the hood after some time. Eventually, I'm able to see Laris' figure walking ahead of me through the denser part of the forest. I follow. As we trek an invisible path that Laris seems to have memorized, I notice more anomalies scattered; luscious trees that I'm sure weren't there earlier, dried leaves rotating around certain trees as if there's a cyclone limited to the ground, and a door situated right in the middle of one tree. The tree isn't even that big, and the door's width was even more than half of it, curved to an unimaginable degree.
"After you", Laris opens the door outwards, gesturing at me. The only thing word missing was a 'milady' at the end of his sentence.
"..."
Awkwardly, he takes back the hand he stretched out.
"Sorry, habit." He laughs awkwardly, backing a few steps to let me go through.
The feeling of getting hit by tree in the face doesn't come. The place brightens once I pass through, and I blink at the scene of a bustling small village with many circular tent houses. The place...doesn't look like a rebel camp.
"Welcome to the heart of Barred Forest", I hear Laris mumble. "We're basically borrowing Lady Amani's yard or something", he jokes.
There are campfires everywhere with all kinds of people gathering around. That, I didn't expect. I thought only the scent of wolves would be around, but there are more different races of human-kind I can see rather than of the Lycan-kind.
The people who welcomed those who intercepted the hunting pack converse with each other, looking over where Laris and I stand. Eventually, everyone takes notice of the atmosphere, and stops whatever they are doing to look over.
I lower my head into the collar, scanning everyone from left to right before closing them.
She's not here.
"Laris, this is?"
"Don't you remember him?" Laris teases a boy with many piercings. I don't need to look to see how many metal earrings he has on his ears and lower lip.
"Remember?" He places a hand on his chin, staring at me all the while.
I ignore him while I walk away.
"It's Videre, Tukare's brother." I hear Laris softly say. The way he says my name makes me somewhat uncomfortable, yet I can't pinpoint why.
"You mean that Tukare? The person who had gone missing near the Nymph territory?"
"What are these?!" A surprised voice talks over.
"Black needles? Can you remove them?"
"No. I'm not able to check her wound unless we remove this!"
As I leave the duo to converse with each other, I walk nearer a group of people surrounding Letitia's body that was placed on a wide wooden table, the materials on it swept unto one side to make space.
"Quick, call—"
A few people notice me when I walk over. They back away a few steps, but a few familiar faces I saw earlier were apprehensive, one of them holding the hilt of her weapon. I cast a quick glance at those people.
If I wanted you all dead, you wouldn't even be able to remove your weapon out of your scabbard. This is not arrogance. This is simply a fact.
I wave a hand over the wound on Letitia's abdomen, and the black needles evaporate into black wisps. The person who looked like a doctor made an awe sound as I take my leave.
There's nowhere I can go though, as I'm not familiar with this place, so I stand in the middle and stare back at whoever stares at me.
"I asked around", Laris says, walking to my side while nodding to a few people with a smile. "They said Tukare left, and will probably be back by sunset, knowing her. I can show you to her tent once she comes back. In the meantime, I can show you where you can sleep while you stay here with us", he proposes with a positive tone of voice.
"...Where", I ask after a bout of silence.
When Laris doesn't answer, I give him a questioning look, but I don't think he gets it.
"...What?"
"Ah!" Laris looks down, flustered enough to look down at his shoes for a moment. "Nothing", he says, looking back at me.
"..." What is it with that dodgy answer.