As feridas de todos logo foram tratadas. Depois de descansar por alguns minutos, eles montaram seus animais para escalar a montanha para que pudessem partir. O sol já estava se pondo quando olharam para a saída, tendo uma bela vista de uma grande floresta de mata fechada por onde passava a estrada para chegar à próxima cidade. Axel decide acampar na floresta e recuperar as forças para partir no dia seguinte.
Ao entrar, eles se surpreendem com o grande silêncio do local, nenhum animal ou fera fazia barulho, o que despertou suspeitas em todos. O grupo acampa em um lugar fora da estrada. Axel pede que Zenon e Elisa busquem comida e água, porque depois da avalanche muitas coisas se perderam. Nyara se oferece para ir junto, mas Axel a segura e não a deixa ir, dizendo que quer falar com ela.
Quando eles saem, Axel olha para Nyara que havia voltado para o lado de seu animal e o acariciava com uma das mãos e com a outra segurava a barriga. Seu rosto estava um pouco pálido e ela suava. Ele se aproxima dela e fica ao lado dela. Ela olha para ele com desconfiança.
- Você vai tentar me convencer a tirar a luva? Posso dizer que Elisa tentou de novo, mas falhou. - Ela para de olhar para ele e volta a atenção para sua montaria, que fica feliz com o carinho.
- Eu não vim para isso, você precisa de curativos. Você acha que eu não vejo seu rosto dolorido e seus leves grunhidos. - Ele olha para o estômago, percebe que havia sangue na roupa. -
Eu ... eu. - Ela fica vermelha com o olhar dele, tenta esconder a ferida. Mas acaba causando mais dor. -
- Venha, deixe-me cuidar de suas feridas e depois te deixo em paz. Seu tio deixou você sob meus cuidados. E você estando no meu grupo, você deve seguir minhas ordens.
- Sim senhor. - ela suspira - Onde eu fico?
- Fique aí, vejo que você não quer deixar o seu animal, sente-se. - Ele se afasta para pegar algumas coisas na bagagem, quando volta trazendo curativos e ervas, ela levanta a blusa revelando alguns curativos mal feitos, que estavam sangrando, ele tira lentamente e sorri.
- O que é?
- Você sabe se cuidar, né? Entendo. - Ela desvia o olhar em confusão.
- Sou melhor em magia de ataque do que em cura, e não gosto de ninguém cuidando de mim.
- Não vou demorar. Agora estou curioso?
- Sobre o que?
- Sua luva, pelo que eu sei, a lenda diz que todos que a calçaram morreram depois de calçá-la.
- Olha bem, porque só direi mais uma vez o que disse a Elisa. A luva não mata. Ninguém morreu por causa da luva, como posso explicar ... - Ela fica um pouco pensativa. - Quando invocamos o poder da luva para fazer feitiços, isso requer energia e controle. Quando você vê um mago ou outra pessoa invocar chamas com uma pequena quantidade de poder. Isso torna mais fácil lidar com a magia. Como a luva é diferente, ela invoca uma força bruta que exige mais controle.
But that doesn't explain the deaths. - Axel says thoughtfully, and doesn't stop cleaning her wounds.
- Calm down, let me finish. Well, those who do not have control can die by the very magic they could not control. But there is another problem, you spend a lot of energy when you use magic and then they end up weak and someone took advantage of the moment to kill them. This curse was invented so that no one would use it. If this curse were true, I would be dead now, wouldn't I?
- Yes, it's true - said Axel - So that's why when you invoked that magic, you were depleted of magic afterwards?
- Yes, it was necessary to do that to destroy that ice hydra. Well, I hope that after this you will calm your friend down and I won't think I am suicidal.
- I will try. There, I'm done.
- I'm done. Thank you. Hey, don't you think the guys are taking too long? - says Nyara, changing the subject and looking around.
- I'm also wondering, this is not normal, they should be back by now. Even Zenon is relaxed when it's time to hunt, he's fast," Axel says thoughtfully, when he hears a noise next door and sees Nyara arming herself with her swords. - What are you doing?
- I think we'd better look for the others. Arkini should have been here long ago, cursing at me.
Axel laughs and starts arming himself as well. Nyara was right, knowing Sarah's obsessive jealousy, she should have been here by now to keep an eye on him.
- What are you doing? - Nyara asks as she sees him arming himself.
- I'm going with you, it's not safe to go alone and you're hurt. As the forest is very closed we'll go on foot and take our mounts and those of the others. - Even though Nyara didn't like it, she saw that he was right.
- All right, let's get going before we lose track of them. Hey, if Arkini is in danger between life and death, let me, I'll save it to make her extremely angry. - Axel laughs after hearing her speak so calmly.
- Sarah won't like this at all, but I will let you save her if she is in this condition.
- Thanks, let's go.
She goes ahead and he stays by her side taking the animals, after some walking following the trail Nyara can see that the animals get restless with each step they take, then they arrive at a clearing where they look at Sarah's magic book, Zenon's daggers and Elisa's sword.
- It seems that they were hunting here when something caught them by surprise.
- Do you know what it is? - He walks over and kneels beside her.
- Whatever it is, it didn't come overland because there's no footprint. It must have erased the tracks or...
- Or? - He looks at her -
- It was something winged. They tried to fight but I think they were outnumbered, I see blood but I don't look at bodies, they think they were taken. Zenon, Sarah and Elisa go in that direction. - She points to the north, he agrees and asks her to draw her weapons just in case. Axel leads the way followed by Nyara, Maro, and lastly Logan with the other animals. Where they find the trail their friends tried to escape where the trees were huge and very tall, with very little light, which made the place dark.
In another place in a large room that was made inside a cave is a woman sitting on a throne. She had the appearance of a beast. Eyes like an eagle, hands and feet shaped like claws. And she had red feathers on her arms and legs.
Bunch of incompetents, two are missing. And they are the most important! - says a woman sitting on a throne.
- Excuse me, ma'am, these are the only ones who left the camp," says a woman with black hair and dark eyes, who looked like the woman on the throne, only her feathers were as black as her hair.
- Um, right, until you didn't ruin everything, there are only two left, one a powerless sorceress and the other a warrior. They must already be looking for their friends. Joana, take your battalion and go after them! If you fail, you will suffer the consequences!
- Yes, my lady! - She curtsies and leaves - As you can see, Isabella, catching those two is just a matter of time.
- Good. - Someone comes out of the shadows, takes off his hood, revealing to be THE woman who had confronted the group earlier in the cave. - The master wants this to be over soon!
- And his wish will be granted!
After walking, the trio reaches the end of a trail, where they find a hole that was used as a trap.
- Yes, it looks like someone fell in here!
- Not only one. Apparently they were distracted when they ran away to fall here! - Nyara says. She looks to the side and sees Logan sniffing around a place to her left. The griffon growls at a pile of feathers and she walks over to him to see.
- Hey, warrior, come here!
- What is it?
- Do you know what kind of monster has that kind of feather?
- Feather? - He examines the feather - No, I don't know. Elisa is better at this part, she is an expert on monsters, she could give the answer.
- It's a pity she's not here. From the size of the feather, it looks like a medium-sized monster. And for the situation - She laughs at the unfunny little joke she made. ( In Brazil, Feather and Pity are spelled the same, so she made a bad pun. ) - They tried to escape from the hole but there was no time, whatever it was took them.
- But where did it take them?
- Um... - She thinks for a moment and then points her finger to the sky.
- What? Up?
- Yes, warrior, there are no footprints on the ground, so the monster took them all flying.
- Now things are worse," he puts his hands on his head, "How are we going to save them?
- Nyara doesn't answer, but stands thoughtfully for a few minutes. It's at this moment that she smells a familiar smell and she laughs at the idea they had.
- Let's go that way down that trail.
- Why? You could say why you're laughing.
- I smell Sarah's perfume, she saw you were going to be captured so she left this trail because she knew I would smell it.
- Clever girl. You have a good nose. -He approaches and walks beside her watching her sniff the place. -
- So far no one has complained about it. Let's go.
- Sure. - He follows Nyara down the unknown trail ahead. -