It had been one night since Rebecca, Artiel, and Iracuz were locked in their cell without knowing what to do. Of course, during this time, everyone had formulated ideas to escape. Unfortunately, they all seemed impossible according to Iracuz, but Rebecca and Artiel were not going to give up for so little.
But above all, they didn't want to disappoint Isaac. This was their first mission, they had to succeed at all costs and for that, they had to return to the shrine.
However, after much discussion, no idea seemed feasible. The dungeon was located under the castle so they couldn't escape without digging and despite Rebecca's abilities, she wasn't yet strong enough to create a stable tunnel fast enough before the guards noticed them.
Iracuz on his side had his shadow magic. In the dark environment of the prison, the young man had a certain advantage.
As for Artiel, let's say he could serve as a human shield or an emotional supporter.
- "He's an elf, isn't he?" suddenly said Iracuz. "Your master…" he added.
The other two were surprised.
- "Sorry ?" Rebecca replied, her face puzzled.
Hadn't Isaac hidden his ears during their meeting together? Maybe Iracuz had an ability that allowed him to see through. After all, the young man was proving to be resourceful.
- "I didn't believe the reports, but now that I think about it, the aura and mana he gives off," he said before pausing. "These are not things a human can do," he finished.
On this, the two apprentices could only nod. Although they had never met a real mage or Archmage, their instinct had screamed at them from the day they met that something was wrong with Isaac.
As they were about to respond, footsteps were heard on the stairs leading to the upper levels.
Everyone fell silent immediately and turned to the source of the footsteps. Several silent seconds passed when a hooded figure stepped out of the stairs before turning to the three prisoners.
"Are they finally questioning us?" Artiel wondered.
"Are they going to torture us?" Rebecca thought.
In the silence that reigned in the dungeon, the figure stepped forward again before removing its hood and smiling.
- "You make a funny face," said the man.
Artiel and Rebecca suddenly widened their eyes in surprise and gave a slight cry of surprise.
- "Kiril ?!" they intoned in unison.
- "Shut up and hurry" announced the captain, taking out the keys and unlocking the doors. "They are coming to question you, we have to leave quickly," he said finally before indicating to them the exit of the hand.
Without wasting a single second, the two apprentices walked through the cell door while Iracuz stood there. Kiril looked at the young man for a long time.
- "What do we do with him?" he asked.
Artiel turned around before looking at Rebecca who hesitated a moment before speaking.
- "Let's take him" she replied.
Immediately, Kiril indicated to Iracuz to follow them, and together, they climbed the long staircases to go up gradually towards the surface.
- "How did you know we were there ?! Why are you here ?!" asked Artiel suddenly.
They had not sent a letter to the village, so the presence of the captain here was totally abnormal. Although Artiel wasn't complaining, he was curious.
- "We are not called the shadow village for nothing" announced the man. "You might be hiding a lot from guards and normal people, but our agent stationed here spotted you the very moment you arrived. Frankly, I expected more from you," he said with a sigh.
The two teenagers lowered their eyes slightly. For them, they had done a remarkable job, but after their elder's comment, they could only wonder what they had done wrong.
However, something bothered them slightly.
- "An agent ?" asked Rebecca.
- "The day the riders of Erivia came to the village, the elder asked Marcus to come and sneak here incognito, just in case" Kiril replied.
For Artiel and Rebecca, the fact that the horsemen had visited the village was new. After all, they hadn't heard from Cram for some time.
That the elder had sent a spy agent into town didn't bode well for them.
- "He sent us a message not long ago to inform us that you were here" Kiril continued.
- "Why didn't he come to see us ?!" asked Rebecca surprised by Marcus' presence.
Kiril arched an eyebrow.
- "Rule number one during an infiltration mission?" asked the captain, looking at the young woman.
The latter shivered for a moment. This look reminded her strongly of her childhood under the training of the captain and the old one.
- "Do nothing that could compromise your mission ..." replied the young woman in a low voice.
Marcus' reason jumped out at them. If he had contacted them, he could have endangered not only his mission but also that of the two apprentices.
- "So… why are you here?" finally asked Artiel.
- "The fact that Marcus noticed you indicates that others may have noticed you too… It was only a matter of time before you got caught. And also because I was wondering what the heck are you doing here" the captain replied with a slight smirk.
- "We weren't caught!" retorted the young woman.
- "I don't know why, but I can't believe you" Kiril replied with an even more pronounced smile.
- "It's because of him !" Artiel retorted this time, pointing to Iracuz.
The young man had remained silent the entire time and wanted to be forgotten for a moment. No longer having the accusing looks of the two young teenagers was doing him good.
- "It doesn't matter. You've been caught" Kiril declared simply looking them in the eyes.
Immediately they lowered their eyes and concentrated on their walk. They were fully aware that their infiltration mission had failed the moment they were caught. In a job as risky as that of a spy, staying discreet and leaving no trace were the watchwords.
So the fact that a spy got caught in the middle of a mission was a shame for the latter. A failure sullying his reputation forever but above all, the announcement of endless torture from his jailers for them to extract what he knew and the identity of his master.
Normally, the spies who were caught committed suicide for fear of torture or were killed by their spy colleagues so as not to leak information.
They were lucky that their village was not such a secret organization like the Assassin's Guild. Just as Rebecca was about to speak again, Kiril signaled her to shut up by resting his index finger on his lips and stepped forward.
In front of them was a large open wooden door about three meters high and almost two meters thick.
Inside lay a dozen unconscious soldiers. Or dead, hard to know.
"He… fought them all alone ?!" Artiel thought, his eyes widening and shuddered.
The reactions were the same for Rebecca and Iracuz. Something about the scene in front of them was giving them goosebumps.
It was Kiril who woke them up.
- "In silence," he said simply walking forward.
Without wasting any more time, they continued their journey and went through the door to arrive in the courtyard of the castle.
The sun was already setting and the courtyard was very dark. Once outside, Kiril turned to the right and stepped forward in a shadow before disappearing completely, motioning for the other three to follow him.
No trace of him was visible. It was as if he had never existed. The three teenagers were surprised by the strange phenomenon but did not question it more and followed him.
Just as they passed the shadows, all of them felt a sudden headache, and the world around them as the castle courtyard blurred.
"Magic ?!" Artiel thought as he disappeared into the shadows, his eyes wide.
Rebecca who was the last to pass, stepped into the shadows just as a powerful wave of mana crossed the entire castle.
She barely had time to feel the wave of energy but felt a certain familiarity. She had already felt it somewhere. The time to finally recognize its origin, Rebecca disappeared into the shadows, uttering a single word.
- "Master ?!"
The courtyard of the castle disappeared completely from the vision of the young woman then the decoration of an alley replaced the obscure landscape. They were between two buildings in a small alley in the houses bordering the ramparts.
Rebecca took a little time to regain her balance and get used to her surroundings again, then looked around her. Around were Kiril, Artiel, and Iracuz but also a fourth person she never thought she saw here. Even less than Kiril.
- "Rita ?!" she intoned.
The old lady was leaning on her cane, barely standing. Her complexion was pale but despite the fatigue, she began to smile.
- "Glad to see you too," said the old woman.
- "Why are you here too ?!" resumed Artiel.
- "Do you know anyone else who can do shadow magic as well as me?" retorted the old woman, weakly hitting the young man with her cane. "We'll talk about your runaway afterward, we have to go."
- "No !" suddenly cut off Rebecca.
All turned to the young woman, their eyes surprised and intrigued. What was happening? Why should they stay? Rebecca inhaled for a moment before resuming.
- "The Master is here" she announced by bringing a silence of grave on all the group.
"…"
- "You don't think that…" Artiel began, stopping in the middle of his sentence.
After a few seconds, Rebecca answered.
- "This mana ... these vibrations, the emotion it gives off," she said before pausing. "Intense, imposing. It was like…"
- "Anger" ended the old one.
---
Far higher in the air, above the city, Isaac floated quietly.
- "Search: Rebecca"
The Search spell was something Rebecca had taught Isaac. It was in fact an ancient rune passed from generation to generation by their elders and which allowed them to search for an element of an area.
Its origin or its functioning had been lost for generations. So, the whole village only had three runic stones, fifteen marking stones and did not have the knowledge nor the skills to create new ones.
It is a useful tool, especially for assassination missions. As long as the caster roughly knows the distinguishing elements of what they are looking for, the spell will return via different sensations if they find the desired item.
Normally, in order to use this rune, marker stones must be placed to demarcate the boundaries of the search area.
Nevertheless, after a few hours of analysis, Isaac had managed to improve the rune somewhat by adding some features to it. So, like the golems, he added a system of relative coordinates to it.
The reason why marker stones were required to trace an area was to serve as spatial landmarks. The Geloms, on the other hand, position themselves differently and use themselves as a point of localization and coordination.
Also, after modifying the rune, it was much easier to use but much more complex.
In front of Isaac, an arcana about five meters in diameter traced before his hand before suddenly dissipating and releasing an intense wave of mana forward.
The wave swept across much of the city before a strange sensation hit Isaac. It was a kind of feeling of success. Rebecca was in town and he had roughly her position.
She was near the ramparts in a narrow lane between several houses, which surprised him a lot. Wouldn't she be in prison or something like that? Why would she be out of a cell?
Puzzled, he turned his gaze to the indicated area before widening his eyes slightly.
"What…"
Looking down, in the alley where Rebecca was, was a dark and empty spot. His mana vision showed him like an abyss. An empty zone, lifeless and without mana.
It was something he had never seen and just as he noticed it, it was instantly gone. Isaac narrowed his eyes seriously.
"What was that ?! Is this magic? Are they being pursued?"
Immediately, the image of Iracuz appeared in his mind. It didn't bode well for him, so he decided to move quickly to action. Without wasting a single moment, the pages of the grimoire began to turn and then stopped.
He had to take action against any potential magic opponent.
The spellbook inscriptions, as well as Isaac's eyes, suddenly took on a golden glow before Isaac came to place his hands in front of him before chanting aloud:
- "Mana banishment"