Arya gazed in awe, admiring the speed with which Gizem and Arian leaped from one tree to another, making almost no sound as they slowly disappeared into the darkness. " I thought only Gizem was going to be scout. So why is Arian going along?" asked Arya as he panted from exhaustion.
Arya still had the body of an underdeveloped four-year-old, so his stamina wasn't all that much, and just keeping up with Geld and Abigail was quite an arduous task for him.
" He's going ahead to find a good sniping spot in case Gizem alerts us of any enemies. He's also setting up traps in case there might be any unwanted tails following us after we leave," replied Geld as he turned to look at Arya, surprised that he was sweating this much after they had just started the mission.
"Magic is good and all, but you should really consider taking up some physical training. You never know when it might come in handy," said Geld with a shaded expression that Arya couldn't make out because of the darkness.
Arya was a bit skeptical of Arian's disappearance. He suspected that Arian might be the mole but didn't want to arouse any ill feelings from the group by blaming someone they had been friends with for a long time. So he kept his feelings to himself but stayed alert ready to kill Arian if need be.
After running for a while Arya felt like he might collapse at any second, just as he was about to ask Geld to rest for a bit he heard a sound coming from behind them. "Did you hear that-" Arya tried saying when something hit him across the head?
Arya woke up to the smell of smoke and the burning sensation of embers flying onto his face. He tried to stand up but found that had been tied to a tree along with Abigail. He looked around but they were the only ones there.
"What happened?" Arya asked still a bit groggy from being hit on the head. "He betrayed us. I never thought he would do this. I-I I trusted him, so how could he?" Abigail said, disbelief audible in her voice. "Who betrayed us? Arian? Did he kill Geld?" asked Arya as he regained his senses and slowly realized the situation he was in.
The forest around him was being burned to the ground, and he could hear wails calling for help in the distance. "I never thought he would do this," muttered Abigail, seemingly withdrawn from reality as she didn't seem to notice Arya's question.
" Abigail snap out of this, this isn't the time to be breaking down. If Arian betrayed us then why hasn't he killed us yet? Why would he let us live?" asked Arya a bit suspicious of the situation. Arya had grown overly cautious over the years, and the fact that the enemy would leave two mages unharmed in the midst of an attack didn't quite sit right with him.
"He said he'd give us a chance to live if we just walked away from this. He said that we couldn't do anything to stop them anyway. How could he do this? I never thought he would do this," muttered Abigail.
"Did Arian's betrayal really affect her this much? Perhaps she was secretly in love with him. But no matter how I look at it, bringing her along would just slow me down. Sure she can use healing magic but in this state she can't even walk properly." thought Arya as he used ice magic to freeze the ropes that bound them. "Child of water heed my call, freeze that which angers me." chanted Arya as the ropes around him slowly became engulfed by ice. "Break", shouted Arya and the ropes broke into a million tiny shards.
" I never thought he would do this," muttered Abigail even after they were freed. "Yup there's no way I can take her along with me." thought Arya as he left her behind and ran in the direction that Raghnall had told them to go. Although Abigail was part of the same group he was in, Arya didn't know her well enough to put his life in jeopardy for her, heck even if they had known each other for two years Arya wondered if he would risk his life for her then.
As Arya ran deeper into the forest he found several bodies sprawled on the floor covered in blood, many of them were Silver-fox's mercenaries but some Arya remembered were part of the freed slaves group. "What the heck is going on here." thought Arya as he was welcomed by more and more bodies.
As Arya continued walking he heard the clanging of metal hitting metal and decided to hide behind some trees and find out what was going on. Arian and some mercenaries seemed to be fighting someone, but Arya couldn't make out who it was. "Whoever it is I have to help them. It seems some of the mercenaries were in on it as well." thought Arya as he chanted "Child of water heed my call, bring about a chill to freeze my foes".
A breeze swept through the air and froze Arian and the mercenaries' feet to the ground. Their opponent didn't miss this opening and quickly dealt with the mercenaries in one swift blow. He was about to hit Arian as well but Arian managed to free himself and dodge just in the nick of time.
"Drats." thought Arya when he saw Arian escape from his doom. Arya could finally make out who their opponent was. It was Geld, but he seemed to be adorned in a different set of gear, "He probably put that on when he realized the situation. Maybe he has it for emergencies like these." thought Arya as he shouted to Geld. "Geld I'll support you from behind, just go ahead and fight him with no holds barred."
In that split second Geld appeared in front of Arya and was about to swing his axe down on him. "I told you to turn your back on this. You should've left when I gave you the chance," said Geld as Arya was about to meet his doom.
"I don't think so," said Arian as three arrows hit a chink between Geld's armor on his neck causing him to stumble backward. "What the hell is going on here?" thought Arya as he tried to make sense of what had just happened.