['Saddle her up, she'll rest along the way, i'm pretty sure you're well aware that time is not on our side foreseer.']
'You're right, we should get moving.' Antenela admittedly conceded.
Her face bore the look of a defeated woman but she knew it was the right decision, she was just overly concerned about the wellbeing of her friend.
'All right then, it's time to get going.'
Theodochus pulled a pouch from the depth of the fur on his thigh, he reached into it and brought his hand out with a pinch of mysterious dust between his fingers. He sprinkled it onto two of his wolves causing them to double in size instantaneously making them large enough to ride.
Their ears continued to grow longer by a few inches afterwards but no one noticed that.
Sage and Theodochus each mounted their wolves and started moving forward while Elsie's team of travellers remained put, stunned by the sight they had just witnessed.
While advancing, Theodochus raised a statement aimed at Antenela.
'I didn't get your name foreseer.'
She paused for a bit before she responded, attempting to collect her words.
'It's Antenela!' She shouted.
'Well Antenela, you ever heard the phrase time waits for no man?' He asked, prompting the group to hurry up.
'Right.'
After that he turned to his wolf and whispered 'Keep your ears fixed on that one for me will you.'
The travellers began to get their bearings together and make headway. The pair of mythical beasts were now a fair distance ahead of them but they were still in sight.
Seeing to it that they only took two wolves with them and left the rest of the pack behind, Antenela's suspicions were aroused once more and she saw the distance between the two groups as the perfect opportunity to investigate them further.
As they trailed behind, she told the others to maintain the distance. As skeptical as ever, Franck questioned her decision.
'We have to catch up mademoiselle foreseer.' he said. 'We can't be this far behind the protectors of the wild in such an environment, it's not safe for us.'
'I doubt that.' She responded with certainty.
'What do you mean? They know this land far better than any of us mademoiselle, I just think it would be wiser for us to stay close.'
'I get that Franck, but I'm not entirely convinced by these two. I'm getting a real sense of ulterior motives in play here and until I find out what they are, I'm not lowering my guard.'
'What? Why would you think that??'
'Well, when we first bumped into the protectors the meat head with horse legs wanted to kill us on sight right? But then his boss showed up from a secluded area in the forest and convinced him otherwise...'
'That's because they were taking cover from the dark cloud that had just annihilated their land mademoiselle foreseer, remember? Sage must've gone out to check if it was safe while his master remained hidden and protected.'
She ignored him and carried on with her analysis.
'Judging from the freshness of the remains scattered around the swamp the incident happened at least a day prior, and given that we were still in the mainland chasing our own tails during that time they should have had enough time to regroup and trace the enemies' footsteps.'
'Well maybe they were just waiting for help, they did require reinforcements.'
'Maybe, but that doesn't align with what the faun said to us when we first met, 'The last guests we had weren't invited.' even his underling looked baffled by that statement Franck.
You know why? That's because the implication was that he had called out specifically for us but I would've been notified by the forest nymph had such an action occurred.
My guess is that they may have received word of a separate oncoming group from a different source, and they'd planned an ambush to snuff them out, but we caught them off guard by taking a shortcut and emerging right from the mainland forcing them to improvise.
As soon as they found out we were after The Book of Silver thoughts they decided a collaboration was what would work best with their plans, and I'm willing to bet they're going to dispose of us as soon as they get what they need.'
'So you think that they may be deceiving us? Do you perhaps think they may know who was truly behind the massacre then?'
'No. I believe them, i just don't think they gave us the whole story.'
Franck gave her his full attention whereas Robert remained a polarised figure with how disinterested he seemed. He heard everything nonetheless, in fact deep down he was barely surprised. He never invested much trust in the pair anyway.
Even so, he was impressed by Antenela's analytic skills, even he hadn't picked up on any of that and he holds himself to quite a high regard when it comes to raw intelligence.
Duly he spoke out, almost reluctantly but he was quite obviously peeved to the point that he needed to vent.
'I knew a sack of shit like 'em couldn't be up to no good. I'll have ya'll know i planned on shooting 'em in the head as soon as we got to where we needed to be anyways.'
'You know Robert, if Sage heard you saying anything like about his master he'd probably have those monsters of his swallow us whole.' Franck said.
'Yeah well I was referring to the both of them.'
Franck glared at Robert disbelievingly, the level of impudence being exhibited by his compatriot rendered him speechless, in that moment he realised that nothing was capable of taming this man.
Antenela carried on.
'Anyway, I think we need a plan of action, it's likely that at this very moment they're plotting on how they'll take all our belongings and ditch us once we arrive at our destination, we have to find a way to counter that.'
Meanwhile Theodochus and Sage had a discussion of their own.
'HAHAHAAHAHA! You've got to be kidding me Sage, that's why you dislike women?'
'Their entire species can't be trusted, it needs to be wiped out entirely. Just hearing them speak gets me in a nauseated state.'
'Hehehehehe, you're killing me man. You know, I had a wife once. Wonderful woman , human of course; she was a writer so she had a lot going for her up there, as for me? Haha, as clueless as a bat is blind.
Naturally, I yearned for her knowledge and I aspired to surpass her, so one time I demanded that she handover all her knowledge to me being the senseless beast I was, instead she chose to educate me.
Now imagine that, a war monger like me scoring such an abundantly talented woman like her, mental. I would count myself lucky just to get the chance to see her each day and hold meaningful conversations with her. It was quite the privilege to lay beside such a delicate beaut every night; each with a book in our hands, and do you know what we'd do afterwards?'
'You beheaded her?'
'No Sage, we got intimate, in the best way we knew how – information exchange.'
'Yuck!' Sage blurted in disgust.
Unbothered, Theodochus carried on with his story.
'I'd summarise my readings and share my favourite parts of the book I'd just read and she'd do the same, then we'd dissect it together and she'd explain all the nuances to me. The process of learning was simply amazing to me, it was titillating in fact, to the point where I'd be aroused by the mere concept of it.'
'Ergh , I think I'm gonna be sick.'
'I loved everything about her. Her dirt blonde coily hair constantly tied into a partly braided bun with the bangs overhanging. Her pale but perfect skin embellished with freckles and a beauty spot just below her lip. Her astute posture and slender physique almost illustrative of her sublime personality and charisma, her soft, sweet voice akin to that of a blissful humming bird at the beginning of a long anticipated spring day and her angelic stride which made it seem like she was hovering instead of walking.'
'Sounds no different from the thousands of other tramps my kind had stoned for their crimes against my people.'
'Haha, loosen up Sage that was hundreds of years ago. One day you'll find your heroine as well and she'll erase all the sufferings of your past and carry you beyond the horrors of this world to a paradise you never even dreamt possible. Hopefully one day I'll be reunited with mine.'
He fashioned a sentimental smile, visibly emotional. Sage noticed and looked at him with a degree of remorse, he began to feel some empathy for his long term partner, although lasting only for a few seconds before he snapped out of it.
'In fact, how about you just take me to the nearest lake. I think I'll just drown myself there.' Said Sage.
'Hahahahahahaha!' Out of sheer amusement Theodochus burst into uncontainable laughter.
Antenela's group continued to craft a nifty plan in a bid to outwit Theodochus and Sage, having listed all the possibilities they came to a mutual agreement that Franck would create a distraction once the opportunity arose, allowing Robert to snatch the faun's pouch and then have Antenela use it against them.
Fairly straight forward in its inception, they knew it was going to have to be intricate in its execution if they were to stand any chance of success.
As soon as they finished, Theodochus made an announcement directed at every member of the travellers.
'I need you all to listen, the path we're on will lead us to The Book of Silver Thoughts one way or the other. Any one us is likely to stumble upon it and have the responsibility of activating it's power, i ask that each one of you keep your minds clear and establish your goals right now to ensure that they are all aligned.
Think clearly of what you want and what you need from the book, also think about what you would like to avoid, once in your hands any hesitation could prove futile.'
They all listened carefully and silently agreed with what he said.
He turned and looked at each one of the travellers who had now caught up with him and Sage, he looked deep into their eyes ensuring that they were all on the same wavelength. The common goal was to dispell the evil which was quickly polluting the planet, they all knew that.
Moments after, they arrived at a gigantic grassland dispersed with small huts and a vast number of hunting tools all round. These were all visible from outside the impenetrable looking barrier which barricaded the place. It was a village built right in the middle of the wild.
Under usual circumstances that would be considered flirting with danger, but the inhabitants of this village were no usual civilians, and the travellers would soon find that out.