Being unconscious is a strange sensation, there are times when you do not know where you are or who you are, but other times, even though you are not fully conscious, you can be aware of what is going on around you, even though your body cannot move. It is in the latter situation that if a person has a sufficiently powerful will and makes a greater mental effort than normal, they can manage to move a part of their body for a short period of time.
While falling Kunoichi managed to see who had attacked her from behind, it was another character dressed in white, making a last effort, managed to extend a hand to touch his boots, but everything darkened like a black curtain that fell over her eyes and she did not get to see anything else.
She opened her eyes after a long time, but apparently it had not been that long, for the stabbing pain of the blow still throbbed in the back of her head. She was gagged and bound hand and foot. Without making any sudden movements so that they would not notice that she had regained consciousness, she observed her surroundings, analyzing where she was.
It was a small cell that barely had enough space for her to be inside, obviously it had not been designed for a human being but for something smaller, probably an animal or perhaps an avian of very short stature. The space was so tight that she, being less than a meter and a half tall, had a hard time being cramped in that cell. The bars were made of steel, they looked quite strong and it would not be possible to file them down in time to warn the others of the danger.
She regretted not having taken an intercom coin with her, but they only worked for a few hours, so Faye would have had to enchant others that day. She took another look and could see that she was in some sort of warehouse, there were wooden crates with different products, there was no sign of her kidnappers. Then she heard the door open and pretended she was still passed out.
- Why are you keeping her alive? we should finish her off. - Said one of the voices a few meters away.
- She can serve us as a hostage, besides, once the city falls, she will die along with all the usurpers. - Said the other voice, which seemed to be Mathew's.
- Help me load the explosive rocks into the container, this one is destined for the core, the other groups have already gone to demolish the remaining targets. - Said the unidentified voice.
She could hear how they loaded the container with the contents of the boxes, then they closed the door and left, apparently the cargo had some kind of explosive spell, like fireballs, but more powerful, she did not know what they meant by "the core" but judging by their words, it could be a magical artifact that kept the city floating above the clouds. Judging by the rays of light coming in, a couple of hours had passed, it wasn't so dark anymore, it was probably half past five or six in the morning. The first explosions would take place before long.
They had taken all her weapons from her, in fact she could see them lying on the floor several meters away behind one of the empty boxes, but they had not taken the precaution of checking her completely. She pulled one of the hairpins out of her hair, which was a concealed lock pick, having her hands tied made it difficult for her to work on the lock, but after a while, the lock clicked open. She pushed the door all the way open and crawled across the floor to where her weapons were, grabbed her dagger and cut her bindings. She tried to open the door, but it was locked as well. It seemed way too easy for her already...
A few minutes later in another part of the city, the group awoke after a good night's sleep. They had no idea what had happened while they were peacefully resting.
- Good morning! - Faye said, banging on the doors to wake everyone up. - Get up now, we have to go shopping!
- No way, we just went shopping yesterday and you want to come back? - said Ashram half drowsily.
- Yesterday we didn't have much money, today we have seven thousand gold coins that we can use. - Replied Faye beaming with happiness, the prospect of spending a whole day shopping cheered her up too much. - Get up at once, the day has already begun.
- Where is Kunoichi? asked Mila pointing to the empty bed.
- What's wrong? asked Ashram entering the bedroom without asking permission.
- Kunoichi is not here, maybe she got up early and went somewhere. - said Zafiro.
- The bed is unmade and cold, if she got up, it hasn't been recently. - Said Ashram touching the bed. - Also her things are gone. This is very strange.
- Mathew is not here either! - Runkdar said. - His bed is also messed up, the backpack is here, but nothing else.
- Do you think something could have happened to them? - Zafiro asked.
- It looks like it, but I'm not sure what. - Ashram answered, looking around.
- Maybe someone kidnapped them. - Said Mila very worried.
- Impossible, I see no signs of a struggle, if they were taken by force, the rooms would be in disarray, even if they had put us under a sleep spell so we wouldn't notice the noise of a struggle, there would be clues as to what happened. - Ashram said.
As he searched for answers to the mystery of his companions' disappearance, a voice interrupted his musings.
- Good morning! - said Mathew who had just come up the stairs.
- Mathew! They exclaimed when they saw him arrive.
- We thought something had happened to you! - Said Mila somewhat relieved to see him in one piece.
- Where did you go mate? - Runkdar asked.
- Yes, where did you go so early in the morning? and do you have any idea where my sister might be? because just like you, she went off in an unknown direction. - Ashram asked, looking Mathew from head to toe.
- Ah what happened is that we went to visit the healing rooms, we wanted to visit Pantaleon to ask for his condition, we thought it was bad that none of us remembered him. - Said Mathew
- Ah well, but why didn't you wait for us? we would have liked to go with you to see him. - Said Mila with crossed arms.
- We didn't want to bother anyone, you were all so tired. - Said Mathew.
- So where is my sister? Why isn't she coming with you? - Ashram asked again.
- She decided to stay a little longer, she said she would go to the market afterwards to buy something, so we could give her the scope there. - Mathew continued.
- Perfect! - Faye said. - So that's what we'll do, we'll have breakfast in a hurry and go to the market to meet up with her.
- You guys have breakfast, I'll go find my sister. - Said Ashram very seriously.
- But what's the hurry? - said Mila quite concerned.
- Nothing, I just don't want her to be far away from us. This is not our world. - Said Ashram. - I won't be at ease until she is back safe.
- Hmmm I'm all for eating before anything else, but it doesn't seem right to let you go alone mate. If you feel it's necessary to go immediately to look for her, then I'll go with you. - Said Runkdar taking his things.
- Yes, let's all go, Ashram is right, we can't leave her alone, once we're all gathered we'll have something to eat over there. - Said Faye picking her bags up and combing her hair.
They gathered their belongings quickly and hurried off towards the avian market, something strange was going on, Mathew seemed nervous, as if he was uncomfortable being there with them. The paladin had been acting somewhat out of character since the fireball knocked him unconscious, perhaps seeing that Pantaleon had suffered severe or permanent damage had affected him too much psychologically, yet a post traumatic stress disorder did not produce such an extreme change in personality, at least not immediately. Ashram's mind began to analyze the signs at great speed, previously he had been overlooking many things, because he did not want to be paranoid or worry his friends for no reason, but this was already too much.
They arrived at the market in a few minutes and headed towards the center, where they had arranged to meet the day before, if Kunoichi was going to give them the scope, that would be the place where they would meet. They waited a few minutes without saying anything, Mathew tapped the ground nervously with the tip of his boot, and the more time passed, the more nervous Mathew became, making that sound more frequently. Ashram watched the paladin for a few minutes, his eyes widened like plates when he discovered something he hadn't noticed before, so he broke the silence.
- All right Mathew, where is my sister? wasn't she going to meet us here? - asked the druid very seriously.
- She should be here soon. - Mathew answered trying to act cool
- Maybe she was delayed... - Said Zafiro.
- No, she''s not delayed... because she's not on her way here! - Said Ashram very seriously. - Isn't it true?
- I don't know what you mean. - Replied the paladin.
- Of course you do, you know where my sister is and you are going to tell me right now. If you want to stay alive! - Said Ashram holding Mathew by the arm.
- Calm down Ashram, Mathew has no idea. - Said Runkdar trying to separate them.
- Let go Runkdar! - Said Ashram. - Zafiro, hold Mathew! Hurry! before it's too late.
- Alright... - Said Zafiro who didn't want to see her two friends fight, but she listened and grabbed Mathew from behind.
- Stop it, don't fight! - Faye said, worried for her friends.
- Leave Mathew alone, it's not his fault that Kunoichi is late. - Mila said.
- Of course it's not Mathew's fault, in fact Mathew is most likely a victim in all of this. - Said Ashram, leaving everyone completely baffled.
What he was saying made no sense at all, first he accused Mathew, made Zafiro hold the poor guy down and now he was admitting that Mathew was innocent? His words had no logic whatsoever. Or did they?
- See? he said I'm innocent, let go of me Zafiro! - Mathew said trying to release from Zafiro's grip.
- Don't let go Zafiro! - Ashram ordered. - Mathew is innocent, because this guy here, he's not Mathew, haven't you noticed he's been acting strange since yesterday's attack? he's polite, he doesn't talk out of turn, he's not selfish, he doesn't even contradict me, don't you think that's suspicious?
You fool, saw that Mathew was a paladin and you decided to behave as one would, but our paladin is not like that, I would say he is the least paladin like that exists, you are an imposter and I know you know where my sister is, because of this. - Ashram continued, crouching down as he spoke, to take something from between Mathew's boots. It was a metal pin, the kind some girls wear in their hair, a very small pink one. - This is one of the ornaments my sister usually wears. I don't know what you did to her, but she managed to place this in your boot without you noticing. For your sake, I hope she's alive, or I will cause you pain in ways you could never imagine, until you beg for death. - Ashram said deadly serious, sending a shiver down everyone's spine. They had never seen him like this before, he was really scary.
Was that really true? Mathew was someone else? and he had done something to Kunoichi to top it off. How could they not have noticed?
- Hahahahahaha I'm impressed boy, well played, I didn't think your friend was so lousy as a paladin, it was my mistake not to watch you more carefully. - Said that person changing his voice, as he spoke his face was changing as if it was made of clay, to reveal his true face.
It was Pantaleon!