The elf's gaze drifted to Stephan's back then to the back of his head. The hilt of his sword was trembling because of the grip of his hand. There was a secret rage within him because a kid was able to guess their plan. He was debating whether to kill him or just leave him and see how things would play out. Who was in their right mind to state that he understood the horrible plan that was undercover for years? The kid looked weak for someone who have enough confidence. Could it be he already had a way to protect himself with?
"I will predict two things," Stephan stopped. His eyes glanced back at the hesitant silhouette of the elf. "First, you will not cut me with that sword. There are many reasons for that; you will desire what I have in my head; you will want where my excessive confidence comes from; you will want the reason why I am doing this quest. For an apprentice mage like me and because of the reputation of the mages, it's gonna be hard to believe I was doing this for the benefit of humanity. Second, you will tag along to kill the messengers so that your plan would go ahead."
With each sentence, Stephan advanced one step away from Richard, ambling toward the campfire. There was a secret fear inside him that his predictions wouldn't come to life and he would be slain there. Soprana was still with the others. Probably keeping her eyes on the others. She was a weird woman like Aurora.
"Your arrogance will kill you one day, kid. But I hate to admit you are right. I still don't understand why you are doing this. But anyone standing in the way of our plan will get executed. No matter if they are elves or humans. I only live for the sake of my mission."
His tone seemed as if he would be taking the apprentice mage's head anytime he wanted. Aside from witches, elves were capable warriors, except for those two. They seemed the weakest ones of their race. Stephan returned to his seat next to the campfire in one piece.
"Did you have a good time, darlin'?" Soprana breathed against his ear, sending shivers down his spine. What did she want at the moment? Furthermore, everyone was watching and it would give them the wrong idea about their relationship.
"What do you mean by good time? I don't see any good in an assassin following you," his lips twisted downwards, almost pitying his poor self. It was in those moments that he hated his lack of power.
"Indeed. But you see, darling. You can simply take back what you said previously and they will be part of your past. A bad memory you will throw away," her hand meandered to his chest, releasing her seductive charms.
"I am considering that, following what happened," he narrowed his eyes at her. "Do you also do children?" he was asking seriously. "No, just forget about it. It was a strange thing to ask. I am not interested in knowing at all."
It took him more than an hour to read, reread, re-reread the riddle. Soprana tried to look into what he was interested in so keenly but the language was strange; she had never seen it… Alright! Maybe somewhere but she couldn't from where she had a recollection of it in her mind. According to Stephan, the garment came from the tower of darkness. She leaned on his back and then started a series of exchanging the garment between their hands. He focused on the riddle while she examined the symbols and tried to restore the rest but it was impossible. What was lost was lost.
"So what do you think about it? Can you guess the first part of the riddle… In my being, I hold all solution."
"I have no idea about it. But most importantly, I hate the eyes of those three elves. They are disrespectful," she glared. I would prefer for you to not be murdered in the middle of the night," she emphasized. "Sleep is important for women, do you know how much beauty we get from it?" her hands cupped her cheeks, pouting.
"Just let them be. They won't do anything. At least, not for now," the serious mask he was wearing slipped off slightly. A strange thought resurged in his head, what if Soprana refused to protect him in a dire situation and asked for more? What would he do in that situation?
"Your master must have written that riddle, right?"
"What makes you say that?"
"It's simple! You said she sent you on this quest, which means that she already knew all this. She knows what will happen. It's an easy thing to say in fact. I took it a habit to throw the blame at her whenever her name is brought up. I bet she wants you to ruin things for them. It's her signature personality; Aurora Von Peregrinator likes to ruin things for others."
"Did someone say Aurora Von Peregrinator?" Richard was eavesdropping on their conversation; he got some things and some others were lost. He understood the presence of a riddle left by someone named Aurora Von Peregrinator. "What are you to that criminal?"
Soprana lowered her gaze then her voice to a whisper and let out an expletive. Were they people going after her? But what was with the criminal nickname? She burst into laughter. "She finally did it again. What did she do again? Did she steal some stupid artifact of yours?"
"How?" Stephan demanded. "What are you talking about?"
"Don't tell me you don't know anything about that woman, kid."
Stephan looked at Soprana for an explanation but she kept laughing. "Stop laughing, you witch. I would be happy to have your head hanging in one of my training dummies."
"Stop being such a sore loser," she threw a defying gaze at the elf, thinking about how to get him to her bed.
"Listen, kid. That woman, she…"
"No, don't talk about her. I am sick of hearing her name each time something happened. Do you know how much it rang in my head? It's nightmarish. Let's leave her aside! I have a more important thing to care about right now. I want it to be taboo. I don't want to hear anything about her."