Gavin stared at Carrie, trying to decipher her words, his heart beating erratically against his chest at the thoughts beginning to form in his head. Before he could conclude anything, however, a sound of a scream came, alerting them both as they nodded and ran toward the origin of the voice.
"Ahh! Get away! Get away from me!" Keagan screamed as two squirrels surrounded him that almost looked as if they wanted to play with him.
"Keagan!" Princess Carrie called as she saw the man on the ground.
"Ahh! Princess!" Keagan began to cry like a baby as he hurriedly ran toward Princess Carrie.
Gavin held Keagan's shirt collar, pulling him away from the princess. "Clean your face first." Then with a more serious face, he asked, "What happened here?"
"Didn't you see, Prince? I'm being attacked by those creatures!" Keagan, this man child prince, whined, receiving another cloth from Princess Carrie and hurriedly used it to wipe the dirt from his face.
The two squirrels ran away quickly at the arrival of two more people. Noticing this, Princess Carrie couldn't help but utter, "Such weird and mean squirrels bullying the weak like this..."
"Not only mean but they are evil! They want me to eat those acorns but who knows what's in that acorn? I already know from class that anything we eat outside the capital can be poisonous! Especially from their likes, what if they want to kill me?!" Keagan said.
Amazed by the over reaction of their classmate, Gavin turned around and began to check the surroundings, particularly for any trace of anyone else from their group. "Have you seen Asher and Tamara? Aren't you with them?"
"I'm not sure about hunter Asher, he disappeared when you two did. But haven't you seen Tamara? Your Highness, I thought you're with her. She told me that she's going to look for you and that you probably got lost. As for the princess, those hunters Sid and Bran went looking for her. They told me to stay here. Didn't you see them?" Keagan innocently asked.
Gavin and Carrie looked at each other, silently exchanging knowing looks. Tamara and Asher... it might be that one of them was also working with Sid and Bran. The question was who?
"Keagan, do you remember anything unusual Asher did or said? How about Tamara?" Gavin asked.
Keagan tilted his head to the side. "I'm not sure about anything unusual... Oh! I think there is. Earlier, hunter Asher said something about illusions but thinking back on it, Tamara said something too but it's the opposite."
"What did he say?" Princess Carrie asked.
"Hunter Asher said the illusions would be perceived by-"
Keagan's eyes widened as his body froze and in one second, he fell down.
"Keagan!" Princess Carrie immediately went to him, checking his neck. "He's alive, but he fainted..."
Frowning, Gavin looked at the direction where the rustling sound of bushes came. "Stay here." Then he swiftly moved to the bushes, running after the shadow figure that appeared and tried to escape. The faster Gavin moved, the blurry the images around him became. Directly aiming to tackle the person down, Gavin sprinted faster, silently thinking he would need to transform if he wanted to catch up with this person.
Just as he was about to do so, a barrier came before him mid-air, halting him in his steps as he did. The person in black hood, covering their face stood on the branch of the tree as if looking down at Gavin.
As much as Gavin wanted to know who it was, it was impossible as such the person's face was entirely covered by the hood and all he could see was a shadow inside from the distance. Judging from the use of these barriers and the movement this person used, their abilities relied more on indirect combat than a closer confrontation. In short, they worked easily and best from afar.
Helpless, Gavin watched as the shadow figure in a hooded cloak jumped from tree to tree, slowly disappearing into the forest.
Asher or Tamara? Gavin asked himself inside but suddenly thought of the figure of the person. Judging only by the stature, it wasn't Asher, but it wasn't Tamara, either. It could be that they were just too good at hiding their true form. That, or there was another person with them in this mountain.
The spirit...
"Gavin!"
Gavin turned back to where he had left Princess Carrie and Keagan, immediately running back to them. When he did, he was surprised to find both Tamara and Asher standing, slightly away from where Princess Carrie and the unconscious Kegan were.
"Your Highness," Asher greeted with a bow. "I have been looking everywhere for you and the rest. I have told you about the illusions earlier..."
Gavin quickly moved next to Princess Carrie, only taking one small step as he faced the two newly arrived people. "And what did you say to Keagan?"
"Your Highness?" Asher looked at the prince.
"I am asking you now. What did you say to Keagan earlier about those illusions?" Gavin asked.
Princess Carrie tried to wake Keagan up but the man child didn't respond. From the looks of it, he seemed to have fallen into a deep sleep.
"Second Prince, are you trying to say there's an impostor among us?" Tamara asked, face expressionless as usual.