Hearing footsteps retreating, Sylus opened his eyes looking around, he noticed that Tyla and the man was gone and so was the wolf.
He had stayed quiet and listened to everything that has been said and he couldn't help but be grateful for the time being, they get to keep their heads.
He feared for Maya's safety more than he feared for his own, the last thing he wanted was for Maya to get hurt because of their past actions.
His gaze finally settled on the woman on the ground, who was soundly asleep and he couldn't help but wonder how did she had managed to survive, he could swear that the sword had pierced her heart or maybe he was wrong. Thinking back on the events, he remembered the wolf and Rom's words and realised that the wolf was indeed with her and Rom was right to think that, that's how she survived.
He thought that Rom was making stuff up for the longest time but then again he also thought that the Queen Mother was human. He scoffed at his own thoughts which made Maya open her eyes and look at him with questioning gaze.
" Close your eyes Maya! Save your strength!" he lightly chided with a sorrowful look on his face feeling guilty about the situation they were in.
Maya closed her eyes without saying anything ,thinking that time was precious and should not be wasted pondering on useless matter and that you never know when your end is near.
With that thought in her mind, she nodded to herself and opened her eyes to look at Sylus " Make me your wife" she uttered in a spent voice before closing her eyes and drifted to unconsciousness.
Sylus's eye snapped opened hearing Maya's voice, he couldn't believe what she just said, pinching her chin to make look at him, he realised that she had lost consciousness and now she laid senseless in his arms, all he could was now wait for her to come to her senses.
Somewhere in the forest Tyla roamed picking up as much fruit as she could find, seeing that were quite a lot of mouths to feed and it was getting hard for her to move around now with everything that she carried, hearing light footsteps padding behind her, she turned around to look to see who was it, that was so light on their feet that barely made a sound.
Her eyes widened in surprise when her eyes fell upon the person aproaching her " Leah?" she questioned bearly recognising the girl aproaching her that was in the worst state she had ever seen anyone.
" Run!" she uttered in a spent voice before collapsing on the ground lifeless.
Tyla dropped everything and ran to her falling on her knees, she checked to see if she was still breathing but quickly realised that she was dead.
Getting up from the ground, she turned around to find the wolf behind her bearing it's teeth at her, she took a step back thinking that the wolf was after her but when he ran past her she turned look and saw a group of soldiers heading her way dressed in full armour with their swords drawn.
Tyla gasped and quickly turned around and ran in the direction she had the left the others to let them know that they have company and not a pleasant one.
Panting and breathless she caught sight of Ian who was looking around the forest as if searching for something " They are coming!" she shouted not waiting to get to him to let him know.
Hearing what Tyla said, Ian ran to meet her half way " Go to Iris and the others, do whatever it takes to protect her!" he commanded while running past her in the direction that she came from without waiting for her reply and disappeared in the forest.
Ian ran as fast he could, closing his eyes " It's your turn!" he mumured under his breath, opening his eyes that blazed like the sun, he felt his feet go faster and his body burning and a surge of imense power surging through him.
Catching sight of the group of soldier trekking through the forest, he ran past a woman lying on the floor and the wolf that was watching from a distance the soldiers, as waiting for the right moment to strike.
Skipping the introductions and the pleasantries, he jumped in front of them and began his attack, swigging his sword left and right not giving them a chance to organise themselves and begin their attack.
He had no intention in starting a conversation, he wanted to end this quick, not wanting to give them a chance to slip through the gaps in his defences.
He blocked the incoming attacks and continued swigging his sword without mercy cutting through their limbs and armour while his sword turned red and he could feel the heat radiating from it, every blow that he landed was fatal and left no room for his attackers to come back and strike again.
Panting, covered in the blood of the people that he had slaughtered, looking around he gathered they were at least 30 of them and now he could let his guard down and be at ease to go back to Iris and the others.
Letting out a heavy sigh at the amount of dead people in front of him, sheathing his sword, he heard the wolf growl and someone fell with a thud behind him, turning around to look at the what fell on the ground, his eyes settled on man laying on his back with the wolf on top of him, baring his teeth at the soldier who was glowering at the wolf.
Ian scoffed, unsheathing his sword he lowered himself on the ground to have better look at the soldier " You are not very smart are you?" he rhetorically asked smirking at the soldier.
" I will stop at nothing to get that filthy bitch!" the soldier muttered in disdain while he shifted his eyes on Ian.
" You don't know when to quit,do you!?" he smirked again while he lifted his sword and plunged it straight through his heart in one swift move, watching the soldier giving his last breath.
Ian stood up, looking down at the wolf who got off the soldier and ran back towards the camp without looking back howling.
He knew that the people he just killed were innocent but he had no choice, he couldn't allow himself to feel pity. Right now, Iris's safety was his priority and he wouldn't let anything happen to her and the witch seemed relentless in getting what she wanted.
Time was of the essence they must find out how the break the bond between witch and the people she had inslaved.
Going after her and ending her it would be easy after that, sighing heavily raking his hand through his hair he started to make his way back to the camp, trekking at a slow pace, carefully keeping an eye open to see if any of them had ran into the forest and hide.
The woman that he saw earlier, came into his view, bending down to check on her, he realised that she was gone and he had gathered that the soldiers had something to do with it.
Judging by the state of her body covered in slashes and deep cuts, not many people would have survived.
Pulling the hem of her dress to check on her shoulder, he cursed under his breath when saw the mark and realised that she was one of Iris's priestesses.