The door was open and were assaulted with the metallic stench of blood as we approached. I covered my nose, but Ishi and Marshall didn't seem bothered by it. I followed them through the kitchen, into the storage room which used to be a bed room.
It looked like something out of a horror movie. There was a chair in the middle of the room with sliced ropes dangling from it. Blood covered the chair and was splattered on the floor. There were deep claw marks on the floor behind the chair and Isola's stacks of papers and boxes of crap were knocked over. Some of the papers were stuck to the floor like glue after falling into the puddles of blood.
I felt my stomach drop at the scene. The strong smell of blood flooded my nostrils, along with Dania and Isola's unique scents. I saw the scene in front of me: Dania tied to a chair, Isola trying to free her… a large lioness entered and tackled her… there was a struggle… then there was something sweet? The vision blurred and all I could smell was the sickening metallic stench. My imagination must be running wild.
I felt my stomach turning and I ran for the door, just making it to the railing of the walkway before vomiting over the edge. Ishi and Marshall ran after me. Marshall got to me first and rubbed my back, asking if I was okay.
"I'm fine.. the smell was just a little strong." I assured him.
Ishi snorted at me and looked at me disdainfully as she said, "So weak.. You can't even handle that."
I finally turned away from the railing . Both Ishi and Marshall looked a little taken aback by my appearance.
"What?" I asked, feeling around my mouth in case I had some remnants on my face.
"Your eyes…" Marshall said.
"Yeah they change color in the sun for some reason…" I explained, even though he knows this.
"Do they normally glow red?" Ishi asked sarcastically.
"Red??" I asked, surprise written all over my face.
"Yeah, they are glowing too." Marshall said.
I remember that the last time I saw Marshall's eyes flash red was when he was drugged. I don't feel like I was drugged…
"I wonder if it has something to do with Mana…" I murmured to myself, remembering that Dr.H said I could see the physical manifestation of mana.
Marshall just remained silent and stared at me, worried.
"Did you see something?" Ishi asked.
Actually I did see something weird inside. I thought it was my imagination at first, but maybe it means something… especially if my eyes are glowing…
"I think I did." I answered her before describing what I saw inside the house.
"you are sure it was a lioness?" She asked me, not even questioning that I might have saw a vision of what happened.
"That's what I saw.." I replied.
"Can you tell where they went?" Ishi asked eagerly.
"No, it faded just before I got sick."
"Try to sniff it out, was there any kind of smell you can identify that might help us find them?" Ishi pressed.
I closed my eyes and recalled all the smells… the sickening stench of blood… the scents of Dania and Isola… and something sweet.
I stood just outside the doorway of Isola's house. I took a deep breath and picked up that sweet smell again.
"There! It smells kind of sweet, like cough medicine. Do you smell it?" I asked, excited.
Marshall sniffed all around, and Ishi looked at me like I lost my mind.
"Cough medicine is bitter, not sweet." She said dryly.
I realized that I was describing earth cough medicine… In this world they don't have medicine like that.
"I don't smell anything sweet…" Marshall said, as he finished sniffing.
"Weird…" I contemplated.
"Follow it." Ishi commanded with confidence.
I don't know if she was just desperate and worried about her sister, or if she actually believed me, but I followed her command and tracked the sweet smell as far as I could.
We followed it to the far edge of the city which was mostly uninhabited. It was farther past the showers and colosseum. We found traces of Dania's blood on a tree near a railing. As I approached the railing and looked down, I saw claw marks on the trees, as if someone had been using this tree to enter and exit the city for a while. I looked over at Ishi and saw the fury on her face.
She grabbed me and Marshall, without a word, and leaped over the edge, landing on the forest floor with one of us under each arm. She dropped Marshall on the ground unceremoniously and she gently placed me next to her.
"What do you smell?" She asked me.
Marshall, trying to be useful, started wandering around the tree and sniffing crazily. He went around the corner to strip and turn into his wolf while Ishi and I inspected the tree.
I felt the claw marks with my hand as I breathed in deep. I didn't smell that sweet scent anymore. It was replaced with something that was kind of earthy and confusing to pinpoint. I calmed my inner thoughts and focused. This is likely the way they took Dania and Isola, I need to find as much as I can.
I breathed in again, and the smell became stronger. I opened my eyes and saw them coming down the tree towards me. I jumped back as the vision became clearer. Two large lionesses and a sleek cougar dug their claws into the tree and slid down to the forest floor. One of the lionesses was carrying Dania and Isola over either of her broad shoulders. The other lioness appeared to be their leader. She took something from the cougar that was in a glass bottle and covered all of them with the liquid. The earthy smell became stronger and confused my senses- I couldn't smell anything else.. I couldn't even tell which direction the smell was coming from.
I tried to focus and at least read her lips, they appeared to be having a conversation. The cougar nodded and ran off first. The two lionesses stayed together and dashed into the woods. I could tell they all went in the same direction, which seemed to be towards the west, but my senses were confused by the earthy smell and I couldn't be sure.
I opened my eyes and I was standing in front of the tree, with my hand still placed on the claw marks. I turned to look at Ishi and she had a curious look on her face.
"Two lionesses and a cougar." I said confidently.
Ishi's eyes narrowed like a cat about to chase a mouse and she gave off a murderous aura. "Which direction did they go?"
"West I think? It was hard to tell since they put something on their bodies." I answered.
"Did it smell like wet moss?" She asked seriously.
"It definitely had a strong earthy smell. It made me confused."
She swore under the breath, then said, "Masking elixir." She seemed to be contemplating something.
I looked around and saw puppy Marshall a few paces away, about to lift his leg and relieve himself on a tree.
'Marshall! Stop! This is a crime scene; You can't do that here!' I yelled at him though the mind link.
He froze with his leg lifted as he looked my way. He then slowly lowered his leg without breaking eye contact.
He gave me a low whimper which meant, 'nature calls' as he ran off into the woods, towards the south.
I looked back at Ishi, who in turned looked down at me. "Huh. Your eyes are back to normal again." She said.
"Thank goodness." I heaved a sigh of relief. I really didn't want to permanently have glowing red eyes, that would be too scary.
"How confident are you that they went west?" She asked me, too lost in her thoughts to have notified the exchange between Marshall and I.
"Ummmm.. Maybe 60 percent?" I answered thoughtfully, adding "Possibly 65 percent?"
"Good enough for me." She grabbed my arm to lead me back, looked around, then looked back at me again. "Where's the dog?" She asked.
"He will be back later. He had some… business… to take care of…" I answered vaguely.
"Whatever. You can come with me." She said as she carried me like luggage and lept back up into the city.
She hastily led me towards the city plaza, and then towards the palace from there. The palace was a large multilevel building that spanned between at least 10 trees and was 3 stories tall. I had heard that they use the building as a town hall as well as a palace for the royal family. The palace sat just above all the main buildings in town, so you had to climb 2 stories worth of stairs to enter the main floor of it.
We climbed up the stairs to gain entrance. As soon as they saw Ishi, they parted and allowed her to enter with me in tow. She navigated the interwinding halls effortlessly. The palace showcased some of the more elaborate works of art the felines have made. Every inch of wall was covered in paintings or tapestries, every pillar and bannister was intricately carved, the arch ways were works of art as well, with statues being carved into them. The main hall of the castle was like a large atrium, you could see the cieling on the 3rd floor which was covered in arched windows. Gold threaded fabrics were draped around to add atmosphere. Green tinted Sunlight was beaming down through the leaves of the trees and into the windows of the great hall.
She led me not to the throne room, but to the royal family's dining room. She knocked and then entered, announcing herself. I followed silently and tried to blend in with the wall tapestries.
"Ishi, of the Warrior Reserves, requesting an audience with your highnesses." She said with a deep bow, which I copied.