"Did it die?" Valentina asked, out of breath.
Cadell was already laying on the ground, "Yes...You both did great.."
Ouida was examining the corpse of the badger. "Was there a beast like this on the list they gave us?"
"No...I don't think so." Cadell stood up and started examining the corpse too.
As the three began studying the corpse together, they heard footsteps from the entrance of the cave.
"Wow~ Well done... You guys actually managed to kill such a beast..." A boy's voice rang out the cave.
A group of four walked inside, it was Ben. Annie, Gus and Odis. Odis was behind them, a complicated look on his face.
"We were thinking of ambushing you while you returned to the camp, but you guys found such a great spot for us!"
"You were following us? What do you mean great spot?" Cadell spat back with a cold face while Ouida was staring at her brother, a sad look on her face.
"To get rid of you guys of course!" Annie scoffed.
"What!? Have you guys gone mad?" Valentina growled, readying her hammer.
"Odis! Are you really joining them? Murdering people? Do you think that's okay?" Ouida screamed, marching in front of Cadell and Valentina with a worried look on her face.
"Enough sis! I've already thought about this! We must get rid of all commoners. You can't change my mind now! I'm just doing what's necessary." Odis screamed back, frustration apparent in his voice.
"Well said Odis, we must get rid of them." Ben grinned. "Kill them!"
Odis, Annie and Gus charged towards Ouida, their weapons drawn and ready to kill.
Cadell and Valentina dashed from behind Ouida, coming in front of her and blocking the attacks.
"Ouida, we'll hold them back, find a way to escape from here." Cadell shouted while holding back Gus and Odis's sword.
"But-" Ouida was going to question him when she got interjected by Valentina, "Just go! We'll be fine!"
Ouida clenched her teeth and ran towards the entrance of the cave. As she was about to reach the entrance, Ben blocked her, "Not so fast. You may be Odis's sister, but you've seen too much. I'll have to take care of you myself."
She clenched her teeth and took out her whip and whipped him. But Ben took out a small weapon and blocked the whip. It was a fancy looking dagger with a red hilt.
Ouida widened her eyes, "A rare relic..."
"Good eyes." Ben gave Ouida a smile.
Ouida gave up on escaping through the entrance and ran towards the back of the cave. Ben chased her, "You can't escape, there's no where to." He gave a menacing smile.
Ouida reached the end of the cave, her back towards the wall.
Ben walked towards her calmly, "I told you, there's no where to run" He stabbed the dagger towards her but someone grabbed his arm. "Did you get cold feet now?" Ben looked from his shoulder, it was Odis who stopped him.
"No, she's not a commoner. She's my sister, there's no need for her to die." Odis spoke coldly.
Cadell and Valentina were nearing them, backing away step by step, still defending against the attacks.
"The commoners are already tired, we'll just kill them and return. Trust me, she won't speak a word about this." As Odis was convincing Ben, a sound distracted them all. It came from where Ouida was.
While they were busy chatting, Ouida mistakenly pressed a hidden switch on the wall, opening a secret pathway in the cave. With no time to think about it, she screamed, "GUYS!"
Cadell and Valentina instantly dashed towards the opening, grabbing Ouida on the way.
Valentina turned back and smashed her hammer on the opening, closing it off.
As the stones were falling from the impact of the hammer, Ouida quickly whipped towards Odis, wrapping her whip on his arms and pulling him.
Odis got pulled inside the path just in time. Then the path was closed by the dropping stones.
Ben kept staring at the path for some time and sighed. "Let's just go back."
Annie looked at the ground. "Oh look, at least they dropped their bag."
Inside the path, Cadell and Valentina were sitting on the ground, exhausted. "At least we got rid of them." They looked towards the only way in the path, "Let's hope this will lead us outside"
Ouida walked towards her brother. "Why'd you pull me!? I could've di-" *Slap* She slapped Odis across his face as he was complaining.
"Are you out of your mind? Trying to kill people? Is this what mother taught you!?" She raised her voice.
Everyone became silent. Odis was just staring at the ground.
"Haah... Forget it, let's just move for now." She spoke in a low voice.
Cadell and Valentina stood up and nodded.
The group of four once again united, walked towards the only path they had.
---
Moments before nightfall, Edana reached one of the marked location on the parchment.
'Haah... I barely sneaked away. Only if I didn't have to look after the cadets. I wonder how Val and Cadell are doing.' She looked ahead of her.
There was a log cabin on the marked place. It was a simple cabin, common for woodworkers to sleep in for emergencies.
'Hmm... looks normal enough, I have to investigate it from the inside.'
She slowly approached the cabin and looked inside from the windows first, her eyes burning with faint blue flames.
'Looks normal enough.' She saw an open space, with a round table in the middle, a makeshift kitchen on one corner and a bed on the other.
She then slowly approached the door and opened it. Scanning every corner with her burning eyes, she headed inside. It was quite spacious despite how small it looked from the outside.
'Hmm... Nothing suspicious here. Maybe it's the other location, I have to move fast.'
Just as she was busy thinking, someone greeted her from the door with a deep voice.
"Hello."
She widened her eyes and turned towards the door in an instant, her hands already on the hilt of her long-sword. But she saw no one on the door. Examining closely, she saw something on the floor near the door. It was a round stone.
At that moment, someone jumped from the ceiling of the cabin and pinned her on the floor, face down.
The person who pinned her grabbed both her arms behind her back with one hand, and pressed her head on the floor with the other. He then moved his face towards her ear and spoke in a raspy voice, "Hello."
Edana struggled to get out from the lock but she couldn't move much. She couldn't even move her legs as the person had locked it with his knees.
"Sometimes you disguise as Priests of Nox, sometimes you come out openly, and now you disguise as the Knights of Nox. Are you guys shooting a movie?" The raspy voice spoke in her ears once again.
"Mov- What!? What are you talking about? Unhand me! I am a Knight from the Nox Sacred Order!" She shouted.
"Oh wow~ Hahahahahahhaha" He laughed, his laughter sounding like metal grating against another.
"You're quite invested in your role too. Hahaha. You'd get an Oscar for sure!" He spoke while tying Edana tightly with a rope. Then he stood up and walked towards the door, bending down to pick up the stone.
"This really is a great relic!" He looked at the stone and smiled, his sharp teeth showing.
Edana looked at the man, stunned.
He was wearing a black boot, a black trouser and a loose linen t-shirt, with a black cloth robe on the outside with a hood. Even though he was wearing the hood, Edana could see clearly with her burning eyes.
He had rough white hair reaching down to his neck, pitch black eyes which contrasted with his pale skin, a pointy nose and sharp teeth. His features matched a lot with someone she became quite close to in the recent months.
He resembled Valentina.