The sound of the carriage's rolling wheel combined with horse heels hitting the road slowly vanished in the distance. But the young military woman was still standing by the mansion's gate. After closing the gate, she turned to look around in all directions before kneeling to bring her nose closer to the ground.
Atlus backed away into the shadows of the alleyway and waited for the woman to walk away. He looked at the spot that the woman had smelled for a while. It looked like any other part of the stone road.
Coming back to the matter at hand, he pondered on the ways he could enter the mansion.
He wanted to have a chat with Maple. He felt the urgency now that he knew her connection with the flying military man.
Walk through the front gate or climb the high wall.
He wanted to debate the options, but the knife in his possession supported the wall. After observing the empty road for a while, he made up his mind. But before rashly executing the plan, he observed the mansion for a while.
The moonlight helped him make out the perfect shape of the building. A few windows of the mansion emitted light. During this age, the primary sources of light were candles or oil lamps.
After a while, Altus noticed a dark window of the mansion lighting up. But the details of the house were not clear since the window was far and it was dark. He missed his bronze telescope deeply.
That was mostly likely Maple's room.
Leaves rustled in the silent residential area. The lack of proper light solutions encouraged people to sleep early. So common people ate dinner during the sunset. No wonder why the route to Maple's room looked clear and safe.
Atlus avoided the gate and approached the brick wall. It was thrice his height and would be difficult to climb, unlike the rocky cliff. He ran his hand on the fall and felt the rough bricks. The wall had no spots to grip.
The mansion to the left had a wall just as high. Climbing now was the best bet. There was little time to ponder, as who knew when a person would arrive on the empty road?
So, he backed off some distance and ran forward. He had done this multiple times on his ship. Running upwards on the wooden mast to touch a high point was a source of challenge and entertainment for him.
He sprinted towards the wall and kicked it at an angle that propelled him upwards. Before his foot could slip, he took another step. The roughness of the wall with the grip of his new shoes helped him take 4 steps upwards. He almost ran out of steam before grabbing the ledge.
His bone-thin fingers further made his grip strong. So he hung on the top of the wall for a second to rest his heated toes. Then he kicked down the wall and pulled himself upward.
Now seated on the top of the wall, he inspected the big lawn. A low-height table, a few chairs, and plants were all he could see in the dark. He jumped down the wall only to make his legs regret the fall.
A feeling of numbness emerged from the surface of his feet and rose to his knees and thighs. If that wasn't bad enough, two dogs came running toward him. His heart shuddered at their loud barks.
He couldn't even step back, as the wall prevented him. His back touched the cold bricks. Seeing no other option, he ran along the wall.
One of the dogs jumped at him. He tried to dodge but couldn't avoid the impact of the dog's head that wobbled his balance. The dog had crunched his mouth and narrowly missed.
Atlus fell forward but used the moment to do a front roll. At this moment, the second dog attacked. He was going to be bitten as soon as he finished rolling.
There was no time to dodge. So, he kicked-aiming at the dog's mouth. The dog's sharp teeth pierced his cheap shoes as if they were paper.
A sticky paper. As Atlus violently shook his foot and discarded the shoes that got stuck in the dog's teeth. By this point, he was nearing another wall.
Moreover, a third dog barked from his right.
The doggies were closing in.
He was on the verge of hating dogs ganking on him for life. The only escape was to climb the wall again. So he tried with a shoe on one foot. It would surely decrease his grip.
He pushed up and barely caught the ledge with one hand. The dogs jumped at the wall and barked at him. But he was long out of reach of those sharp teeth unless he fell.
The dogs didn't stop barking, so he jumped to the other side. He did sweep the place with his eyes and all he saw was darkness. This mansion appeared to be empty, or the residents had retired to sleep.
Altus heaved a sigh of relief. He sat down on the grass and pondered about his next move. The dogs kept barking for half a minute, but as soon as they stopped - he heard someone exhaling deeply.
"Hey, what were you doing up there?" A boyish voice asked.
Atlus turned with an urgency as if he had heard a ghost. First, he saw a dot-sized spark fall to the ground. Then a boy of his age stepped forward from the shadow.
Canyon exhaled smoke from his mouth. His body was more muscular than his 15-year-old peers. The hair on his head were short enough to not move with the wind. He had a curious expression on his face.
Seeing the youth didn't scare Atlus at all. From his experience, only adults were scary. He got up and took out his knife. Another thing bought from the cheap market.
He angled the knife to make its edges shine under the moonlight. This was the intimidation move he picked up from Ormr. He smiled smugly at the kid.
"What can you do with that knife?" Canyon seemed even more interested.
"Little boy, you don't know what the tides of time do to a man," Atlus said as he harmlessly walked towards Canyon. He was imitating a novel character. But seeing the kid not back off spoiled his mood.
It made him move like the wind. He was in front of the boy in the blink of an eye and his knife's tip swooshed towards the boy's arm. Aiming at anything other than a person's neck felt weird.
The knife's pointy tip hit Canyon's biceps and broke in two.
"Damn, dude. You're intense." Canyon looked at his arm. There was no magic in that strike.
Canyon's body looked relaxed. His smile was bigger now. And just like Atlus, he took a swing.
The punch landed on Atlus' stomach. He saw the arm closing on him, but his feet didn't move in time. It was as if the punch stole his breath and smugness at the same time.
He took a few steps back. Lack of air never bothered him. Thus, his expression only distorted for a moment. The kids of the island were scary too. He looked for a way to retreat.
"C'mon dude, play with me. Where are you looking at?" The boy turned to follow Atlus' vision. But as soon as his eyes landed on the gate, Atlus made a run for it. He looked displeased as he stomped his leg on the ground.
Altus' naked foot felt the ground tremble. Small pebbles the size of half a finger rose above the ground. They were of different sizes and at uneven positions. The grass even hid some.
Atlus ran over a few of the newly risen rocks. He ran at full speed, but soon his toes hit a hurdle. The sudden bump made him fall face-first on the ground.
"What the hell are you doing to my house?" A woman's loud voice rang out. It was the last thing Atlus heard before his head hit on a rock. He fainted on the spot.
. . .
When Atlus woke up, he found himself cuffed and inside a small waiting room. He was sitting on a bench. A flickering candle lit up the faces of other men inside the room. Most of them were big and bulky, with scars on their faces or tattoos on their muscled arms.
"Bring the kid first to test his magic." A loud voice commanded from the adjacent room.