Back at the shores of the Cryst river, men could be seen around the river bank. Their bright lamps illuminating the darkness of the night as they combed the area in search of something-- or someone. A man stood, observing the other men work. From all ramifications, he seemed to be the one supervising the search.
"Well?" He asked the man who had run up to him just now. The man had come to give his feedback regarding the search.
"The footprints disappear after a certain distance." The man replied. "It seems he covered his tracks well."
"I DON'T GET IT!!" The supervisor yelled, visibly frustrated. Their target was only but a boy! The fact that he had managed to elude capable men like them was an insult to him.
"I think you're on edge sir." the other man said, trying to soothe the supervisor's frayed nerves. "you need to calm down."
"CALM DOWN!!!" The supervisor seethed, He had failed to complete a task as simple as this and he was expected to calm down? "I'LL CALM DOWN ONCE THE BOY HAS BEEN FOUND! GET BACK TO WORK!!" He ordered the man In front of him.
"That's the thing sir." The man tried to explain. " the men are getting tired" The feedback on the location of their target wasn't the only thing he had come to relay
"TIRED? HOW CAN YOU EVEN THINK OF GETTING TIRED WHEN--" The rest of the sentence got stuck in his mouth as he realized he was being rather harsh. The men had been combing the entire area for the past 3 hours. They did deserve to be tired, they were mere humans after all. "Very well," He sighed frustratedly "you may rest for a bit.". Elatedly, the man took of to relay the supervisors orders to the rest of the men, who rejoiced at his generosity before sitting down to take a break.
"Look" One of the men pointed out at a small boat docking at the shores of the Cryst river "The boss is here" He said drawing everyone's attention as a man, clad in leather clothing alighted from the boat, his appearance rather menacing, at least to his subordinates, who stood up to welcome him.
"Did you find him?" The deep voice of the boss was heard, seemingly addressing the man in front of him, who had been yelling earlier
"No sir," The supervisor replied, his voice much calmer now. "he could be anywhere on the shore. However, he went on "we found something that might interest you" he concluded, drawing the boss's attention to one of the spots they once searched. In the darkness of the night, their lamps could only make out the giant brown chest they had seen before and–
'Foot prints?' The boss muttered. " I see, so he was rescued." He affirmed his suspicions, And from the looks of things, it hadn't been too long either.
"Yes. that's what I thought as well" the supervisor pointed out." However," He went on " he seemed to have covered his tracks well enough. the men can't seem to trace him". At that point, it had seemed they were out of options. "What'd you think boss?" Another man voiced out on noticing the expression on his boss's face. He knew that expression too well, his boss was planning their next move.
"Well." The boss began, a crooked smile forming on his face. "it's a good thing I brought the hounds with me. Their noses would be good for a task like this." He went on, his gaze shifting to the footprints. " Our target couldn't have gotten far from here, especially not with those wounds we gave him"
"So we attack now?" one of the men asked eagerly, seemingly ready to do battle.
"No." The boss stated, much to their surprise. " There could be all sorts of things lurking around by night." He gave his reason, quelling them before they could stir. "Besides" He went on "It's not like our targets are going anywhere. We'd camp in the forest, and attack by sunrise." He finally gave his order. The men seemed rather satisfied with it as they cheered on at their boss before dispersing to find a suitable place to camp.
***
Around the fire, the three sat, each with a bowl in hand. Silence descended on the trio as each person was left to their own thoughts. The young man stared at the people in front of him, the friendly young girl who could use magic, indicating her descent from "that" bloodline and the strange creature that possessed the ability to shape shift, the other young man seemed normal enough... for now at least.
"Got a name?" Elvinn asked, finally breaking the silence.
"...Rhys,,," was the only word that could fall out of the young man's mouth.
"Reesse? Well that's not a name you hear everyday. Where're you from?" Aria replied, making an effort to pronounce the young man's name. However, her last question seemed to have triggered a hint of sorrow within the young man as sadness could be observed on his face. "Sorry." She began. " I didn't mean–"
"--its alright" The young man cut in almost immediately. His hint of sorrow replaced with a dark expression for a split second, then replaced by slight smile. The change in expression didn't go unnotitced though, by Elvinn at least.
"I'm Aria" the young girl introduced herself " And the glum looking guy over there is my brother Elvinn." She gestured at Elvinn who simply scoffed at her remark. "We're siblings in search of greener pastures, as of current, we're on our way to Lein village." She smiled, trying to spark a conversation with Rhys, the young man
"Lein village?" The young man asked "You two have keen eyes. I've been there before, it's a nice place." "Really?"Aria asked, visibly intruiged "You've been there before?" She asked. "Only once, my father took me there..." He replied, the hint of sadness replacing his smile once again.
"Was that where you got those?" Elvinn asked, finally involving himself in their conversation.
"Huh?" Rhys asked, wondering what Elvinn was talking about. "What're you—"
"--Your wounds." Elvinn cut in "You were attacked by knights weren't you?" He had to be certain at least, and the young man's reply was going to determine his next course of action.
"Umm... no?" Rhys answered, rather suprised at the question. He HAD been attacked, but not by knights or at Lein village, Besides, he had successfully managed to evade his captors.
Or so he thought...
"Well you've gotten your answer to that haven't you?" Aria asked her brother, a trace of sarcasm noticeable in her voice.
"Aren't you being rather comfortable with him?" Elvinn pointed out to his sister. "I mean for all we know, his staying here could be some sort of trap" Rhys entire body twitched as soon as Elvinn said those words. He turned around sharply, focusing his eyes at a particular spot in the bushes. Just now, he had heard a slight rustling around that spot. Ordinary people would have dismissed it as some wild animal. However he could sense an ominous bloodlust directed at him in particular. Besides, he had heard a slight clang of something metallic together with the rustling. Without a doubt, he was was certain of it...
Someone was stalking them, or rather... him.
It couldn't have been "them", could it? He wasn't sure for certain. Whatever the case was, he had to leave here immediately. He glanced back at the siblings but they were too engrossed in their bickering that they seemed oblivious to his behavior.
"Elvinn, that's too harsh" Aria chided her brother
"No, he's not wrong." Rhys, finally voiced out, His voice quelling both siblings immediately. "Rhys--" Aria called out "--Your brother's right Aria" Rhys cut in, sadness welling in his voice. "And I wouldn't want to put you kind fellows who went out of their way to help a total stranger in harm's way" He went on "Thank you two for helping me but I think I can find my way from here." Throwing his jacket over his shoulders, he took off into the night.
"Where are you going? The forest is dangerous at night…" Her voice trailed off as in he was gone in an instant "He's… gone…" Elvinn muttered to himself, he hadn't thought his words would make the guy run off. He didn't seem like that type of person at least.
"Aria what're you doing?" He hollered immediately he glanced behind him. His sister was putting her shoes on. She seemed to be readying herself to go somewhere. "He only just recovered," Aria reasoned, sliding her foot into one of the shoes "plus dangerous creatures roam at night, he could get in trouble."
"And you want to what?" Elvinn asked "Go after him? Something's been off about that guy, there's something he's not telling us. In my opinion, It's better he leaves on his own than to invite trouble for us" He said before heading in the direction of his sleeping bag
"Elvinn…" She wanted to protest, but she quickly held herself back. She didn't like it, but she saw a bit of reason in her brother's words. However she was torn between obeying her instincts or her brother. Finally decided to chose the latter, she headed over to her sleeping bag after kicking her shoes off.
"If it bothers you that much, we'd go after him tomorrow morning". Elvinn finally said on noticing his sister's expression. Her mood brightened up slightly after hearing that. "Alright then" she muttered, slightly relieved. Tommorow morning? she thought, hoping the young man doesn't run into any trouble before then.
***
"Aria! Wake up!"
The girl stirred slightly before drowsily opening her eyes. Morning came quicker than expected.. she thought as she opened her eyes fully to meet the gaze of her brother who seemed... agitated? "Elvinn?" She asked. "What's going--"
"We have to get out of here now." Elvinn replied, cutting her off immediately. What's going on? she wondered as she stared at her brother who was hurriedly putting their things together. Just yesterday, he had told her they'd go after Rhys today and now...
"Elvinn what's happening–"
"We're under attack!" She barely had time to finish her sentence before Elvinn cut her off again. What was he talking about, she could see no one. Her eyes scanned up and down, trying to locate a possible enemy.
WHOOSH!
An object whooshed passed her, missing her by a hair's breath as it struck the ground beside her head. "An arrow?" she said, finally getting a better look at the object as she sat up, More arrows flew in their general direction, jolting her into full awakening as she followed her brother and Maik, who wrapped itself around Elvinn's shoulders, further into the thick vegetation.
The three hurried through the bushes, unsure of if they were running towards or away from their assailants. After covering a considerable distance, they finally sat down to rest.
"Who were those guys anyway?" Aria asked in between pants as she tried to catch her breath. "What do they want with us?"
" I don't know, Bandits perhaps?" Elvinn replied in between pants as well. He hadn't heard anything about bandits plundering that area and he had scouted well before setting up camp. The only option left was-- "You don't think they were after your "boyfriend", do you?"
"Maybe." Aria answered "Rhys DID seem rather jumpy last- WAIT! he's not my–"
"--Does it really matter?." Elvinn cut in, leaving Aria with an embarrassed pout on her face. Boyfriend? She wondered, Was this really the time to make jokes? "Anyway..." Elvinn went on, Staring intently at the direction they had just come from. "I think we lost them. We should leave this forest now before--"
WHOOSH!
"Ack!..." Elvinn gave a slight grunt as something whooshed through the forest, piercing both he and his sister simultaneously " A needle?" He thought as he pulled the pointy object from his flesh. No sooner had he removed the needle than dizziness over came them both. Vertigo? He thought as both he and his sister staggered continuously, trying in vain to regain their balance.
They had been drugged!
Watching Aria slump to the floor, he could hear the sound of footprints drawing closer as his fatigue grew with each passing second . "How'd... they.. catch up to us so quickly?" He muttered rather slowly before finally succumbing to the effects of the poison.
Darkness...