A few days later,
—Taa!!
—Taa!!
—Taa!!
The sound of a whip clashing against the bare skin of a young man resounded in the air, accompanied by subtle groans of pain. The young man was currently being dragged along by a chain attached to a white horse in front of him.
"Will you stop that?!! What will i do if you kill the prisoner with that whip? What am I supposed to tell the higher ups?"
The lady on the horse dragging the young man along turned back and barked at the man with the whip. She was a blonde beauty with stunning curves and a prideful look on her face, This was, of course, Arian, and the young man none other than Leon.
After swearing the oath by Death, Leon allowed himself to be captured by Arian under the pretext of their plan. Leon could remember the scene very vividly. Arian stood her ground while insisting that what she said was true and the other hunters had no choice but to accept it.
They didn't like it, but they had to accept it. After all, she was the only one there.
"Hmp!! He's only a lonely warlock scum"
Clearly displeased by Arian's word the man said with some annoyance. He then proceeded to put his whip on his shoulder and paid no more attention to them.
"We are here…" Arian said with a smile.
In front of them was a gigantic camp of tents stretching out as far as the eyes could see…it was a magnificent scene to behold.
"Move you Filthy Warlock"
Arian commanded Leon with a slight yet pushy tug of the chain binding Leon's hands. Not long after they entered, the Camp, Arian chained Leon to a stand before proceeding to enter one of the big tents of the encampment.
"Sigh!!"
Leon's Sighed before dropping to the ground and groaning in exhaustion. Even though he was able to pull off so many feats during his escape, his body was still weak and frail. The entire thing had exhausted him a lot.
"So many Warlocks"
Leon's mused, all over this camp there were different cages full of people. Of course, this was a hunter/slaver camp, they were bound to be slaves. However, all the guys Leon observed as far as he could see were all Warlocks from different clans.
Leon was able to identify them because Warlocks had distinct eyes that could easily be seen through by other Warlocks. Of course, this was closely tied to the use of life energy…there was also a way for none Warlocks to see through them too, abet it being more complicated.
"I'm not surprised, though, these guys are efficient." Leon said while shaking his head slightly.
The hunters were tasked to capture or kill any warlock they found, so they were well-prepared. Be it the blood serpent clan, the seven scorpion clan or whatever. They were ready for them all.
—Whoop
The big tents Arian had just walked out from opened, and she walked out with an ugly look on her face. She looked directly at Leon and began walking towards him.
"We have a problem, there's someone inside there bringing trouble. I hope you can think your way out of this one, else we both die" she cast a subtle whisper into Leon's ear before unhooking him from the stand. She then proceeded to drag him into the tent.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
"I'm not going to give him such a flimsy excuse, you can do it yourself!!"
" Why should I do it? I'm not a Dalriss. Take some responsibility, he's your blood man"
"Enough of that, they're already here"
One old man with wrinkly skin said, causing the room to become quiet. Beside him, the two other elders simply kept shut while staring intensely at the new arrivals.
"What is your name, warlock boy?" The wrinkled skinned man who seemed to be the authority in this situation asked. His words were casual and calm even in this chaotic environment.
"Leon Alduwin of the blood serpent clan" Leon replied humbly. His eyes firmly glued to the man's smiling face. This was basically an interrogation, why was he trying to be nice, or was he about to start the whole good cop, bad cop thing?
"You know him?" As soon as Leon finished saying those words, his eyes fell towards a dark, conspicuous corner of the room. There ab old man with a missing arm sat helplessly in chains.
"Hmmm" Raising his head slightly, his eyes fell upon the figure of Leon who stood there in momentary shock. It was the fourth elder of the blood serpent clan. He, too, had been captured.
(This is bad, this guy knows me)
Leon thought, naturally, his encounter with the fourth elder was something to be worried about. If not for that, he could lie all he wanted, but the old man knew who he really was and that he had no real connection to the higher-ups of the clan.
"The Alduwin boy? " The fourth elder said out loud showing that he indeed recognized Leon. However, there was a tinge of disrespect in his words that could be felt by everyone. The fourth elder didn't seem to like Leon.
"Yes, he's the one we were referring to. The one your higher-ups worked with to kidnap the young master of the Dalriss household." The man in the lead explained.
"I highly doubt it, he's just a good for nothing nobody, I can't think of a single situation where he would be of so much importance that the higher-ups would work with him."
The fourth elder spoke disdainfully. Clearly he didn't like Leon, but he was right. There was no way in hell that Leon had anything to do with the higher-ups of the blood serpent clan. Who else to prove this point better than a member of the higher-ups themselves.
"Hehe, lord fourth elder is always so funny. He believes the whole world revolves around him sometimes. But reality is, more often than not, quite different from his delusions"
Leon said in a mocking tone before turning to look at the old man.
"Tell me, old man, are you by chance the only one that had eyes in the entire clan?"
Leon said in a mocking tone before turning to look at the old man.
"Fourth elder, how is it that you know about a lowly peasant like myself?" Leon looked over and said to the fourth elder.
"Hmm?" The fourth elder was confused by this line of questioning but then again. It made sense.
He was the fourth elder of the clan, he shouldn't know or having anything to do with cripple, but he did. And he couldn't say that it was through Lance's stepmother. He was banging her that was all there wasn't a need to know him.
"The healing spell?" The fourth elder said out loud causing the hunters to knit their brows in interest.
Healing spells were special and would usually only be given to people of high status in warlock clans. Was the fourth elder saying Leon had one?
"A paralysed cripple starts walking miraculous out of the blue, must be a miracle. A fate defying miracle...but of course you don't believe in Miracles huh fourth elder?" Leon continued speak and with each word that left his mouth it seemed like he was hinting at something.
"It is unwise for someone of your status to attribute everything to luck and miracles, elder. Somethings can be simply attributed to powers bigger than you and me"
Leon's words held meaning, from him miraculously walking to the healing spell that appeared out of nowhere. It made no sense. In a matter of fact healing spells from a different warlock clan could hardly be practiced by another clan. Getting one that could was too lucky or was because of something else.
"The matriarch...." The fourth elder gritted his teeth. He suspected the matriarch, she was probably grooming Leon and several others to stabilize her position.
(The f*cking b*tch was always scheming in the shadows.)
He fourth elder thought in his mind
Even himself as the fourth elder couldn't pretend like he knew all of her trump cards. If she wanted a secret hand in the clan someone like Leon was the best candidate. A person she could slowly groom under the radar of the top Elders.
" if you have connection with her, then why are you standing here now ? Why aren't you with her?" The fourth elders face looked ugly while he asked this question. But his eyes stared and Leon with utmost attention. He wasn't filled in on the entire situation and wanted more info.
"Pretty simple really, she no longer has any use for me and has disposed of me. I can only fend for myself now by helping our friends here" Leon turned over to the bench of hunter elders and said with a mischievous smile.
The matriarch no longer had any use for him so she threw him to the dogs. It was exactly how she was.
"Oh" the fourth elder took in a large breath of air and suddenly felt overwhelmingly weak. This was truly the nature of the matriarch. He should know, she had done the same to him.
"Hmp!! I don't believe a word that comes out of their mouths, I suggest we torture them till they give us the answers we need" the elder to the far left of the bench said aggressively. He looked fat and plumpy but his words were filled with malice and hate.
"No, I can not allow you to torture my only lead to death. The Dalriss family will have my head if I do" Arian refused adamantly. She couldn't let harm to come to Leon during the period of their hunt. It was part of the oath. Plus if he wasn't able to escape before the duration he would take the fall for what happened to the dalriss boy.
"You think im giving you a choice?" The plumpy elder stood up and looked Arian in the eye. He didn't need her permission to do whatever he wanted.
"Sit down brother Juan. You don't want trouble with the dalriss family, if you act, she will just hang it on your neck when We get back." The lead elder raised his hand to defuse the situation.
"Kid, just make sure you keep that thing in check. We don't want him going around causing trouble. If we get the chance to negotiate with the blood serpent clan. We will get fyran Dalriss back. You're dismissed."