By morning,
Just as Cravat forecasted, the breezes had calmed. Lilyan Ironsides asked for their destination. She invited them to their residence if they weren't in too much hurry. To at least host them for one of Cravat's proper meals, a bath, stock up their supplies and prepare for them horses and carriage as gratitude. Cravat estimated they could still reach Ona Crossing early before nightfall.
"So that's why she said residence not house?" Klein gasped inside the Ironsides compound.
It was a whole castle bulwarked by such tall towers that the colossal walls between them fell short in comparison. A compound so vast, you'd run away from home and still be home. The Ironsides Estate, according to Cravat, has outlived the entire history of an extinct settlement called Thistle since before it was formed 'til incessant hurricanes destroyed it 140 years later. The towers of the walls were made of sturdier building materials and had foundation as deep underground as their extended length above ground. People named them Windbreakers back when travellers around the Fief used to seek refuge there during storms.
"Fief" was a word lost on people from Dona. But they were just eager to explore the many sights of the Estate. Starting from one of the multiple courtyards with intricate stonework and statues depicting the family's history and achievements.
The estate's remote location and minimal light pollution provided for a perfect view for stargazing using the dusty telescopes inside the Astronomical Observatory. Both Rwby and Klein failed to spot the Sagittarius constellation Adonna tried pointing their sights to. Davy didn't require any such describing or directing to sight it.
Breakfast started in the fruit-bearing Orchard, served by rows of apple, pear and cherry trees.
Then they got themselves lost inside a maze of tall hedges while Cravat rung the bell for breakfast ready.
Another two hours later that morning, a serene reflecting pool mirrored the building's grandeur as it did Davy in his fresh clothes. He stood there alone reflecting in his thoughts.
While Adonna helped out Lilyan in picking buds of exotic plants in the Botanical Garden, Klein would hear Kiyan's voice for the first time under a massive portrait of the family in one of the manor's halls.
"Excuse me. Sorry if I'm disturbing. I hope I'm not. Sorry. I just want to ask… because… I couldn't help but notice you seem to have… a… connection with animals. Sorry." Kiyan couldn't keep eye contact. Moreover, he had a way of speaking that he pronounced each word quieter than the last 'til it almost sounded like he was muttering to himself.
This wasn't an uncommon question for Klein – yet it's always one he struggled to answer. "It's not completely something I do intentionally. Animals and I just seem to understand each other."
"Understand each other? Like… you can talk to them?"
Klein chuckled. "No, it's not magic. Well, I studied animal behaviour books, did experiments too if that helps anyhow. Never seen Cougars before. I could just – you know – tell one was roaring for a mate while the other crying of pain. So I just led the unwounded one to find his mate."
This interested Kiyan even more, yet he'd still apologise to ask a follow up question if Klein also had such bond with Astrids.
Klein who's never even seen an Astrid 'til just two nights ago got attracted back to the massive portrait because it depicted the Ironsides family: the twins in the parents' arms, then a companion Astrid built like a charming hybrid of a fox and hare. Its fur a soft from the painting, velvety shade of lavender and silver-tipped tufts on its ears, resembling fluffy ear muffs. "You have a pet Astrid?"
Kiyan fell quiet. Head down. "That's Serenitea… we lost her before our parents died… everything… would've all turned out differently if Serenitea was never gone."
"I'm sorry." Replied Klein. "Means the memories were beautiful. Those are your treasures. And they cherished those moments they had with you as much as you do now."
Kiyan finally raised his chin. Only to lower his head again, twiddling thumbs in hesitation 'til Klein encouraged him to say what's been pestering his mind. "Your other friend… Davy… he's headed to the Godless Sea, right?" He began. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to eavesdrop… sorry. I hear everything even when asleep and remember it all when I wake up. I'm sorry. It's just… Whenever Lilyan or I got injured playing… Serenitea would just lick the wounds and it heals right up… because Serenitea's saliva has medical effect… any kind of wound. Maybe… maybe my illness too… so…" He looked up at Klein again, reinforced his fallen voice. "So maybe Davy can… if… I don't know… Since the Godless Sea is Astrids' habitat… So… I don't know…" His head drooped again. "Ironsides will pay for any information about Serenitea's specie… Sorry… I don't know if I'm afraid of dying but… but I've been such a burden to Lilyan… everyday… I think she'll cry if I leave her too."
Outside,
Cravat met Davy by the Reflecting pool with two muskets and cartridge boxes. The bruise over his eye patched. "Your supplies and carriage shall be ready shortly. You seem to have good enough aim. Mind for a game?"
Davy took him on the challenge at the Archery Range across the compound's meadow. After all, he had a thing to discuss.
Instead of the archery targets, they shot at rows of glass bottles, shooting in turns. "My friends… they're all from Dona." Said Davy as he shot his second bottle.
Cravat still on his first. Done reloading. "I see. Recent exits?" He shot. Still 2-1.
"I messed up. Trying to make it up to her but the other two followed along. Correct me if I'm wrong, Ironsides are supposed to be Fief Barons. Yet I haven't seen a hint of an Astrid here." Davy shot. 3-1. "Conveniently my next destination is Astrid habitat. Thoughts on how we can help each other?"
Back in the Botanical Garden,
Adonna observed Lilyan's proficiency with the glass apparatus in extracting, distilling and preparing the juices of different herbs into a teardrop of elixir. Adonna could already guess what it's for. "Your brother?"
Lilyan nodded. "Sometimes." She began with a giggle. "Sometimes I'd prepare this concoction of Dragonheart Rose petals and Glimmer lotus as his medicine. It induces a euphoric state. He'd run around the compound singing and noisy for hours."
They both giggled. That's until Lilyan mentioned how it used to be the only way she could get her brother cheerful these days. "But I found a new way to get him grinning. Fun. You should have seen his merry mug in Dona's Carnival. But my, it was a real headache securing a permit to that locked-in city and an even bigger one convincing Cravat to let us off alone. But so worth it, can't wait to find more festivals across the Consortium."
"You were at our Carnival!" Adonna gasped with a sparkle in her eyes. "Did you catch our show?"
Davy's shot shattered his last standing bottle. "15-12." He called the score. "So we have a deal?"
"You're a terribly annoying shot." Cravat remarked. "Well, my friend. What I can say is certainly Miss Ironsides will find your terms delightful."
They were suddenly interrupted by the estate's stablehand who brought an urgent report.
Just the same way Davy soon interrupted the girls in the Botanical Garden right when Lilyan realised they were from Dona. Seeing Adonna there, Davy realised. "That Rwby!"
The stablehand reported one of the girls took a horse out of the compound. Even worse, it didn't look like she knew how to handle one.
"Don't tell me it's all for that clock again!" Davy hissed.
The stablehand would go after her but Klein and Adonna couldn't just stay back. Not with how harshly the winds began lashing.
They took two horses: Adonna with the armed stablehand while Klein rode with Davy.
It was high noon, yet the atmosphere had blackened like dusk. Narrow funnels of hurricanes would extend downwards, only to dissipate halfway before they could connect to land. Sprinkles of rainfall followed these hurricanes threatening to form.
"Thought Cravat said storms don't form early daytime?" Adonna shouted over the breezes while they galloped across the plains.
"They didn't!" The stablehand shouted back. "Like Nature herself is trying to destroy this whole Fief with bad climate of recent. Raindrops in November? By God, this is unnatural?"
"There!" Klein sat behind Davy pointed far across the plains where yesterday's hurricane met them.
No trace of Rwby there.
They split up to circle around the borders of the forest.
Each horse galloped miles 'til they converged at one end of the ravine shortcut.
None spotted any sign of her.
Davy suggested maybe she ran somewhere else for some other reason but both Adonna and Klein disagreed, certain that she'd never risk her life for anything unimportant. But that hand clock was important to her. So she must be somewhere nearby searching for it.
The skies grumbled. A flash of lightning struck something inside the forest.
"When we find that girl, I swear…" Davy prodded on his horse so hard in annoyance, it nearly yanked Klein off.
They entered the forest to search.
It got so dim in the woods because of the storm that the lantern they packed along in case of nightfall came in handy when the stablehand dropped off his horse to inspect hoof prints in the dirt.
Fresh tracks, he confirmed.
They walked the horses after him while he followed Rwby's trail.
Every flash of lightning left the atmosphere darker. Every drum of thunder left the cold air quieter. Even the breezes quietened as if in eerie anticipation.
The stablehand dropped down on a knee analysing another clue. The others couldn't help but look up.
Then,
A snake lashed out from a shrub just as the most ear-splitting thunder exploded.
Horses panicked. They all panicked. The stablehand slammed the snake to ground and sunk his knife through it.
Shockwaves still rippling through them. As he stood up, he fell right back down. He's been bitten.
They couldn't do anything for him. In his gagging breath he called out for Miss Ironsides.
"We have to get him back to Lilyan now! She can treat him." Adonna understood.
But then there's Rwby still missing. Torn between two choices, Davy decided they split up.
Klein could at least manage a horse so he rode off with the poisoned man.
Davy and Adonna forged onwards on their lone horse. Rwby's tracks led them up a steep, winding path that seemed to lead nowhere. Thunders had quietened but lightning still danced across the dark skies.
Their horse trod carefully as they entered a vegetation so thick with tangled vines all around. It's like they had entered another world. Davy stopped and dismounted in order to confirm they were still on Rwby's tracks. The musket he'd brought along loaded at the ready. Its cartridge box he left with Adonna.
That's when it happened.
As if waiting for that exact moment when he alighted off its back, the horse suddenly reared its forelegs high up, throwing Adonna off its back. And with a whinny of terror, it bolted back the way they came, vanishing into the dark void.
Davy's gaze snapped from the fleeing horse to Adonna rolling downhill.
It was a short tumbling. She soon came to halt against something cold. Her hands met something sticky and wet. Breath caught in her throat.
In that moment, the storm released its relentless grip – if slightly. Dim, ghostly light filtered through the treetops, casting eerie shadows on the scene:
It was a grim jigsaw of bones and matted fur of a dead horse. Rwby's horse… or what remained of it.
Howls of lurking wolves carried by the chilling wind followed.
Davy shot the first one to pounce out.
Adonna scrambled onto her feet.
They ran full tilt, pursued by the whole rabid pack.
"I need reload!" Cried Davy.
"I dropped the box!" She cried back.
As if the storm was conspiring against them, it clouded the forest darker once again. Right before brewing thunderstorm shot a tree ahead of them.
They both breezed past just before that struck branch fell. But so did half the wolf pack.
"WHAT! YOU DROPPED WHAT?"
"I FELL OKAY! BLAME THE HORSE!"
Adonna led ahead. Dashing so breathlessly towards light. Something about the atmosphere shifted all of a sudden. Like her instinct foretelling something ominous. Her paces slowed somewhat.
That's when she realised the ground under their feet wasn't soil anymore, but wood.
They were now moving atop a large branch, and then her next step tripped at the gap where this branch forked.
She fell hard into a box of decaying wood.
Being behind her, Davy realised the hole and stopped short. However a wolf pounced at him so they both fell in.
The rotten wood broke where Davy and the wolf dropped, revealing what looked like a bottomless pit below.
Both Rwby and Adonna grabbed him from falling while the wolf tried clawing up his body to save itself but couldn't hang on.
Eerie breeze slapped their paled faces as they watched the wolf swallowed by the treacherous drop.
The rest of the pack on the large, forked branch prowled above them, eyes glinted with flashes of lightning. They left.
Adonna and Davy had finally found Rwby, however their predicament had only just begun.
That wolf had clawed deep scratches into Davy's thigh and a side of his belly. Not fatal wounds yet bad enough to have him sweating in anguish. "Just what is with you?" He lashed at Rwby. "I thought you were supposed to be smart! First you ran head-on towards the storm for what? A stupid clock? Left you by yourself for 5 minutes and you went back again! What did you think, huh? The weather and universe will all just adjust conducive to your whims, huh?"
"I – I – I – I – I calculated I could quickly find it before – before anyone would notice."
"Oh, you couldn't just make another? Someone got bitten by a snake and his life is endangered now! We're all about to become wolf chow now! All because you "calculated"!"
"I'm sorry… I'm sorry." Her voice cracked.
Just when Adonna opened her mouth to intervene, the whole box they were in quaked and keeled like something broke.
Something did.
Rwby rubbed away her tears to answer Adonna where they were.
They were inside an ancient, decrepit boat embedded at the extreme end of one of the branches of the great tree. This tree so massive, it umbrellaed half of the chasm they were right above. How a boat ended up inland at the heart of a jungle would remain a mystery to them. Vines, mosses, and foliage have claimed this vessel, and were the only things holding it on the weakened branch.
Rwby trapped herself there in order to escape the wolves. She'd hoped to hold out 'til rescue came, but with their combined weight now slowly weakening the support, every creak of the rotten wood or snapping of vines outside sent shivers through them all.
Thanks to the weather clearing up a bit, Adonna slowly peeked out through a chipped gap in the vessel's door. Should they exit the boat, what lay ahead was the whole colony of wolves gnawing on bones, slumbering or just loitering across from the branch high and low.
Rwby confirmed they chased her along the branch 'til she locked herself in. So the moment they opened this door, the predators were bound to sic.
Farther ahead Adonna spotted a cloud of smoke rising.
So thick, Davy said it had to be a forest fire. "Must be that tree lightning struck earlier."
All they had was an empty musket. Nothing useful inside the boat – only a small, rusted compass, chipped teacup with faded floral patterns, and a torn, yellowed out journal that would probably tell the tale of how a boat wound up so deep inland were it still readable, assuming they even had time to engage it.
"I've got an idea." Adonna's eyes sparkled. "Someone needs to lure them away. All of them. I'll lead them towards the fire so you two can escape and get help."
"That's the single most terrible idea I've ever heard." Said Davy.
The boat creaked again.
"But it's better than awaiting for certain death in here." Davy added. "I can ward them off with the fire 'til you two get help."
"Why don't YOU help ME figure how I can get past them?" Replied Adonna
Davy glanced around. His sight stopped up at the hole they fell from – or rather the branch beyond. "I think YOU can help ME get up there then open the door to lure them down here so I can get behind them. Once off the tree, I then lure them away from you."
"It has to be me." Rwby intervened. Head down in regret. "It's all my fault. I'll lure them away."
Adonna laughed that away as if she'd forgotten the direness of their situation. "This is a tactic not a sacrifice, Rwby. You can't outrun little kittens to save your life. But I am fast. I know I will outrun them all to the fire." She turned to Davy next, her pointer finger directed to his wounded leg and voice grown bossy. "Same goes for you. You're not outrunning anything on that leg. But you can find your way through and out the forest quicker than any of us. You'll come back for me in time, I trust you."
Davy couldn't muster a thing to say. He'd suck in a breath, only to fall speechless.
"I got this." She added.
Davy nodded.
And so their plan began.
Rwby opening the door alerted the entire pack. Even those lying on the branch above them raced down there. She pulled the door back shut as they came barking and clawing at it, throwing vicious drool through the gaps.
Davy gave Adonna a boost up to the top. Still she couldn't reach the overhead branch. However, she sighted vines hanging from it, with which she could pull herself up. She jumped, grabbed one.
That was a loose vine. She fell back into the hole onto Davy.
The whole ship shifted more unstable. The door even swung out ajar, only to be pushed back shut by the same predators trying to get in. Their combined force, clawing the door began budging the vessel towards tipping over.
Meanwhile, Adonna and Davy fell right beside the hole below. Eyes gawking down into the abyss, they realised just how lucky they were that the part of the decaying wood they fell on didn't lose its integrity.
Again.
This time, once Adonna climbed to the top, she took a moment to pick out the right vine.
However,
Her forced weight as she sprung broke the wood under her feet.
But she caught onto the vine in time.
Breathless, she raced down the gradual path of that branch 'til where it met land behind the wolves' lair.
The whole pack diverted to her pursuit. It must've been a dozen bloodthirsty wolves if not more.
Davy and Rwby opened the door to a clear path. Though they'd found nothing useful inside the boat, Davy ran back in to salvage something. He exited just before the vessel fell over at last.
"Come on!" He grabbed Rwby's wrist.
Her legs could barely keep up with him dragging her through undistinguishable trees. She knocked her head against his back when he stopped abruptly.
"West. West. West. West. West." He whirled around and round lost.
Rwby pointed him towards a direction.
"That's west? Are you sure?" He asked, yet didn't give her time to answer. He dragged her along that path. His eyes snapping from one thing to another as if scouting for something. And indeed he found that which he sought carved into the trunk of a tree: one of the markings he made last night.
He stopped again.
"Adonna–"
"See this mark?" He cut her short. "Follow along trees that have this mark. You will exit the forest to the west. From there you should easily locate the ravine. Klein is supposed to meet us back there. Don't go anywhere else, Rwby! Wait for him there and show him towards the fire." He grabbed her shoulders. "You understand?"
Davy shaking her made welled up tears spill from her eyes. "Yes… yes… I'm sorry." She sobbed.
"Forget it! Everyone makes mistakes. Repetition is what separates mistakes from character." With that he left, fast as his injured leg could carry him.
Elsewhere in the forest,
Adonna's heart pounded like drumbeat in her chest. Fear and determination drove her onwards, barely ahead of the relentless pursuit of wolves. The storm had subsided – yet it wasn't daylight which lit the air so radiantly, but the raging fire in the heart of the forest.
The fire, a sanctuary from the predators, cast dancing silhouettes all around.
She deterred half the pack when she hurdled over a felled, burning branch in her path, causing them to lag behind.
Now at the fire's edge, where several blazing trees and fallen branches blocked her path. The wind was blowing towards her, carrying smoke away from her location.
Smaller flames littered all around served as barriers between her and the encroaching wolves.
A number of the predators circled, their yellow eyes gleaming with hunger, but the fire's warmth and brilliance held them at bay.
She waved around a burning branch to ward off the few that found gaps into the circle of flames.
Smoke from the large fire behind her would've long replaced breathable air if not of the steady breeze sweeping it away. She soon realised this peril when a moment's cessation of the winds threw her in a fit of coughing.
Suddenly a gunshot pierced the air, followed immediately by one of the wolves yelping.
Davy approached the scene, riding on their runaway horse. His breaths urgent. In his hands, he held a musket, its cold steel promising a shred of hope.
He drew all the wolves outside the circled, racing around the fiery circle in desperate search for a gap to enter… to reach Adonna. The winds blowing stronger to snuff out some smaller flames provided one.
However,
His entry led more wolves into the circle. What's more, the encircling fire closed fast, and so their chances of escape rapidly diminished.
Riding around, he attracted all the wolves. He completed a circle around and returned towards Adonna.
She caught his extended hand that hauled her onto the saddle with him.
"YOU KNOW HOW TO RELOAD A MUSKET?" He yelled over the chaotic orchestra of drumming hooves of their galloping horse, snarls of pursuing wolves snapping jaws at their mount, raging forest fire crackling trees, and of course the loud winds.
"OF COURSE NOT!" She shouted back.
"TAKE IT, I'LL EXPLAIN." He handed her the gun, then cartridge box he'd recovered. "TAKE A PAPER CARTRIDGE. BITE OFF THE TOP END AND POUR HALF THE GUNPOWDER… ONLY GUNPOWDER IN THE PRIMING PAN… THE SHUTTER AT THE TOP. THEN PUT REST OF THE GUNPOWDER AND MUSKET BALL DOWN THE BARREL. AND THERE'S A ROD UNDER THE BARREL TOO. DRAW AND USE IT TO RAM EVERYTHING DOWN THE BARREL. COCK THE LOCK BACK, READY TO FIRE."
It surprised Davy when she exclaimed "Done" within only seconds following his instructions. Confirmed by her letting out a shot at one of the wolves dangerously beside their horse. Yet he didn't hold back his frustration when she missed. "Terrible shot! Again! But this time, give me the gun."
Adona quickly complied, her hands working with more urgency. She handed Davy the freshly reloaded musket.
One hand off the reins but both on the gun. With his deadly precision, he shot one of the wolves square in the chest.
She drew another paper cartridge.
He passed back the gun.
They fell into a rhythm.
Tear.
Cock.
Pass.
Shoot.
Yelp.
Repeat.
Round and round they rode within the fiery circle, picking off the predators one after another. With each lap, less pursued them… That was until nature decided to exercise their lungs.
The winds ceased at once.
Before you could say jack, smoke piled up inside the circle.
Burst of coughs caused Davy to drop the musket in attempt to pass it to her. They coughed their lungs out in tears while the horse roved around restlessly scouting for an exit out the circle.
But dancing fire everywhere.
Neighs of hope foreboded Klein's and Cravat's arrival to the edge of the flames. Both their horses snorting in midst of the chaos – however only Cravat's turned uneasy.
The wolves outside the ring of fire closed in, hungry teeth bared whilst their growls grew louder.
Cravat snapped the downwards aim of his gun from one wolf to another, while still having to keep his uneasy horse under control with tightened reins.
Klein urged him not to shoot. Somehow his own horse remained calm despite being surrounded by bloodthirsty predators. He'd point finger at the pack, scolding them to "stay back!", "leave off!" "Don't dare!", or any such warning coupled with groaning sounds. You'd think this a nonsense tactic 'til you realise the wolves only kept snapping their teeth at the air while stubbornly hanging around – yet none of them actually attacked his steady horse. "These ones are plain hungry, they won't back away! We need to get Adonna and Davy out of there! Just don't shoot!"
Hung on deftly despite his horse rearing and kicking around, Cravat groaned. "Fire's not too tall over there! I could hurdle the horse across but… but it is fire! She'll spook!"
Klein spotted the area in question: a log which its blaze didn't burn quite as large as other fuel. His stroking touch and tongue-clicking sounds calmed Cravat's horse enough for him to cross over into his saddle. "She won't." Klein assured.
Cravat's grip tightened on the reins. So tight it could crack the straps. Beads of sweat across his forehead. His mare didn't hesitate one bit when prodded onwards towards the fire. No doubt because of Klein stretching a hand from behind Cravat to grip the horse's nape underneath her mane.
The pack of predators of course pursued.
Stern expressions on both Cravat and Klein. The horse took to the air. Heat and smoke engulfed them as the world blurred.
They landed safely on the other side, inside the ring of fire. Meanwhile wolves snarled in frustration, deterred by flames once again.
Adonna and Davy's horse had grown so restlessly crazy amid suffocating smoke, gallivanting from one end to another spurning all of Davy's attempts to control it. Not until Cravat rode to it for Klein to grab its reins.
The wolves on this side, Cravat didn't hesitate to shoot.
Adonna collected it to reload like an ace in the act, while Klein soothed their horse to a semblance of composure considering the choking atmosphere.
When Klein said go, Cravat rode back towards where they entered the ring. Klein drew the others' horse by reins along their gallop. Both horses leapt the fire in near unison.
Fire licked Adonna and Davy's mount however. Its tail caught ablaze, throwing it into a fit of hopping and kicking.
Adonna realised this fire eating its tail and in her attempt to snuff it out… with bare palms, the mount threw her off.
Grateful wolves saw their chance at last.
Suddenly,
Fierce, primal chorus of roars erupted throughout the forest.
Those two mountain lions from last night leapt into action. Their mighty roars and fierce eyes to remind the pack their place in the wild.
Cowering wolves retreated.
Time burnt away like the forest fire through the evening.
By daybreak,
Rwby was riding in Cravat's saddle. Adonna in Klein's. Davy sprawled on his belly on the spare horse being pulled along their canter across the serene plains. Adonna and him blackened by smoke, they'd fancy drifting to sleep if the rocking movements would let them. Rwby held her head down throughout.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Morning. 26th November.
Klein awaited Davy outside the door of his room as they were preparing for departure.
"That's a lot of supplies in that bag for one person." He noted as Davy stepped out. "You and I haven yet had a proper talk."
Davy sighed. He turned a smirk at Klein. "You want to have a conversation, we both got tongues. You want have a misunderstanding, we each got two fists. But you want me to respond to anything, it'll would cost you."
"Hold on, what?"
"Yes. You carry it for me. Deal?" He tossed his bag at him before he could even conjure an answer.
"You're just lazy!" Klein followed along.
"Wrong. I'm an Energy-conserving Creature." Davy corrected. "Plus I'm still injured. Then having to walk, carry weight and still answer whatever string of questions you're about to bombard me with. Have some compassion for a brother."
"Fine, fine. I know you're planning to go to the Godless Sea after Ona Crossing."
Now that stopped Davy's steps. His expression turned stern as his voice when Klein asked what the place was like. "Don't let curiosity drive you to an early grave. Even my old crew, The Hangpole pirates keep their business out of there. Astrids aren't horses or mountain lions, you will be killed without even realising what's going on. That place is stock full with valuable resources with no established government. You know what that means? Hundreds of pirate crews. A lot of them own their own Astrids just to gain an edge over murdering. That's why even the Consortium's government keeps away from there. You will be killed then forgotten the next second!"
Klein's blood ran cold in his veins. As he stood there absorbing that warning about the Godless Sea, he couldn't help but wonder Davy's reason for wanting to venture there despite knowing all this.
The Sagittarius Legend remained Davy's goal with unwavering resolve. He claimed that it was something he has to do, and if there was another way to achieve his goal without travelling into the Godless Sea, he'd take it in a heartbeat. He leaned closer to Klein, his voice fell lower. "I need you to do something for me. About Adonna. I struck a deal with the Ironsides: you three are welcome to stay here for as long as it takes. All I have to do is get them in contact with "competent individuals" over in the Godless Sea that could help them find some Astrid they're searching for and they pay your toll fee back to Dona. But Adonna's got so much interest in this Sagittarius Legend as well. As nice as it is having someone else interested in the same thing that I am, I need you to discourage her from it. The outside world isn't as nice and quiet as Dona. It's definitely not a place for her or any of you."
Klein hesitated a second, "I will. Of course I will." He nodded. "You should understand some things about her and Rwby first. You know about Adonna's family and their adventures, right? She was out at the Port Market all day long the day her mother disappeared, searching. Constabularies brought her back home when they found her crying out there at night. No trace, no message, her mother just vanished. And no relative. No one to explain to her anything. Back then we had plans to escape Dona and go after her. But that was before she found out about the circumstances of her mother's disappearance. And just recently, she found out all about the family tradition. She isn't the same sad, little girl. She dislikes the whole idea of adventuring true enough, yet she seems so keen on this Sagittarius Treasure. Maybe it has something to do with her mother, I don't know. Rube on the other hand, I know she shouldn't have put herself in danger for an item piece. But, you see, the longest bit of time her father dedicated to spending with her were those few hours after she invented that clock. So it's her biggest trophy. No, that's not right. She'd call it her treasure if you asked her, and she's carried it everywhere ever since. I'm telling you all this so you'll understand the two of them. If Adonna stubbornly decides to go on an adventure despite discouragements… where she goes I follow. Same goes for Rube."
Davy just walked away without another word. He soon came across Adonna and Rwby somewhere down the wide corridor.
With less than a day left to the estimated time before the Hangpole pirates would reach Ona Crossing, Adonna's foremost worry was for everyone to hurry. She tugged Davy to snap out of whatever had him lost in thought.
"The less of us go, the better." He said to her all of a sudden.
Adonna's chuckled it away, only to realise he was being serious.
"I know Deron and everything he wants. I plan to negotiate for your dog and for my place back on his crew. Doesn't require everyone tagging along." He added.
"I am going!" Her eyes softened when she realised he referred to Rwby standing behind.
"You clearly cannot handle yourself. And out here won't coddle you like back home. So stay here where it's safe for you up until you all can return to Dona." He told Rwby.
Rwby kept her head down and just nodded. Adonna took her hands, and softly she said, "Rwby, those pirates are dangerous. So maybe he's right, you should stay. We'll be back in no time."
Rwby nodded again.
Soon,
She, the Ironsides twins, Cravat and the stablehand all gathered at the courtyard to see the others off in their carriage.
And off they went.
Left behind, a line of tear trickled down Rwby's cheek. No one would know what happened when Davy directed her to follow along his markings to safety back in the forest. Back then, she chanced upon where the hurricane had deposited variety of junk it had carried. If there was a chance for her finding her precious clock, it would've been there. But she turned away, preventing another second's delay.
Lilyan touched her and did confirm her eyes shimmering from welled up tears and morning sunlight.
The way Lilyan prodded on a horse with her short legs and handled it deftly through gallop, of course they caught up to the carriage in no time.
The boys were at the box seat.
Rwby firmed her conviction with a deep inhale and spoke to Davy. "Your plan won't work. Or maybe it will – I don't know. 50-50. But in the event negotiations don't work." She drew another audible breath. "I'm versed in chemistry, gadgetry, pyrotechnics, botany and toxicology, metalwork, clockwork, cogwork, locomotive engineering, steam-power engineering, still working on electrical engineering. Making gadgets and tools of harm that'll make our enemies beg for mercy will be a piece of cake for me who will invent self-powering, self-operating Automatons. So… So I'm coming along."