After walking a few minutes through the woods, the rear fence of the Academy came into view. It stood at a towering height of over 150 metres.
It made Richard wonder just how Elora was able to scale the fence along with him yesterday. Unable to take his eyes off the extremely tall fence, he almost stumbled to a fall as he kicked a big stone in his path.
He staggered forward, twitching his toes in pain, "Ow."
Prince Kaiser simply ignored and continued in his steady stride, gently carrying his little sister in his arms.
Elora squirmed a bit and raised her head, "Kaiser, I'm fine now. You can put me down."
Kaiser replied with his eyes fixated on the clearing up ahead, "Only the gods know what foolish thing you'll do next once I drop you."
She sighed, turning her face away, "I know what I did was wrong. And I shouldn't have dragged Richard into this..." she paused and stole a glance at Richard, who was busy skipping forward as he nursed his toes.
She sighed once more and gazed at the sky. The clouds were slowly gathering, "But we couldn't trust the information with anyone. And we would have run out of time if we told father or the castle guards."
"And isn't that better than almost getting yourself killed?" Kaiser posed a question as they finally walked out of the woods. He stopped by the treeline and looked at either sides of the fence. Then he tilted his head upward, staring at the zenith of the tall fence.
"I thought I could handle it," she said with a pout.
"You indeed handled it quite well, didn't you?" Kaiser scoffed in sarcasm, crouching a bit as he placed her feet on the ground. He straightened his back and walked closer to the fence, touching the hard brick with his right hand.
"Just don't tell father about this," Elora pleaded after finding her balance with Richard's help.
"You know I can't promise that. Those men didn't want to abduct you to merely ask for a ransom, they had a much more sinister motive," Kaiser answered curtly, retracting his hand from the fence. He half-turned towards them and gestured for them to come forward, "I fear it has something to do with royal blood. You of all people should know the consequences of any ritual that involves royal blood. The banished Dark Druids are still out there, and they must have hired these men to get you."
Whilst moving towards Kaiser, Richard's mind swirled in thoughts as he processed the prince's words. It actually made sense this time around, arousing a not-so-mysterious suspicion.
"Perhaps the Dark Druids are already back in Ostaria, but they've decided to keep a low profile..." he muttered, rubbing his chin. Then he quickly added, "Or maybe some of them never left."
"Like Master Hendrik," Elora said softly, her eyes dilating in realization. She pushed herself away from Richard and rested her back against the fence.
Kaiser hummed before flashing a terse smile at Richard, "That's two times you've surprised me today, Greylock. Maybe you're actually different."
Richard returned the smile, rubbing the back of his neck, "You sound like my sister."
Kaiser's brows dropped and a cold wind wisped around the three of them.
Elora weakly nudged Richard's side with her elbow, giving him this "Watch how you speak," look.
Richard immediately realised that he had touched a nerve by mentioning his sister. At least his suspicion about Kaiser having a thing with her was on point. He bowed his head and stared at his feet.
Kaiser took out his left hand and hovered his palm in the air. He spread his fingers and his eyes turned a darker shade.
His shadow also deepened in blackness and extended to the shadows of the other two. Once they made contact, their shadows also darkened and came alive. They merged to form a dark circular pool beneath their feet.
Before Richard could ask Kaiser what he was doing, the circular pool of shadows became a void that sucked them all in.
The circumference of the merged shadow reduced as it slithered across the ground, latching itself to the fence and swimming upward.
It swam for over a minute before reaching the top of the fence, then it swam downwards into the Academy compound.
It stopped moving as soon as it touched the two-inch long grasses that encompassed almost the entirety of the Academy compound.
As though coming out of an open elevator, Kaiser, Richard and Elora emerged from the merged shadows. The shadows split and returned to their various casters.
Richard clutched his chest and staggered back, heaving desperately for breath. Entering the shadow, he felt himself get consumed by a void of nothing but darkness and more darkness. He couldn't breath, feel or even move.
Well, he was perfectly okay and was breathing fine, but it felt as though he had died temporarily.
After gasping and coughing awkwardly for seconds, he stopped and sighed in relief, "I can breath."
"Yes, you can. Stop overreacting," Elora rolled her eyes.
Richard looked at her and noticed that Kaiser had mysteriously disappeared. He took his eyes off her and scanned the compound as far as his eyes could see. No one else was there except the two of them.
"Uh... Where's your brother?" he asked.
"He's gone to look for Master Hendrik," Elora answered, grabbing Richard's wrist and pulling him across the wide compound.
"Isn't that too risky? Master Hendrik is a Dark Druid. I heard those guys almost put Ostaria to its knees. And there are only seven of them," Richard muttered, jogging faster to keep up with her.
She let go of his hand once he caught up with her, "We can't say for sure that he's one of them. Besides, the Academy is full of Master and Advanced Mages. He won't survive."
She didn't stop running until they got to the open entrance of the school. Richard halted beside her, holding his knees as he panted for breath.
She was also out of breath but she was quick to find some composure. She took a step back as she said, "You should go home now while my brother is busy. I don't want you entangled in this more than you already are."
'Trust me, I was just about to suggest that. I can't afford to get executed or something. I haven't even spent a whole day in this realm,' Richard scoffed inwardly as he stood straight.
He replied with a nod, "I'll go now. But will you be okay?"
"I'll be fine. My father will only yell for about a minute and will probably ask guards to start following me to the Academy," she shrugged with a casual smile.
Richard smiled back and bowed slightly, "Till tomorrow then, your Highness."
He raised his head and briskly walked out of the compound before she could tell him to stop respecting her so much.
It was as he walked down a few blocks of houses that a sudden realisation dawned on him. He stopped in his tracks and ran his hands around his upper body. He could only feel his black silk shirt on him.
He looked downward and palmed his forehead, "Ugh, I forgot my jacket."
...
At the Elven district.
The entrance to the Blood Forest was quite noisy with the elves chatting idly, and passing weapons and potion vials.
James excluded himself from the masses to gear up in peace. He had to leave his squad before he snapped at Aziel and Powder's annoying snickers.
He was donned in a silk black tunic, a pair of leather trousers and a fine pair of knee-length boots. He tied the laces of his boots and kicked them against each other.
He slung a brown baldric across his chest and stood up. In his hands were a sharp pair of small wooden axes. He brandished them skilfully before strapping them to the baldric behind him.
"Now tell me, what does a Berserker need axes for?" the silver-haired Aziel asked teasingly as she walked over to him. She was quite tall for a sixteen year old lady-elf, her eyes crystal-blue. She was also clad in half armour.
Tagging along her was Powder, whose hair was a much darker shade of grey. Her eyes were no different from her sister, and was almost the same height with her.
James groaned exasperatedly as they stood before him in smiles. He looked down at them with lowered brows. He could see the centre of their heads from his perspective, and yet they were always so bold enough to get under his skin.
And yes, being tall as a lady-elf began from five feet upwards. The two girls were at a towering height of five feet and five inches.
"You two really have nothing else to do?" James asked rhetorically, walking around them and heading over to the rest of his squad.
They turned and followed him briskly.
"What do you mean?" Powder asked genuinely, raising her shoulders.
James replied with a short grunt. He was slowly developing a headache from just hearing their voices. And he had enough reasons to. They always found a way to disturb him for as long as James could remember. He was born in the Elven district a year before it was given a name. His next door neighbours were Hazel, her parents, and her two cousins.
James's mum always took him to their house to play, since he had no sibling to mingle with.
He didn't hate them. No. In fact, he sometimes enjoyed their company. They were like siblings, but sometimes they went overboard.
Right now, he was trying to focus on a way to locate Tusk and keep him at bay once they entered the forest, but the girls wouldn't stop talking.
He got to his squad and they had a quick talk.
Once every squad was equipped and ready, Alaric Arthedain, Hazel's father and the Lord of the Elven district, raised his broad sword and cleaved at the treeline that led to the forest, "Stay on Guard!"