"Come back you bastard!" A blonde man with squinted eyes shouted. As he spoke, he also took out his red colored Baruga.
"Never!" The boy replied, who was running away while riding on a Lakéqus.
Carlo then got onto the Lakéqus which was tied to the stump on the ground after cutting the ropes binding it. He then dashed into the direction of the boy with squinted eyes, not minding his surroundings.
"Ahh! I can't see! Catch the sacrifices!"
"That son of a whore really created a lot of troubles for us! F*ck!"
"Just once when I catch him, he'd be dead meat!"
"Where the f*ck is Carlo? Did he run after the boy?"
"I'm right here. I will help you guys catch the girls, just wait a moment." A blonde man said with a hoarse voice. Although his face had an annoyed expression on it, his black eyes had calmness in them.
The blonde was holding a Lakéqus, very similar to the one that Carlo ran off on. The man was a spectacular copy of Carlo. Maybe he was his twin? Maybe Carlo never actually ran after Alex? Nobody knew except the man.
After answering them, he moved to tie the Lakéqus to the cart. As he was tying the rope, his eyes moved around in the air as if he was looking at some kind of invisible threads. He then turned towards the direction from where Alex and the supposedly Carlo had entered the forest. He then moved his hands in the air.
He circled his hands as if he was coiling some kind of thin invisible threads around his right palm. After finishing the strange movement, he moved the palm and placed it at the center of his chest. He placed it right above the location where the heart was supposed to be.
As this Carlo was doing this strange act of his, Ares shouted with red eyes, "Carlo you should chase after that bastard! It will be very troublesome if he managed to escape!"
Carlo then said, "Don't worry, I've a plan."
Ares never closed his eyes eventhough they were stinging due to the dung. However, he was so busy in catching the seven girls that he didn't notice when one Carlo got replaced by the other.
Nasir's eyes were tightly shut so he could only use the sound to guess what was going on. However, it was not a good decision when one was surrounded by the noises of shrieking girls and chaos.
Right after tying the Lakéqus and doing that strange act, Carlo moved to catch the sacrifices. Although the area around his eyes was blushed red, it seemed like his vision was not affected at all!
He then swiftly moved and caught the girls who were most distant. They thrashed in his arms but they couldn't do anything. After all, they were malnourished little girls while he was a trained Aastra Guard with a high credit.
"What plan are you talking about when we are f*cked if we don't catch that boy?" Nasir said while holding one girl in each arm as he moved towards the cart.
"I will explain soon, let's first settle down." Carlo replied calmly.
After a few moments, they caught all the sacrifices and tied them together so they couldn't run.
Carlo then took a dart from one of his pockets in his jacket and a small steel vial from a pouch in his belt. He then dipped the dart in the vial and pocked each of the girls' necks with it.
"What are you doing?" Ares asked calmly. He looked slightly tired. Anybody would be if they were shocked just like how Alex did to them.
"Putting them to sleep. It's one of the steps." Carlo replied patiently but with heavy breaths.
The other two men looked at each other, Ares with his bloodshot eyes and Nasir with his squinted eyes. The irritation in their eyes was now subsiding.
Nasir then said with an annoyed voice, "You should have done that earlier! Neither the boy would have escaped, nor would we have to face with this life and death situation!"
Ares nodded on his words.
Carlo replied with the same tone, "And then what? Watch them fall one by one through the open cart as they lose their balance in their sleep? If you want to blame someone, blame the village! First they give us an open cart and not a closed one and then the royal knight missed that the boy was holding a knife and some Lakéqus dung!" Although he had a tone of annoyance, his eyes held some mockery in them.
Nasir added, "Yeah! Even I was shocked when he started throwing shit eventhough his hands were supposed to be empty and tied!"
Ares said with doubt, "Did the boy hide the dagger in his ass or something? Why was it that none of us realized when he cut his rope?"
"I'm not sure." Carlo then started to speak. He had more credits than them so he obviously was the leader. "The kid had some tricks up his sleeves. He caught us all off-guard.
"However, here is when my plan comes in. As you know, he was actually given the punishment of 'Death from Aastra' for treason. This means that in the end, he was just supposed to die. Eventhough he escaped, he stupidly ran deeper into the forest! Tell me, how certain are you that you will manage to survive in that forest amongst the unknown beasts?"
He then looked at the other two. They looked back at him. It was evident from there expressions that the answer was negative.
Carlo continued, "If even you cannot survive in the forest, how do you think the kid will? Also, the Princess had already lifted the curse from him, so nobody will actually know what happened. Kurkhaza will also think that there were no appetizers this time, just like all the other normal years."
"However, the elders will know if we are lying due to the curse. How do you plan to bypass that?" Nasir enquired. As he has now washed his face, he could clearly see.
"Don't worry, I'm the leader. I will report and not let the elders get suspicious." Carlo placated the others.
"Fine, our fate depends on you now, Carlo. Go wash your face and let's place the sacrifices and leave." Ares said as he handed over the water Mashak to him. He knew how capable Carlo was so he didn't doubt him.
They then took the girls inside the cave. Ares was holding three while the others were holding two each. They moved deep into the cave through various curves. They walked for atleast 30 minutes until they reached a lake inside the dark cave, enlightened by glowing vines.
Nobody said a word as they placed the girls onto the rocky floor beside the lake. Carlo then took out the same vial from earlier and poked the girls again with the unhygienic dart dipped in a sedative.
After finishing the task, they swiftly left the cave. As Carlo was setting out to ride, he looked back at the entrance and murmured in a silent voice, "Your destiny is much better than mine." There was a painful smile on his face.
Carlo then quickly turned his expression back to normal and pulled the reins of the Lakéqus and the three of them moved back to the village while solidifying their plans on the way.
***
In a dark black room where everything had the theme of black to it, there were eight candles and eight men sitting infront of each candle. All of them were staring at Carlo.
An old man with balding head, gray hairs and clean shaved face with many wrinkles said, "Report." His blue eyes were as calm as the sky.
The blonde man with black eyes replied, "The sacrifices were correctly placed and the boy was rightly punished. Although there was a slight problem, as there was only one Lakéqus that didn't escape. When we came out of the cave, we only saw one Lakéqus tied to the cart while there was no one tied to the stump. I'm ready to take the blame."
"That more or less means the mission was successful." A completely bald old man said while looking at the other members. "Due to your mistake, only the credits given to you will slightly decrease and nothing else. You can now have a couple of day's break. Take your leave."
As he finished reporting to the elders, Carlo left the palace and entered the forest through the west gate. He walked for a whole day as he went deeper into the forest.
He walked continuously for eighteen hours, without even encountering any monster! Then, he stopped at an area and started to scatter some kind of red liquid that resembled blood. Amongst that blood, he placed his red Baruga on the grass.
After doing the preparations, he placed his right palm again at the center of his chest. Then he moved his hands as if he was collecting the invisible threads from his heart. He then grabbed the invisible bundle of the threads and tore them apart with both of his hands.
Then he swiftly took out a ring from his left breast pocket of the jacket. Wearing the ring, he removed the jacket and threw it on the ground.
The blonde man with black eyes who looked like an exact copy of Carlo, then said, "Done."
His right hand moved, the ring glowed crimson and then the man suddenly disintegrated into green particles.
***