War of the Heart

Arcane

Warning: Upsetting Content

At long last, she saw her destination. It was instantly clear when she saw it that this was where Detruienn was hiding. The magical path before her was glowing and from her height, she could make out the two people hiding in the outposts. Her heart fluttered.

It was a ruin. All this time, Detruienn and her allies had been hiding in a castle ruin. From the distance, it looked crumbled, but already she could tell the more of the interior was in tact than people would expect. She suspected they used concealment spells to hide it and the outposts helped keep an eye on the king's men. No wonder they'd stayed under cover for so long.

She shifted in the sky, angling herself downwards. The wind carried her through a window, leaving her in an empty corridor. A faint voice hovered nearby and decided to following it. She flew a little, then turned right, where she reached a room without a door. Not wanting to make her presence known to anyone she distrusted, she quietly landed and watched.

To her surprise, she recognised one of the three people in the room. Elanora Sato sat on a bed, near identical to Emilee, but dressed in dark finery with purple embroidery. Next to her rested a troubled child with dark hair and a deep purple cloak. Her arm was wrapped around him. A brown haired man with honey skin leaned against the wall, who wore a fine dark shirt with tight pants. Arcane was reminded of Lavia.

'I'm scared...' the boy mumbled.

'I know,' murmured Elanora, running a hand over his head. 'She's asking a lot of you. But... you've got to show loyalty. No matter how you feel inside, you cannot let her doubt you.'

The boy lowered his gaze. His right hand opened up and an orb of light appeared in it. 'What if she succeeds? Detruienn said somebody will try to steal Tammy. What if it works?'

'She won't let that happen, trust me. You're too valuable to her.' Ela tried to hug the kid, but he shifted away. She gave the man a meaningful look, but Arcane couldn't guess what kind of message she was trying to convey. 'When is the interrogation?'

'In ten minutes. Speaking of which, I should probably get going.' He smoothed his shirt and gelled back his hair.

Ela waved farewell, her focus still on the kid. 'Are you sure you don't know who saved Kaya? If you did... it would save Hjalmar a lot of... unpleasantness.'

Hjalmar?

'I told you, I don't know,' said the kid through gritted teeth. His fist clenched and the orb of light shattered.

Once again, Ela gave the man a look. He grimaced and headed towards the doorway, only to stop short when he spotted Arcane.

'For goodness' sake, there are birds here now! Birds!' he ranted.

Before he tried to shoo her, Arcane decided to transform back into a human. She landed on her bottom in a rather undignified matter. A rosy blush coloured her cheeks when she said, 'Hi.'

The man took a step back, clearly caught off-guard. 'I... I'll let her know.'

He disappeared, but Ela approached her, raising an eyebrow at his form. 'Men. They aren't of any help whatsoever.' With a grimace, she helped Arcane into the room and onto a comfortable chair. The child stared at her with dark eyes.

'Who's that?'

'West, meet Arcane. Arcane meet... I suppose I've already introduced him, so it would be redundant to repeat his name.'

Now that she was here, she felt stupid. Back at the Minka Estate, back at the palace, she'd missed Detruienn. She'd longed to escape the cursed spirits. Then why was her gut screaming at her as if she'd made a terrible mistake? Elanora's grim expression didn't help.