Her Soldier, His Warrior

In Plain Sight [Part 5]

Traveling with an injured ankle was no fun, even if she had a mount to make the trip easier, Enya was very sure she would never be able to make it to the lodge and catch Soren and Claudia on time. And considering that they had tracking dogs, the last thing she wanted was to have those catch wind of Zira and alert the two humans of her presence.

So far she managed to stay well behind them as they finally reached a large wood lodge structure, but stayed deep within the edge of the woods where she could watch them. From her hiding spot, she watched as they set the dogs off, only for them to stop at a large river and not even proceed to go any further. Perhaps these children and the Moonshadow elf managed to go somewhere via river?

They probably had to stop somewhere on land, and maybe travel somewhere on foot. The assassin thought as she watched the siblings dismount their horses. If they did, maybe I can track down these kids myself and ask that assassin to help me out in taking these two down and figure out a more detailed plan to kill Viren. Problem solved. But first, I need to get ahold of that shirt Soren was using.

She had seen the teen tuck it into his belt, but he had to put it back in his saddlebags at some point, right? If her foot wasn't hurt, she would have snuck up on Soren and snatched the shirt from his belt without him or his sister noticing and booked it back to Zira. Sadly she had to wait, and that was going to take forever!

"You don't mind taking a nap with me, do you?" Enya ask Zira, who was chewing on a nearby fallen branch. The Moonstrider stopped her chewing to give a whine and went back to her task. Enya huffs before grabbing her pack and laying her head on it to act as a pillow. A nap wouldn't hurt, she was tired anyways. "Wake me up if they do anything interesting."

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Enya wasn't sure how much time had passed, but when Zira woke her up trying to chew on her hair, the sun was already higher in the sky and both horses were gone. She cursed herself for not being more alert and wondered if the two went back to Katolis. No, there was no way they would go back empty handed so early, they had to have moved on. The assassin had her mount sniff out her targets trail, which soon led her to an area where the horses were grazing. Soren and Claudia were nowhere in sight, so Enya took the chance to approach the pale white steed she had only seen once and check the saddles.

Thankfully, the shirt was tucked away in there and by the ancients did it stink to high heavens. Did Callum ever wash this thing? Disgusted, Enya and Zira went back to the lodge to follow the river. If the trail stopped at the river, it was only logical that the princes and assassin may have taken a boat to keep their scent off the ground. Seemed logical enough.

The two continued to follow the river trail until it came to a stop at a large waterfall that dropped into a vast lake, but the smell was quite unbearable. Floating in the water were numerous fish and one very large water serpent that was rotting and had drifted to the shore. Enya was very sure she wasn't going to be able to smell for a month after getting the whiff of a rotting animal that size from her nose.

Ancients help me, that smells worse than the shirt. The assassin gags as Zira runs past the carcass. Oh moon gods spare me...finding those boys on this path better be worth it.

It didn't take long for Zira to finally get the scent of the older prince and follow it to a large snow covered town. Enya of course had to put her necklace on to disguise herself immediately, and lucky for her she had a necklace for Zira too that gave her the appearance of a medium sized black and white dog with long fur. Of course she had to tie a rope to her neck to keep the Moonstrider from trying to sniff everything and jump on everyone while she asked questions. Some villagers did tell her they spotted two boys with a funny looking frog animal, and they were traveling with a young girl who was draped in a cloak and acted off. Others told her the girl was a pale haired elf that had run off with the two boys and made a run for the Cursed Caldera, never to be seen again. Sounded like a Moonshadow elf alight, but who was it?