(Book 1) The malediction of the Undertaker

Chapter 22: Markus' find

Taker and Pat set out to attack Mendal's second camp found by Pat and his men. He hopes to find the second map and the key like the prisoners mentioned. They have 20 minutes to walk through the forest, and the two creatures seem to be talking together while Taker was talking with Pat about tonight. He confesses to her what Markus did, wanted to be nice and gave Diana a gift of a creature but the creature master is not happy. "Maybe Arag just wants to see how the creature is doing?" Pat suggested but Taker knows Arag, he didn't seem to know if the creature was okay.

They have arrived, they are all descended from their creatures, hiding in the bushes near the camp... "Okay then, you are ready, on the other hand Markus stays away from the fight, stays hidden, and we take care of the soldiers. .." Taker ordered as Markus stood aside due to his injuries, sad, wanting to bite or kill someone.

Taker raises a hand to give the signal to attack, they attack the soldiers while the creatures attack their creatures, Markus remains hidden, does not know what to do, hears the screams, the sound of the spells... but cannot move .

As soon as they have killed everyone, they reunite, Markus joins them in the center of the camp, the creature is reassured to see that his master is not injured or dead. "Take whatever you feel useful and find a map and a key.." Taker ordered his men and Pat's men, Markus looks at the unfinished basement dug into the ground, and curiously descends to check what was the noise... Markus checks around and realizes that a woman is in one of the dungeons, watching her. She looks scared, hiding from her naked body, she has never seen this creature and looks in bad shape, she can see there is a missing chelicere and broken legs. "What did you find?" Asked Taker seeing that his creature is in front of a dungeon and then stops at the sight of the cage, a naked woman, beaten, seems to be afraid, a prisoner? a slave?

Taker opens the cage door with a spell, scares the woman, cowering in a corner. She knows him, she already saw this man one day and the rumors say a lot about him, there are some who say he is nice and helps people but there are others who say he is evil, ready to kill anyone. Taker raises his hand, letting her know he won't hurt her..."Nothing to worry about, we won't hurt you." He reassured by walking slowly towards her, he takes off his big black dress to put it gently on the woman helping to get up. "Let's get out of here." He said softly as he walked out of the dungeon and underground with the girl.

Taker comes out of the basement with Markus and the woman, before they go back to the castle, he knows from some of the soldiers that they have a map, probably the other half but no key in sight, Taker is already happy that they were able to find the other half of the card. During the trip, Taker looks at the girl who is behind Pat, wondering who she is and why she was locked up, maybe the girl will be useful to him...

Back at the fortress, Taker asks the women of the castle if they can take care of the girl, run her a bath and give her clean clothes.

~!~

Late afternoon, Taker goes to Diana's house, must do what is right. He knocks on the door and before Diana answers, he sees Tigress on the roof of the house watching him. Diana opens the door and smiles seeing the majesty, very happy to see him. "Good evening Taker, how are you?" She asked politely, Taker enters the house, walks towards the fireplace before turning around and looking at her. "I..I'm afraid you'll have to part ways with Tigress." He said watching Diana's eyes change to sadness, she closed the door softly. "But..but why? I love Tigress.." she said not wanting to part with her. Taker approaches her, suddenly taking her hands in his. "It's not for me to decide, you have to come with me with Tigress and Markus. You have to return Tigress to his father." He said sadly knowing the beginning of friendship Diana had with Tigress. "But.." She tried to speak but she can't, she doesn't want to part with this creature, she takes care of Tigress, feeds her, talks to her, she needs nothing.

~!~

After a long discussion, Diana agreed to follow Taker with Markus and Tigress. "Wait!" Taker turns around and sees Pat running towards them not understanding why Diana leaves without telling him. "Pat, it's about what I told you earlier..don't worry, we'll be back.." he assured his ally, Diana smiled sadly as her creature rubbed against his leg scared of what's to come. "Okay, be careful." he said before leaving.

The walk to go to the burrow was long, Taker looks attentively at Tigress who looks very close to the human. He had never seen a creature so close to someone in just a few days. He looks at Markus meanly, it's all because of his creature, if he would have ever flown, it wouldn't have happened but he can't help thinking that Markus meant well. They stop in front of the burrow, Diana looks around her, she feels watched, not welcome, she approaches Taker and gently holds his arm. "Stay by me." He ordered Diana before they went inside.