The Heir

Chapter 15: Unfavourable Odds

Envelopes were weird. Pieces of paper enclosed in pieces of paper. And often, the paper inside meant bad news. This time there was some very bad news. Tyler had been sent a letter in the middle of nowhere, meaning that the sender could locate them. The worse news, there was mention of sacrifice to Riben's condition, where he was being held hostage. There could not be a worse turn of events.

"Stop overthinking. I know that face," said Tyler as Terra held the closed envelope in her hands. She really hated when he asked her to calm down, even though he was the overthinker. "Well guess what, Tyler," she stated in frustration. "We might just die." She knew the thought would have occurred to Tyler already, but he was making an understatement of the situation.

Sometimes, he was an airhead.

"Just open the damn letter," Tyler muttered in exasperation. He had reason to, for she was staring at it for twenty minutes at the least. Unable to deal with him constantly coaxing her, Terra opened it. And it was just what she had expected.

Dear Reng Tu,

You do realise I'm looking to get rid of you. The entire point of an oligarchy is useless, and I'm the only one who realises that. Yes, I'm trying to be as informal as possible to you dimwits.

Mainly, it's silly you even think you can appear out of nowhere and threaten the person who destroyed your kind in the hopes of better society.

I've been able to find where you are, in the middle of the forest, and don't even think of trying to pull a stunt on me. Try anything and your friend, Riben Aenen who is currently in the dungeons, will have a slow death. You don't want him to pay the price for you.

I suggest you turn yourselves over, to avoid any harsh consequences. You have in fact broken a few laws. I'm on my way to the forest. Stay where you are.

Regards,

Illeh

"Well, we're quite lucky," said Terra. She stared out into the forest from the hut she was seated in. She knew their situation was dangerous, but she knew exactly what to do. But the worst part: she was scared. She could totally die.

"Tyler, you're writing a letter to Maria and Ivan in record time, telling them about the current scenario. Also tell them to be here to fend off Illeh. Leave any bad spells or banishing lock charms around for them to use. While you're at that, I'll use a tracker on the envelope to possibly find where Illeh is. After that, we're saving a certain loverboy. Plan over," lectured Terra. It was a brief plan, but was quite sensible.

"They probably have our locations, so you're going to have to pull off a location change. Replace Maria and Ivan's locations for our's," he explained. "Also, who's 'lover boy'?" Terra smirked at him. "Riben, of course. I know you like him, and don't even try to argue with me." Tyler's face was a bit pink, but he still got to work. And Terra proceeded to pull off some spells.

"Oh great. We have a maniac after us," said Maria, masking her fear with supposed sarcasm. Ivan let out the entire curse word library in a matter of seconds, which was quite impressive. "We might die for real this time, but I guess I'll hope we won't," he said with a similar expression.

Terra had completed the location change and Tyler had described some charms and spells to use in the letter. According to the letter, he also put around some charmed daggers in certain areas. It all sounded easy, but Maria found it hard to learn specific chants, and neither did she know how to use a dagger. She hoped the books she had read would help her. She could probably stab Illeh in the back, straight to the heart. But that would only temporarily immobilise them. And the success rate of her finding the right area was low. Things weren't in anyone's favour, really.

"Screw letters. They're harbingers of bad luck," hissed Maria, crumpling the letter then throwing it at the bin in the corner. She missed. "Oof. Must hurt," commented Ivan with his cheshire cat smile. "Say anything more and your ashes will be turned into your biography soon," she said, resisting the urge to laugh.

No sooner than that, they heard knocks from Ivan's bedroom door. They both stared at the door. Maria moved to the door and opened it up.

"Long story short, I'm here to help. Now, we have places to be," said Ivan's mother. They were still a bit dumbstruck, but that haze ended when she chucked some paper at Ivan. "Read this, and memorise it. No excuses later." He scrambled to get the papers open and went through them.

Sierra started waving her hands around in an oddly circular motion, and after about a minute, a portal stood in the room. The power of it was flinging objects around the room, and Sierra's hair flying as well. "I know portals are basic, but this is the best thing I have right now," she yelled. "Now get in!"

Maria and Ivan ran to the portal and flung themselves through without any second thoughts. After them, Sierra followed through.

Shortly, they appeared at the hut where Terra and Tyler were, and Terra was just finishing up on her spells. "Who's this?" she asked about Sierra. "I'm Ivan's mother. Just here to help," Sierra said. Terra awkwardly smiled then carried on. "Well, I hope you're all briefed about what we're doing. We've got no time to lose, and we'll start now. Good luck," she said, before quickly making a different portal to another area in the Huseon province. And just like that, they were gone.

"I really think we might die," said Maria as a joke.

"Yes," replied Sierra, with full seriousness.

A.N.

Hello. It is highly unlikely for anyone to be reading this. Nothing matters anymore. And, happy TTPD release! My fav songs so far are Down Bad, I Can Do It with a Broken Heart, Black Dog, and imgonnagetyouback.