If Phil hadn't woken up so early, or if he had decided to ignore the sound of footsteps on fallen twigs, Dan wouldn't have been with him still.
The dew was just beginning to set on the grass when Phil woke up to the feeling of raindrops on his nose. He carefully moved Dan off him and placed a flannel he had around his waist over him. That was when Phil heard footsteps. He could tell which direction they came from, and was cautious not to wake Dan as he scaled a tree to get a better view. When the height worked to no avail, he slid down the trunk and expertly tiptoed between branches and leaves. From between two trees he saw a pair of people walking through the wood, their eyes darting around. Phil could tell they were paranoid and he attempted to look into their minds, though they were moving at far too fast a pace for him to do so. Instead, Phil did his best to slow them so he could approach them from in front. While they were trying to move a boulder he had moved into their path using his powers, he pulled himself up a tree and dropped down in front of them. The two people gasped and raised their hands in front of their eyes, clearly to attempt to cast a spell. Noticing how they now couldn't see well, Phil gathered air in his fist and used it to push himself off the ground to float midair. This was a power he had spent years trying to perfect, and he then took his left hand and used it to push weak gusts towards the pair. Since his right hand was the dominant one, he found it difficult to use his left hand for much except some pushing of air and to lift objects from a short distance.
The rain had began to fall at a much heavier rate now, and Phil used this to his advantage, gathering the water in his left hand and sending a twisting wave towards the strangers' ankles. Both fell and Phil dropped to the ground, stepping near them and lifting each against a tree.
"Who are you?" Phil asked, frowning at them. When neither answered, he pushed them each harder against their trees and one eventually replied.
"I was sent by Lania," the taller said, a thick accent residing in their voice. If I were to spell out how they sounded phonetically, it would look something like this - "Ee vass sont bee Lanya" Their voice was deep with an underlying guttural tone to it. Phil sighed, wondering if this man told the truth or if he had already prepared a strong backup story. Phil didn't know anyone called Lania, except for the strong sorcerer who ran an underground system of murderers and criminals. He had no idea what that Lania would want to do with him, and decided to try looking into the man's mind to see if their was anything there to give away their motive.
Phil was totally discouraged when he found that the man had no secrets. You see, when Phil looked into a mind, it was like looking into a filing cabinet. Everything was usually so organised and tidy, with areas for secrets and areas for personality traits. He could even find a person's current mood if he tried hard enough. Yet this man's mind was terribly straightforward. Looking into it was almost like looking into a teacher's unlocked desk and being disappointed when you only find textbooks and some old sweet wrappers. Phil could find all of the boring knowledge easily - the section for miscellaneous facts and boring lessons learned from classes. Yet the only other area Phil could find and look into was the 'current mood' section, which was totally blank and empty. When Phil looked into his partner's mind, he found the exact same thing and eventually decided that it would be pointless to keep on trying. He asked them why they had come, and the two refused to answer, the reason most likely a secret.
That was when Phil noticed that the shorter of the pair - a slim woman with short mousy brown hair, had been constantly holding a closed palm to her side constantly since she had attempted to cast a spell on him. Phil stepped closer, a menacing look on his face as he saw her face freeze in shock when he pulled her hand towards him. Opening it, he found a small gold ball, no larger than an acorn residing in it. He recognised it as a viewfinder - a small object which could be used by somebody to watch something happening from a distance. They were often used by spies or criminals, useful for their superiors to watch them through.
There were only two slight problems with these viewfinders - they were easily recognisable and traceable. As the spherical shape was ideal for the sorcery used to make these, the shape had been adopted as the optimum design by most people. Therefore, they were easy to find, with their acorn-sized design, and most users of them were often found.
Secondly, the viewfinders needed a twin for the other person to look through. Though the fact that there were so many viewfinders made it difficult to allow the twins to connect and function. Because of this, once a viewfinder was forged, a small engraving was made into each of the twins. On this particular one, there was an engraving made in neat cursive writing stating
'sali-fosha a.h.' As I have said before, a name has lots of power. The power of even a name close to someone's heart can provoke tears, even without magic. But with magic, a name can do so much more.
Phil looked into the woman's mind and found the emptiness like before. However, he used the name like a key and found the area of orders. No matter how independent a person says or thinks they are, the area in their mind of the things they were told to do is almost always found at the forefront of the mind. Phil found it clear that this woman's orders were extremely secretive if he had to use a name to unlock them. In the orders, he found countless images. He saw memories of the same person, over and over. Images of Dan.
YOU ARE READING
Strangers In A Wood | Phan A U
Random"It was like a world of ghosts that had been wrapping themselves around Phil's throat had suddenly evaporated, and he could breathe again" A Fantasy A.U. set in an old-world, magical version of England.
