Moonhunter

Chapter 35 .: Traps :.

.: Chapter 35 :.

Traps

      Leya blinked as if she hadn’t heard her correctly. “Pardon?”

      Luna bit her lip so hard it bled. “Damn, this is exactly why we need more people!” She rubbed her neck, trying to think. She felt for the Reincarnates’ energies again. “They’ve split off into two,” she said.

      “Oh, good,” said Leya weakly. “That’s less for us to take on.”

      Luna shook her head, knowing it was much the opposite. “One’s coming through the gates of the village – the others are entering through the back. That’s what I think they’re doing.” She frowned, trying to grasp their energies again. It kept slipping away as if they were slippery somehow. She punched the wall so hard the house seemed the shudder. “Damn!” she cried again. “Why didn’t I draw up a map? I should have found the weak spots of the villages! I should have looked carefully around us before coming here. Energy like this I should have felt—should have known—I should have planned for this!” Luna paced, her steps making sharp rapping sounds on the wood.

      “You couldn’t have known,” Leya told her comfortingly. Her eyes were filled with fear as she turned towards the village.

      “I’m supposed to be prepared... Moonhunters are always prepared!” It was more to herself than Leya. It was a mantra she had spoken since taking up the Moonhunter arts.

     “We need to hurry and think of a plan, Luna.” Leya’s voice brought Luna back to reality.

     Luna nodded and raced inside, the older girl hurrying after her. She grabbed her scythe, Dawnbringer, and her assortment of scrolls she used to lay traps. Thinking back to her days here years ago, she hurried into Dasrye’s bedchamber and grabbed the staff she kept behind her bedstand where Dasrye could have reached it in a flash. She raced down the stairs and opened the cupboard.

      “What are you doing?” Leya called urgently. “We have to go!”

      Luna pushed aside the cups and removed the false wall. She grinned triumphantly, grabbing the spelled knives, balls filled with brightly colored liquids, among other things. She knew the balls were deadly—some were filled with liquid fire, others with poison. Some could melt the strongest of metals with a single drop. She stashed all of it into her pack. After a thought, she raced back up to their rooms and grabbed the pouch Percival had given her. It wasn’t worth her pride to not use the energy replenisher tablets.

      She raced outside where Leya was waiting for her, her cloak billowing in the wind, one hand holding her sword.

      “Ready?” she called.

      “Was it necessary to wear the cloak?” was her answer.

      Leya ignored this and murmured the spell for lightfoot. Luna did the same, hiking it up to level 3, which would bring her to the village in a second.

      “How long?” Leya asked once they’d arrived in the village market.

      Luna felt the energy again. “An hour?” she replied, scanning the villagers for an old lady and a young boy. “Maybe two—I can’t be sure.”

      “There they are!” Leya pointed. At her voice, Aldric turned around, waving. They hurried towards the pair, panting.

      “What’s the rush?” asked Dasrye gingerly.

      Luna ground her teeth. Once, Dasrye had been one of the sharpest people she’d known. If she didn’t feel the strong energy of the Reincarnates, Luna wondered if she was able to help out fending them off. She hadn’t considered the fact that her powers might be weakening due to old age.