Tales of An Escapade

Third Chapter

  "Let's stay here for a while," said Bethil.
  The group had reached a pretty pond. The water streamed directly down a glistening waterfall. Metres of water came pouring down and miraculously filled a pond. Ane wondered how it never overflowed, because the water couldn't keep pouring down without going anywhere. She had guessed that there was probably some scientific explanation behind the fact that the amount of water remained the same at all times.
  "Should we stay here for the night?" asked Elliot.
   "If you wish that," nodded Bethil with a shrug. "I'm not responsible for anti-theft of your belongings, though. Don't blame me when thieves have stolen things from you the next day."
   "Are thieves really out here already?" frowned Elliot.
   Bethil nodded and sat down on a flat piece of grass. He realised he had forgotten to pack any materials, but to his own fortune princess Anevay had packed some extra things in case they met passengers who could help them. She opened the satchel hanging onto the saddle of Ordo and she handed the sleeping bag to Bethil, to which he smiled.
   Not too long after, Bethil eventually fall asleep, accompanied by the tender crackling of the fire and the glow of the light fluttering, creating shadows. The night was chilly, but it was doable.
   "I cannot believe that you trust a stranger so easily," sighed Elliot.
   "You may not know this, but Bethil is not a stranger to me," replied Anevay.
   "He is not?"
   "Bethil and I used to be in class together, before he was sent to public academy by his parents," nodded Ane. "My Dad is quite fond of his parents since they can do good business."
   "What type of business?"
   "No idea, but it got him in the royal academy, even before you actually joined it," said Ane and she smiled at Elliot. They leaned against a log they had found nearby and carried all the way to their fireplace. It was a quite exhausting task for a mere few hours of comfort. In the end, they were glad that they could give their backs a rest too.
   "I did not know that," mumbled Elliot, taking a sip from his water bag.
   "We learn something new every day, do we not?" smiled Ane. "I shall take a rest now, too. Good night, Elliot."
   "Sleep well."
An abundance of hours later, completely refreshed and awake, the three continued their journey. The road was bumpy, but it was quite amusing, too. Elliot and Bethil actually agreed to a proper friendship and they spent a lot of hours chatting on about life in Kinslot. For a minute, Ane felt left out, but she enjoyed this. She knew that if they had all understood the heaviness of this quest laid upon their shoulders, they wouldn't have gone over it so breathy and they probably wouldn't have messed about that much.
   Before they knew it, an entire day went by. The sun was about to make its way down to the horizon, but the comrades had just reached the begin of a grand mountain. Was it really a mountain? This was always said to be the volcano and was the most efficient way of reaching Iccarslot. Nobody knew why exactly this mountain was so large. It was the only passable way, too. An amount of about two entire cities could easily be built on this mountain, despite the unstable grounds and unbalanced houses that'd stand here. Around the mountain you only had a dozen rivers, woods and natural obstacles which only offered hazardous situations. So, obviously, the best way was a huge mountain. It very slowly made its way to the top, as if it was trying to build up something exciting, only to be left with the disappointment of having to descend all the way again.
   "Do we stay here for the night? It'd be an absolute nightmare to sleep on a tilted floor," said Bethil with a little scowl of dismay.
   "We can do this tomorrow, if you wish, but I think that this is gorgeous for a sunset like this," replied Ane.
   The sky's blue was faintly merging with a tender orange which barely shone through yet. The dim light that seemed to radiate from the canvas of the heavens gave everything a soothing effect as if somebody had put a magical spell on it creating more beauty.
   "That's fine, then," nodded Bethil. "Off we go."
   Bethil's horse began stepping up the mountain, and the other two followed. As they walked over the hill, the sun slowly descended and slowly drifted down the sky. A serene, faded layer of sunset covered the mountain in a gentle, soft wave of placidity. It sure was a colloquial fact that anybody would've enjoyed this late-night trip on a calm mountain.
  "So, tell me about the quest," began Bethil. "How'd it come together?"
   "Coincidence," replied Ane with a shrug. "We heard some rumours, it drove us here. Elliot and I have to find two other allies to help us accomplish everything. We do not know as to why exactly we were assigned. I guess it is just a silly joke played by fate."
   "Fate makes no silly jokes," smiled the shapeshifter.
   "It only makes destinies and journeys come alive," added Elliot, who sighed heavily.
   They eventually rested on a somewhat flatter surface and set up their camp. Tomorrow it'd be a rainier day, so they definitely prepared for that. The few hours of the night went by rapidly, as they were all tired of the elongated trip that day. If the sunset wouldn't have been that pretty, they wouldn't have continued to go on.
   "Good morning," chirped Ane. She jammed her semi-folded sleeping bag in the satchel and took a large bite out of the foodstuff she had brought. She shared a bit of it with Elliot and Bethil and she then mounted her horse. The boys were a bit tired, but they agreed to not act like they were less tough than Ane, refusing to be looked down upon.
   The mountain was stretched over several hectares of ground and it also reached quite a height. On top of the mountain, you could see a very large portion of the kingdom. If the kingdom wasn't so grand, you could probably see the entire kingdom.
   "So this is what the kingdom looks like from high up, huh," Bethil mumbled, running a hand through his messy hair.
However, the only places they could see, where the Northern and Southern Bay. The two other Bays were anything but exposed. Hidden behind natural obstacles that reached miles and miles further, the two unrevealed Bays lay so secretively.
   "I wonder what's behind there," mumbled Bethil.
   "It will probably kill us," shrugged Elliot.
   "Most likely," nodded Ane agreeing. Elliot and Ane shared a somewhat amused glare, enjoying each other's indifference, and gestured Bethil they'd carry on with their trip. However, none of them really wanted to die. They didn't want to see their own decapitated bodies hung on the spit by whichever enemies would enjoy the fresh, young meat. They didn't want to feel blunt daggers carve into their skin, ready to be skinned alive. They didn't want to be torn into the water, eventually to feel their lungs burn up in the toxic liquid that people call 'hydrogen'. They just wanted to continue this quest flawlessly. With zero expectations, zero knowledge as to what to expect, they just galloped down the mountain, ready to enter the Southern Bay, and eventually Iccarslot as planned.
   The road down was a lot more pleasant than expected. The road up was bumpy, raw and sometimes a bit annoying as raw pieces of rock had to be climbed up. Horses weren't necessarily the easiest animals to push up a mountain, either. However, the road down was a soothing patch of grass laid out on the entire mountain, as if somebody had planted a grass carpet.
   Despite the road being so 'easy', it still took quite a while. The enormous size of the mountain wasn't to be underestimated, that was for sure. Slowly, though, the three allies started to feel as if they were entering the Southern Bay. They passed by a tiny village on the road which consisted of a few houses that you could count with four hands and a tiny inn, where two horses were tied to the stables.
   "Should we take a rest?" asked Ane, seeing no single villager.
   "This place seems shady, though," muttered Bethil with a dry face.
   "Also very cheap," shrugged Elliot. With that, the three fellows got off their horses and approached the inn. The inn was a somewhat tall building. It was made out of limestone and an oak door, so it didn't have any special features. Then again, in a god forgotten village like this, you couldn't expect marble pillars holding up a glass roof.
   Ane lay her hand on the doorknob and opened the door. It creaked and seemed to shove over the stone tiles heavily. When she finally opened the door, she was welcomed by a somewhat less welcoming scenery than she had hoped for.
   "Good day, princess Anevay," smirked a girl. She was sitting in a provocative way, swinging a knife in her slender fingers. Next to her sat no one else than Jarco, his hands tied behind his back, his feet tied together and his mouth shut off with a scarf. About fifteen people, probably all belonging to the spokesperson, were spread over the inn. The innkeeper sat behind the counter, scared and defeated.
   "Who are you?" asked Ane, her voice trembling, to her very own dismay.
   "Somebody who can earn a ton of money with you," smirked the girl.
   "She's southern," mumbled Bethil, recognising her butter thick accent.
   "I indeed am, clever boy," smirked the spokesperson. Bethil eyed her. She didn't look southern, though. She had long, muscled legs, voluptuous curves which would make anyone drool, an excessively good-looking face and bright, clear turquoise eyes that looked straight into your seduced soul. She twirled a strand of short, dark hair around her elegant fingers. The thing about her that was most noticeable, though, were those horns of hers. Those intimidating, vicious, buck-like horns. Jet black as the night, scary as the shadows, but so majestic and magnifying as any treasure. Was this a doomed? One of the two legendary creatures that owned horns?
   "What are you?" hissed Bethil, a bit louder than he had hoped for.
   "I'm a horned," replied the girl simply. "Not a doomed, not a Druid."
  "Then what?" asked Elliot.
   "I don't identify as anything, handsome boy," she said with a seductive smirk.
   "What a tramp," thought Ane to herself.
   "Excuse me?" threatened the girl, bringing the knife to Jarco's neck. "Got something to say, eh?"
   "How did you find him?"
   "Sit with us, Anevay dear, and then we'll talk. Drop your weapons, or this petty professor of yours will meet a very painful fate."
   The three allies shared a look of pure despair, but eventually had to drop their knives and blades and they sat down by the table. Two of the strange men walked to the door, blocking any way out. The innkeeper closed his eyes, drips of sweat rolling over his forehead, as if he was about to witness the death of a princess. Maybe that was exactly what he was going to see, though. Who could possibly tell?
   "My name is Daphne," said the horned. "I earn my money by selling you guys. By assassinating targets. Theft, vandalism, anything that'll send that chill through our spines. Does a pretty, royal princess like you get that thrill too?"
   Ane remained quiet.
   "You're not the talkative person, are you?" taunted Daphne.
   Ane still didn't open her mouth to speak and just shared some signalising glares with Jarco.
   "Don't try anything funny, little princess," Daphne mumbled, her knife aiming at Ane now, "or your throat will have a nice little gash in it."
   "Why are you doing this?" asked Ane.
   "I can earn a lot of gold with you guys," smirked Daphne. "You guys don't even know what you're worth!"
   "I will not surrender to some rogue," hissed princess Anevay.
   "You don't need to," replied the horned, who stood up. "You just need to know what you're worth."
   Ane groaned something angrily when she felt her arms were pulled back and her wrists were tied together with a surprisingly abrasive rope. Her allies followed the same path and after roughly being carried outside of the inn, Bethil cringed at the sound of a sharp blade slicing through flesh.
   "Why did you kill the innkeeper?" asked Bethil, his face slowly turning to Daphne, who was dragging him behind her.
   "Nobody needs to know our names," replied the horned with a sudden calm voice. "We just do our job."
   "You don't need to do this, and you know that too," exclaimed Bethil when he was helped up his own horse. Daphne, who was a little older than Bethil, climbed behind him.
   "Of course I know that," replied the horned, "but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy my capabilities."
   "Are we going to die?" asked Elliot, who had some bulky, scary man behind him. Poor Louis, carrying such unnecessary weight. Jarco was carried out of the inn too and put on a wildly chosen horse from the stables.
   "Do you not think it is a bit stupid that we can ride our own horses? What if we order them to escape?" interfered Ane aloud.
   "You don't stand a chance against my other men," said Daphne. "If you resist, then yes, you shall die. If you just follow the lines, then nothing bad will happen. I'm not going to harm this pretty meat."
   Bethil blushed and cursed himself for it. He couldn't help it. He was basically surrounded by the most attractive people he had ever seen, and one of the most gorgeous girls he had ever met sat right behind him.
   The road didn't lead them straight forward, and instead of going anywhere near Iccarslot, they headed to the forests. The trees were long and thin, unlike the trees in Iccarslot. Most of the wood was birch wood and it contrasted with the dark shades of grass that had some big, pretty flowers on them. The conversation basically consisted of Elliot and Daphne going at it, both of them having some good one-liners. Elliot was surprised by the wide knowledge range of this rogue and was almost blown away by how her mind was the opposite of futile. They had talked about why they were doing this, about how the rogues came together, about business, money and careers. About everything that two opposing factors shouldn't really be talking about.
   Within a relatively short time, the rogues and their loot had arrived at the camp. In an open space, an abundance of tents were set up. Even a tiny stable had been built, hosting multiple horses. People sat separated over the entire field which was fenced by trees. They were eating, talking, drinking beer or flirting shamelessly.
   The group was immediately approached by a pretty, redheaded figure. She was a tad shorter than Daphne. She had an impressively good face complexion and her long, red hair fell over her shoulders like cotton threads. Her clothes were everything that a rogue could be expected as, from the hood to the thick, leather boots.
   "Welcome back," she said.
   "This is Livi," informed Daphne while she climbed off Bethil's horse. The men helped Ane, Jarco and Elliot off their horses and other people helped the horses to the stables. "She is the leader of the pack."
   Daphne and Livi gave each other a kiss on the cheek and Daphne disappeared into the crowd, leaving the handling of the loot to Livi. The so-called leader of the pack eventually gestured her men to guide the three allies to a tent in the middle of the camp. The inside of the tent was a tender red, and the table in the middle of the tent was filled with files, maps and more administrational files. It was as if she was running an entire business, but that was probably exactly what she was doing. There were five simple chairs in front of the desk and one big, comfortable chair behind it, but that was meant for Livi.
   "Take a seat," she said. With their hands still tied behind their backs, Ane, Elliot and Bethil took a seat. "Excuse Daphne for her possible rude behaviour."
   "Are you going to sell us?" asked Bethil.
   Livi eyed the four allies and searched a paper. The letters in bold, thick ink were graciously written on the parchment.
   "I'm supposed to earn a lot of cash with you guys," hummed Livi. "Only when you're alive, tough."
   "Who will you sell us to?" asked Ane.
   "It's not really my concern," shrugged the rogue. "When people make a deal with us, then we just focus on the profit."
   "Shameless," hissed Jarco, who hadn't said a word the past hours.
   "Maybe it is, Sir," said Ane, "but that's the way it is."
   "Who informed you?"
   "We get information from a lot of different sources," shrugged Livi. "I don't care. We were the first one to hear the news about you. Where were you heading?"
   "Iccarslot. We were just trying to find a troll," mumbled Bethil. Livi raised her brows.
   "What is going to happen to us?" asked Ane.
   "You're all asking too much questions. Kellan and Ori, take our four guests to their rooms," ordered Livi. She bent her head over the papers and the four allies were escorted to some tents close to Livi's office.
   "I'm sorry," mumbled Bethil. "I didn't expect this to happen."
   "You couldn't have known," hissed Ane silently. She was pushed inside the tent and her hands were finally released, too. The tent was closed and guarded and the four allies looked around their new room. Six paltry beds stood in the corner of the room, some closets stood on the other side of the tent and a simple rack with towels and clothes was put opposite of the beds. For hostages, this was a relatively nice room, though.
   "What were you doing there?" Ane asked, facing Jarco, who was rubbing his red wrists.
   "I had taken some secret routes to catch up with you guys," replied Jarco. "I suppose that it was not my cleverest idea."
   "Did you tell them about us?"
   "I had to, I did not want my throat sliced," nodded Jarco. "I am sorry. Who is this new child though?"
   "I am Bethil."
   "Oh? Did I use to teach you?"
   Bethil nodded and awkwardly smiled. Jarco had become a lot more bulky and had become very handsome – not that he wasn't before, it just became more obvious. However, unfortunately, Jarco was too old for Bethil. If he remembered correctly, his professor was about ten or eleven years older, so that was not an available path at all.
   "What are we even supposed to do now?" sighed Elliot, sitting down on the paltry bed.
   "Make up a plan to escape, obviously," scowled Ane, who also sat down. She went into a thinking position, and Bethil headed to the exit.
   "Where are you going?" asked Jarco.
"  I'm not going to stay in this freaking tent the entire stay," Bethil said. "I'm going out."
   He opened the tent and was stopped by Kellan and Ori. Kellan and Ori were assumedly twin brothers, as they nearly looked like cloned figures. Bethil made up a lame excuse that he had to proceed to private matters, to which the twin guards just shared a somewhat disgusted glare.
   "Leave him be."
   The twins turned to the voice and saw Daphne. She was sat on a giant, white horse with dark, black eyes and vividly dark manes. Daphne wore a hood that still revealed her horns. She looked so uncanny yet extremely beautiful at the same time.
   "I wish I looked that good on a horse," mumbled Ane, who could barely peek over Bethil's shoulder due to his height.
   "I'll check on them," said Daphne and she got off her horse. He stayed put exactly where his gracious legs placed him and the horned approached Bethil. Kellan and Ori tied Ane, Bethil and Elliot's wrists.
   "Is your good friend not joining you?" asked Daphne, nudging her head into Jarco's direction. After a moment of hesitation, he decided to join his friends anyway. He owed them to the tiniest fraction of his goodness.
   As extra security, Daphne tied their wrists all together and made them walk behind her like a flock of dogs on a leash. She brought them to the edge of the forest, where she turned to them drastically.
   "Don't try to escape," she said with a fathoming, stern voice. "If anyone ever wants to buy you, refuse to your fullest. It's for your own good that you stay here."
   The four allies shared a confused look. Why did their kidnapper care about them? Did she really? They were utterly beaten out of sense and they remained awkwardly silent.
   "Do you honestly think I'd give away a prey like you? People would love to do freaky things with you. I'll pick your buyer. I'm not handing you to some psycho necromancer who'll turn you into living puppets," spat Daphne.
   "Why do you think we won't just run away when you set us free?" asked Bethil.
   "You may know the Southern Bay, my dear, but you don't know their secrets," said the horned ominously. "I'll find you anyway. What are your races?"
   None of them replied.
   "What are your races?" repeated Daphne, but heavier and louder now.
   "I'm a shapeshifter."
   "I'm an elf," added Jarco.
   "A psycho necromancer," muttered Ane. Daphne's lips curled into a little smile. She then turned to Elliot, who looked at the tips of his worn out boots.
   "What's with you? Are you deaf?" scolded Daphne.
   "I don't know what I am," shrugged Elliot with a defeated tone.
   "Then you can also be very special," said the horned as she unleashed the rope she had fastened to hold all her hostages together. With tied wrists, the four went a tiny bit deeper into the forest.
   "I don't get her," said Bethil. "She acts too kind."
   "That is just to keep us with her," concluded Elliot. "To make us think she has a good heart."
   "Do not trust southern rogues, they are definitely the worst," said Jarco.
   "Why?" frowned princess Anevay.
   "Southern people are known to be feisty and fiery, and rogues are known to be vicious and witty. Mix that together and you get your worst everyday rival," explained the professor as if he was teaching again.
   "We can try to leave now," whispered Ane cautiously. "There is no one around. She will never know."
   "We can definitely make a run for it," agreed Jarco.
   "What about our horses? We can't leave them behind," Bethil said. "We need them to escape more efficiently anyway."
   "There is no way we can safely make it back to the horses and then escape." Elliot rubbed his temples, as if he was trying to cook up a plan. He wasn't going to leave Louis behind either. Not for any money in the world.
   "I can try to rumble the camp with my dead ones," said Ane suddenly. Of course. Magic. Why hadn't they thought of that when they were being kidnapped? Then again, for Ane to summon dead ones when she couldn't fully focus could end up in some nasty results that nobody wanted to witness with their own eyes.
   "I can be a bird," nodded Bethil. "I'll just be a tiny hummingbird. I can fly my way to the horses and unnoticeably free them."
   "Elliot and I will go back. That way, it shall be less suspicious," replied Jarco before he and Elliot took off.
  "Ready?" smirked Bethil. He spread his arms and feathers popped out of his skin before he swiftly swirled in the air as a cute, tiny bird. Princess Anevay watched him fly away from behind the tree and she also didn't see Jarco and Elliot anymore. She smiled to herself. She wondered if she should awaken the emeralds or the sapphires within herself. Emeralds weren't that strong, but if Ane would summon a whole lot of her little buddies, then it'd definitely be sufficient. Then again, sapphires would definitely create a show. Ane decided to go with the least draining option and she felt the emeralds in her blood shake and feistily have some type of feast. Her hands faced the earth, and she closed her eyes. Satisfaction overwhelmed her. How long has it been again since she had called her dead ones? A necromancer shouldn't be separated from her friends that long.
   She heard screams and yelps evading from the rogue's camp and she listened to the harmonious calls of fear. With a sleek smile, she remained behind her tree and she felt the power of the dead ones dance with her. She definitely missed this feeling. Meanwhile, in the camp, Elliot and Jarco fearlessly walked through the rogue's camp. They headed straight to the stables and were relieved to see a tiny hummingbird on the horses. The guards of the stables lay with their face flat on the ground. Elliot questioned how a tiny bird could lethally harm two grown men. Within a split second, the feathers made place for skin and Bethil helped release their horses. Jarco mounted Ordo in the meanwhile and the two others got on their own horses.
   "Not so fast, my dear."
   The three men turned around and cursed when they saw a tiny tad too confident Daphne stand between her dead guards.
   "Do you honestly think I'll let you leave? Ane's dead men may be tearing my alive men apart, but you aren't making it out of here without suffering that same faith. It is a true blood fest out there, guys. Come and join the party."
   Daphne left the stables, and the other guys basically had no choice but to join her. They hadn't noticed it at first, but the sight of seeing corpses walking on land, their mouldy nails digging into thick flesh was truly terrifying. The staggering image was planted in their minds forever.
   "This is the torture that your friend Ane can bring to mortals," snapped Daphne. She turned her face for to the three boys and they were all astonished by her eyes. They were usually turquoise, vividly and brightly, but now they had flames burn in them. She really took this personal. It was, after all, her family being murdered.
   "Why are you not being attacked by the dead ones? Ane did not put the spell on them that they would not harm you," asked Elliot.
   "She ordered them to leave her true allies alone," answered Daphne, "think about that."
   With that, she drew her sword and went to rescue some of her friends. The way she fought was elegant but brutal and she seemed like a reckless ballerina. Bethil and Jarco were amazed by her swordsmanship and they watched in awe, but through Elliot's mind only the answer flew. Was Daphne their ally? That'd be insane. Unthinkable. Daphne wasn't the most vile enemy you could encounter, but she was definitely not a treat either.
   "Should we get Ane now and escape?" asked Bethil, almost unsure of it.
  "Sounds clever," nodded Jarco, who took the lead and galloped through the messy crowd.   Stains of blood were never going to be washed out again, and the smell of fresh and old death replaced the earlier smell of barbecue smoke and alcohol.
   "Ane, let's go," warned Bethil. Ane looked up, her eyes still a tad lit up, and she hopped on Ordo with Jarco's help. They raced out of the forest, away from the bloodbath Ane had created. Elliot looked back once more, and he could swear he saw the vague silhouette of Daphne. Her horns were drawn in the mist like a cry for help. He eventually tore his eyes away and focussed on the scenery ahead.

[Pic: Bethil]