Tales of An Escapade

Sixth Chapter

Ane and Elliot wandered aimlessly. Elliot was the only one who still attempted to lead them the correct way. Ane couldn't really be bothered anymore. She just wanted to go back home, to Hilltop, drink Aris' tea and snuggle under the warm, thick sheets filled with feathers. Instead of that idyllic, peaceful place, she was here now.
  "Do not give up hope," Elliot said. "We shall find the others again."
   "I know," said Ane. Her rather disappointed voice contradicted her faith. Elliot heard it and he just sighed. Ane tried to stay hopeful by sending a smile to Elliot.
   "Help!"
   The yelp echoed through the skies like a whistle and alarmed, Ane and Elliot rushed to their feet. It was an unfamiliar voice that had screamed for help, but somehow Ane and Elliot still felt as if they had to help the poor lad.
   "Help, please!"
   Ane and Elliot rushed to where the voice came from, only to see a horned waylaid by a bunch of rogues. He was on the ground, watching four daggers aiming at his precious face. Would Daphne know them? Ane didn't, and therefore she immediately sent her dead possessions to the group of thieves. Anevay's army quickly shoo'd the four rogues away and they fled.
   "Thank you," thanked the horned rapidly whilst he shook Ane's hand.
   Ane's companions disappeared again. "You are welcome. What is your name?"
   "My name's Aethul. I'm a doomed," he said. He had messy, dark hair and big, vigorously curling horns. Quite gorgeous.
   "What are you doing out here, Aethul?" asked Elliot.
   "Travelling West," Aethul replied. "And you, dear strangers?"
   "My name is Anevay and this is my best friend Elliot," introduced Ane. "We are also heading West. We could lend you a hand."
   Aethul seemed a tad too distrusting towards those who just saved his life, but eventually he gave in and he shook Ane and Elliot's hand as a sign of confirmation.
   "That wasn't my strongest moment," Aethul snickered.
   "That is fine," nodded Elliot. "Take us to the west, we shall protect you."
   "I think I can do that," nodded Aethul. Although he didn't really seem like a necessarily strong person or a particularly clever person, he did have a hint of mystery around him which both Ane and Elliot would have liked to unravel. It wasn't the 'witty, magical' type of mystery, though. There were deep waters to a seemingly empty well.

   "We're lost, aren't we?" asked Bethil.
   Daphne shook her head. She lived here. She's roamed these forests ever since she could remember. With or without a knife, though. With or without a rogue clan.
   "So, how long will it take us? Estimated," asked the young shapeshifter. Daphnelle hummed thoughtfully while she looked up at the clear air. No clouds, she noticed. Strange.
   "About one day," she shrugged.
   The two continued walking. Evening fell rather quickly and gradually, they were heading somewhere with a crowd. The sound of voices dominated soon enough and a light flame lit up a tiny picture in the forest. Several trees before the alleged camp, Bethil and Daphne took a halt.
   "Should we go there?" whispered Bethil.
   "How many would there be?" replied Daphne.
   Bethil shrugged. His form quickly turned into an unnoticeable bug that went and checked the place out. Only three people. What he saw did surprise him. Two of them were hostages. Their feet and wrists were tied together and the rogue that had kidnapped them was a female horned. Bethil mistook her beauty for innocence for a second, before he realised that she had captured two grown-up men.
   "Three," whispered Bethil once he was back with Daphne. "They are talking about the regimes of a rogue. One of them is a rogue. The two others are her prey."
   "Ah, is that so?" murmured Daphne as she tried to watch whoever was behind the trees. She wished that the branches weren't so thick.
   Bethil nodded.
   Daphne shrugged. "Let's go there."
   Bethil huskily followed the horned as she fearlessly approached the camp of rogues. As soon as she set a foot inside of the tiny camp, a blade was pressed against the soft skin of her neck. The rogue's reflexes were excellent, acknowledged Bethil.
   "Mounty?" scowled Daphne with a sharp hint of disbelief in her raspy voice.
   "Daphnelle?" answered the other rogue just as surprised.
   Bethil couldn't believe his own eyes. Two beautiful horned – both rogues – were eye to eye. His mind secretly wandered off to some bad thoughts. He couldn't help himself; he was a teenager with hormones out of control too.
   "What are you doing here?" asked Mounty whilst she put away the dagger.
   "Passing by," shrugged Daphnelle nonchalantly. "Bethil and I are heading to the Western Bay."
   "Try to avoid Sharran's Valley," Mounty muttered with a sort of worry as if she knew the terrors of Sharran's Valley.
   The cheeky smile on Daphne's face betrayed that she knew Sharran's Valley very well. Bethil only heard of Sharran's Valley back when he sat behind those chic desks and he was just aimlessly drawing in his notes. Occasionally, the word 'rogue' and 'dangerous' were dropped whenever the teacher would speak about Sharran's Valley, but Bethil had never paid enough attention.
   "I'll try," she said. "What about you? What's brought you here?"
   Her accent suddenly seemed heavier, as if she was in her hometown, talking with some of the elders in some local tavern. Laid-back and lazy.
   Mounty aimed at the two hostages behind her. "Bringing these two to Sharran's Valley," she said ironically.
   "You're still in that business?" asked Daphne, suddenly harsher and almost disappointed.
   "I could ask the same to you."
   "Bethil's my friend, not my loot."
   "Well, I've never left the business. Despite the incident several years back, I never really said my goodbyes to the ways of a rogue. My supposed fiancé and I split up after some further incidents. I needed to earn money, so here I am," explained Mounty. "Come, have a seat and some food. Some rest may do you well."
   Daphne gave a wary nod to Bethil, showing that he still had to be cautious. Apparently, there was more to Mounty than Bethil could think. The pair sat down next to Mounty and were immediately given two cups. She filled it with some thick liquid from in a ceramic bottle. Incredibly useless weight to carry, thought both Bethil and Daphne. Before Daphne or Bethil took a sip from the alcohol that Mounty has just given them, Daphne flicked her wrist.
   "You don't trust me?" frowned Mounty before she gave herself a portion of the alcohol and took a large sip.
   "You need to understand that it's hard for me to do that," replied Daphne almost with a mean tone.
   "What did you just do?" asked Bethil.
  "Purifying spell," said Daphne. "It vanquishes all poisonous chemicals."
   "Alcohol isn't necessarily that healthy," Bethil shrugged.
   "Don't you drink?" the horned asked curiously.
   "I've never been drunk before, no," answered the shapeshifter honestly.
   The two captured men laughed before Mounty shut them up by snapping her fingers. Their lips seemed to be glued together all of a sudden, and it was quite amusing.
   "Cheers, then," smiled Daphne. She raised her drink and took a large sip. The warm fluids streamed through her throat and she enjoyed the feeling. She hadn't had the opportunity to consume alcohol in quite a while and this did her well.
   Bethil cautiously took a sip. He didn't really like the taste of it. He admitted this honestly and he handed Mounty the cup.
   "I'm sorry," he said apologetically, "I'm not an alcohol fan."
   "It's fine, buddy," Mounty replied. She took another bottle, which had a greener tint. "This is cold tea. Do you prefer this?"
   "If I may," nodded Bethil. He soon was given another cup with a refreshing fluid inside of it and he liked the taste of the somewhat cheap tea. While the two girls were busy talking, Bethil listened attentively to their conversation. From what he managed to hear – a lot of childhood memories, apparently – he could assume that the two girls had been on friendly terms for a very long time before a certain incident happened. While the horned were retrieving old moments, Bethil just drank his tea. A tad uncomfortable in the presence of these experienced people in the outside, but he definitely was yearning to once be one of them.