Audiobook available: https://youtu.be/gP4cRfRtwzM
Twinkaleni'splan has Alice and Danahlia waiting low in the shallow stream. Theyeach have a mass of branches over their heads and try to look likebroken tree limbs caught adrift in the slow waters. The mage hasselected a spot where the shore line bows out into the water some,predicting the agent will approach there as it is the shortest wayacross the stream. While Alice and Danahlia wait on opposite sides ofthe bow, she stands waiting on the opposite shore to lure him in thehopes they will have him surrounded.
Alicepokes her head just out of the water from under her branches,watching the shore nervously while trying not to move. On all fourswith the water up to her neck, her fur and clothes are completelysoaked and she shivers with fear and cold. Seeing Danahlia's massof branches further downstream and Twinkaleni standing along theshore comforts her some as she grits her teeth, trying to stop theshaking. They've been waiting for over an hour like this and she'swondering if he will even come, when a figure in a long bright redrobe like cloak emerges from the forest, alone and on foot. Shefreezes, her breath catching in her throat, watching as the figurespots the Murin and stops.
Thehood of the cloak is up, hiding the figure's identity, but it couldonly be the agent sent by the Order of Thermathrogi. All Alice cantell from her vantage point is that the individual is tall, thin, andlong limbed. The red cloak shifts as the mage hunter pulls somethingfrom it. A hand extends towards Twinkaleni and a roundish baubledrops a few inches from it on a slender chain. The agent speaks a fewindiscernible words and the thing at the end of the chain glows afaint orange, moving as if carried by a light breeze in the generaldirection of the waiting Murin. He replaces the bauble within hiscloak and takes a few steps to the shore where Twinkaleni hadpredicted he would.
"So,I have found you at last. You've led me on a merry chase, mageling,but the end has come. I do give you this choice, little one, returnwith me of your own will or return with me under mine," the cloakedfigure offers in a bored tone.
"Iwill not return to the Order and neither shall you, murderer!"Twinkaleni shouts from where she stands across the stream.
Theman huffs a laugh, "I don't know what you think I am but I am nomurderer. Come child, I will take you home. Your masters await." Heextends a welcoming hand to the little Murin.
"Ihave no masters! I am free! And you killed my friends!"Twinkaleni shoots back.
Theman's offered hand closes slowly into a fist before dropping backto his side. "Hmph, friends?" he calls mockingly, "I'vemerely punished a draft dodger and those who aided him. Any loyalservant of Arsalia would have done the same in my stead. My patienceis ended, come to me now."
"Theywere innocent CHILDREN!" Twinkaleni shrieks, her voice carrying acrack like thunder.
It'senough to rip Alice's attention away from the cloaked man to seeher small companion's eyes flare a bright gold, her tiny handsballed into fists. The water along the shore ripples away from her,steadily reaching out to Alice among her branches. The man is quietfor a moment, perhaps taken aback by the sudden surge of raw power,or simply content to let it pass.
Heseems to glare at her from under his hood, "Very well. If you willnot come willingly, then by the authority given me by Grand MasterIgneous Balk of the Order of Thermathrogi, I, Pimine Caine, sentenceyou, Twinkaleni Orbear, to death. Adarath!"
YOU ARE READING
On The Run
FantasíaVolume 2 of the Alice Dippleblack series. Learning of an agent sent after Twinkaleni from the dreaded Order of Thermathrogi, Alice and her friends have left the pixie forest in an effort to put as much distance between themselves and the mage hunter...
