Avaleade: An Old Elf's Tale

Chapter Seven

I turned my vision to the doors as three figures entered, and noticed a copious amount of rodents swarming the floor of the barn, skittering, squeaking, and gnawing. I thought to myself that is was doubtful that I would not have noticed them before.

Katsukii stood unmoved by the railing, looking down over the three Noble Knights confidently.

"Oh, gross! This place is abysmal!" A young knight cried out, blonde curls bouncing about his forehead as if they had a life of their own.

"Tusk, enough. Search for the traitors!" a taller woman commanded, the blue sash upon her armor that matched those on Katsukii and Yukan, made her stand out from the rest of the knights. I looked to my friends, who now wore anxious expressions.

"Y-Yes ma'am!" Tusk marched, if one could call his cautious steps that, through the swarm of rodents.

"Commander Jenska, if I may check something quickly?" a quiet voice came from a small, cloaked figure. She stood nearly directly behind the commander. The commander did not turn toward the cloaked figure, but instead cast her piercing gaze throughout the barn, her eyes looking for any detail, no matter how small.

"What, Sylth?" Jenska asked as she surveyed the area around her. Her dark eyes were fierce, yet it was the scar that marred her right eye that completed the fierceness in her look. Her dark hair was cut short and straight to a point beneath her earlobes.

"I will be right back," Sylth said simply, and left back out of the doorway. Jenska didn't seem to notice as her eyes moved to the upper level of the barn. Her eyes scanned over Katsukii, yet never lingered, then over the rest of our party. She hadn't seemed to see us. I would be lying if I told you that I was not worried. Fear coursed through my veins like icy water.

"I highly doubt those two idiots would bring the princesses to a barn such as this." Tusk was sticking his sword into piles of hay, "It's probably like you said, Commander: the farm boy let Katsu take the princesses to safety, and came this direction on his own after disabling the teleportation gate to throw off our dogs."

"Thank you for reminding me, Tusk, I had retracted my thought on that earlier, and neglected to inform you."

"Ok? So what's your thought now?"

"Yukan cannot ever leave Iria's side, on the off chance she becomes ill again. Therefore I believe Yukan took the princesses... apologies... traitors, to safety while we waste our time searching for the illusionist himself, here."

"I see. Well, if that's the case then we're already way behind. If the traitors left to Lilressen, we can't touch them. You know that Sea Elf Queen has a no-violence policy, and Yukan won't let us touch the princesses without a fight. And if we're looking for Katsukii, we can't trust anything we see, hear, smell, or feel. For all we know, there isn't even a barn here and we're dangerously close to falling off the cliffside."

"Calm down, Tusk, Katsukii isn't that smart. He's in this barn with us right now. Remember, he has to see the area he is affecting. So I'm assuming the rats are a scare tactic, or a distraction. All we need is a sudden noise or movement to give his position away, then he's done for." I looked to Katsukii, who grinned at the challenge.

"But commander..." Tusk's nervousness grew, and he looked anxiously around the barn. He seemed to double-take, then point towards the doorway. "Commander, look! Out there! He's creeping through the animals in the field!"

"Tusk, that can't be-" but before Jenska could reason with her subordinate, he was out the doors, chasing after the perceived Katsukii. Jenska watched him for only a moment, before turning her eyes back to the inside of the barn.