The Dark Castle

Chapter II

 "We shouldn't be out here."

"Fauna, we need to find Epnosis!" Flora insisted, panic clear in her voice as she searched for him.

"Mom told us to stay in the house!" Fauna hissed, her eyes darting around. "Out here is dangerous, remember?"
"And that's why we need to find him!" Flora whirled to face Fauna, angry now. "What if he got hurt, and we need to save him? Do you want to lose him too?"

".....no," Fauna muttered, looking down. "I'm just scared, Flora....we could get taken too."

"That's why we have to stick together," Flora replied firmly.

"Danger," Lailos spoke up, looking away from both of them.

"Where?" Fauna turned to where he was looking, panic spiking again.

Lailos pointed to a large pit in the forest floor, his head tilted slightly. "Epnosis," he nodded.

"He fell in there?" Flora ran over instantly, looking down into the hole. "He's not there anymore...."

"Taken," Lailos replied, walking over to stand beside her.

"I told you we shouldn't have left the house!" Fauna said, starting to become hysterical. "What if whatever took him is still out here? What if it's the same thing that took Mom?!"

"Calm," Lailos murmured, putting his hands on Fauna's shoulders and pushing down slightly, looking into her eyes. "No panic."

"Yeah, panic isn't gonna help us find him," Flora said quietly, looking up at Fauna. Fauna nodded, taking deep breaths as she looked back into Lailos' eyes, focusing on the pressure he was putting on her shoulders.

As she slowly calmed down, Flora noticed scuff marks around the edge of the pit leading off into the forest. She tilted her head slightly as she looked down at them, starting to follow them away from the pit. "Stay!" Lailos said sharply, looking quickly at her.

Flora jumped, looking back at him. "Why? These could lead us to Epnosis!"

"Together," Lailos said firmly, giving her a stern look. Flora sighed, coming back into the clearing and sitting down at the base of a tree, grumbling slightly. She knew he was right, but she didn't have to like what he said.

A little while later, Fauna had finally calmed down, and Lailos went over to the scuff marks to examine them. Flora jumped up and darted to his side, and he gave her a look. "Calm," he murmured quietly.

"Fine," Flora rolled her eyes, taking a breath as she tried to calm herself. It wasn't all that successful, but she did manage to get quieter. Lailos went back to looking at the scuff marks, Fauna slowly coming to join them. A bird had landed on her shoulder, and was twittering away in her ear.

"Say?" Lailos asked, looking at Fauna.

"She says she saw Epnosis run here and fall into the pit, and hooded figures came and dragged him away," Fauna said quietly, pale.

"Then we need to follow him!" Flora darted past Lailos to follow the marks.

"Together," Lailos sighed, grabbing the back of Flora's shirt before she got too far away. She rolled her eyes as she was jerked to a stop, grumbling quietly as Lailos started lumbering ahead, following the marks on the forest floor.

"We're going too slowwwwww," she whined quietly, looking up at Lailos huffily.

"Careful," Lailos shrugged, keeping his eyes on the ground. "Watch."

Flora sighed, crossing her arms as she looked around, watching for anything that could pose a danger to them. Fauna still had the chittering bird on her shoulder, quietly getting paler as the bird kept telling her things that it had seen. "What's she saying?" Flora whispered to her.