I made it to the lake by the morning. The sun has rises and the clear lake reflects the sun's rays on its surface. It is a beautiful view. Yesterday, we ventured in a dense forest, where sun lights is hard to pierce through. Having the sun ray irradiated at my skin makes me feel slightly rejuvenated.
The previous chase took up a whole night and I'm not sleeping or resting till I reach the lake. Only Richmond is found, sitting on his legs by the lake. I move to him to pat his shoulder gently, letting know that it is me as I crouch beside him.
"You've managed to lost them?" I ask him first.
"Yeah, it was difficult knowing there are two guys who chased me. I managed to evade them without any scatches though," he claims proudly but quickly changes to worried expression, "What about you.... You aren't hurt, are you?!" he must be noticing my slightly bloodied and muddy shirt.
Should I lie or tell him the truth? "No, it's okay. It's the blood from the bears yesterday,"
"Really?" he seems unsure, "Never mind that. Where's Roland?" Fortunately, he changes the topic.
"I haven't seen him too. I hope he's okay," I let out a sign of worry, but Richmond keeps his calm expression.
"He will. I'm sure of that," he is very sure of Roland's abilities. They're both good friends after all. "By the way, did you have a look at our spies?"
"They're member of the Order. The Order might have known that some spec ops have started to investigate its cult. So, it gives out a track-and-kill party for us to fail our missions,"
"How'd you know all of that? It was pitch-black back then. They don't even wear any identifications," he becomes more suspicious. Oh no, did he see through my lie?
I'm running out of words. Looks like I have to admit it then. "Okay, I lied. You see.... " my sound goes softer and somber, "I killed my chaser. During the process, I knew that he is one of the Order's and they are sent to kill us." My head is facing the ground as I revealed them.
"I see," he nods, doesn't look surprised, "Well, we need to protect ourselves, don't we? I guess Sir Palladion will accept that reason." He tries to comfort me of my guilt, although I don't feel any shreds of guilt.
"Anyway, did you learn anything from him? Their hideout?" he continues to ask as he stands up.
"It is nearby this lake. This is the only lake in Woodshire, right? He said that the cave is hidden and hard to miss, covered by tall grasses and boulders. We should look for them," I inform him.
"Let's check it out after Roland has joined us," Richmond concludes.
Suddenly, there is a loud cracking from the trees behind us. Both of us come to an alert, preparing to intercept whatever it is. Fortunately, it's just Roland stumbling by. His body is full of dirt and mud. He walks towards us, slightly limping. Judging from his appearance, we can safely assume that he managed to lost them, but not without sacrifices being made.
"What's happened to you?" Richmond runs up to check up on him, with me following.
"I managed to lost them in the woods, by sliding downhill. It was a bad sliding, by the way." As he is saying that, he reveals many cuts across his body and limbs.
"Okay, good job, Roland. We're going to patch you up right now," Richmond opens up his healing kits, "Let's do this quickly. Jason got the intel of our target's hideout is nearby this lake. We need to get there, as soon as possible before our chasers inform the rest."
"Really? How?" Roland turns his head towards me as he's sitting on the ground to be patched up.
"Interrogation," I give a short answer, head slightly looking away, not wanting to lock eyes with him.
