Chapter 67: Encounters

Two cloaked figures were speeding from one tree to the other under the cover of the moonless night. One of them motioned for the other to stop and pointed towards something moving in the distance. The other person followed the man’s finger and raised an eyebrow.

“One of our own? So far north?”

“I doubt it.. I don’t even know what species the beast he’s ridding on belongs to.”

“Maybe one of those reclusive beast tamers that live in the mountains?”

“Maybe, but they come from the general area where Shade lost the dragon.”

“You mean he got his ass handed to him by that dragon. If not for having gotten lucky to get that artifact he would have been ash right now.”

“That’s enough, Shade is still our superior. Let’s get down and question him. We must be sure he doesn’t know anything.”

“Hmph.”

Edward was resting on Minx’s back while making his way towards the City of Ashes. Because of the beast tide that hit the entire area about a month or so back, the number of beasts and animals has decreased drastically. This has caused a great number of troubles for him since his wolf would have to travel a great distance while looking for targets to feed on, most of the time causing Edward to lose a great deal of time just backtracking.

It was the end of the first week since he left the Vault of the Fire Queen. As night came, he planned to continue traveling forward since he has slept the night before and the wolf wouldn’t stop causing him troubles.

While rushing through the forest, Edward saw two shadows appearing on the road ahead of him, blocking his and Minx’s path.

[Edward, they are strong. Careful.] Fenrir immediately voiced a warning, making Edward raise his guard while asking Minx to stop some distance away. Fenrir wouldn’t warn him in such a serious tone if they were just one or two levels above him.

“Don’t worry friend, we don’t mean any harm. We only have a few questions for you.” Said one of the shadows in a male voice as it took a step forward and bowed in a polite manner.

Edward jumped down from Minx’s back and returned the bow, waiting for the man to ask his question. His overly polite tone and manners didn’t do anything to ease Edward’s worry.

“If I may ask, where are you coming from and what are you doing in this dangerous place?”

Edward didn’t immediately answered the question and took a moment to analyze both cloaked men. The way they dressed and appeared out of nowhere made a single thing pop up in Edward’s mind, assassins.

‘If they are from the same guild as Eddena, I could easily mention her name and all will probably be alright, but what if they are not?’

Deciding to play it safe for now, Edward replied: “Nowhere in particular. There was a recent beast tide and all the beasts in the forest we used to live on was scared away. This left us with no choice but to look for food in other places.”

Edward carefully watched the shadows for any reaction, but the cloaks covering their faces didn’t make it easy to ascertain if they believed him. The second shadow, the one who didn’t speak until now, walked up and whispered something in the first shadow’s ear.

Before Edward could even understand what was going on, a sharp pain came from his left hand. Looking down, he noticed one of his fingers was cut and have fallen to the ground beneath.

“Lie again and the next time I cut will not be just a finger.” Said the man, the friendly tone from before becoming a lot colder.

‘I couldn’t even notice him attacking me.. This is bad.’ Edward started thinking of ways out of this situation when he noticed the air around him started turning slightly colder. There was also a trace of frost that blocked the blood from falling out of his finger.

Moving his hand to rub Minx’s head, he ignored the pain he was feeling and said softly: “I’m fine Minx. Don’t move to attack them.”

Feeling the cold mana in the air dissipating, he heaved a sigh of relief and looked back towards the unknown shadows.

‘So the one in the back can tell when I’m lying? Guess I can only play the Eddena card…’

Edward nodded towards them and said: “I apologize for lying earlier. My master, Eddena went missing around the same time the beast tide has begun. I’ve been looking for her.”

His main purpose was to return to the City of Ashes, but he’s been keeping an eye out for her ever since she went missing in the dragon attack so it wasn’t exactly a lie. He hoped it to be enough to trick the other shadow.

To Edward’s dismay, the moment Eddena’s name reached the two shadows’ ears, chains made out of earth appeared out of nowhere and tied both Minx’s and Edward’s limbs. Their reaction told him enough, they were not Eddena’s friends and even seem to be holding a grudge against her.

‘Damn, how am I so unlucky?’ thought Edward as he tried to break free but his struggle was pointless. The one who created the earth chains was a lot stronger than he was.

“One of Scarlet’s pupils? It’s not a dragon but it’s still a nice catch.” Said the shadow in the back with a laugh, seeming quite please with having captured Edward.

The shadow in front turned around and said: “Did he lie before?”

“No, it was the truth. Why do you think I captured them so quickly?”

“I figured… anyway you were too rash. We’re still in their territory and we have to complete our mission.”

The shadow in the back shrugged and replied: “You can continue with this pointless mission if you want. We’ve been looking for a month and there’s no trace of either the dragon or the egg. Turning this kid and his little pet in will for sure get us a decent bounty to compensate for all the wasted time.”

Edward listened to the two’s conversation and could understand a little about their motives. They were here looking for Flastrdra and her egg, but what he couldn’t understand was who they were.

Since he couldn’t get free from the bindings and had no way of escaping the two, he figured he might as well probe for some information and said bravely: “Wait until master Eddena hears about this. She will for sure make you two pay.”

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“Hehe, little boy, your master’s name will for sure scare any other people away but not us. I suggest you keep your mouth shut and you might even get to survive this. That is of course, if your City of Ashes agrees to pay the price.”

‘So, are they from Oasis? Or is there any other city?’

“Who are you people?” asked Edward again, putting on a fake panicking expression.

“We’re…” the shadow in the back was about to reply again when the one in front interrupted: “That’s enough. This place is still not safe. Bind them properly and stop talking.”

Edward cursed the guy a couple of times in his mind and watched as the earth chains started extending while slowly covering his and Minx’s body in a layer of hard earth. Since they appeared to be willing to take him alive, probably as a prisoner or something, Edward didn’t try to struggle and said towards his wolf companion: “Minx, don’t make any move.”. He knew he was in deep trouble, but where there’s life there’s hope. He just needed to survive.

Not long after, both Minx and Edward were turned into earth statues.

With Edward and Minx successfully captured, the shadow in the back asked: “Snake, are we going to keep searching for that dragon?”

The shadow called Snake thought silently for a moment before shaking his head and saying: “You were right. If we didn’t find anything for so long, the dragon is probably long gone. We’ll head back to Oasis and report on the situation. This beast and one of Scarlet’s pupils will still earn us a decent pay.”

The two spoke a bit more and started making their way south. Since they now had Edward and Minx to carry with them, they couldn’t just hide in the shadows anymore and decided to just run straight towards Oasis at full speed. They would travel at night and hide during the day just to be safe.

Their continued heading south at full speed for two days, only stopping during the day to feed Edward and Minx so that hey won’t die from starvation. Edward tried to find out more info from them during these times but the one called Snake will always interrupt before the other could reveal anything of importance.

On the second day, once the sun started rising, they created a hole to hide in and released Edward and Minx’s head from the earth prison to feed them.

Edward was biting on a peace of cooked meat, already used to this routine, when he felt something wet splashing on his face. Looking up, he was stunned to notice the tip of an arrow sticking out of the shadow’s forehead.

Next, a clang sound resounded from the side and Edward was able to see how Snake has managed to deflect another arrow using his dagger. Without giving his dead companion another look or staying to find out more, Snake threw the dagger in his hand towards Edward’s head and moved to escape in the opposite direction.

Edward could see the dagger getting closer and closer to his face, but there was nothing he could do. Not even considering the fact he couldn’t move because of the ice prison, the dagger’s speed was too fast for him to try and mount any kind of defense.

*Clang* another metal arrow hit the knife’s blade, moving it off course and causing it fly just by Edward’s ear, crumbling a small part of the earth prison on it’s way.

Snake has failed to kill Edward but his attack served as enough of a distraction for him to manage to run away. As Edward was stunned by his close brush with death, a man jumped from the edge of the hole and landed in front of him.

Blonde, shoulder-length hair slightly covered a furrowed but friendly face. His bright aquamarine eyes were fixed on Edward, trying to ascertain his condition. What captivated Edward’s attention, was not his overly handsome face or deep look in his eyes, but his ears. Pointy and at least double the side of human ear, Edward knew at first sight what the man in front of him was. An elf.

As Edward was staring at the elf that suddenly appeared to save him with awe in his eyes, the earth prison spell finally broke apart, releasing him from his constrains.

The elf heaved a sigh of relief when he noticed that Edward was mostly alright and asked: “Are you Edward Black?”

Edward didn’t know how the man knew his name, but nodded in reply nonetheless. Since this elf has managed to kill one of the assassins and scare the other one away so easily, he could not be a simple man. If he was also an enemy, Edward had no way of fighting back anyway.

“That’s good. I got here in time.”

“Excuse me, sir. Can you tell me who you are and how you know my name?” by this time, it was quite clear to Edward that this man has come here to save him.

The elf smiled and bowed his head slightly as he said: “Pardon my lack of manners. My name is Finlas Afton, but you can just call me Fin. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Edward.”

Edward was enthralled for a moment after seeing the elf’s smile. If he was too rank all men he has ever met on a handsome scale, this elf in front of him would for sure obtain the first place with ease. Clearing the unnecessary thoughts from his head, he bowed back and replied: “T-thank you for rescuing me from those assassins, Fin. Can you tell me why were you looking for me in the first place?”

“Someone was very worried about you since you went missing for a long time and sent me to look for you.” Replied Fin before throwing a strange looking amulet on the ground and jumping out of the hole in ground.

Edward didn’t understand what he was doing, but before he knew it, his surrounding blurred and a bright light forced him to close his eyes. When he opened his eyes again, he was stunned to discover that both him and Minx has somehow teleported in the forest just outside the City of Ashes.

Fin, having successfully sent Edward away, picked up a moon shaped necklace from around his neck and said: “Miss, the boy is safe. I’ve transported him back to the City of Ashes.”

“Good job, Fin. What happened? Is he alright?” a worried voice came from the necklace.

“Reporting to miss: The only injuries I could observe was a missing finger on his left hand and a mild case of mana disease. When is found him, he was being held prisoner by two assassins from Oasis. I’ve killed one of them but the other has managed to escape. Awaiting further instructions.”

“Can you find the one who escaped?” asked the woman in an angry tone.

“Low chances. I was only able to track them the first time since they were carrying the kid and his wolf. Now that there’s only one and is already on guard…”

“No matter, you can return now. I’ll demand an answer from Oasis itself.”

“Understood.” Replied Fin as he placed the necklace back under his clothes.

Jumping into the hole in the ground again, he activated the amulet on the ground and disappeared in the same way Edward did, his destination unknown.

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