Chapter 2: 2. Wild Chase – part 2

With his mahee opened as wide as possible, D’Argen could outrun anything. With that speed, however, came one disadvantage; he could not see the world around him. Instead, everything became so light that it faded away slowly, leaving behind only dark dots and streaks to indicate where something that could get in the way of his run was.

The cheetah turned into a dark silhouette in a field of smoke.

The cat had moved from its original hiding spot, much closer to him than he had thought. He passed it in the blink of an eye, startling the cat into jumping and swiping at empty air. D’Argen pivoted so sharply that he scraped the ground into a mound and then passed the cat again. It attacked once more and still touched nothing. Another pivot had him passing so close to the cat that the wind from his run ruffled its short fur. Then that wind became stronger and turned into a harsh blast of air that sent the cat tumbling on its side.

D’Argen slid to a stop and watched the cat recover. Lilian must have been the one keeping the invisibility spell in check because now all three of his companions were visible while Lilian walked towards him and the cheetah, using their mahee to churn the wind faster.

The cat seemed to sense the danger. It started growling, hunched in, hackles raised, but it did not attack. Its head was on a swivel, moving between D’Argen’s wide stance to the short figure on its other side.

The wind picked up, carrying with it a subtle scent that could only be described as morning dew. Normally, it was unrecognizable. In the open plains under the hot sun, it felt like an oasis. The cat scented the air and it hunched further. D’Argen widened his stance. Lilian continued their slow approach.

When Lilian was as close to the cat as D’Argen was, the cheetah shot off. D’Argen was barely a breath behind it, chasing it this time as the cat tried to get away from him. Lilian opened their mahee wider and the wind picked up even more, throwing the cat off course and slowing it down. D’Argen pushed just a little harder but not hard enough for the world to start fading in his eyes once more. When he saw the cat right in front of him, he leaped.

“LILIAN!!” Yaling’s loud yell startled him but it was too late. D’Argen was already in the air and he would fall on the cheetah under him any… second…

The cheetah was not there!

A strong gust of wind hurled him off-course and then tried to soften his fall as he landed hard and rolled a few times. When he came to a stop, he was covered in dirt and dust. He cleared his eyes and looked around him to double-check. The cheetah was really gone.

“Are you okay?” Lilian asked as soon as they were beside him. They were crouched and had a hand on his shoulder. D’Argen realized that he was bleeding when Lilian touched the raw skin.

Yaling and Abbot jogged towards them.

“What in the void was that?!” D’Argen growled out at Yaling as soon as she was within reach.

“Something happened,” she replied and though she looked worried, her eyes quickly scanning over D’Argen, she quickly dismissed him and turned to look for the cheetah around them. “It just—”

“You can’t do shit like that, Yaling,” D’Argen was annoyed. He sat up slowly with Lilian’s help. Abbot reached into his pack for medicine.

“I know, I know, just…” Yaling trailed off. “It disappeared.” Her eyes narrowed into the distance.

D’Argen turned his head to follow her gaze and could not see the cheetah anywhere. D’Argen had not seen how it had escaped out from under him a moment ago or where it had gone.

“What did you hear?” D’Argen asked, his voice wary.

“Nothing,” Yaling replied softly. “It is not… it is not here.”

All four of them looked around to try and spot the animal. It could have been hidden somewhere in the grass but Yaling would have been able to hear its heartbeat if that were the case.

“Do you think it…?”

“No, no way.”

“But it is—”

“It’s not possible.”

“What else could it be?”

They argued over one another, none of them daring to stop searching the horizon for the animal. If the voided cat ran faster than him that was even more worrying than it using the scent of his mahee at all.

D’Argen narrowed his eyes at the sky in contempt. “So, what? We just leave?”

“There may be no point in staying,” Yaling answered without looking at him.

“No. There is. If this is… actually, Yaling, you were in Evadia most recently. Have you heard anything about this?”

“D’Argen, if I had not seen it with my own eyes, I would not have believed it possible. A cat? Running beside you? I would more likely believe that the demons are back.”

“That doesn’t—”

“No,” Yaling interrupted him. “There have been no talks in Evadia of cats running fast, or any creature at all running fast. Or anything at all using the mahee. None. It is impossible. It is—”

“We just saw it,” D’Argen interrupted her in turn. “And as much as I hate that cat, it’s no demon.”

Abbot finally found his supplies and started cleaning the ripped skin on D’Argen’s shoulder. D’Argen did not shrug him off even though they all knew the aid was not needed and he would heal on his own as soon as he had time to rest.

“I could not figure out how it was doing it,” Lilian finally said in the silence. “Somehow, it was only picking up your scent, not any of ours. And it was definitely scent related, not the mahee itself. If we could only catch it and…” they trailed off, eyes back to scanning the horizon.

“Yes… if…” D’Argen also trailed off. Abbot tied a clean cloth over the rip in his robes and deemed him good enough for now. He did so with a heavy slap on his back that had D’Argen hunching over and wincing in pain.

“I got my sketches, but I could do with a few more hours to mix the colours here,” Abbot said.

“Yes. Please. I don’t think I can move right now,” D’Argen said with another growl in his voice, this time showing his frustrations with his own limitations.

“We can keep an eye out for the cheetah tonight and tomorrow. If we can find it again, no more running, we just catch it and figure out what is happening,” Lilian interjected.

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“And you’re sure there are no mentions of this in Evadia?” D’Argen asked, facing Yaling.

The woman crossed her arms over her chest. “If you do not trust me, go check for yourself.”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you!”

“Something like this? We all would have heard about it by now. In fact, I think we should go back and tell the queen. As soon as possible.”

D’Argen groaned again and complained, “my mahee, why have all three of you been so intent on getting me back to Evadia recently? Didn’t you just go, Yaling?”

“That was five months ago.”

“Oh… wow… was it that long ago?”

“Yes, D’Argen, time passes. It is a thing that it does.”

“And you? Lilian? Abbot?”

“A year for me,” Abbot supplied.

“Five for me,” Lilian answered, even quieter.

D’Argen felt horrible when he saw their faces. It was his choice not to return to Evadia and why he had not gone to the castle and his queen in over four centuries. Most of the gods in Evadia considered it a self-imposed exile. D’Argen considered it freedom. Seeing his companions’ faces, he felt like he was punishing his friends with his selfishness.

“D’Argen… how long has it been since you have been back? We are all starting to get worried.” Abbot spoke quietly, his voice timid.

“Worried about what? There’s no point in me going back,” D’Argen shot back automatically, used to the same argument that came more and more often in the recent few years.

“Now, there is,” Yaling pointed out with a stern tone.

“Aren’t you all three supposed to follow my orders, not the other way around?”

None of them answered, used to him joking about his higher rank since he rarely ever used it to order them around.

“Yaling, can you check again? Use the sight spell,” Lilian changed the topic.

Yaling nodded and turned away.

D’Argen could have been the one that uttered the spell to improve his sight and check better, but he needed to replenish his mahee. After a moment, the faint scent of citrus spilled out of Yaling as she opened her mahee, looking for the cat.

Like him, Yaling’s mahee was based on the physical aspect of magic, able to change and interact with the body to better its capabilities. Where D’Argen’s mahee allowed him to run so fast he could literally run on water, Yaling’s allowed her to hear the cheetah’s heartbeat even if it was out of sight. Both of them were able to use other spells in the body aspect, such as the one Yaling was using now to sharpen her vision and look for the cheetah.

“Nothing,” Yaling finally said, dropping the spell and the scent disappeared.

“My mahee, I’m tired,” D’Argen groaned and dropped back to lie down in the dirt.

“Break time? Break time!” Abbot confirmed and dropped down right beside him, pulling his long legs under him and throwing his skirt around over his lap as he sat cross-legged.

“Right here? Really?” Lilian immediately complained.

“Good a place as any,” Yaling added in.

“I can list a thousand places better than this,” Lilian shot back.

“Go ahead, list them,” Yaling replied with a grin and sat down as well. She was always really good at goading the others into a conversation that could take them through the night without any of them noticing.

It was exactly what D’Argen needed.

D’Argen closed his eyes and breathed in deeply as he listened to his three companions start listing places and arguing over them. A soft breeze caressed his face and he smiled. The scent of dew that came from Lilian playing with the wind was accompanied by the citrus of Yaling listening in on the area to make sure no animal, cheetah or otherwise, snuck up on them. And then came the unique scent of almond oil right before it started smoking over the fire. Even with his eyes closed, D’Argen knew that Abbot was using his mahee to corral the light around them, either to make them invisible or to give him more light as he worked on mixing the right colours for his paintings. D’Argen was too tired to check.

Instead, he opened his mahee just enough to consume the sound from their voices as they talked. He let the scents of their mahee guide the sound into him, making it easier to fill up what was lost and restore himself. Little by little, he felt the cage of his body becoming strong again; his muscles calmed and stopped jumping, his lungs expanded and filled with fresh air, his broken skin stitched itself back together under the salve Abbot had applied, and his parched throat was wet once more.

By the time the three had agreed on the worse place they had ever slept in, D’Argen missed how the conversation turned that way, he felt back in fighting form and was ready to run around with the cheetah for a few more hours. When he opened his eyes though, the only light came from Abbot’s hand and where the moon tried to break through the clouds.

“We decided that we should stay another few days, try and catch the cheetah and bring it back with us to Evadia,” Lilian said softly.

D’Argen nodded and sat up.

Yaling was already stretched out on the ground using her large sack as a pillow. She was also using the top layer of her skirt as a blanket, covering her bare waist and shoulders. Beside her, Abbot was putting away what must have been their dinner and a sack that smelled too much like wine to be anything else. Once done, he removed the metal collar from around his shoulders and used the attached cape as his own cover over his bare skin.

Unlike the two of them, both Lilian and D’Argen had very little skin visible and did not need a blanket for the night. Lilian laid down to sleep only once D’Argen nodded.

D’Argen looked over his companions, smiled, and then settled in to watch over them for the night the same way they had watched over him during the day. Another night under the stars with friends was not a bad thing. There were definitely worse places to be.

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