"Where... am I?" Elvinn wondered the minute he opened his eyes. Dizziness hit him like a truck as he tried to recollect what had happened. They had been on the run, and-
ARIA!
The thought of his sister's well-being jolted him wide awake immediately. He instantly turned to search for her but--
"What the?" He thought. Just now, as he had tried standing up to search for his sister, something had held him back, drawing him back to the very spot he once stood. "What is... this?" He thought, staring at the brown leather rope used to tie his hands.
"Awake, are we?" a voice jolted him from his thoughts. He turned around to see a man clad in sparse clothing, a sword draping loosely around his girdle. Overall, nothing about the man's appearance seemed friendly. Perhaps they were his captors, Elvinn thought. "Coralite wears off in less than an hour," The man went on carelessly, rambling on about the tranquilizer they had used to sedate both of them. "But it took longer than that for you. I'm guessing you enjoyed your nap?"
"My sister..." Elvinn managed to muster. Still rather weak from the effects of the sedative.
"Oh, the girl?" The man asked, gesturing in Aria's direction. "I'd worry less about her if I were you."
"Aria. Thank goodness," Elvinn muttered, heaving a sigh of relief. She was okay, and to him, that was all that mattered. Like him, she too was tied up, although rather than to a tree, she was tied up at the foot of a large wolf-like creature. "Those wolves... That's how they caught up to us?" He wondered.
"I'm sure you're familiar with Ravenhounds?" The man commented, noting how Elvinn stared at the wolf. Ravenhounds? Elvinn wondered. "Of course, you wouldn't know them," The man went on after a slight chuckle. "Easily some of the fastest creatures around these parts."
"Enough talking, Blurk," another voice was heard. The two turned in the direction of the voice as another man, clad in the same kind of clothing as the man known as "Blurk," approached both of them. "Your job is to watch over the prisoners until the boss arrives, not chit-chat with them. Go. I'll take over from here."
Without another word, the man known as Blurk left abruptly. "Perhaps there was a bit of hierarchy among the bandits," Elvinn wondered, not that they seemed that much different from each other, though, in terms of clothing at least. Staring at the new man who just sat on a stone cleaning his nails with a dagger, he wondered what kind of man this "boss" they mentioned earlier would be. He hoped he'd be a reasonable person at least. "Well..." He thought, "I guess we'll find out soon enough..."
***
THUD! THUD!!
The sounds of quick footsteps in the distance alerted the men of someone's arrival. A Ravenhound, far larger than the ones the bandits had, came into sight as it stopped abruptly at the scene. A man, clad in leather clothes, alighted from the large Ravenhound.
"What's the situation?" He asked, perhaps he was the "boss" they had been talking about. Elvinn wondered.
"We found two people," One of the men replied, gesturing to Aria tied at the foot of one of the hounds and Elvinn tied to a tree. "They tried to escape so we did that." He went on gesturing at the manner in which he tied them.
"And the boy?" The boss asked, his expression remaining the same.
"Nowhere in sight," The man replied. "His scent is strong on them, though. The dogs have been twitching this whole time." He noted. "The boy? They couldn't mean Rhys, could they?" Elvinn muttered to himself, reminiscing his suspicions from the night before. He shouldn't jump to conclusions just yet; perhaps they had just confused them for someone else.
"Not here? Too bad." He said with fake disappointment. Of course, he expected him to not be here. The "element of surprise" that they had initially planned to use this morning had been given away by the carelessness of one of his men the night before. That one was going to get his punishment when the job was done, he thought. "You two will tell me what you know about him," He finally voiced out, concentrating his gaze on the siblings in front of him.
"Umm, sir," Elvinn began politely. "By chance, could you have gotten us mistaken for some other people?" He hoped there was a way they could reason with the men in front of him...even though they didn't look reasonable at all. Perhaps if he spoke politely to them, they'd be kind enough to respond.
"Oh? Is that right?" The boss muttered, a mirthless smirk plastered on his face. "Well then," He went on, placing his right hand on the tree beside Elvinn's face, "I'll ask you just one question. Did you encounter any person at the Cryst river?"
His expression was blank, his question direct to the point. But even at that, Elvinn knew better than to reply in the affirmative. When faced with a situation like this, playing dumb seemed like the most viable option.
"Umm... Sir... I don't know what you're--"
WHACK!
"Argh!" Elvinn grunted in pain as he suffered a kick to the torso from the boss, cutting him off just before he could finish his sentence. His answer had had the opposite effect from what he had expected.
"ELVINN!!!" Aria screamed as she watched her brother cough out a mouthful of blood.
"Perhaps I should enlighten you on the consequences of trying to lie to me," The boss muttered, his expression growing darker as he fetched a small knife from his pocket.
"WE DID!" Aria answered, trying her best to hold back her tears. "WE DID! You got your answer. Please don't hurt him!" She pleaded, but her pleas fell on deaf ears.
"Good girl," the boss smirked at her. "Your brother's been really bad, and he has to be punished for that," he remarked playfully. "Perhaps," He went on, turning his attention back to Elvinn, who was still in pain. "The loss of a finger... or two would teach him not to lie to strangers." He muttered, bringing the knife dangerously close to Elvinn's hands.
"LEAVE HIM ALONE!!!" Aria screamed once more, her eyes taking on a bright green hue as her spirit energy fluctuated.
CRASH!!!!!!!!
As if on cue with her voice, a massive earthquake shook the very forest to its roots, throwing the men around into confusion. The trees around also seemed to move in alliance with her voice as they swung haphazardly, knocking out some men and seriously injuring others. Only the boss and a few others were left unscathed. However, the boss had a look of surprise on his face.
"Huff... Huff... Huff..." Aria panted. That attack just now had depleted a massive amount from her spirit energy reserves. The boss stared at the destruction around him in surprise.
There was only one explanation for what had happened just now.
"Magic?" The boss wondered, tilting his raised eyebrow at the now exhausted Aria. "So… you're of that cursed race?" He asked her, but she could only look at him weakly. "That's interesting." He went on, drawing closer to the exhausted girl. "I went fishing for guppies and ended up catching a whale. I wonder... would taking you to the tycoon suffice for not catching the boy?" He wondered aloud, running his fingers over Aria's face.
"KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF HER!" Elvinn screamed, tugging hard at the ropes used to bind him.
"How about that one?" The boss gestured in Elvinn's direction. "Can he use magic too?" He asked.
"No, He didn't seem like he could," one of his men replied. "What do we do with them, boss?" Another man asked.
"We can get all the information we want from her," The boss stated, his hands still on Aria's face. "We have no use for him however. Get rid of him." He said, waving his hand dismissively at Elvinn. As if on cue, one of the men gingerly approached him, wielding a sword. Raising his unsheathed dagger, he swiftly brought it down on the target in front of him.
"ELVINN!!!" Aria screamed in despair as the dagger swung directly at Elvinn's heart. She tried to focus her spirit energy, but she was far too exhausted from the previous attack that she couldn't muster up enough. She couldn't do anything; her brother was going to--
WHACK!
Just before the sword found its mark, a figure intercepted the attack, disarming the attacker and knocking him out in the blink of an eye, much to the surprise of everyone present.
"Let them go." The figure said slowly, staring squarely at the boss as his features finally came into full view. Shiny golden hair with eyes of the same color, The ferret like creature perched on his shoulder and his right hand clutched the sword Elvinn's attacker once held, Without a doubt it was--
"Rhys?"