Nathan clenched his teeth, then ran.
The village was in chaos. Noah stood alone, fighting desperately. Relief crossed his face when Nathan joined him, and together they brought the criminals down.
"Traffic?" Noah asked between breaths.
"Very funny."
Nathan moved on, found a girl with fiery hair and eyes. Ariel was there amidst smoke and embers, flames still lingering in the air. Their words clashed as sharply as blades, irritation flaring. "Flames and houses made of wood don't usually go hand in hand, you know?" he said. Ariel responded to him with anger in her breath, "Not all of us can go napping across the fucking map." Then, unresolved, he asked where Daniel could be. "The last time I saw him was west of where I am. But it's been quiet ever since I was fighting these lot. But more importantly (she closes in on him like a predator walking down its prey), what the hell gave you the idea that it was fine to abandon your group just to go take a nap? Nathan tried to calm her down, "Sorry about this, but Noah owed me a favor after the last time I did a commission with him."
She laughed hysterically at his response. Ariel looked back at him, dead in the eyes, and exclaimed, "He owes YOU a favor, WE don't!" Silence between them took over the situation as Ariel walked over to her defeated opponents and tied them up with a flame spell. She broke the silence and told him, "Try taking a nap and let your snores guide you to Daniel since that's what you're good at now."
Nathan quietly responded, hoping she wouldn't hear him, so as not to anger her even more. "I don't snore…"
He then paced around asking the villagers if they had seen a brown-haired boy with black eyes around the area, fighting. They shook their heads.
After moments of searching, he found Daniel lying unconscious on the ground. Nathan rushed over to the corpse-looking Daniel, hoping that the worst hadn't happened. He shook and called out his name, hoping for a reaction, but the lack of response started to worry him. His heart beating faster with every shove he gave, until finally Daniel groaned to see Nathan's troubled expression. Alive and breathing, Nathan gave a relieved smile.
"You scared the hell out of me, idiot." Nathan's relief hit harder than he expected as he lifted him and they both headed towards Noah's location.
By the time officials showed up and healers tended wounds, exhaustion weighed on all of them. Daniel noticed Ariel's anger and asked Noah what had happened. "We have our own ladies' man to thank for that. You should've seen her, she looked like she was about to blow up the remains of the village just to let off some steam."
Nathan asked Noah to go with him to the tree where he trapped the man. They left Daniel with Ariel to explain to the officials as they set off.
They arrived and saw that the cloaked man was gone.
"I knew it," Nathan muttered.