Caracara's Hunt

As he had expected, the weight of two people didn"t mean much to him. He could feel it, but it didn"t inhibit his movements. The two people were no harder to carry than a backpack when in human form.

"Are you sure of this?" Val asked. He was holding onto Mutallu who had his hands on Arawn"s back as if that would help any. There was simply nothing to hold onto for him.

Arawn nodded and took a couple exploratory steps. His baggage wobbled a little, but once they saw soldiers running out of a guardpost, they grew serious.

"Go!" Mutallu urged him.

With those words, Arawn sprinted away. He went by the side of the wall, keeping out of archers" vision. Those on the other side, of course, could see his progress, but by the time they raised their bows to take aim, he was already making a mad dash for the castle.

The long run that would have taken humans over a minute and a half was covered in half that time by him. He was in front of the door before anyone could even think to close them.

A few servants were inside, but they scattered the moment they saw Arawn. He hesitated for a moment, then chose to go to his old place. If the girl wasn"t in a dungeon, she would be in in the west wing of the castle. It was where Arawn had been confided for the longest time, and the same went for the prince.

His companions were too busy just trying to hold on, so Arawn picked the direction himself and ran there. He chose he hallways with the least people, but it was impossible to avoid all the servants and guests in the castle.

Most of them got out of their way, and if they were a bit slow on that, Mutallu sent a bunch of fireb.a.l.l.s their way. This was enough to make those people change their minds about facing them and leave at the fastest speed possible.

Arawn was happy about that, but also weary. Everything was going too well. Was it because they did something the king hadn"t expected or had they fallen into another trap and just didn"t know it yet?

Far in the distance, there was a large area with no movement. It was empty but for the mice having a family dispute in a wardrobe where they had set up their nest.

"It"s the west wing!"

Arawn was about to rush in there when he heard footsteps in a nearby hallway. The person was walking straight toward them as if knowing they would be there.

Alarmed, Arawn backed off behind the last bend and lowered himself so his companions could get off his back. If there was to be a fight, he didn"t want to battle with extra weight. His instincts were great, but he wasn"t sure he wouldn"t throw off his pa.s.sengers in the heat of a moment.

Val was about to say something, but Arawn raised his foot and put a claw to his mouth in an awful approximation of a silencing gesture. His limbs weren"t meant for such actions.

Moments later, the stranger was upon them. His steps were so quiet that if Arawn wasn"t a beast whose hearing reached supernatural levels, he would have never heard him approach. It was like listening to a shadow move.

When he was about to round the bend, Arawn rushed out with his claws extended. Anyone who could walk so silently wasn"t a normal person. They would be a danger, and dangers had to be removed for everyone to survive.

The stranger shouldn"t have had any time to react, but he dropped to the ground and rolled out of the way. Only his shoulder got a little scratched by Arawn"s claws.

"A beast?" the man murmured with a grimace. "Just my luck."

He didn"t pause for a moment though. He rose to his feet in one fluid motion and drew his sword while a dagger appeared in his other hand. With the two weapons in hand, he lunged forward to attack.

Arawn was a little startled by the man"s ability to dodge and counter-attack, but he didn"t waste time worrying about it. Since his ambush didn"t work, he would just have to fight it out the old-fashioned way.

The man thought to stab his weapons into his shoulder, so Arawn shifted his body so the blades would only glance off his hide. Then, while the man was still mid-motion, Arawn opened his mouth and made a grab for the stranger"s arm.

This should have finished the battle, but the man"s speed was a wonder. At the last second, he managed to reverse his strike with the dagger and send it below Arawn"s jaw, pushing it up.

The dagger"s bite dealt minimal damage, but the attack had been averted. It annoyed Arawn, and he pounced on the man with his claws extended.

With a yelp, the man dropped to the ground again and rolled away. There was no way in the world that he could take Arawn"s force and weight head on. His only option was to dodge until one of them grew too exhausted to fight back.

Or so it should have been if Mutallu hadn"t showed up like a ghost behind the man. There was a dagger in the teenager"s hand, and he slit the stranger"s throat with a single motion of the hand.

"Why were you playing around with him?" Mutallu asked in a cold voice while cleaning his dagger on the unfamiliar man"s clothes.

Arawn looked away. He hadn"t been playing around… The stranger had been fast and strong, and probably a hound.

At that thought, Arawn returned his gaze to the now dead man. He was lean and dressed in unremarkable brown clothes. His sword was nothing special either. Its hilt was a simple iron k.n.o.b without any designs.

But his skills couldn"t lie. No normal person could have dodged Arawn"s attacks so easily.

And if he was someone important, as all those with great skill were, what would he have been doing in an abandoned wing of the castle while dressed as a n.o.body? Most n.o.bles would not be found wearing such clothes even if someone pointed an arrow to their heads.

Mutallu quickly went through the man"s pockets, but didn"t find anything. They were bare but for a few coins and sc.r.a.ps of empty paper.

"We should leave," Val said, looking behind them with a worried look. "We can"t stay in one place."

His worries weren"t unwarranted. The soldiers outside had finally managed to a.s.semble themselves and were marching into the castle. Soon, they would find traces of Arawn"s pa.s.sing and come after him. With his current form, there was no way he could even think about disguising himself as anything.

Unless he wanted to pretend to be a pony, but that would probably raise just as many questions. Who in the world would bring a horse into the castle?

"Arawn?" Val asked.

Arawn looked at him, then began walking forward. There were a couple people in the west wing besides them, but he didn"t want to rush to them in case he missed someone else. The hound had been non-existent to his senses until they were extremely close to each other.

The hallways were clean, but only on the surface level. There were piles of dust right by the wall, and spiders had made elaborate networks in the corners in the ceiling. The family of mice Arawn had heard before wasn"t alone either. At least five others had made their home in the west wing.

"This gives me flashbacks of the mansion we went to last time," Val murmured under his breath.

He wasn"t the only one reminded of it, but Arawn wasn"t going to make the same mistake. No one was going to sneak up on him again. Not this time.

They soon reached the first room with someone in it. Arawn was about to open it when he realized that the breathing inside was too heavy and labored for a young girl. Whoever was inside was not the person they were looking for.

A part of him wished to go inside anyway, but he was a beast. As of right then, he had no right to try and save other people. It would be a miracle if he managed to protect Val and his sister until they all left the capital.

"It"s better not to make that person"s life worse than it already is. They sound old, and the king does not look kindly on escapees."

Neither Val nor Mutallu noticed anything, and they pa.s.sed the door without stopping. They hurried forward until they reached another door that did hold a young person inside it. Arawn had no idea who it was, so they had to check it out.

Arawn pushed the door open with his nose since he was the most indestructible of the three of them. It didn"t open, so he crushed the lock and opened the door that way.

There were no windows in the room, but a single candle cast a faint golden glow over the place. On the opposite side, the princess stood while clutching her plush toy. Her eyes were wide, but she held onto the hidden dagger"s hilt with determination. She was ready to strike anyone that came close to her.

"Not her again," Val groaned from behind Arawn"s shoulder.

Mutallu looked at him strangely, but Arawn knew full well what the older man had meant. It was getting a bit ridiculous how similar everything went. If not for their group missing Rain and having Mutallu, they might as well have been reenacting their last stroll through a mansion.

"I can help you!" the girl said instantly, but both Arawn and Val backed off like they had heard a curse.

"Let"s run!" Val suggested, and Arawn nodded with agreement.

It didn"t matter if the princess had tricked them the last time or not. One thing certain was that she was a royal persona, and there had to be guards around her. At any moment, a squad of hounds could pop up, and it would spell disaster for their rescue mission.

Thus, like the brave men they were, the three ran away from a twelve-year-old girl.