Caracara's Hunt

A loud, shrill screech was his reward for that. His ears rang with the girl"s voice.

There was no light in the dark room, so Arawn waited for his eyes to adjust before taking a quick look around. The room was small and bare. It only had a bed and a small table on which stood a burned down candle.

A young girl was in the far corner of the room. She had pressed herself against the wall and was staring at him with horror-filled eyes. Her once well-woven clothes were stained and sweaty, and her hair didn"t seem to have been washed or brushed for weeks.

"Humaya?" Val asked from outside in a labored voice. The run had left him out of breath.

The girl turned her head at the call and opened her mouth to speak, but upon meeting eyes with Arawn, she shuddered and stayed quiet. He frowned and backtracked, leaving the room so Val could enter.

"Who was it? Not her?" Val"s expression fell at that thought.

Arawn just motioned for him to enter. There was a young girl inside who seemed to react to his voice, but Arawn had never seen Humaya. It was impossible for him to tell if she was the one or the king had more children stashed in his castle.

Val gave him a long look, then carefully entered the room. His sight was useless in the total dark of the room, so he stopped after a couple steps. "Who is here?" he asked in a calm, neutral voice.

"Brother!" the girl shouted out.

With tears streaming down her face, she jumped off the bed at Val. The table was in her way, however, and she hit her stomach with a painful thump. More tears rushed out of her eyes, but she steadied herself and ignored the pain to rush to her brother"s side.

"Humaya!" Val called out with joy in his voice.

The next moment, the girl barreled into him, and he almost fell over from the force of her hug. "Brother, you"re really here! Really? I"m not imagining you? They said no one"s going to come for me," the girl cried out. Her hands wrapped around her brother"s waist like iron chains that could never be removed.

"I"m here, really. And I"ll take you out of here right now," Val promised while patting her head with rea.s.surance. "Did they hurt you? Are you okay?"

The girl shook her head, then her eyes filled up with more tears. "Father, they hurt father! He said he"ll come for me and then I never saw him again! Is he okay? Where"s father?"

"He"s…" Val started to speak, but words seemed to abandon him at that moment. He could only pull his sister closer to himself in comfort.

"We can"t stay here," Mutallu stated in a quiet voice.

He was looking around with cold eyes and clearly not liking what he saw. But he had the right of it. Arawn could hear the soldiers outside making their way over. In a few moments, they would find the dead hound, but it was unlikely that it would stop them for long.

In truth, it didn"t at all. The captain only glanced at the corpse before sending his troop forward. He didn"t even stop to examine it.

Arawn growled to get attention, since Mutallu"s words went unheard by the brother and sister. It didn"t feel good to cut their reunion short, but they really needed to leave. There was no telling what they would have to face if the whole castle rose up against them.

"A beast! It"s a beast!" the girl cried out upon noticing Arawn"s full form in the light.

There were only a couple torches burning in the hallway, and they turned his visage into a terrifying mosntrosity. His demonic appearance was only enhanced by the flickering light and the deep shadows.

"It"s fine, you don"t have to worry about anything anymore," Val whispered to his sister who had already moved to hide behind him. "He"s on our side."

This didn"t a.s.suage the girl"s fears, however. She shook her head and pulled at Val"s clothes with shaky fingers.

With a sigh, Arawn lay down once more and looked at the girl with the most harmless expression he could make. Was it really that hard to believe in him? He was just an innocent as well!

"What"s it doing now?" the girl asked with one eye peeking from behind Val"s waist. "Is it going to eat us?"

"No, he won"t. Come."

Val pulled his sister over and extended her hand toward Arawn"s face. Arawn wasn"t sure what that was supposed to mean, but he stayed still to not frighten the girl more.

When her small hand landed on his forehead, she froze. There was absolute terror in her clear gaze; she was certain she was going to get eaten.

Yet as nothing happened, she blinked a couple times and looked at her hand again. She pulled it away and examined it with a puzzled expression, which she soon turned to Val. "Why is it not eating me?"

"Because he"s a nice beast. Arawn, do you mind?" he asked while motioning for his back.

Arawn shook his head. They would be much faster if he carried the girl.

With his approval, Val pulled his sister over. "Come, sit here. It"s—"

"What happened to your arm? Your arm!" the girl cried out at that moment. It seemed that she had only just noticed it.

"I"ll tell you later, okay?" Val promised with a smile. "Now we need to leave this place, so be good and come sit here, okay? He won"t hurt you."

The girl stared at her brother for a moment, then nodded. Her face was pale white, but she allowed herself to be helped on Arawn"s back. A small whimper escaped her lips when he stood up in a swift motion, but when he turned back to look at her, she didn"t fall back.

Her eyes were only for her brother, somehow gaining strength from his presence. Val noticed that and smiled at her as if there was nothing to worry about and they weren"t deep into enemy territory with no way out.

His smile did nothing for Arawn, however. He knew they were in trouble and would have to fight their way out. It was no longer even a guess by that point.

There were half the castle"s guards right behind them, and in front lay the unknown. Arawn could hear no marching army, but that didn"t mean there was no danger there. It was unlikely that the king would have left all his most important captives protected by a single hound.

Mutallu pointed forward, and they set out at a sprint. There was no point to move quietly when everyone already knew they were there.

The girl on Arawn"s back held tight onto his short fur, pulling on it even. This irritated Arawn, but he didn"t voice his complaints. It was already a surprise that the girl could stomach coming close to him, let alone riding on his back.

There were people up ahead. Arawn came to a sudden halt and raised his head, listening. Behind them were hundreds of guards, with more and more of them coming into the west wing. One squadron had found the princess and was shouting in surprise and delight, but the rest were still rushing forward while going through all the rooms to ensure the intruders didn"t hide inside them.

In front of Arawn, right outside the castle, there was a huge ma.s.s of people. They were too far for him to hear their conversations, but it didn"t matter who they were. The point was that they were there and blocking his way.

"Why did you stop?" Val demanded. Both he and Mutallu instantly called onto the ether and looked around for danger.

Arawn growled deep in his throat. How could he explain that they were surrounded? All he could do was decide what was the best on his own and hope that it was the right choice.

Since front and back were both blocked, he chose a hallway leading to the side. It seemed like a good decision until he saw an earthen wall standing before him. This made no sense though. Why was there an earthen wall in the middle of a hallway?

It was still full of ether, but when he touched it, it dissipated. This left the wall easy to break, but even after breaking off a good portion, there was still more behind. It looked as if the whole hallway had caved in, but the castle had been built of stone… It was to prevent ether mages from being able to to shift it around, so what in the world was happening at that moment?

"What are you doing? We should go around!"

They did that, but no more than twenty meters into the next hallway, their path was blocked by another wall. Arawn dug into it, but it was also more than a meter in thickness.

"Is it just me or…"

"We"re being herded," Mutallu finished in a stone cold voice.

Arawn nodded and pointed in the direction they had gone in originally with his paw.

"Something"s there?" Val asked.

Arawn nodded again. It might be the place where the servants had evacuated or it might be where the rest of the guards waited to pincer them.

"Then we go and distract them while you escape," Mutallu said.

Both Arawn and Val turned to him. Since when had he become such a n.o.ble soul? Wasn"t he out for himself all this while?

"I bet you it"s the king waiting there, and I"ve got some unfinished business with one of his hounds." While saying that, Mutallu pulled out a dagger and slashed in front of himself to make sure they understood it wasn"t a casual greeting he had in mind.

"Have you went mad?" Val demanded the next instant. "You"re just a child! Stop dreaming the impossible and come with me!"

"Shut up, old man. If you get in my way, I"ll cut your throat as well."

There was enough viciousness in his voice for Arawn to have no doubt that he would really do it. Thus, he walked between the two to separate them. Val"s intentions were good, but he had a mistaken impression about age—it had little to do with one"s ability to kill.

"Are you going to get in my way as well?" Mutallu asked with a dark look.

Arawn shook his head and bent his front legs to allow the girl to dismount. If Mutallu wanted to risk himself, it was his choice. There was no reason for Arawn to fight him on that.

Once the girl was off, Val took her hand and bowed to Arawn. "Thank you for everything. If we both survive, I"ll be in your debt."

"That"s not necessary," Arawn answered in his mind, but Val could not hear it. He nodded again and went back a hallway from which they had come. If he was lucky, the soldiers wouldn"t notice him and he could somehow make his way out from behind them.

There was only a very small chance it was going to work, but it was better than bringing Humaya into the thick of battle. She would only be a burden in a fight and get someone else killed for trying to protect her.

"Are we going ahead or you planning to lure the soldiers to yourself as well?" Mutallu asked. His voice held a lot of disdain for the second choice, but Arawn quite liked it.

He hadn"t thought of it, but it was a great idea. If he pulled the soldiers behind them to himself, Val and his sister would have a better chance to escape.

"Fine, I"ll wait for you ahead then."

Everything decided like that, Arawn sprinted back. He swiftly found the soldiers and rushed into them. His pounce and following swipes looked deadly, but he did no more than stun the first soldier and claw through the armor of a few more. Not even a drop of blood had been drawn.

The captain did not care for that, however. He saw his soldiers down and screamed commands to take the beast down. His plan to surround Arawn and not give him enough s.p.a.ce to move was quite good, but Arawn wasn"t going to give him time to put it into action.

Once he got the attention, he yelped as if he was hurt and ran away. The soldier who had stabbed at him with his long sword looked at it in disbelief, but his comrades didn"t pay attention that the blade was clean. They shouted a joyous battle cry and went after Arawn like sharks upon sensing blood in the water.

Arawn made sure not to run too fast so as not to lose them. Most of the soldiers were quite enc.u.mbered with their heavy weapons and armor. Since the wall surrounding the castle was made of stone, most of the soldiers stationed on it were normal people with bows and swords. Mages would only be brought out in serious situations, like when expecting an attack.

This worked perfectly in Arawn"s favor. He could lead everyone by the nose without caring about them pulling some kind of trick on him. It made him quite happy, and he played around for a bit before going to where Mutallu was waiting.

By then, all the time that could be wasted was wasted, and they had to rush outside where the king and his cohort was most likely waiting. This time though, Arawn was ready for them.

Trust? Compa.s.sion? Pity? He wasn"t going to show any of that. Both the king and the archmage had went too far to deserve any kind of consideration.