Caracara's Hunt

"We"re striking tonight, so get ready. We need to leave."

"Did something happen?" Arawn asked.

He only had a small bag with his writing tools with himself and a change of clothes. The couple other things he"d possessed were in the saddlebags they had left with their animals. As far as he knew, they were lost forever.

"We saw people searching for us last night," Rain explained while rolling up her blanket. "They weren"t too obvious and we didn"t get close, but there was no other reason for them to be around and talking to the people we pa.s.sed."

The whole following them business left a bad aftertaste in Arawn"s mouth. He couldn"t help but feel that they might make a mistake and bring even more trouble onto themselves. Could they even reach the mercenaries" hideout before being intercepted?

Once they were packed, Rain suggested that they separate for the day and pretend that they were still searching for clues about the princess and Val"s sister. This would make it less likely that anyone would expect their attack that night.

What sane person would attack a well-defended stronghold without making thorough plans for it? Only someone who had a death wish.

But Rain planned to use things she knew about Claus" people to bypa.s.s their security, which was lax to begin with. From what she had seen before, it was only for show. The mercenaries were playing cards and drinking on guard duty. Some even disappeared for a time with women who brought the pots of wine.

"We"ll use their carelessness against them. You all spread about while I go watch the house. When the sun sets, let"s meet up by that warrior sculpture near the square," Rain said and was about to leave, but Val caught her by the arm.

"Why is it you doing all the scouting? I want to see the place for myself as well."

Rain sighed and moved her gaze to his stump. When she was sure he noticed it, she raised her eyes. "I don"t know how good at sneaking around you were before, but it"s not the same anymore. In case something goes wrong, I"d find it the easiest to escape of our group. Arawn probably doesn"t even know what we"re talking about, and I know I"m better than Betty."

With a huff, Val turned around and left. His expression was dark, but he had no words to refute Rain"s claims. They were true after all.

"That guy"s gonna find a way to get us all killed," Betty murmured while watching him disappear into the crowd on the main street.

"Don"t be so ominous," Rain said and turned to Arawn. "I"m going to secure us horses for escape, but I can"t do anything for you. If we have to leave in a hurry…"

"You"re gonna leave me behind. It"s fine."

Arawn nodded and smiled at her before walking away as well. The fact that Rain bothered to tell him such a thing was already quite nice. He hadn"t thought about it, but him being unable to ride was a really troublesome thing. Carts and carriages were quite c.u.mbersome and wouldn"t do that well in a chase.

But he didn"t fear for his future. A part of him even wished to get caught so he could get to confront the archmage. There were a lot of answers he wanted to demand from that old man.

In the morning, the streets weren"t too crowded, and Arawn simply wandered past them without a clear goal in mind. Rain had told him to pretend to look for something, so he paid attention to everything, examining both the houses and the people.

When he got tired of walking, he found a stool under someone"s window and sat down there. The owner of the house wasn"t home, so no one bothered him, and he could focus on the pa.s.sersby.

After a while, he noticed something disconcerting—none of the people in the streets had hair like his. Most had dark brown, but there were some with lighter shade as well. However, none of them even came close to his ashen color.

It made no sense though. People like him originated from the mountains in the west of Ayersbert. They might not be overly common in the capital, but it was impossible for there to be none like him when Mairya, a neighboring country, had that many.

No one could explain it to him, so he watched the pa.s.sersby for a bit more before growing bored. Without any better idea how to pa.s.s the time, he took out his writing materials. Among them was something he had never tried before. It was a black stick made from a material called chalk.

He used it on a page and drew a black line that wasn"t as uniform as with ink. He tried a few more, and they were all of different quality, some much blacker and wider than the others. The slightly dotted line reminded him of how he had etched random pictures on the walls with a small stone.

Reminded of those days, which were comparatively good, he began to draw. At first, he had no idea what he was doing and only experimented with the chalk. It wasn"t that complicated though, and he began to draw what he saw before him, like the wide square, the buildings surrounding it, and the hill with the contours of the castle on top of it.

None of it was recognizable for anyone besides him, but he didn"t stop. It was fun. When the streets filled with people, he drew them standing in groups and by themselves. Some were laughing, and some were looking pensive.

"What are you doing?" a voice demanded out of nowhere.

Arawn looked up and saw Betty standing before him. Her hands were on her hips, and she was staring at him like he was a weirdo with which she wasn"t certain she wanted to be a.s.sociated.

"Nothing."

He quickly hid his work in the satchel and dusted his hands off. Although the back of the chalk was wrapped up to not stain his fingers, he had changed his hold on it a thousand times and gotten his whole hand colored black.

"Come, it"s time we leave."

She led him to where Val was waiting in a side street. The look he aimed at Arawn wasn"t too friendly. "We"ve been waiting for you for a good hour. Didn"t you hear the bell?"

In truth, Arawn had heard it, but he was so entranced with drawing, he didn"t a.s.sociate the sound of the bell with anything. It was as meaningful to him as the constant chatter of people around him or the beat of a dove"s wings.

"Where"s Rain?" he asked in hopes to divert the attention away from his tardiness.

"Near the house," Betty answered. "She needed to get something for us to enter, so I"ll lead you there."

As they walked, both Val and Betty kept watch around them. Their steps were sure and full of purpose while their eyes were set on the road ahead, but somehow they also noticed if anyone stayed behind them for longer than it was normal. More than a couple times they made sharp turns and urged Arawn to run for a bit so they could duck into another street and escape their pursuers.

By the time they reached the streets where the rich lived, it was dark already. A few guards were patrolling, and they had to avoid them, staying hidden in side streets until the two men pa.s.sed with lanterns in hands. At that time, Arawn no longer had any idea where in the world he was.

Some time later, Betty pointed at a tall stone wall in the distance. "There. That"s the place."

There was nothing special about it, and they advanced toward it. When they were about to reach the gate, Val stopped. "What are we doing?" he whispered in a harsh voice. "You"re leading us straight at the guards!"

Betty pointed at a white handkerchief hanging at the gate. "That"s Rain"s sign. She"s inside."

"Already?" Arawn asked in disbelief.

The moment they approached, Rain jumped out with knives in hands. Upon recognizing them, she lowered her weapons, and her expression darkened. "What took you so long?" she demanded, but didn"t wait for an answer before motioning for them to follow her inside. "No time. Hurry. We"ve got two hours at most before somebody notices that I"ve drugged the guards. Probably less."

At her words, Arawn noticed two men at a table. If no one looked closer, it would look like they were just sitting and chatting; however, a closer inspection betrayed that they were tied to their chairs. Without that, they would have long slid down to the ground.

There were a couple pots of wine on the table, and a torn dress hidden underneath. It was rolled into a ball, making it clear that it hadn"t ended up there at random.

Guessing it was part of how Rain had gotten them inside, Arawn looked away. His gaze landed on the mansion before them, and his insides twisted. This building style was more than familiar to him. Just like the castle, the mansion was all about looking ma.s.sive and intimidating.

Arched windows were tall, thin, and dark-rimmed, like glaring eyes. They were matched with tower-like extensions on the sides of the building that could only remind people of horns.

The building itself was five stories tall. It had rounded corners and numerous decorations over its every window and door. There was even a verandah with four white pillars at the front. Fake vines ran down them with bright pink blossoms.

"We"re going to the back," Rain said and led them by the wall while keeping to its shadow.

She explained that there were usually no one at the windows, but it was better not to risk it by making a dash for the verandah. The servants entrance in the back was certainly not guarded, and there were no servants in the mansion to begin with. It meant an easy way inside.

Too easy, but no one missed that. There might be a trap up ahead, but it didn"t matter as long as they were ready to face it. All of them were on guard, and they trusted their abilities to escape.

This time wasn"t like with the beast. If something went wrong, they could simply grab the girls and run. There was no need for them to stay and fight. Humans were much easier to deal with than animals.