Caracara's Hunt

When Arawn reached the right door, he stretched out his hands and touched every person in turn to signal for them to stop. Then, he pulled on Val"s shoulder to bring him closer. They crouched by the door, and as expected, there was a small keyhole in the door.

Arawn took a first look through and saw a mostly dark room. One man was sitting by the window, his head lowered in sleeping. The snoring came from him.

To the left of him, there was a table with a few chairs. The other man sat there while facing the door. He wasn"t focused on it, however. There was a stack of cards in his hands, and he was placing them before himself in some pattern that frustrated him.

As Arawn watched, the man swore under his breath and leaned back against his chair. "Will I have to cheat against myself to win? That"s a new low," he whispered in a gruff voice and glared at the cards arrayed before him.

A large candle stood on the table, lighting the room. Its flame was strong, and the man played right under it, which meant that his night vision was nonexistent.

That was a good sign, and Arawn pulled away, letting Val take a look as well. The man needed only a few moments to get a good overview. His hand then moved to his waterskin which he had opened earlier.

Water rose from it in a silent stream. It was no thicker than a needle and pa.s.sed through the keyhole without a hitch. Val then returned to look into the room, and Arawn could only crouch by the side while biting his nails. He didn"t, but he wanted to. What if something went wrong? He couldn"t see what was happening!

The next moment, Val surged to his feet. There was a loud crash in the room, and Val threw the door open. Arawn was on his heels, running into the room while calling to the ether.

Both men had bubbles of water surrounding their faces. They thrashed around, trying to free themselves and take in a breath of fresh air, but the water stuck to them, not giving them a chance. Red-faced, one man went at Val with whatever was closest, which showed up to be the candle.

His swing might or might not have landed true, but Arawn didn"t hesitate. He raised his hands and smashed the ether he had collected at the man. It wasn"t a sharp blade, but a blunt force.

The mercenary crashed into the table, breaking it, and landed on the ground in a pile of wood. The water bubble left his face, and Arawn realized that the man had run out of air. His face was blueish purple, and his expression was an unsightly mess.

With discomfort in his heart, Arawn turned around. The other man had somehow gotten rid of the water bubble, but Rain was already by his side. She struck her dagger into his chest, no questions asked. The man"s eyes went wide in recognition when he saw her, but his soul left the body before he could say anything.

Rain looked back, giving Arawn a challenging stare. "Live in the real world," she whispered and turned away.

He stood still, letting his eyes rest on the ground beneath his feet. Was the real world really like that? He saw it happen again and again, but… he didn"t want to believe it. A part of him simply refused to accept indiscriminate killing as something okay. What was these mercenaries" crime? That they stood in the way?

But they were the ones on the right side of the law. It was Arawn and the others who had trespa.s.sed into other people"s home to save someone who might not even need saving. If the princess was safe and sound, they were just doing everything for the sake of Rain"s mercenaries and their reputation.

"Are you coming?" Betty whispered, poking his shoulder with the hilt of her sword.

Arawn looked up. Val and Rain were already by the door to the next room, speaking to each other through the eyes and nods. It should have been impossible, but they somehow understood what the other was saying. There was even an argument involved in it, based on Val"s angry shake of the head.

Soon, they agreed on the course of action, and Val took a step back. He took hold of the door handle while Rain positioned herself by the wall. They shared a look, and Val pulled the door open in one swift motion.

With the speed of a striking snake, Rain dashed through the opening. Her knives were in her hands, ready to plunge into anyone that blocked her away.

Yet no sound of blade meeting flesh or another blade came from the room. Arawn rushed in with Val and Betty. They entered a small, only a couple meters in length and maybe two in width room, which instantly became crowded with their presence.

There was nothing inside it besides a child-sized bed. A blonde-haired girl cowered in its corner, clutching at her blanket with a death grip. Her big eyes were wide with terror, and her lips trembled as if she was on the verge of tears.

"Ahm…" Rain quickly sheathed her weapons and smiled apologetically at the girl. "This is... " She searched for words, but nothing good seemed to come to her mind, since she looked at the rest of them.

"What"s your name, girl?" Betty asked in a friendly voice. "We didn"t come here to hurt you."

Something flashed in the girl"s eyes, but it was gone too soon. She pulled the blanket even closer to herself, looking at them with distrust. "Who are you? Why are you here? I was told no one can come here." Her voice was a little shaky, and her lips began to tremble even more.

With a wince, Rain crouched down and put her hands on the bed. The girl tried to scuttle away from her, but the wall prevented her from going anywhere.

"We"re here to save the princess and her friend," Rain said in a comforting tone. "We want to return them to their families. Here," she turned to Val. "He is actually the other girl"s brother."

The girl pursed her lips. "Humaya doesn"t have a one-handed brother."

"You know Humaya!" Val"s eyes lit up and he grabbed the girl by the shoulder, pulling her over. "Where"s she? Where"s my sister?" he demanded.

"Let her down!" Rain hissed and hit his arm with all her strength.

Val let go in surprise. Cradling his arm to his chest, he glared at Rain, but she didn"t even look his way.

"I"m sorry about him," she whispered to the girl who pulled out a plush toy from beneath the blanket and held onto it for dear life. "He"s just really worried about his sister. Forgive him, all right?"

The girl looked between them with wide eyes, then nodded reluctantly. It was clear that she simply didn"t feel like it would be in her best interests to refuse.

"I"m just a servant girl," she said in a soft voice. "I stay here in place of the princess. She has long been moved out of here."

"Moved out?" Rain asked in disbelief. "Where? When?" Her expression instantly turned ugly.

"What about my sister? Is she still here?" Val demanded as well.

Arawn sat down on the edge of the bed when the girl was about to speak again, and she turned her terrified gaze at him. He looked at it, really looked at her dark green eyes and distinct features.

They were a perfect match for a face he"d seen more than once before. It had belonged to a man who was much older and weathered by constant stress, but the similarities were still obvious. They both shared the strong, defined jawline and a slightly hooked nose on a narrow face. Their identical moss green eyes were also slanted a bit in the same manner.

"She"s the king"s daughter," he said with absolute certainty.

Four pairs of eyes looked at him in surprise. "You know her?" Rain asked in surprise.

He shook his head. "I"ve met the king, and she"s a perfect copy of him. Even her lies are the same—flawless. I don"t know if she"s the princess, but she"s certainly the king"s daughter."

As he said that, he saw something move in his periphery. On instinct drilled into him in the h.e.l.lish training, he leaned back and avoided the dagger thrust. His hand wrapped around a delicate wrist and squeezed on it.

The girl yelped and let go of her weapon. Arawn looked down at it and saw that the handle of the dagger was a plush toy"s left hand. His gaze then moved to the item the girl had held before, and it was really missing a hand.

"You…" Rain sounded speechless, and the others didn"t seem to have any words either.

This time, it was the girl who received four pair of eyes staring at her. She didn"t squirm under the attention, however. Crossing her arms, she stated, "I am the princess. You"re not allowed to hurt me unless you want my father to kill all of you and your families as well as friends and anyone else you have ever a.s.sociated with in your life."

The long, eloquent speech left a bitter taste in Arawn"s mouth. This was not a child that had grown up without a worry in her life. At twelve years old, she already knew how to lie and fake her ident.i.ty, and when it didn"t work, to threaten with her status. Could she even still be considered a child when she acted like that?"

"We won"t hurt you," Rain said after a while. "As I said, we came here to save you. Don"t you want to return home?"

The girl didn"t say anything, just stared at Rain with judgment filled eyes. Once her cover was blown, her whole demeanor had changed. Instead of a scared little child, they were now faced with a young lady who didn"t believe a word they said.

"I don"t care if you"re the daughter of a pauper or some G.o.d! Where"s my sister? Tell me!" Val snapped.

Water with ether rose next to him, and the girl"s eyes flashed with fear. She pushed it down almost instantly though. "She"s got no one-handed brother," she said in a strong voice that shook a little at the end.

Arawn thought for a moment and called to the ether. The girl"s expression grew guarded, but there really wasn"t anything she could do. When faced with four grown people, she could only rely on her status and the fact that they would probably not dare to harm her.

Her reluctance to trust them was understandable from her position, but they didn"t have time to win her over. When Arawn thought of what he could do to gain her trust, a memory popped up in his mind. It might be stupid and bring no result, but it wouldn"t hurt to try.

He materialized ether in a shape of an unremarkable pin with the contours of a flower on it. The princess" brows furrowed at the sight of it, then she gasped in surprise and looked at him. "You! How do you know of this?"

The truth was that Arawn had no idea what it was. Corwal had given it to Eliot as a way to contact him, so he guessed it was important, but how or in what way? He had no clue about any of it.

This meant that it was time to improvise. He might have been worried if the situation was different, but with how secretive Corwal was, he was almost certain that being as vague as humanly possible would serve his purpose.

"You should know yourself. Aren"t you aware of its meaning?" he asked with easy confidence and even a light joking manner.

The princess shuddered and looked around. "My br—" She cut herself off as if she"d been about to speak something forbidden and nodded. Grabbing her plush toy and the dagger, which she stuffed back inside, she got off the bed. "Let"s go then. I"ll show you to Humaya"s room."

She was only dressed in a thin nightgown and was only up to everyone"s waist, but she pushed through them with determination and confidence. Stopping by the door, she looked at them with her dark green eyes.

"Are you sure you have the whole night to waste standing around here?"