On The Hunt.
Night had fallen on this strange and magical land, but just because the calm never arrived with it. The Bloodhounds alongside Violet were hunting the siblings, and they had been doing so all day, leaving them with a constant sense of dread. The advantage they had against their pursuers was that they didn't know how they looked, and thus with proper acting and lies, could deceive them should the situation call for it.
Right now, the team had made a makeshift refuge inside a small cave, protected thanks to the spells of Albion and Caeli.
"Should I go scout to search for enemies?" - Gladys asked while preparing her dagger.
"No, it won't be a good idea. We better stay hidden and rest for the night, we can start moving tomorrow" - Caeli answered, acting as the voice of reason.
"We're half Fae, nothing will happen just because we skip one night of sleep" - Enyd spoke after - "With our weapons, we could get rid of the Knights chasing us. Hell, I could burn them all with my ax in this instant!" -
"Don't act like that, you're just going to get yourself killed if you try and jump like that, especially with that girl Violet chasing us. I don't want to find out what she's capable of" - Albion talked after his sister - "We'll be better off laying low, at least until later" -
While the rest were talking, Artus and Eirian were starting a fire using wood and their magic, all while having their own conversation.
"I've been studying the map, it seems that there are more towns around us, so we could divide and visit them tomorrow to try and find more information" - Eirian said while turning the fire on.
"Good idea, we need to get as much information before the Army of Beasts finds out about were we are, let's tell the rest" - Artus then turned around to face his siblings - "Everyone, we have a plan for tomorrow" -
Catching everyone's attention, Eirian then talked - "There are 3 other towns at walking distance from here, we'll separate each other and travel to them to find out more information about this 'Camelot' we're in" -
"Not a bad idea, with the appropriate clothes we could blend in with the regular population of this place" - Caeli commented on her brother's idea - "Shall we make the teams now?" -
"Fine by me. I'll go with Enyd" - Artus said as the girl smiled.
"I'll travel with Albion. Eirian can go with Gladys" - Caeli spoke right after.
"No problem, we'll get it done" - Eirian and Gladys answered at the same time.
With their plan ready, they decided that 5 of them would sleep for the night, and 1 of them would stay awake to serve as a sentry, which would change every hour. For the first hour, Artus would be the sentry, while the rest of his siblings slept.
While keeping guard, the boy started to polish his sword while remembering his training with the Servants of Chaldea like Gawain and Lancelot. He needed to be alert in case that danger appeared, and danger was closing into their location.
Spectre, the mount of Violet, catched the scent of the siblings as they made their escape hours ago, something that neither of them had accounted for, and now it was getting dangerously close to their current location.
From the distance, Artus managed to spot the creature, mounted by Violet, approaching, and he immediately woke up his siblings to let them know. Gladys and Caeli used their Hide and Seek trick, but this time it wouldn't work out for them.
Spectre's impressive eyesight, coupled with its heightened sense of smell allowed it to pinpoint the exact location of the group who tried to make a quick escape out of there. From the mouth of the animal, a powerful fireball came out and landed on the siblings. This not only knocked them out, but also made their invisibility disappear.
"To the woods! Run!" - Albion yelled to his siblings, as they retreated to the forest.
"Army of Beasts, our prey is close. Begin the hunt!" - Violet yelled, and behind her, her Knights appeared, riding their steeds - "You can do whatever you want with them, but… Make sure to keep them alive" -
In the forest, the siblings escaped at full speed while hearing the loud footsteps of the ghostly steeds that the Army of Beasts rode, and they were getting close.
"Hey, Artus! I hope you don't get mad for this, but I'm going to start a fire!" -
"What!?" -
Summoning her ax, Enyd started to whisper something to herself, something her siblings couldn't hear. Seconds later, the ax ignited with powerful and bright flames and a single swing was enough to burn a huge amount of the forest in front of her. The Knights chasing them were forcefully stopped by this, but their leader wasn't planning on stopping. On Spectre's back, Violet jumped over the massive wall of fire and continued the chase against the siblings, getting dangerously close to Enyd, who had fallen behind because of her small stunt.
Seeing their sister about to be caught by their enemy, the siblings had to make a plan on the fly, and they came up with one just moments before the massive black hound catched Enyd: Just like they said before, it was time for them to split up.
Artus stopped running away and turned around, shining Scagarach's purple and black light before unleashing a devastating slash that forced Violet to stop in her tracks to avoid harm. Using these precious seconds to their advantage, Artus took Enyd by the arm and using a quick teleportation technique made by Morgan, the two vanished instantly. By the time Violet realized this, it was far too late, she had lost her prey. Not only them, but the rest of the siblings used the technique to vanish and leave no trace behind.
"Lady Violet! What happened to our enemies?" - one of the soldiers arrived to see why she suddenly stopped.
"I see, they're craftier than I expected" - she said to herself, not paying attention to the soldier - "Let the others know that we'll need to increase security in the surrounding areas. I made the mistake of letting them escape once, I shall not do it twice" -
In another location…
From a quick flash of light, both Artus and Enyd fell to the ground in a small field. They turned around to see where they were, noticing that the forest was far, far away. Looks like for the moment, they'd be safe.
"That… That was close" - Enyd said while making her ax disappear - "Thanks…" -
"You had the right idea with that barrier of fire, but it seems that Violet is more capable than her soldiers" -
"Yeah, she's another one of dad's daughters after all. I'm surprised that you were able to do that so quick, I never got a chance to master it" -
"If I'm being real here… Neither did I. In fact I'm pretty sure the only one who knows how to properly use it is Caeli" -
"Wait… Where are we exactly? Didn't you decide to bring us here?" -
"I told you, I never fully mastered it, I just took us as far away from the forest as I could, but it separated us from the rest when they did the same" -
"So… We're on our own now aren't we?" - Enyd took a few seconds to process it, sitting on the ground, which Artus also did soon after - "This… I don't even know…" -
Artus noticed how Enyd was clutching her fists in anger. He wanted to say something, but knew that it was far better to let herself calm down before doing anything else.
"What… What are we going to do now?" - she asked, finally calming down.
Looking around, Artus managed to spot something in the distance, a few lights turned on and the silhouette of buildings in the middle of the darkness of the night. Turns out, the pair got relatively lucky.
"First of all, we need to learn more about where we are, and I see something that could help us with that" - he said, helping Enyd of the ground as the girl slowly made out the sight of the town far away in the distance.
"A town… If we're able to get another map, like the one we grabbed from the last one…" -
"We'll be able to see where exactly we are…" -
"And we could find out where the others are…" -
With their new goal in mind, the two started to walk towards the town under the shine of the pale moon above them. While they may have gotten separated, their mission remained the same, and they were ready to fulfill it no matter what.