In this corner, we have several feathery foes working together. In this corner, we have a crazy evil mastermind who has magic. Wheee
Arthur paced back and forth in the clearing, things growing more and more tense every minute that they wait for Ivan's signal. "Arthur, it's only been five minutes," reminded Francis. Reiley chuckled. "Now we know where Alfred gets his impatience," he said. Rhys rolled his eyes. "I don't think you or Alistair have any place to speak in that regard," he said. All three of his brothers glared at him.
"Well, I do see Arthur's reason for impatience. It is muy importante that we move as soon as possible so we can finally bring this man to justice," said Antonio. "Bloody Hell is he the only one who gets it? It's been over an hour since Alfred has escaped. I don't want to wait any longer," grumbled Arthur. "I'm sure Ivan is still making his way to the house He's not able to fly so that makes him a bit slower," said Francis.
Arthur nodded and leaned back against a tree. "I'm sure you're right...I just hope that-" He trailed off and started staring into space. Francis blinked and waved a hand in front of Arthur's face, which was promptly slapped away. Arthur glared at Francis. "Do you mind? Lucas is trying to pass along a message from Mathias. Now let me try to figure out what it is he's trying to do," he said. Francis made a face but nodded.
"Mathias said that Matthew said the pendant has been removed from Alfred. Matthew can now better feel Alfred's presence and says he's sleeping somewhere safe. I'm sure you can feel it as well if you tried. Gilbert told Mathias that means that Alecai cannot use Alfred as leverage any longer," said Lucas. Arthur let out a sigh of relief. "That's brilliant news Lucas. Thank you for passing it along. How close are you two to the village?" Arthur asked.
"About twenty minutes. We'll be there soon, don't worry. Emil was supposed to stay at home but decided to sneak out after us so he's going to be with us. I hope Alfred is right about the village being friendly," said Luas. "I'm sure he is correct about that. They did remove the pendant from Alfred afterall. But just in case, you have disguises or something to hide your wings, correct?" asked Arthur.
"Yes. Berwald has a fur cape from his Viking days on. I have mine with me as well. Emil opted out for a cloak as well. I'm sure they won't give us too many problems. I have to go. Emil is trying to ask me something. Good luck Arthur," said Lucas. Arthur nodded and thanked him. They shouldn't have an problems. If anything, the look on Berwald and Lucas's face should be enough to scare people away from asking too many questions.
"What's going on?" asked Francis, looking a bit concerned. "Alfred can't be used as levearge anymore. The shaman got the pendant off. Lucas, Berwald, and Emil are disguised, kinda, and headed toward the village. All we have to worry about right now is taking out Alecai and getting the wings back to Matthew before it's too late. Hopefully, Ivan gives us the signal soon. If he doesn't send anything out in the next ten minutes, I say we move out," he said.
Francis sighed. "I say we stick around. I don't think he'd betray us. I think he really does want to help us. We did help him and his sisters. I don't see why he would want to work against us," said Francis. Alistair snorted. "You're forgetting about the part where Arthur decided to shoot the man between the eyes," he said. Arthur huffed. "Say what you will but I don't regret it. I was afraid he might have killed Alfred or steal his wings," said Arthur. Nobody argued against that.
"I don't blame you. Thought I hate to admit it, I would have done the same if any of you lot were being attacked," mumbled Rhys quietly. Reiley blinked before wrapping an arm around his brother's shoulders. "Aww Rhysie, are you finally admitting that you care for us? Do my ears deceive me?" he asked. Rhy's face went dark as he scowled. "Never mind. I think I would have shot you instead," he muttered.
Alistair grinned and ruffled his younger brother's hair. "Aye, it's nice to know that I can rely on at least one of you runts to shoot if ye need to," he said. Reiley grinned. "Aww look at us, having a brotherly moment." "Sorry mate, but no take backs. You said it so now you have to live with it," said Arthur when Rhys gave him a pleading look. "Oh wipe that smirk off your face," retorted Rhys with a frown.
Just before Arthur could retort just as sharply, a firey butterfly leaving behind a trail of sparks flew into the clearing. The butterfly flew around the Kirkland brothers before disolving into a shower of sparks. "...Was that a magic mariposa or the signal?" asked Antonio. "The signal. We're going in," said Arthur, immediately standing up and double checking the vials of potions lining his belt. His brothers had immediately stopped their fooling around and did the same.
Everyone got up and followed Arthur to the forcefield. "Nobody touch anything until we find the entrance," said Arthur as he and his brothers muttered spells. Eventualy, a rectangular portion of the forcefield started glowing before disappearing. "Everyone hurry in. I can't hold this open for too long before it's noticeable," snapped Allistair. Scurrying, the avians went through and paused once they have gone through.
"Now Ivan said any traps were marked by sunflowers of some shape or form," said Francis, already looking around for any sunflower markings. Arthur rolled his eyes. "Are you forgetting that we have magic on our side? The traps are just for escapees. Ivan even said that. Alecai never thought anyone would really go after him. The dome is just a formality," he said before muttering a spell to make any traps glow.
"We should still stick to Ivan's markings. Just in case. They don't only mark the traps but also the path to the house," said Antonio. Arthur nodded and they started walking that way quietly, carefully avoiding any spots that Arthur's spell detected traps at. After a few short moments, they had made it to the house. They immediately hid in the surrounding forest, spotting Ivan in one of the windows.
"There's Ivan...Where is Alecai?" mumbled Arthur. Francis shook his head, frowning as well. Ivan turned to the window and spotted Francis lightly waving at him. Ivan tilted his head slightly before turning away. "What the ruddy hell are you doing, giving away our position?" hissed Arthur. "He needs to know we're here if he's going to be giving us information on how Alecai is acting," responded Francis.
Arthur grumbled something about frogs not knowing the first thing about espionage when there was a rustle in the woods headed in their direction. "You gave away our bloody position!" hissed Arthur. "Me? Are you sure it wasn't your ridicuous accent?" asked Francis. "Oi, don't make fun of of his accent. It's one of the very few things I enjoy about him," hissed Reiley.
"Will you all quit fighting like a bunch of lasses and shut up for once?" hissed Allistair. "I don't know. I kinda enjoy watching everyone get along so nicely," said a heavily accented voice. They all jumped, Antonio squealing a little. Ivan gave them a smile. "Alecai does not have the supsicion. I say we attack soon before he goes and does the snooping. He is busy gathering materials for a spell," he said.
The men's faces grew serious. "Alright. Everyone knows the plan. Ivan, go back and distract him for a for a few seconds more so he doesn't supsect that you were coming out here to pull us back in after you. We'll be in within moments. Will he grow suspicious at your disappearance?" asked Arthur. Ivan shook his head, reaching into a nearby bush for a scarf. "I told him I lost this and went to retrieve it. He knows I go nowhere without it," he said.
They nodded and Ivan walked back to the house, wrapping the scarf back around his neck. Arthur turned to the others. "Francis, take your team and start looking for the wings. Rhys, you still have the crystal ball correct?" said Arthur. Rhys nodded, pulling the crystal ball out of a cloth bag. "Get a head start. If anything happens, contact us and one of us will be there to help you out. We'll wait a few minutes before jumping in, to give you guys a good chance of getting in and out undetected," said Arthur.
Francis nodded but gave Arthur a serious look. "Oui, we'll do that but if you're in trouble, I'm coming to help regardless. Stay safe lapin," he said before nodding to Rhys and Antonio. "Fine. Only because Matthew would be devastated," said Arthur with a smirk. Francis gave him a grin before his team disappeared into the brushery of the forest. "We give them two minutes. Then we jump in to provide a distraction," Arthur instructed his brothers.
They sat in silence, watching the house for two minutes waiting for some kind of signal from Ivan, a distress call from the others, or the others to come out with the wings in hand. When the two minutes were up, Arthur nodded to his brothers and they started creeping toward the house. The three of them split up to decrease the chances of Alecai making an escape. Each were perched below a different window, hiding out of sight until they heard Ivan lead Alecai into the room.
"On three now boys. One. Two. Three," all three brothers crashed through the windows and jumped into the living room to find Ivan and a very surprised Alecai standing in the room. Alecai turns to go through the livingroom door, the only exit not blocked by men with wings. Ivan smiled darkly and quickly blocked his way. Alecai froze in stunned amusement. "Ivan, what do you think you are doing? Move out of the way and attack these men! Do you want your wings back or not?" he shouted.
Ivan smiles. "I know you weren't going to give me my wings back. I've known for years. I only stayed because of my sisters," he said, a strange aura surrounding him making everyone in the room shudder. Alecai's eyes widened before he glared at Ivan. "You idiot! I still have your sisters. I won't hesitate to kill the both of them, even the creepy one with the bow!" he shouted.
Ivan pulled the silver pipe out of his coat and menacingly swung it around a couple of times. "That's to bad. Because they have done the escape. You will not be hurting them again," he said. Alecai backed up...right into Alistair, who happily wrapped his arms around the man to keep him from running away. "You got a lot to pay for you bastard," he said. Alecai's eyes widened as he saw both Ivan and Arthur approach, Reiley keeping a close eye out for any escape attempts.
Alecai squirmed. "It was that little blonde brat Ivan brought back, wasn't it? Well, the kid is as good as dead. I put a charm on him. Soon he'll be too weak to move, much less breath. That is, if he isn't already dead," he shouted. Arthur cracked his knuckles before punching the man in the gut. He then grabbed Alecai by the collar. "We got the pendant off of him. You have nothing you can give us," said Arthur.
Alecai's eyes widened. "Ivan. Ivan, I swear I can give you back your wings. Whatever they told you was a lie! I have the potion ready to go in my work room. I was going to give it to you before you told me to come to the living room to see something," he said. Ivan shook his head. "Arthur, I believe you have the first dibs," he said. Alecai swore and managed to grab one of the vials off of Alistair's belt, throwing it to the ground.
A cloud of dark green smoke filled the room, causing everyone to choke and gag. Alecai elbowed Alistair and ran for an exit before Reiley attempted to tackle him but tripped over a table. Alecai made it out of the room before Arthur managed to bark a spell between coughs to clear the room. "Don't bloody dawdle! He's getting away!" he shouted to his siblings before running after Alecai. The three brothers chased after the man, moving the vials hanging from their belt to their pockets.
"Arthur, what is going on? I can hear someone running this way," said Francis. "Bloody Fu-That's Alecai! Stop him! He got away!" Arthur responded. "I thought you blocked all of the exits! How did he manage to escape?!" asked Francis. "Let me use the next twenty minutes explaining to you every little detail of what happen instead of chasing the ruddy bastard!" exclaimed Arthur.
Francis cut himself off when he spotted Alecai heading down the hallway toward him. He shoved the wings into Rhy's arms. "Get them back to Mathieu!" he said before pushing Rhys toward a window. Rhys nodded and broke the window before crawling through as Francis and Antonio moved to quickly block off Alecai's access to the window. Alecai stumbled to a stop as he was quickly surrounded by the other avians.
"That was all you were after? The wings. Thieves! Those are rightly mine!" shouted Alecai. Francis grabbed the man and shook him non too gently. "Those belonged to mon Mathieu. A child. You ripped apart a child for your own sick pleasures. Tried to dismember him. Those wings were never yours," he said, spitting onto the man's shirt. Alecai quickly muttered a spell that threw Francis throw the very window he was guarding.
Antonio hoisted his battle axe before Alecai quickly snapped another spell that sent the axe flying through the window as well. There was a yelp as Francis had to quickly roll to avoid being split in half. With another bark, Antonio was thrown through the window as well Alecai had started running toward the window before all three brothers barked a spell that created a barrier to block the window out. Now the only exit was behind the three brothers.
Alecai quickly barked a couple more spells, causing a barrier to send the two avians flying down the hallway. Reiley hit the wall hard, cursing as he did so. Both Alistair and Arthur were pretty much uninjured, Reiley cushioning most of the impact. Arthur swore when he found the barrier trapping them. Arthur quickly found a potion and splashed it onto the barrier, the potion eating away at the barrier like acid.
"Get the bastard!" snarled Alistair, pulling Reiley out of their little dogpile. Arthur nodded and started sprinting after Alecai, the halls too narrow for him to fly. "I'll go this way, you go left," he growled to his brothers."Right-o," muttered Reiley, running after Alistair while rubbing his head. Arthur spotted Alecai rush out of a room with a small cauldron of purple shining liquid.
"Watch out lads. He has some kind of potion being cooked up," said Arthur. "Aye Aye Captain," said Reiley. Both brothers can feel Alistair mentally facepalm. "STOP RIGHT THERE AND DON'T YOU MOVE. THERE'S NO WAY WE'RE LETTING YOU OUT OF THIS ALIVE!" shouted Arthur when he caught up to the shaman. Alecai spun around and immediately dumped the potion all over himself. Arthur froze in his footsteps.
Wings...WINGS sprung out from Alecai's back. Large black wings similar to the ones that Arthur remembered Ivan once having. "I may not have all the magic drained from the runt that I wanted, but now I'm more powerful than any shaman or avian. I am able to bend both schools of magic to my will!" he hissed, taking two spheres out from his cloak and throwing them to the ground. There was a hiss and the spheres let out two shadowy figures that instantly disappeared.
"Neither of your precious fledglings are safe. I won't allow for any more interruptions again," said Alecai.