Happy 4th of July!
I do not own.
At the break of dawn, they reached the edge of the Provdencia's border. The castle was still several hours of travel away.
"Still no scouts." Senarius remarked darkly.
"Maybe they ran into trouble." Nachum said quietly.
"If so, the prospects are not good." Senarius said.
"Should we stop and wait till dusk before attacking in the cover of the night?" Nachum suggested.
"Provdencia can't wait any longer." Reselda interrupted from the side.
"Of course, princess." Nachum bowed his head in deference. "No disrespect but it might be foolhardy to attack in broad daylight."
"Attacking in the dark might not be any better." Conrad now also joined the group. "Our side might have difficulty in the dark as they would."
"I wouldn't be so sure that darkness is our best defense. Remember they control dark magic and dark calls out to dark." Reselda agreed.
Before more discussion could continue, Senarius broke off from the group and galloped to the front. Roy who had been quietly listening followed him. He saw him stopping in front of a man on a horse. They were talking animatedly. But as Roy got closer, he felt something tingling in his stomach. As he rode past them, he and the man locked eyes. Roy felt a chill run through his spine. He thought he saw something flicker in his eyes before he turned back to Senarius. Roy walked over to one of the soldiers.
"Who's that?" He asked.
The soldier glanced over and replied, "That's one of the scouts, Lord Senarius sent out."
Roy turned back and looked back over just in time to see the scout bow and leave. Roy rushed to the Senarius.
"Senarius, there's something wrong with that guy." Roy told him.
"I know." Senarius's answer surprised Roy.
"Huh?" Roy gaped at him. "Then why did you let him go."
"I don't want him to realize that I know. I want to know what game he's playing." He growled before walking back to the main group.
"You're just going to let him loose in the camp?" Roy questioned.
Senarius stopped and looked at two soldiers. The two nodded and bowed slightly. Senarius motioned with his head toward the scout. The two soldiers bowed again and immediately began following the scout.
They came back to Reselda and Conrad. Reselda had a small flame in her hand. Sweat was beading on her brow from the concentration.
"That's not bad." Senarius commented.
Reselda gasped and the flame disappeared.
"I didn't mean to break your concentration." Senarius apologized.
"That's fine." Reselda said. "Just taking advantage of all the experts. What's happening?"
"The scout came back but I believe the scout has been compromised." He said.
"Hmm, I sensed something amiss as well." The master said.
"Why didn't you kill him?" Duo asked.
"Because I want to learn more about our enemy." Senarius replied. "From his report it sounds like they want us to keep going along our path."
"Which means we shouldn't be." Conrad observed.
"Exactly, but I want to know what they are planning." Senarius said.
"Probably our death and destruction." Quinque snorted.
"Reselda and I will plot a new course. Meanwhile we will slow our travel along this course. Master, may I trouble you to find out what secrets the scout knows.
"Of course." The master headed to find the scout.
"Bah, do your own reconnaissance, interloper." Duo snapped at him.
"If the master is willing to help, I see nothing wrong with asking. He is free to refuse as are you." Senarius said coldly.
Senarius knew that they would not go against the master, who had already pledged his help to the group. Sure enough, Duo said no more but darkly glared at the knight.
Senarius ignored him and pulled Reselda aside.
Roy's uneasiness grew. "Hey Conrad, I'm going to check out the front line."
"Hmm? Sure." Conrad said distracted as he continued to practice his spells.
Roy wasn't sure what he was trying to do but something about the scout unsettled him. He wanted to keep an eye on him. Unfortunately, he couldn't find him.
"Roy."
At the sound of his name, he stopped and spun around. No one acknowledged that they had called him as they went about their business. Roy looked around in confusion.
"Roy."
He heard his name again but could not see who was calling him. He wandered around trying to find who was calling him. He didn't realize that he had walked to the edge of the camp near the woods.
"Roy."
He saw a shadow lurking in the trees. Shaking his head to clear it, he squinted to try to make out the figure.
"Roy, come here." The voice sounded like it belonged to…
"Siren?" Roy started walking toward the figure.
"Roy! Stop!" Reselda's voice broke the trance.
Roy spun around to see Reselda and Senarius running.
"What's going…" Roy never finished his sentence.
A dark tendril wrapped around his ankle and pulled Roy toward the trees. Roy formed his War Hammer which glowed blue. He sliced at the strand that held him. Getting up, he glared at the figure in the trees. Reselda and Senarius arrived to stand by his side.
"Master found the bodies of the two knight I sent to follow the scout." Senarius explained keeping his eye on the figure.
Roy gaped at the figure who stepped out of the shadows. His eyes glowed red.
"He's been taken over by a wraith. It's after your orb." Reselda continued.
"I'm after all the orbs." Red tentacles shot out of the scout's body towards Roy and Reselda.
Roy's hand formed a shield large enough to block the tentacles. Senarius pushed Reselda behind him.
"I will take care of this!" Roy formed his maces and spun them.
Ignoring Senarius' warnings, he attacked the scout. A red ball of energy blasted him back. Roy slid back to where Senarius stood. Looking up, he saw Senarius' disapproving face. "Fine, what do you want to do?"
"Try to draw him out from the trees." Senarius told him.
Roy got up. "Hey, knave! You want the orb? Come and get it!" He taunted the wraith before darting off on his centaur form.
The scout tried to use its tendrils, but Roy went too far out of its reach. It had no choice but to come out from the trees to try to reach the boy.
As the scout moved away from the trees, it had less protection from the woods. Because it was distracted trying to get Roy, it didn't notice that Senarius was soon directly behind it. With one swift motion, he smacked his scout on the back of his head with the hilt of the sword. The scout stumbled for a moment before turning around. Scowling red energy crackled from its hands. It lunged for Senarius who then slammed the broad side of the sword against its chest. It knocked the air out of the scout's lungs. With his elbow Senarius served the finishing blow into its face. The scout crumpled to the ground.
Red energy left the body and solidified into an ominous figure which lunged at the knight.
However, a field wrapped around the tracker wraith.
"Good job getting the wraith out of the scout." The master stepped into view. "Perhaps better than killing the scout, eh Duo?" He asked his second-in-command.
"It would have been easier to kill him." Duo answered dismissively. "He could have endangered the entire mission."
Senarius ignored Duo and addressed the master. "Will you be able to gather information now?"
"Whatever this wraith knows, we will know soon." The wraith floated to the master who walked off to interrogate it.
"Never a dull moment." Roy came back in his human form.
Commotion in the camp made everyone tense until Bofur pushed his way through.
"Change of plans." He told the group.
Senarius frowned as Bofur told what happened to their group.
"Is Siren well?" Roy asked concerned.
"Aye, she handled the situation." Bofur assured him. "But I have come to tell you the route change."
"Good. As soon as we find out what the wraith knows we too will know what to do." Senarius said.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Roy said. "Let's see what that wraith knows."
"In a minute." Reselda hunched over and had placed her hand on the scout's head. A soft blue glow spread over him. "He's resting now. I tried to heal whatever physical damage I could but the mental…" She shook her head.
"You did what you could." Senarius took her hand.
"I wish I could do more." She said sadly.
Roy watched as Senarius led Reselda back into the camp. He and Bofur followed, wondering what was going to happen next.
I'm working on it. Promise. To those in the US, Happy 4th! Everyone else be well!
