The smell of pine and the hum of the wind stirred Ferris back to consciousness. Her cheek grazed against cold stone as she rolled onto her side. Her arm and leg still ached, the pain bringing back the reality of what happened into swift, sharp focus: She'd been taken.
Silver cuffs were latched around her wrists, chaining her to the nearby trunk of a tree. The chains were surprisingly loose-she could easily walk around or lay down without discomfort; however, she could tell at a glance that they'd be impossible to remove. The cuffs themselves clung to her too tightly and the tree was too flush with branches to filter the chains through them.
About two meters away, the veteran mage sat in the shadows and watched her, waiting for her to adjust to her new circumstances. The injury she'd dealt him was already well on its way to healing, a tall scab having formed over the long cut. When Ferris saw him, she silently glowered.
He chuckled at her indigent gaze, "Good evening to you too, primrose. Nice to see you awake."
Ferris instinctively reached for her belt only to remember her lost dagger. Even if she wasn't chained, she had no other weapon and no knowledge of any real spells. All she could do was hold her ground with a stiff lip.
A stance she nearly lost as he moved closer to kneel down and make a grab for her ankle. She drew it away only for him to snatch it in a firm hold. He revealed a small bottle in his other hand and waved it in front of her face pointedly. "Now, girl, I'm not gonna hurt you! That wound of your own needs healing. I don't take it that you want to walk around with a hole in your leg, do you?"
She said nothing, still giving him a dark look. No, obviously she did not-especially when she had only recently healed from her last injury. It he wanted to make it easier for her to escape, that was fine, but she wasn't going to let him touch her. Just as he'd started to open the bottle, Ferris caught the man off-guard by lunging forward to tear it from his hands.
She sniffed the contents warily. While her nose wasn't as skilled as her parents' had been, she recognized a few of the mixed scents. It was a strong, herbal remedy. The man watched her with intrigue, stroking his chin, as she wordlessly rolled up her pants and applied the potion to herself. Its first sting was soon replaced by a cold, burning feeling.
"The name's Lamont. Friends call me Monty." An outstretched hand coupled his late introduction, "You're one of us from now on, so let's try to work well together, alright?"
"Get lost," she fumed irritably. No matter how friendly he acted now, he was the one who shot her in the first place. Besides, she had a suspicion that the 'us' he was referring to was undoubtedly Valda's group.
"Oh, we'll get going soon enough."
With that, he stood and turned to fire a yellow bullet straight at the night sky. The small burst of magic flew above the treetops before fading out of sight. A signal. A minute later, she saw a blue bolt in the distance answer it.
"The others are still combing the area, so we'll wait to regroup," he casually explained, "And don't worry about the little one. We'll fetch her."
At the mention of Ciara, Ferris' irritation sparked into fury. She got up unsteadily on her injured leg and rammed her body into the mage's back, causing him to stumble. She reached up to claw at his face only for a set of heavy, calloused fingers to pull her away by her hair and throw her back to the ground.
"Damn it, girl! Where's your head?!" Lamont cursed, "When I heard some young mage might be following Castellar willingly, I didn't believe it, but you're as lost a cause as he is."
It couldn't have been too long since her abduction. It was possible that Castellar and her sister were still close by. Even if they weren't, if the skeleton was capable of finding her halfway across Ebott without even knowing her face, she believed he could find her now. The other mages were trouble, but that was all she could count on.
"Still...that boy's a fierce one. I'll give him that," he muttered to himself. He spat at the ground before an ugly smile pulled at his lips. A mix of anticipation and anger flickered in the man's golden gaze, a look that made Ferris inwardly retreat. "Never knew anyone else so young that could put up a fight like he can," he continued, as if hearing her thoughts, "If he hasn't tracked us yet, I'll be very disappointed."
Whereas Castellar approached the mission to recruit her as a job, Avalbanshee, Lamont, and the others she'd met thus far appeared to take the matter very personally. Come to think of it… Ferris recalled the avian that that'd been running from calling him a traitor. At that time, she'd dismissed it. She thought the bird was talking about Castellar betraying monsterkind by working for the Arnaud Guild. Now though, she saw how little sense that made. If Valda was a seer, then she had to be a human herself. Anyone who worked with her willingly shouldn't have much of an issue with that. Did Castellar always know who Valda was firsthand or did he just invite this many enemies because of his family's reputation? She would have to pressure him for more information later.
For the time being, she might have to help him watch his back. Based on the reactions she'd seen, Castellar was almost just as much of a target as she was minus one luxury: They didn't need him alive. If anything, some of them would make his last moments utter torture before they allowed him to die.
Lamont sighed at the sour expression Ferris kept plastered on her face. Then he blinked, as if suddenly getting an idea, and reached into a side pouch at his belt. He offered her a piece of Monster Candy.
Ferris didn't take it.
"Yeah, I guess you're a bit too old for that to work," he murmured, popping the sweet past his own lips. "Then just sit tight. You'll want your rest."
Returning to his earlier position, Lamont crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes. He wasn't asleep, merely taking his own advice. Ferris thumbed the bottle still clasped in her hand. He'd forgotten all about it. She pocketed it away for safe keeping.
She examined the chains a second time: They were certainly long enough. These mages knew what would happen if she died, but they still might not have guessed how far she'd go—that she was a fox that would chew off its own foot to escape a trap. It was a sorry means, but maybe she could strangle herself if Castellar failed to rescue her. For a moment, Ferris cursed her own wariness, dreading the idea of returning to the start of their journey after this long. She thought it was best at the time: What was done was done. She would just need to better strategize on their second attempt across the wilderness.
She was already tired just thinking about it.
What felt like another two hours passed on quietly until a third spiral of magic took to the air from afar: Two quick, short, white bursts this time. A brief pause. It repeated, then stopped just as suddenly as it had appeared.
Not knowing what the signal meant made the girl nervous, but a glance toward Lamont made her somewhat hopeful. He was on edge, shifting into a crouch. Palm facing the earth, a thin, yellow light shifted through his fingers as he prepared a spell in-advance.
Seconds passed, then minutes. The dogs from before were barking again, yet for some reason, they didn't sound so distant. The noise was still an echo on the wind, but it was now slightly louder and more spread out.
Magic erupted from the forest path to the right: A series of bone-shaped spikes flying toward them at a slant. Lamont jumped in front of her, the magic in his own hand becoming an all-consuming wall of energized sparks that redirected bones in every direction—partially destroying the plants around them.
Ferris felt herself dragged back by an unseen force in almost the same instant. Someone grabbed the hood of her cloak and shoved her aside, the chains shattering as a spell cut through them in a blur of motion too fast for her to keep up with. A humanoid figure encompassed by an azure glow blocked Ferris' vision. Gritting his teeth at the trick, Lamont spun around and fired a barrage of bullets their way. The light of green and blue magic crossed over each other as a large shield manifested into reality and absorbed the attack.
A rueful grin tore at the veteran's mouth, "Your master taught you too well, Castellar."
The young skeleton's eyes shimmered a bright aqua in their dark sockets. In contrast to the softer color, his gaze was intense. Ferris felt a familiar energy seep into her chest, spreading throughout her body and wrapping around her soul.
"Let's see how much you've really learned," the man shifted his stance, "No more holding back!"
There was a small stalemate. Lamont couldn't easily fire at Castellar without risking hitting Ferris in-turn. Meanwhile, if Castellar were to attack without some kind of foresight, it would just likely be devoured or redirected yet again by the more experienced mage. That was the gift of yellow magic: While widely known for working best at long-range, depending one's strength, the true gem of it was the ability to disperse—or even change the nature of—opposing spells.
Lamont made the first move. Throwing his hands forward as if pushing a large weight, he catapulted a single, arrow-shaped bullet their way. Castellar raised his shield to block only to the other to wave his hand again and the spell sharply change direction, now coming at Castellar from his unprotected side.
The adolescent twisted his body around with barely enough time to block. Somehow, he managed it while only bracing the shield with one arm, wrapping the other around Ferris' waist. Before a second arrow could follow, Castellar threw the shield at Lamont with surprising strength, as if he were tossing a common discus.
Then he jumped high into the air with Ferris in tow, landing like a cat in one of the topmost branches of the pine she had been bound to. The wood groaned under their feet, swaying beneath them. Ferris looked down to watch as, in that same second, Lamont produced another spell: It shaped into something akin to a blade around his arm, which it used to cut the shield in-half as it flew toward him.
The veteran manipulated his magic into the shape of his recurve bow next, yelling after them, "Who said you could run, boy?!"
Castellar didn't react to the taunt, instead shifting Ferris around so that he could carry her in his arms. He then launched them into another tree before she even had the chance to think of protesting. No matter how firmly he held her, she instinctively grabbed onto him as they made their escape through the sky.
An arrow fired so closely to them that she could feel the static as it passed. Castellar didn't even look back, putting all of his focus into his steps and maintaining the spell on both of their souls. Although he wasn't one to show weakness, Ferris could tell it was a strain on him.
When he'd used it before now, he'd acted with slow, concentrated calm. It was the only magic he'd had to cast. That was nothing compared to the stress and fast-pace of their current situation, where he also had to mind getting shot. If they'd had time to remove to cuffs, she might've been able to predict which direction some of the arrows would come from. Unfortunately, the best she could do for them both was keep an eye on the ground as Lamont chased after them.
A panicked thought suddenly occurred to her. She dug her nails through Castellar's tunic, "Wait—where's Ciara?!"
He grimaced at the added distraction, shouting over the wind, "She's safe! A few allies of ours met me in the direction of town; she's with them!"
No matter how much she didn't like her little sister being left of the care of strangers, it was undoubtedly the wisest choice. He would've told them to protect Ciara, if only to keep herself from retaliating.
Moreover, he'd called the calvary. That would even the odds a bit, especially with however many mages that would be closing in on their location. After all this time, it was almost hard to believe that help was finally on its way.
The path was getting steeper. It was still impossible to see Icefield just yet. It was, however, getting harder to navigate through the trees. Although snow had yet to build along their branches, they were nevertheless slick with frost. At one point, Castellar nearly slid off as soon as they'd landed, so he jumped back to the forest floor. He didn't even pause to allow Ferris to run on her own two feet for fear of slowing down.
In the end, it didn't matter. Between wearing himself out too quickly and the ever-growing incline, he couldn't charge ahead at the pace he'd started with. On the other hand, despite his years, Lamont caught up to them within moments. Only then did the boy drop her, switching to offense.
Castellar never had the chance to attack. One of Lamont's charged arrows pierced his chest before he could. He fell backward, jerking as the magic spread upon impact like the energy from a lightning bolt spilling across the earth's surface.
The mage was winded from the chase, but not enough to keep him from throwing a verbal barb his way as well, "Sadly for you, Castellar, you never trained to protect anyone, only to kill." He readied another attack. "Sorry that there'll be nothing left of you to send to your father."
Castellar struggled to rise, propping himself up with on hand as he clutched his injury with the other. At first, it looked like Castellar was trying to push himself to stand. Then the ground rumbled. A wave of sharpened bones erupted from the forest floor as he injected his magic into it.
Lamont moved away, expecting Castellar to strike at he had at the first of their fight. However, the range of this attack was much wider. It tore through tree roots and uplifted rock. Soon enough, it caused a small landslide.