Magic Of The Golden Flower 2 Chapter 5
There were no further incidents that night.
Everything was calm and quiet.
At least until the morning.
Although Noa didn't get much sleep once he returned to came and settled down. There were other things on his mind. Thoughts he's eager to share with Raka as soon as they rise and get the horses ready for travel.
Raka rises before Noa, Aurora, and Shadow, realizing what's missing before them.
Shaking Noa awake, Raka said "Noa, wake. She is gone."
That shakes whatever bleariness remains out of them.
"What," exclaimed Aurora, fast movements startling Shadow enough to where he emitted a loud bark.
Noa immediately rises to his feet, rapidly turning his head this way and that in all directions in search of the scavenger.
But she's nowhere to be seen.
Chuckling lightly, Raka said "Do not worry about the human. She will be fine."
In Aurora's opinion, good riddance. Pleased that the scavenger took her warning to heart and fled during the night.
Noa is of a different mind.
"She has the robe," said Noa, rushing over to his horse, mounting it, and taking off in pursuit of the scavenger's trail.
Shadow would've followed after Noa if Aurora hadn't already had a hand wrapped around his back fur to keep him from the pursuit.
Raka calls out to Noa to wait for him but isn't fast enough. Noa is clearly on a mission and refuses to wait around for any of them.
Raka, Aurora, and Shadow are left waiting for Noa to eventually return.
Aurora must admit she is partially impressed. The scavenger crossed a significant distance judging by how long it took Noa to make the return trip. Noa arrives triumphant with the robe and the scavenger in toe.
The news Noa brings along with them isn't good.
The Masks are closer to them than they thought. Worse is that they're searching for the scavenger. Noa heard them talking.
As a result of this, the group must delay moving on at least another day. It's not safe to stay out in the open as they are now so they move deeper into the planetarium at Aurora's behest.
Raka is greatly bemused by the news Noa brings.
"You pursue Masks. They pursue human. Why," said Raka, exhaling a heavy sigh in bafflement. "A puzzle."
A puzzle indeed.
Noa takes out a pouch of yarrow poultice he has in his saddle bags to tend to a cut on the scavenger's forehead. He tries to hand it to her, conveying how to use it but she feigns confusion. This frustrates Noa greatly. Already anxious enough about this unplanned delay Noa doesn't need this adding to his stress.
Behind Noa's back Raka motions with his eyes toward the pair, subtly asking Aurora if she'll use her magic in this situation.
Shaking her head, Aurora mouthed "No. Don't trust her."
Raka huffs lowly in displeasure. He then decides to take a gentler approach since Noa is doing it all wrong and Aurora refuses to aid the scavenger. No surprise there that the scavenger is far more receptive to Raka than Noa. Raka just has that aura about him that seems to always relax and bring others at ease in his presence.
Regretfully, staring at the scavenger with a touch of remorse in his gaze and voice, Noa admits "We did this to her. Me. Soona, Anaya."
"The young believe they are the reason for everything," devised Raka.
Shaking his head, insistently, Noa said "We slung stones at her. One hit her."
This causes Raka to pause, aiming a chastising look filled with disappointment at Noa for that grievous error. Inhaling and exhaling deeply Raka continues administering the medicine.
"I think Masks want her. I do not know why," said Noa, moving off to arrange a comfortable spot to rest for himself.
Raka and Aurora exchange a meaningful glance.
The next day it is deemed safe to travel, the majority believing there is enough space between them and the Masks to move around without detection.
Even so, they choose not to risk lingering.
As Noa, Raka, and Aurora are busy conversing in private with each other the scavenger is a distance away from them munching on another apple that the orangutan had offered her for breakfast after the cut on her forehead is tended to. She's crouched in the long grass, hunched over the fruit.
That visage may be fooling Raka and Noa, but not her. Aurora is aware the scavenger is doing that to keep up appearances all the while sending an occasional frosted glare filled with plenty of scornful resentment in her direction underneath the placid demeanor.
Aurora clearly meant the warning she gave a day ago and the scavenger knows it. Truly, it is a shame that Noa brought her back to camp with the knowledge that the Masks are looking for this particular human. Aurora dislikes how this puts her charges even more at risk.
The scavenger is on a time limit now with her silence and façade of being one of those apparent feral humans now that Noa dragged her back to them. Aurora is not playing around when it comes to the safety of her companions. If this scavenger wishes to ascertain any favor before her secret comes out, then she needs to do so on her own in the timeframe Aurora has generously provided.
Quite unavoidable now as Aurora has so bluntly indicated.
Otherwise, the reveal at Aurora's hands is not going to be a pleasant experience. A chance like this is not to be taken likely.
Aurora can live with the anger. She has the upper hand in contrast to the scavenger's most inconvenient disadvantage.
Noa wastes no time in relaying what transpired down to the last detail in their private discussion.
Adjusting his own saddlebags, speaking slowly to make sure he's heard correctly and didn't mishear, Raka said "A tunnel that eats light?"
Nodding and pointing at the scavenger insistingly, Noa said "She saw what I saw. It was in her eyes. She reacted."
Brow furrowed, Raka said "How."
"As Ape would," said Noa, struggling to appear calm and collected over this brand new information.
Raka hums under his breath, bearing a skeptical expression on his face as he glances to where the scavenger is crouched in the field in doubt.
Grunting, Noa said "If Echo comes, she must ride."
Smugly, Raka said "Is my young companion showing compassion for our fellow traveler?"
Climbing onto his horse, Noa scoffed "She is slow."
Noa kicks his horse into a trot. Aurora follows behind on her horse and Shadow on their heels. Looks like Raka is going to be riding double with the scavenger by default.
Authors Note:
For those of you on fanfiction I'm sure you've been facing the many unwanted ads when you're reading a story. Well, yesterday, I finally had enough, and I got an adblocker app. It worked! No more ads on any level! The one I got is Adblock Pro: Safari Ad Blocker. It really works. Just follow the instruction video that it attached to it.
Heads up everyone there's someone on fanfiction you need to seriously watch out for. Early a couple of months ago after I woke up I was checking my email and I saw I had a new guest review on my A Dog's Purpose Is Strange Magic 2 sequel. I took a look at it and got a very big shock. Some random person I've never spoken to before on here or anywhere else in my life was basically threatening me. Intimidating and practically ordering me to write a threatening letter to someone on their behalf, telling to stay off of for life or else they and everyone else close to them would be killed, disgustingly telling them to kill themselves. And at the bottom of the message this crazy person wasn't done. Warning me that if I don't send the letter then they would kill me and for confirmation to email them to make absolutely sure I complied with their demands. Of course I did nothing of the sort. Instead of doing what they wanted I reported them to the website, sent copies of this deplorable guest review message to police officer cousins of mine so they could have it on file, and I went to a nearby police station and reported it.
When I spoke to the police officers and they checked everything on the message they saw, that while the address and names of business were accurate the people and their names were not. They agree it was more than likely a scam because of the email address on the bottom in order to perhaps get access to personal information or potentially hack my computer. Despite that I'm still very happy they took it seriously as I showed and told them everything. All the same I'm still very happy that I brought this to the attention of law enforcement. Even though the entire thing might be fake I'm still very happy to have brought this to the attention of those who can do something about it if it was legit in some way. This may have been a scam, but it's obvious these people are beyond irresponsible if they try to goad people into sending death threats to random strangers just to get access to info.
Be that as it may if this does unfortunately happen to you do not send any messages to the email addresses they put down and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you bring the message to the authorities immediately whether it is legit or not.
Because it's a guest review it might not be visible for a couple of days as it loads if it is sent to you. But when it does you should definitely pressing the report abuse button and send it to the email that leads to the support staff that is available.
Just a heads up to those of you who aren't aware of this yet, Email alerts for this website are now only active if Email opts is enabled in account settings.
I hope you all like this one! I certainly did while writing it for your vast enjoyment! ;D
For those of you just starting out with my stuff there are other works on my profile that may catch your interest. I highly recommend you take a look as soon as the opportunity presents itself to you. Who knows, you may be pleasantly surprised by what you discover.
Stay safe everyone. Especially with all of these crazy natural disasters occurring a lot lately due to global warming and climate change everywhere for sure. I swear it's like they're getting worse and worse all the time and it's like officials are simply just ignoring it or pretending it doesn't exist entirely just to go on with their daily lives. Especially those in multi-million dollar companies that rely on certain elements of our planet that we rely on to naturally keep us safe instead of adapting and finding new safer ways to keep in business. There are so many options out there where they can adapt, but they just refuse to see it because all they care about is money. Climate change is altering so much faster than anyone can really keep track of.
So, in light of all this, it is important to live life to the fullest as much as anyone can.
I know I am. ;) See you guys next time.