Chapter Twelve: Through the Rueldof

Annastaria is forced to lead Bastillina and Oden through the Rueldof forest in hopes to lose those who are seeking them. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Elise and Oretes seek to quickly pick up the trail of their lost elvish suspect before the trail goes cold, while Ryker employs his own, secret means of tracking down the elf and her companions…

The scene at the market was under police control by now, and two airships hovered over, both being news balloons. Elise and Dylen had arrived only minutes later to witness the devastation left behind, with no one involved in the fight anywhere to be found. Elise approached the leading detective in the scene; she was too tired for formalities, and frankly out of time for it. 

“I’m hearing that this was the result of a battle of masters, sargeant.” she said to him, “How true are the witness reports?”

“Pretty much true.” he replied, “Two masters at least in conflict. Both were kicking up the ground at each other. There were other reports of three suspects that others weren’t sure who to identify as.”

“The masters,” Dylen said, “what can you tell us about them, other than that they were masters?”

“Reports tell us it was a male and a female. The female had pointy ears–elvish, it seems, with light-brown hair. The male was tall, dark, short hair and a beard.”

“Any idea where the female went?” Elise asked.

“Only that they were last seen moving west.”

Elise and Dylen went silent, looking at each other for a moment. “What else are people saying?” Dylen asked.

The detective was somewhat beside himself at the question. “Other than that their business is taking a hit from the fight, nothing.”

“Not now, they’re not.” Elise murmured. She thanked the detective before leaving with Dylen to talk for a few moments. But Dylen was also wondering about the question.

“Something on your mind, Lieutenant?” he asked her.

Elise shuffled a few thoughts in her mind for a moment, looking at the scene. “We need to be careful.” she said, “The longer this elf is running around, wreaking havoc, the more she’ll gain unwanted attention.”

“Then we should start picking up the trail where we can.”

Elise paused for a moment. It felt like she was always one step behind Erene, and all she was doing was discovering empty footprints one by one, but not the one creating them. “There’s nothing left for us here,” she said, with disappointment in her voice, “Erene is gone.”

“Where to next?” Dylen asked as the two went back to his car.

“To Auton.”

“You’re sure they’re headed there?”

“Not entirely, but it’s a good place to be. They’re not traveling by train anymore. They’ll have to find something else, either a hitchhike, or walking. In both cases, if we move now, we can hope to stop them before they get past Auton.”

Lance was once again looking out the window with Ryker in his office, along with each other’s own men, receiving a report from Jodel and Harris over the phone about their failed attempt to capture Oden, even with the aid of another master and bounty hunter. Lance became increasingly more and more anxious and angered over the failure to catch Oden, and the focus of his frustration was turning towards whoever this elvish companion of Oden was. This mysterious master protecting Oden was becoming more than a pester, but a serious problem, and what was more, something that Ryker didn’t seem to be taking very seriously. 

“Very interesting.” Ryker said as Jodel explained what happened over the phone, “And you say she was just a teenager?”

“I think so.” Jodel said, “Looked young, anyway. She was fast and smart, never seen anyone move like that.”

“How did Rolek fare against her?” Ryker asked.

“Pfft! The dude showed up late! He was supposed to be our backup, and take out the elf. By the time he did show up the whole thing was botched. That damned kid with them, too, she’s a little master as well.”

“Do you know what the significance of the kid among them is? Is she elvish as well?”

“No. She was aenman, through and through. I have no idea what she was all about. But when Rolek did show up, he attacked the elf, like he was supposed to, and it seemed like he was doing a good job, but… Boss, this elf just moves like nothin’ we’ve seen before.”

“So it would seem.” Ryker said, introspectively. Lance noticed it, and noticed more that Ryker wasn’t thinking out loud. “And where is Rolek now?” Ryker asked.

“No idea. We left before he finished fighting the elf. The cops were just seconds away, boss, there was nothing we could do. We tried to get him to run, but he wouldn’t, so we just bolted. Haven’t seen him since.”

“Has he been arrested?” Ryker asked, looking around the room for that question.

“No.” Lance quickly replied, “If he was arrested it would be on the news. And my informants in the force don’t have any records of it. He must’ve gotten away.”

“Well,” Jodel said, “We could really use some more of those informants, sir. We got no idea where they’re at now.”

“I think I do.” Ryker said.

Lance looked at him, “You do? How?” he asked.

“My sources, of course. Jorum has tracked the two masters west. We think they’ll be going to Auton. It’s the nearest town west of here; the rest of the area is the Rueldof forest. In fact, that’s what I originally came here to tell you. I’m going with them.”

“What for?”

“To retrieve my artifact, of course. I can’t really continue my project until I have it back from Oden, so I don’t really have anything to do around here. I might as well assist in the hunt.”

Lance didn’t expect Ryker to put himself out there like this. It was risky. Then again, thinking about it himself, Lance was getting tired of waiting around for useless pawns to capture Oden and take out this protector of his. It was clear to Lance that Oden’s resources had been underestimated severely. The only one Lance could think could square off with whoever this master was, was Ryker’s pet master, Jorum. Lance joining the search may increase the pressure on her, and force her to make desperate moves, and hence make mistakes.

“I’ll go with you then.” Lance said.

His answer drew surprise from Ryker as well. “Are you sure?” Ryker said.

“Yes, I’m sure.” Lance said, walking from around his desk to leave, signalling his own men to follow, “I’m sick of all of this. This damn elf is giving me a headache, and I want her dropped, including her little friend. You said they’re on their way to Auton. How are they getting there?”

“As far as we know, they will either walk, or attempt to hitch a ride. They’re certainly not going by train.”

“Then we’ll need to be in Auton first.” said Lance. He looked to Goate then, “Get the cars ready, now.”

Ryker paused for a moment, glancing at a large map Lance had framed on a wall in his office. The map had northern Eldreon on it. He walked to it and pointed at a large forest to the west of Whitehold. “Actually,” he said, “since you’re going to go out there, that gives me a chance to look into something.”

“What?” asked Lance, stopping to give Ryker his full attention.

“I know it seems… strange, but I really need to look into something regarding our elvish master.”

“Only when you learn that I’m coming?”

“This was decided before you opted to come along. But with you heading the operation, it gives me the chance to actually look into it… Don’t worry, I’ll let you take Jorum with you to catch them, and deal with our elvish friend. In the meantime, I must see to this quickly, and I’ll meet you back in Auton.”

Lance paused with suspicion towards Ryker. What was he up to? He only asked the question in his mind; he knew Ryker wouldn’t tell, and there was no way Lance could make him talk. 

“Fine.” Lance said, “But how exactly am I supposed to find them? I don’t have a lot to go on.”

“The Rueldof Forest.” Ryker answered, fixing his jacket as he prepared to leave.

“What about it?” asked Lance.

“I’d check there. It’s a long shot, but I think given how close they’ve come to being caught, and they’re not going by train, they’ll probably try and lose any tails in the forest.”

“That’s too big a risk to take.”

“Well, in any case, you have Jorum with you, as well as my magic-detection resources. If anything interesting happens out there, Jorum will lead the way.”

The Rueldof Forest spanned over twenty miles of mid-northern-Oenvek, and during this time of year, it’s trees gave its guests a beautiful display of various warm colors, the likes of which Bastillina adored. The farther and farther they walked into the forest, the greater the sense of mystery she felt, as if she was walking through a dream. The autumn leaves fell from the trees like golden strips of glitter, and the birds gave music to the wilderness. Erene may be in a rotten mood over this, but Bastillina saw no reason to be outraged. They were away from the city again, and enjoying the peace of the forest. 

Every so often, she would hear unfamiliar sounds, some like a howl, but a light one, from a creature that was also singing somewhere in the forest. Though it seemed like they were lost, Bastillina was confident in Erene being able to navigate it. Her only concern was that Annastaria was noticeably limping, likely due to the last fight. As before, Annastaria took a potion of voluum before they set off, but told Bastillina she would be fine, given she used only a small portion of her magicka.

Annastaria watched Oden walk with Bastillina, the two of them ahead of her, talking in bliss about things she didn’t know of. She was beginning to realize she knew very little about the aenmen, despite learning more than most in her clan.

“You hear that?” Oden said, recalling one of those howl sounds somewhere in the distance. Bastillina nodded curiously. “That’s a feneri; forest creatures. They’re these tiny, furry little guys with big ears, long tails and like to fling around in the trees.”

“How do you know all this stuff?” Bastillina asked.

“I’ve had a few hikes through the forests when I was younger.” he said, “Got to see plenty of amazing animals that roam these places.”

Bastillina looked at him for a moment, innocence in her eyes. “I had no idea how big such a forest like this could be, or all the animals running around in them.” she said.

Oden chuckled, “Wait till you see the western Berchazian plains. The mountainous areas like this give us a lot of cool things in their own way. But once you get out to the plains, you’ll see some beautiful bison, wild horses, and maston.”

“What’s a maston?” Bastillina asked.

“Beautiful, four-legged beasts, and large. They can get up to thirty feet tall. At least the males do. Most don’t live long enough to get that big, but the ones that do, are gorgeous; they have this beautiful, blaze of red maine, large claw-teeth. Truly majestic creatures, I think.”

“That sounds scary.”

“Meh, they’re not that bad. Just don’t try and mess with the pack. Really all the wild beasts, even the griffins and dragons, at the end of the day are just part of the animal kingdom.”

“Everyone back home always told me dragons were monsters, and they always attacked people.”

Oden chuckled again, “Yeah, that’s what they say. But have you ever been attacked by a dragon?”

Bastillina shook her head.

“Ever even seen a dragon?”

Again, she shook her head.

“That’s because even the biggest high dragon won’t come near the big city. Too scary for them.”

“Dragons are scared of us?”

“Like any apex predator. They keep to their territory, and don’t mess with anyone unless they’re provoked. The problem is the world’s modernizing, and so has how we think of these creatures.”

Annastaria remained quiet, listening to their conversation, and wondering what it was that made the two of them so well-off together. There seemed to be no effort in their conversation with each other. She couldn’t understand why it concerned her. All she could remember was Istvan telling her that she had a bond with Bastillina. She couldn’t feel it. Or maybe she was feeling it, and didn’t accept what it was. What if this was a form of jealousy; Bastillina enjoying Oden’s company over her own? 

And several times already, Bastillina was more than willing, without any back-bite, to help Oden with what he needed. Whether it was to fetch him a fork, or to grab something from his backpack for him, she did it with ease and joy. And yet he didn’t save her life. Annastaria did. The only reason Bastillina was out here, loving this experience was because of her. Why was Oden getting the payoff for it, and not Annastaria? All she was trying to do was do as she was raised. Kids need to be disciplined, after all, not constantly treated as though they are okay. No matter how she tried, she couldn’t figure out what it was. 

They stopped to use the restroom, and here was one of the few experiences Bastillina was not comfortable with, as she was forced to use the wilderness for a restroom. Hardly something of proper privacy. But Annastaria and Oden waited for her as she went off a few feet away to be alone. Annastaria couldn’t believe what she was about to do. Never in her wildest dreams did she imagine she would be forced to stoop to such shame as to ask an aenman for something.

“How do you do it?” she asked him, as he was scooping water from a stream.

Oden was caught off-guard, and looked at her, pausing for a moment. “Do what?” he asked.

“Get her to obey you so easily. She knows you no more than a day, you have not saved her from a wicked man, and yet she obeys you easily. And she talks to you so easily.”

Oden could almost blush for her. He smiled, looking back to where Bastillina was, somewhere behind the bushes, recalling their time together, then back at Annastaria. “You’re not that familiar with kids, are you?” he asked.

Annastaria glared at him, “What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means what it means. It’s alright, Erene, I get it. Everyone’s first encounter with kids is a little awkward.”

“So you know how to work with them?”

“A little. To be honest, Bella reminds me of my niece… She’s a good kid, Erene.”

“You are the second person to say something like that to me, and yet I do not see it.”

“Maybe you do, but you just keep looking at all the bad stuff.” Annastaria paused as he said this. She wasn’t sure what he meant. “You wanna know the secret?” he continued, still with that annoying smile on his face, “Talk to her. Don’t treat her like baggage.”

“I do not treat her like baggage.” Annastaria argued.

“She seems to think differently.”

“Children think many things.”

Oden chuckled, “Sometimes, children say the truest things. Bella’s told me you don’t seem to care that you saved her. She’s very appreciative of what you’ve done for her, Erene… But just because you pulled a kid out of poverty, doesn’t mean you’ve given them something for it. I could give a poor kid a hundred bucks, and he can buy food for the next several weeks. But what next? Eventually that money runs out. What’ve I done for him in the end?”

Annastaria paused to think for a moment, hearing Bastillina begin to move, which meant she was probably finished. “Then what am I to do?”

“Like I said, talk to her, listen. And don’t tell kids you’re gonna do something unless you intend to do it. Seems like you told her you were going to show her how to use her power.”

“But time prevents me.”

“Does it? You got a lot of time to read that book.”

“It is important.”

“More important than a kid growing up? Seeing the world for what it is? You have any idea what that’ll do to a kid?”

Bastillina was heard beginning to walk back to them, humming innocently as she did. Oden stepped closer to Annastaria then. “Instead of treating her like extra luggage,” he murmured, “you should treat her as a friend. Or a little sister. She may say some stuff about you that’s not so nice, but she doesn’t say it pleasantly. She wants you to be her hero, Erene. I’m not her hero–you are. You said it yourself, you pulled her out of that pit in Levaan. Now show her where to go.”

Annastaria had no words. She couldn’t believe she was receiving more profound words from a no-good aenman thief than from even her own elders. This wasn’t how Uramuun raised her and the others. Or was it? Then again, Uramuun was never in the kind of position of parentage, or guardianship, or whatever this was, that she was in. 

Bastillina came to them before they could talk further. “Bloody hell,” she said in her east-Oenian, city-borne accent, “that was weird. Never done that before.”

Oden chuckled at her, “Well, you might be doing more of that unfortunately, unless we get through these blasted woods soon.”

“How long until we get to the next city?”

She and Oden instinctively turned to Annastaria. “If I know where we are,” she answered, “then it should be another few hours. Well before nightfall.”

“Sounds good to me.” Oden replied, “Let’s get moving then.”

Annastaria kept the sun ahead of her, and the shadows of the trees pointing towards her, to indicate the time of day, which was late in the afternoon. It told her they were moving west, as they should be. The walk was mildly rocky, and hilly towards the middle of the forest, but gradually became more flattened. Finally, after two hours, they found a small pond to rest at, and to refresh themselves. It’s source was a stream from the northeast that ran through going west. Annastaria took note of it as a good sign of going in the right direction; the hilly parts of the woods were behind them east. According to her map, they were not far from Auton.

Oden didn’t hesitate to strip himself to his underwear and dive into the water. Bastillina wanted to follow, but Annastaria would not let her, and so the girl elected to simply rest her bare feet in the cool water. It was a sharp coldness at first, but a few seconds later, it began to comfort her, especially given the warmth of the sun through a patch of open sky in the trees above that beamed on her spot.

Annastaria sat on the base of a tree near the river, where she rested on her thighs the book that Istvan gave her, raised up to her face so she could read it. For the first time since he gave it to her, she finally had a chance to at least look at it, and while the conflict at the trainstation was nothing short of a cursed event, at least it’s following events put her in the peaceful forest to read this book. Quickly she was overwhelmed with many illustrations, mostly of ritual designs, containing Nagush-based enchantment markings on them, mostly of singular nouns. There was a ritual about an owl, about water, light, wood, darkness, wings, dragons, bugs, and even goblins. There were many such ritualistic symbols, most of which Annastaria was not immediately familiar with. What she was essentially familiar with in this, was that this was a record of repieced dark magic ritual spells, mostly from secondary sources, given how rare it was to come across real dark magic rituals.

There were records, with dates going back over two centuries of dark magic incidents, and as Istvan said, the entire book was written in elvish. It was a fortunate thing for her; only she could read it. The last thing Annastaria wanted was for either Oden or Bastillina to know about this. The calm and peace was quiet, but almost too quiet, as it made it difficult for Annastaria to focus on the book itself, instead of the silly conversation Oden and Bastillina were having over more of that dreaded meat that Oden tried to carry with him, but lost in the fight back in Whitehold. She figured being attacked by more of the henchmen of this mob wasn’t so bad if it caused Oden to lose the paper bag with those abominable foods in it. But things would only get worse for her now as Oden took his attention off of Bastillina and to herself.

“Come on in, Erene!” he said from inside the pond, “The water is perfect!”

Bastillina encouraged the sentiment with a silent smile towards Annastaria. 

“No thank you.” she said, keeping her eyes on the book.

“What? Come on, you have got to be rotting in body odor by now!”

“Not enough that I will undress myself to swim in a pool with someone I do not know, especially you.”

“Oh come on, drama queen!” Oden teased as he swam to the shore closest to where Annastaria was sitting, “When was the last time you had a good, clean bath?”

Those words were enough to draw her eyes to him, peering over the top of the book with a glare, “That is not of your concern.” she said firmly.

He looked to his left, where Bastillina was sitting. She rolled her eyes, and Oden read it clearly. Both were tired of this elf’s attitude by now. But Oden smirked, still confident in his assertion to Bastillina that he could get Annastaria to loosen up somehow. The unspoken thing for him, of course, was that he was attracted to her. He fancied the elvish women, and he was determined to get Annastaria to swim, and of course, to eventually eat a cinnamon roll.

“You’re way too uptight, you know that?” he said to her, “Don’t you ever relax?”

“I am relaxed when you are not bothering me while trying to read.” she whipped back, glaring at him once more.

“Reading? Not that kind of relaxing.” he said, before stepping out of the water to walk towards her, “We all love to read here and there, but I’m talking about just taking a load off. Letting loose a little bit.”

“Again,” Annastaria said, keeping her eyes on the book and not on the profusely wet Oden standing just three feet in front of her in his underwear, “I do not know what that means, but I would leave it there if I were you.”

Oden felt as though he got struck in the nose again. Annastaria was a stubborn one, that was certain to him. He recalibrated his thoughts, trying to find something to say to her. Then he noticed her book, and had an idea to maybe appeal to what she was interested in. “Alright, fine.” he said, “So what are you reading, anyway?”

Annastaria paused a moment, wondering if she should be blunt with him about the book. “An old book.” she answered.

“Obviously. What kind of book? Old story?”

“You could say that.”

Oden felt the conversation dying as quick as a poorly-made fire, in which the only thing to keep it alive was to keep throwing sticks at it. “What kind of story?” he asked.

“Old stories… about ancient legends and myths.”

That was something he could work with. “Ah, interesting. So you’re into that kind of stuff?”

“For various reasons, none of which are of your concern.”

“Sure… Can I guess one reason, though?” he said with a grin.

Annastaria looked at him with the same glare again. She refused to answer his question, and looked back at the book. Oden took it as an approval. “I bet,” he began, “one of the reasons is so you can learn more about that cool thing you did with your hand back there.”

Annastaria’s attention suddenly sparked towards him. “You saw what I did?” she asked.

Oden shrugged, still smiling, “Uh, yeah. Who didn’t? Other than maybe Bella, who had her eyes closed. Hmph! I don’t know what you did to that other master back there, but you got that dude tripping all over himself. Clearly had to be some form of illusion magic, right?” Bastillina pivoted towards them, interested in the turn of the conversation.

“Um… yes, it is.” Annastaria said with a small stutter.

“That’s what that was?” Bastillina asked, “You can do illusion magic?”

“I can.” Annastaria said, after a short hesitation.

“Just with your cool tattoo thing? I’ve never seen that before, or heard of it!” Bastillina’s face brightened as she spoke. Annastaria was half relieved, knowing that if she was excited about it, rather than shocked (as any knowledgeable master should be) it meant she didn’t know what it was. “Can you teach me that?” the girl asked.

Annastaria paused again. She felt strangely sad for the girl. The moment the question came off Bastillina’s lips, Annastaria felt strangely sorrowful and empathetic, remembering Oden’s words to her. She couldn’t actually teach Bastillina this, but she also wished she herself didn’t have this power. “Perhaps.” Annastaria said. A lie, and one that stung her conscience even further, but she would not repent of it. She choked down the sting, which only stung worse when Bastillina nearly shouted in excitement over it. Annastaria had never seen a young master so overly joyed from learning more about their magic capabilities. It concerned her, and she didn’t know how to confront Bastillina about it.

“Interesting.” Oden said, pondering, “I don’t know a lot about magic, but you being able to perform an illusion magic that way seems pretty strange.”

“Have you ever heard of body runes?” Annastaria said to him.

“Only a little.”

“They are not greatly unusual. Many masters have runes given to them to enhance certain abilities.” Annastaria hoped Oden would not recognize her conflation of runes and her prime attributes, meant to throw him off the trail he was on.

“Oh! I’ve heard about that!” Bastillina said. A lightbulb may as well have popped on over her head, “It’s supposed to give them a special power over a part of magic, right? Like illusion!”

“Something like that, yes.”

“True.” Oden replied, “But I’ve only ever heard that being done by the wood-elven mages and sorcerers. You’re not really suggesting you’re… with them, are you?”

Annastaria was taken aback for a moment. She counted on his claim to ignorance of magic to throw him off, and found herself putting him on another trail she did not want him on. He was surprisingly well-known in this. “Of course not.” she lied, “And it is not greatly unusual for non-zealots to do this to themselves.”

“So you’ve got runes?” Oden said.

“Yes–and do not ask me why or how. You are not to be asking me questions right now. You should be happy that I have allowed you to at all.”

Oden chuckled, “Alright… Fair enough.”

“That is quite fair. Now please, both of you, may I return to reading in peace before we must leave?”

Oden and Bastillina looked at each other. “Alright,” Oden said. Then he grinned at Annastaria, “You sure you don’t want to take a swim before we leave?”

Annastaria looked up at him with a stoic stare. “Enjoy your bath, Mr. Oden.” she said, biting back a rebuke. Oden smiled and stepped away from her.

Twenty minutes later, they were moving once more through the Rueldof, with it’s ends seeming to be nowhere in sight. Every few minutes they were greeted with the harmless and observant wildlife of the forest, such as fawns, birds and squirrels. But every so often, the most peculiar things to Bastillina that they came across, especially in areas that were more open and free of tall trees were monuments, or statues, resting in groves. Of all that the woods of the Rueldof had to offer in terms of mystery, these were the most question-begging.

They weren’t human statues, though some had humans as part of them. They were like spires, mostly tall and rectangular in nature, often narrowing as they rose up to, what was about twenty feet high, set upon stone foundations mostly covered in the fall leaves. The statues were silent, yet spoke the most in the whole forest. Bastillina wanted to ask about them, and nearly did, except Oden spoke first as he knelt down to wash his hands in the shallow crossing part of a river.

 “How much farther do we have to go?” he asked.

“I am not sure.” she said on the other side of the stream, “But the sun will set soon.”

“Well that’s just great. I thought we were supposed to be in Auton before then.”

Annastaria didn’t say anything. She really wasn’t sure what to say. This forest seemed unpredictable to her. She had never been in foreign woods and forests before, only her own, which were far different. The ones from home contained their mystic essence, protected by the magic of the wood elves. She knew them, and was comforted by the magic protection of her tribes. Here, in the dark world of the aenmen, she did not know what to expect in the foreign woods.

Before he could complain further, Oden felt the water grip his hands, becoming heavy and frozen. He looked and saw that his hands had been frozen together in the water. “Erene?” he said as his panic began to rise. Annastaria heard the ice freeze and turned quickly. Oden pulled his frozen hands out of the water, “Help!”

Bastillina was next to Annastaria, and instinctively went to Oden’s aid, but Annastaria grabbed her and pulled her back, looking out in the trees in every direction she could for any abnormal movement. 

“What?” Bastillina said, “We’ve got to help him!” She was ready to pull herself away from her when she saw a blast of leaves barrel towards the two of them from where they had come from. 

Annastaria saw it, recognizing it as an airburst and threw herself into Bastillina, wrapping her arms around the girl to dodge the attack. The two helped each other up only to see a tremor come towards them from the same direction. Bastillina leaped out of the way by Annastaria’s push, and Annastaria herself jumped the other direction. Only a few seconds later came the master from before leaping from the trees to attack Annastaria.

She rolled out of the way of his airborne attack, forcing him to engage with her once more on leveled ground, in hand-to-hand combat. Bastillina stood up next to a tree, mesmerized by the fight for a moment before hearing Oden, “Bella! Help!” She looked and saw that the ice on Oden’s hands seemed to be growing more and more, and heavier and heavier. He could barely keep it above water as the stream started to take him away. Bastillina jumped out of her position to help Oden, hoping to find a way to him without falling in the river. She had to be quick, as he was approaching deeper and stronger currents.

Annastaria, as before, was faster and more agile than this master. Finally, she managed to blunt a right-hook from him with an airburst mixed with a punch of her own, forcing him back. The two squared off, only ten feet away from each other. The master couldn’t help but smile. “Damn!” he exclaimed, “You’re good! I was curious to see if you would actually fall for that trap. But even when your precious cargo is caught, you stood your ground and looked for the source, instead of  foolishly go to his aid. I don’t know who trained you, or hell, if you’re a zealot somehow, but they did a damn fine job.”

“How did you find me?” Annastaria said.

“You’re not the only one who’s got training, pointy-ears. It’s my job to track targets.”

Annastaria looked over to see Bastillina running after Oden. Panic rose in her the farther Bastillina went. “Bella!” she shouted, “Stop!”

Bastillina stopped only for a moment to look at her. “Oden’s stuck!” she shouted back, gesturing, “I can’t just leave him!”

“Just hold on!” Annastaria said, “I will be there to get him out! Stay where you are!”

Before she could keep talking, the master attacked once more with a magic scatter shot attack–a form of attack that takes the magic projectile and breaks it apart as it approaches the target. It was a rock-based attack, sending pelts of rocks and hardened clumps of dirt at Annastaria. She was distracted by Bastillina and didn’t see the attack at first, throwing up her arms criss-cross over her face and the small rock pebbles pelted her. Before more could do more damage, she threw her arms out in a warp that dispersed the rest of it, and once more, the master closed the distance to try and overwhelm her with hand-to-hand combat.

Bastillina ran along the river, moving farther and farther from Annastaria to keep Oden in her sight. “Oden!” she cried out, “You’ve got to stand up! Come on!”

“I’m trying!” he shouted back, “The ice! It’s growing, and getting heavier!”

Bastillina looked ahead, realizing she had to try and catch him; chasing him would not do anything. She saw a fallen tree ahead and ran towards it, past Oden. He watched her, and wasn’t sure if he should rebuke her for putting herself in danger, or if he should hope she had a good idea. She jumped on the fallen tree, which only went into the river at a slant, and possibly too far for Oden. He tried to pull himself towards her as she came to the end, holding both hands out and resting her body on the trunk. He dug his feet into the riverbed and pulled his iced hands out, revealing the ice had turned into nearly a boulder of ice around his hands. Bastillina grabbed it and felt the weight of the ice and the stream of the river pull her down, but she used her body wrapped around the tree to hold herself in place.

“Got’cha!” she exhaled.

But then Bastillina felt coldness creep around her own hands. She looked and saw the ice was now consuming her hands. This was more than simply freezing Oden’s hands; some kind of spell was causing this to persist, and using the river water to grow. She gasped, trying to let go, but couldn’t. “What the–” she said, “What’s going on? I can’t let go!”

“I would rather you not let go!” Oden said back.

“No–I mean, my hands are stuck in the ice!”

Oden paused, only for a moment to think. He looked back, and barely saw Annastaria still fighting the master up the river. “Just hold on!” he said with empty words of comfort.

Both Annastaria and the other master traded magic attacks in a fierce duel, neither seemingly able to gain an upper hand. The master sent out a flurry of small magic projectiles at her, showing his ability to use raw magic energy as a weapon. Annastaria responded by dodging the attacks, progressively moving towards the stream and then magically sent a slicing wave of water at him, diagonally. The bounty hunter panicked at her quick and impressive use of elemental magic and strafed left to dodge the attack. He managed to get far enough to the left to dodge most of the water, but as he came up, he was met with Annastaria’s own flurry of attacks. She delivered a powerful kick to his face, which he barely saw in time to throw his arm up and deflect the powerful blow that would surely have knocked him out cold. He managed to catch her foot before it could come down, gaining him an advantage.

But in only a split second, a second foot came up before he could take full advantage and struck him in the face. He let go and tumbled to the ground, his head spinning. Annastaria landed on all four as he stumbled to the ground. She had finally gotten the opening she needed to finish him. 

But then, “Erene!” she heard. It was Bastillina’s voice echoing over the water. She turned quickly and saw both Oden and Bastillina, stuck in the river near a downed tree.

“Hold on!” she shouted back as she darted towards them.

Annastaria seemingly glided over the river, leaping on rocks to avoid falling in, closing the distance towards Oden and Bastillina in just seconds before one final leap onto the fallen tree. What took Bastillina almost thirty seconds to get to, Annastaria managed in just under five seconds. She was ready to reach for Oden and Bastillina’s hands, both trapped in the ice.

“Don’t touch it!” Bastillina said, “It… grows!”

Annastaria was confused, but only for a moment. She reached out and placed her hand on the ice and sure enough, her hand was being consumed by it. “I told you not to touch it!” Bastillina rebuked once more.

Annastaria then reached into a pocket, pulling out a small vial, using her teeth to rip open the cork that sealed it, and then pouring the pink liquid content on the ice. It began to crack, and she broke her hand away. “Pull away!” she ordered them. Both Bastillina and Oden didn’t hesitate, and began to pull themselves out of the ice block, feeling it’s grip give way. “It is held by a sustaining spell.” Annastaria said further, “The ice trap not only grips, but it is continuously maintained by the spell.”

As helpful as it was, they still had the progressively raging river to contend with. Before Annastaria could pull herself up, and help Bastillina, she felt the downed tree suddenly give way and fall into the river. She turned and saw the same master from before, breaking the tree from its final grasp into the ground, but he used his rock mastery and kept it from completely giving way. He was angry now. “I’ve got all three of you where I want you!” he said, “Give up now! Or I let you all go into the waters ahead, and trust me, they get a lot worse than this.”

Annastaria stared him down for a moment, contemplating what to do. Surrender was not an option, and she dashed after him, her speed not affected by the narrow tree trunk. He was stunned for a moment, as it only took her two seconds to get within three feet of him before she leapt into the air for an attack. “Holy crap!” he cursed at her shocking speed before letting the tree go and thrusting a rock-based scatter-shot attack that caused Annastaria to respond to with a mid-air butterfly twist, blasting the scatter-shot away with a powerful airburst that then struck and launched him away, tumbling into the ground. She came down and quickly turned to maintain the grip the master had on the tree, keeping it from falling away by only a weakened root in the ground.

She grunted, and ground her teeth as she struggled to keep it from giving way to the current of the river, and from the weakness of her form. Transitioning from air to rock was not something she was good at. Annastaria, for a split second that seemed to agonize her for hours, realized the importance of what her trainers were trying to teach her, about focusing on the weaknesses in her combat. It counted more than ever here, and she wasn’t ready for it. She knew she couldn’t hold on, and decided to try and ice the water that was surrounding the remaining root.

But when she did, what she hoped would give her relief in at least briefly solidifying the grip of the tree to the remaining ground, only provided more weight for the tree giving way to the current, and it was pulled out of the ground. “Erene!” Bastillina screamed again as the tree succumbed to the river. Both she and Oden were carried off.

Annastaria was about to leap into action once more when she heard loud cracks from somewhere behind her, and the ground around her burst up. She turned and saw from the bluffs above from where they came from, a whole group of men, coming over it, opening fire on her. She looked to the other master, who was in the crossfire, and she felt a strange concern for him, but ignored it, and ran after Oden and Bastillina again.

“Dammit.” said the other master as he watched them close in, “Those bastards found us somehow.” 

It was the Intero gangsters, having somehow found them. He didn’t have time to ask questions, and ran after Annastaria. Both Oden and Bastillina managed to grab hold of a rock to keep them from being taken farther down the river, which gave Annastaria some ease in this, but it would not last long. She was prepared to reach out to Bastillina, who was within reach when an airburst struck her and pushed her into a tree. The shock and pain dazed her, but she knew what had happened. She looked up and saw the master from before once again, simply unwilling to give up.

That was it. She stood up, throwing her outer coat off and prepared to unleash her prime power on him when suddenly, the master’s feet were frozen in their tracks. The anomaly stopped both him and Annastaria and they turned behind him to see something neither expected in any capacity, more strange than the Intero finding them in the woods. 

Approaching them was another man, who was not like the others. He was tall, slender and yet had a ripped muscle build; his upper body naked and pale, his lower body with only worn cargo pants and combat boots. His cheeks bore an unnatural gaunt, with eyes bearing a kind of filthy yellow tint over their steel color. His head and face was bare of any hair, and his body was covered in what seemed to be ritualistic-like runes that were black in color, that ran along his limbs and chest, with circular shapes at his joints and chest, where the magicka points of a master was.

He walked with a stride, and he had the stare of a stoic predator, hesitating in no way to draw near to them. His sights looked past the first master and were set firmly on Annastaria. She could see it, and it disturbed her. For the first time in aenman lands, she felt a strange sense of fear, or disturbance coming from this man. As though there was darkness of a supernatural kind around him, or through him. It made her tremble, but she refused to give it any leverage in her mind. She focused on saving Bastillina and Oden. The other master pulled his feet out of the ice grips and turned towards this one. Annastaria prepared herself as well; a whole new kind of fight was about to begin.