As we waited in the back of the line, Catherine told us to check ourselves one last time to make sure we didn't leave anything behind. Yuri had just announced he had brought everything when he glanced over at me and frowned. "Miss, where's your necklace?"

My hand shot up to my bare neck. The case in the pocket of my cloak suddenly grew heavy. "Ahh, I took it off because I'm worried that it might fall loose when we're traveling."

"Excuse me?"

Turning around, I glanced down to see two little girls staring up at us.

"Hey there," Justin smiled gently and crouched down in front of the girls. "Are you guys lost?"

"It is them," one of them said in an awed tone. "Woah! You guys are the heroes!"

I glanced back over at Tristan who stared at the two kids for a second before realization washed over his face. "Oh! It's you guys!"

"Wait, we have to thank them," the other girl whispered. The two of them suddenly straightened up and bowed their heads towards us before simultaneously shouting, "Thank you for saving us!"

Save? Who did Tristan save—

Oh. I remember now. These two girls were part of the group that got kidnapped by Lenard and his men. 

"Where are your parents?" Catherine glanced around. "They shouldn't be letting you wander around after what happened to you..."

"They wouldn't let us go out for weeks!" one of the girls exclaimed.

"Did you two get separated from your parents?" Justin asked, nudging them to a side so that people passing by wouldn't hit the kids. "If you guys go out alone without your parents again, bad guys might come and steal you away again."

"But you guys will be there to save us again!" the other one cried.

"Kiki! Tember!"

The calls of two distressed adults echoed above the noisy crowd; two worried-looking adults burst through the sea of people and grabbed the two girls away from us. The father stepped in front of them and glared down at us as the mother behind him strangled her two girls.

"Who are you guys?" he rumbled.

"Oh?"

Another pair of adults followed after their anxious appearance. My eyes widened in surprise to see Kline and Petunia approach us.

Their faces lit up when they spotted me, and Petunia ran over to hug me. She pulled away from me and grinned. "I haven't seen you stop by our stall for a long time! Why are you guys in the line to leave? Are you really leaving Mansa?"

I nodded. "Thanks so much for the delicious food. I'll make sure to stop by again when I come back."

"Petunia," the man who was towering over us growled. "You know them?"

"Oh, she's the girl I told you about. The one who helped Kline find Cole that day," she beamed, clutching my arm.

The two girls getting lectured by their mother ran out of her grasp and grabbed on to their father's legs. Pointing to the Tristan and the others, one of them yelled, "Them too! They saved us!"

"These kids...?" the man said slowly. He scrunched his eyebrows together. "They did say something about a group of kids..."

"Next!"

We looked over to see the guard motioning towards us with an impatient air. Catherine stepped forward. "Let's go, guys."

"Wait," the father said. "Were you ones who saved all the kidnapped kids?"

Tristan looked over at Justin who gave a wary glance towards the man. Justin didn't say anything and instead bowed his head towards him. "We have to get going."

Turning on his heel, he quickly walked towards the officer, who was starting to yell at us to hurry. I looked between the dumbstruck man and Justin and quickly bowed my head towards the adults.

"Bye Petunia, Kline," I smiled. "Hopefully, we'll run into each other again."

As they waved their goodbyes, I hurried to catch up to Justin. My smile fell off as I stared at his retreating back. That was strange.

I knew Justin wasn't the best when it came to social skills, but his expression was strangely stoic when he avoided his question.

I noticed Yuri staring at Justin in the corner of his eyes and sighed, knowing it wasn't just me who thought that was strange. But before I could think of it any longer, the man guarding the exit posts asked us where we were going and checked briefly into our packs.

He asked a lot of questions and stared at us suspiciously but let us go eventually. As we left the busy town behind us, I realized somethin different.

Although it was still scarce, there were actually people on the road this time. Unlike the past villages that we've been to, there hasn't been a single passenger that passed us while we were on the trail.

"Can they stop staring already?" Catherine grumbled, shielding her face away with her hair as another passerby on his horse glanced down at us curiously. Everyone on the road was either on horse or in a carriage, making us, the only group of kids on foot, look strange.

Ignoring the passersby, I glanced around fondly at the trees. I had forgotten how relaxing and peaceful the forest's aura was after being surrounded by so much chaos in Mansa.

The trees waved its bare branches in hospitality as a gust of wind passed us. The track was dusty and musty, but it smelled like nature. Small pebbles and tiny insects crawled over the road while herds of deer and small bunnies and foxes snuck around the bushes. Above, the sky was clear with not a single cloud sight. The only contrasting color against the bright blue color were the birds that flew ahead, squawking noisily above.

On either side of us, the rows of trees seemed endless as we walked up and down, left and right along the bumpy trail. We've already gotten this far...

I glanced up at the sky. I hope Mom and May are safe—

My hand quickly plunged inside my pocket; relief washed over me as my hands wrapped tightly around the small box.

As time passed, the amount of people on the road had diminished, and soon it was just us. Everyone had already left us behind, and the sun was beginning to set. The group was quiet the whole time, but it wasn't awkward like I was worried about.

I was kicking a rock along the side of the road when my ears suddenly perked up.

I stopped and glanced behind me. Catherine, who was walking beside me, stopped as well and glanced at me. "What's wrong, Sakura?"

"...horse," I muttered, hearing the familiar sound of hooves.

"It's probably just another merchant," Tristan responded as he turned towards everyone. "Shuffle to the side of the road so no one gets hurt."

We eased over to one side side and continued walking. Sure enough, a man on a horse approached us. We waited for him to pass us, but he pulled his horse's reins and stopped in front of us.

I immediately felt wariness spread among the group as we waited for the man to pass us. I frowned and pulled the hood close to my face. 

"Hey kids," the man said. "What are you guys doing here on the trail so late with no adults?"

"I'm the adult," Tristan chuckled. "We're fine here. We're just traveling for a bit."

The man didn't speak after that, but he didn't move either. I wasn't sure if I was hallucinating or not, but I thought his gaze lingered on me more than the others.

"I see..." the man finally responded after what felt like an eternity. "Do you need a ride? I ca—"

"No we're fine," Tristan laughed lightly, but this time with an edge in his voice.

The man seemed to stay there silently for another eternity before suddenly grabbing the reins of his horse and trotting on. I let out a long breath I was holding and rubbed my dry throat.

"What was that about..." Catherine grumbled.

"I don't think Guren was lying," Justin muttered. Everyone turned towards him. Justin turned his eyes towards me.

Tristan narrowed his eyes at Justin. "What?"

"He was going on about how the king was getting annoyed that Princess was still not at the palace and was going to send out messengers to put up a portrait of her with a huge bounty on her," Justin raked a hand through his hair. "I thought Guren was just trying to scare us back so we would retreat, but that man that just passed by..."

The atmosphere dampened quickly; I tried to bring it back up hurriedly. "Well, I could just get taken by someone so that I can get a free ride to the palace, ya know? Then we won't have to..."

My words trailed off as the group glared down at me, unamused. I folded my arms and muttered, "We don't even have a set plan. How are we going to sneak into the palace without them noticing?"

"Aren't we attacking them straight on with the rest of the villages?" Catherine asked.

"How do we even do that?" I asked. "It'll take them weeks or even months just to get here. They'll all be exhausted and tired out."

"Now that you mention it," Tristan said. "It does seem like a stretch..."

"Hey, wasn't this your plan from the beginning?" Catherine muttered. "What do you mean 'it's a stretch'? What have we been doing this whole time now?"

"Or we could just use the last two villages to help us out," Justin cut in. "They're close to the palace."

"Okay so let's say we do get the last two villages to help us," I put my hands out. "Then what? We just drag everyone with us? How many of them will be with us against that huge palace? How will they get in in the first place? We don't even have a rough estimate as to how many people will join or even if they will join."

"...we'll figure it out when we cross that bridge," Justin said.

"Honestly, people taking me straight to the king is so much easier," I muttered low enough so that no one would hear me.

"If that worked, we would've done that from the very beginning," Justin murmured. I jumped, surprised he had heard me. "You aren't going to be the only one with a demon up there."

I clicked my tongue and glanced the other way, feeling annoyed for some reason. Tristan quickly stepped in between the two of us and pushed us apart. "Alright, let's go find a place to rest."

With a mumble of agreement, we set off the dirt track and into the woods where we found a clearing. We quickly unloaded and ate the food that Catherine had brought with her from Mansa in silence.

"We'll take turns standing watch," Tristan said to Justin and Yuri when we finished up. Catherine had started setting up the two tents that she had bought from Mansa, and I quickly stood up to help her.

After the tents were set up, Catherine and I huddled in one tent while Justin and Yuri huddled into the next tent. Tristan took the first shift of standing watch, and quickly, the night had fallen silent.

A few moments had passed, and Catherine began to snore softly beside me. I frowned, trying to put my mind at ease, but countless worries that had reappeared from my conversation with Justin had popped up again.

The original plan was to gather all the villages and combine them into one huge group to rebel against the king. But now that we're here, it looked much too far from plausible. We would have huge groups of inexperienced villagers traveling throughout the kingdom, some of who have never stepped foot out of their own village. So—

Suddenly, I heard a rustle from outside. I stopped breathing and listened hard over my climbing heart.

Footstep. No...footsteps...

I bolted upright and rushed out of the tent to warn Tristan. When I broke out from the tent, I realized Justin had also rushed out and was wildly looking around. Tristan still looked confused as to why the two of us suddenly jumped out of the tent out of nowhere, but realization quickly dawned on his face. I didn't have time to wonder how Justin was able to hear such quiet sounds with his human ears because shadows suddenly jumped out from everywhere.

"There she is," a gruff voice came from the dark.

"Ohhh, what a cute face," another voice cackled.

Justin and Tristan were by my side before I could blink and had their weapons out already. I bent down and retrieved my dagger from my boot, gripping the handle tightly in my hand.

"Look who decided to come back," Justin scoffed as a familiar figure walked from out of the darkness and into the clearing.

"I knew there was something suspicious about you," the man who had stopped in front of us on horseback had stepped up.

"Who told you?" Tristan demanded. "Did the king start putting up posts? Or maybe he sent in a messenger...?"

"Only to certain people like us," Horse Man smiled, pointing up his index finger and drawing a circle in the air.

"Certain people?" I narrowed my eyes. "As in...?"

"Thugs, gangsters, thieves, illegal sellers..." Horse Man pointed up his five fingers and began ticking them off one on by one as he went down the list.

"What?" I said. "How...that doesn't make sense. Why would he contact you guys? And he would've placed you in jail if he ever came in contact—"

Everyone began bursting out in laughter. Horse Man let out a low whistle after a fit of laughter himself and shook his head. "You're such a ray of sunshine, darling."

I didn't get it. Why were they laughing? What did I say that was so funny? Was what I had just said not true?

I glanced up at Tristan and Justin, but their expressions were blank. I glared back at the man and twirled the blade in my hand. "Tell me."

"You sure you wanna know, hun'?" Horse Man rose an eyebrow, grabbing out his sword that hung from his waist. "Heard you're quite dangerous so I don't wanna get you mad or anything..."

"Now," I demanded.

"We're all affiliated with His Majesty," Horse Man chuckled. "Where do you think he gets all his experiments, that maniac?"

The air around me disappeared. Forcing my voice to work, I croaked out, "Experiments?"

"Well for example...I know a man named Lenard who works in Mansa. He's one of them big ones. He takes in hundreds of kids and then ships em off to the palace. Mostly girls though for some reason. I've heard it's switched from boys to girls in recent years. Although I heard his last attempt got foiled, and he's in jail right now. Hah!"

My heart wrenched. So that's what Lenard meant by sending the girls "somewhere north".

The girls were being sent as experiments. Experiments that the king was conducting to convert all the girls to become...demons....

Suddenly, the fear and pain that was sucking my energy away was pushed out of the way by an angry pit of fire. This stupid man...

An unfit man sitting on the throne using innocent people to turn them into something he was trying to gain for his own personal use. All of his people...so many of them lost and heartbroken because of him...yet he was someone who was supposed to lead. 

"Woah, woah, woah," Horse Man suddenly gasped.

I glanced up and saw the man take a step back, including the men surrounding us. I gripped my dagger and held it up so that the tip of the blade was pointing to Horse Man. "So then you basically know what I am?"

"Uhhh basically—"

"Well, there's no need for introductions then."

As soon as those words left my mouth, the sword that Horse Man was carrying splintered into broken shatters. Surprise covered Horse Man's face before quickly switching to fear. He pushed out his hand and spat, "What are you doing? Go get her!"

Tristan and Justin quickly sprang from my side and swung down anyone coming from behind or beside me. I focused on the men coming towards me and closed my eyes, feeling the familiar fuel of Guang stirring in my stomach.

With a swipe of my hand, I felt an invisible bound of energy bounce off my hand and ripple against the men running towards me, all of their weapons shattering to pieces. I bounced forward quickly and almost skidded to a stop, surprised by my sudden power.

I turned on my heel and rammed my heel against one of the men next to me. I felt a whoosh of air behind me and ducked; a leg struck above me. I turned on my heel again and swept the man behind me off his feet before knocking him out unconscious with the hilt of my dagger.

In the corner of my eye, I spotted Horse Man running towards the tents. I quickly charged towards the tents, fear feeding my adrenaline. Justin, however, made it before I could and deflected him away. Behind him, another one of Horse man's men were running towards Justin with his sword held above his head.

I focused my attention towards the weapon and in a second, his weapon had shattered into pieces as well. The man stopped short and glanced down at his sword in confusion. He looked up just in time to see me raise my hilt in front of him, his eyes so wide in fear I could see my own red ones reflected in them.

I blinked, caught off by how bright and dilated my abnormal eyes for a split second before ramming the blade straight into his head. The man's eyes rolled up to the back of his head and fainted.

Sighing, I glanced over my shoulder to see Justin's foot on Horse Man's head and let out a breath of relief to know that he was okay. I turned my eyes towards the clearing and relaxed again when I saw the only one standing was Tristan. He had just let go of an unconscious man in his hands and looked up at me with an encouraging smile.

I was glad to see that neither had blood on them. I trotted up to Justin with Horse Man and crouched down on the ball of my heels.

"What are we going to do with him?" Justin monotonously asked.

"It's not like we take him along with us," I sighed. "And are we really going to go all the way back?"

Horse Man muffled something in the ground to which we completely ignored. Tristan peered over my shoulder and made a clicking sound with his tongue. "It's fine. We can just use Rezin to get in contact with Gray and Eugene.

He turned around to fetch Yuri, but Yuri and Catherine were already out the tents. Catherine rushed over to us, feverishly checking us to see if we had any injuries.

As Tristan told Yuri to call Rezin over, Catherine ran back to the tent to grab her bag so we could tie up Horse Man. Justin, with his foot still on top of Horse Man's head, turned his eyes towards me. "You okay?"

I glanced back at Horse Man and sighed when he flashed me a wink. "Yeah, although I guess we won't be resting much tonight."

~~~~~

Sorry I'm updating so late in the night! I was caught up in other personal life problems hehe (^^;)

I hope you all are safe and healthy! For my American readers, the ballots are open now! Make sure to vote, vote, vote! This 2020 election is very important!

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I'll see you next Sunday <<33