Chapitre 475: Trap!
The cohort with the Empress had, of course, agreed to find the little boy about which Gela had told them.
The Abominable had felt so strongly about the danger the child was in that the Aurora could not refuse his request.
What if it had been one of her children in trouble? Would the fiery-haired woman have appreciated a ruler turning a blind eye to her young boy's trouble? No.
So after a night in the whispering forest, the cohort had followed Gela through the white, bell-shaped trees in search of a child they had never met.
"I don't see why we can't wipe out Taran first and then loop back for the boy afterwards," Reyan flitted slightly above the ground, unwilling to fully submit to appearing human. After traversing the ice barrier, he was content never to feel the earth again.
Because the curmudgeon was never content to go along quietly, he filled the silence with his most recent complaint.
Aurora gave a sad smile to her friend. "It isn't out of our way to help, but it would be a very long journey if we went to confront Taran and then came back to the cabin. It could be weeks or months, and by then the child could be moved to a new location…or worse."
"That is assuming we are able to return at all," Nurlan added. There was no guarantee they would survive the clash with the charismatic nobleman.
"And you wouldn't forgive yourself if some innocent child continued to suffer when you could stop it. As crusty and unfeeling as you may be, you are really just a big softee." Aurora was too exhausted from their journey to argue. Getting straight to the point was the only way to stop the discussion in its tracks.
"Stop telling my secrets or I might just head home and then how would you feel?" The fairy spat angrily.
"Relieved," Brinn answered. Alvar elbowed her gently to let her know she had spoken her thoughts. "I mean so..so heartbroken."
Reyan shot the she-elf a wary glance, trying to decide if it was worth his time. In the end he directed his attention over to Gela. "Very well… if we are to risk our necks for some mysterious child, perhaps you better give us all the details again. This old fairy seems to have forgotten."
Really it was unlikely that Reyan had lost even a bit of the information which Gela had given the first time. But it was a good idea to rehash what the Abominable had seen and heard in case he had accidentally left anything out before.
Gela was not offended by the fairy's request. Instead, he slowed his lumbering pace and took a deep breath.
"While trying to evade Taran's monsters, I ended up deep in the wild lands where no man should ever be."
"Yet a child was there…" Nurlan mused on the implication.
The bear-man nodded. "In the middle of a field, I came upon a single house. At first I thought it might be a hermit's cottage, but then I saw a half dozen men file out of the premises."
"Not suspicious at all," Brinn rolled her eyes.
"But they weren't soldiers?" Phileas asked. He had wondered this before but had been too engrossed to ask.
"I don't think so. They had no uniforms nor did they seem organized. Though they were certainly working together. They were far too different in build and stature to be all brothers. If I had to guess, they were bandits." Gela could think of no other explanation for what he had seen.
The home had been far too small for so many men to live there long term, and who else would want to hide up in the wilderness in a small space with so many other uncouth individuals?
For a split second, Gela had thought about revealing himself to the men in hopes that they might be able to help him, but he hid first to see if they were trustworthy. He quickly discovered that they were not.
"In the middle of them was a boy around maybe twelve, perhaps older. Whatever his age, his stature was very slight. If I hadn't seen the way he carried himself, I would have thought him younger."
Gela recalled the boy in his mind. He had sandy blonde hair and a large nose but a thin body. His clothes sat quite loosely on his bony frame even with the belt cinched around his waist.
As he retold the details, the abomination now wondered if the tunic had fit at one point or if it had always been too large for its owner.
"Do you think they are starving him?" Aurora asked.
"I would not put it past them, but I don't think so. It was clear they did not like him. The boy was not part of their group."
Indeed, a man with pale lips and a tattoo down his arm had ordered the boy to go and relieve himself. Gela thought perhaps they were protecting the child from some unseen evil (like a white human-bear for instance), but then the man warned the boy not to run away again.
"...Again? I wondered. How many times had the child run away? The boy had glared at them but seemed to understand that his best move at that moment was to comply." Gela scratched his ear.
Looking back, the boy had stayed behind the tree for quite some time, but Gela had assumed the call off nature had just been a long one. Perhaps the child was silently protesting the harsh treatment.
"He asked when he could go home, but the men were very adamant that he better stick to his studies and stop asking questions…"
"Studies? You didn't mention that last time." Aurora's mind began to race. "Why would they want a boy they are holding against his will to study something?"
Something glimmered on the periphery of Aurora's consciousness but she couldn't quite grasp it. All children in Valiant were educated through age fourteen, but she doubted that bandits cared about such things. So what were they doing?
"I don't know," Gela answered her, "but the boy tried every trick to get information about his family. He even asked if he could write them a letter and they declined. All the captors would tell him is that his family was safe and that as long as he behaved everything would be fine. Though they didn't say it outright, I gathered that him not behaving and studying would mean that his family would be punished…"
"That's horrible," Zan clenched his fist.
He had no children of his own, but as a Guardian, children held a special place in his heart and needed to be protected. Zan had been willing to go rescue the boy even if Aurora had wanted to move on. Fortunately their thoughts had aligned.
"When they forced him back into the cottage, I could hear another man inside. This one had a more gentle tone. He sounded much older than the others. As I told you before, I think he might have been the boy's tutor. His attitude was different from any of the others."
While the captors were distracted, Gela had crept up to the window. Inside the room he had seen a thin, almost emaciated, older man with a squint that Gela recognized was one of someone who read too much.
The former assistant recognized a fellow scholar though he didn't recognize the man himself. The man comforted the boy and coaxed him to a table with a pile of books.
This was all the abomination had been able to view before the abductors exited the cabin to keep watch. Gela had barely made it out of the clearing without being spotted.
"Do you think the old man was part of the kidnappers?" Alvar knew the answer, but it didn't hurt to make sure.
"I don't think so, but I was chased off before I could confirm. And then my own captors came for me, so I could not stick around and see. Though I would not have wanted to take on six or seven men on my own. The monster in me could have defeated them, but likely would have killed the boy as well. I have no control when it takes over."
"You took quite a risk going up to the cabin at all, especially if you did not think they would help you." Aurora was still trying to tug at the clues presented to her. There was something there, she was sure of it.
"I have thought about that myself. All I can say is that the boy felt…familiar and I wanted to know more. Even now I can feel that pull." Gela touched his chest with his clawed hand, before reaching up and petting the kitsune wrapped around his neck. "I appreciate your help."
The elves and Abominable stopped almost at the same time.
"Something is wrong…" Brinn reached for her sword.
"There are more of 'him' nearby," Alvar agreed.
Huddling together, the group crept forward for a quarter hour before finding a clearing where the sun was able to peek through the trees.
In the clearing was a cabin just like the one Gela had described. Except it wasn't crawling with people.
It was overrun with abominations.
"You lied to us!" Reyan hissed. "This is a trap!"
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone