章 86: Going Separate Ways

As the group advanced, Arawn noticed that there was something strange happening. The empty streets weren't really empty. From time to time, they would meet a squadron of soldiers hiding behind a corner or in some house to ambush them.

Those people didn't seem to have any other purpose than to slow them down. Not wanting to have to kill them all, Arawn chose other streets, but then he felt like he was led somewhere. How was it that he could only pick one street without any people in it?

Frowning, he led his group with uncertainty in his heart. Was the king playing him again? But wasn't it expected that he would go mad and become a monster? No such plan would work on him then.

'Unless they know I have retained my mind.'

He had no idea how they could know it, but it wasn't out of the realm of possibility. Maybe someone in the audience had found a way to send the news or something.

At that moment, he heard something else and stopped. In front of them, there was a large crowd hurrying away. Nobles were running while panting loudly, uncaring of how they looked anymore. All of them were only concerned about getting as far away from the arena as possible.

Arawn didn't take another step. He was afraid that if he reached the king and his cohort, he wouldn't be able to suppress the urge to slaughter them. His emotions were a mess, and it was so much easier to act on them in the beast form than when he was human. It was like someone had removed the part of his brain that kept his emotions separate from his actions.

In a fight, it gave him an advantage since he didn't need to think about what to do, but the rest of the time… it was less than optimal. He was supposed not to hurt anyone!

"Something's happened?" Rain asked once the group caught up to him.

With a nod, Arawn drew a crude crown in the stones of the street and pointed with his claw in the distance.

"The king's there? He survived?"

He nodded. As he had expected, the vile man would not die from something as simple as an explosion. His voice was distant, but Arawn could hear it nonetheless. Unlike the others, it didn't even sound winded.

"We can't go there then," Rain said swiftly and looked around. "I'd rather take my chances with the mob."

Betty moved to her side, and the two strangers nodded in agreement. Only Val frowned and looked behind them. His eyes stayed on the castle awash with bright light.

"I'm going back," he said after a moment.

"Are you crazy?" Betty asked.

The man shook his head, then looked at everyone in their group. "I won't ask you to come with me, but I need to go back. My sister is still in the castle and I can't leave her there. After this, she'll certainly be killed."

"But it's suicide!"

"I'm a one-handed cripple," Val said with self-deprecation. "Even if I die, no one will notice. I won't be a burden to my family."

Arawn growled deep in his throat. Everyone took a step back, but he ignored them and walked to Val. The man wanted to throw his life away? As if he had the right! Arawn hadn't saved him only to let him walk into a death trap again.

Once he was right before the man, Arawn raised his head and growled again. His voice was low and threatening, and his bone-white canines acted like high class intimidation tools.

Val gulped down his saliva, and his adam's apple bobbed at his throat, but he didn't back off. "I need to do it, Arawn," he said in a shaky voice. "I can't leave my sister to die!"

He had a point, but still… Arawn aimed his chilling gaze at the rest of the group. The strangers took a couple more steps back, not trusting him to not randomly attack them.

"Are you telling us not to follow you?" Rain asked, quickly grasping his meaning. She was surprisingly good at reading his expressions.

Or well, it could be that he was just an open book. He remembered hearing that somewhere.

"Don't worry, I don't have a death wish." Her gaze softened then, and she motioned toward herself. "But you should join us. There's no need for you to get caught with him. I'm sure that together we can find a way for you to turn back."

It was a sweet offer, but not one Arawn could take up. First, he wasn't going to let any of them die, and Val was going to be in the most danger. Second, after he had time to think about it, he was almost sure that he would turn back at some point anyway. There was no reason to believe it, but since he could turn back from the ether monster, why not the beast?

Were they that different? He doubted it. The change might be more painful, but he was sure he was a monster of many powers and shapes. It wouldn't be fair if his beast form stole his ability to become an ether creature.

It would be too good to be true. There was no way he was going to lose his ability to be a menace to everyone around him just like that.

"We've got no time to argue, so are you sure you're not coming with us?" Betty demanded.

Arawn nodded and lifted his head to listen. The nobles had slowed, but they were still moving forward. The mob to the right and left of them was still at large, but the left seemed to be a tad quieter. He thus pointed in that direction.

When Rain didn't get it straight away, he pointed at her then the left.

"You want us to go there?"

He nodded. Rain then asked a few more questions, but it wasn't easy to communicate when he could only answer with yes and no. They soon cleared up their differences though, and the four people left. This left only Val and Mutallu by Arawn's side.

"I will come with you. There's something I need to do in the castle too," Mutallu said.

This surprised Arawn, but he didn't question it. They turned around and set out without wasting any time. They backtracked their way forward, avoiding the pockets of hidden soldiers as before.

At a quick pace, they soon reached the crumbled noble's stand. The area around it was still full of people, but they were no longer as tightly packed as before. This meant that they could be separated even more.

Arawn rushed forward and howled at the top of his lungs. His sudden entrance and loud voice instantly sent the crowd into a panic. Many people screamed 'beast' and got out of his way like he was a plague carrier.

For the first time, Arawn didn't mind his status of a monster. If it meant they could reach their target faster and escape before the enemy could regroup, it might even be worth it. Not really, but he enjoyed the small lie for what it was.

A couple soldiers tried to block their way up to the castle, but when Arawn threw them down with enough force to almost break their bones, they didn't stand up. The two men faked death, and Arawn didn't call them out. He waited for Val and Mutallu to catch up while watching the two 'corpses', then went to clear the path ahead once more.

There was nothing more in their way until they reached the castle. Its gates were closed and the guards standing on the wall were not going to let them in even if they asked nicely.

But those people didn't fully comprehend what it meant that Arawn was a beast.

While they shouted insults at him and screamed at someone below to get the commander, Arawn walked back a bit. He took in the height of the wall, the wooden gates, and grinned. It was time to check out the strength of a beast.

Without a warning to his companions, he dashed toward the gates at full speed. His long legs ate the distance in powerful leaps, and he was upon his target in a few seconds. With the momentum of his running start, he then pushed off the ground and scaled the gates with a couple rapid steps.

All went well until the last one. There was an uneven patch of wood that threw his balance off, and Arawn felt himself on the verge of falling. He wasn't going to allow that, however. Extending his claws, he secured himself to the surface of the gate and climbed the last stretch like a very large cat.

The guards shot bolts at him, but they only grazed his skin. One brave soul pulled out his sword and went forward to hack at Arawn's front paw, but Arawn was not in the mood to be hit. He lifted that foot and smacked the man away, sending him crashing into the opposite side of the battlement.

This made Arawn slide down a bit, and he quickly pulled himself onto the wall. The problem with his claws was that they were too sharp. If he wasn't careful and didn't adjust his weight in the right way, he could slide all the way down, tearing four long trails with each foot.

"That's nice, but how are we supposed to get up there?" Val shouted out from below.

Arawn looked around, hoping some sort of solution would present itself. His first thought had been to incapacitate the guards so they would not think to shoot his companions. Only once that was done could they think about entering in relative peace.

"Go downstairs and open the side door!" Mutallu shouted out. "Or bash it open!"

There was a squadron of guards already rushing through the battlement straight at Arawn, so he decided to agree. Some sort of an idea was better than no idea.

He jumped down into the large courtyard and turned back toward the gates. There was a small door next to them which wasn't even locked at that moment. A servant stood by it with wide-eyes and an empty basket in his hands.

"A beast!" he screamed the next moment and ran away with hands in the air.

Somewhat amused, Arawn ran over to the door and pushed it open with his nose. Val and Mutallu instantly turned to him with ether in their hands. Upon recognizing his unmistakable form, they relaxed and rushed inside. Moments later, a hail of arrows pelted the place where they had stood before.

"A little warning would have been nice. We almost turned into hedgehogs there!" Val complained while taking quick inventory of their surroundings.

They were in a large courtyard with armed soldiers on the walls above them. The moment they took a step toward the castle, they would be showered in arrows. Yet if they stood still, they would soon be surrounded by soldiers who were already mobilizing for the defence of the castle.

They might not be a serious threat to Arawn, but the two humans by his side would not fare well in such a situation. There was only so much he could do to protect them. A stray arrow or a reckless soldier could always get past him while he was busy holding back the majority of the squadron.

Yet the castle was some three-four hundred meters away. There was no way that the soldiers would be such horrible shots that none of their arrows would hit the three intruders while they covered such a long distance. Even if the archers were blind, the sheer amount of arrows they could shoot in over a minute would turn their targets into human pin cushions.

"We should go by the wall," Val said, eyeing the battlements above. "Once we get closer, we'll just have to make a run for it and hope for the best."

Arawn didn't like the words 'hope for the best'. They had done that the last time, and where did that get them? He preferred not to repeat the mistakes of the past.

He could always run up the stairs to the top and take up the soldiers' time, but he couldn't cover the whole wall. He was alone, and the wall ringed the whole castle.

Wait, if he was so powerful and fast, why did he have to keep it all to himself?

He lay down and let out a low noise to attract his companions' attention. Once they turned to him, he motioned with his head to them then to his back. They didn't seem to get it at first, so he repeated the action a couple times.

"Am I dreaming?" Val asked, rubbing his eyes with his hand. "I seem to be seeing a beast… doing something it should not."

Mutallu glanced at him with a dark look and went to sit down on Arawn's back. "Then hurry up and make use of it. You're not getting another chance in this lifetime."

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