บท 36: Cave
Life was never simple; it was filled with twists and turns that no one would expect. Amadeus first realised this back when he was Toshiro, when the first assassination attempt occurred, leaving him traumatised for a week. Although he got back on his feet, that situation proved to be a turning point in how he would act. Now he was reminded of this simple fact with the situation that was currently transpiring to him now.
In all his years as Amadeus this was the first time where he felt true danger. Despite his training and even his awakening, he always knew somewhere in his heart that nothing would happen, that there was always a way out. But now, gone was that feeling, all that was left was trepidation of the unknown. Looking around, all he could see was cave walls surrounding him with stalactites hanging from the ceiling. The floor was surprisingly smooth as if it was a path walked by many.
Amadeus took out an object, it was a round bead with the Drakos family emblem etched onto it. Giving it a bit of mana, nothing happened making him realise the fact that there was no way for others to know where he was. That bead was a transmitter like object, that projected to another bead its location. With nothing happening, it meant that he was either too far from the other bead or that there was something special about this place.
Amadeus was in deep thought when his clairvoyance kicked in and showed him a vision. Not a short moment later his instincts ran wild like a herd of wildebeest as he turned his body slightly only for an arrow to pass from his original position.
It seems that the residence of this place had noticed his presence. Amadeus started loosening his shoulder while a cruel, yet excited smile unknowingly crept up on his face.
Rewinding to a couple hours earlier.
Amadeus had left the capital city of the Dwarves and had also left the cave when Amadeus saw Velia in deep contemplation.
"What are you thinking about Velia?"
"Well, your highness, why did the chief allow you to act in such a manner? I'm pretty sure he had his pride."
"Well he does indeed have his own pride. However, mother told me his weakness though, it was kids. Did you know, the cities within Ferrarius Mountains houses the greatest number of orphanages, even more than our kingdom. Also, I kept within my limits and didn't ask for anything extravagant."
Velia was surprised by the fact, but her expression made a sudden change to an expectant one. Amadeus was taken aback but Velia had already asked him a question,
"So, your highness, let us see your new weapon…"
Now in normal times she would be reprimanded by Eriko but this time it was different. Eriko also wanted to see what Amadeus had made. Eras also paid attention as his horse slightly came closer. However, contrary to their expectations, Amadeus immediately started sulking,
"I don't have them, they were sent back to the clan, something about making them capable of storage when I'm turning into my dragon form while using them."
The three were surprised but realised why Amadeus' mood was down when he returned from the forge. The rest of the journey was uneventful until the group made camp at night. Amadeus was playing with Luna when she suddenly perked up and jumped out of Amadeus' grasp.
"Wha…"
Amadeus also got up and ran after the rabbit without thinking. A few Blades started following them with Solaris landing on Amadeus shoulder. The Blades saw Amadeus disappear behind a bush and immediately disappear into the ground from their senses. Lightning seemed to rumble in their heads as they immediately appeared where Amadeus vanished. They tried their best in searching for him by expanding their perception's range, but nothing came up. Looking at each other, they could see sweat form within the slight openings of their helmets before one of them stood up. The others looked at him but turned back and started their search. They didn't want to be the one to report it to the captain.
Taking a deep breath, the one in the middle looked up into the sky,
"ROOOOAAAAAAR!!!!"
While this may be a simple bestial roar in the minds of others, for a dragon, especially the blades, it was a wake-up call like no other. It meant something terrible happened. Back at the camp, every single Blade looked in the same direction before looking at each other and rushing to the location of the roar. Not long after, dragons took to the sky and started searching for something. Earth dragons started digging down but to no avail.
With the dragons entering search mode, many spies were caught trailing them and they were deeply interrogated while being disposed of. A messenger was also sent back to the Emerald Palace.
This brings us to now where Amadeus was looking at the direction where the arrow came from. Even with his vision, he found it difficult to locate the attacker, so he just stood there. There was no cover and he didn't know where he would end up if he took any path. The only cover he could think of was the large stalactite hanging from the ceiling. While he was thinking this, two arrows appeared side by side targeting his torso. So, bending from his waist he dodged them only to see another two appear, once more targeting his torso.
Once more dodging them, Amadeus thought of something and brought his hand to his chest. Warming the hand up, he pulled it to the and increased the cold energy within his torso. This time the arrows came targeting his hand. Somehow the attackers were targeting his heat signatures rather than actually seeing him. Creating an illusion of him and adding some hot energy into it, Amadeus led his cold energy to engulf him and climb up to the large hanging stalactite, hugging it upside down.
He calmed down his fighting instinct to try and gain some information into where he was.
With the positions changed now, Amadeus waited for the arrows to come and indeed they did. Targeting his clone, the arrows passed right through it and Amadeus wielded the clone to collapse and die. With the hot energy slowly leaving the body, Amadeus slowed his breathing and heart rate. He was now no different from the stalactite next to him. One hand reached to his waist and held the tanto his grandmother gave him from when he got his status. Readying his body to optimum condition he was now a legitimate hidden dragon waiting to pounce. While his eyes narrowed slightly, he didn't use his clairvoyance.
His clairvoyance did come with limitations, he could only see the future of things in his vision. It was more combat orientated rather than the usual predicting the future. Slowly, the faint sound of footsteps entered his ear.
He judged by the noise that the owner of these footsteps was an armoured individual. Just as he was about to conclude there being only one individual, a slight rustle caught his attention. There was another person, one who could hide her presence so well that it slipped past Amadeus. Remembering the two arrows, he thought there would be one more person, so he waited.
Slowly, faint voices entered through his ears, the first was of a rather young man, presumably in his twenties,
"…anyways I was surprised seeing you start to shoot arrows like that."
A rather gentle yet sharp female voice replied back to him,
"Well the sensors picked up a heat signature here, so I thought one had gotten strayed and arrived near the camp. Thought I would kill it before it alerts its companions."
"Ok, but it was too hasty, what if it were another person…"
"What if it was one of them and was about to call for its companions?"
This seemed to shut the young man up as the rest of the walk was met with quiet. Suddenly another voice was heard but a bit further back filled with authority,
"So, what was it?"
The female voice replied,
"I can barely see a figure lying on the floor, no heat signatures."
"You mean it's dead?"
"I think so…"
"I think so, is not good enough, wait we will come with you…"
With that Amadeus heard a few more footsteps join up with the armoured before they neared his position.
"Well it's not one of the for sure,"
Seeing the purple robes on the floor, and the dark violet hair sprawled on the ground, the group concluded that it was not one of the creatures they were fearing.
"Seems to be a kid…"
"One with a high-status judging by the clothes…"
"Wait."
The same authoritative voice leading them exclaimed,
"Something's not right."
'That guy has quite the intuition.'
Amadeus thought to himself before hearing the authoritative voice once again,
"Arrow, check it out."
Amadeus now saw a figure entering his vision. The wore leather armour over her lithe figure and a green hood where strands of blonde hair could be seen. Two pointy ears extended out from behind the hood as the figure kept her bow and arrow ready. It was a simple wooden bow with exquisite carvings covering its body.
'An elf?'
Amadeus barely heard her as she went forward to examine the 'body', only to stop a few metres away. Seeing her stop, a voice was heard from behind here,
"What happened?"
"I think we have just done something very bad, something really bad."
"What do you mean?"
The elf didn't reply but kept looking at the body in front. If Amadeus could see he would notice the pale face of the elf turn even whiter as she looked at the body.
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