The man had disappeared into the thickness of threes. Aurelie ran into the inn, jumped over the porch steps, and collapsed through the open door.
The drumming in her ears was even louder than before, overwhelming the crowd's sound into a soft buzz.
She shouted as soon as her lungs allowed her to stop gasping and utter a word. The murmur quietened and then stopped all at once.
Daerious rushed out of the kitchen, curls wobbling and eyes wild with questions. "What?"
"Where's Orken?" She didn't know whom else to call. Orken would not have been her first choice . . . but who else? Sasha wasn't the fighting type, and Kirin was goneâaway. She didn't like using the word when thinking about him. It was too final. Too similar to dead. And he was fine. She had to believe it even though they had not heard a single word from him in days. He had to be fine. Her heart could not bear anything else.
"Here." Orken lifted his hand from atop the balcony, looking at her with much less enthusiasm than the situation warranted.
"There was someone in the woods. I thinkâhe saw me. I moved, and he followed me . . . I think he wore the Dranoir uniform. I saw an emblem on his shoulder, but--" Aurelie placed her palm over her chest, forcing a steadier rhythm. "That doesn't matter. He saw me right from the woods. I was by the pond, and I heard something earlier, but I thought nothing of it." She had to catch a breath again. Between the talking and the running, she had hardly gotten a moment to breathe and now felt rather dizzy with the incoming air.
"Ag," Orken said, flicked his hand, and turned back to his room. "There's a cloaking spell on it. We're fine."
"No!" Aurelie stomped forward. "He saw me, I swear it. I moved, and his eyes followed. He saw me!" She understood that he was mad and that the sting of their old conversation remained, but if there ever was a time to listen to her, it was now.
Daerious ran to the door and stuck his head outside. At least someone believed her. He looked from the door to her and then back again, scanning the field carefully and finding nothing.
"He's gone," Aurelie said.
Orken came down the stairs, skipping steps, his legs quivering after each jump. "Where?"
"There in the trees," she answered. "He was watching me."
"Right, everyone out!" Daerious yelled and raced up the stairs. "Find him."
Blonde hair stuck out from behind the residents. It moved toward the door, dropped suddenly below the heads of the others. When the crowd dispersed, Aurelie saw an image of Leila that she would have rather been spared.
Her fingers grew longer, and claws sprang from her nails, thick as human fingers. Long white and black patches of hair grew from the back of her hands. Her chin extended, and fangs pierced through her gums, tearing flesh and spilling blood.
"Leila!" Aurelie called out, unable to utter anything else. It looked excruciating.
Leila's glowing eyes glared at Aurelie in response. A snap echoed from her bones. She slumped over forward on all fours, her claws extended and scratching the wooden floor beneath them. Hair popped up in patches, and her hands swelled, transforming into paws. Leila sniffed the ground and leaped toward the door. She caught up with the others in seconds and overtook them, disappearing into the thickness of trees.
Daerious emerged from his room with his bow in hand. His right hand gripped the railing. He swung his body over the side and fell, landing perfectly on his feet. "Come on," he said and ran through the door.
The witches and wizards were already reaching the trees at the edge of the woods where Leila had gone. A loud growl came from the woods, and Aurelie's heart skipped a beat and fell deep into her chest before coming back with a heavy knock that disturbed the rhythm of her newly steady breath.
Leila had only just recovered. Her wounds were barely even fully healed. She shouldn't have been out there at all, never mind ahead of every other person that could help her. What was she going to do if she caught up to the man? Who knew what he was capable of? Aurelie's stomach turned, giving her limbs new strength to push her forward.
Aurelie and Daerious were out of the inn in no time, running at full speed toward the woods. Aurelie's strides were long and fast, while Daerious appeared to be jogging to keep up with her pace.
"Don't slow down, leave me and run," she yelled, barely catching enough breath to summon her voice. "Leila's all the way in front. She'll need help if she catches up with him."
Daerious nodded and ran, disappearing into the trees along with the others after a couple of quick and long strides.
She pushed her legs to move faster. Her arms slashed the air like a razor blade. The trees covered her last. She heard footsteps hurrying far in front and ran in their direction. Daerious was the tracker. The rest of them followed blindly.
The light outside was dim and even darker in the trees. She saw dots of red and purple light pop up out of nowhere; the wizards must have been struggling to see as they went deeper into the forest.
"Here!" Daerious called front far to her right. He stood above Leila's massive paw print.
Aurelie followed his voice, catching up to Orken, who had the same idea.
Orken ran up and placed his hand on the print. "One," he said, and the paw print flattened into a straight line, the line dragged on the ground until it reached another large print. They merged, and the line became thicker, going off to find the next and the next.
The wizards were spread all around the woods. Their movement was only seen from a swarm of multicolored lights blinked in and out of sight, following the wizards as they moved past trees and continued to search.
"Over here," Aurelie yelled at the wizards, hoping that a couple of them would hear and start following the right path.
Those that could hear her shouted to the others. Sasha came first, followed by a big man whose clothes fitted too tightly. He had a big scar that traced its way from his left eye to his bottom lip. She had seen him before, but he wasn't the sort of man one approached unless they absolutely had toâor he didn't look to be, and she never thought to try.
"We've found Leila's prints," Daerious pointed to them.
"Groshal," Sasha addressed the big man. "Do you still remember the silencing spell?"
Groshal nodded, long hairs of his eyebrows reaching down to touch his eyes as he frowned and readied himself to cast the spell. "Take a deep breath."
Aurelie breathed, waiting for him to start chanting. Her breath was cut short suddenly. The air was gone. The trees froze, and everything went still as if time had stopped. Aurelie heard nothing but her own heartbeat. She choked and clutched her throat. Daerious grabbed her wrist and tapped his index finger to his ear.
Aurelie's lungs burned, and her heart crept up to her throat. She needed air. Daerious tapped his ear again and then put his finger to his lips, motioning her to stay still.
Three sets of footsteps sounded. They were heading north, loud as heels knocking on a hardwood floor. Even the chatter of the nearby town was heard.
The man was running toward the town, Leila steps away.
"Crossaira Dun!" she heard the man's voice screeching into her eyes.
A tree rustled, branches cracking, and only one set of footsteps remained. Leila growled.
Groshal released the air. They gasped in unison. Coughing sounded, and a couple of wizards clutched at their throats.
"He is close to town. If Leila didn't stop him, the King would know exactly where we are. We will be forced to flee," Orken called and bolted forward, like no old man she had ever seen.
"We'll catch him," Daerious said and ran ahead of the group.
The rest remained, looking toward Sasha for an answer. Silent as death itself, they waited for her to direct them. Her eyes traced the ground, focusing on nothing in particular. They jumped once, twice, and then landed on Orken. They shared a look of mutual understanding, and then Sasha nodded, and he ran in the direction of Leila's growl.
Aurelie waited impatiently, her feet itching to reach Leila and see what had happened to her.
"We'll follow to town and split. If we find him, we fight. It'll look like a rebel attack at most, and we can come back home. If we don't find him before it is dark, I want you all to run back to the inn and grab whatever you can carry." She looked at Aurelie then, her eyes betraying her loss of hope. "Go!" She looked at the others, not moving.
They ran in a group, the witches lighting their path in a rainbow of lights. Aurelie followed the group, turning once to see whether Sasha had moved. She stood exactly where she was a minute ago, her eyes shut, and her head tilted toward the sky, mouthing a silent prayer.
Orken was first to notice Leila. His head shot up to the top of a massive tree. "There," he called out.
A net encircled Leila, binding her to a tall tree. Her tail and back paw was sticking out through the gaps.
"Leila, are you alright?" Aurelie asked.
Leila barred her teeth, her snout pulling back, and her tail swung stiffly.
"Get her down," Aurelie ordered. "Orken and I will catch up to Daerious. If anyone sees him, send light upward, so we know where to find you."
Orken looked at the other wizards and noticed something Aurelie and Sasha had not. They were worried and frightened to the core. "No, we go alone, princess."
Aurelie looked from his to the others and nodded, reluctant to agree with him but gave in and supported his claim. "You do not know what he looks like. Besides, how will it look if all of us are suddenly roaming the streets? We will be fine. We have escaped from there before," she replied.
"She's right," someone muttered from the back.
"Alright."
"Get the shifter down, come on!"
Orken and Aurelie exchanged a worried look. They ran to the town. Even Orken was able to keep a faster pace than her. Her mouth was dry, and her insides cramped. She pushed her fist into her lower stomach to ease the discomfort and followed as best she could, the right side of her face creased in pain.
They aren't ready. Her mind kept repeating. They aren't ready at all. It was the first time that Aurelie realized that Sasha and Orken housed evacuees instead of rebels. They were terrified and battered by past conflict. They didn't want to fight, not really.
The town's lights glinted in the distance once Aurelie and Orken had left the trees' thickness. A small figure ran far ahead. She didn't need light to see that it was Daerious. He slowed at the outskirt of the town and kept a steady pace, flipping his hood over his face. The last person that needed to show his face in this town, right now, was Daerious. Especially after what happened the last time. Just about every guard would know his face and hers, for that matter.