“Is that it, then?” Clarisse asked, dismayed that his expertise only got them so far.

  “It might seem so,” Nikolas began, standing up and surveying the scene around them. There didn’t seem to be any visible signs of a scuffle nearby but he had his doubts. He looked back at the way they came, estimating how far away from the main forest trail they were. “Let’s take a minute here, there might be things we’re missing.”

  Looking around, Clarisse was definitely filled with a sense of Deja-vu. Memories of running past the same trees vaguely returned to her, and she walked into the center of the glade ahead of them. “I definitely came by here… it was from over there!” she pointed at an opening in the trees to her right, leading back in the direction of the main trail, before walking over to check that spot.

  Nikolas swiftly walked over to her, once again analyzing the scene before spotting something of interest overhead - leftovers of burned leaves and a noticeably dark mark on the tree trunk. “You sure did… although that leaves the question of where those things came from.” he wiped a small area of the ground for him to draw on, making lines in the dirt with a dagger produced from under his sleeve.

  Clarisse peered into the depths of the wilderness, eventually returning after not finding anything insightful to see what he was drawing. “What is that…?” she asked, unable to make sense of his crude drawing.

  “This? Uhh…” Nikolas thought, pondering on how to explain it to her. “The center line is the forest trail, and this is roughly the way we’ve come…” he said, pointing to a large line followed by a shorter one branching from it. “There’s a grotto not too far from here… it should be along this path,” he continued, dragging the tip of the dagger from the end of the branched path all the way across his map on the other side of the main trail.

  “If someone really is planning all of this…” Clarisse paused mid-sentence, her eyes widening. “They’d need a place to capture and hide the post office workers!” she flashed a smile, looking at her companion for confirmation.

  Nikolas glanced up, though it was hard to tell if he was glaring at her for stealing his thunder or happy that they were on the same page for once. “Just my hunch, but that does seem like a decent assumption,” he nodded, getting up and rubbing his boot over the ground to mess up the drawing in the dirt.

  “Let’s go check then!” Clarisse exclaimed, aligning herself with the line he had drawn towards the grotto and beginning to march forward through the foliage.

  “Not so fast,” Nikolas replied, waiting for her to look back. “if we’re right, there is going to be real danger,” he emphasized his point with a strong stare. “You have marginal control over your magic, and you’re no fighter.”

  Clarisse opened her mouth to protest, but she couldn’t deny either of his points. She held one of her elbows with one hand, internally grumbling. “So what do you want me to do?”

  Nikolas crossed her, walking ahead into the forest. “Stay back and hide unless you’re attacked. You have fire and a dagger if that happens. Don’t be shy to use them.”

  “Ok,” she replied with a sigh, trudging behind him as they made their way back to the main trail. “What if we find too many people to deal with right now?”

  “That’s very unlikely,” Nikolas glanced back at Clarisse, choosing not to point out any reason for his answer much to her confusion. “You can head back to the city and leave it to me if that does happen.”

  “I’ll go to the guild and get some help.” Clarisse decided, looking at him for any signs of agreement.

  “I’d rather you not… just go back and wait for me. I’ll be back once I finish them up.” Nikolas explained again, presenting an air of confidence to her. He certainly seemed to be a strange person when it came to working with others.

  “That doesn’t sound like a good idea. What if you get hurt and need help getting back?” she shot back, curious what his argument against that would be.

  Nikolas halted, turning to face her and letting out a sigh. “Trust me on this. Whatever happens, don’t come back and don’t send anyone else. I’ll be back once it’s over.” He repeated, a tad slower than the previous time.

  This only made more questions well up inside Clarisse, but she decided not to pursue any of them at the moment. “Fine… I won’t call for help,” she said, taking a moment to acknowledge how strange it sounded to say.

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  “Thank you.”

  A few minutes later they were back at the main forest trail, and quickly found themselves stepping through damp mulch on the way towards the grotto. The gradual sound of slow, flowing water made it apparent that there was a river nearby as well.

  “How much farther is the cave?” came a cautious inquiry from Clarisse, worried that they’d get too caught off guard.

  “We’re close,” came a quick reply from her fox-eared companion. “Don’t cross the treeline… it’s the last piece of tall cover before the grotto.”

  “Right,” she nodded, creeping up to the treeline and peeking out from behind a large tree. There it was, a mere hundred or so meters away, a cluster of hollow rocky outcroppings. The rocks surrounded an oxbow lake on 3 sides, supported by the aquifer fed by the river flowing past.

  “That’s it,” Nikolas confirmed, taking a knee and observing the grotto. From where they stood, only its entrance was visible but there were other signs of life he wanted to check - any faint trails of smoke, animal tracks, or even leftovers from someone living close by, but to no luck. “Let’s go closer to check…”

  The pair snuck down from the side of the treeline, with Nikolas taking the lead and swiftly gliding across the grassy knolls to the edge of the river. Clarisse was surprised by his sudden agility, clumsily trying to keep up with him. It was noticeably tougher for her to blend into the greens and browns of the landscape with her bright red hair sticking out like a sore thumb. By the time she made it to the next vantage point, she noticed Nikolas had his eyes trained on the entrance to the cave.

  Scooting close next to him in the dirt and keeping her head low, she waited for his observations. “Any clues?” she asked, peeking over the top of the tall grass.

  Nikolas stood up, revealing himself from their cover and glancing to either side. “Someone’s definitely been here… But they’re not near the entrance.” He commented, gesturing for her to get up as he went closer to the grotto.

  There was a section of the river ahead of them which seemed particularly narrow. Clarisse tagged along with him, still wary of someone taking them by surprise from the forests. Approaching the strait, she spotted a set of muddy tracks on either side.

  “They tried to cross the river at the strait with something heavy!” she concluded, a hint of excitement appearing in her voice at finding the lead. “Something like the post carriage?”

  Nikolas nodded, jumping to the other side of the strait and walking towards the entrance of the cave already. “Likely. They’re keeping prisoners,” He sounded detached, unfocused on his surroundings as he slowly walked on ahead without her. “… Two…”

  Clarisse raised an eyebrow, confused by how he made that deduction. “I hope they’re still safe then,” she said, skipping ahead to see what he was looking at, only to find Nikolas’s gaze randomly darting across the rocky floor below them. “What are you looking at? I didn’t catch what you just said…”

  Nikolas suddenly looked up at her, breaking out of his temporary stupor. “It’s nothing. Let’s go.” he replied, walking right into the darkness of the cave.

  Clarisse followed him with a confused expression, pausing right before stepping into the darkness. “Is it really okay to go in without any light? I can make one-”

  Nikolas raised a closed fist, indicating her to stop. “I can see in the dark. Just stick close by, and we’ll use the element of surprise. There aren’t that many of them.” he spoke softly, careful not to let his voice echo.

  “How do you know that?” Clarisse inquired again with a whisper, impressed by his capacity to make light of their surroundings but only left with more questions.

  “Trust me. There’s at least 3 humans… and a pack of whatever attacked you. One dwarf.” Nikolas warned, pulling out a broken stub of a sword and brandishing it to his side. He ventured deeper, descending the downward slope.

  The broken sword was yet another confusing aspect to the redhead, who had decided by now not to question his tactics any further, instead focusing on not tripping as she grabbed his forearm to make sure she wouldn’t lose him in the darkness.

  As they descended into the cavern, they could hear scruffles and echoing barks among other ambient sounds of the underground. There was a soft light to the cave itself, its damp ground reflecting natural light from the lichens on the walls. As a cold breeze flowed past them lower into the cave, Nikolas slowed down.

  There was a brighter part of the cave ahead of them, of which could see the edge of its reach but not its source. Clarisse breathed a sigh of relief, feeling relieved that they wouldn’t be in the dark for much longer.

  “Wait… They know we’re here,” Nikolas let out a frustrated whisper, tightening his grip around the sword’s handle and taking a few steps forward. “Feel free to light up the place now.”

  On cue with Nikolas’s warning, a series of feral barks were heard from the interior of the cavern, followed by the sound of many sets of footsteps. Clarisse felt a rush of adrenalin in her veins, recognizing the barks from her previous encounter. “I’ll stick back and hit from afar!” she called out, letting her hair light aflame and condensing a fireball in between her hands.

  Nikolas nodded, flourishing his broken sword. “I’ll be your vanguard.” He glanced back at her once before directing his gaze ahead at the pack approaching them.

  “T???????h?????????????e????????? ????e????????????v????????????????e??????????????r????????????? ???????g?????r?????????o?????????w????????i????????n??????????????g??????? ?????????t??????????????h??????????????i???????????r?????????s?????t??????????????????.?????????????.????????????.????????????”

  “You’ll have your thirst quenched shortly.”

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