137 Thrown Into The Mis

The beast raised its head and she quickly rushed towards the trees and hid before its eyes caught sight of her and did a cloaking spell to hide herself and smell from the celestial beast.

"I bet it is looking for her."

Her gaze followed the cub till it finally stopped and sat close to the mist and it purred.

Lorelei looked up at the mist, her brows furrowed as the realization dawned on her.

"Don't tell me… Her blast threw her off into the mist. Could my plans not become any worse than this?"

*****

Jareth and White-Fire ran at top speed and stopped close to the mist.

"They aren't here."

"Well they haven't entered the mist so let's head to the side, I bet it came from there," he said and pointed to his right hand side.

"Okay."

They advance forward, running with all the energy they could muster. Not too far away, they could see the silhouette of a figure.

"I see something up ahead. Let's get closer to it, it might just be her."

On a closer look, it was…

"My little one," White-Fire half whispered through the link.

"They are here," Jareth said with all joy and gladness as he increased his speed the more.

He was already exhausted from the fight, but the mere thought of something happening to her and the little beast, made his adrenaline pump the more, gaining a new found strength.

He couldn't explain it; he felt the need to protect her the more he tried to distance himself from her. He felt as though his heart jumped when he couldn't find her earlier on. 

At first he hoped that she didn't run off on her own, but when he saw the power collision, he knew she didn't. Something must have happened and the battle over there was intense.

As much as he wanted to scold himself for feeling this way, but he couldn't care less if his heart was vulnerable, all that mattered to him was her and he was getting scared of losing her.

The minute they got within range, they saw the little White Tiger-Phoenix Beast sitting lonely on the ground however, Astrid was nowhere in sight.

The little beast turned its head to the left at the sudden rush of dust and intruders. When the dust cleared a bit, its eyes opened wide and it jumped up in joy as it made its way to its mother.

White-Fire opened its wings at the sight of its cub and let it play around her, till it went in to snuggle up close to its mother.

From where Lorelei hid, she could see everything happening. She had intended to hide till the hybrid found her way back to her beast, then she would initiate the second phase of her plan and capture her, but now the elf and the big beast were around.

"Well with these two around, I can be sure the elves wouldn't get her. Time to retreat for now."

She moved further into the forest and opened her portal then left the forest.

The little beast rushed up to him and snuggled close to his leg, he bent down, letting his hand rub on its head and fur. After some seconds, the celestial beast began jumping and turning its head towards the mist and back at Jareth. 

Jareth leaned in close, stopped it from jumping around and asked it, "Little White-Fire, where is Astrid?"

The little beast eyes dropped at the mention of her name, Jareth looked up at the mother, hoping for some translation.

He could guess it hadn't seen Astrid either, but he hoped to get more out of that body language than he could understand and turned to the only being who right now could interpret for him.

White-Fire made some sounds and the little beast rushed up to its mother staring into its eyes, face to face.

"What happened?" White-Fire asked the little beast.

It explained what had happened to its mother, starting from how Lorelei kidnapped Astrid and he followed her, to how the force had blown everyone away and when it came to, rushed to find her but she was nowhere in sight.

It rushed up to the last dent mark on the ground, laying emphasis on what it told its mother.

Standing staright back up, Jareth looked right back at White-Fire, he needed it to clear his head and clear it soon.

"Thankfully, she is not dead. She was kidnapped and my cub followed, the ladies used magic to teleport them away while we were distracted during the fight. They fought and ended up using their powers causing a blast, which we saw. Unfortunately, that very blast threw them all away, separating my cub and Astrid."

"This is not happening."

He used his hands to rub his hair backward as his mouth dropped open in an 'O' fashion. He couldn't believe what he heard; Astrid was nowhere to be found.

"From the look of things, she created a barrier like ball to shield herself from the impact before she went missing. Look around, the dent mark shows she is okay, whatever she made saved her," White-Fired explained.

Jareth moved close to where the little White Tiger stood. He bent down to examine the situation, scooped some sand in his hands and sniffed the soil. Then he sniffed the air as well.

"True, she was here."

"Perhaps I can sniff her out," White-Fire suggested.

"Okay."

With that it began sniffing the air till it found itself close to the mist.

"Jareth, this can only mean one thing, Astrid got thrown into the mist."

*****

The soldiers ran not stopping one bit as they ventured further into the forest. Not too long, Aelfdene and Cleon  saw some  elven troops ahead. 

"Cleon, we have met other parties."

"Let's catch up with them." 

They chased on till they caught up with Lieutenant Flynn and his men.

"Lieutenant Flynn!" Aelfdene called out, making the Lieutenant stop in in his tracks. 

"General Cleon and General Aelfdene,what brings you here? Are you here for the hybrid as well?" Lieutenant Flynn asked them as they all stopped and moved close to each other.

"No, His Majesty wants the princess back in the palace," Cleon replied. 

"She chased ahead when some of our men got injured, we decided to chase after her, when we heard the growls and roars. I think she is up against the hybrid or worse."