Chapter 57 - Fifty-Five

The castle security took their time figuring out that we stole their money; for a while they thought that the attack was only meant to scare the nobility, or even target the royal family, but in the end, as we only stole part of the gold and the not often used part at that, they only discovered hours later and more because of disappearance of the Oak creature than because of the missing gold itself.

Now I realize that it was kind of obvious that the Terror was the one who stole from them right? Since I freed the creature, and was the only one capable of doing that…

But oh well, it doesn't matter anymore, and even that knowledge wouldn't have changed my mind at all, would have helped him out anyway.

Still the last part of our plan is to lay low for a little, hide close to the city; as it was the last place they would look into, thinking that we were far gone; and wait until the news died down a little and they loosen their guards, not that they had much to go for, but better safe than sorry right?

And if, in the end, they found out we were the thieves I had never thought that I would free magical creatures without making any enemies; and I frankly did not care.

"So…This place we are going to…" I start after a long ride, were, of course, my brother fell asleep and ended up on Aeglos horse, laying down on his lap, making me fume in anger as Leo makes his horse come closer again, covering the view every time I tried to move him out of the way.

"Some friends of mine arranged it for me." Said the woman from the front, guiding us through the middle of the forest and the dirt street.

"Is it safe though? And where is it?"

"Humf, of course is safe, are you stupid?" My eye twitch in annoyance but before I could retort Leo says:

"The place belonged to an ancient one, made by the bringers of magic, bless them, so only the invited can enter, however I do not know how it looks like."

"Hum…" The ancient ones… that sounds interesting.

Well, for the amount of trees and turns this place had it was at least well hidden all right.

I hear something up front, my ears flinching as two figures mounted on horses stood on the street, waiting for us.

"Why no one told me there would be more people involved?" I did not like that, not at all, it was a possible danger of trusting those strangers that no one cared to share with me as part of the plan.

"We need them to guide us in the safe place. Only the invited ones, remember?" Isa said.

We get closer, the wind bringing their smells up to my nose, showing their good faith in not trying to sneak upon us; not that it would work; and making me recognize one of the smells from somewhere…

Ah! The bard! From the city, the one I saw when we had just arrived singing about me!

What is he doing here?

"Gentleman; and hounds; these are Seiroe and Eyope, they are twin brothesr and are my trusty colleagues who will kindly guide us to our hideout."

It was undeniable that they were brothers; they were identical twins, the only visible difference being in a scar on the eyebrow that Eyope had.

He straights himself up, nodding at us, and says: "Hi, I'm Eyope, and this is my younger brother, Seiroe, nice to meet you."

He sounded like a more serious type, I analyzed while we all introduced ourselves, as to the contra part his younger brother had a beaming smile on his face, his eyes glued on me from the moment he could see me from afar.

What the hell… that's a little creepy, you know? At least blink, geez…

Anyway, both had very tanned skin, their black hair shaved on the sides as, in the middle, stood thick dreadlocks falling slightly to the side. Their ears were very pierced with many golden earrings, especially hoops, and wore other many rings, bracelets, and such in gold, adorned with little seeds, claws and cocoanuts as well.

By the time we finish introducing ourselves I ended staring back at the pair of caramel eyes from the youngest brother who seemed about to explode from happiness.

"You." He finally says, ignoring that the others were still talking. "Are. The. Terror. OHMYGOD! PLEASE PLEASE LET ME SHAKE YOUR HAND!"

Without my consent he was already there shaking my hand with so much strength that I had to hold myself up the horse. His brother Eyope sighs by the side, looking at me guiltily as Seiroe keeps talking nonstop:

"Oh my! I can't believe it! I'm touching the famous Terror in person! Tell me, tell me, you are really tall as a mountain? No, no, even better, that story about the war, is it true? Did you really face an army only to rescue the magical creatures being used as slaves?"

"Well, I-"

"So, how about it? And-" Oh my god he does stop talking!

"Brother, brother, brother Sei, give him time to answer uhm? You can't just talk nonstop and think he will manage to answer."

"Oh! Oh, sorry, I just got too excited…"

"Oh no, is alright I guess…"

Aaaand silence. Well, now that's awkward, uhm.

"So, uhm, how about you guys lead the way then?"

"Sure!"

They turn their horses around as we go back to hiking up the mountain, Leo speeding his horse up to stay slightly closer to me as I look back only to see that my brother was still asleep; no surprise, actually; through all that noise and that the woman Isa and Ragnur were talking in the back.

"So, so!" I hear from the front, knowing that this situation would repeat many times as I lock eyes with a very excited Seiroe. "Are you really a hound? How did you get your human form? Oh, no, even better, how did you get the power to free magical creatures? Or how about…"

"You know… Seiroe, right?" His white teeth shine against his darker skin color, beaming with excitement as I remembered his name. "So, before anything else, how about you tell me about yourself first?"

So I can know if I can trust them and if they are faking their excitement or not. The older brother, Eyope, turns toward me, probably aware of my reasoning, as they slow their horses down a little so we can talk without shouting.

"We came from an island the south-west from here, from a country called Dragontail. The reason we came to the main island is that-"

"Is my fault actually." The twin brother continues, scratching the back of his neck. "I'm a bard and I wanted to explore the world, you know, live a little, create better songs, live for my art, but I couldn't do that stuck in an island with the rest of my kind now could I? There is only so much that my mind can make up from seeing the same things over and over and-"

"Wait, your kind? What kind?"

They seemed pretty human to me… at first. A closer look, however, made me aware that most parts of their bodies were cover-up by a very colored cape, the only skin visible being their arms filled with golden bracelets.

They exchanged looks, one calm and assertive and the other pleading and hopeful, until the older brother sighs.

For some reason I sympathized with Eyope, the older brother; maybe because we have something in common… like a dumb younger brother for instance.

They waited for the curve to pass, and once the horses were walking in a straight line they both took off their capes.

And me and Leo just stared.

"We are Antshiva. Our people usually live only on the island, not having many reasons to travel through the main island, so many of you do not even know we exist."

They had very humanoid bodies for what I could tell overall, except for the fact that they had three pair of arms.

Not one.

Not two.

But three, a total of six limbs coming of as spider legs, all bulging with muscles and coming out from their sides.

My mind, however, quickly went to how fighting they wouldn't be pleasant; they could hold you down and still have limbs to beat you up.

Hopefully I wouldn't have to test it first hand; but knowing me I was already preparing myself for it. They do not cover themselves anymore as Seiroe starts questioning me again:

"Where were you born Thilgon? Can I call you Thilgon, Terror?"

"Oh, yes you may, and I don't know exactly where, for a baby hound countries weren't part of my daily life, but I think somewhere between here, Tregaron, and Airedale, before the elven forest starts, or were they collided, I don't know, I just know that I had contact with both, humans and elves back them… Wait… Aeglos!" I call back, making him look up with a questioning look in his eyes. "Where did you found us the first time? That cave, back then…"

He stopped to think, first to understand the question, as he says: "It was in Airedale towards the north, but closer to the border."

"Thanks!" I turn back around towards the twins, saying: "Well, yeah, that's that."

"Oh, so Aeglos knew you as a pup? How does that work and…" He kept talking, the only thing missing is a notebook and a pen because, damn, he simply wanted to ask me about everything! I answered most of it, trying not to give many details as he would listen attentively, sometimes stopping to stare into space only to come with other many questions.

I think he is trying to write a book about me at this point… and I must add, I would make a goddamn badass hero I say, ha!

Cough cough.

~~~~~

Author: Hold it! Hold it up!

MC: …What are you doing?

Author: Holding the fourth wall you tried to break!

MC:…

Author: Pew, anyway, how are you guys doing? It has being a long time since we were able to stop and speak like this right? Enjoying were the story is going? Too many characters at once?

MC: I-

ML: I'm enjoying so far… feels like it's getting closer…

Author: Yeah, I know right? Building up the tension and all that… *whispers* only makes it more special and better with all the expectation don't you think?

ML: I would rather have it now.

MC:… Have what? What you are guys talking about? Stop leaving me out of it!

Both keep leaving him out of it.

ML: There is only one thing I want to complain about, beyond the time is taking me to have some fun.

Author: What is it?

ML:… Why the hell there are so many new hot characters appearing one after the other?! Are you trying to tempt someone? *Brings MC into a hug, closing his eyes while MC complains and tries to wiggle away* There is the annoying Aeglos who is too close to them for comfort, the dwarf Ragnur who is too carefree and cheerful towards them for my taste, the annoying woman and her Templar, Isa and Nacon, those three at the party, Cain, Seth and Dearil, who I did not see unfortunately but did not like their auras at all, and now these twins, Eyope and Seiroe! Did you even realized that you did not make a single ugly character until now?! What for?!

Author: W-what do you mean? *acts innocently until gets stared down by the ML* Ok, ok! But is not my fault ok?! The readers asked for it! They said I was going to easy and you needed rivals!

ML: Oh… is that so… *stares you down*

Author: Ok, Ok! I'm joking, joking! *fears for readers life*

ML: *gets annoyed, stares Author down again* Then tell me the truth!

Author: The truth?

ML: Yes!

Author: Well…I'm stalling you so the readers can run away.

ML:…

Author:….

Run!

LOL