I skidded to a halt. How in hell's name did he know it was me? No, it had to be an extraordinary fluke.
"Are you talking about the fox?" Gilthunder asked.
Hendrickson stepped towards me and I scuttled backwards, hissing, teeth bared in warning. He held out a hand as if to placate me. The audacity. He dared?! Static danced in my vision but my body gave a thrum of pain that cancelled the mana.
"Yes, I'm sure of it. I've seen this fox before," he said, his eyes never leaving me.
"Before?"
"In a dream," he muttered. He shook his head. "I'm positive it's her. Do you know anyone else who can use flames as easily as her? Her magic signature might be altered but it still has essences of her woven in it. "
"But... she died in Liones. You killed her," Howzer said, face pinched with sadness. "We buried her body next to all the others."
The Mana throbbed again through the pads of my feet, drowning out the pain.
Exactly!
He killed me and now he stood here looking whole and healthy while I was trapped!
Acting all buddy-buddy with the others when I couldn't even talk to them!
As if he didn't try murdering everyone in Liones!
Static hummed in a frenzy around me and I launched forward.
"Perfect Shell!"
Smack!
Static discharged with my yowl, turning the inside of Griamore's ability into a blaze of gold. I turned a withering glare on Griamore, lips pulled back, when it all settled. The end of my nose throbbed from running into his stupid shield.
"Someone managed to put her soul in another living creature's body as a vessel upon her death," Hendrickson said.
"If what you said is true, how do we turn her back?" Howzer asked.
"Do you want to be turned back?" Hendrickson asked me.
"Of course I do! And when I'm human again, I'm going to rip your bloody throat out and I'm going to enjoy watching you die a slow and painful death."
"I take all that yipping as a yes I'm guessing," Howzer said with an awkward laugh. He crouched down before the shield, holding my gaze. "The others were so worried about you, Estra. They're going to be real glad to see you again."
I sobered at the thought of reuniting with my friends. I made eye contact with Griamore and he dropped the Perfect Shell. My muscles ached in holding back but I stayed where I was.
"How do you even know how to do that?" asked Gilthunder in barely more than a whisper. Everyone's attention fell on him. He'd been yet to speak this entire time. "Purge was my father's power. So how are you using it?" He clenched his fists, rage written across his features.
"Purge is the secret technique of the druids, to eradicate souls that are unnatural," Hendrickson explained. "Like me, your father, Zaratras, was born a Druid, known as the Sages of the Forest who worshiped the Goddess race above all others." Hendrickson's eyes got a whimsical look to them. "In all my life, I've never met anybody with a more virtuous soul. Dreyfus and I loved and respected him with all our hearts. He was a true Holy Knight Grandmaster."
Perhaps the Perfect Shell needed to be used on Gilthunder too. He had his hand in Hendrickson's shirt collar before the others could even react.
Anger stirred within me, a different type to the one I had directed towards Hendrickson. He's mine, Gilthunder. Don't you dare steal my revenge from me.
Gilthunder seethed. "If that's so, then why did you kill him, you bastard? Answer me!"
Hendrickson looked weary when he spoke again. "It began ten years ago. Dreyfus and I were on a mission. We'd been ordered by His Majesty to investigate the mysterious catastrophe that had caused the collapse of Danafor. That was how it all started."
Hendrickson explained everything - the discovery of the giant hole and the demon who attempted to steal Dreyfus' body but failed so came after him instead, using him as blackmail against his friend. So Dreyfus gave his body to the demon in return and they left Danafor, the demon now in control of Dreyfus.
"At that point, my mind was already under his spell. When we returned to the kingdom, he and I conspired to murder Sir Zaratras, as he would no doubt pose a threat to us. When the time came, we framed the Seven Deadly Sins for the deed and exiled them."
"But what reason could you have for choosing them?" Gilthunder questioned.
"Because around 16 years ago, he fought a desperate battle against Meliodas in Danafor and fled in defeat."
"Against Meliodas?"
"And then he lived on in secret, regained his powers, and chose Dreyfus as his host body until the moment of his revenge."
Howzer laid a comforting arm on Griamore. The poor man had tears streaming down his face. It was not everyday you learnt that your father for the past 16 years had been infected with a demon.
"The demon's name is Fraudrin. And, as far as Meliodas is concerned, he's the one who killed the love of his life."
~
I curled myself into a tight ball and rested my face on my tail. Howzer and Gilthunder argued trying to make the fire bigger and all they succeeded in doing was murdering the poor ember glow struggling beneath a clutter of sticks and leaves.
With a hiss, I stood and stamped my foot directly into the centre. It caught ablaze in milliseconds, startling the two knights who'd had their noses a little too close. I padded back to my spot and curled back up.
Hendrickson watched with a small smile on his lips and I bared my teeth at him. His smile dropped and he looked away. He sat away from the group on a gnarled stump, his sword laid across his thighs.
The only reason Hendrickson was still with us was because he knew a place that could help me and help the others become stronger. With the demons all slaughtered in the village, we'd continued onwards, the others on their horses, me on foot. I continued to heal the deep set ache in my bones and muscles, but it felt like I was wading through razor sharp glass until we stopped for the evening.
I'd huffed out a sigh of relief then plonked myself up against a rock while the others had unsaddled their horses and rolled out their camp gear. Griamore and Gilthunder had sourced dinner for us while Howzer caught me up on all that had happened.
We ate dinner under the stars, barely little chatter occurring. Everyone seemed a little worn down after all that had happened and I didn't blame them. Before bed, the others had asked me what I'd been up to. I tried telling them about the overpowered demons but my drawing skills lacked anything close to distinguished shapes.
My tail swished in agitation at the thought and Hendrickson raised his head. The others had all drifted off into a symphony of snores that could have woken the dead and left Hendrickson with watch.
I glared at him over the fire. I dared not trust this man. He might not have been in the right state of mind back then, but he had still murdered my friend and tried to hurt my friends.
He'd still murdered me.
-my vision filled with nothing but that ball of death-
I stood and shook myself. Hendrickson's eyes followed me as I prowled to the edge of the clearing.
"Where are you going, Estra? You should sleep."
I flattened my ears as I looked over my shoulder at him, hackles raised. The flames of the fire reached towards me like greedy fingers and the clearing went silent when a growl rose out of my throat.
Howzer and Griamore both shifted in their sleep.
I broke eye contact, slinking into the shadows until he squinted to try spot me in the dark. He gave up after a minute, looking about him. I scampered onto a rotting log and took up the sentry there.
During the darkest hours of night and the early hours of the morning, I kept an eye over the knights. Hendrickson had fallen asleep an hour after I'd left the campsite. Prowling footsteps and eyes aglow with our fire had wandered close with curiosity, only to shirk away when I circled around.
As the first tendrils of sun broke over the treetops, they saddled the horses and set off. Immediately into the trek, my eyelids started to droop. There was just something so rhythmic about the pace we set...
"Estra!"
I startled awake, veering myself back on track. The others slowed to a stop. Pretty sure my fur was turning a new shade of red. I pointedly did not look in their direction.
"Did she even get any sleep last night?" Howzer asked.
"I thought Hendrickson was on watch?" Griamore asked.
"She took over from me. I thought, though, that she would have woken one of you up," Hendrickson said. "She does not trust me it seems."
"She has more cause than most to not trust you," Gilthunder said, dismounting from his horse. "Here, Estra, clamber up." He cupped his hands beneath his horse's saddle. "You can rest up here."
I shook my head and continued onwards.
"You guys coming?" They no doubt heard yips but Gilthunder got back on his horse and Hendrickson took charge again.
The trees gave way once again to open plains. A chill wind tousled my fur and helped me stay awake as miles were eaten away by our legs. At this steady pace, we made good ground before evening. Soon, hillocks and strange stones dotted the land. Some merely pointed straight up or laid flat, as a stone should, while others balanced another precariously on points or created archways that rivaled the arches in the castle at Liones.
Hendrickson slowed the party down. The stones cast long shadows in the dipping sun as we meandered through them.
"Are we here?" Howzer asked.
"Yes."
"But where is here? There is nothing to see and there's no one about," Griamore said.
I cocked my head as we approached the largest of the standing stones. It had to be bigger than the houses in Liones. Hendrickson didn't change course so cautiously, we moved through it.
Some unseen force tickled my fur and between one blink and the next, there appeared an island surrounded by a large moat of water. A wonky, natural bridge connected our side to the island.
The place looked as if it was in a bowl, with a high rising mountain range encasing the secluded place. The clouds were pink and purple for a day that was as bright as noon.
The island itself had an old hollowed out tree trunk and a spiky spire that garnered attention, more standing stones placed just as haphazardly as they were before the doorway.
The whole place had an ethereal feel that tickled my mana, making me feel more refreshed than I ever had in my life.
"Welcome, to Istar."