Azra gripped the handle of his blade harder than necessary. The stench in the air was almost intoxicating. This was more than just magic here. This was a forbidden practice of the darkest of magical arts
So it must mean he was close to his goal.
He crept up the hill, lying as low as his body could manage and still allow him movement. There were indistinguishable sounds coming from the other side of the hill. A glance over it confirmed the camp set up by the bandits. They had put up the tarp over the tent. The sound of rain on it would mask any movements he and his company made well. But stealth was not the problem here. He had just given the camp a glancing over three times now. Aside from the fifteen bandits that surrounded it, drinking away their small victory, there was no sign of his objective anywhere nearby.
"I have directed Mimo to the east, Azra. She is not one to value your precision when it comes to delicate missions like these."
Azra did not glance behind himself when the voice spoke. He had already smelled her scent when she had reached the foot of the hill.
"What of Sila and Siza?"
"The twins remain airborne. We could require reinforcements if the bandits decide to get too excited at our arrival. But we both know we can handle them well enough on our own."
Azra smiled to himself and moved closer to the camp. The woman moved along with him and they were soon a few meters from the nearest bandit in the outer perimeters of the camp. He had been mistaken about the rain masking their noise. These idiots here would never have heard him even if he did not come with the thunder of rainstorms.
"Last one to five buys the rum," the woman spoke beside him and leapt at the closest bandit with enough grace to make Azra impressed. But then again, there was no one more graceful in attacking someone's back than Mila.
He drew his sword from its sheath and proceeded to join in the spoils. There had been more men in the hut, and Azra smiled at the sight of them exiting. It had been a long time since his blade had its fill on enemy flesh and blood. He had downed three of them with swift strikes when he saw the purple ball of manna flying towards his head. He missed it by inches, the ends of his white hair not being so fortunate to say the same.
He did not know that people in the Dead Forest were now capable of using magic, and use it this well. They were, however, still no match for his might. He dodged the next three manna spheres and sent his sword plunging deep into the bandit's torso. Another swing saw him sever the head off.
He was just prepping himself for another attack when he noticed there was nothing else to slay. Mila and her greed for battle had gone and slaughtered all of them.
"I count five for myself," she said as she drew the blood from her sword, "and four for y-"
Azra drew his dagger and flung it in Mila's direction so fast that the girl barely registered it whizzing past her head and impaling the bandit behind her right between the eyes.
"You were saying?"
"I still got to five first."
"And I made sure you can live to drink rum again tomorrow."
Mila laughed her quiet, melodious laugh and agreed that they would both buy each other drinks then.
Azra would have ended up buying the rum either way so he did not venture much into the topic. Mila had a way of making sure her path was the only one that succeded. Being the daughter of an Oak and an Elenkite, Mila had been frowned on by society almost the same way as Azra had when they were still children.
She was such a frail child, no taller than the stable fence that kept the horses in their keep, with hair darker than the night's sky and softer than silk. But Azra had never met anyone else who could manipulate the human anatomy like Mila. She was a specialist at killing, so naturally they became the best of friends. It had been twenty winters now since they met, and the amount of blood they had spilled between them could fill the Dead Forest over.
"Did you just send me to the east so I wouldn't best you in battle, Mila?" the bushes to the side of Mila parted and out stepped a woman, her blond hair darkened by the rain. She, unlike Mila and Azra, sported no armor or weapons of the sort. She had in hand, a wooden stuff and a cloak of the deepest blue color.
"I would never dare do that, Mimo. I was only giving you enough room to swing your staff to your heart's content."
Mimo huffed and drew the hood of her cloak to cover more of her face as she stuck her tongue at Mila. Azra had found this one when he had ventured into the lands north of the Yori Motherlands. She was not a Yorite, but she had ancestry to the Elenka mages. And she had almost killed him with that wooden staff when he refused to engage her in conversation.
Azra should have known that the weapon was no normal wood back then. The staff she used was from the Woods of Spirits north of the Yori Motherlands. She had lived with them for so long that she knew the ways of spirits more than those of men. Azra was surprised when she consented to follow him, but had to dress her in his own cloak, that she uses until today, as spirits never had much patience with clothing.
"We must be moving along now," Azra drew their attention as he lifted his head to the night's sky. There was a low rumble in the sky as the rain begun to reduce in intensity. It steadily continued the decline until finally there was a loud clap of thunder before the rain seized to fall. His friend had served him well yet again.
"There will never come a day that your stunt with the weather will be common place with me," Mimo spoke as she angled her staff to her back and took her hood off, shaking the moisture off her blond tresses. She was the only person in all of Yori that Azra knew was always so particular with their hair.
"Let us have some answers now," Azra turned back to the camp and glanced straight at the bandit who was backing away from them, sure in the knowledge that he was going unnoticed by these abominations. The way they killed his brethren was not normal of ordinary people. Each of them had a certain amount of darkness to them. But none he feared more than the Sky Mover.
Oh yes... even low lever bandits like him knew of Azra the Sky Mover.
"The girl, where have you placed her?"
The bandit was not a fool. He knew that if he spoke to these people, there was no guarantee that they would not kill him still. It was not in the nature of these people to be forgiving. He had sworn his loyalty to the Brotherhood and he would rather die than betray them.
"He seems to value death more than his life, Azra," the blonde staff wielder spoke to the Sky mover and the bandit was confused. How did the woman know about his thoughts?
"Then we should respect his wishes," that was the last thing the bandit heard from this world. The strike came so swift that he had only blinked before he felt the embrace of death.
"Well... that went well," Azra heard Mila jest as he got to his feet. He had known that the man would never divulge the location of the girl. He had dealt with numerous of his kind to know how extremely stubborn they can be. He however, always gave them the choice. Brolin had taught him that choices are what define a man. He would always give someone a chance to define themselves.
But he still needed answers even if he had slit the man's throat out. He would need the twins for that.
He stood from his crouching position just as a large figure flew above them, circling the camp to come and land at the feet of Azra. It ruffled its feathers importantly and flapped its wings, as if asking him to move back. He obliged to the creatures request and as soon as he had, the camp was bathed in a brilliant white light for a few moments before it faded. In the place of the bird stood two identical individuals, both cloaked in black robes.
The Twins of Elenka. Perhaps the most dangerous mages Yori had seen in this lifetime. They were brother and sister and only nineteen winters young despite the many missions they had accompanied Azra and his companions to.
"The magic works best if he is alive, Azra. Will you never make it easy for us to do our duty?" the girl spoke as she scrawled at the body. She was not fond of exerting more magic than necessary.
"I thought it was your duty to make my work easier, Sila?"
The woman chortled softly as the twin boy crouched down to the dead bandit's corpse. He prodded and poked at it in various areas until he looked back up at his sister, a frown on his face.
"I see," Sila spoke and turned back to Azra, a worried look on hers, "Siza is concerned with the corpse. Something about the man is... troubling."
"Well, that would explain why his spirit clung to the option of death rather than life," Mimo spoke and drew closer to the corpse. Siza lifted his hand to her face where a cut had traced its way across the beautiful face.
"It will heal before we reach the Gates of Yori, my love."
"Is it even necessary to worry about a creature like Mimo, Siza?" Mila spoke and Siza narrowed his eyes at her. He was not very fond of Mila no matter how long he had seen her. Azra knew it was because Mila never kept a civil tongue in her head when addressing his beloved.
"Focus," Azra spoke and the boy continued his examination of the corpse.
The twins were an interesting pair in all of Yori. Whether Siza had been born dumb or not was a mystery to everyone because he had never spoken a word since his birth. Sila was the mouthpiece of the duo. Whenever a spell was needed, she would speak the incantation and he would deliver the chakra necessary. This meant that they were practically inseparable. No one understood their magic in the least bit. Sila did use her magic, but only as a last result and when her brother was completely spent of his.
"The spirit is indeed touched by dark magic," Sila continued as Siza went back to his examination, "We might not get him to wake again."
"What of his brain?" Azra asked and Siza placed both his hands on the corpse's head. It was a few seconds later that he removed them and turned to his sister.
"We believe the brain has... less dark magic," Sila begun, "It is worth a try anyway."
Mimo and Azra both stepped back a few paces from the twins as they went about performing their arts. Siza's hands were engulfed in purple flames as Sila crouched down to his level and placed her hands over his.
"When the connection is made, do not linger. We cannot hold the link for long," Sila spoke and both she and her brother placed their hands on the boy.
"Huga kort."
There was a moment's pause, then the bandit's corpse started twitching wildly.
"What is happening?" Mila spoke as she and Azra went to restrain it from throwing the twins off.
"The magic is fighting us! Hurry!" Sila spoke, the strain in her voice evident. Azra switched his hold on the bandit with Mimo and went to crouch next to the corpse's head.
"Reveal the girl's location."
"Sixteen meters north... Fisher is waiting for the pay... before dawn."
Azra looked at the sky. Dawn was not too far away. He glanced at Mila and the latter nodded, heading in the north direction.
<Sky Mover...> the corpse called back to Azra, but this tone was different. This sound was one he had heard before in his own head.
<The curse of men... a vessel filled with darkness... we await your return back... back to us... back to your destiny.>
He had never heard them calling to him. Usually they only had insults for him. Now they were awaiting his return? And they spoke of him coming back to his destiny?
"What destiny?"
<A destiny... filled with darkness.>
The aura in the air snapped and both Sila and Siza fell backwards from the corpse. Azra watched it decay right in front of his eyes but he was still wondering what the spirits in the man were referring to.
"What were you talking to?" Mimo asked him as she helped Siza up.
"Could you not hear the spirit?"
"No... the first part of the man's spirit I heard. But there was second... it was unlike anything I have ever felt... it was like a black wall I could not see past."
Azra was concerned now. This was the first time Mimo had ever spoken of a spirit she could not understand. Perhaps it was because of its vile nature. But that would not hold true in other circumstances. He had a vile nature himself yet Mimo had no trouble viewing his spirit.
"I found her," Mila came back into come with a down trodden girl in her arms. She had only but to glance at Azra to know something was off with the lot. Azra did not see this as a burden to bear. He had been sent by the Elder Mothers to do a job, and it had been done. The rest of his problems would be dealt with another day.
"Wehave no more business here. We return back to Yori at first light," he spoke andturned back to the darkness of the forest. He needed time to think.