It was, perhaps, around ten minutes later when Felix made his lion slow its speed, and soon, we descended. I braced myself for a rough landing, my body going all tense. I even tightened my hold on Felix while burying my face against his mighty chest. But then, the lion hit the ground gently and lightly, which both surprised and amazed me.
I looked around, and that was when I sighted the glow of bonfires in the distance. It wasn't long until we emerged into a clearing, which was obviously a camping site.
As we came into the area, I could only gaze around in awe and take everything in. There were men everywhere, sitting around the various open fires in groups of four or five and chatting. Or were they discussing and planning? I didn't know because I wasn't paying too much attention to them. Some others were working and carrying various things such as cartons of supplies, contraptions that I had never seen before, and of course, weapons from one place to another while others were patrolling the vicinity. There were tents, too, like those Mongolian ones, scattered around the area, perhaps serving as sleeping quarters and storing goods.
By the time we got to what seemed to be the center of the camp, I noticed that many eyes were on me, which made me uncomfortable.
When we came up to a hill where one of the two largest Mongolian-like tents stood, the winged lion came to a stop, and Felix got down. Only then did I notice Felix's colleague, the moody one, was watching me with such intensity that my heart skipped a few beats. Why was he gazing at me like that? Like I was his next meal or something?
When we had first started out after I had been captured, the broody one had departed first on his winged lion and disappeared out of my sight into the darkness. Now I knew that he had rushed over here to their base camp. To check up on things? I didn't know, and God, I just wished he'd stop paying so much attention to me with those dark eyes of his. And truthfully, I felt like I was a deluxe meal on display and he was a starving wolf that couldn't wait to devour every bit of the morsel, me, that was on offer.
Just when I thought he was going to turn and leave, he marched right up to me and then wrapped his hands around my middle and guided me down from the lion, which pleasantly surprised me.
He is nice?
I was about to say thank you, since he was helping me, but then the two words got stuck in my throat when the man, instead of putting me on the ground, carried me over his broad shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
I blinked, dumbfounded.
What the hell? Was this normal behavior around here?
As this moody one took me toward the tent, Felix burst out laughing, which confused me.
I thought about requesting that he put me down—as I had legs and could walk as fine as any person—when he flipped the clothlike door and walked into the tent.
Inside, I was unceremoniously dumped onto the ground. Well, not the cold, hard earth, but rather, beneath me were soft Persian-like carpets and fur rugs. All around me were luxurious, soft cushions made from the finest materials. I suspected this was this man's private tent, which told me that he must be one of the head honchos of some clan. God, I felt like I was in Arabian Nights, with all this glamour in a tent in the middle of the woods.
Moody Brute took up an imposing position not far from me, sitting on that grand, comfy chair like a king. It was then Felix entered the tent and gracefully took the other chair to the left of his colleague.
Side by side, the masks on their aquiline-featured faces looked like a reflection of one another.
Moody Brute was still watching me intensely like I was an alien who had just dropped into his world. Well, to him, perhaps I was an alien, considering that I wasn't part of this realm.
Felix cleared his throat and said, "What's your name, little elf?"
His question caught me off guard. "Hmm..." I licked my lower lip as I thought hard on whether I should tell these people my real name or not. After all, if they knew, wouldn't it be easy for them to hunt me down again if I had managed to escape?
"Name?" Moody Brute asked, his voice demanding.
Because he frightened me, I lost my wits and snapped back, "Alfie!"
"How old are you, little elf?" Felix asked.
I was a little annoyed that a) I blurted out my name because I was a little frightened, which didn't sit well with me, and b) bastard Felix still addressed me as little elf even though I had already told them my name. And why did he wanted to know my age?
"Does it matter?" I retorted. Then because I couldn't take this weird interrogation anymore, I decided to bring the modern, Earthling logic into the conversation.
I said, "Look, let's get straight to the point here. What do you want with me? And why have I been captured? It's not like I did something wrong, right?"
Felix snorted while Moody Brute simply continued to stare, which by now began to get on my nerves. When are you going to have enough staring at me, for God's sake?
Moody Brute said, "We'll be the ones to judge whether you did anything wrong or not, boy."
I frowned. "I have a name, thank you very much, and it's Alfie Yuki Akari Nakamura," I said proudly.
The moment I said that, I could sense both men tense and become dark and serious.
"Yuki?" Moody Brute asked.
I was taken aback by their reactions and particularly Moody Brute's forceful question.
I explained, "My middle name. It means snow in Japanese." Just as I said that, I gasped and shut my mouth. What am I saying? Revealing to them that I wasn't from this part of the realm, because surely, they wouldn't have a country called Japan or the language Japanese here, would they?
Felix seemed to have calmed down and said, "It's a common name, Caleb."
So Moody Brute's name was Caleb, then?
Caleb seemed to nod in agreement as he said, "Yuki is a common name in the eastern region." Suddenly, he got out of his chair and came toward me.
Once he was inches from me, he got down to one knee and asked, "Are you from the eastern region, boy? But you don't look like you're of the eastern population."