A Desperate Gamble

Both Biast and Clive were shocked to find out that Insaldur was staging an attack against the iron kingdom. Insaldur is an empire to the west of Valisthea. Similar to the grand duchy of Rosaria, Insaldur once comprised of several kingdoms but in recent years word spread of two brothers who have conquered the entirety of the continent thus uniting all the kingdoms under one banner. The empire now seeks to extend its reach beyond their own shores. Not much is known about Insaldur due to its extremely isolated location but is believed that Insaldur contains a mothercrystal albeit different than those found in Valisthea. It is unknown if it even has a dominant and so the Iron kingdom, none the wiser is preparing for massive a naval invasion. 

Amina spoke up, " Not so surprising considering even i received word of this development just a day before we boarded the ship. "

Neither Biast nor Clive knew what to say and just stood there dumbfounded. The fact that a completely new empire which had an entire continent to themselves were intending to attack Valisthea was too much for them to handle.

Amina stood up, " We should leave now if we are slip by undetected "

They didn't even have time to discuss anything as Amina walked over to the door, clutching her left abdomen. Clive walked over to her, offering to help her, " Here, you can lean on me " But Amina brushed his hand away with a faint smile. "Thank you, but I can manage for now." Clive noticed the way she favored her left side. It was plain that she was still wounded and as much as Clive wanted to help her he didn't know what to say that would convince her and so they resumed their journey.

 After a few more minutes they had reached the edge of the forest in the direction their sergeant had directed them to. The area surrounding the town was raised and so they could see almost the entire town from this point. They could see dim lights from several fires, indicating the guards with still searching for them. The climate was still the same as yesterday and getting even worse by the second. The wind was starting to pick up. Amina turned towards Clive, " Where is your sergeant ? did he give this exact location to you ? "

Clive did not reply. He was staring at Amina. All this time in the heat of the chase Clive hadn't even noticed how beautiful she was. Her dark black hair whipped acorss her face and as she moved them from her face Clive gazed deeply at her blue eyes. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, and before he could stop himself, his gaze drifted down to the way she favored her left side, each breath a struggle.. "Clive?" Amina's voice snapped him out of his daze. "Are you alright?"

Clive woke up from his daze, " Sorry, are you having trouble breathing ? we should get you to a healer "

She held up her hands, " Thank you but it would have to wait until our mission is over. " She turned back towards the town, Now since your sergeant is not here we have to assume he is either dead or has been captured. either way it is not to our advantage "

Biast who was leaning against the bark of a tree chimed in. "The sergeant wouldn't go down easily, " He pointed towards the muddy ground. "And look at that. it appears there are some footprints over there, fresh as anything. Most likely your sergeant. Maybe he went ahead of us."

Amina, however was skeptical and so she crouched down near the boot prints, her brow furrowed in concentration. As she examined them closely, her eyes widened in alarm. "You boys better come take a look at this."

Biast and Clive joined her, their hearts hammering in their chests. They traced the outline of the prints, the damp earth molding to their fingertips. They realized These weren't human prints. The tread was wider, deeper, and the toes were oddly splayed. four clawed digits left deep gouges in the mud, unlike the neat impression of a human boot. " This...this is no human mark-"

Amina spoke up her voice dull and fear clearly etched onto it, " Its some kind of beast and and judging by the freshness of these prints... oh gods "

The marks were large indicating it was some king of large beast and it had walked off towards the forest, in the direction they were supposed to go.

Their blood ran cold. Clive voice trailed off, " Its still near us or maybe it is even watching us "

All three of them stood up raised their swords, their backs against each other, and looked around them. Every shadow, every rustle of leaves and every snap of a twig sent shivers down their spines. Amina pulled out a dagger from under her cloak and gripped it tightly in her hand.

 "There's a high chance this creature took Tiamat," she finally said, her voice resolute. "But we can't dwell on that. We need to complete the mission "

Clive didn't even know what to say. Tiamat was the one who had taken him in all those years ago, he had given Clive a home, something worth fighting for.

The winds was blowing very fast now adding to their stress. Their tense silence was shattered by Biast's gruff voice. "So, what now?" he demanded, his grip tightening on his sword hilt.

Amina thought for a a moment and turned back to them. " I am wounded and there is no way we can slay that thing. We will have to make a run for it "

Biast shouted, "Run for it?, with that thing probably hot on our heels? Are you mad? how do you expect us to - "

Amina met his gaze, " Don't you understand ? there is no way. this is the shortest path to the capital and if we fail the empire will have our heads ! "

While Amina and Biast were busy arguing Clive heard the sound of a twig snapping in front of him inside the dense foliage of the forest. Amina and Biast also went quiet. All three of them squinted their eyes and for but a moment they could see it. Two yellow eyes staring straight at them.