Ion Cáel May 22th,20XX

Sparrow eventually dismissed me with a thoughtful expression and returned to torturing her fellow witches.

I didn't quite know what to make of the witch anymore. Just two days ago she'd unquestionably been under a mind spell but for now, it looked like she was using a similar method as myself, hiding her consciousness under a similar-looking but harmless spell.

While it didn’t look like she had noticed I was completely awake yet, I'd put my cover at risk by letting her believe I could fight against the spell enough to answer her questions. I was still interested in why Aies had personally come for her.

It wasn’t for love since it looked more like the human favoured the witch than Aies did, and it didn’t look like Aies loved the human enough to have put himself at risk like this for his sake either.

“Ahh.”

I let out a heavy exhale as I headed out of the building and toward the cave where I’d hid Aies away. Why the hell was I getting myself involved in this messy situation anyway? It was all because of that old man. Why the hell would he suddenly tell me the cousin that we all thought had disappeared into the human world had suddenly returned as a prisoner during my graduation mission?

A graduation mission was a test for a goblin to be considered an adult. Until they passed it, all their 'Deals' would have to be approved by an older blood-related goblin before it was passed, and they wouldn’t be allowed to create and move out into their own lairs. I’d already passed more than three centuries with my old man since he always managed to find excuses for me not to do the graduation test. I could only imagine his reaction if I failed this one.

Ahh, if I fail this, he won't punish me for it, will he?

A shiver ran down my spine as I recalled the last time id been punished. He’d made me carry the family riding beast on my back and climb the highest mountain he could find with my bare hands. My hands had all but frozen off and my back had suffered third-degree burns from carrying the overgrown lizard.

And all that because I had used one of his treasured bottles of alcohol in a bet with someone else. I’d won the bet but that hadn't done much to abate his anger.

Ah, Aies's great-grandfather is back, isn’t he?

Aies’s great, grandfather was Theodulus the first. One of the cruellest and harshest emperors in history. Times had been different then, and right after the repercussions of the first fae-goblin war, he’d almost singlehandedly kept us goblins from facing the same fate as the elves.

He was one to be respected but it was terrifying to imagine going home and meeting him. From what I’d heard from Aies, he seemed like he had softened a lot, but I didn’t dare assume that softness would extend to me as well.

I stopped at a weapon shop and picked up a bow.

I’d originally wanted to set Aies up with a sword but thinking of how the two old bats at home might react if they found a single scratch on him, I switched to a long-range weapon.

The bow dug into my back as I ran back to the hideout, it was a bit small for me to use, never mind to sling over my back as I ran, but it would suit well for the young prince. Now all I had to focus on was how to convince that beast of a person to adapt to a long-range weapon. He rarely even used the dagger I’d provided him and preferred to use his fists, fangs and claws to attack me.

At first, I’d assumed that it was because he was scared of hurting me but after he’d broken the third dagger by holding onto it a bit too tightly, I’d realized he just found them too inconvenient.

I ran through the trees and suddenly made a sharp turn toward the river.

Someone was following me.

The bow dug even deeper into my back as I moved from running to blurring.

Blurring took more energy to maintain and it was hard to avoid things that were flying at you. I strengthened my skin as much as possible and simply barged through the trees, only avoiding those that would make too loud of a sound if I knocked them down.

The biggest advantage of blurring was that you became somewhat invisible, and at the speed, you were going, it would take an expert or a stronger goblin to be able to track you.

I could feel the witch following me speed up in an attempt to catch up with me and maintained my pace. The river loomed ahead of me and the roaring of rapid waters began to pound through my ears.

It looked cold.

I didn’t mind the cold, but it was also wet. I’d probably have to change the second I got there.

There were multiple entrances to the cave I’d hidden Aies in. some more hidden than others. The one I was heading too was at the bottom of the river. I’d have to swim down to the bottom, enter the hatch on the riverbed, and crawl into the cave.

Wholly uncomfortable, but it would make me difficult to track. And that was my priority.

I needed to get Aies out of this place… the human too if Aies insisted.

A blast of magic, one I could barely recognize as a binding spell, missed me by a hair and made me veer left towards the deeper and more violent end of the river. I had confidence in my swimming abilities, so I wasn’t worried about drowning, but I did feel a strong resentment for the witch that had made my dive more difficult.

I tried to get a glimpse of the witch that had tracked me down this far but all I could see was a head of deep blue hair.