They walked all night, encountering little during the time. Except for a few goblins who thought they could take on six mercenaries, their travel was quite peaceful. At dawn, Drac once again offered to stay guard leaving the sleeping to his companions. However this time a certain someone kept awake to enjoy the armored man’s lone company.

“What will we do after this?” the woman smiled. She cuddled in her robes to warm up in the cold morning. She spoke in a different tongue; one the Ansdrovean lands had not heard since the age of the Al-Majstayr fi Al-wahda.

“How did you become a mercenary of two strikes so quickly?” Drac asked in similar tongues.

“Dodging the question won’t help” the woman reminded. Drac did not answer her question and continued to gaze at the horizon. *Sigh*“Fine. It helps sometimes to have a strong backer with you. I accompanied him a few times to the local mercenary guild when I was starting out. After I accomplished the few tasks the guild set out and gained the managers attention he gave me a higher rank, probably trying to gain favors from him.”

“Does he know?”

“Hmph, he came up with the idea.”

“To willingly chose such a course for himself…” Drac nodded. “You chose right, it seems.”

“Enough about that and stop ignoring the question. What’s next?” she hissed.

“I shall be continuing on exploring this land, perhaps find a place to settle once I’ve had enough adventure.” Drac turned to look at the women leaning on his pauldron. “After this, you will go your own separate way and enjoy life with whomever you chose, Natravi.”

“Enough adventure? Place to settle?” Natravi laughed ruefully. “Uncle Drac you may still think me the little girl you could easily fool, but I am neither and was never ignorant to your half-truths. You are far too set on finding it to settle anywhere. I’ve had my doubts ever since I was a child but the way you acted in your time spent at his house showed me how much you yearned. You lie to yourself and to others but I could see that you yearned for the luxuries he had.”

“I didn’t yearn his luxuries for myself,” Drac whispered. “I yearned them for you because I wanted you to leave this life. I left because it seemed you did not need my help anymore, you had your distractions and I saw a way out for you. Except… you saw instead to follow me on this path.”

“You say this but the truth is you just want me out of your way,” Natravi narrowed her eyes as she hugged her knees. “You’re too set on revenge that you-”

“Natravi~” Drac stretched that last syllable as if issuing a warning. “I don’t want to see you get hurt anymore, so when I say you need to go back I say it for your own good. There is still a chance for you to live a long and wealthy life with those nobles. I know you and her don’t like each other but at least her brother is amicable, hmm? Put up with her and in due time she will separate from her brother to live out her own life, giving you two space. You can grow old, mother a few children, and live a peaceful life.”

“And forget the past?” Natravi looked at the warrior’s helmet. “Leave everything that’s happened and go away? I am sorry uncle, but I can’t just forget what happened all those years ago. I have a burden to carry.”

“No Navi, I carry the burden of that incident for the both of us,” Drac placed his gloved hand over her shoulder and brought her closer. “You cannot be asked to carry out revenge for something you don’t remember.”

“But I know what happened,” Natravi pushed away slightly. “I have an obligation to my family who’ve been murdered by some…thing you won’t even tell me about.”

“I’m your family; alive and here with you. You have an obligation to me before you have one to them and I ask you to leave this to me.” Drac balled up his fist before slowly uncurling and resting it on her shoulder. “You are the only family I have left and I cannot let you throw away your life in pursuit of revenge. This path I walk is dangerous and I would rather chose to walk it alone if it means the alternative is you placing your life at risk.”

“I have the right to live whichever way my heart tells me to and right now it’s telling me to follow you.” Natravi pulled away from Drac to stand up. The two quietly observed as the sun shone on the dark grasslands in front of them, illuminating and bringing to life the still shoots of the grass. “Forgive me uncle, but I shall be travelling with you and I won’t let you out of my sight.”

“Hmph,” Drac bowed his head. “You are your mother’s child…very well.”

Natravi smiled at the warrior as the two shared a moment of silence.

“If that is what you want,” Drac sighed. He looked up at Natravi and spoke; “I guess we’ll do it like the old times.”

“Reconnaissance?”

“Subtly.”

“Then don’t leave like last time, deal?”

“Hmmm.”

The two continued staring at the horizon in silence, visibly more relaxed than before. After failing to share some heat with Drac due to his cold exterior, Natravi slowly turned back to where the other mercenaries were sleeping and joined them in their slumber. Drac kept still like a statue when she left and only when he could hear the snores of her slumber did he move to slump his shoulders.

“Every time,” he said tiredly.

Time passed by and when sky had turned a perfect shade of blue the others woke up one by one. Soon they had resumed their march to their destination. Natravi had returned back to her previous cold demeanor, showing no signs of her previous familiarity with Drac. They walked over the hill and fortunately met no surprises along their way till they reached the village over a hill.

“What the....” Luvrit spoke in disbelief.

“No” Volvo rubbed his eyes as if he was suddenly tired.

The group had arrived at a scene of devastation. They were a little far away but the destruction was visible; wooden and clay houses were reduced to just rubble and wooden shards, chunks of human parts were strayed around in different places pooled up in their blood. Smoke was wafting into the sky, its source hidden by the piled up remnants of once large houses.

Suddenly Brair took off running at the destroyed village, the others following in suit. They quickly reached the destroyed village and began looking for any sign of survivors.

“Hello, is anyone there?” Brair yelled loudly. “HELLO!”

“Hey, anyone alive?”

Everyone began looking, searching, shouting, but to all their efforts they received a silent reply. They had spread out, looking through the rubble, inside remnant houses and around the perimeter of the smoking village. Until they heard a loud scream emanating from behind the large pile of rubble from where the smoke was originating. As if attracted like ants to their queen they followed the scream around the rubble to where a campfire was lit.

“AHHHH” Drac held up a man from the back of his neck who was desperately trying to get out of his vice grip. The man was wearing a simple long red colored shirt with chainmail coming out of its scruff. He had a pair of pointy silver solerets and brown pants coming out of his greaves. Similar faced people were surrounding the large man, swords in hand they exuded hate in their expressions to the large man. Except for the man held by Drac; his expressions were more fearful than angry.

“STOP!” Volvo’s voice boomed to the skies as he made his way forward, mace in hand. The rest started to encircle the unknown men as Volvo made his way forwards.

“Stay back,” one of the soldiers barked turning his sword to Volvo.

“Who are you people?” Brair asked.

“We are Yikensworth guards. We were sent here to investigate this incident,” the soldier Drac was holding shouted. “And if this meathead doesn’t let me down this instant and show some respect we will have you hung.”

“Oh, I’m sorry sir” Drac said in an obedient voice unbefitting his threatening pose.

Drac slowly lowered the knight on the ground; “Very good.” the soldier said.

“Argh” Drac’s grip on the guard’s neck tightened.

The man chocked as he was raised high before Drac threw him over hand to knockdown one of the less agile soldier standing in front of him. The other dodged his attack and began making his way towards the small Fliss.

The young mercenary thrust his staff and began murmuring. Taking this as his opportunity; the soldier sprinted without restraint, aiming the tip of his sword to end the young man’s life in one quick thrust. When the sword was merely a foot away the winds suddenly picked up and pushed the soldier back. Upon closer inspection the air infront of Fliss’s staff was being jetted forwards. It carried pebbles and other small objects to pummel his body till the soldier tripped over on of his fallen comrades.

“What the heck are you people doing?” the soldier that Drac had held a moment before yelled. “We are guards from Yikensworth, this will get you all killed.”

“You wear the appearance of the Yikensworth guard very well,” Drac slowly walked up to the man. “But there is something wrong in this situation” Drac bent his waist and stared at the guard from under his helmet. “They wouldn’t have arrived so early.”

“The damage here looks very recent,” Peter stated. “The dust hasn’t even settled yet, and there is no scent of goblins or orcs from the forest here.”

“Who are you people and what happened here?” Volvo grabbed the bleeding guard who had attacked Fliss and pulled him up.

“I told you this was going to happen, Jerry, but you just had to light a fire.” said the man thrown by Drac. The man in question, Jerry, struggled to get out of Volvo’s grip till he saw the raised mace.

“Shut up Herald.” Jerry scolded. Volvo punched the man back to the ground as he wiped the spit off his face.

“Both of you shut up,” Brair shouted. “You, Jerry-”

Brair pointed her sword at Jerry as she worked something out in her mind.

“-You’re Alexandrian.” she stated, “Why are you here?”

“How do you know what I am?”

Brair took three large strides and punched Jerry on the other cheek, sword in hand.

“I didn’t until you told me, idiot!” Blare was fuming. A rosy colour beneath the tan began eminating on her face, blending the brown and red. She pulled the knight up by his neck, imitating Drac as best as she could and brought his face close. “Tell me; what happened here? Where are all the villagers?”

“The..Uh..we were sent here to look for an escaped beast. It broke out of its cage and escaped from Mildrow, we, ummm, think it may have come across here.”

“Liar” Drac sighed as he rolled his neck.

“What...Uh…no, miss I’m not lying!” Jerry bent down to hug Brair’s feet. He never hit his mark as Brair quickly jumped up and landed on his head, knocking him out. She walked away to the other two after kicking Jerry a few more times. She approached the man called Henry and kicked him across the face.

“What in the name of Roth were you doing here?” with red eyes Brair pulled on the man’s hair.

“Ow OW,” after receiving a few slaps across the face, Herald eventually spoke. “We were sent here to destroy this village, us and another group.”

*Clank* Her sword fell from her grip and clattered on a stone as a shocked expression overcame her face. Using both her free hands she set to rework Herald’s face, bringing out the black and red colors by cushioning her blows on his fair skin.

“Ha, Ha, Ha,” after finishing her artwork she slowly stood up and picked up her sword to move to the next person. He hadn’t talked the whole time but appeared no less scared as he tried groveling back.

“Okay board,” Brair huffed, trying to control her breathing. “Where are the survivors?”

The situation did not appeal to the question but it was never her intention to begin with. Brair asked in terms of issueing a warning, that if the man did not have anything for her he would be the next canvas which she would paint.

“A few kids…a few kids ran away,” the man said, “they went in the forest.”

“HARGH!” Brair yelled as she punched the man in the face, knocking him out. “”

“This has gotten troublesome,” Volvo frowned, deep in thought. “The forest has recently had an increase in monster activity, let alone lycan and riding geckoes even dirt goblins are able to kill the children, or worse. This has gotten very trouble-. ”

“We are going after those kids” Brair declared. “Yes, even if it’s useless to try, Volvo.”

Brair huffed as she crossed her arms at Volvo, while the latter stroked his beard in thought.

“That’s enough Brair,” Luvrit stepped in, “you are crossing the line.”

“Oh yeah, then tell me why aren’t we already on the run” Brair bit back, “going after those kids whose whole village paid a price to hire us to protect them.”

“SHUT UP.” Volvo shouted. His sudden outburst of great amplitude caused the hardened mercenaries to flinch with shock. Even Drac leaned forwards in expectations of having to prevent Volvo from attacking Brair in anger.

“You think I don’t know?” Volvo pointed at Brair, “I am well aware that we were supposed to protect them, save their children. They are gone in the forest...and I couldn’t call myself human if I didn’t feel like going after them even if they could be dead right now! Don’t think for a second that I care about money more than the lives of people. What happened to them wasn’t my-”

Volvo was losing himself in rage as his voice started to crack. Luvrit quickly intervened by placing a hand on his shoulder.

“VOLVO!” Luvrit shouted as he shook the man, bringing him back to his sense. Continuing in a softer voice, he said “Come on buddy, not now, not here.”

“You are losing yourself in the weariness of your travels,” Drac commented.

“…Thanks Luvrit,” Volvo shook his friends hand off. “Even if my gut is telling me to go after them right now, I can’t. We have the evildoers for this incident in our possession right now, and they didn’t do it alone. They said another group was with them. There is no telling when their comrades are going to come back for them and the city council needs to be notified as quickly as possible. I have to think of all these things before doing something else we will do it rashly like what you’re trying to do. Do you understand now?.”

“Why don’t we split up,” Brair suggested, ignoring the jab at the end.

“We don’t even have horses to travel the distance and our food supply is going to diminish much faster now that we have to keep them alive. It will take at least 3 days-without overnight stays or rest-to take the prisoners back to the city and notify the council of this incident. By that time the evidence of this town could be disturbed by the blowing dust and the venturing monsters of the forest.” Volvo explained.

“We can’t just leave them!” Brair waved at the forest helplessly.

“Why do you think I’m thinking?!”

“Alright everyone calm down,” Peter said. “It will do us no good just standing here arguing. Drac, I take it you and Natravi have a plan about this.”

Drac and Natravi suddenly became the center of attention as they finished sharing a hushed conversation between themselves. Natravi broke off the stare and reached in her robes as she sighed.

“Here,” she said, taking out a scroll. It was made of papyrus and was tied by an old bark in a nice bow. “This will probably help.”

“What is it?” Peter asked.

“A scroll” Natravi looked at Peter as if he was crazy.

*Cough* “And how will a scroll help us.” Drac urged.

“It has the [Satis ventis] spell inscribed on it, give it some mana and it will activate; carrying you at the speed of the winds to wherever the castor wants to go.” Natravi frowned, “It cost me quite a lot so I was saving it for a dire situation, I guess this count’s as one.”

“Thank you,” Volvo bowed his head slightly, Peter and Luvrit immediately followed suit but Fliss hesitated before following suite. “With this we will be able to notify the city of this incident and lose no time in doing so.”

“Your welcome,” Natravi said with a sour face.

Unease began to rise amongst Volvo’s group at the convoluted response, before their leader spoke up; “Then Brair and you two can try finding the children in the forest while we deliver those three to the dungeons.”

Volvo pointed at the group heap of soldiers beaten unconscious.

“Mmmm,” Drac spoke out. “It would be better if Natravi used the scroll to take you to Yikensworth. It is her property, after all.”

“Yes I think it would be best.” Natravi silenced the conversation of the group and gazed at them icily.

“While, she is helping you take the prisoners back,” Drac pointed at Brair and himself. “We can go after the children and hopefully return in a matter of 3 days time.”

“...Yes, yes that would work out just fine.” Volvo confirmed.

“Please place your hands on the scroll,” Natravi said as she raised the scroll over the unconscious soldiers, “and hold onto your belongings.”

Natravi quited chanted [Satis Ventis] as the others placed their hands on top of hers. Winds began to pick up around the spot where the scroll was, creating a cyclone upon which they were raised to sky along with the soldiers unconscious bodies. After reaching a certain height the winds suddenly stopped and shed their dusty exterior to reveal the group floating. A quick flash of green shining light pushed the group across the air and sent them flying into the horizon back where they had journeyed from. Back where the cyclone was born, a small piece of papyrus slowly fell to the ground; its edges burning blue and leaving behind black ash.

“Let’s go!” Drac’s attention was diverted from the scene by the loud voice belonging to Brair who was already running off into the forest.

Looking off into her direction one last time Drac muttered something under his breath before falling in pace beside Brair as they made their way into the forest.

“Some of the soldiers were following them” Drac said.

“The larger footprints, huh,” Brair agreed.

The large spread out coniferous trees made it easy for the two to track in the sunlight. There was little leaf litter to get in the way of the small humanoid foot marks Brair had locked onto. They jumped over fallen trees and mimicked the movements of the children from the shadows of their feet imprinted on the ground.

“It seems that other creatures also took an interest in the kids.” Brair stated as she knelt to observe the footprints.

“Then we must hurry.” Drac stated monotonously.

Little discussion transpired between the two as they set themselves to following and tracking the children’s shadows deep in the forest. Claw and scratch marks accompanied by sword strikes etched in the trees the deeper they went.

“Their last stand was probably here,” Brair noted as they came upon a small clearing. Corpses of soldiers similar to those encountered earlier were thrown around, some were stuck to the trees from the sheer force they were clawed into it and others were mangled so badly that their bodies no longer looked human. This scene was like a piece of twisted dark art from which Brair was obviously displeased.

“Poor bastards” Brair frowned, “treats them right.”

“The tracks are disturbed from here on.” Drac told Brair as he walked over the pools of blood on the ploughed, muddy ground.

Soon sounds of wild beasts could be heard coming in the direction of the tracks causing the duo to pick up pace. The closer they got to the voices the more signs of a battle they noticed. Most of the damage was on the trees; fresh claw marks were evident and some of them were broken in half, the stomp marks and the ploughed out dirk showed that this was a battle between large beasts.

“This is going to be hard,” Drac said “from the marks it seems the beasts are quite large.”

“Don’t chicken out now,” Brair huffed. “We just need to get those children out of here and leave those beasts to themselves.”

They slowed down to a crouch when they could see the colours of the beasts between the trees. They edged closer and hid behind the trees to get a better look at the situation. Two beasts twice the size of Drac stood squaring each other off, taking a short break from their recent exchange.

The larger of the two had long brown wool draped over its entire body. It had a wolf-like face with long horns coming out from the sides, right above its ears. Its body however resembled a Yaks except instead of only four legs it had six and instead of a wooly brown tail it was long, sharp with black spikes coming out of its end as if it was a leaf. Its opponent was a lot more simplistic in design; it had a wolf-like body as large as 10 feet and a reptiles feet as fat as the riding gecko.

“Wow,” Brair whispered as she admired the smaller beast. Both were large and strong but what set it off from the other was that it had pure white fur, uncommon to see so near the edge of the forest.

“We need to find the kids.” Drac set to scanning the area around the beasts.

“Behind the white one,” Brair said pointing at the base of the tree behind the white wolf. The ground at the trees base had caved in and its roots could be seen jutting out, behind them two pairs of eyes glinting in the darkness could be made out.

Drac and Brair waited for the beasts to make a move, but even after the sun had completely set and darkness had befallen, neither beast moved. The darker it got the more the fur of the white wolf glowed till it was the only source of light. Brair was getting slightly agitated as her hand kept twitching near her swords grip.

“We should just attack; take the kids away while we have the chance.” Drac said. “Whoever wins, we will have to deal with it later, so let's get going.”

“No, wait” Brair whispered, placing a hand on his breastplate. “The wolf is trying to help.”

Drac turned around to stare at her, her eyes pleaded him for belief and trust.

“They are both monsters,” Drac said, “and they were chasing those children.”

“The wolf is a light attribute monster,” Brair stared at the ground, “they’re friendly.”

“...It’s not” Drac whispered so softly that Brair didn’t hear. However he stood his ground and let the situation play out, he just stared at the two unmoving beasts staring each other off.

It was the brown beast that struck first. It ran on its six legs and tried to ram the wolf with its horns, but the wolf was faster; it jumped in the air to avoid being impaled. The brown beast bowed his head and raised its behind; sending its spiky tail towards the white wolf suspended mid-air. The wolf wiggled its body and somehow avoided a fatal attack to its body, escaping with a long gash on its ribs. The white monster landed on the ground and quickly jumped to the side and attacked the beasts exposed side. The brown monster whipped its tail across its side to protect itself, however the endeavor was unsuccessful as the wolf, upon noticing the tail, dove down and bit the monsters legs.

A loud howl of pain reverberated through the forest.

The wolf’s white fur glowed intensely as it tried to pull on the leg unbalancing the brown monster on its back as it ripped the leg off. The brown creature howled and screeched as its tail went wild, swinging all around it trying to push back the white one. The wolf dodged the initial attack and clamped down on its exposed belly. This caused the creature to start wiggling, desperately trying to get out of its opponents jaws. The brown wolf’s tail shot straight for the others belly in an attempt to inflict similar damage, however the wolf glowed once more and jumped away, riping a large part of the belly off.

The yak-wolf hybrid suddenly went limp and stopped spasming, its tail twitched slightly but eventually that too fell. The wolf spit the meat on the ground and licked its bloody lips. The fight was over in a only a few minutes. The victor slowly turned and walked over the dead beast barking at the roots under which the children were hiding.

“We should get over there to help them.” Drac said as he walked along the trees to get closer. Brair didn’t argue but instead of following Drac she walked straight out into the clearing, towards the children. When Brair walked past the wolf it raised its head and the light stopped glowing. Under the dark sky, with only the stars and moon to provide light the while wolf’s eyes glowed yellow. Despite the menacing look Brair still walked past it and towards the children staring at her from the darkness under the tree.

“It’s alright,” Brair said as she knelt slightly to offer her hand. “He is harmless.”

A hand slowly reached out to grasp hers and Brair slowly pulled out the person.

“Thank you” the boy weakly said. His features resembled the normal citizen of the Ansdrovean Kingdom; blond hair and blue eyes. He wore a blacksmith’s apron and a sleeveless white shirt underneath, showing off his developed arms.

“Achoo” he sneezed and shivered as he rubbed his arms.

“Here you go,” Brair said nicely as she helped him up.

“WOOOOOOOO” the wolf howled as he ran towards the two.

Brair was occupied with the boy so she didn’t have enough time to react to the incoming beast except fall back from shock. The boy soon followed, shivering greatly as the wolf opened its jaws to bite them.

Suddenly a dark shadow jumped out from behind the trees and and tackled the beast ramming it into a tree. The moon’s light reflected on his red cape as Drac struggled with the wolf, it twisted its neck and bit on his right gauntlet but Drac didn’t let up. He raised his arm high up, to distance the monsters jaws from his helmet. The monster was standing on his lower legs while the upper two pushed Drac back with the full weight of its body behind them. Blood began trickling onto his helmet as the beast’s jaw pearced the gauntlet it was biting. Without a word, Drac swung his free hand back, twisting slighting to his left to slip the monsters paw off his pauldron, punched the monster’s belly.

The wolf yelped, letting go of his arm before dodging back to the tree. Drac slowly walked backwards in Brair direction, still facing the monsters. The wolf glowed once more and started to stalk the man, walking back and forth as it growled.

“I don’t understand,” Brair said as she crawled back, “why is it attacking us?”

“It’s a monster,” Drac replied calmly. Exhaling deeply he reached back and took out his sword, as large as himself the sword glinted menacingly in the moonlight.

“Light attribute or not,” Drac gripped his sword with both hands and prepared himself. “It intends to eat us. YAH!”

The monster responded to Drac’s provocation and jumped towards the man, sailing through the air it landed just out of the blades reach. The rest of the distance was covered by Drac as he tried to swing downwards at the monster’s head. It never connected. The monster dodged and attacked his exposed left side. Matching the monster’s speed Drac swung his left hand, catching the wolf’s side with the flat of his sword. It yelped and retreated once more, meanwhile Drac moved to shield the boy and Brair better. Brair shakily stood up and also took out her sword mimicking Drac’s two handed grip.

“My fight,” Drac said as he jumped on the offensive. The white wolf dodged the attacked and ran around the warrior aiming his attack at the boy and Brair. She raised her sword against approaching beast, but in comparison to its massive size the sword didn’t look threatening at all.

“Ahhhh” she shrieked as she moved forward to intercept. Her sword strike came down at the beast but she was much slower than Drac or the beast. It knocked the sword out of her hand and with another strike sent her flying. She skidded across the clearing until she was stopped by a tree, knocking her unconscious.

Drac lightly cursed and jumped back, arching his back in a curve with his sword held out over his head. The beasts jumped at the trembling youth, unaware of the descending sword above it. The sword came down on the beasts skull and pieced through its head, stabbing it to the ground. However the momentum of the body carried forward, stopping only a foot infront of the boy. Drac’s body slowly rocked forward before returning to its handstand as he gripped his sword for support. He straightened himself back down on the wolf’s back before pulling out his sword and getting rid of the blood with one strong swing. Stepping off its body Drac glanced at the boy before turning his attention to Brair.

“Go get your friends kid,” Drac said as he walked over her. He knelt down and checked on her body. Meanwhile the boy walked towards the tree, shaking off his trembles and pulled out two girls from grotto under the tree. The light of the moon caught the tear markings on their face which they quickly rubbed off. The younger of the two hung to the older one’s skirt as she looked out at Drac checking on Brair. Finishing his check up Drac stood up and turned to towards the approaching children.

“Are you okay?” Drac asked.

“Yes,” the older girl spoke.

“Thank you for saving us.” The boy said.

“How old are you three?” Drac said curiously.

“Me and Rina are both 15 and Mina is 12.” The boy answered.

“I see…*Sigh* I am Drac and my companion is Brair, we are the mercenaries hired by your village a few weeks ago.” Drac sat Brair against the tree. “Sorry for not being here early enough.”

“Umm, do you know what happened to our village?” The boy asked.

“It was attacked by Alexandria, the kingdom southwest from here.” Drac answered, “You three seem to be the only survivors of your village.”

“No…” Rina said as if all the air was pulled out of her. Her younger sister had an extreme reaction and swayed into her sister, fainting in the process.

“Mina!” Rina yelled she checked on Mina. The boy tried to play it stoic and not say anything but he still trembled, beads of light rolling down his cheek.

“And we have 3 of the perpetrators with us.” Drac said. “The rest of our group had taken them to the kingdom for interrogation.”

Drac knelt on one knee in front of the three children, due to his large stature he was at eye level to the children even at that pose. “Return with me to Yikensworth and I promise you will have your revenge.”

It seemed as if the boy was composing himself to answer but someone else beat him to it. Mina, who was now awake, looked at him with puffed cheeks and a red face as tears rolled down it.

“Good,” Drac said with an even voice.