Chapter 33

“So once again, what’s with the knife?”

Aramaleo eyed Silva with a clear apprehension on his face. He had done so ever since he had been allowed to come in again. The four of them had made a circle in the middle of the corridor. They had figured that they were as ready to be transported as they could be for the day.

Once again everyone ignored Aramaleo’s question. They had asked if there was anything else that they should take with them, but he had just shrugged. As he explained if there were no specific instructions there was nothing specific they should bring along.

“We are ready.” Silva gave the green light to begin the teleportation. This time she would not make the mistake of opening her eyes before Aramaleo gave a sign that it was safe.

“Okay, but that’s not what I was asking,” Aramaleo grumbled. “Fine, close your eyes.”

Being assaulted by the myriad of sensations was just as unpleasant as Silva remembered. Just in case she pressed her eyes even shut even tighter. And just as suddenly it had started the teleportation ended.

“We are here. Wherever it is.”

The first thing Silva noticed was the warm wind and rustling of the leaves. And when she slowly opened her eyes the next thing that came to her attention was…

“It’s nighttime,” Mika whispered.

Scanning her surroundings all Silva saw was bushes and trees above her head. The grassy patch they all were now occupying was only a couple of meters wide and the grass reached up to her knees. The only light came from the bright moon hanging high up the sky. And a cacophony of different insect sounds.

“What now?” Steven addressed Aramaleo.

“Right, your target should be about a half a kilometre in that direction.” Aramaleo pointed at the widest and thickest bush. “I’ll stay here while you get your target free. You just have to release the target back in the woods.”

“And that’s all?” Silva suspected it wasn’t. “You are not coming with us?”

“No, I will stay here and secure the retreat path.” Aramaleo proudly declared. “And yes, that’s all.”

“Aren’t you our retreat path Marmelademan?” Steven did a verbal jab.

“Please don’t make that my nickname.”

“Whatever you say Marmelademan. This way you said, right? We should get going.” Both Silva and Mika expressed their agreement as Steven took the lead and walked right through the thick bush Aramaleo had pointed at.

“Where do you think we are?” Silva asked while trying to make out anything she could identify in the deep darkness. Trees and the sparse foliage looked different from what they were used to from what she could make out. She had tried her phone, but there was no signal in this place.

“I would say we are about to find out,” Steven spoke right before Silva noticed the light breaking through the trees right ahead of them. As they walked closer and closer to this source of light they discovered that the overgrown patch of land was suddenly cut off by a street.

Streetlights overpowered the night and before them stood a small village. From where they were standing it looked like there couldn’t be more than a few hundred structures here. None of the buildings was taller than two stories and most of them were in a sorry state of disrepair. Still, all of them seemed to be coloured in brightly making the place look welcoming, despite the broken-looking machinery thrown about the place.

They could spot several signs placed around and from what Silva could tell they looked…

“Can you read it, Silva?” Mika gave her a task. “Looks Spanish?”

Silva started to chant but failed the first time. She glanced at her friends, but they did not notice to her relief. Quietly she cursed and tried again, this time managing to cast the translation spell on her eyes.

“Most of them are just name’s of the establishments. That one should be the name of this place, it says ‘Maquipo’. That one is…” Silva continued to read out everything she could see from the distance.

“How are we supposed to find anything here? Do we find someone who is awake and ask? Think you could manage it, Silva?” Mika pondered.

“Hm, what? Uh, I am not sure. It would be difficult, I can’t speak and understand at the same time. Besides we should start there.” Silva pointed at a yellow single-storey building. The place was clearly a shop of sorts with windows filled with advertisements.

“Why? What’s there?” Mika asked as Silva’s friend attention now focused on where she was pointing.

“Well, it’s a veterinary clinic, animal shelter and a place that sells animal food,” Silva explained. “Or that’s what’s written on the smaller sign by the doors.”

“That seems almost too easy…” Steven tried to see if there was anything suspicious going on with the building.

“Aramaleo did say that this should be easy, didn’t he?” Mika reasoned. “Silva, could you see if there is anything else from closer up? Just, you know, be careful.”

“Okay! Give me five minutes.” Silva easily agreed as she activated her ability. Keeping in mind to keep herself to places where the line of sight was restricted she started to close in on her target. It wasn’t that hard, as there were an old car, trailer and an old freezer, that was dumped on a side of the street, along the way.

Soon Silva found herself standing next to the building and she started to slowly circle around it trying to find a place she could enter. There was another door at the back, and all the windows were closed. She could make out steel bars inside that kept any intruders from just braking windows and entering. Roof too was a bust. Silva found no way to get up to it and she soon returned to the back entrance.

Doors, of course, were locked and after a short search, making sure that keys were not under a rug, Silva decided that Steven was their best option of entering. After another minute she found herself standing in front of her friends and explaining what she had found.

“Hmm, braking in wouldn’t be hard.” Steven flexed. “Think there is an alarm there?”

“Could be, but at the same time…” Silva gesticulated at the village.

“Yea, this place is poor. And they probably are counting on those bars in the windows and locks to keep people out. Right, let’s go then.” Steven agreed.

“If there is an alarm we run and let Silva scout afterwards, okay.” Mika tried to curb the enthusiasm.

Returning, now with her friends in tow was nerve-wracking. At some point, dogs started to bark and they stopped midway with their breaths held. Seconds passed, but there was no movement around. Just the usual sounds of nature.

They continued and after longer than Silva would have liked the three of them found themselves standing in front of the back doors. Steven, after a moment of consideration, squatted and tried to fit his fingers under the doors. After successfully managing to do so, he started to pull the doors upwards.

With a loud cracking sound the wooden doors started to bend until they finally partially snapping in the middle. It was at this moment that Mika whacked Steven on the back of his head.

“What are you doing?” Mika hissed.

“I thought I could hook them out of hinges.” Steven tried to explain.

“That’s not how doors work!” Mika angrily whispered while jabbing a finger at Steven.

“But it worked!” Steven tried to justify himself as he pushed the tragedy that was the door lightly and they fell inside the building. “In a way.”

“Shh, someone is coming. Hide.” Silva ordered as she headed for the closest corner to see what was happening. Dogs were once again riled up by something. And now there also was a lone man watching the building they were hiding behind with suspicion.

Silva gripped the knife that was in her hand not knowing what to do, but luck was on their side and the man, continued walk. Only then Silva noticed that he had a half-empty bottle in his hand.

Sighing she walked back to find her friends behind a pile of wood.

“Let me enter and see what’s there, wait here.” Silva finished with her instructions and walked back to the back entrance.

Carefully Silva eyed dark room that the broken door had revealed. The light from behind her was barely enough to illuminate shapes of the inner layout. Glancing back once more, to make sure her friends couldn’t be seen, she took a step forward.

With the place too dark to see, Silva took out her phone to use the flashlight. The light revealed her in the middle of various supplies, animal food and boxes of unidentifiable variety.

Not finding their target she choose one of the two doors that lead deeper in the building and opened them. Behind them was the shop, so she quickly closed them and headed for the other door.

This time she found another dark room, with a window at the farther side of it. Slowly she entered as she put her phone away. There was enough light coming from the street for her to be able to tell that this was likely the right place.

To her right, there were cages of different size stacked on top of each other, while on her left table and cabinet with glass door, that revealed stacks of papers and medicament.

But what attracted her attention right away was the single cage that was not empty. Slowly, forgetting that it was impossible for the being to notice her, Silva walked closer to see what exactly was that they had come so far away for.

Somewhere outside dogs were again barking. The light seemed to flicker outside, but all Silva could see was the silver-coloured Ocelot sleeping in the cage. Larger than a house cat by a large margin it exuded an aura of feral danger.

Silva activated her mana sight and observed the wild cat even closer. Her suspicion proved to be correct. She could tell that this animal, against all odds, was circulating mana. While the mana movement was sluggish and slow, it was still moving around the cat in a recognizable pattern.

The task they had been given was to release the target back in nature, but Silva doubted that just unhooking the simple lock would be enough. And wouldn’t it the beautiful animal be in danger of getting captured again?

Ultimately, it did not matter. Silva could not take the animal with her. She only hoped that the cat would be more careful from now on.

Carefully she tried to move the cage, to see how heavy it was. Despite her persistent training regime these past couples of months Silva concluded that there was no way for her to pull out the cage with her own strength. She would have to rely on Steven.

The cat had woken up from the sudden movement of its cage and was now looking at the place where Silva was standing. “Can it tell?” She could not help but wonder.

Deciding that it was better not to reveal herself as it would alarm the ocelot she turned around to go and get Steven. Then they would have to bring the cage to the forest and brake it. Soon enough they would be back home. Aramaleo had been right, this task was simple.

That was when a sudden crash behind her threw her across the room towards the exit. Painfully Silva slid on the floor, her shoulder throbbing from the sudden impact. With her eyes blurry from the pain, she tried to see what exactly had hit her.

Then the horror of the being that was before her hit. Silva felt herself trying to crawl away from the figure blocking the window. The ocelot did not get its chance.