Lunar Heart, Shadow Bound ✓ [when the moon lies]

Ch.29: Unmasked Sorcerer Battle

Note: Underlined part is Kathula tail sign language.

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"Rauvuren Yava, it says. Not Rauvuren Trude?" Daero said, crossing his arms.

"This is it?" Pinti glanced around, but only the gates and a wall barred the way.

Daero shrugged. "Maybe those were all just rumors to keep citizens away?" He stepped up to the padlock and peered into the keyhole. His tail tip twitched and Pinti came up behind him, trying to get a glimpse inside the gates, but she couldn't see anything. It was just dark inside.

"The magick is ancient and there's something else beyond here. Sorcerer's magick." He waved his paw at the keyhole. She expected him to do some magick thing when he stuffed his whole arm inside. He twisted his arm around, took it out, sniffed his paw, and stuffed it in again.

"What are you doing?" She wrinkled her nose.

"Feeling the magick." He shifted to the left and right as if he were doing a dance with just his feet.

"Like that?"

"It's coming from inside!" He hissed. "I have to do it like this." His back fur bristled. "No other way. Just like you open your mouth to catch more scents. No matter what, it'll look stupid."

She scowled at him. "But that's a natural thing. This isn't—"

"I can feel its heartbeat, the hum of the keyhole. But," He yanked his arm out and smoothed out the fur, "nothing else. I guess those were rumors."

A curl of fog tumbled out from under the gates and tangled between his legs. It continued on down the grassy plains to mingle with the rest of the fog. Pinti shivered from the sudden drop in temperature. The moon was still bright overhead and she let her eyes wander from the gates to the stone walls that held them. 

Panning her gaze up the rough rock surface, she caught something out of the corner of her eye. There was a raven with yellow eyes staring at her from a scraggly dead tree behind the stone wall that she didn't notice before.

The blueish darkness began to lighten around the tree. Now there wasn't just one raven, but three. With a flutter of wings there were five, ten, and they kept coming, doubling and tripling.

"Daero," she hissed, but he was at the padlock with a slight azure light around him. "Daero!" she hissed again but only his ears twitched in her direction. He was doing some Sorcerer thing. Did he know all these strange ravens were watching them?

Pinti eyed them, meeting their gaze making sure they knew she saw them. She unsheathed her claws, ready to slash them if they came at her. She crouched down halfway in fighting stance, extending one leg back gripping the ground with her toes. Tension in the air made her fur bristle. All her senses focused on those gleaming yellow eyes.

Rope latched around her ankle, pulling her back. With a yowl she fell on her face. The ravens screeched and took flight in unison, disappearing into the shadows behind. Daero swung around and hissed. Pinti scraped her claws against the ground as he ran towards her. But instead of grabbing her, he leapt over her.

A sword vaporized in his paw and slashed at the rope around her ankle, freeing her from the grasp. Pinti stumbled to her feet and escaped her captor in haste. When she turned, Daero was floating above the ground. Azure light whipped around him like blue lightning. His fur sparkled with small light blue runic symbols.

"Lai-ikolo," Daero scoffed, "you must be desperate to have followed us here."

Beyond him stood the polar-bear-like Kraitai Halfhuman Sorcerer. Her long white hair bellowed behind her like a cape. Frosty air froze the ground. Her pale skin was silvery under the moonlight. She licked her lips as her piercing ice-blue eyes regarded Pinti and Daero.