Chapter 11

"Autumn," Ember whispered.

"Autumn." Poke, poke.

Autumn sighed as she reluctantly opened her eyes. Ember glanced at her, waiting for her to come to her senses.

Autumn sat up, yawning. As she reached up to rub her eyes, she realized that her hands were bound together.

It was pitch black, the only source of light was from the moon and stars. Nonetheless, she was able to make out Ember's silhouette sitting idly in front of her. Her hands were not bound, but the length of rope in the corner showed otherwise. Autumn shook her head, easily untying the rope around her hands.

Autumn looked around, squinting in order to try and make out the shapes around them. It seemed that the adventurers had set up camp for the night, leaving them unguarded.

Confused, Autumn climbed to her feet, but she had barely walked a few steps before she hit a wall. Narrowing her eyes, Autumn noticed the faint shimmer of a barrier.

"It's useless. I've been trying to get out for the past hour, but they've completely surrounded us," Ember growled angrily.

As if suddenly remembering something, Ember spoke up once more. "Regarding what you did before we got caught, as much as I appreciate you trying to help, next time do not try and get hit in my stead."

Autumn nodded sheepishly and sat down next to Ember. "I guess we have no other choice but to wait out the night. Let's hope we have a chance to get out of here."

Nodding, Ember agreed. "Let's take a look at your map and see if we can find out where we are."

Autumn quickly summoned the map out from her blue heart pendant. Unrolling the fragile piece of parchment, Autumn placed the map in the moonlight.

"This is the dark forest," Autumn stated as she pointed to a small corner of the map. "We were near the southern parts of Leafwind continent, Dawnbreak is towards the east, Frostfall is near the west, and Silversky is up north."

Ember continued, "Leafwind is generally warm all year round, Dawnbreak is scorching hot, Frostfall is freezing, and Silversky is cool. Judging by the time we've been unconscious, the adventurers should have been able to make a decent distance."

"The adventurers must have come from either Frostfall or Silversky, their clothing is more suited to cold weather than warm. That means we're probably headed somewhere northwest," Autumn finished.

"When we escape, I doubt they will give up so easily. We have to find a way to make them stop searching, and what better way than to fake our deaths?" Ember grinned as she began to narrate her plan step by step.

"Everything is going to work out fine," Ember exclaimed as she clapped her hands together.

By now the sun had begun to rise, splashing the sky with color. The adventurers had likewise gotten up, packing up the temporary campsite quickly.

Autumn didn't forget to glare at them hatefully. Feeling her intense stare, the archer turned towards her and beamed. At the sight of his overly sunny smile, Autumn growled softly and turned away.

Thud. Two scaled sparrows had been dropped inside the barrier. Autumn glanced up, only to be met with the blood-red eyes of the assassin. Frightened, Autumn looked away.

"Might be drugged," Ember remarked after the assassin had passed out of earshot.

"I don't like scaled sparrows anyways. The scales get stuck in my teeth," Autumn answered as she wrinkled her nose.

Soon enough, the adventurers were on the move. They had easily packed all their equipment into a small black earring worn by the swordsman. Upon closer inspection, each adventurer wore a similar earring.

'Were storage items that easy to obtain?' Autumn thought.

The assassin had long noticed that neither of them touched the scaled sparrows, instead opting to sit as far away as possible. Walking over, the assassin swept the sparrows as well as the thin coils of rope into his earring.

"Let's go," The swordsman said.

The mage nodded, walking over to where Autumn and Ember were. Murmuring a few words, the barrier dispersed.

It only took a few seconds before Autumn and Ember came back to their senses and bolted. As if expecting such a reaction, the swordsman and assassin swiftly grabbed them and brought them back in front of the mage.

Autumn sighed, contemplating whether or not she should bite the assassin for grabbing her. 'I don't think it would help us escape if I did, and it's better to avoid unnecessary trouble,' Autumn decided.

The mage quickly uttered a spell and her hands were shackled. The spell was uttered again and an identical chain bound Ember's hands together.

"It's made from pure energy, you won't be able to break it unless it's unlocked," The mage helpfully stated.

Autumn rolled her eyes. 'We'll see about that,' She thought.