Sequence Fourteen: Misdirect

“Then… I want a coat made with their furs.”

“Five minutes…” Cecil said as she holds the scabbard of her sword on her side.

“And you and I will have a whole new closet made of dire wolf fur for the winter.” She said, dashing forward to the wolves.

Unsheathing her sword, Cecile charged forward to the closest one to her as she swings her sword with both her hands forcing the edge of the blade to pass through between the jaws of the feral beast, cutting straight up to its neck.

The beast drops dead on the ground as blood spurts out from its fatal wound flowing down to the ground making a puddle of blood while its head looks like a sausage that is cut halfway through vertically.

Fraise, noticing how she slays the wolf gave Cecil a friendly advice, “If you want a high quality coat out of them, please refrain from damaging the hide too much.”

“What?! You should informed me about that earlier.” Cecil exclaimed now that she has one less useful material for her coat.

“You should know that at least.” Fraise answered her.

“Well it can’t be helped.” Cecil said, “I just have to make sure I do minimal damage to them.”

She continues on attacking the remaining wolves, but now she makes sure that she has a clean hit to the jugular to minimize the damage to the workable parts of the wolves.

“Another one down.” She said, and is now dashing to the other. If you look at her from a certain distance she seems to just run towards a wolf, swings her sword on them, then they fell down to the ground as easy as that.

But for a woman of her posture, these wolves are excessively large for her like it is larger than an ordinary wolf by ten folds, yet she seems to take them down with ease, making the guards feel pity for themselves and their pride as a man being crushed on their very eyes.

As Cecil dominates the small pack of wolf, it comes to a point that there is only one wolf left. Although you can see from its eyes that it is scared of the woman on his front, yet it has this strong will to avenge his fallen comrades surging from within.

“Oh! You’re not running away huh?” Cecil said, surprised for the decision of the lone wolf in front of her.

“I’m going to die anyway so why bother?” she said as if she could tell what the wolf is thinking, “Is that what you are thinking right now?” she added with a smile on her face but it seems to be more of a provocation for the wolf.

“Oh come on! I’m getting tired of attacking you, attack me at least. I might even spare you if you can give me a good bite.” She exclaimed to the last wolf, but sighs after thinking that it is such a stupid act to even ask, so she started kicking the ground like a child pouting when it doesn’t get what it wants.

‘What is this woman thinking?!’ one of the soldiers forming a defensive line thought.

“You know, as far as I know, there is no book for translating human language into dog barks!” Fraise shouted to Cecil ridiculing her.

“I know that, I’m not a fool!” She shouted back to Fraise then gave off another sigh.

‘Why is it always one sided for me? I mean ever since when I’m in combat it’s always been so easy.’ she thought thinking that it has been years since she had a good fight that makes her heart throb and wanting to have more out of this scenario, but luck is not on her side.

Losing the will to fight, she walks closer to the last one and slays it with one swing then returns back to the line where fraise is.

Fraise, knowing how Cecil thinks, pats her shoulder when she is on her reach. “I know why you are upset, and you will never find that special someone, not in this lifetime nor the next.” Fraise said in a serious way.

“You know, you really know how to ease the pain of my heart.” Cecil said sarcastically, as she pats back on Fraise’s shoulder.

“I know. We’ve been friends for a very long time.” Fraise replied, still having that serious face on her as she answers Cecil’s sarcastic respond with an ironic reply.

“Yeah, screw you bitch.” Cecil said, as she walks back to Sera’s location almost like crying. Although victorious, she seems to look more defeated than the wolves lying dead on the ground as she walk away from Fraise dropping her shoulders dejectedly.

Fraise ordered some of the soldiers she has to gather the wolves and requested them for it to be delivered back to their town to be properly skinned.

“And please take the fur to the best tailor in town after.” She said to the soldiers that are going back to the town, waving them goodbye. ‘Now then, what else to do?’

Returning to the vicinity where the previous battle occurred, Fraise took a brief stroll to the area’s perimeter checking for some clues if she could find one. She scans the place diligently, the land, the shrubs even the trees one by one until she discovered an odd markings to one of the trees she checked.

She gently strokes the markings and smell’s her hand that she used.

‘Territorial markings?’ she thought.

Then she saw something glowing near the tree next to the one with a marking and immediately checks it.

When she picked the glowing object, Fraise is alarmed from what she just saw.

‘This is…’

***

Somewhere on a clearing of the western most region of the Noir forest, Anastasia and the village’s volunteers are now gathering for some final instructions to be given.

“Okay, we will divide ourselves into two groups to make the search faster and then before dusk let us all meet up at the forest entrance.” Anastasia said, commanding the volunteers to split into two groups for a better coverage of the area.

After each person moved to the group they want to be in, the two crowds searches in two different locations that is opposite to the other.

On the other hand, Anastasia brought a couple of guards with her to do a personal search.

As she walks along a few armed men that are surrounding her in a perimeter, placing her in the middle of their formation, she felt an eerie breeze covering her whole body making her shiver for a moment.

But the odd thing about it, is that the guards that she brought with her seems to doesn’t feel the presence that she just felt making her worry for some reasons, as if that presence she just felt is meant for only her to feel.

But she cast those worries away, focusing her attention on the task at hand.

Anastasia’s group continues on walking further away from their starting point, searching for possible lead to the missing children.

As they walk longer, the place slowly becomes shadier due to the leaves of the trees covering the light of the day and the bushes and shrubs thicker, as if it is no longer part of the accessible parts of the forest.

And the more they walk deeper into the forest, the heavier Anastasia feels about the surroundings.

As if someone is watching them from not afar and is checking what they are doing in this far region of the forbidden forest. And by each passing moment as they go further into the woods, she feels like that certain entity that is watching is slowly closing in towards them.

Anastasia stops on taking a step further because of the feeling she has and when the guards that came along with her noticed the sudden halt of the lady, they also took a breather and holds their current position.

“What is it my lady?” one of the guards asked, questioning the sudden halt of the woman.

“I think we should head back.” She said because of the unease feeling she has.

But the moment they turn around to go back the way they went, the group was surprised from what they saw with their very eyes. Behind them, instead of a wide forest path that they passed through a while ago, it is now a clearing with an old hut on the center.

“Who are you?” A voice startled the group from behind.

Upon turning to the direction of the voice, they saw a female figure wearing a gothic styled dress along with a black hood that is covering her eyes and only revealing the lower parts of her face revealing her long hair that is flowing down from her neck to her chest, covering her front with glossy locks that is as dark as the night.

On her right arm hangs a small basket that is filled with herbs and some edible plants, her lips are tinted with a very light hint of pink, as if there is no blood flowing on it, making her look very pale in their eyes.

Her fingernails are also as dark as the color of her hair, making the people in front of her feel uneasy and a bit scared on her presence.

‘Could she be?’ Anastasia though, but rejects the idea because that story was made up very long ago, and if it is the witch they are talking about then she won’t look like a young girl around the age of Sera or Stella.

“I’ll ask again, who are you people?”