Chapter 12

THE group of Sybils travelled between the various villages near the river edge. The cobblestone path was their guide as they went from tavern to tea house to merchant stores. They asked about any suspicious activity recently and each person shook their head and told them that their village was a quiet place where nothing interesting ever happened.

As the Sybils walked between the white-painted buildings where moss and vines grew up the walls and smoke escaped the chimneys of the inns, which prepared to warm their interiors for the evening crowd, they began to grow anxious.

After visiting several villages, the Sybils arrived in Dara. A village on the outskirts of a forest with looming trees that blocked out the sunlight from above, darkening the forest within. Two young men walked past them with large woven bags on their backs and up ahead they could see a mother who walked with her smiling young boy, who couldn’t be older than five, as he jumped and danced by her side.

Nyla heard Rowan let out a breath of uncertainty. Upon entering each village, the Sybils grew hopeful that they would find something, anything to lead them in the right direction, but each time they were met with disappointment. Nyla was grateful that the villages they visited were safe and hadn’t experienced any sort of tragedy, but she was hoping one of them did. The possibility that the thief had gotten his hands on the piece from Kesmet Valley was a thought that was daunting on everyone’s mind.

Up ahead, Nyla saw three men standing close to each other, deep in conversation. A mixture of horror and frowns were visible on their faces, even from the distance from which the Sybils stood.

“There.” she nodded toward the three men. “I’m sure they’ll have some interesting stories.”

“How do you figure?” Enid asked.

She nodded toward them again. “How often do you see villagers with those kinds of injuries?”

The Sybils looked closer and saw that two of the three men were injured. Bandages wrapped around their chest and arms, one of the injured men even had his head bound.

“Good point.”

As they approached the three men, Nyla noticed that one of them had a crazed look in his eyes, which darted from left to right. He was shivering and constantly looking around him as though someone or something was watching them.

So as not to frighten the man, Nyla asked cautiously, “Excuse me, may I ask what happened to you?”

“Nonsense, I say.” The uninjured man answered, crossing his arms.

“But it isn’t. I swear it on my life.” The non-crazed man said. “The hunting grounds are haunted.”

“Hunting grounds?” Nyla looked at Enid.

“You mean the hunting grounds used during Kesmet’s Night Hunt festival?” he asked the villager. Enid looked over toward the forest ahead, the Sybils following his line of sight. The dark-looking forest sent shivers down Nyla’s spine as she stared deeper into its abyss.

“Yes.” The man answered.

“Haunted. Ghosts. Dark. Ahhhh!” The crazed man screamed as he fell to the ground covering his ears. “The howling screams.” He whined. The Sybils shared a gloomy look.

“It’s ok, Remy.” The other injured man comforted his companion by patting his shoulder.

“Bah!” the uninjured man exclaimed. “It’s only a bunch of lies. You must have drunk too much and hallucinated.”

“You don’t believe their story?” Enid asked.

“Of course not. There have been many stories of spooks in the valley, but they have never been seen before. The people only hear voices. They see nothing. It’s the wind, I say.”

“How do you explain the injuries then?” Kai asked.

“Obviously they tripped over their own feet while running away.”

Nyla turned away from the three men. “It might be something worth looking into.”

“Eh, I don’t know. There have always been ghost stories about the hunting grounds. It’s why we use it as the hunting grounds.” Enid said.

“I agree with Nyla. If ghosts are terrorizing the village and there is a possibility it has to do with the sphere, we should check it out.” Rowan said.

“If we don’t find anything, we’ll just carry on to the next village,” Kai said. “It’s on our way anyway.”

“Yeah, I was promised a little excitement.” Ezra chipped in with a smile.

Going to the hunting grounds had less to do with ghosts and the sphere piece and more to do with the fact that the Sybils had grown bored. After spending days walking through various villages, the Sybils longed for action. The possibility of seeing a ghost and catching it seemed more appealing than carrying on to the next village.

Enid looked at the face of each Sybil and sighed. “Fine.”

“That’s the spirit.” Rowan patted Enid’s shoulder. “Pun intended.”

Fireflies, radiating a yellow glow, hovered in the air as the sun began to set. With a clear sky and the moon as their only source of light, the Sybils fastened their quivers behind them, which they acquired from a store nearby. It was all or nothing for them now and since they were in dire need of action, the Sybils decided to go all out to get the real feel of the Kesmet Night Hunt Festival. The bow and arrow were the preferred weapon choice when going hunting, which suited Nyla just fine as she was well acquainted with the weapon.

Her companions looked comfortable with their own bows and arrows. It made Nyla think that she didn’t know much about each of their training and fighting styles, but what she did deduced so far was that Enid was skilled with his staff, Rowan with his swords and any form of combat, never mind the fact that he was a master Conjurer, a formidable foe if anything, and Kai, had a very fairy-like combat style, as though he and the air were one when he moved, as though he drifted across the air. Then there was Ezra, one thing Nyla learned while watching Ezra was that her innocent demeanour could just be a mask of the skilled Conjurer beneath.

Rowan nocked an arrow and pulled back on the taut wire to get a feel of the bow. “Shall we play a game of our own?” he asked as he slowly allowed the wire to rest in its natural position.

“I’m in,” Nyla said as she aimed with an imaginary arrow, scanning the distance, and finding her inner eye, before firing her imaginary arrow.

“If there are any ghosts in the forest, let’s see who can catch the most.” Rowan’s mischievous eyes twinkled.

“And if there aren’t?” Enid asked, still holding onto his belief that there weren’t any ghosts. He lived his entire life in Kesmet Valley, after all, he would know if the hunting grounds were haunted.

“Then the one to catch the largest boar wins,” Nyla said. She had heard all about the Kesmet Festival and knew that the purpose was sport. Who-could-catch-the-largest-boar and all that. Chances are that all the boars were already caught or in hiding since the festival was a just few weeks ago.

Everyone knew that the wild boars of Kesmet were extremely fast and not easy to catch, but that only added to the challenge. As if that was not challenging enough, they had to do it in the dead of night as well. It was an egotistical game of who was the best and smartest hunter who could catch a Kesmetian boar in such conditions.

Nyla once heard of a story that Preator Caeden had caught a large boar blindfolded. She wasn’t sure if she really believed that rumour though, probably just a ruse to boost the already narcissistic Preator’s ego.

Enid sighed and looked over at Kai for support, but he just shrugged in response, having lost interest already. Enid groaned, giving up. “Shall we split into two groups?”

“Alright, game on!” Rowan bounced. “Me and Nyla versus the not-so-eager group,” he said, using his bow to point out the two groups.

“Hey, I’m eager.” Ezra pouted.

“Alright, then you can join the fun group.” Ezra smiled excitedly and walked over to join them. “May the best team win.” Rowan grinned.

“Game’s over when we reach the other side,” Nyla added.

“Okay,” Enid said unenthusiastically.

“And…go!” Rowan and Nyla ran ahead into the forest, Ezra trailing behind them with a ‘not so fast’ cry.

“While the kids go play, shall we go and investigate?” Enid asked, looking at an unbothered Kai. He nodded and together they entered the forest as well.

Nyla took the lead with Rowan and Ezra behind her as they silently walked down the designated path. Mist engulfed their feet, and the chirping of crickets surrounded them. Nyla assumed that Enid and Kai followed a different path, and she was determined to win. As silly as it sounds, she felt as though she had something to prove to the other Sybils. This game of catching ghosts was just an excuse to show them that she could be a warrior too.

“It's so quiet,” Ezra whispered.

“Exactly.” Rowan whispered back, “ghosts don't like noise.” Ezra made an ‘oh’ shape with her mouth and nodded. She continued to creep behind Rowan who snickered, shaking his head.

“Ugg, I don't see anything,” Nyla said.

“Shh.” Rowan and Ezra shushed. Nyla looked over at them annoyed.

“There's nothing here,” she said in a softer tone as she threw her hands in the air.

A twig snapped to their right, making them turn their heads and crouch lower to stay out of site. Rowan put his finger to his lips, indicating the two girls to keep quiet. Ezra nodded while Nyla rolled her eyes and followed after Rowan as silently as she could. The air turned cold and bit into their backs making them shiver. A high-pitched howl filled the air and a glowing white figure drifted past the trees ahead of them.

Almost in sync, the three Sybils drew their bows and imbued their arrows with magic before releasing them. Three glowing arrows soared through the air towards the ghost. Ezra’s arrow hit it first, square in the chest, making the ghost howl as it dissipated. Ezra’s arrow then fell to the ground whilst Nyla and Rowan's struck the tree that was behind the ghost.

“Nice shot, Ezra,” Nyla said. Ezra’s bright smile of victory turned into horror as several high-pitched howls filled the air. The Sybils froze.

“I think we made its friends angry,” Rowan whispered. Ghosts began to emerge from the ground and trees around them.

“Yeah.” Nyla whispered, then yelled, “Run!