Raxx fixed Oriel with a confused frown. “Why? Have you got somewhere more pressing to be?”
“None of your fucking business,” Oriel answered sternly as he passed.
Raxx followed the prince back out into the corridor and waited whilst Oriel locked his door behind them. What could be more important to Oriel than finding Lephas and Haros? The prince’s face was drawn and tight with concern. He clearly wasn’t taking the news lightly, so where was he going?
“I need to get a horse,” Oriel muttered as they both jogged down the wooden stairs of the inn and out onto the cold streets of Banesteppe.
Though he was desperate to know where the prince was headed, Raxx held his tongue. Whatever Oriel was thinking about was serious. The prince may have been a flake in most aspects of his life, but when it came to matters of family and friends, he was as loyal and stalwart as they came. It was the only trait Oriel and his brother Zelrus had in common.
“You’re really not going to tell me where you’re going?” Raxx asked with a frown. “What will I tell the king?”
“Tell my brother I needed to check on something first and if he gets pissy about it, just ask him to look at a map and get his head out of his arse. Lephas and Haros are big boys, I’m sure they’ll have gotten through this somehow.”
“And if they haven’t?”
Oriel hesitated for a faction of a second before striding onwards. “Then it’s already too late and my presence will do little to help. Look after yourself Raxx. I mean it.” The prince fixed him with a stony expression.
“The same to you, wherever it is that you’re going.”
“Trust me, it’s important.” Oriel clenched his jaw.
Raxx just nodded and drifted away into the night, in the opposite direction. Hidden away inside the shadow plane Raxx moved quickly, weaving through the busy city. Drunks, beggars and prostitutes lined the streets, crowding together around the dim glow of inns and brothels. This seedy underbelly was something Raxx hoped would improve if King Zelrus’s campaign went the way they all hoped.
In a matter of minutes Raxx was heading out of the city along a barren mud track that led straight into the forest. Unlike the city of Awrelwood, Banesteppe wasn’t granted a towering wall and portcullis to keep its residents safe.
With the image conjured from the wounded soldier’s memory still fresh in his mind and a copy of the map Zelrus had provided for Lephas, Raxx’s first priority was to retrace the commander’s steps. He headed for the location marked by a blood-red X on the map. It was the farm track where their intel had mentioned the first sighting of the princess.
Raxx took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the night’s bitterly cold air. His large, leathery wings stretched at his back and he glanced over the map in his hands, memorising the route, before tucking it into the back of his waistband.
He was eager to disappear into the darkness of the forest. In the way others enjoyed the warmth of the noon sun on their skin, Raxx felt heady relaxation envelop him as he disappeared beneath the dark pines. It was almost pitch black in the dense forest, but Raxx had keen night vision. He passed through the woods swiftly and silently.
In this ethereal form, Raxx left no trace. He jogged on through the deep snow, leaving it untouched - its surface glistened, still frozen and pristine in his wake. Deeper into the forest, he passed by a small herd of deer who were picking at the frozen leaves, blissfully unaware of his presence.
All of his senses grew sharper in the darkness. Raxx could hear the soft snowflakes pattering around him, the wind clattered through the bare twigs of a deciduous shrub and an owl rustled its feathers as it preened the snow from them. The bird screeched and Raxx glanced up at it, unnerved as he always was when an owl’s large, round eyes seemed to pierce straight through him. It was odd that owls were the only animals that could sense him. He was completely invisible in the darkness, imperceptible to everything and everyone bar the strange creatures. He shook off the shiver that crept down his spine and hurried onwards through the undergrowth.
The journey that had taken Lephas and his men half a day took Raxx merely an hour. The shadow demon leapt up a bank, stepping out onto the dark, deserted track. He pulled the map from his trousers, glancing between it and his surroundings.
This was the spot. Raxx’s sharp eyes began studying the snow, but it was a pointless endeavour. Whilst the harsh weather was restricting most of the travellers that would use this roadway, the snow was still churned up to such a degree it would be impossible to identify any familiar tracks.
Using his best judgement, Raxx began to walk on in the direction the princess was rumoured to be heading. He hoped to identify some clues along the way.
Still scanning the snow on the off-chance he might spot something of interest, Raxx followed the track. He didn’t think for one moment that Lephas would have stuck to the main road, but the princess would have. She was a naïve young woman who was running away from an extremely sheltered lifestyle. It wouldn’t have even entered her head the danger she was putting herself in by remaining out in the open.
A hard crunch underfoot drew his attention, he paused and looked down at the snow. As he lifted his boot, a small diamond ring glistened in the moonlight. Raxx frowned and glanced around.
Just ahead there was a dark shape, covered over by a layer of fresh snowfall. Raxx knelt, brushing the snow aside, to unveil a silk satchel. He tugged it free and looked inside.
The bag belonged to a female. It was filled with all manner of elaborate clothes and jewellery. A silver hairbrush encrusted with jewels, was stuck upright, lodged in the snow and Raxx dug around for the rest of the belongings that were strewn around. A hand mirror, a necklace, a tiny pair of lace knickers... There was no doubt that this was the princess’s satchel.
The silk of the bag was saturated and all the belongings inside were wet, but Raxx strapped the satchel to his back. It might be a powerful bargaining chip, should he successfully track down the princess.
Raxx got to his feet and glanced around. Was this the point Lephas had intercepted her? It didn’t make sense. If Lephas and his men had picked the princess up this close to Banesteppe, how had it taken them so long to return?
The shadow demon stalked ahead a little further. He scratched his chin, trying to ignore the fluttering, niggling sensation beneath his skin as majick stirred to life. It prodded the recesses of his mind incessantly.
“What am I missing?”
Raxx often regarded his majick as a separate entity within himself. It often sensed things before he did and he had learned the hard way to always listen when it was trying to get his attention.
