Savannah was filling a bucket from the well after she unharnessed the Hippogriffs and marched them to where she remembered was the place of the horse stable. On her face, there was a solemn shade, undefined and serious, the whole time while she was working the manual pump.

She was expecting Lord Shiva to visit her sooner rather than later... And she knew exactly what he was going to complain about...

Too bad for her withering wish that her mother will keep him busy for as long as she can.

Letting the Hippogriffs quench their thirst, Savannah looked behind her back, confirming the identity of the individual who had just arrived. After their eyes met for a flinch of a second, she looked back, preparing herself for the upcoming interaction.

"Well, well, well..."

She heard his voice echoing as he worked his mouth, giving his greetings. The tone of his words seemed to her, inquisitive.

It resonated in the stable and made the Hippogriffs protest for disturbing the atmosphere.

But before he could start, she quickly declared, attempting to take control over the flow of the conversation,

"I know exactly what you want to ask for, but…"

However, she paused the moment she saw his index finger on his lips, signaling to her that she needed to keep silent.

Without a further attempt, Savannah observed Lord Shiva as he examined the surrounding place, looking from the corner of his eyes as if he was making sure that they were sheltered from the ears of an outside intruder.

She mimicked his way of observation, focusing her concentration on looking at the periphery of her visual field while regulating her breath to be calmer and more harmonious. Little by little she began to see a small and dense air filament, rolling in spirals, then crawling like worms, then again rolling... After a bit of time, she also began to hear whispers, words... When her senses became more focused on deciphering the voice and the meaning, her heart danced at the cadence of horror.

Those are the Whispering spirits of the wind.

Odorless, diaphanous, they give the sensation of cold when they touch the skin, and they repeat every word they hear using the same tone and voice of its speaker.

They only can be seen through the peripheral vision while the viewer is in complete internal tranquility and external quietness.

She tried to calm her disturbed state and glance at Lord Shiva, who quietly nodded with his head, then he said,

"We should move to a place where we feel the wind when it is blowing."

And since they were standing at the entrance of the stable, they found it quicker to move inside it.

Savannah was somehow stupefied if Lord Shiva was still under surveillance. Then the black Colubrine dragon affair has yet to be considered sealed. And her mother is still under judgment.

"By the way, why had you come to the farm before we gave you the signal?"

Savannah said, keeping her cool and trying to distract herself by not asking about the surveillance.

"The barrier was nullified." Shiva was carefully choosing a clean spot between the droppings of animals and the unconscious Chimeras to put his foot in. "I couldn't wait to meet the person who succeeded in outsmarting Nicolai. The great seer with the legendary three pairs of eyes." He finally stood still when he thought that he found a good spot." Aren't you curious?" He threw a crafty look at her.

Savannah concluded that Lord Shiva also didn't want to talk about why he is still under surveillance for the time being, and that scorched her curiosity. But she preferred that she kept this story for another time.

"I assume that you have yet to tell your mother about your big decision?"

Shiva's words brought Savannah's wandering mind back. She cursed in her carelessness. How she could let him take control of the conversation and allow him the opportunity to interrogate her? She responded, making her tone less harsh as much as she could.

"I hope your mouth didn't slip up and broke our sincerity pledge…"

"I am very amazed. Is that all you fear the most?"

"Yes, one of my biggest fears is to break my mother's heart." Savannah raised her arms for emphasis. "And your decision surely will break her heart." Shiva teased: "It's just a matter of time."

"Exactly, a matter of time. She will be more furious at me than be broken-hearted when the times come."

Lord Shiva gave Savannah a long gaze that expressed his thoughts as the following ~ I don't get your logic.

He flapped his wings that were resting on his body like a cloak, signaling that he is going to drop this subject. This sudden movement made the Hippogriffs protest again, but Shiva ignored them and vocalized his perception.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Hmm, compared to the last time I have seen you? You look... Mm."

"Manlier," Savannah replied, using Mr. Hendrickson's earlier description of her.

"Why Aren't you using the opal circlet? " Shiva wondered casually. "What's the point, having to spend months begging me so you could borrow it while not using it?"

"It was extremely expensive considering I only just borrowed it..." Savannah dodged, avoiding the main subject. She was avoiding looking directly in lord Shiva's direction.

"Believe me, this pledge and the little price you have paid are nothing, considering the efforts I have spent and the risks I have overtaken to get it for you. It disappoints me that you are not using it."

"Huh, little price? You took all my savings." Another attempt from Savannah to diverge from the main subject.

"Really, Should I make you remember where you have been spending your so-called saving?" Lord Shiva pointed with his finger up and when he didn't hear Savannah protest, he continued: "Remember, you borrow it. You should take care of it. I will be the one bearing the consequence if you break it..."

Then the conversation awkwardly stopped as Shiva made the face of someone who had realized a very important matter, but too late.

Lord Shiva knows exactly why Savannah asked him to get this type of mystical jewelry and course, it was not for the purpose of decoration. So, there is no way Savannah will not use the opal circlet that she has spent a ton of money and sweat to get it.

Lord Shiva said while stuttering; "You... You... Don't tell me you have broken it?"

His breath pulse continued slowly. One of the Hippogriff snorted and Savannah's tongue was virtually shopped.

She couldn't lie to him because of the sincerity pledge, neither did she have the courage to tell him the truth. His arrival was really early. She just needed a few days...

The scene of her taking this pledge in the exchange of the circlet flashed before her eyes, like a sequence of an old film. Back then, she only wanted to get what she needed, and she didn't think deeply about the consequences. On the contrary, at that time, she thought that it was such a low price for such a rare and expensive item.

Answering Lord Shiva's questions with sincerity, this was her pledge as long as the circlet was in her possession.

How it didn't cross her mind the terrifying reality to leave without the ability to lie, despite her own existence, was all based on deception. She answered after a long silence: "No, I didn't break it."

"Then where is it?"

***

When Isidore's patience run out while waiting for the Crocotta young warrior, and he perceived that the immense body of the black wolf started to wake up. He decided to rely on his limited knowledge of herbalism and find a way to make this giant either return to his humanoid form or at least shrink his body to the size of the wolf animal.

The reason behind Isidore's strange behavior of protecting this Amarok's life was as long as he could. It was because he thought that this wolf holds the answers to his questions about the real identity of the doctor. He took care of him as well as to find out about the Crocotta clan plan by sending Rokah into this village. Plus another bunch of questions that are torturing his mind.

Getting back to his cottage, Isidore was searching for something that could surpass the Amarok transformation, or at least would shrink his gigantic body.

When he was absorbed in his search, a racket outside brought his concentration and stopped his movement.

Here, inside the forest, the plants somehow worked as an insulator. Rarely, external noise can penetrate this thick layer of isolation unless this sound came from inside the forest. That's why, at first, he thought the Amarok was changing the position of his body, or worst finally waking up. But as the seconds flew by and the steady stream of the noise made Isidore change his first thought.

This was the noise of a horse carriage moving at a fast speed as if it was running from something.

Isidore pondered a little on it and remembered that only the lord of the village has and can use a horse carriage.

With this specific idea, Isidore marched out of his cottage towards the direction of the sound. He first checked the Amarok condition and confirmed that he was still in his slumber, then he raced to his aim. Unknown to his person that the Amarok had opened his eyes the moment Isidore's sturdy body vanished between the branches of the forest.

Approaching carefully towards the main passage, the obstacles; stones, falling branches, and mire have lessened and made Isidore's fears of being discovered by whoever was taking the carriage grow.

Climbing into a tree wasn't also something he could do. He wished that he could control his weight like that of a Crocotta creature. That warrior probably weighs as much as he does.