It came first as a drizzle. One drop... two....

Soon it was pouring around them. The raindrops were so big, one's vision was clouded with them.

The rain seemed only to darken Afton's mood and he turned to her, “You can't go. Promise me you won't,” he whispered, holding her hand.

I don't know really. I don't know who I am... what I am... You can't leave me now

“Afton...” she said, returning his hold and looking deep into his eyes.

Afton stared back with those same pitiful lazy eyes she remembered so well.

“What happened to your hand?” she asked, turning it over. There was a rather deep cut in his hand. (He sliced himself when he thought she died) “Afton, please take care of yourself. You'd turn me into a worrywart at this rate!”

He didn't reply, just continued staring at her with his lips pursed.

“You've gone back to the mute mode now, huh?” she muttered, more to herself than anything.

The rain dashed upon everything, clothes, hair, trees, earth, almost nothing was spared. The leaves emptied their water loads onto the fast liquifying ground. The body of water before them rocked with waves. And Afton... there was no known explanation among anyone for his behavior. But [to all readers] it is simple, his heart was beginning to melt but something deep down wouldn't stand for it. Thus, the internal war...

Kaylie let go and walked away. Afton almost thought she was really leaving, until she returned with a strip of linen, which upon a little observation Afton found to be from the hem of her shirt, which was sheltered by her cape. He swallowed and stared at the ground.

“Give me your hand,” she said harshly, then warned as she held it, “I might not be the gentlest.”

She sat down beside him and cleaned the wound as best as rain water could before taking up the precious piece of dry cloth. She wound it beautifully over his cut, but purposely secured it rather tightly to prompt any kind of response.

She was rather disappointed with one of his wide-eyed looks (that were really small), but that was all she needed.

Kaylie was good at being the talkative sister anyway.

“Afton, just tell me. What's going on?”

Afton just shook his head, he really didn't know...

“That's alright then. I'll just talk to you. Hopefully, it'll work as well as it did before,” she sighed.

****

“Your Highness! Queen! Where is she? I need to talk to her urgently!!” soldier #2 burst into the waiting room, spraying a disgusting concoction of sweat, mud, and rainwater wherever he went. The guards held him back as a low-ranking soldier.

“What is it, Landy?” the queen asked, coming in person to find out what the wonderful ruckus he had worked up was all about. “I know him, guards.”

Landy rushed up the steps, making a mess of the carpet on his way, and fell at her feet, “I'm terribly sorry!” he cried.

“What is it? Hurry up and tell me!” she said impatiently.

“It's Kaylie. She had a dagger thrown at her heart and she fell. I saw the person who did it! It was a wonderful actor spy of the Isumtons!” he cried.

None of them, as of yet, knew that Kaylie was immune to metal daggers. So, the queen overflowed with passion.

“Tell me you have caught the perpetrator,” she whispered, going pale.

“He disappeared... Oh queen, I deserve death!” soldier #2 pressed his head to the floor.

“I'll think about your death after you find that person!” she said, clenching her fists in anger, “Isumton shall pay dearly for this. For all of this!”

****

“Si... Master!” Jasker screamed, dashing into the king's reception room. He tripped over the steps in his haste, but it only seemed to fuel his desperation.

He banged on the door with the force an angry drunkard might use.

Mr. Preston opened the door and asked in an impatient tone, “What is it, Jasker? At meal time too...”

“It's... It's...” he panted.

“Hurry up and speak,” Mr. Preston cried as curiosity took over.

“It's...” he huffed, “It's Af...”

“Af what!? Hurry up and spit it out!” the king yelled

“Afton's disappeared! With a hooded creature of the Chrisions!”

“Afton did? That child dared to?!” the king asked, turning red with anger.

Jasker replied in the affirmative.

“Then, I shall play out my plan. Whatever that faceless creature is, sorcerer or anything else, it can freeze certain things,” he said between clenched teeth.

“Master, I shall do as you say,” Jasker said, bowing. He had recovered his breath by then.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“Check up his background. For all I know, he might be the greatest actor in the universe. He probably has a past he doesn't want anyone to know about,” he said, rubbing his chin, taking no notice of the person at his feet, “Yes, I'm sure of it. Dig up everything to the very second he was born!”

Jasker shuddered at the command, thinking of all the work ahead that he'd promised to do. Nevertheless, he received the command, “Yes, Master!”

****

“Afton, now that I've found you, I really don't know what to do next,” Kaylie told him.

It had stopped raining already and the midday sun was caking up the mud around them.

“I don't know if I should continue on in the war,” she said, staring at a tiny bug as it tried to journey through the wet mud, “Alice might get mad... but if I do, they'll find out that I'm immune to those daggers.”

Afton was listening to her and he suddenly realized that after she got up, there wasn't a dagger in her.

“But I seriously don't want to be canon fodder,” she sighed picking up a soggy twig and scratched out a few figures in the mud out of boredom. “You know, Afton, it hurts as bad or maybe even worse than it hurts a normal person when I get stabbed, hurt, scratched, or anything else.”

Rain came over with a few packets of jerkies and sat down beside Afton, “How long are we going to stay here exactly? My brother will definitely do something about my disappearance and I can assure you that it won't be very pretty.”

The three of them chewed on jerkies as their brain chewed on plans. They were, after all, children, a bunch of naïve creatures who rarely thought ahead.

****

Jasker arrived at the quarters of the Orphan Brigade. Taking a first-hand look at it, Jasker was even more convinced of his suspicions. It was big, at least too big for mere orphans, was what Jasker thought.

He swallowed his disgust and walked through the door.

Alistair sat up abruptly, hoping, wishing it'd be Afton, but startled the new adult instead.

“Who are you?” he cried sharply.

Alistair turned white, having angered an adult always reaped bad results. “Sorry, sir. My name is Alistair, sir. I thought you were Afton, sir. It was not intentional on my part, sir.”

“Afton? What relations do you have with that... boy?” he asked, barely refraining himself from saying traitor.

“He's like a brother to me, sir. Do you, perhaps, have any news of him, sir?” Alistair pressed.

“You can drop the sir!” Jasker cried, exasperated, “And I do have news of him.”

“What has become of him, si...” Alistair almost screamed with joy. He did manage to keep his volume down and cut himself off before he pronounced an 'r'.

Jasker must have thought it a good time to get the little boy's heart against the enemy.

“Afton has been caught by a hooded magician. They disappeared for a day now, I don't know what they could've done to him in that period!” he said, feigning concern.

“A hooded magician?!” cried an incredulous Alistair who had paled whiter than before.

“Alas! We have search everywhere. He is gone to us forever,” he said, putting a hand to his heart and cooking up a crocodile tear.

“Afton? Disappeared? Because of a hooded magician?” Alistair asked, more to himself than anything.

“It is so. A couple of soldiers will account to that,” Jasker sobbed, “Bless that dear child!”

“Never mind magicians. There is no such thing in the world,” Alistair muttered between clenched teeth, “if anything can win over a little magic, it's willpower. That's what I have. Nothing... nothing can take Afton from me.”

Well, so be it, I don't care for a mere child. I'm thinking the future of Isumton here!(Jasker)

“Alistair, what is it about him that makes you act so?” he asked sit down and tell me now, all about Afton and his accomplishments.”

“I beg your pardon, sir, but I have to find Afton. Every day, every hour, every... every second that passes might be torturous to him.”

Jasker almost lost himself at the little child's resolution. He really didn't want to spoil the kid's passion just yet but he hadn't gotten a slice of information from this kid except that the kid liked Afton as a brother.

If there's already one here that's so dedicated to him, there might be a whole house full of his fans for all I care, just let the kid go already.(Jasker)

Jasker patted the little kid on his head and told him to be careful.

Alistair accepted it like the good little child he was before rushing out the door with a bag slung over his shoulder. Just like that, little Alistair was thrust out of the little safety box Afton had left him in.

Jasker continued into the house and was hit with the realization that Alistair must have been the biggest fanatic. He had a bag at the ready to go out at any moment, and he had waited at the front door just for Afton.

Jasker ran out but it was too late. Alistair was nowhere in sight.

Of course.... he had prepared a horse too. That child's loyalty might actually be worth something.(Jasker)

****

“How about this? The two of us go back tomorrow when Kaylie goes back. We'll try to meet every weekend, but if we're not here means something's stopping us in some way,” Rain said.

“But that's too risky, he's not you, Rain, if he gets caught escaping or something, he won't be just taken back. he may be punished or something. I don't want to imagine what the consequences would be at second, third, even fourth offense,” Kaylie said, “and what if they just locked him up somewhere we'd never find?”

“Afton's a spy and I'm a genius. We'd figure something out,” Rain shrugged.

“You can't expect everything to be laid out exactly how you assume it is. People change and we don't know what tricks Chrision has,” Kaylie snapped.

“I am Chrision. I've been here all my life unlike either of you. I found the system simple enough. Hasn't changed in a while either,” Rain argued.

“Not like it won't change. There's always a first to things,” Kaylie retorted.

“But you can't ever accomplish anything without taking risks,” Rain said, changing his angle of arguments.

“Taking risks is something I'm familiar with. I must say I've either been seriously unlucky or big risks like these really shouldn't be taken.”

“Risks like what? Maybe this time you'd be lucky,” Rain said.

“If I lose Afton one more time, I'd go crazy. And even if this works out the first time, we seriously have to change the plan next time. We can't have Afton disguising himself as a Chrision soldier and you know that!”

“Then I'll take care of Nis...Afton for a week and you find a hiding place for him. That'll work out.”

“Afton, say something already. Agree or disagree with all this,” Kaylie said to Afton, who'd been keeping quiet while the words passed over him.

“Anything's fine. I don't really know,” Afton said quietly.

“So it's settled then,” Rain said, “We'll leave tonight.”

Kaylie crossed her arms and glared at Rain, “You'd better keep him safe.”

“So long as he forgoes his occupation while underground,” Rain said.

Afton nodded, “ I won't do anything except as a loyal Chrisianon soldiers underground, I promise.”

Rain nodded satisfaction written on his face.

**Meanwhile**

Horse and rider galloped through the woods. Dusk was was falling rapidly upon the land and it was beginning to feel cold.

The wind flew at Alistair but he didn't dare to slow down. All the fear of the enemy was nothing compared to the loyalty that drove him.

There rarely was such a strong loyalty in a creature. One that was full of concern, a child's love, will, gratefulness, and protectiveness.

The cold air filled Alistair lungs, making it so suffocating, yet he never stopped. Instead, he urged the horse faster.

He had taken the shortest route to Chrision, which he had studied on the map, but it would take at least two days.

Night came on quickly and Alistair had to slow down in fear of the many roots that scattered the floor. Still, he could barely control himself and kept the horse at a canter.

He rode as long through the night as he could stay awake. And he did not know it yet, but he was already halfway to Chrision.

He stopped a few hours later, exhausted as the stead that bore him. He let it drink off a lake while he changed into black. He tied on a plain black mask that covered his mouth and nose but hung freely down to past the neck and put on his own hooded cape.

If he was going to face a hooded magician, he'd play the hooded fury.

Just wait, Afton, I'll be there soon.