“Thank you!” Adeyemi said with a smile, reaching for Naadi’s hands and squeezing them. “We aren't only doing this for the sake of the forest; it’s for Alci’s sake as well. He’s like a…son to me. You’re helping me save him. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Naadi said, cracking a smile at her. “I don’t mind that the Master of Epe wants revenge but her ways of doing it are, frankly, disgusting.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” Asime concurred, his eyes narrowed. “Alci wanted nothing more but to live a peaceful life in the forest with us. But even after all those years of mistreatment, he stayed in the clan because he felt obligated too. And so I stayed with him.”

“He stayed in the clan of his own obligation?” Naadi echoed, taken aback.

“Yes. To the Epe Clan, he was a lazy slacker gifted with immense talent. But I knew the real Alci, better than anyone else. As much as he wanted to desert the clan, he stayed because he felt he had to.” Asime’s fists rolled up into balls as he spoke, angered just by recalling Alci’s mistreatment.

“I see.” Naadi said solemnly; he’d misjudged Alci gravely. Honestly, he’d hated Alci when they’d first met; he thought the boy was nothing but an ignorant slacker who knew nothing of justice or obligation. And yet he was so obligated to his duty that he ended up letting himself get turned into a tool. A weapon.

“And now, I have to get him back! We have to get him back.” Adeyemi said firmly. More than anything else, she wanted him to know that he didn’t need to feel obligated to anyone. That at the end of the day, he was his own man, and he could live without worrying about the needs and wants of others.

“And we will. But we need to be quick too- how do we know she hasn’t already unleashed him into the forest?” Naadi asked.

“Many of my magic skills were taken from me by Banjoko, but one of my remaining ones lets me see everything going on within the forest, besides the Epe Village. So I know for sure he hasn’t been out since last night.” Adeyemi explained.

“Plus!” Asime chimed in. “She’s going to want to build his rage as much as possible to make sure that he can kill the Locket Bearer. I don’t think she realizes how weak the guy actually is!”

She can see everything going on in the forest? So that means she’d be able to tell me where the Locket Bearer is! Naadi thought. “So that means you know where the Locket Bearer is? Is he still in the forest?”

“Yes! He and his friend have turned the forest upside down looking for the exit, but even the magical beasts who know the way out won’t be so willing to just pass out the secret.” Adeyemi said, and Naadi let out a sigh.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“So I can focus on this then. Now with that out of the way, I want to know exactly what you have planned.” Naadi instructed, and Adeyemi exchanged a glance with Asime. “Is something the matter?”

“Not at all. You see the thing is, for my plan to work, the Master of Epe, Alci, and I all need to be standing in this clearing.” Adeyemi walked over to the edge of the clearings, and lifted up a patch of fake grass, revealing a line in the ground. Going around in a circle, she kicked off all the fake grass, exposing the circle engraved in the ground around the clearing. “This circle, precisely.”

That’s not going to be easy, even with this guy’s teleportation skill. “So it’s a skill that can only be activated under certain conditions? What happens when the skill is activated?”

“Alci’s magic source will be reverted from Rage to the Epe Forest just like it originally was. And that means a stop will be put to his rampage.” Asime added. “And to get them into the circle, I’ll have to use my magic skill to get us both into the Master’s dome. And then while you distract her guard, I’ll have to touch her to teleport her into the circle; and then we’ll go after Alci.”

“What?” Naadi raised a brow. “Why can’t you just teleport on top of her directly so you can touch her without having to go through the guard.”

“Sadly, my magic skill doesn’t work like that.” Asime said with a groan, pulling a stick off the ground and tracing a line through the earth. “It’s much more complicated than this, but to put it simply, once I travel somewhere, I can ‘retrace’ my steps back there instantly.” He began to put a point at one end of the line, and another point at the other end, and then finished it off by drawing several dashes across the line. “I can retrace my steps to anywhere I’ve walked in the Epe Forest, but I can’t retrace steps to a place I’ve never gone. It’s just not possible. And the farthest I’ve gone into the Master’s dome is the entrance.”

So that’s how it works. Naadi thought, putting a hand to his chin. That’s terribly inconvenient though. Khai is definitely not to be underestimated, and if the Master is smart, she’ll have all her elite warriors guarding her. “I have a magic skill that could cause a distraction-”

“REALLY?” Asime said, his eyes lighting up with excitement.

“-But since I’ve already used it against Khai, he’s probably figured out a way to counter it.” Naadi said grimly, and Asime’s shoulders immediately sank with crushing disappointment. “But you leave coming up with a distraction. When the time comes, I’ll tell you the plan; you just do what you need to do and get the Master out of there.”

“Got it.” Asime said with a grin. He didn’t doubt that Naadi would be able to figure out a way; the young king seemed like an expert at making things happen.

“So then-”

Adeyemi suddenly collapsed to the floor, her back slammed against the bark of the tree behind her. Pressing her hands up against her forehead, she cursed repeatedly under her breath. “Shit!”

“What? What happened?”Asime asked frantically.

“They’ve already released Alci into the forest! He- he’s moving too fast; we won’t be able to catch up!” Adeyemi whispered, her eyes wide with fear. What could they have done to speed up the development of Alci’s anger? And why were they being so reckless? With the sheer speed that Alci was moving at, the Locket Bearer would be dead before they could do anything about it! And once that happened, everyone else in the forest would just become targets for what was left of his anger.