Brendan and I headed out, straight to the water mermaid bridge where the next group of knights were heading out to the supposed tribe acting out. We waited by the bridge, using Larana to hide our scents.

It was well into the afternoon before we saw the knights walking passed. It was a group of thirty high ranking knights, all shrouded in the mist of darkness. I let out a low snarl, the infection caused by Dumah was far worse within the ranks of Cathopia’s knights than I thought it was.

After they were quite a distant in front, we silently followed. I glanced at Brendan; this would really be a test of his training. Being trained like a Feles had been hard for him considering he was built a little differently than I was, but from what I had seen he had taken pretty well to it.

We remained silent, following, ducking behind trees, but kept the knights in sight at all times. They had yet to notice us, but I also noticed something odd about them. I expected knights on mission to be chatting away, planning on something when they arrived, or perhaps even joke about, but they were saying nothing, not a word.

“What is wrong with them?” I wondered aloud to Brendan.

“What do you mean?” Brendan looked at me puzzled.

I sighed, perhaps I was imagining things, they were on a mission, but compared to Brendan and I who chatted away most of the time, hearing nothing from them seemed a bit off to me.

“Nothing.” I shook my head as we continued to follow.

As we ventured further, hours later the knights came to rest in an abandoned village. Brendan and I stayed hidden within the undergrowth where I looked upon the village.

They nestled down in the heart of buildings, I noticed the buildings were burnt out, the scent of burning was still fresh, was this one of the tribes destroyed by Dumah’s planned attacks and how many had been destroyed while I sat at home hiding. I should have acted sooner, perhaps even now I was too late.

After a short time, the knights headed off again, it would be a few more hours before we reached the location, if it were any further than that the knights would have spent the night here.

I began to follow behind them, Brendan and I entering what was left of the destroyed village. I felt overwhelmed with an emotion of anger and sadness, if only I had acted sooner, perhaps this place could have been saved.

Walking through the village in silence, looking upon husks of once thriving buildings, there was even the remains of the village market. I could almost picture it as they went about their daily duties, and suddenly attacked by the very knights of this kingdom set up to protect them.

I suddenly stumbled, kneeling down on my knees as my heart pounded, my whole body filled with a strange pain I could hardly take, the breath catching in my throat.

“Alex.” Brendan knelt beside me, surprised. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know,” I responded.

“It’s alright master.” Larana appeared. “It will pass in a moment.”

“What’s happening Larana?” I asked struggling for breath.

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“You are far more sensitive to the dark energy than you think,” she answered. “Somewhere there has been an overload of dark energy and you are simply picking up on that.”

“Great,” I sighed. “Something else to worry about.”

“It doesn’t happen that often, so I wouldn’t worry too much about it,” encouraged Larana.

“It doesn’t feel like it.” I looked ahead in the direction they had headed, if this didn’t pass soon, we would lose them. “We can’t lose them.”

Brendan glanced in their direction, then at me. “Alright then.” Brendan stood up straight before grabbing hold of me and hooking me over his shoulder.

“Brendan,” I yelped.

“Be quiet, you’ll give us away,” snapped Brendan as he went after the knights. I couldn’t believe this, carrying me as if I was some child. I was just glad no one was seeing this, the great warrior Fang being babied by an Ursus, it would not have been good for my already lacking reputation.

Brendan continued to carry me the rest of the way, not even asking if I had recovered from the strange attack yet, and since this was becoming kind of fun, I decided not to say anything either, but I was sure he had noticed considering how relieved I was when all the pain had faded away.

I still didn’t understand the reason I had been inflicted with it, sensitive to the darkness seemed to fall a bit short, perhaps something had happened elsewhere, what I did not know and perhaps I would never know.

The knights came to their camp, nestled within an opening they had cut from the forest. I found the sight and thought of what they had done shocking. It was law to protect the forests around Cathopia as it had been here long before the city had finished construction.

“What now?” asked Brendan as the knights stood at attention outside one of the tents.

“We need to get closer to the tribe’s village they are attacking,” I replied.

“Got it.” He nodded and snuck the long way round the opening.

“You know you can put me down,” I whispered.

“I know,” he responded, but still didn’t.

“Wait,” I ordered as the tent opened up to reveal Dumah. “I knew it was his doing.”

“I am glad you all made it unharmed, with these tribes becoming more aggressive to Cathopia, they have given us no choice but to destroy them, for the safety of our dear city.”

“Lies,” I hissed.

“Alex, shhhh,” hushed Brendan.

“I have already spoken to them, and they claim if we do not leave, their grand protector will attack us,” he laughed as he reached the last part. “Nothing yet. So, my orders, just destroy them all, no mercy, your king orders it.”

“Does King Alton know this is happening?” questioned Brendan.

“I don’t know, but we need to hurry.” I was hoping the king didn’t know because if he did, it would mean he was the one causing all this suffering for no reason at all.

Brendan and I slowly creeped past the camp as Dumah continued to sprout more of his lies. I glanced back it him, sensing his strength and power were currently stronger than mine, if I had more power I would wipe him out and banish him from the city of Cathopia, but this was all I could do, hide, and attack from the shadows.

As Brendan and I passed the camp, we entered a battlefield of knights attacking the tribal villagers. They were attacking each other without hesitation, this was not what Fang purified these lands for, did this mean the darkness was winning. Dad would have stopped this, he was the real Warrior of Fang, not me.

“You can put me down now Brendan,” I said. I felt this shroud come over me, had I really done enough of my part to protect Cathopia and Tigra from this, I didn’t think so, but that would change now.

“What are you going to do?” he asked.

“You heard Dumah, if they didn’t leave their grand protector would attack them,” I grinned. “Time for some fun.”

I held out my arms, building up massive amounts of wind energy, compressing it all around my body. I could feel its un-restfulness, screaming for me to release it as I compressed it further, feeling my power pulling more on Larana’s.

“Keep going master,” cheered Larana.

“This is going to be one sided,” commented Brendan. “Just don’t blow me away.”