Arthur just rode behind Amelia's flying pet, while he gave his last instructions for everyone to remain silent and vigilant along the road. According to Noura's words, there were about two to three days remaining from here to the academy main gate, a journey full of many stops, supposedly, as there were many clans and guilds posts the closer they got to the academy.
However, they were in the company of the falcon legion, the strongest fighting group in the entire Nystic clan. Arthur just had his own speculations regarding the scheme his enemy was playing here.
To be safe, Forij wouldn't dare to attack them openly and in the public like this, or else he would be subjected to the clan head's wrath. The optimum choice would be to relate this task with other competitors to the clan, outside rivals who would be glad to kill a rising promising force to the clan before entering the academy.
If an outside clan or guild had interfered, then Forij and his treacherous son, Tenshi, wouldn't be in the spot of suspicion and questioning, as this would be all thrown over the shoulders of their enemies.
The question here was regarding this flying falcon legion accompanying them, what role they would play in that? would they backstab them while they were fighting those enemies? ditch them and run away leaving them to fight the enemies alone?
Arthur's mind was full of many scenarios, but he couldn't tell which would be the right one to occur. However, just to be safe, he dived deeply inside his heavenly garden, and checked on the status of the snake transforming into a dragon.
He was at the last stages of transformation, meaning he would be ready to fight in a day or two. That was reassuring, as that snake had already slept for such a long time, and it was time to put him in play.
He then started to pay attention to his hidden enemies, as many mages were still stalking them from far behind, using ground monsters to move behind them, watching them from far away.
He knew these monsters were mages shifting into monsters, and this had given him an idea about how strong a monster shifter was. He intended to search for a clan that had such talent near his clan lands, and act upon them in the future. He even wrote a bird's wing to Od and others, asking them to look for such a clan nearby.
He knew such a clan must be strong, or already been annexed by another power, so he asked them to be cautious, and gather only intel regarding them. He instructed them to send him all the data they gather, and wait for his further instructions.
He wouldn't go ahead and clash with a strong clan without his presence in the clan at least, or else consequences might be severe. He also asked Od to be careful, as his clan might be subjected to some retaliation from Forij as well.
As he closely observed the falcon mages flying in the front, leading the way, he didn't find anything worthy of note about them. they were totally silent, rarely spoke in words, and usually used hand signals to motion to them about the direction.
Arthur kept watching them with care and vigilance for a while, and with time his caution started to decrease, making him realize how risky they were.
'You are so patient,' he thought to himself, as he commended on their patience and discipline. If not for his earlier hunch and doubt, he wouldn't suspect them at all right now.
"Willy," suddenly, Noura's whispering voice came from beside him, as she was riding behind Lily. "We are slightly deviating from the main route to the academy," she added, while her words made him realize something.
Their role wasn't any of his previous assumptions, as they were tasked to carry them through a specific route, slightly away from the main one. He glanced at them with cold eyes, as he suddenly shouted to everyone:
"Follow Noura's lead."
His shout startled everyone, who had their senses dull from the long flight in silence for over than one day already. He glanced at Noura with a serious look, and she understood his meaning. "Follow me," she shouted, while she started to give pointers to Lily, who was like the rest startled by this sudden development.
"What are you doing? Where are you going?" the leader of the Falcon legion asked, with his strong tone, when Arthur and Noura started leading their party, flying away from their lead.
"We are going through the main route to the academy," Arthur simply replied, while his eyes showed no weakness at all when he looked at the silver falcon leader.
"Are you defying our orders? My orders?" the leader said in a very cold tone, but the next moment Arthur took out one bird's wing, wrote something in it, as he held it high in his hand. If he let it go, it would burn and be sent to the person who gave it to him. "this is a bird's wing given to me by the clan head, do you want me to send it now?"
The words, the sudden threat Arthur had declared, was out of this leader's expectations, as his features slightly changed for a brief moment, enough to make Arthur concede on all his previous guesses. "We will go through the main route, the known route to the academy, if you don't want to follow us then it's alright, we already know the route to there," Arthur said, while he continued to fly towards the academy, taking the official known route to all mages.
The leader just clenched his fists silently, as his intel was all wrong. He was told that Arthur didn't know the way to the academy, so it would be easy to take him to the ambush point. He also was told he had no way of contact with the clan head or clan grand elder, and both were wrong.
"No, we will accompany you to the academy as I promised the clan head," he finally spoke up, as he adjusted his flying route with his men to return to the main route to the academy. He swore in front of his benefactor that he wouldn't let this punk reach the academy, no matter what!
However he had now to improvise, as his previous arrangements with his benefactor were now in vain! Arthur just put away his fake bird's wing, thanking his luck that this leader wasn't present at his brief meeting with the clan head.
He just managed to topple their play, and now both sides had to improve, adapting to each other's sudden unplanned moves. That was satisfying for Arthur, as he wasn't the one to lose the edge here, but to the one to reclaim it.
"Be prepared for a fight," he simply whispered to the nearest mages to him, as they whispered to their nearest, and so on until everyone had already gotten the message.
A battle was about to erupt!
There was only less than one day before he could reach the academy, and so he was sure his enemy wouldn't sit still, and would start to act soon.
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