"As you wish. But I am sure soon you will seek for my help, and when that time comes, you can pay a visit to my humble lodging," the elf said and looked at Aureus. "He knows where I stay."
Drayce decided to ignore the elf and turn his attention back to search for any clues left in this place. "Since they set up such a formation, that means they must have been observing the movements within the palace for some time. Their hiding place must also be within this forest. We need to search for it."
"I do not think we will find them even if we go to their hiding place. By now, they must have fled from Blackhelm," Aureus commented.
"We need to gather as much intelligence as we could," Drayce said as they continued to search further. "We cannot afford to miss even a single detail."
As the group moved around the vicinity, the elf accompanied them like a shadow. Drayce offered him a questioning look to ask why he was sticking around.
The elf replied to him with a bored look. "What?"
"Why do you follow us, elf?"
"Stop acting like it is all about you and your wife. Black magic practitioners are a scourge to our kind. Even without you, I would try to look for them. I don't find it necessary to ask for your permission to investigate their whereabouts."
Drayce didn't bother to question him anymore. Though he wasn't sure if he was truly an ally, he at least knew this elf was not hostile to him, at least, at this moment. He then proceeded with his search.
After a long time, they finally found traces of black magic that weren't on the escape route Aureus took when he was saving Seren. It was actually leading towards one of the rugged peaks in the northwest. As their group drew closer to the mountain, the darkness inside Drayce started to react strongly.
"Let's move faster," he said as soon as he determined the direction.
Soon enough, even Aureus and the silver-haired elf started to show visible disgust on their faces, as the path they were taking did not merely bore traces of black magic, but as if there was a swamp formed from strong black magic in the air that's causing them to feel dissonance as beings of nature.
"I think it's nearby," Drayce said as they stopped somewhere in the middle of the forest. "The black magic is so thick here that it's hard to use powers of other attributes in this area. We need to manually search. Spread out and come back in five minutes."
The elf merely crossed his arm when he saw Drayce's eyes on him. "I'm not part of your group. I'll just stay here."
After a while, the three men returned to where the elf was standing empty-handed.
Slayer looked around the trees once more. "Your Majesty, if there is no cabin on the surface, there is a high chance that it is an underground hideout." He tapped his feet on the ground at random places while walking. After some time, he finally felt something and pulled out his sword from the scabbard and tapped its handle with force on the ground.
Thud! Thud!
"I think we found it," Slayer commented and others approached the spot he hit.
"We need to find the entrance and enter the proper way so nothing inside would be destroyed," Drayce suggested.
"Leave it to me, Your Majesty."
Slayer, being the master of such things, knew best where to look for and it didn't take him much time to find it. The entrance to that underground hideout was at the base of one of the massive trees that were common in this part of the forest. Its large roots were all over the ground and spread everywhere in a haphazard manner.
Between those large roots, at the base of the tree, there was a wooden door that was covered by tall grass. If no one would especially look for it, one would have thought it was just a rotten plank of wood that had fallen out from the tree.
"Your Majesty, I found the entrance!" Slayer called out.
The elf looked at it as he mumbled, "Seems like this place is of no use for them as they even removed the magic spell hiding that door."
Slayer opened that door, and the three supernatural beings flinched as they felt the thick onslaught of black magic being emitted from the hole. It was better for Drayce due to his darkness attribute, but it was especially nauseating for the shapeshifter and the elf.
The way down was pitch black, and Slayer, being an ordinary human, needed to light a torch to see underground. Seeing the three men not doing anything, the knight was about to take out one of the items he prepared for tonight when his king gestured for him to not move.
As the four men stood at the entrance of the hideout, Drayce raised his hand. The next moment, a fire appeared on the torches that were hanging along the walls leading underground. It was common sense that such a place would have such an arrangement already, especially since this ought to be a hideout used by those hooded people.
With their way illuminated, Slayer brandished his sword in front of him and was first to step on the stairs leading underground.
"Your Majesty, please allow me."
Being the King's guardian knight, it was his duty to face any danger before his liege and Drayce did not stop him from fulfilling his duties.
Acting as the vanguard, Slayer was fully alert as he went down first while Aureus followed behind him in an even more cautious manner, knowing he needed to be able to react fast to protect the human in front of him.
Still, at the entrance, Drayce glanced at the elf who seemed intent to follow them as well.
"Your Majesty, after you," the elf said with a teasing smirk as to annoy Drayce more but the young king chose to ignore him. They walked down the stairs, and after determining there were no traps, followed the small passage that opened into a grand hall. It had a firepit in the centre, seemingly like a place where rituals were being held.
"Are these ruins of an older kingdom?" Slayer asked.
The wise elf observed the place and shook his head. "Though the architecture is from a few centuries back, the stones are quarried from nearby and the place seems only about less than five decades old. Look at the traces on the pillars. Seems like the place is only for them to gather, a meeting place, and not their headquarters."
"Sir Elf, are you implying they did not find this place but they have built it long back?" Slayer commented.
"That is indeed the case."
"For them to create a hideout rather than hide within the city, that meant they had other activities within Blackhelm that involved other supernatural beings several decades ago. Seren was not their initial target as she came to this kingdom recently. Their target was something--or rather, someone else," Drayce said and looked at Aureus. "You mentioned you and your mother had an incident two decades back?"
Aureus had a look of deep thought before voicing out his guesses.
"If I am not wrong, this might be to get me. My mother and I had been living in isolation, moving around from one place to another, for as long as I could remember. We were probably running away from them for a long time and were finally caught here. After they lost me, they built this place knowing they will find me when I return here someday. When Her Majesty the Queen arrived in the kingdom, they found another target."
Meanwhile, something else caught the elf's attention. There was another narrow corridor hidden behind one of the pillars. If it was not for his fine sight, it would have been difficult to discover it because it seemed to perfectly blend among the shadows. He walked towards it and observed the entrance of that narrow corridor.
'It is protected with a powerful illusion formation so that supernaturals with less keen eyesight won't be able to see it.'
As there were no torches along that corridor, the elf used a magic spell to generate flames that floated in the air in front of him. With a source of light, he carefully strolled to the end of that narrow corridor.
A prison cell. Metal bars were attached to the stone wall and behind those was a small room that was barely large enough to hold a person. The other side of the wall had iron chains fixed in it as if someone was being kept captive there with their limbs shackled to the wall.
The prison cell's door was unlocked.
The elf entered the small cell and kneeled down as his attention was caught by certain dark patches on the stone tiles. With his finger, he touched the ground and checked it by rubbing it between his fingers. The smell in the air confirmed his guess.
'It's blood. The blood of a being with a divine bloodline. Who did they keep captive here?'
The elf's eyes caught something else and he picked it up from the ground. He could not believe what he saw. Even before he could get out of his surprise, he sensed the others coming his way and immediately hid it.
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A/N- Dear readers, if you are reading the new book "The Devil's Cursed Witch" kindly vote your golden tickets to it instead of this one for this month. It is in WSA contest and needs it more.
I will make sure to update both novels regularly.
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