[Silver]

“Are you sure we should be doing this?”

It was question that often went unasked between the two of them, but occasionally he felt the need to say it aloud. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her, but he had his doubts about her methods sometimes. He was quiet, content soul who very rarely felt the need to take action the way she did. Sometimes it didn’t even seem like they were related.

“You worry too much,” Aquila said.

She was trying to keep the both of them calm, which was hard to do sometimes. Especially with Lynx voicing doubt. It wasn’t like she didn’t have doubts, but if nobody said them aloud, maybe she could ignore them long enough to get something done. Maybe.

[Silver]

It was hard to believe, but they had somehow stumbled into an even shadier alley than they were in before. Lynx was frowning profusely, but he nonetheless stayed close to his sister. At least for this long, she had kept both of them alive, so all he could do was trust that she knew what she was doing. The alternative was not an option.

He would much rather be at the sanctuary, practicing, but he didn’t want to let Aquila go out alone. He did worry about her, of course. Not that he thought he could really do anything if they did get in trouble. He always figured he had to be with her in case she did something really dumb. Sometimes his dissenting words made her rethink her strategy. Sometimes.

[Silver]

One thing he could do was use the new spell he had learned to help them along the way. It was really dark back here, no doubt to hide some nefarious things. So he muttered a haiku and produced a little ball of light. He tossed it into the air and it floated just in front of him.

The light cast their shadows on the walls of the alley. There was no hiding their presence now. It illuminated everything, causing what was either a large rat or a small monster to scurry off into a pile of trash. Aquila literally jumped with surprise, then tried to play it off like she hadn’t.

[Silver]

“What are you doing?” she hissed.

“I thought it might help us see,” Lynx said. He had a grin on his face like a kid who had just aced a spelling test being praised by the teacher.

“Yea, but now everyone can see us!”

“I really don’t think we should be going anywhere where we have to sneak up on someone…”

“I just. I don’t. You’re right. Thank you, Lynx.” Aquila couldn’t even articulate what made her annoyed at the situation, so she decided to drop it. They knew she was coming, so there’s no reason she would need to attempt to hide from them. She was just being paranoid.

[Silver]

It didn’t take them long to find the glowing rune they were looking for. Aquila squinted at it to assess whether or not it was a trap. She had never been here before, and she had no idea how genuine the information she got about it was.

“Do you think it’s dangerous?” she asked. Lynx was always better at magic than her, so she thought he might know. Perhaps if she practiced more, she might be better, but she never had the time. She was always preoccupied. Like right now, for example.

[Silver]

Lynx leaned in close to the rune and studied the way it glowed and the shape of it. It wasn’t familiar to him, but the fundamentals were all there. He didn’t think it had any of the markings of a trap, though he supposed if the trap was any good, they probably wouldn’t be able to tell that easily. He was a pretty low ranking wizard, after all.

“I think it’s fine,” he said. “But I do want you to be sure before you go that this is what you really want to do.”

[Silver]

“It is,” Aquila said with a nod. She did not hesitate.

She ruffled through her pack and pulled out a leather pouch she had been carrying. She felt it in her fingers to be sure it still contained what she thought it did. She was relieved that it made it this far without anything bad happening to it. She wasn’t really sure what she was afraid of, but feeling the object inside made her feel better anyhow.

She reached up to the rune and pressed her palm against it, just as she had been instructed. Very suddenly, the wall reached out, grabbed her between two concrete pillars, and pulled her into the building. Just as quickly as it had appeared, it went back to normal, just a wall with a single rune.

[Silver]

“Aquila!” Lynx cried out. He certainly wasn’t expecting that, though he thought she might have been. She had been planning to leave him here this whole time! He was pissed and worried, all in a confusing combination that made him dash toward the wall and pound on it with his fists.

“How did she…?” Lynx inspected the rune, trying to gage how it was activated. He tapped on it a few times and whispered some generic magic words he knew. He should have been paying more attention.

[Silver]

It took him a few tries before he finally gave up. He just wasn’t good enough to figure out how this stupid thing worked. He leaned against the wall with his palm flat out, coincidentally right on the place where he was meant to put it. He was then grabbed by the wall in the same way that Aquila had been, and dragged into the building.

The stonework unceremoniously plopped him onto the ground in a relatively small room. It was lit only by a single lantern behind a throne-like chair. In front of the chair stood his sister, and sitting in it was some greasy looking guy with entirely too nice jewelry.

[Silver]

“Aquila!” he squeaked with surprise. He was honestly just astonished that it worked, and she was here and not dead.

“Shh!” she looked considerably annoyed at his entrance. “Stay, and be quiet,” she hissed through her teeth.

“How fortunate your timing is, boy,” said the man in the chair. “Your friend here was just leaving, wasn’t she?” Aquila nodded, though it looked like it pained her to do so. “I think you should both exit the way you came. Now.”

“What the hell happened in there?” Lynx asked after the two of them were pushed back out through the stonework and into the alleyway. Aquila just hung her head and shook it, indicating that she wasn’t interested in talking about it.

[Wild Pet Found]