I immediately ran to find my aunt. They were still back to where I left them. When my aunt saw me, she was about to scold me for running, but seeing the look on my face, she held back.
“Dear, what’s wrong?”
“Where’s the carriage you took to get here? I need to get back to Thalia immediately.” I told them.
“You’re leaving already?” Fred interjected and came forward.
I nodded. “It’s Viex, my other contracted spirit.” I held my head as I tried to remember the last words that he told me. “He told me that he was in Thalia. And I feel it. He’s in trouble.”
Fred nodded and called for a servant. “Get my carriage immediately.”
“But, sire, with all the carriage parked, we just can’t get through!”
“What?” Fred asked incredulously. “This is supposed to be a kingdom of Magic. Such a small matter is irrelevant. Think of a way to move it.”
We were running out of time. I glanced at Custard. ‘Do you think you can run there?’
‘I can. But Viex is running out of magic. He will need all the magic that you can spare. If you use it on me now then what about Viex?’
Magic. I need more magic. I looked at Fred. He was still barking orders at his servants. I could ask him but he obviously can’t leave now. It’s his event.
But there is still one who can help me.
“Fred, excuse me for a moment. I’m sorry.” I said before turning in the other direction.
There he was, being held by Eltur while Ren was being held by Darem as they both tried to reach Dan.
“Excuse me!” I said and pushed past the others to grab the sleeve of HIS coat and ran. I looked back and felt relieved when he actually followed me even though he was probably confused as to why I grabbed him. “I need your help. Please. I’ll do extra training or whatever. It’s just an emergency.”
Ace didn’t ask any more questions. He just nodded.
As soon as we got out, I channeled enough magic energy to Custard and morph him. Some nobles panicked and ran away as soon as they saw a white and black wolf standing in the middle of the road.
I jumped on Custard’s back and gestured for Ace to do the same. “Where are we going?” He asked as soon as he was on Custard’s back.
“Thalia.” I answered just before Custard took off on a run. I was baffled at how fast he can actually run. After all, riding comfortably isn’t our main objective here.
We were running against time.
Custard suddenly changed paths and headed into the woods just to avoid the incoming carriages headed to Hazel.
“What the hell?!” Ace cursed.
“Custard, says that he’s taking a shortcut.” I answered his unspoken question. “By the way, I’m sorry I took you all of a sudden. You weren’t able to properly part with Nora.”
“You said it was an emergency. She’ll understand.” He says. “Why are we in such a hurry anyway? You’ll drain your magic if you keep this up.”
“It’s...kind of complicated. I’ll tell you later.”
His expression changed. “Tell your wolf to stop.” He ordered me.
I looked back at Ace. “I swear I will tell you after. Right now, I am so worried that Viex-”
“Not that you fool!” He screamed at me and forced my head to turn back to the front. “Your wolf is about to jump off a damn cliff!”
I stifled a gasped when I saw that he was right. Custard was charging at full speed towards a cliff. “Custard! A cliff!” I screamed. “Brake. Where’s the brake?!”
‘It’s a shortcut.’ He simply responds. I don’t know which shortcut he was talking about. The shortcut to Thalia or the shortcut to the afterlife. Custard jumped, and soon we were falling down the cliff.
I hugged Custard a little tighter and got a sense of deja vu of the time that we were free-falling once again. Custard landed on one of the sloping edges nearest to us before jumping onto the next one. His claw digging into the hard soil just to get the right bearing that some of them gave away when he hopped onto another.
Soon we were back on the ground. Ace and I didn’t speak after that. I think we might have swallowed our tonsils from all of Custard’s crazy ‘shortcuts’ that actually shortens your lifespan.
He really wasn’t kidding when he says that it won’t be a pleasant ride. He was worse than Viex when he runs seriously.
As soon as we reached Thalia, Custard sniffed the air. People were screaming as we ran through the road of the town and headed for the castle. The guards didn’t have enough time to open the gate because Custard simply climbed and jumped over them.
‘Master! He’s here.’ He says while poking his head in one of the bushes of the garden. I got down and moved the bushes away. I gasped at the sheer ghostly sight of him. He was curled up as if he was cold. His eyes were closed and he seems to be unconscious.
I moved the bushes away to get better access to him. Everything about Viex was fading except for his ears.
“Can we still save him?” I asked Custard as I tried to grab Viex, but my fingers would simply pass through him.
‘His ears! Try his ears.’ I touched the Viex’s ears. It was the only solid part of him at the moment. I started channeling magic through him to keep him alive. Swirling blue veins ran from my hand and onto Viex’s entire body. It’s like it was sewing him together.
I looked at Ace, who was silently watching me. “Please, I need some magic. I am almost out.”
Ace nodded and moved to place his hand over mine. I felt him channeling his magic through my hand before I passed it down to Viex.
“What did he do to end up like this?” He asked.
“I don’t know. I want to ask him that when he wakes up. I hope.” Viex’s body was started to recover slowly. He was starting to solidify that I can barely see the ground through him. Once we finished, we drew our hands back and waited.
“Are we too late?” Ace asked when he noticed that Viex didn’t even move. He was still laying down on the ground.
Lifeless.
I started tearing up. “Viex?” I tried moving his chin up, but it dropped back to the ground. His eyes were still closed.
I fought the tears that were about to fall down my face as I watched Custard making his way to Viex and sniffed his body. He tilted his head to the side before he bit his tail.
“Custard, what are you-” I was about to scold him when Viex jerked in surprise. He opened his eyes and blinked a few times before standing up and falling back down again.
‘My...bag.’ He says and looked around him. He was scratching his neck with his front paw as if he was trying to grab something that wasn’t there.
“Viex!” I screamed and picked him up.
‘Custard.’ Viex breathed deeply as I hugged him. ‘Please do me a favor.’
‘Alright. You can count on me. I’ll go find it! Master, I’ll go for a while!’ Before I could even say anything, Custard was already running away.
‘Princess.’ Viex looked up at me. He was trying to say something but it was obvious that he was struggling.
“Go to sleep, Viex. Whatever you want to tell me can wait. For now, you should rest.”
‘It’s..important.’ Viex slumped in my arms.
“How long is he going to live?” Ace asked curiously as if thinking that Viex’s days were already numbered.
I scowled at him. “Long enough!” I answered and hugged Viex defensively. “I won’t let any of them die!”
Ace crossed his arms over his chest and gave me a look. “Then you better train to maximize the limit of your magic. What would you have done if I or any other magic user aren’t here to help you?”
Viex was pawing my arm and trying to grab my attention, but I ignored him because I want Viex to save his strength. “Thank you, PRINCE Ace. And just as I promised, I will train hard. Now I see that I still can’t even protect or save them all on my ow-” I was cut off by a scream.
It was coming at the front door of the castle. Ace and I exchanged a look before we ran towards the sound. We saw one of my servants on the ground and looking at an open box and fallen box.
As soon as she saw us, she gasped. “Princess!”
“What’s wrong? Why did you scream?” I knelt beside her and placed one free hand on her shoulder as comfort.
“There...there was a package sent to you. We opened it because there was blood on the box.” She says and pointed at the fallen box on the ground. Whatever was in there spilled on the floor.
My eyes widened when I saw that it was hair. I stood up and ran, but fell down when I tripped on my dress. I hastily crawled instead, ignoring the scrapes on my knees as I did. I placed Viex on my lap as I turned the box over. White-blonde hair spilled all over the ground messily. I grabbed a few of them and began stroking them with my thumb.
It can’t be. It’s just a coincidence. “Where did this package come from?” I demanded without looking at them.
“From Tereau.”
My breath hitched. As my fingers brushed over the long strands of hair in the box.
‘Princess.’ Viex clawed me again. This time, I looked at him. He was still weak that he was closing his eyes as he spoke. ‘Your sister. Ferius has her.’
************CUSTARD************
Custard was able to track down the item that Viex lost using his sense of smell. The only problem is, it’s all the way up a tree. Custard sat on the floor and looked up at the monkey chewing on the bag.
‘Excuse me!’ Custard barked to get their attention. It worked as the monkeys turned to him. Custard counted them inside his head. There were at least 5 of them. ‘Can I have that back, please? It belongs to my brother. He’s really upset that he lost it. It must be something important.’
The five monkeys all looked at each other before one of them grabbed the bag from the other and dropped down to the ground. The monkey stretched one of its hands that was holding the bag.
Custard tail wagged gratefully. ‘Thank you!’ He says, but just as he was about to grab it, the monkey slapped him across the face while another one pulled his tail hardly that he cried out in pain. ‘Hey! That is very rude!’ He growled. But the monkeys didn’t care. Instead, they were laughing and throwing rocks at him.
‘Give it back! It belongs to Viex!’ Custard started to chase them but the monkeys climb up a tree and stuck their tongue out at him. Custard attempted to climb, but they would simply kick his face that he would fall and roll on the ground. Then they would continue to throw rocks at him or pull his tail.
He started curling himself into a ball to protect himself. He wants to cry. Why were they being mean to him? All he wanted was to get the bag. And he asked them nicely! He sniffed and whimpered. He wants to go back to his master and Viex, but couldn’t. Viex wants him to bring the bag back.
Did the monkeys also bully Viex when he was weak? Custard felt rage all of a sudden and felt himself beginning to morph. Instead of white, his fur turned black, and felt his horn protruding on top of his forehead.
He leaped and he was able to pin one of the monkeys on the tree. The others screamed in fright but didn’t move as he has one of them under his mercy. ‘Give the bag to me now or I crush him.’ He snarled. He barely recognized his own voice.
Frightened, the one that was holding the bag jumped on the same branch as them. He handed Custard the bag with shaking hands. Custard snatched the bag away, making the monkey scream. He lifted his paw that was holding the other monkey to set it free. It cried and ran towards its sibling.
Custard was just about to leave, but remembering how rude these guys were, he decided to take revenge. With his massive claw, he broke the branch that the two monkeys were perched on. The two of them fell on the ground and Custard snorted with satisfaction.
Serves them right.
Then, he jumped down and started heading back. As he ran, he began to dimorph into his smaller form. He didn’t know what his other form means, but he was certain that it allowed him to morph anytime that he likes without relying too much on his master’s magic.
But that was a thought for next time. Right now, he needs to give Viex back his precious bag.