Suspicions

As they cleared the bodies of the direwolves, Silax began to think back to the scene he had just witnessed.

'He's strong, stronger than I initially estimated. I wouldn't have a chance against him. If we fought ten times, I'd lose ten times. That's unsettling, if a situation arises where I have to fight him, there will be nothing I would be able to do. Worse if he has Elara on his side.'

He walked up to the alpha and tried to lift it, but he couldn't. Then he tried dragging it, that also was difficult for him.

'This thing weighs over five hundred pounds, and he was able to tackle it to the ground. He even seemed to beat it when it came to physical strength.'

He let go of the body called out to Elara.

"Elara, I need your help moving this."

Elara threw the head of a direwolf into the forest then came to assist him. She lifted the front end and summoned air to aid them in moving the body out of the clearing. They dumped it just at the edge of the clearing, unlike the others which they moved further out.

"Thanks. We should leave this closer to us, the corpse of an alpha direwolf should deter anything that would think of giving us trouble. They would be wary of anything that can take care of this beast."

Elara crouched and inspected the area around his neck where Kal had ripped into.

"He really has such a brutal way of fighting. All through the fight I just watched too stunned to speak."

Silax was already handling another body by now, he turned his head towards her.

"I thought you had both been traveling together, haven't you seen him in battle before?"

Elara gasped, realizing she had made a slip up, she looked up with an embarrassing look on her face. She was going to try to correct her blunder, but when she saw the look on Silax's face, she gave up.

Silax had a teasing look on his face, he was interested to see how she was going to explain this.

"Well, it seems like you already figured it out before. This is the first time I'm working with Kal, and the first time we're traveling together." 

Silax was a little thrown off by the fact that she didn't put more effort into hiding it.

"I'm surprised you didn't try to make up an excuse."

"It doesn't seem necessary to keep it a secret. Also, Jack said all I needed to do was to leave with you and Kal." Elara said as she dragged another direwolf out of the clearing.

The smirk on Silax face vanished, replaced by a more serious look.

"Why would Jack tell me you were part of the team from the beginning, and what exactly is your reason for joining this expedition?"

Elara shrugged her shoulders has she lifted the body of another of Kal's victim.

"Who knows what goes on in that guy's head? Is explanation to me was that you weren't going to be okay with the fact that he was adding someone new to the team, he said the arrangement you had with him was just to help you find the ruins."

Elara dumped the body of the direwolf outside the clearing and went to pick another. Then she noticed that Silax was just standing and looking at her, with a serious look on his face.

She understood that finding out you've being misled wasn't a nice feeling, but she didn't think Silax would take it this serious. After-all, they were going to meet up with other people, so one more person shouldn't be that much of a change.

She decided to explain why she agreed to help Jack, so that there would be no more misunderstanding between them.

"As to why I'm here, he said he needed the help of someone who could read the Elven script, although I suspect there is more to it than that. I agreed because he said he would help me find a way to contact someone I've been looking to meet for a very long time. Jack's expertise lies in finding that which chooses to remain hidden, and he has a lot of contacts spread all across Artiyaem, even in the far reaches of Assyria."

Silax began to think about all the possible reasons Jack would need Elara. Something had been troubling him since he met with Jack, but he didn't know exactly what the issue was. He had too little information to figure it out.

'I can rule out the whole needing someone who understands ancient elvish, their plenty of people who do, and I'm sure at least one of the elves waiting at the ruins understands it. What sort of expedition team doesn't have a member who understands ancient elvish? I can only assume it has something to do with the fact that she's a spiritualist.'

Silax turned to look at the sleeping Kal, he assessed his chances of surviving if a clash against him if things came to it.

'Maybe now would be the best chance to eliminate the threat he poses. What about her? What do I do with her? Would she just standby and watch? Would she keep quiet about it?'

Then he turned to face Elara, she was still looking at him, and when she saw the look in his eyes, her heart skipped a beat.

'No, there's no need to take drastic measures yet.'

"Well that's alright. All that concerns me right now is the exploration of the ruin."

He said this with a smile on his face. 

Elara sighed in relief. She had been startled by the way Silax had just looked at her. It was like being stared at by a predator, ready to pounce on her.

Silax continued to clear out the bodies as he thought more on the situation he found himself in.

'I'm beginning to suspect that they had discovered the ruins a long time ago, at least a month, because there's nothing about the crimson night in Castle Varneil. It's a place I've already been to several times, if there was anything that pointed to the crimson night, I would have noticed. They must have already explored the castle during the last crimson night and come across something, and that's why they decided to include us. Why would they need a spiritualist though? Could the castle really have the answers I seek?'

Silax stopped thinking about it, he made up his mind to watch each member of the team carefully, and guard himself against any surprise that may pop up in this journey.

It took them about thirty minutes before they could make the place clean enough for them to stay in. It was back-breaking work, and they were exhausted from it.