Enemies

In Dhana's room.

All three of us sat with distressed expressions for over an hour. After explaining the whole thing, both Dhana and Dharma became deflated.

"What should we do now? We cannot get out, we cannot get any messages out. Anta is under attack and someone high up is trying to bury the whole matter. Who would have thought, so many elements are involved."

Dharma said as he held his forehead.

"I think we can break Ardra a bit. He is desperate to get some information from us. Maybe we can use that to get some information out." I said to them both.

"But how? My communication scroll is not good enough to send the information directly to Duke Paras. I can only send it to the headquarters. If the other party can directly get information from the Royal family, then there is a high chance that they can get info from the bureau.

Then they will know that we know their secret.

And if the Duke Kurma was really in it, we will be screwed." Dhana replied.

After some thought, I had an idea.

"I think I can make it work. We cannot give out the information through the regular communication means, but I think we can do it in a much more direct and manual way. We need to formulate the plan a bit…"

I explained what my thoughts were. Both Dharma and Dhana weighed in and suggested some modifications. After some discussion, we indeed felt that it was a feasible plan. Actually, it wasn't very complicated.

It was very direct and straightforward.

"Alright, I will break Ardra."

Dhana said and walked out searching for Ardra.

I don't know what exactly she did, but after half an hour, she came back with that man.

"So?"

Dharma asked.

"I will help you get out of the Mountain formation for exactly fifteen minutes. You will also have complete privacy for those fifteen minutes. In exchange, I need every single piece of information, you have on that guy.

If you are okay with it, then we can make a deal." That's what Ardra said.

Both Dharma and I exchanged a glance. That was much faster and more efficient than we thought. Dhana really did have her way to make the nervous guys succumb.

"Deal."

We agreed readily.

"Alright, give me some time. I will come back in a while."

Ardra left. After another hour or so, he came back.

"We can leave."

He guided us through some secret passageways within that carved castle before we reached a certain location.

It is the rear end of the mountain, connected to a large expanse of woods. We could see the glowing barrier separating us from that wilderness.

Ardra took out a token and bit his finger. He dropped the blood on that token before pushing it through the barrier. A small entrance opened through the barrier. Dharma stayed there. Only Dhana and I walked out.

Once we did, the barrier closed once again. When we turned back, we couldn't see neither ardra nor Dharma.

"I am very tempted to just make a run for it."

I muttered, Dhana also nodded in understanding. I am sure, she felt the same. But both of us knew that it wouldn't be possible.

I sat down on the ground and started chanting my spells. Once again, a simple beast taming spell to attract some wild birds, mostly pigeons that were abundant in the area and then I summoned some spirits.

There are not dark spirits that are close pigeons, so I had to summon some wind spirits. 

Dhana took out a token that belonged to Duke Paras.

I put the tracking spell on the fused creatures, before letting them fly away.

Of course, among them only half of them went to search for Duke Paras, the other half were meant to go south and reach Anta.

We were anxious about the invasion and wanted to get more details.

We walked back and touched the barrier. Ardra once again opened up a path and we walked in.

"You sent the message to Anta?" Ardra asked and we nodded.

That's right, we didn't tell him that we were sending a message to Paras. Dhana made up some story and according to that, a message needs to be sent to Anta urgently. It has something to do with my work as the Gazette reporter.

I don't know how Dhana convinced that idiot. But he believed it and it worked in our favor.

After that, it was our time to speak. We told him most of the details. We left out the thing about the person named Janis and the Village head. Apart from, that there was nothing much to be hidden. We even told him about the large circular portal that appeared in the valley when that man performed some kind of ritual.

As for why we revealed such information? It was simple. We were expecting that guy to go and convey it to whoever it was on the other side.

We hurriedly went back to my room and waited. I sat in the lotus position as I kept my eyes on the cave through the bird.

Ardra just like before walked into the cave and sent a message. He told every little detail. This time the reply was not immediate. It took some time for it to be back.

"Things really are out of hand. It think he was breaking one of the lesser gates. Even if I tell you more details, you will not understand. Just keep those kids there. Whether your father understood the issue or not, he did the right thing. This news shouldn't go out.

Keep an eye on them and if they try to get out, stop them. If things don't work out, kill them."

I was shocked and lost connection with the bird immediately. I relayed the message to both Dhana and Dharma.

"So, they are ready to kill us. Our expectations were kind of right. Its just that the Duke Kurma is not the one who wanted to do it. Its his son and whoever his master was. Fucking hell. What do we do now?" I was about to rant. I wanted to. Ever since the incident, I almost got burned to death, stayed in hospital for a few days, spat my blood so many times, almost got killed by black flames AGAIN, entrapped by a Duke and a Duke's son might possibly kill us.

And it all happened within last four days.

Dharma looked at Dhana and said.

"We do, what we were trained to do. First, we will gather information, investigate and when we are sure that we got everything we wanted, we can leave this place. We just need to divide our task."

"I am outside intel and delivering the info to the backup, who is Duke Paras." I spoke and both of the nodded.

"I will try to see what these people are trying to achieve." Dharma said.

"I will be looking for a way out." Dhana also spoke and our tasks were divided.

So, I sat down in the room in a meditative state looking through the eyes of the birds I sent out. Meanwhile, the other two left.

The birds were not exactly fast. In fact, they could be considered quite slow, because they are not magical beasts and the spirits were also of low level.

If I summoned any high level spirits, the magic could be easily detected.

Throughout the night, the travelled and by the next morning, I finally saw the outskirts of Anta. The birds entered the city from different directions and the moment they entered the city, the state of it made me feel chills.

The beautiful city that carried the tranquility of sea was destroyed. Not a single building in sight was left. Each and every one of them was destroyed. Even the mage tower that could be seen from miles away was nowhere to be seen. 

All the citizens were at the extreme rear of the city and they were being organized by the uniformed soldiers.

There were around five birds in that city and all of them in different directions. As far as I could see, everything was destroyed. There were dead bodies being salvaged from the rubble. The soldiers were trying to find any possible survivors and are guiding them to the rear of the city.

That was the building used for city administration.

I knew something really dreadful happened and only when I actually saw the beach did I understand how truly grave the situation was.

The beach was covered with black tents. Someone camped out there. It was the enemies and the frontline clash is happening right outside the city walls. The walls were breached and in that place there laid down some newly created stone walls, probably the work of several mages.

In between that beach and the stone walls was a raging battle.

And when I saw the enemies, I recalled a few images that I have seen back in many books that I collected.

I hurriedly disconnected with the spirit and opened my eyes. I rummaged through my storage device and took out a book.

I opened it and swept through the pages until my eyes landed on one.

It was a humanoid creature, Its sleek body, adorned in scales ranging from deep blue to almost black. Long, webbed fingers terminated in razor-sharp claws. Seaweed and barnacles adorned its shoulders, adding an ominous touch to its appearance. Fin-like protrusions along its forearms and lower legs enhanced its streamlined form.

At first glance, it looked it like a fierce knight wearing a dashing but a complex armor of eeriness. However, that look was betrayed by the gills on its neck pulsating every second.

The creature that I saw matched exactly with the creature that I read about in the book and the picture of the creature in the book.

A Sea Demon.