(ooc: Narf. :P)
There’s Industrials about.
The thought startled Aura out of her concentration, first annoying her as the power she’d collated for a little experiment fizzled out of her fingertips, and then concerning her – it was rare that Industrials went about in the forest these days, what with Malice still on the loose.
So why were they here? She gathered up all her Stones and scrambled up into the trees, put her nose into the wind and approached, cautiously. The wind was blowing her scent away from them, but it didn’t pay to be careless… she got to within earshot of them, then flattened herself down on her branch and listened…
There were a good twenty or thirty there, she guessed, counting as she listened, spread in a rough, wide fan shape in twos and threes. She could only catch snippets of conversation but the words “trapped” and “red” and “won’t escape” cropped up a good few times, so she guessed it must be something to do with Malice. Although part of her was glad – finally his reign of terror looked to be over – it felt like someone had put her heart in a vice and squeezed. She swallowed, thickly.
Steeling herself for the inevitable, Aura followed their line of sight – a low cave, its entrance partially hidden under the thick vegetation. She wrinkled her nose. Maybe if she could find a back way in…? Maybe warn him- Odd, what was she thinking? He’d likely kill her in the process…
In something of an echo from the past, she heard old Bea’s words; sometimes you have to make a choice; whether to go with your heart or your head. Sometimes it’s a horrible choice to make, but you have to make it – no-one else is going to do it for you.
She smiled, grimly. Like telling a psychopath he’s going to get caught and killed? Well, if no-one else is going to make the choice for me… With a sigh, she settled her nerves, and crawled out along her branch. If she could keep downwind of them for as long as possible, they wouldn’t spot her. The ground was damp from that rainstorm, meaning her scent would stick, but that couldn’t be helped…
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