Thud! Arad transformed back to his humanoid form and teleported toward the forest, landing beside the carriage to find Jack and Isdis treating Lydia.
He looked to the side to see Aella patching her fingers, "What happen?" He asked, approaching her.
"Ripped the skin off my fingertips firing those arrows," She shook her hands, "It's been a while since I channeled so much magic,"
"For real, you should have seen her. The shockwave of her bow firing shook the trees." Jack looked toward Arad with a smile.
"How is Lydia doing?" Arad asked, seeing Lydia still unconscious. "She's been taking a lot of hits lately,"
Jack shook his arms, "She's good enough not to be in danger. She will survive," He smiled, "How about you? What happened to the elf leader?"
"Dead, what about the rest?" Arad looked around.
"The attacks are all dead. No one escaped since Aella sniped them all." Jack smiled, pointing at the back. "The elf hostages are there,"
Arad looked to see the giant cobra coiled around the hostages from the goblin raid. "They look scared to me,"
"They aren't," Jack shook his arm, "Look at them, happy and alive,"
"We wanted to ask you about whether to let them live or kill them," Isdis stared at Arad, "They saw you, didn't they?"
Arad scratched his head, "I don't know about that,"
"To me," Isdis looked at the hostages, "I would rather worsen our relation with the elves and kill those hostages than expose you to them."
"I say we deliver them back to the elves," Arad looked at Isdis, "No need to kill them,"
"They could expose your secret," Isdis glared at Arad with a smile, "But, we can always provide protection for you,"
^This is my chance to get him under the kingdom. Right now he only has two choices, either kill the elves and cause trouble for the kingdom and be in dept for us staying silent, or side with us to avoid the whole mess,^
Jack and Aella stared at Arad.
"HAA!" Jack sighed, "Stuck between the anvil and the hammer,"
"We'd rather not choose any of the paths," Aella stared at Isdis, "Eaither of them ends with the kingdom having some influence over Arad, won't it?"
"It's just the nature of the events, nothing that I can do about it," She waved her hands, "So what do you say?" She extended her hand to Arad.
"Ahem," Eris cleared her throat in the back, her whole body was covered with a black blanket "Why don't you turn that princess into a thrall and have her stay shut for the rest of her life?"
"Hey! You!" Isdis growled, glaring at Eris.
"She will tell the king a powerful vampire attacked and she was turned. To save face, he will silently search for a cure for his daughter and bury everything that happened today." Eris smiled, "I will even hold her for you,"
Arad looked at Eris, "I thought you were chained?"
"I was," Eris smiled, "I used that elf's strike to break the chains," She pointed at the ground.
"Fine I don't think he intended to do it," Arad smiled, "Why didn't you run away?"
"That elf can snipe me down, and I didn't really want to have you chase me again," Eris sighed, "In my current state, I would die before I can get away,"
Arad looked at the sky, "The sun?"
"That's only a part of it," Eris looked at Arad from beneath her blanket, "It was a mistake to drink your blood. It's wrecking my guts and I can't seem to recover from it,"
"It doesn't really matter," Jack sighed, looking at Arad with a smile, "We get back to the village. Get those elves patched up and resupply for the trip to the elves,"
"Can you decide for Arad?" Isdis stared at Jack, "Isn't he the one making decisions,"
Jack looked at her, "Well, I did find something interesting," He pulled a small stack of papers from his pocket, "I believe those were in your stuff, right?"
"Give them back!" Isdis rushed at him, snatching the papers away, "You dare go through my stuff,"
Jack smiled, "Like I'm going to trust you without anything," He smiled, "Look closely,"
Isdis stared at the papers, her face going pale, "Those are counterfeit,"
Jack laughed, "It's your fault for carrying economic data from the capital with you. I already gave the real ones to people that I trust," Jack stared at her, "You either keep quiet, or they are exposed to the whole world."
"You dare blackmail a princess?" Isdis growled, pulling her sword.
Jack scratched his chin, "A princess? Can you show me your identification?"
"What are you talking about?" Isdis growled, but soon realized what he meant and rushed to look inside her pocket, everything was gone. No money, no royal necklace, and not a single thing proving she's the princess.
"You stole everything!" Isdis cried.
"You were used to your head knight managing everything," Jack smiled, "Now, you're all alone,"
Isdis glared at him, ^I will have him executed when we get back to the capital,^
"You better not get any funny ideas," Jack lifted his hands as if he read her mind, "Arad, catch," He threw a scroll to him.
Arad opened the scroll and read it, "A plan to cause a rebellion? And it's sighed by Isdis?" Even he was confused, "I made that one, copied her signature from those economic data. I gotta be prepared when dealing with royalty, that's what my sister taught me,"
Isdis sighed, "Give them back,"
"I won't, not as long as I don't trust you." Jack glared at her, "You have something on us, and I have something on you,"
Isdis growled, sighting, "Fine, fine," She glared at Arad, "But I can't do anything to the elves,"
Arad sighed, approaching the carriage.
HISSS! He could hear the cobra hissing in the back, "What is it?" He stared at her.
"I see, but that would be quite hard," Arad scratched his head.
"You can understand monsters?" Isdis stared at Arad, "Isn't that strange?"