chsdbacks Chapter 832: Reunion
Chapter 832: Reunion
We are Back! This time for good and I have got quite the Chapters stacked so expect Updates from now on! We also have a discord Channel now.. it’s in the authors note. If you want to reach out to me then that’s the place....
Nox did not answer Serena again. He pushed the door open and stepped into the plaza of the Beast Emporium. Behind him, the office fell quiet. Somewhere below, a young tamer laughed as his wolf cub knocked over a feed sack. Life in the Tristan Kingdom moved on as if the world were not slowly filling with enemies.
By the time night came , Nox had already left the main city behind. At the edge of the training grounds, he raised one hand.
Blazy burst from the Taming Space in a flare of orange flame.
"West," Nox said. "As fast as you can."
The Emberhawk, which had now grown to the size of a dragon, spread its wings and shot into the sky.
A gust of breeze ruffled Nox’s hair as he flew atop the giant hawk’s back.
The desert did not arrive all at once. First came the dry wind. Then yellow grass gave way to cracked earth. Then the horizon opened into rolling dunes that swallowed the sky whole.
Nox had flown for most of the day with only short breaks. Blazy descended on a ridge of rock, and Nox dismounted without a word. He sent the hawk back into the Taming Space and stood alone for a moment, eyes narrowed against the distance.
Serena had said Nyx and Akira were somewhere in this region. Without hesitation, he activated Astral Control.
The world shifted. Blazy shot upward again in its small form, and this time Nox saw through the hawk’s eyes. Heat rippled off the sand. Wind carved patterns into the dunes. Far below, something glinted.
Nox pushed the hawk lower, and there he finally saw it.
A small caravan moved through a narrow pass between two dunes. Six wagons. Fourteen men on horseback. From a distance, they looked like ordinary merchants crossing the western wastes.
Then one rider turned, and the afternoon sun caught the mark on his collar.
It was a rose wreathed in flames.
Nox’s gaze hardened when he saw this. Of course, it was the Order of the Flaming Rose.
He followed them for another mile. The wagons were not carrying grain or cloth. Through the gaps in the canvas, he saw bound wrists. Young faces pressed against the wooden slats. One boy was not moving at all.
Even though he was currently in Blazy’s body, he could sense it. They were Beast Tamers.
Nox cut the link and opened his eyes on the ridge.
"They’re moving captives," he muttered.
He was about to summon Drake when movement caught his eye farther west. Three figures were on the next dune, low to the ground, watching the same caravan. One had white wings folded tight against her back. Another held a spear with a familiar steady grip.
When he recognized them, a wide, genuine smile appeared on his face.
These two were none other than Nyx and Akira.
Ant scouts moved with them, their chitin dark against the sand.
It appeared they had found the same trail.
He descended the ridge and crossed the distance in silence, using Phantom Cloak until he was close enough to speak without startling them.
The moment he appeared, both girls froze in place.
For a moment, neither moved. Akira’s spear dipped slightly in her grip. Her wings, folded tight against her back, trembled once, a small, almost imperceptible shudder that betrayed everything her face tried to conceal.
Then she was moving.
Akira threw her arms around him with such force that Nox actually staggered backward half a step. Her spear clattered to the sand. Her wings snapped open, wrapping around them both in a cocoon of white feathers as she buried her face against his shoulder.
"You..." Her voice cracked. She pulled back just enough to look at him, eyes bright and fierce, before she yanked him into another embrace. "You were gone for so long. Two months. Two months, Nox. Serena kept saying you were fine, that you were coming back, but you didn’t... we didn’t..."
"Akira." Nox’s voice was quiet, but his hand came up to rest against her back. "I’m here."
She laughed and hit his chest once with her fist. "You’d better be. If you ever disappear like that again..."
"I won’t."
She pulled back again, and this time she let him go, though her hands lingered on his shoulders for a moment longer. Her wings folded back, feathers settling with a soft rustle. She was trying to compose herself, but the tremor in her hands gave her away.
"You look terrible," she said, her voice steadier now. "When did you last eat?"
"About four hours ago."
"Four hours," she repeated flatly. "You flew all the way from the capital in a day. Four hours is not enough."
Nox’s mouth twitched. "I’ll eat after we deal with the caravan."
Akira opened her mouth to argue, then stopped. Her eyes searched his face for something, reassurance maybe, or proof that he was really standing in front of her. Whatever she found seemed to satisfy her. She exhaled slowly and bent to retrieve her spear.
At that moment, Nyx finally looked at him. Her expression remained composed, cold. But her eyes... her eyes betrayed her.
There was relief there. Her mouth threatened to curve upward before she caught herself and smoothed her expression. She looked at him with that signature annoyance.
"You’re late. Why did you take so long to find us?"
Nox clearly saw through her and smirked. He knew this sister of his too well, so he decided to play along.
"I came as fast as I could."
Nyx held his eyes for a long moment. Then she turned back to the caravan below, but not before Nox caught the faintest relaxation in her shoulders, the tension she had been carrying since before he arrived finally easing.
"Serena told us you returned through the communication crystal," she said. "We expected you to stay in the Emporium for at least one day."
"You guys have been fighting without me long enough. I wanted to lend a hand."
Akira’s lips pressed together, but she did not argue. Nyx only snorted softly.
"The caravan below has at least eight captives," Nox said. "All young Beast Tamers. Fourteen escorts wearing merchant clothes. Flaming Rose."
"We counted the same," Nyx replied. "We were waiting for the pass to narrow."
Akira nodded toward the ants. "The queen sent enough forces to cut off their retreat. If we strike too early, they’ll kill the prisoners before we reach them."
Nox’s eyes returned to the wagons.
"They should have been wiped out completely the first time," he said quietly, his dark eyes turning several shades darker.
"Leaving the leader alive was a mistake."
The air around him became heavy. Nyx and Akira exchanged a glance, and suddenly the two simultaneously felt much safer because, with him here, they knew things were about to get really messy.
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