As we watched the group go by, we tried to make sure that we kept as quiet as possible. Though we did want to make sure that these people got out of here, we also had to be wary of them. They didn’t seem to be the most friendly looking people and it would be better to try and talk to them while their guard was lowered like when they finally stopped to take a rest, hopefully.

They continued their way through the circle, Viktor and I following closely behind in the trees. Thanks to Viktor, we could fairly easily move through the trees without having to use any loud magic. At one point, the group stopped moving, but they quickly resumed moving. We were about halfway through the enclosed area now and I was beginning to grow worried that they weren’t going to stop and would end up being killed by the barrier once they got to the other side.

Thankfully, after a few more minutes, a woman came out from the first cart. She tapped the man outside on the shoulder and he stopped, motioning for the creatures pulling the carts to stop as he turned his attention to her.

“Eyemore, I’m tired. You know I find it hard to sleep with the cart moving. It’s late, so I suggest you also rest. Place a barrier around the camp to defend us from any magical attacks at night. I’m sure, if anyone tries to step inside, we’ll here them.”

The man, Eyemore apparently, nodded and placed his hand on the ground, conjuring a large purple seal underneath them that fully encompassed their carts and gave them a pretty solid buffer.

Viktor and I looked at each other and nodded, but before he jumped down, I motioned for him to pause, pointing to my eye. “I’m going to make sure that Damien isn’t anywhere near and is hopefully sleeping so that we can talk with them uninterrupted.”

He nodded and I flicked a finger over my eye, auras beginning to pop up around me. Not wanting to waste too much needless energy, I simply narrowed my vision down to the auras of apprentices and not apprentices with Damien’s specific aura composition. As I scanned behind us, I found nothing, but when I looked ahead of us, I spotted it. In the distance, northeast of us was Damien’s very distinct aura. However, as I looked down at the camp, I found something interesting. As expected, both of the two apprentices we’d seen were darkness apprentices, but in the second cart, there were two wind auras. They seemed quite dim and fairly weak though.

The auras were very distinct from the other two though. While the two darkness apprentices were solid and very powerful, they also exuded a minor air of malice and anger that I could have felt even without my observer’s eye. However, the two wind apprentices were a lot more fluid and far gentler in nature. The other strange thing was that, while they were dim and weak, the people were not injured. Their auras were whole and they didn’t exhibit the same energy as an injured aura.

I deactivated my observer’s eye and returned my attention to Viktor. “Damien’s far off and definitely asleep, judging by the state of his aura… But there’s something peculiar going on down there. There are two other auras in the second cart. It’s two wind apprentices and they’re very dim, but not injured. I’m a bit concerned and I’m going to go check them out before I try to talk to those other two. I have a bad feeling about the wind auras I saw, but I hope I’m wrong.”

“But they’re going to hear you if you go down there,” Viktor added.

I shook my head and smirked. “The ground is void of leaves in this area and it made of fairly solid dirt. I can move across it without making a single sound. However, that’s not the issue. If my hunch is correct, I’m going to need your help. Do you know how to walk quietly?” I asked.

He frowned. “Not really… Never really been one for stealth.”

I had figured as much, but that didn’t change the fact I might need him. “Well uh, no time like the present to learn, I suppose. Let’s go. I can get us down there extremely silently, but once we’re on the ground, we can’t talk, so I’m going to have to instruct you on it now.”

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” he asked, his lip trembling.

I placed my hand on his shoulder and smiled. “Trust me, this is probably one thing that I can actually teach you about with confidence.”

He nodded, straightening himself out. “Jus tell me what to do, I trust you.”

“Alright, so the most important thing with moving silently is distribution of weight. While the ground is almost completely solid dirt, it does still have a bit of sink to it. You’re going to want to make sure that you distribute your weight properly during each part of the step. For example, you’d usually walk like this,” I said as I walked forward a bit, accentuating the bend at the front of my foot. “This is usually not an issue with walking, but when trying to move quietly, this will poorly distribute your weight and end up create sound either through depressing the surface too far which makes a sound or making a sound once you lift your foot and the material returns to its initial position.”

I modeled again, this time not talking, so that he could hear as the wood was pushed under my foot, making a sound while being depressed and when returning to its initial position. As I did it a few times, he nodded.

“So, how would I properly distribute my weight of my steps?”

I turned myself sideways and began to walk diagonally, but with the majority of the movement to the side. I also made sure to pick my entire foot up at once as I did so. “So, did you see what I did there? The sideways movement is done to maximize how far you actually go with each step as well as further improving your weight distribution.”

He nodded and tried it out. It was a lot harder to keep quiet with a wood floor, so the amount of noise he produced was pretty impressive for a first attempt. It felt good to be able to teach someone in this world something actually useful.

“Alright, you did go. Try it out a little more. If you can do it here, you’ll do it almost perfectly down there,” I said, trying to make sure he felt reassured as best I could.

Once he had done it a few more times and produced a mostly consistent amount of noise, it was time to head down. The buff guy had finally fallen asleep, but it couldn’t have been for long, so it would still be fairly easy to wake him. I conjured a cloud and hopped off the tree on to it. With a cloud, all I had to do was maintain the density on top and make sure that it moved in the right direction. It made no sound as long as it didn’t move too fast, so it was perfect.

Thankfully, because of the way the carts were built, you could access them from any side. I flew us closest to the back side which kept us obscured from both the first cart and the guy sleeping on the other side of the carts. I slowly lowered the cloud until it had fully melted in to the ground. So far, so good. We began making our way over to the cart. I was over at it within a few seconds, but Viktor was taking much longer. Walking quietly was one thing, but making no noise while moving quickly would require a lot more practice. Thankfully, we had easy terrain to deal with.

Eventually, he made his way over to the cart without making any noticeable noise. I took a deep breath and pulled back the curtains over the cart. What awaited me was exactly what I had feared. Inside of the cart sat two kids. They were both clad in fairly ragged, stained clothing. Both had faintly glowing teal hair and eyes. They looked at us in surprise and fear. I sighed and placed a finger over my lips, mouthing, “We’re here to rescue you.”

That was a lot easier said than done though. Both of the children were clad in full body chains and cuffs. They were very dark and emitted a faint purple glow. I motioned back to Viktor to come closer. He looked in to the cart and I could see the anger and worry on his face.

“I swe-“ before he could even finish the word, I clasped my hand over his mouth. He looked frightened as I slowly removed my hand and I could tell he wanted to apologize, but he held himself back.