Jess and Crusher closed in on the village, avoiding the open road so as not to draw attention to themselves. They moved through the bushes, slowly approaching the cultivated fields near the village.
After receiving Caleb’s transmission, the catwoman had relied on her enhanced vision to follow him. From her observations, she noticed how the people Caleb encountered along the way scrutinised his every move like he was an unwanted guest.
"Sothing is going on," Jess muttered as she ca to a stop behind so bushes, watching as Caleb disappeared into the village. "The people aren’t welcoming at all..."
Beside her, Crusher furrowed his brows but couldn’t see anything. Turning to the catwoman, the tigerkin asked, "You can see all the way from here...?" He followed her gaze to the village gate, then looked back at Jess, waiting for an explanation.
"Yeah..." Jess replied, not taking her eyes off the gate. "I have good eyes."
"Since when...?" Crusher asked with scepticism. Yes, beastfolk had higher physical capabilities compared to humans, but it wasn’t supposed to be this good, even with her level of strength.
The catwoman said she had ’good’ eyes, and not that she was using an ocular spell.
Jess glanced at the tigerkin and gave the next best thing to an explanation. "Have you t Caleb?" The question left the tigerkin confused. But as he lowered his gaze and thought about it, he realised there was sothing he hadn’t considered.
’Indeed...’ Crusher nodded in realisation. ’There are a lot of unexplainable things around that man. It’s not far-fetched to think he has sothing to do with this...’
"Co on," Jess gestured toward the farrs, moving closer while crouching through the bushes. "We can ask a few questions."
"Right..." the tigerkin nodded, following the catwoman’s lead. Soon, they were just a couple of ters from the edge of the growing crops, still crouched behind the bushes.
Before making a move, Jess looked around to check for anything suspicious. When she found nothing out of the ordinary, she focused on the open fields.
Her eyes glowed a subtle grey as mist began to spread from her body. The mist stayed low, barely ten centitres above the ground, and crept outward toward the farrs busy with their tasks.
Because the intensity was low, the farrs didn’t notice anything unusual. Jess also guided the mist to behave like a faint fog, barely noticeable even from up close. It spread across the field, gently surrounding all the farrs and the large area of crops.
’This should be enough...’ Jess thought as she stood and signalled for Crusher to follow.
A few farrs noticed the mist around them but thought nothing of it and went back to work. However, one of the won spotted two silhouettes approaching.
"Sa-Samael...?" the woman called out to the man on her left.
"Mm?" The man whose na was called turned to respond, only to spot the approaching silhouettes himself. "Stop right there...!"
He stepped forward, placing himself in front of the woman, his trowel pointed at the two strangers. The other farmhands realised sothing was going on and turned their attention toward them.
"We’re not looking for trouble," Jess said as she and Crusher raised their hands to show they ant no harm. "We just want to understand a few things about this area."
Samael narrowed his eyes at the strangers, carefully scrutinising their figures as the mist cleared around them, improving his sight. His eyes darted across the farm, noticing how his fellow farmhands were glancing around cautiously.
"You should already know what’s happening," he said, his gaze shifting toward the village gate. But the gate was no longer visible through the surrounding fog. Not thinking much of it, he turned back to Jess and Crusher.
"The neighbouring kingdom invaded and seized the lands to your left." Jess and Crusher turned in that direction, then back to the man. "I’ve said all I can. You should leave..."
Jess and Crusher furrowed their brows. Crusher now understood Jess had been right—sothing was definitely off.
"Is there a reason you can’t say more...?" Crusher asked, glancing at the others. "You can tell us what’s really going on... No one can see us right now..."
"..."
The farrs exchanged glances before looking back at Jess and Crusher. Several seconds passed, but no one opened their mouth to add anything.
"This is strange..." Crusher muttered under his breath, and Jess nodded in agreent.
"The army is already here..." Jess said, trying another approach. "I’m sure with them here, no harm will co to your—"
"Look here, lady," Samael cut her off. "We’re just regular folks trying to survive. We don’t want trouble. Please, if you really an no harm, then go."
Jess couldn’t help but furrow her brows. This was more than they had anticipated. The worst she expected in a region like this was for the people to look desperate, calling to their regional lords to relocate them.
But this was completely different.
Even with the army here, it felt like nothing had changed. ’Just what in the goddess’ na is going on?’ She genuinely wondered.
"Okay..." Jess nodded, signalling to Crusher as they slowly backed away. The farmhands watched closely until the two beaskfolk disappeared into the bushes.
Without the farrs even realising it, the mist slowly dissipated as well, restoring the clarity they didn’t even know was missing. A series of glances went around until Samael ordered everyone to get back to work.
"What do you think is going on?" Crusher asked as they ca to crouch behind so bushes far away from the visual range of the farrs.
"I don’t know..." The catwoman shook her head as her gaze and ears remained fixed on the farrs. "Nothing really makes sense, and they aren’t even talking about us after we left.
"We can only rely on Caleb to find out what is happening." She added, turning to look at the tigerkin. "I think we should return to our previous location. We don’t want our presence alerting anyone."
"Mm," Crusher nodded, turning to look in the direction of the village. ’It can’t possibly be so kind of silencing spell cast on them, right?’ The tigerkin couldn’t believe his own thoughts — it was very unlikely.
The two beastfolk left the scene shortly after.
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