Arielle agreed to Abigail’s request to stay with the woman that night. From a distance, she could hear the sound of an owl hooting. The sun had set, and there was no light in the cave. Abigail had not used flas at night for a long ti, considering that the dragon clan could only spit out flas when they were in dragon form only. In order to maintain her pregnancy, Abigail chose to stay silent at night with no light. The only thing that lightened up the cave was the moonlight from outside.
"Can I light a bonfire for you?" asked Arielle who was not used to being in this dark.
"I’m sorry for troubling you. I can’t light a fire myself," Abigail replied, feeling guilty about the condition of her cave, which was very dirty and dark.
Arielle turned to Luffy who was sitting in his human form. She rubbed the boy’s head, who could only look down regretfully, feeling failed as a dragon because he couldn’t spit out any flas at all. Arielle stood to collect so firewood that had piled up near the mouth of the cave. Most of the wood was rotten, with so being eaten by termites.
It looked like Abigail had never used the bonfire in a long ti either. Arielle took so pieces of wood and then placed them in the middle of the cave near Abigail’s bed so that the warmth of the flas could radiate to the woman who was resting.
Arielle stretched out her hand then concentrated on running her mana and focused on opening the flow of mana in her palm like she used to practice. Even though it took quite a while, Arielle managed to let out a little fla. She tried to restrain herself from burning all the firewood as she usually did. Arielle did her best to adjust the flas.
Arielle just opened her eyes and sighed in relief when she heard the crackling sound of the flas slowly devouring the firewood. After the flas were lit, she could see the whole cave. Behind Abigail’s bed, there were many scribbles on the cave wall. It seed that Abigail counted the day she spent in the cave. There were lots of number scribbles as well as shapeless scribbles.
Arielle stood up and looked around her.
"Hey, Abigail... I’m sorry in advance. I need your permission first. Can I clean this place?" Arielle asked while pointing to the amount of garbage scattered in the cave. Most of the garbage was food, as well as so of Abigail’s clothes that couldn’t be used again.
"You don’t have to worry, Arielle. Just let do it."
Arielle shook her head. The girl gently pushed Abigail’s shoulders back to rest in her place.
"I promised to take care of you, Abigail. You should rest for a while. This kind of thing is not troubleso at all," Arielle replied as she folded her sleeves.
Luffy also helped her. The boy picked up all of Abigail’s scattered clothes. Abigail apologized because when she was pregnant it was sotis very painful and tiring, so she couldn’t pick up clothes that fell on the floor or she just threw the leftovers anywhere.
Arielle could understand that. It was naturally a task perford by the dragon mates. The males would protect the pregnant female and do everything for them, but because Abigail was alone, no male could do it for her.
"Arielle, Abigail’s drinking water is about running out. I’ll get it in a minute, okay? There’s a small river near here," Luffy asked, pointing to Abigail’s little water storage area. Arielle looked back. It was very dark out there. For so reason, her hunch said this part of the forest was different from the forest she lived in.
"Tomorrow, Luffy. It is late. I don’t know why, but I have a bad feeling right now. It feels like the forest out there is a bit strange," Arielle replied, making Luffy also peek out.
Abigail turned around too. "You feel it too, Arielle?" she asked.
"Sorry?"
"There’s sothing strange out there in the forest. Which is like I said earlier. Sothing seems to be stalking ," Abigail replied.
Arielle just smiled. She didn’t want to make Abigail more anxious if she said yes. The woman was heavily pregnant, and it was ti for her to have a rest. Arielle and Luffy were still cleaning every part of the cave that Abigail occupied. Arielle collected every trash in an unused sack and put it outside the mouth of the cave so that she could dispose of it tomorrow.
However, when she turned around, Arielle got goosebumps. It seed she had heard a low growl earlier. She wasn’t strange to these growls. It was like a growl from a beast. Arielle turned back to look for the source of the growl.
Her heart was beating fast when she saw sothing. Arielle rubbed her eyes again, and the pair of red eyes she had accidentally seen just disappeared in seconds, and the growl voice earlier was no longer heard.
Arielle rushed back to Abigail, and Luffy who was sitting alone by the fire.
"Abigail?" Arielle called.
"Yes?"
"If I may ask, what did you see last night?"
Abigail’s body stiffened at hearing that. "I don’t know if I saw it wrong, but last night was terrible. I felt like seeing a pair of red eyes. I know so dragon clans also have red eye color, but they are different. It looked more evil and vengeful, Arielle. Besides, I also heard growls... it was like a wolf," Abigail explained with a terrified voice.
Arielle was right. She also felt the sa way. Arielle was silent for a mont, trying to open her communication with Ronan.
(Ronan!) Arielle called, a little panicked because of her situation right now.
(Good evening, sweetheart? How was your training today?) Ronan asked, sounding excited.
(Where are you?) Arielle asked.
(? I’m listening to Priest Elis’ explanation regarding the plan to add so apprentice priests from Birwick Village, as well as sorting through so newspaper articles I’ll be releasing later. It is to inform the people about your condition. The Northendells miss you, Arielle) Ronan replied in a gentle voice.
Arielle was thinking. It ant what she saw earlier was definitely not Ronan. The full moon night was also still long, so there was no way Ronan was around here. Besides, of course, if Ronan was in this forest for a few days, that man would have visited her first. Then, who was that?
"Um... is the border with the werewolf clan anywhere near here?" Arielle asked Abigail. In her head, Ronan was telling his day.
"It’s very far away. Right now, we are on the east side and near the highest peak of Birwick Mount, while the werewolf clan occupies the farthest west mountain of Birwick," Abigail replied.
If that was true, then there was no way a wolf from the werewolf clan would co all the way here considering Maxieno seed very protective of his territory
AWOOOO!!!
Arielle, Abigail, and Luffy imdiately stiffened at the sound of a wolf howl. It sounded very close. Arielle stood on alert when the wind blew in through the cave passage and extinguished the flas that she had made.
"Arielle..." called Abigail who was getting scared.
Arielle held out her hand to signal Abigail to stay where she was. Luffy stood up and walked slowly behind Arielle. In front of the cave, there was nothing and no one. Arielle looked down the hill, and there was nothing.
The wind was blowing again. Arielle’s hearing seed to be getting sharper on that dark night.
(How was your day, Arielle?) Ronan asked after telling a long story about his boring day without Arielle by his side. He also said that he was getting lazy to take a bath because it would always remind him of Arielle.
(Ronan, sorry I will cut off our communication again. There is sothing I have to do) Arielle apologized to Ronan because she felt guilty having to cut off their communication.
Arielle knew that Ronan really wanted to talk to her. She also knew that talking to her would make the man more relaxed and erase the tiredness Ronan felt after a full day’s work. However, she couldn’t let Ronan’s voice fill her head right now. Arielle had to concentrate to sharpen her sense of hearing.
Ronan who felt his wife’s voice slightly strained, frowned behind his desk. (Arielle? Sothing happened? You sound panicked) Ronan asked. He was getting worried because his wife didn’t answer even though he had called Arielle several tis.
(Wait a minute, Ronan. I’ll call you again after this) Arielle replied more hastily because it felt like the darkness of the forest was getting closer to her.
She also cut off the communication with Ronan and covered her head so that her husband could not hear the voice in her head. Arielle didn’t want Ronan to get worried. Maybe tomorrow, after she brought Abigail back to her hut, Arielle would tell Ronan everything. For now, she had to concentrate on protecting Abigail.
Luffy scratched his nose. "Arielle, I think I slled a flower," said the boy, looking around. However, he didn’t find any flowers because the hill Abigail stayed on was a rocky hill with no plants to grow. Besides, there were only towering trees around the place.
Flower? That was very random and weird.
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