So distance away from the forest, in a caravan, Percy was cursing his hard wooden seat. He missed the soft velvet seats of the white carriage. Now he was in the back of a shaky old carriage full of wooden crates.
Thalos was sitting across from him in a brown cloak that covered his appearance, similar to the one Percy was wearing. They both abandoned their original ride till they could kill all the assassins in Sonea.
They sent Barty back to Carn in the anti to be safe. Then they joined Pethros' caravan when it was passing in the morning. The Ramlos family had to take their original carriages, of course.
With a battalion of kids, you couldn't find space for them in the packed carriages. Besides, Percy was pretty sure the assassins didn't know the Ramlos family was with them.
"I can't wait to get to Sonea," he muttered mostly to himself. "Once we kill all those bastards, Barty can co back with my beloved."
His beloved being the comfortable carriage, of course.
"Don't swear," Thalos warned gloomily. "And don't speak of murder so casually."
"Why? You kill people all the ti."
"That doesn't an I want my son to think less of human lives. Every life we take is a necessity of survival, not sothing to be happy about."
Percy raised his hands in defeat. It was a bad joke after all, rare from him, but sotis it happened.
"I think they might have found the decoy traps," he said, changing the subject.
"How do you know?" Thalos asked, frowning. "Is that why you asked us to put all the patches on their necks at the sa ti? So Hertic stuff?"
"Yes. By putting them at the sa ti and on the sa spot, we can connect them in a small way." He picked up the copper talisman on the crate beside him and raised it to Thalos.
It had been glowing red before, ready to activate, and would have stayed like that till he activated it or seventy-two hours passed. But now it was a dull grey.
"I made this design by mistake when I was trying to make the first design for the Spell core," he said offhandedly. "It channels too much power and causes misalignnt in the circle for so reason. And with that much power, an Evil spirit will always be created."
Thalos nodded even though he barely understood half the words that ca out of his son's mouth these days. But the prospect was still a bit scary to him.
"So they have your Evil spirit circle with them? Can they use it?"
"Nope. They were all destroyed as soon as they were taken off. I would never let them have a chance of even getting it, but they probably couldn't reproduce them. The thod I used to make those takes a lot of material and can only be created under special circumstances."
Hertics required a lot of ritual that had to do with timing and location, like full moons beside lakes, or on a specific day and month at a cetery, while juggling a monkey or so shit.
In other words, you often needed to know how the person did it exactly, or go through trial and error till you could find a similar thod. There were many ways to do the sa things, but there were just too many possibilities.
"But I can still track Dina, the bodies, and anyone that touched the patches," he said with a smirk. "Now all we need is a plan on how to infiltrate."
Thalos leaned against the crates behind him, hand resting on his sword, eyes surveying the front of the carriage. The coachman couldn't hear them, though.
"I think you'll have to leave that to . Teaching you how to stealthily enter a place won't be easy on the fly, and I have a technique for these types of situations."
"What do I do then?" Percy asked.
"Start a diversion to draw their attention and draw so of them out of the hideout. I'll take so clothes off one of their people once I'm inside and find where they keep their info."
Percy liked the plan. It was simple, and straight to the point. But it could be improved on.
"That place will be guarded. Once you kill the guard, anyone passing will see the blood or notice they're missing. You have a lot to find in that short ti: where Dina's kids are and any plans House Eurides may have."
He already knew they were looking for Gaia's temple, but Thalos didn't yet. By the ti Hugo returned with the information Percy sent him out to find, it might be too late.
Thalos considered what he said for a mont, then added,
"I could create a problem inside, sothing serious enough that they might not notice the guards missing."
"Yes, that's good. They should have a Circle powering any protective asures in their hideout. It'll be a multi-layered circle, I can teach you how to disrupt it. That way their spells protecting the place will fail, and the malfunction will make them worry about a powerful Evil spirit forming."
"So they'll be too busy to notice where they are vulnerable," Thalos said with a smirk. "We make a good team."
"What can I say, you and mom made a good teammate," Percy joked. "Watch Aella and Jason complete our furious five."
Thalos' eyes grew misty as he rembered his two youngest kids.
"Things are getting a bit crazy, aren't they? We originally planned to be back in a week, but now it'll take Barty two days to co back from Carn with the carriage."
"Yep, and he'll be coming alone," Percy said, suddenly realising that may be a bad idea.
"Oh no, I gave him money to hire so adventurers for protection," Thalos reassured.
He had to give it to Thalos there, he hadn't even thought of that. They sent Barty back to Carn for safety and because the carriage was too noticeable, while they dealt with their problems in Sonea.
"We've been hard on him," Thalos sighed. "Evil spirits, assassins, and it might not be over yet if we have to save Dina's kids. We might take two weeks to return to Dema instead of one."
Percy shrugged his shoulders.
"It's just how things are. We can send a letter to mom about what's up, but we'll still be late. It's the price we have to take to protect our families and listen to our hearts."
Thalos looked up, a smile playing on his lips.
"Did your heart tell you to help Dina?"
"Yes," Percy said, letting out a tired sigh. "I want to be there for Aella, Jason, and Hecate, but I didn't want to make empty promises to Dina too, or use her to further our plans. My heart didn't like that. It can't speak but… you know what I an."
Thalos laughed out loud for a long ti, and Percy couldn't help but follow him. It wasn't his funniest joke, but it felt awkwardly funny.
"You're right, son. Then let's go all out once we get to Sonea."
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