The sun was getting ready to set when Jonas noticed sothing that he hadn't expected: Tracks. Tracks that looked a lot like the rest of their group. Tracks that he couldn't understand why they were heading north. Tracks that seed to have been made rather recently.
He wasn't sure if he should investigate or if it would be better to spend his ti heading down to where Sonya was, but he also couldn't turn away any chance for information. Information that could be more important than he realized. As any information could be the key to knowing how to handle Douglas.
Etaina and Elysia had left them when it started to get dark, and Jonas suspected that they were heading to where they could keep their glow from being noticed by passerby. As even if Douglas wasn't in the area, keeping their location secret was still important to them for their own survival.
"Jonas, why did you stop?" Elin asked, sounding rather hopeful. Which he wasn't that surprised about. She did seem rather tired and looked like she was still moving at the mont on sheer willpower alone.
"I think we should turn north for a minute," Jonas answered, not looking away from the tracks aside from a quick glance at Elin. "I think we'll find the others that way."
"Why would they go that way? Wouldn't they be looking for still?"
Jonas shook his head. He wasn't sure what they did or didn't know, as he was certain that Elin's loss of her mories had been because of Douglas. Whether he had another 12-colored crystal in which to imprison the mories of others in or not, he couldn't say. All he knew for certain was that he could influence mories. Which further ant that Douglas was rather dangerous from that ability alone.
The only question Jonas had still about it was how quickly it needed to take effect. As that would determine if he needed to attack him through stealth rather than from the shadows. As he had been coming to the conclusion that killing Douglas was going to be the best solution, given how dangerous he was on his own.
If Douglas could take their mories, even if it took so ti to go into effect, then even leaving him tied up would be dangerous because if he removed the mories of why they needed to tie him up in the first place, then he could just get them to untie him when they woke up and then walk off on his own. Which ant if he was dead, then he wouldn't be able to pull sothing like that.
Or if he could, it wouldn't matter, since he'd still be dead anyway.
"I see the tracks on the ground," Jonas explained, pulling himself out of his thoughts. The necessity of doing so letting him know that he was likely more tired himself than he realized. "They're heading north and I think they're the rest of our combined groups."
Elin nodded, stifling a yawn. "Okay. Let's go there then."
Jonas hadn't expected much resistance from Elin, but he thought she'd at least be more alert. As such, he wasn't sure how far they should chase after the others of their combined groups before stopping to camp for themselves. Since if it was more than fifteen minutes, Jonas suspected Elin might just fall asleep where she was walking. Which Jonas was certain wouldn't be good for her health.
Fortunately, they only needed ten minutes before they saw firelight through so pine trees. Allowing them to know that they'd be able to take a rest in a few minutes rather than take care of so necessary chores themselves. The sun had set already and the shadows were getting rather deeper, which Jonas was sure would have made things difficult for Elin if they'd had to continue much longer..
"Who're you?" a voice demanded as they approached, but were still outside the pine trees. A voice that Jonas recognized as belonging to Patricia.
"I'm Jonas and this is Elin," he answered promptly. He didn't see a reason to stall, as the sooner they got in, the sooner they both could rest and maybe get sothing to eat.
"And what do you want with us?" she asked, surprising Jonas at her lack of recognition.
"We were hoping to share your fire," Elin said, sounding like she had a better idea of what to say. "We were travelling all day when we ca across your tracks and hoped we'd be able to help each other."
Patricia looked like she wasn't convinced they were safe, but didn't seem like she wanted to deal with them too much. Which was seed rather in character for her as far as Jonas was concerned. As the things she seed interested in the most didn't include sentry duty.
As they entered, Jonas saw Kim and felt a little surprised at the lack of recognition from her. He would have expected that even with her mories of him taken, she'd have at least had so kind of knowledge of who he was. Or at least a sense of familiarity.
Introductions were made quickly and Jonas could tell that none of them rembered who he was at all, even though he was confident that Douglas hadn't even known about him at all. He wasn't sure what he should have expected, but he wasn't prepared for the level of the effect had.
"Uh, I thought I heard of soone nad Elmo was here," Elin said, making Jonas wonder if her ti without her mories gave her an insight to how to talk to those who'd lost at least so of their mories.
"Elmo?" Kim asked, and even Patrick and Bart looked troubled, though Heather didn't seem interested in what they were talking about. "Where'd you hear that na?"
"Why?" Jonas asked, feeling that the answer to that question could hold the answer they needed more than answering Kim's question.
"You tell first and then I'll answer your question," Kim retorted, her eyes shifting to glaring at Jonas.
"We heard his na because we travelled for a ti with him," Elin interjected. "I got separated from him and then we lost track of him when Jonas found and helped . So, I was hoping to find him again."
Kim shook her head. "Sorry, things have been just too confusing lately. First I thought that a person with the na you spoke of had been captured by orcs. Only I realized later that there weren't even any orcs around there. I'm not even sure why I thought that there were orcs in the first place!"
Jonas watched as Kim's volu started off at a regular level, only to quickly increase as she spoke, until it was near a hysterical volu. It wasn't a pretty picture and he seriously doubled that he really wanted to watch more of her acting that way.
"So, what made you think there weren't orcs?" Jonas asked calmly, not sure he liked the idea of Elmo having been captured by orcs. For reasons he couldn't explain, it twisted in stomach in ways he wasn't used to. Although, on the other hand, it did give a possible explanation as to who the orc in the crystal was. Which might an they had another ally that might be useful once they took care of Douglas.
Kim's expression softened and took on a distant look, almost like she was in a trance, which Jonas didn't think was a good sign. "We- no, I spoke to Grisha when we were about to enter the cave and when he told that there weren't any orcs, it felt like I should have known that to begin with and I rember realizing I didn't recall anything about orcs before that mont. So, of course there wouldn't be any orcs, right?"
Jonas sighed. Part of this felt like his worst fears were confird. He didn't know what to make of the situation, but it was clear that Douglas was stronger than he'd have guessed. That his ability to tamper with mories could be done in an instant's ti, before his victim is even aware sothing was wrong.
"Anyway," Kim continued, pulling Jonas out of his thoughts that he'd started to descend into again, "he ntioned about how we should head north, that we already had our things and we didn't need to head back to where we'd been camping because he was worried about how low we were running on supplies."
Jonas nodded, wondering if maybe he could get Kim to accompany him back down there, or at least accompany from a distance. That way she'd be able to be approaching and Douglas wouldn't be aware until after he'd been defeated. Or at least Jonas hoped that would be the case.
"You know, why don't we go back to check?" he suggested. He didn't plan on directly contradicting Douglas' words, but there was still room for suggestive remarks that could help counteract whatever Douglas had said to her to influence her so much.
"Why?" Kim asked, sounding rather hesitant.
"He couldn't have known everything you had, right? So, maybe you left sothing without realizing it, right?"
Kim nodded slowly and Jonas could feel the others around him doing the sa. Almost as if they were linked and moving in synch. It kinda creeped Jonas out as well.
"Alright," Heather said, surprising Jonas. "Going back to take a look would be good to try."
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