~Ren & Lily~ Ren rode in silence, privately he was extremely thankful Adam had taught him to ride, it was not common among the servant class. But then Adam was an uncommon “master.” That thought only spurred Ren on, pushing as hard as he dared. He owed Adam much and he would do everything he could to help. What Lily had suggested had seemed so far out of the realm of possibility that he was still in half-disbelief. Still, he had seen enough working with Adam not to dismiss the idea even as bizarre and revolting as it was. They came upon the woods fast, but to Ren's viewpoint not fast enough. He had an underlying fear, one that Lily didn't know about. If Isabeau found out Adam was not exactly what she thought what would she do to him. The darkness of the woods closed around them, he didn't even remember it getting late but the sun was all but gone and soon they were riding in blackness, forced to slow down or risk the horses stumbling. At least they had Isabau's well worn, if quite narrow, trail to follow. Ren fidgeted in his seat as he followed Lily, the silence, the darkness, the worry all making him as edgy as a bear with a bee up its backside. He fingered the sword slung over his shoulder absently, worrying about his master and what would happen if they didn't make it to him in time. ~Aleksandra & Lucie~ Filip's eyes darted from one woman to the other. In the back of his brain he couldn't believe that he was about to be killed. These two were deadly. He had no doubt. Just as he had no doubt they would kill him. He struggled to clear his mouth so he could speak, while at the same time desperately trying to come up with something to say. “spying” he finally managed to get out. He swallowed and tried again. “I wasn't spying” he corrected. “Not many out since IT began wandering the streets. Just needed a bit of coin you know. Not spying.” He swallowed audibly again trying to force the fear out of his mind and voice. He knew he couldn't force it out completely but maybe he could disguise it. And for a moment he succeeded. Puzzlement replaced fear as he thought about what else the woman had asked. Everyone knew of the the lady hiring people to kidnap pretty men. No one who had accepted the job had ever returned, and now no one would work for her. She had eventually stopped trying. These two women seemed comfortable enough here in the sewers, not like rushers for some money bag, yet they didn't know about the men. “Some black lady hired several coves, you know the kind that don't ask many questions, to scoop up some folk off the street. She was some money bag, all fancy and the like But she paid well. Except the bitch said I was too ugly for the job.” He didn't mention he was kinda glad of that now, the sting of the insult was still there. He scrambled to find more to tell the women, if he kept talking that could buy time. His description wasn't great, but it did sound familiar. Wealthy woman with fair skin and dark hair. She was Slim, tall, cultured, arrogant, and superior, all that a rich woman was. “The coves she hired disappeared. She hasn't been around in awhile, no one has, not with the creature roaming the streets. If IT catches you that's the end. We all know that.” He wasn't sure what else to say and was silent for a moment, but in the silence he heard a noise, and one that made his blood even colder than it already was. The lumbering shuffle run on the stones above him. “ITs here” he gulped in a voice that was so low it was hard to hear. The lumbering footsteps were heavy and somewhat off stride, like IT was running with a limp. He could even hear it speaking to itself, heavy raspy words that Filip was afraid to hear. “Mother. Lover. Mother. Lover.” In a low gutteral voice those words were repeated with long gaps between each, like it was struggling to think or remember or pronounce. With a gasp of terror, the footsteps were almost directly above them now, Filip broke and ran blindly into the dark tunnel, slipping, skidding, even smacking into walls despite how well he knew the lay of the land down here. Everything replaced by fear of the thing above them even though there was no way it could get to them from where it was. Fear was a powerful thing. ~Creature~ [i]mother. Lover.[/i] Those were the two words that played over and over in its mind as he ran. It tried to say them outloud, a mantra of sorts, but it could only manage to get the words out once in ever five tries or so. That didn't distract it or slow it from running though. It's huge bulk was surprisingly agile when it wanted to be, after all he was crafted out of only the best materials. It built up speed as he ran through the alleys of Prague. It had prowled about the city enough times in it's expeditions to learn of life that it knew the quickest way to edge of the city. It saw nothing and no-one. Of course that was because they knew of the creature's presence and were well secreted. After the first few disappearances, mostly small animals, women and children, the folk of the poor districts, resigned to their fates and their lives, simply hid until it went away. Running with a powerful but awkward gate, much like the rolling gate of a running bear, It charged on into the woods. It did not follow Isabeau's path, she never entered the forest from this direction, but there was a game trail that It knew well. It used it nearly every night, abandoned by the deer who once roamed here, It ran on in solitude, so used to always being alone it never even thought to look back. Free of the city all that was left was a lonely but easy run back to It's nest in the mill. The scream earlier, and the uneasy feeling in his mind, wouldn't let It be until he found out She was safe. It's passage was not quiet, It was too big for that, but the soft ground muffled much and as It lumbered through the trees towards his home he sounded like nothing so much as a great bear charging through the undergrowth. ~Johanna, Wes, Isabeau, and Adam~ The disappearance of the horses went unnoticed by those inside the mill, at least for now. The things they had found were about as plain as can be, and yet there were still so many questions. Meanwhile Adam was battling chaos. At least that's what his mind saw. Trapped by Isabeau, who had used her Talent to put his own into a dormant state, he now was trapped within his mind. Isabeau's Talent would not have affected most this way; but Adam was different. His Talent was always active pulling patterns out of seemingly random things. When it had been suppressed the randomness invaded. Adam's mind had become a swirling vortex of chaos. The part of his mind that was “sane” stood amid the chaos, struggling to force his Talent to wakefulness again. If he could only find the pattern in the chaos, before his mind fractured further, then he could work his way back into consciousness and hopefully awaken his Talent once more.