The King Returns

Chapter 21 - Realisation

The first stop before Sasha, was of course Lusha's place. They knocked on the door and waited for awhile. Neither Eir nor Almar dared to disturb this elf at four in the morning. At last, she turned up at her front doorstep and just looked upon the two with an annoyed expression. 

  "This better be good," she muttered as she got back inside to change.

***

They finally arrived in front of the commander's house. Lusha, who had been briefed on everything, now walked up towards the door and banged on it with her fist. They waited, and waited but no Sasha. Despite the heavy sound, nothing seemed to be going on inside the house. 

  "It seems he's not at home," Lusha stated as she turned to face her two companions. 

  "Now what?" Almar asked no one in particular. 

  "We'll have to ask around, look for places he commonly frequents," Lusha replied and started walking, the others following. 

  "First, Eir's place," Lusha jokingly said. It made Eir blush deeply. 

  "Wha-What? I admit we often hang out these days, b- but that's strictly because of work! There's nothing more to it, okay!?" she raised her voice. 

  "Gee, calm down girl! I was just joking. Of course the first stop would be the infirmary, he always goes there to ask how the patients are doing," Lusha replied.

***

After having gone from door to door, looking throughout the entire place, they still couldn't find the missing commander. 

  "The only place left would be too ask the Elder," Lusha said. And so, they all walked towards the Elder's house, the center of the rebellion.

With tired feet, after having walked around the whole morning, they finally reached their destination. Inside, the Elder sat in his usual spot, sipping on some hot tea by the fire. 

  "Ah, and what might I help you younglings with on this fine morning?" the Elder asked with a little smile as he looked up from his cup. 

  "We're looking for the commander," Lusha responded with a tired but now worried look on her face. 

  "Have you seen Sasha? Is he here?" Eir asked the old man. 

  "No, I'm afraid I haven't been paid a visit for a while now. Have you not looked for him elsewhere?" the Elder answered. 

  "That's just it! We've been going around everywhere but no one seems to know were he is," Eir replied in a voice of urgency. 

  "Well isn't that quite worrisome?" the Elder simply said as he suddenly turned around and threw his tea-cup into the fire. 

Blue smoke arose from the flames, covering everything around them. Everyone looked on in surprise as the Elder waved his hands in the air, seemingly concentrating on something far away. Then, although blurry, what looked like images started to appear. 

The group couldn't make it out at first but eventually, they could see that it was a face, Sasha's face. However something was awfully wrong. His face was twisted in pain and covered in sweat. The next image appeared and this time, it seemed to come from Sasha's point of view. All of a sudden, Eir gasped and fell down on her knees. She couldn't breathe, her legs could no longer support her. 

  "What's the wrong, Eir?" Almar asked worriedly, putting a hand on her back. 

  "I-It's..." she started.