The Apathetic Mage Loves Cats

Chapter 22: After-Questions

"How did you already have a carriage ready?" Caiden called out into the night air, his head outside the window and his eyes slightly closed, allowing the wind to guide his hair upwards. Caiden, Akan, and I had traveled by foot for a while before transferring over to a carriage. Caiden seemed nonchalant about the situation, mainly happy to be out of the ball and away from people. However, I couldn't help but sit between Akan and Caiden, shielding him slightly from the situation we were currently in, trusting the feeling of anxiousness that rolled around in my stomach. Obviously, when it comes to demons, the safest option would be to get out of the immediate area, but, clearly, we were going further than we needed to, especially considering we were taking a carriage away from our destination. So, where exactly was Akan taking us? Caiden, however, didn't seem to care about the situation, and I couldn't exactly tell him to stay on guard, which means that I had to do my job as slyly as possible; to not alert Akan to my hostile feeling.

"We had it prepared just in case something like this happened." Caiden hummed in response, his mind still adrift in the breeze, but I found myself frowning. There was no such protocol that I was reviewed on. And, considering I was the one closest to Caiden, I would've thought that I would be the first person to be told about this escape plan.

Akan, as if sense that I knew something was wrong, avoided my gaze, but that didn't mean I couldn't see the look he had on his face. It looked, nervous, almost anxious even. As if he was afraid, but not afraid of what he had to do, afraid of what was coming. I'm not sure how I knew this, but it caused the hair on the back of my neck to stand up and I gripped the back of Caiden's neck, dragging him back into the carriage. He let out a soft noise of resistance and turned to me in curiosity.

"What?" he asked. I looked at him in the eyes for a moment, watching as the annoyance spread across his face. I glanced at Akan out of the corner of my eye and saw that even if he wasn't watching us, he was still listening, obviously. So, I just looked back at Caiden.

"You're going to get hurt if you stick your head out. Stay inside."

Caiden frowned and let out a string of mumbled words as he turned to look out the window: "If that was all, you could've just said so," while staying inside the carriage, allowing the wind to tousle the hair against his forehead. Then, he perked up as something caught his eye. "Is that... a cave?" he called out. I frowned and moved so we both would glance outside the window.

Directly in front of us stood a cave entrance, with green vines winding around it. However, the inside of this cave was lit up, as if lights or some fire were burning inside. I glanced over at Akan, who seemed unconcerned about the matter. So, this was a planned event by the mages. They wanted us to leave and take this carriage to this cave and hide out here. That was the only logical answer. Otherwise, why else would this cave be lit up in the middle of nowhere? I would have to apologize to Akan.

However, that didn't answer all my questions. Why would they bring us here without me knowing? And why didn't Akan tell us we were headed here to begin with? While I did feel a semblance of reassurance at the sight of this cave, I also didn't quite feel satisfied with the answers that I was coming up with on my own. Though, before I could ask Akan anything the carriage came to a stop before the cave, and Akan stepped out first, ushering us to do the same. I stepped out first and held out my hand towards Caiden, who grasped it as he stepped out, a bright look in his eyes.

"It's been a while since I've been out of the castle, who knew this was here?" He called out in a wanderlust voice. I didn't respond and just grabbed his forearm, making my way towards the cave after Akan who hurriedly made his way inside. I listened to the sound of the carriage taking off on its own behind us while stepping inside. It wasn't anything special, just an ordinary cave with grey walls and vines lining inside. There was a fire placed in the middle of the floor, and cushions and blankets on the ground. However, there was one thing that was slightly out of place.

"Iban?" I called out. Iban's tail flinched. He had his back to us, resting lightly on a crème-colored pillow before the fire. His head swiveled to glance at us, his eyes wide as if he was shocked that we were here. However, he soon wiped his face of any emotion, and stood up, stretching, and making his way over. "What are you doing here?"

Caiden bent down, letting out a soft greeting towards Iban. Iban walked over to Caiden and allowed him to pick him up, curling up within his arms as he stroked his head.

"We've gotta talk," he called out. There was something so domestic about this picture. Of Caiden holding Iban in his arms and stroking his head, and Iban allowing him to do so. Enough so that I almost didn't pick up what Iban said, but I did.

"About what?" I asked, watching Caiden take Iban over to the fire and sit down on a red cushion. I sat beside him on a blue one and grabbed a blanket to put around Caiden's shoulders. "This wasn't organized by the mages?" Iban glanced over at me with hooded eyes.

"Didn't I teach you to be smart about your surroundings and to think ahead? You really believe this was organized by them?" I clicked my tongue at him and glared at his smug face. However, I didn't say anything, because it wasn't like I didn't think that this whole situation was strange, but once I saw the cave and the fire, I truly believed that this was intentionally put up as a safe place. Otherwise...

"Then, why is Akan here?" I asked. Akan flinched slightly at the mention of his name where he sat across from us, stroking the fire to keep it burning. I found myself quickly looking over to him, surprised that someone who I has always seen as calm and collected would even flinch at the thought that we would be discussing him.

"Why do you think?" Iban asked, lifting his head so that he could look at me fully. "Come on, I know that you can use your brain. If this wasn't organized by the mages, and there was a reason why you had to hold a ball in the first place..." Iban trailed off as I turned to look at Akan in shock, ignoring the fact that Iban was beside me and most likely part of this plan as well.

"Akan, you're the traitor?"

~~~~

Hello everyone! Saph here! I hope you're all doing amazingly well! I feel like I'm always apologizing, but I'm sorry this is a late update. Either way, Happy Halloween! To those who celebrate it of course. I hope you all are doing well and staying safe!

How did you like this new chapter? I'm sorry it's a bit short, I've been really caught up in classes and my social life recently so it's been difficult to write, but I really really wanted to get something out there for you. Mainly because I'm really excited to start this new "arch" after we find out that Akan is the traitor! Did you guys see it coming? Did you expect it to be him? Do you have any ideas about what's going to happen? I'm really so excited to write more about this! I've been building up to this moment forever and I can't believe it's finally here! I hope you're excited too!

As always, thank you so so much for reading! I hope you have enjoyed it. If you have any questions or concerns don't hesitate to ask and I'll try to answer as quickly as possible! Stay safe out there, remember to drink and eat food, and please don't be so hard on yourself. The world is really tough now and we are all doing the best we can. I'll see you all next time!