"Yes. Your execution would take place in two days in Concorba. What news that would bring to the whole of Erdas. The infamous Roll is finally executed in his own city!"

-Meilin-

"Well, that was easy," Roll mumbled.

"Too easy," Meilin agreed but it wasn't in a boasting matter.

They were already on their way back to the city to get the other summoner, Arax the Ram. The city where they were going was Concorba, home of Roll, the well-known Amayan thief who was currently accompanying their journey.

As soon as Anda, summoner of Tellun, had talked to his leader, they were then free and were on their way back to the city.

"Tellun sent me some sort of dream, telling me that you guys would come," Anda was saying, "Though I don't really know why."

As Tarik started explaining, Stead announced that they stop for camp.

"Meilin and...Roll," Stead said, sounding unsure whether to actually call him Roll, "Why don't you two get some wood to start a fire. You know what to look for, right?"

"Of course we do," Meilin muttered.

Without another word, the two walked through the woods in search for, well, wood. Meilin kept looking but was interrupted when a figure suddenly dived towards her. She managed to duck just in time as it swooped above her head and landed on the thief's shoulder, almost pushing him off balance.

"Hey Essix," he greeted the falcon who screeched in reply.

Meilin glared at both of them in annoyance, "What was that for?"

"What was what for?" Roll asked, acting as if Essix hadn't nearly crashed into Meilin's head.

"You know what i'm talking about," she muttered in a voice that showed that she was not in the mood to be joking around.

He only shrugged, "She must've been hunting."

"Does my face look like a rat to you?" Meilin growled.

For some reason, he began to look nervous, "Um, do you want me to answer that?"

Meilin's gaze darkened, her fists tightening in anger, "So you're saying that it does?"

"That's not what I meant," he immediately replied, "It's just, er, you might, uh." He cleared his throat and tried to look more confident, "I still might get the same response if I give you any answer."

She was seriously ready to take out her staff to wonk him in the head until she heard something snap behind her. She whirled around, her staff raised but she saw nothing.

"Who's there?" Roll called out, both his daggers out.

At first, there was silence. Nothing happened. Then came a chuckle. Both their gazes snapped to a shadow of a person, stepping out from behind a tree. The man then stepped forward and Meilin thought that Roll swayed a bit, his eyes filled with shock. Essix screeched and immediately flew away but he didn't seem to care.

"Ah, my bad," the man grinned, "Stepped on a branch."

Meilin narrowed his eyes and studied him. He was wearing normal traveling clothes though there was no pack in sight. She could see bits of the handle of his word sticking from behind his back.

"Y-You..." Roll's voice trailed off

"Do you know this man?" Meilin asked him, glaring at the man.

"Of course," the man answered for her, "Me and Roll go way back. Always running. And you must be the missing daughter of General Teng."

"How did you know?" Meilin asked, startled that he knew who they were.

He then slowly glanced around, "A friend told me i'd see you here. You two are all I need anyways. Once the Prime Minister hears about this, he'll be ecstatic to finally have your head."

Meilin turned when Roll urgently touched her arm, tugging as he said, "We have to go."

But as they turned, soldiers came out of their hiding places, surrounding them. They were all armed with weapons and armor. The militia.

"So, you were saying?" The man asked.

"Look, Don-" Roll started.

"It's Shaun," the man growled.

"How am I supposed to know when you guys look exactly alike?" Roll snapped, "Anyways, it's me that the Prime Minister wants."

"Oh yes," the man named Shaun said, "but with the missing daughter of the great Zhongese general, it'll be all over Erdas. I can already imagine it. General Shaun of the militia, the first to finally catch the thief and rescue the missing daughter of General Teng."

"I don't need rescuing," Meilin muttered.

"Yeah, cause we both do," Roll told her, "but only one of us is going to get out of here."

Meilin looked at him, confused, "What do you mean only one of us?"

Before he could reply, one of the soldiers fell down, an arrow lodged into his back. Roll took the distraction to bang the butt of his dagger on another one's head.

"Meilin, over here," she immediately spotted Conor waving his hand as he swung his axe at another soldier.

Abeke was nearby, shooting with her bow. Meilin was then pushed to their direction and she turned to see that it had been Roll.

"Run," was all he said before he went the other direction, slamming into another soldier.

Meilin immediately ran, slicing through the soldiers. Once she reached Conor and Abeke, she glanced back and managed to catch sight of his dark brown hair, disappearing deeper into the woods. The three had no choice but to run back to the camp.

-Rollan-

'I've escaped them before,' Rollan thought, 'I can escape them again.'

'What do you think you're doing, thief? You're going the wrong way.'

Pain shot through Rollan's head, making him stumble. He struggled to get back up and keep running.

'No, not now,' he pleaded, hearing the footsteps getting closer to him.

More pain throbbed into his head, dots exploding into his vision. He yelped in pain as he felt his body hit solid ground.

The voice laughed, 'Oh this should be interesting.'

"Would you look at that," he didn't need to turn to know that it was Shaun who had spoken, "The thief has fallen."

Rollan tried to get back up but the pain kept on coming.

'You know, if you haven't let the girl go, you wouldn't be in pain right now,' the voice went on, 'And again, you had to change our plans once again, Roll.'

Rollan managed to raise his head as Shaun stepped in front of him, grinning triumphantly as he looked down, "We'll get the girl later. You'll just have to do. You can thank your...friend."

Another figure stepped forward and through the pain, he managed to let out a small gasp. There stood Linus, the hunter who took them in. Linus only gave him a cold stare.

Rollan glared at him, "You!"

The pain hardened and he winced, squeezing his eyes. He was running out of strength and soon, he was going to fall unconscious.

Shaun chuckled and kneeled in front of him, still looking down at him, "Have a nice sleep, thief, cause we're going to Concorba."

As my vision slowly slept away, he could hear the voice inside of his head chuckle as well, 'And you call yourself a thief.'

- - -

I know it's been a while since I last updated and for that, I apologize. I've been busy with school and I've recently entered a new fandom which kind of shaken my love for Spirit Animals. There was a point where I almost lost interest but don't you worry, i'm going to make sure that I finish this book and i'll make sure that i'll keep on loving Spirit Animals for a while.