Chapter 40
I almost laughed because what he was holding in his hand was my severed foot, which I had previously decorated with a beautiful bow.
Kayyan stepped forward to quickly explain:
"It was Thayron!"
I looked at old Kayyan, who was leaning on his cane with amusement. Was this bastard abandoning me (or rather, his friend) and handing him over to this man so easily?
"Since we failed to capture him alive earlier, I decided to decorate the foot for you as a gift," I said with a smile as I bowed.
"Huh?"
I felt as if the man in the silver mask was raising his eyebrows behind his mask in surprise.
He said something that made me freeze:
"What was his name?"
I asked him quietly, trying to hide my confusion, while my thoughts raced through my head:
"What... what do you mean?"
The man in the silver mask did not answer my question. Instead, he stood up and repeated his question, this time in a more severe and clear tone that brooked no argument:
"Did you find out the name of the young man you arrested earlier?"
Kayyan replied quickly, afraid of angering him:
"Kiva. He told me his name was Kiva."
"Mm."
After Kayyan said this, I noticed the man pull a small notebook from his pocket to look at it and carefully examine the pages.
Moments passed that felt like an eternity, each second increasing the tension. Finally, after flipping through several pages, as if searching for a specific name, he raised his head and said:
"You're coming with me."
The man in the silver mask gave the order, and we followed him without waiting for our consent. Kayyan and his companions looked on in shock. They were afraid, but they didn't dare move.
We moved away from the pit and left it behind us.
The man in the silver mask headed toward his strange vehicle.
It looked like a combination of an old wooden wagon and a metal boat, with folding wings made of a transparent material that glistened in the moonlight. The man opened a hidden side door and pushed us inside. The interior seemed more spacious than it appeared from the outside and was lined with comfortable seats.
We sat down hesitantly, our hearts pounding loudly. Kayyan and his companions were trembling with fear, but they didn't dare say a word.
The man closed the door and sat down in a seat in front of me that looked like a cockpit. He pressed several glowing buttons, and suddenly the vehicle shook violently and then slowly rose into the air.
My eyes widened in amazement as I saw the vast forest stretching out below us like a dark green carpet. We rose higher and higher, leaving the trees behind as tiny dots.
It seemed that vehicles in this world had the ability to fly. I wasn't surprised because I had read about it in a book before. I was now in a magical world. There was no shortage of geniuses and inventions when magic was available to them.
The man drove the vehicle with amazing skill, dodging the towering treetops and taking us above the scattered clouds. We headed north, toward the capital of the Kingdom of Krothia, whose faint lights glimmered in the distant horizon like stars that had fallen to the ground.
The flight was relatively quiet, except for the sound of the wind around the vehicle. We were still in shock and awe from the rapid events.
Four hours passed and I caught sight of the capital's lights in the distance, perhaps 100 kilometers or so away from our destination.
I decided to wait and sleep a little while trying to reach the inner voice I had heard earlier.
Boom!
Suddenly, the vehicle shook violently.
"What!" I shouted as I looked around to find the source of the sound. I saw the man in the silver mask moving his hands quickly to control the vehicle, which was tilting to the left, and a small screen in front of him lit up with flashing red lights.
"Ambush!"
He said in a sharp voice, then raised his head to look out the front window.