Chapter 67 67
Third Person POV
Mark looked up at the silhouette of a man that stood before him; the tone of that voice, the edge of it, was all too familiar; his right eye was swollen shut from all the beatings he had received.
His jailers had tried to get information out of him and the three men by his side, but they hadn't budged, not even once; they hadn't even given out their names, which was why Mark was shocked when he heard his name being spoken for the first time in a long time.
"Who... are you?" He managed to say with broken lips; he looked around the cell, counting if his other comrades were there with him; they all lay on the ground sprawled about.
"Mark, it's me," Noah said in a cool voice, careful not to raise suspicion. He cocked his head looking at Mark; he then realised that Mark couldn't see him properly, but that wasn't a problem.
Noah simply because, one with the shadows once more, as he stepped through the metal bars of the cell, he bent down and held the face of Mark; he was the only one who didn't seem almost dead.
"Master Noah...." Mark's voice croaked as though parched from not having drank in days. In pained Noah to see his men in such a deplorable state, he felt somewhat angry and agitated.
The feeling to rip down this entire place and tear out the throats of whoever did this to his men. "Alice, come in, please." Noah took deep breaths as he tried calming himself down.
He felt a hand on his shoulder; it was Alice's, and for some reason, it gave him comfort and made him feel more at ease and happy.
"I'm here when you need me," she spoke softly. The other men in the cell stirred a bit at the sound of her voice. Noah knew they couldn't be there for much longer, so he had to hurry and leave; he had to take his men with him.
"I don't think you can carry all four with you," Noah said quietly, thinking of ways to optimise his situation best, but he couldn't find the answer just yet.
"I wish I could, but that would be very taxing on me; I'm not even sure I could make it back to the pack without passing out on the way there," she said, looking a bit discontent.
"Shit" Noah but his lip. "Oohh, wait, what if you did that thing you did with me?" She asked excitedly, and Noah looked at her in confusion, not quite understanding what had made her so happy all of a sudden.
"You know, that weird thing where you dragged me into your shadow and then into another person's shadow," she started.
"Yeah, I get that, but moving all three or even two of them over that distance is fairly hard enough; even I'll have to make stops," he said quietly, but she never stopped smiling.
"So just put them all in my shadow then, I'll be the one that teleports back to the pack," she finished. Noah was about to stop her when he thought about it a little bit more clearly.
It made perfect sense, probably too much sense. He found himself smiling slowly. "Let's do this," he whispered. Noah held the feet of the other two men with both his hands.
The truck with his shadow attributes was that he had to be in constant contact with him for it to work or they would just spill out of his grasp or shadow.
Noah turned back and ripped off the chains that bound each back till they were free; only Mark was the most conscious, conscious enough to realise who stood before him.
"You came; you didn't forget us." Mark called out in a weak voice. Noah simply nodded; he knew now wasn't the time to have an emotionally bonding moment, and he also didn't want to kill the driver if he caught them here.
"Mark, I need you to hold on to me; can you do that for me?" Noah asked in a serious tone; he held Mark's face to ensure that he could indeed understand him.
Mark simply nodded; he wasn't sure what exactly was being discussed, but the fact that Mast Noah was here—nothing else mattered to him right now; he had decided to trust him completely.
"Don't let go on me no matter what," Noah said once more as he felt the weak grip of Mark locking his elbow. He could feel the fatigue and soreness in his hands as they shook lightly.
The cell suddenly grew darker, and the shadows became thicker, palpable, and almost tangible as Noah held the three men and forced them into the shadow of Alice.
It was the first time he had ever done a feat like this before, and he wasn't sure what the repercussions would be. He looked out with shadow sense and saw Alice looking.
While he held both unconscious men and one held him, he couldn't help but behold her beauty once more. While he gazed at her, the next thing he felt was a warped feeling, as though a force of some kind pulled at his front and centre, dragging him elsewhere.
Noah looked out once more and saw grass; it seemed she was outside where they both had been watching the gate from before. He couldn't say anything to her, so he simply kept quiet in the shadows.
He trusted her to do as she wished and take care of them. Noah made a guess that she stopped at least in two different locations before finally reaching her mother's house.
Although the place made Noah feel uncomfortable, it was the best place to stop considering the states the men were in. Alice got into her house; her mother was pouring tea to drink herself when she noticed Alice appear out of the blue.
It surprised Noah a bit that the woman seemed unmoved by her sudden appearance; instead, she just smiled gently as she looked at her daughter.
"Would you like some tea, darling? It's herbal and very good for you," she said calmly. "Not now, mom," Alice said out of breath.
"We need your help to treat these men as fast as you can." Alice pushed further. "What men?" Sara asked, looking around her in confusion.
"Meet me down at the infirmary." She said, and she disappeared once more to the same room where Adrian had been earlier.
As soon as she landed there, Noah pulled the three men out of her shadows and collapsed to the ground. It was also mentally taxing for him to carry three more people but himself into the shadows.
That was three times more than mental strain, but he could manage it. With sweat dripping down his face, he managed to carry Mark to the bed he had seen Adrian in earlier.
Then he took the others to two separate beds in other rooms. He was surprised at how the old witch had turned her house into a sick bay of some sort.
"Ooh my, what in the goddess's name happened to these men?" Sara said as she walked in with a staru full of several liquids. Noah also saw the same one that he had given Lady Hazel when she was ill.
"They're my men; they got beat up on a mission I sent them," Noah said, being as vague as he could, not going into details, and luckily Sara didn't ask for any.
She simply folded her sleeves and got toe-checking Mark in front of me; I needed him to survive. Mostly because going back there would prove an even more difficult feat.
He had left a dead body there so that next time he would be there, the security would be extreme; he knew Mark had to know something for them to keep him alive for so long.
"I can treat them, but it'll take a while before they can talk or move again, so please exercise some patience, Noah," Sara said in an attempt to calm him down. Noah inhaled calmly to ease his nerves.
"Alright, I'll wait for them to get better before I say anything of the sort with them," he replied briskly. He wanted to leave the house and go back to the mansion to report his news to the Alpha or Luna if he could see any of them.
"Ooh yes, that reminds me, do you know a ball is being held this evening by the Labrinth family?" Sara asked Noah.
Noah was a bit puzzled; he hadn't heard such, so how could she have known about it? "How did you know?" He asked carefully.
"Does it matter? An old witch has her way of knowing things," she added, but Noah was already deep in thought.
"You might want to know, Lady Hazel will be joining them for the ball," she added. He looked at her with shock in his eyes.
This he had not expected, but just maybe he could make the Alpha investigate the place in his stead.