After breakfast,Dr. Hudson and Nathan went to buy a horse-carriage on Khaleed's request. The coachman is Nathan. Khaleed, Taz and Sarah aboard the horse-carriage. The horse-carriage starts moving.
"Taz,"says Khaleed,"you didn't buy any perfume."
"No,I will buy it on our way home. Akin said they have ordered a special batch of perfumes and it will take a few days to be delivered."Taz seems to be genuinely happy about it.
" You do love perfumes very much Mr Bashir. You were very curious about it."says Sarah.
" Yeah! curious if you consider a room full of perfumes in a house to be normal."says Khaleed.
"That's a ridiculous amount of perfumes." exclaims a shocked Sarah.
"The kid is damn serious about his scent." says Dr. Hudson.
Nathan, bursting out in laughter, says,"Ha! Ha! Yeah that's what you expect from the biggest buyer of perfumes from 'A. & R. Perfumery'."
"Hooo! At least I have a house." declares Taz.
Pure emotional damage to Nathan. After this he kept quiet. Dr. Hudson asks Khaleed,"Kid where are we going now?"
"Well towards the mountains which are in front of us. My cane shows me that direction."
"Okay kid! Whatever you say."
"Well Mr. Amin," says Sarah,"now that I think about it you are quite popular in the kingdom of Arthorne."
"Not only him but the whole agency.Well, now that I think about it, Khaleed told me that you are from the kingdom of Isalon and has come to the city of Eltos for higher education."says Dr. Hudson.
"Yeah, it's true Dr. Hudson."says Sarah. She added,"Mr. Drake is quite good at driving the horse-carriage."
"Yeah! We all know how to ride a horse so, driving a horse-carriage is no big deal. Also, Nathan has some experience with driving horse-carriages."says Taz.
"And why is that so?" asks Sarah.
"Because this kid Khaleed doesn't know how to ride a horse." answers Dr. Hudson.
"Yeah! In our early days when we had to chase the 'Shadow Thief ' I asked Nathan to drive the horse-carriage near our base when he came to infiltrate our base because I myself am unable to ride a horse. That time we were unable to catch him and the owner of the horse-carriage shouted at us for taking his horse-carriage without permission.We had to pay him 2 arges coins for that. For this reason we had to survive only on water for the next two days.But after we successfully caught the 'Shadow Thief ', we were rewarded a huge amount of money by the government."explains Khaleed.
"2 arges coins! That's worth 20 aes coins."exclaims Sarah.
"Ha!Ha! The government rewarded us with 20 aurus coins worth 200 arges coins. After surviving on water for 2 days we ate whole heartedly.Sometime later, Taz joined us.Then later, Dr. Hudson also joined us.Though they greatly helped us but still there were some other instances where I had to drive a horse-carriage." says Nathan while driving the horse-carriage.
"Oh! But still why Mr. Amin, you don't know how to ride a horse?"asks Sarah."I don't want to sound rude but what I have heard is that horse riding is a skill every man is expected to learn."
"Well, Ms. Buckins, just you know there were some circumstances due to which I was unable to learn horse riding."answers Khaleed calmly.
"Oh!"
"Well guys, a lady is showing signs for a ride."says Nathan.
Everyone looks and indeed there is a lady standing alone with a violin in her hands. The horse-carriage stops by her. The lady says,"Ah! I am Lyra and I am a violinist. My home is in the next village.So can you please give me a ride. I will pay for it."
"Oh! You can, but you don't have to pay for it and please don't insist."says Khaleed.
"Okay!"
"Just answer my one question. What were you doing here?"asks Khaleed to Lyra.
"Oh! I came to Berner to visit my friend."
"Okay then, aboard the horse-carriage."
They introduce themselves to each other as they travel alongside the Haber river. Both sides of the Haber river are covered by lush green trees. They travel alongside the Haber river the whole day and stop by nightfall. They set up a campfire and have their dinner. After that, Lyra asks,"Can I play my violin?"
"Yeah! Sure, sure, you can."answers Taz.
"Then, I am gonna play a soothing tune."
Lyra started playing her violin. It is indeed a very soothing and calming tune.
"Haa… I feel sleepy." sighs Nathan.
"Me too."says Taz.
"Shut up kids and just sleep."adds Dr. Hudson.
Nathan, Taz and Dr. Hudson immediately fall asleep.
"Why are you all suddenly asleep?"asks Sarah.
"Because we are sleepy."answers Khaleed as he falls asleep.They are all in deep slumber.Sarah is confused as all of them suddenly fall asleep. But then Lyra shows concern and asks,"Why did they all suddenly fall asleep?"
"I don't know." replies Sarah.
"But I know!" says Lyra and starts laughing maniacally.Seeing Lyra's devilish laughter, Sarah gets scared.
"Lyra, ah! Why are you laughing?"asks Sarah, her voice trembling.
"They all fall asleep but why hasn't you?Well that does not matter, I can still kill you."
"Mr. Drake! Mr. Amin! Mr. Bashir! Dr. Hudson!"
"Well, they will not wake up for an hour. They are in deep slumber but do not worry, I will turn it into eternal slumber."
Lyra quickly dashes towards Sarah with killing intent but she doesn't hit her. As Lyra turns around, she sees Khaleed help Sarah to dodge the attack.
Khaleed chuckles, saying,"How was my acting?"
"No no no this doesn't make sense, how are you still awake?" asks a shocked Lyra.
"Perhaps I have a strong will, perhaps I shut my ears close."answers Khaleed.
"Whaaat???"
"And by the look of it, your violin seems to be the manifestation of your bracelet power, and it's 'Music'."
"So what? I can still kill you all."
"Ms. Buckins protect my friends, do not argue, you can do it."
Lyra started playing an intense tune, which produces a large shockwave, destroying everything in its vicinity. All the trees were destroyed but nothing happened to Khaleed. In fact, nothing happened to anyone of them. Khaleed tries to analyse and realises that there is a barrier surrounding them and horse-carriage. All of this was done by one person, Sarah.
"Wooh! Ms. Buckins so that's your bracelet power."says Khaleed."She finally manifested her bracelet power but it won't last long, on the other hand, Lyra's powers are dangerous. Her power range is as far as someone can hear the tune. Everyone else will not wake up until an hour. I have to finish it in a single blow, otherwise we will all be killed." thinks Khaleed.
"No matter how strong the barrier is, I will break it."says Lyra.
Lyra with more power starts playing the intense tone, now the shockwave is even more powerful. The ground shakes and even the Haber river has large ripples on the water.
"I can't hold the barrier for long." says Sarah, struggling to maintain the barrier.
"Can you open the barrier for one second?" asks Khaleed.
"I can try."
"Listen, open the barrier when I give you the signal & close it immediately. I will charge towards her and immobilize her.
"Will you succeed?" asks Sarah.
"It's a gamble." says Khaleed.
"It's too risky." says Sarah, showing concern for Khaleed.
"It is our only chance. It's my fault to begin with. I should have tricked her earlier and tied her up. Now, be ready!" explains Khaleed.
"Okay!"
A sense of thrill passes through them.
"Now."
Sarah slightly opens the barrier and immediately closes it as soon as Khaleed dashes towards Lyra – so quickly the human eye cannot perceive. The next thing Sarah sees is the slashed body of Lyra, her violin completely destroyed. Lyra falls down on the ground.
"The wound is mild, treat her Ms. Buckins and tied her legs and hands properly." instructs Khaleed.
"Okay!"
Sarah treated her wounds and then tied her. After an hour, the rest of the group wakes up and Khaleed told them everything.
Sarah slightly opens the barrier and immediately closes it as soon as Khaleed dashes towards Lyra, so quickly the human eye can not perceive. The next thing Sarah saw was the slashed body of Lyra, her violin completely destroyed. Lyra falls down on the ground.
"It's my fault, I am sorry." says Taz in an apologetic tone.
"You don't have to be sorry as it is my fault." says Khaleed.
" What do you mean?" asks Taz.
"I knew she was a 'NightHowl'."
"What? How? From when?" asks a surprised Sarah.
"From the beginning. Remember she told us that she went to Berner to visit her friend and she is from the next village. While even by carriage, it will take 12 hours to travel from Berner to the next village and in village regions, horse-carriages do not run at night. So, even if she went to see her friend and started her journey in the morning. She would have to stay at least one night at her house, and as you can see, she has no extra clothes with her. It was obvious from the start. The only thing I didn't know was about her powers. I thought the violin could be a weapon but then dismissed it as a bluff and that her powers are something else. The only reason I gave her permission to board the horse-carriage was so that we could obtain valuable information from her about the 'NightHowls'." explains Khaleed.
Everyone except Sarah is not shocked.
"Kid, you could have shared the information with us." says Dr. Hudson.
"I could have but she could have suspected us and perhaps could have launched a surprise attack. So, I didn't told anyone and took it upon myself to do the task." explains Khaleed.
"And we barely survive." says Nathan.
"Barely? You should say we got lucky." says Khaleed, chuckling.
"What do you mean?" asks Nathan.
"No matter how quickly I attacked Lyra, I would have got terrible injuries and all of you would have got slight injuries as well. But thanks to Ms. Buckins."
"Me?" asks Sarah.
"Yes, because your skillset includes creating physical barriers as well as mental barriers.You can create physical barriers to block physical attacks as well as mental barriers to block mental attacks. That time Ms. Buckins, you subconsciously provide mental barriers to each one of us including yourself, and that's why we are all alive today. I knew you had this kind of ability as you were to resist the soothing tune, so I just have to gamble on it." explains
Khaleed.
Sarah listens quietly and suddenly looks shocked.
"What?Are you insane?" asks Sarah.
"Yeah!" replies Khaleed.
" Surely!" says Nathan.
"No doubt!" adds Taz.
Dr. Hudson punched Khaleed on his head and told him not to take risks like this again. Then, they sleep for the rest of the night. They continue their quest on the next day. They questioned Lyra to get the location of the 'NightHowls' but she refuses to give any answer. Suddenly, two people appear in front of the horse-carriage.
"Who are they? Are they enemies?" asks Sarah.
"Perhaps I may know these enemies. I knew they were here but I didn't expect to see them." says Khaleed.
The horse-carriage stops. The atmosphere was very tense. Suddenly Khaleed charges towards them and then — they handshake.