Sous

"Lavere!" The barrel lifted up with Sous directing it toward land as Shadow stood on the dock adjusting how they stood.

"Just four more Sous and the rest are for the elves." Shadow looked around as Sous ran down the plank to be by his side. They stood there for a while waiting for the clients to show. It was hard to know where they were this time because there weren't any signs like the other stops. Furthermore, Shadow had told Sous that they were way ahead of their schedule so they had plenty of time now. He had asked what Sous wanted to do and whether she wanted to go back to any of the locations. She was thinking of wanting to see The Three G's or the G Sisters. She laughed just thinking of them. They seemed so cool and posed. And the fact they had such a acknowledgement of what the basilisks are currently going through, was a positive sign to Sous.

There was a trail that led into the woods where they stood on the dock. It was soon they began to hear rustling. Their ears twitched in the direction of the sound, a physical trait associated with many canine species.

Four humans emerged from the woods.

"Humans?"

"Yep," Shadow answered. This is their area where they're the dominate species here." Shadow shook each of their hands.

"Its nice to finally meet you, Shadow. How many barrels you got for us?"

"Five."

As they continued on their conversation, Sous noticed they were all wearing the same thing: light brown khaki pants with a green shirt that had the writing 'Basilisk Conservation' on it.

Shadow walked to the barrels with the members of the group. She watched as the humans could only transport one at a time. The Three G's simply used a transportation spell and Rick had the strength of a giant. These people were just...humans.

"Do you need help?" Since it was three on one barrel. "I can levitate it to where you want to go."

One of the human girls stood up, breathing heavy. "You sure, our cars are about a ways away?" Cars, humans tend to love those things a lot, probably because its the only way they can truly get around. Many magae can just use a transportation spell.

Sous looked at Shadow to see if she could get permission. Something she wouldn't have done when first coming to Shadow. She was a bit more well mannered now and patient.

Shadow nodded his head. "Let's see how many you can lift at a time."

Two, two was how many barrels Sous could lift at a time.

The six of them walked down the trail that took about twenty minutes which told Sous, it was about a mile to the main road. When they got there, there was a green van that had the same words on it as their shirts. Sous dropped the two barrels.

"What does 'conservation' mean?" She had read it in the animal book she got but wasn't too sure on the meaning due to the lack of context clues.

A young man with red hair smile at Sous. "Its a project where someone or people will help maintain a species to make sure they prosper and bloom."

"Yep, thats what we're trying to do with the basilisk. There used to be a thriving population here but not so much. We tried to get laws past to protect them but many of the magae voted against it."

Sous bowed her head, yeah, she had come to realize just how many magae used the eggs for this or the other.

Another woman spoke,"We realized that maybe we could buy them and well, here we are."

During the time Sous and Shadow went to go retrieve the other three barrels, Sous began to ponder what they did with the eggs, so that was her next question she asked them.

Thud!

The last barrel landed.

"What do you do with the eggs?"

"We keep them in the barrels and then when they hatch, we release them on the animal reserve."

Another young man with brown skin chimed in. "Although we're wearing these shirts, we're apart of a bigger reserve so we have more than one species."

Sous quickly looked at Shadow. He sighed yet smiled at the same time. "Yes, we can go see." Sous jumped up and down.

"Can we go see?" Sous asked the humans. They exchanged looks with one another.

The car ride was about an hour, making it impressive the humans drove so far out to the docks just so they could purchase eggs only to release them. Sous and Shadow weren't taken to the front entrance of the reserve because they'd have to pay. Instead, the humans took them around to a trail that lead deep into the rocky woods, which also led to cliffs.

Together, they walked on another trail that took about forty minutes to walk. Finally they came to a cliff that over looked rocky and grassy hills. The humans stood side by side to Sous and Shadow.

The boy with the brown skinned pointed his figures to the hills. "Look, you'll see them."

Sous and Shadow took steps further to the edge. At first they weren't see anything. That was until they saw movement within the trees. Their earing helped pinpoint where the basilisk were.

"There!" Sous shouted. Even the humans looked where she was pointing.

"We weren't able to get you the special glasses we give to tourist to make sure they don't turn to stone. So if they look at you, be sure to turn away quickly."

The green scales were spotted as the trees and foliage moved to the side, as if parting for the king of the hills. Its head soon popped up with red eyes that eye the cliff, its tongue slithering out to taste if there were any prey out.

"Luckily they don't have an affinity for humanoid species so we'll all in the clear. Except for werewolves. They find them tasty."

A couple of sweat drops appeared over Shadow's forehead. He was going to say something but his ear twitched, and he quickly took hold of Sous' hand.

"Excuseus!" He said real fast that it sounded like one word. The two of them transported back to the tug boat on a read seal with various symbols. Sous looked down at it, not realizing when Shadow had placed it there. He fell to his knees catching his breath.

Sous ran to the back of the boat to see two bandits attempting to carry a barrel. On land, there were already a couple of men attempting to run off with the barrels.

"Lavere!" Sous pointed her wand at one of the men. Lifting him high into the air and watching him drop a hundred feet in to the stream. She dipped at the second bandit, performing a drop kick. Breaking his spraining his shoulder and causing him to flip over the boat.

The two men are shore were still in eye distance of Sous since the barrel was often a two to four person team when carrying. She ran down the plank toward the dock.

"Gladius!"

Her wand turned into a sword with a swift motion as she stabbed it forward toward the man's back!

Shadow stepped into the way, her stabbing him in the stomach. Blood spilled from his mouth and through gritted teeth, it withdrew the sword from his stomach.

"Aqua sanere." The sword turned back into the wand, instantly activitating the healing spell Shadow just casted on himself. "Sous, its alarming you were going to kill someone over thef. Death shouldn't always be your final answer."

The men were a bit further away but as Shadow was now fully healed, he took out his Colt revolver and shot the first man in the lower back, purposely missing his spine, but allowing him to drop nonetheless.

The other man had no choice but to drop the barrel. He tried to run away. Shadow closed one eye, and still in the same position and location, fired the other shot. The bullet went through the foot of the bandit, he too, falling to the ground.

Sous remained where she was while Shadow walked back to the cabin below on the tug boat and took out some sealing paper. Writing a note on each paper, he walked back up to deck. He gave two slips to Sous.

"Here," he nodded toward the two bandits who were on land heaving up water. "Place this on their backs so they can be transported to Galin Prision."

Sous took the slips and her wand from Shadow. She walked over to the men, kicking them so they would turn over. After she slapped each slip on the man's back, their body began to disseminate into small orange particles that glowed, and dispersed into the wind.

Sous and Shadow sat at a small table down below in the cabin. Both of their plates were empty and so was the small refrigerator. Shadow thought of where they would go to get groceries for Sous. He was fine with blood but Sous clearly wasn't meant for it even if she did have a small percentage of vampire in her. He knew of a cloaking spell but wasn't sure Sous' wand would be able to handle such a spell. It was a training wand after all.

"Sous," Shadow started. "In Apex, you're used to people coming after you to kill you." He watched as she played with a few scraps of food. "I ask that you be more thoughtful on certain spells you perform. If you take someone's life in Nadia who is a Nadian, the Hunters, who are contracted spirits, will come for you. You can't escape them. You can't escape the dead. You can't fight the non physical."

Sous looked up from her plate, feeling a bit ashamed.

"Thef isn't a crime punishable by death." Shadow confirmed. "Tomorrow we'll go into town and and get a Nadia Law book. This country is ran under a parliament and expressed through the Puppeter."

She continued to nod until a yawn escaped her. She thanked Shadow for the meal and proceeded to go off to bed for the evening. Shadow sighed. They could have gotten in a tremendous amouny of trouble if she would had killed that man.