The three boys reached Muse sometime in the late afternoon. They were glad to have made it to their destination. The three slowly walked up to the city’s entrance, but none of them dared to take a step beyond the city’s gates.
“What’s going on?” Futch asked. He and his other two companions were standing horizontally across the town’s opening, with Luc in the middle and Sasuke on the other side.
Luc didn’t answer. For once, he really had no idea what was going on. Sasuke took a gulp at the big crowd before he spoke up.
“What’s with all the people?”
Beyond the city’s open gates, more people than usual were standing in the streets. Most of them were just standing there out in the open. The streets towards the northwest side of the city were much more dense with people. A large and heavily populated crowd can be seen clustered around Muse’s entrance to its hilltop meeting place. People were outside of their homes and all the people standing on the streets were gazing towards the white building on the hilltop and talking with each other.
After observing all this, Futch turned to face his other two companions. “What should we do now?” he asked.
Luc closed his eyes and took a breath as if he was preparing to do a dreadful task. Then he said, “I guess we should go check it out.”
There was nothing he could do about the unexpected mob of people on the streets so he thought that he might as well get it over with. Luc took one last look at the crowd from the safety of the other side of the entrance.
The noise level of the city had always been too much for the silence-accustomed boy, but today, with all the people out in the streets, it has reached a nauseating level for the boy. He took a step into the city’s entrance. At the same moment, as he does this, the ninja beside him quickly swept an arm in front of Luc to prevent him from going any further.
Luc stopped immediately, as the arm in front of him suggested him to do, but he was puzzled about Sasuke’s action. Luc quizzically looked at Sasuke as he heard the other boy’s explantion.
“Oh no you don’t!” Sasuke’s face was stern, “we’re taking you to Dr. Huan.”
The sudden unexplained command didn’t break Luc’s calm composure much. The magician simply blinked. His mind worked as he stared into the other boy’s face. He took a look at his left ankle and then back at Sasuke. He saw Sasuke nod and acknowledge it as the reason.
“I’m fine. I can walk.” With the same sort of coolness as before, the magician calmly used the back of his hand to push away Sasuke’s arm, but the arm was tight and refused to budge.
“No you’re not!” the ninja replied, this time sounding angrier, “that foot, it’s making you walk about as slow as an old mule!”
Futch flinched the moment he heard the comment come out of Sasuke’s mouth. Bright gave a small wail in his arms as if he was asking his master what had happened. Futch looked down at his baby dragon.
“It’s nothing Bright,” he gave his dragon a small pat before cautiously turning to study the face of the boy beside him. Just as he thought, Luc’s expression had slowly hardened, his mask of calmness slowly slipping off.
‘I hope it’s not going to be another fight,’ Futch thought to himself. He held his baby dragon a bit closer to himself.
“If we don’t go fix it, you’ll just slow us down!” Futch listened as Sasuke continued. Sasuke had a point, but he didn’t really need to shout everything out, was what Futch thought.
“Futch!”
The spear holder quickly shook out of his thoughts.
“Where’s Dr. Huan’s house?”
“Uh..uh..the second house to the left…I think,” the boy fumbled a bit before he got it out.
“Let’s go,” Sasuke declared, but Luc refused, “we’re not going.”
Sasuke looked over to Futch and gave him a nod. The spear holder took a few seconds before he reluctantly nodded in return. Then on a count of three, each boy grabbed an arm of Luc’s and together they hauled the protesting boy into the city.