Around the trail there were no footprints. Humans were too light to engrave them on that hard, frozen soil, and the same went for small-sized Revenants. Both of them also had no way to lift the cargo without leaving any clue behind.
Massive Revenants, on the other hand, could easily lift something that cumbersome, but it looked like they hadn't wandered nearby, given the complete absence of tracks.
Their target, the enthralled Reaper, had simply disappeared into thin air. There was no way a siren, who had the body size of a human, could pull that off.
The upper half of a siren's body resembled that of a female human, with the only difference being their long arms, covered in robust grey feathers and ending with two sharp claws. They basically function as humanoid wings.
Their legs, on the other hand, resembled more that of a raptor, with a human-like thigh covered by a light, delicate plumage, and a thin, elongated bird-like lower limb, mainly made of sturdy keratin.
Without considering their hollow bones, which translated into a lighter body mass, their legs were too slender and did not possess enough muscles to lift such a bulky object in the air.
Without a shadow of doubt, it was not the work of a siren, but that would leave the mind-control aspect of the abduction without a sound explanation.
It had to be a siren.
But not necessarily a live one.
'An undead siren on the other hand…'
The process of becoming a Revenant might have mutated its body structure enough to be able to pull off such an impossible stunt.
Eline turned her head and looked at Alwyn, resting on her back, immersed in his thoughts.
She brought him back to reality.
"I know what you are thinking, and it totally makes sense. But it would also be the worst case for us. If the siren was indeed a Revenant, it would mean our chances of retrieving the cargo will get significantly lower as time passes. It's a race against time, and maybe it's already top late."
"And I suppose you are still not gonna tell me what that cargo is."
"Of course."
"So… what's our next step? Wander around aimlessly?"
"Exactly."
"You can't be serious… How are we going to cover such a vast territory?"
"That's why I need you to recover quickly. We'll have to split up. Me and my teammates have already checked the western area, but we could not get too close to the mountains. And after their disappearance I could only wander a bit into the eastern part of the forest. There was no trace of a nest, unfortunately, not even an abandoned one. Our best bet would be to climb the Greyshard Range, since it's the original habitat of the sirens, but that would be a suicide for just the two of us."
"But it's still worth giving a shot. Otherwise we die. You said it yourself..."
"I'm not that desperate to die. There's still a slim possibility that the siren is inside the Whispering Woods. We have to make sure of that first. Today's goal is to search in the southern part of the forest."
"Got it. Show the way."
With that last affirmation, Eline resumed her walk, slowly picking up the pace. The two exited the clearance and entered the woods, delving even deeper into the forest.
Still resting on her back, a doubt was gnawing at him.
"I have a question."
He suddenly said after a while, breaking the long silence. The girl did not say anything, so he went on.
"Let's suppose we find the siren's nest and the mysterious cargo is still there. Do we even have a chance of killing the Revenant guarding it?"
Eline suddenly stopped in her tracks.
"...Are you implying that I'm not strong enough to defeat it?"
Her tone had a slight hint of anger in it, it was clear that she had gotten annoyed by the statement.
So he remained silent, deciding not to worsen the situation further.
"I know I'm the weakest out of all the Reapers of this expedition, you don't need to remind me."
He felt her grip around his thighs mildly tighten, even if just for a second.
Her impotence frustrated her and it weighed on her shoulders. She was definitely hiding a dark past, and he didn't want those scars to resurface.
While deeply contemplating what to respond without altering her mood, Eline suddenly had a realization.
"...Our situation might not be that grim. Actually, if the siren was really a Revenant, that would be for the best! With the Bloody Bond of Concealment, one of us can sneak in the nest and retrieve the cargo without even having to fight!"
The female Reaper started to walk again.
Her mood had clearly improved.
***
After running in a straight line for about thirty or so kilometers, always keeping an eye—four eyes actually—for anything suspicious in their surroundings, they eventually encountered a small road.
It was perpendicular to their path, sporadically fenced with simple thin logs. Uneven stones had been used for the paving, it was a very impractical road.
Everything indicated that it would not lead them to a major city, not that there were actually any inside of that hellish forest. If they were lucky, they could find a small town at best.
They only needed to decide which way to go.
"Right."
"To the left."
They almost said simultaneously.
Alwyn was the first to talk back.
"It doesn't make sense for a town to be built close to the Greyshard Range, we have to go left."
But Eline already had a sound argument to support her choice.
"Wouldn't a siren live closer to it though?"
"You are not seeing things clearly. Revenants are attracted to human settlements, meaning we have a higher chance of finding it near the town."
"The town is most definitely abandoned, and I've never heard of a siren in this area. It means it came here just recently, when the townsfolk were already gone."
"But a town is still worth checking out, don't you think?"
The two could not agree on where to go, so the girl released the grip around his left thigh and took a golden coin out of her pocket. One side depicted a human skull, the other a city on a mountain.
"Skull or Sky?"
"Skull."
With her fingers, she flipped the coin in the air. It flew high, for a total of three seconds, and when it came down, she caught it with the same hand that had launched it with a swift motion.
She then turned her fist up and slowly opened her fingers, revealing the result of the throw for all to see.