The Girl from the Valley

Chapter Eight - Adrian

I am woken up by the sound of the tavern doors slamming open again. This time the noise is followed by the tavern ladies' muffled voice, “Roan?”

Roan? Serena’s brother. It had only been a little while since I last saw them walking away from the Mayor's home. Why would Serena's brother be here? It didn't matter though, it wasn’t my problem.

What was my problem was that I had been here in Penin for almost a month now and I had only found 3 recruits. Three! My average recruit haul was 10 people minimum but finding recruits in Penin was almost impossible. The Capital required that all their soldiers must have the ability to cast and wield magic. I was able to find a few mages and shifters fitting that requirement but the majority of them didn’t want to be involved with the world outside of Penin, and the longer I stayed here, the more I understood why.

Penin, unlike everywhere you go outside its mountainous borders, was always peaceful. The people here greeted each other with smiles and helped one another unselfishly. They gave food to the poor and even gave aid to those who were ill. The people of Penin selflessly helped one another, which was different from the rest of the villages, towns, and cities of Archaesia where people fought vigorously for money and power. Staying in Penin would definitely guarantee you a decent and happy life.

It didn’t help my search for talented recruits when Penin was almost completely populated by humans. Everything they did, everything they ate, their entire lives, no one used any magic. Everyone labored hard for what they had when they could have made it easier on themselves by using magic, but they didn’t care. The 3 recruits I did manage to obtain were a male wolf shifter, a male human mage, and a young human, female seer, all of whom took a lot of convincing to leave and will be meeting me at noon tomorrow so that we can travel west to Brimsworth and hopefully arrive 5 days later.

I turned on the cotton stuffed bed, trying to get into a comfortable position, when the light from beneath the door caught my eye. A shadow of someone's legs was blocking the light from the torch by the stairs, indicating that someone was in front of my door. I had placed the torch specially at that angle so that I would be able to know if someone were going to attack me.

Using the noise from furniture moving around in the tavern below, I quickly got to my feet and tiptoed to the door.

“Where is she?!” a familiar voice shouted. Was that the brother? “I know she’s here, Kathy. Don’t play dumb with me”

What the hell had gotten into him?

“Don’t raise your voice at me child!” The tavern lady replied back, shouting as well. “You come into my tavern, throw my furniture around, accuse me of knowing about whatever you’re spewing, and you don’t think I’ll knock you straight on your ass for talking to me like that?”

She’s feisty. I wondered if she'd want to join The Capital’s army. She’s far from the recruiting age, but with that fire, she’ll fit in just fine.

“I know you’re hiding Serena here.” Roan hissed.

Serena? His sister? Weren’t they together? Why did he think she was here?

The lady of the tavern scoffed, “I haven’t seen Serena in months.”

“Lies!” More furniture moved around, “I saw her come in here!”

The sound of stomping footsteps faded as it approached the bottom of the stairs.

“You can’t go up there, Roan, that’s for guests only!” Kathy shouted from the bottom of the stairs.

Just then, the door handle began to shake as the person on the other side tried to open the door. Was it Serena? The handle giggled a few more times before I finally gave in, opening the door wide enough to see Serena standing there with her once beautiful green dress that was now ripped, a large purple bruise on the left side of her face, and a deep cut on her bottom lip with crusted blood. She looked like she had just barely run away from a fight.

Shadows of two figures walking up the stairs drew my reaction as I pulled Serena into the dark room. I quickly closed and locked the door as I held onto Serena who was trembling. Something awful had happened to her and I needed to know what it was. Why was she like this? Closing my eyes, I let the gift I was born with surge into my hand and body that connected to Serena’s skin. I reached through our contact for Serena’s memories but was shocked when I was blocked by a barrier in her mind. That was impossible. My gift allowed me to see people’s past but I couldn’t see Serena’s. My initial theory of Serena not being human is definitely correct, as a human would not be able to block the magic from a Dragonborn’s gift. There were a few species of creatures that were powerful enough to block my gift, but Serena had no magic on her. So how was she able to do this?

“She is not here, Roan.” Kathy fussed, pulling me from my thoughts, “You can check all the rooms and she still would not be here.”

“You’re lying, I know I saw her!” Roan slammed one of the doors down the hall.

Serena began trembling harder the closer Roan’s voice approached the door. Whatever did happen to her, she was clearly frightened of him.

“It’s okay, Serena. “I whispered, “I won’t let him hurt you.”

A loud knock pounded at the door causing her to jump, but before she could make any sound, I covered her mouth with my hand, keeping her quiet. Roan had reached my door and he probably wouldn’t leave until he came in. When he does come in, he’ll probably search everywhere, so hiding her isn’t an option … unless I hide her in plain sight. An idea came to my mind but I needed to get Serena into bed. Another wave of knocks pounded on the door as I slowly moved us toward the bed.

“I know you’re in there Serena!”

“Roan, leave my quests alone!”

Once we made it to the bed, I gestured to it, hoping that she would understand and lay down. She c****d an eyebrow and shook her head. Placing a hand to my chest, I needed her to know that she could trust me and that I wouldn’t hurt her. After a few seconds, she finally gave in and laid on the bed as I pulled the bed sheets over her. My idea will work but only on her physical self, not on anything that she is wearing, so coving her up is the only way this will work.

“I’m going to open the door,” I whispered. Her eyes widened as she was about to protest, but I needed her to hear me out first as I lifted my palm to stop her. “I’m going to glamour you so that you look like someone else. When I open the door, your brother and the lady of the tavern will not know that it’s you.”

She c****d her brow again and for just a split second, she looked cute, but now was not the time to think about that. I lifted my hand to my chest again, showing that she could trust me, and she nodded in return.

Closing my eyes, I drew on the memory of my days in the army camps where we were taught how to glamour ourselves or items as a way to hide our identities. I needed to envision the person I wanted Serena to look like. Every detail and every curve of the other person had to sit on Serena’s face and body like a magic mask that only a few people were able to see through. I decided to disguise Serena as Trina, one of my favorite girls from Weston who had dark caramel skin, violet eyes, and luscious plump lips that had brought me to satisfaction several times. Glamouring her as someone who is and looks like a brothel w***e would better sell the image that I’m enjoying my night with someone and that Serena was obviously not here.

Once every detail of Trina formed in my mind, I opened my eyes and cast the magic, pushing it towards Serena. Her pale skin began darkening to a rich caramel and her long black hair shortened itself to her shoulders. Serena was almost completely glamoured as the spitting resemblance of Trina but her eyes didn’t change. Instead of turning into Trina’s violet eyes, Serena’s eyes were glowing a bright green right back at me.

Only one species in the entirety of Archaesia has glowing eyes when they cast magic. When the infants of this species are born, they are born with a gift unique to themselves that stays with them their entire lives up until the day they die. This species has ruled over Northern Archaesia for centuries but has had a declining birthrate as the Fae have slaughtered thousands of them. And here one was, hiding far north in the valley of Penin amongst humans. Serena was a dragonborn.