The tavern
1733 Words
The army did not wait for the prince nor any of the other members to wake up, they got supplied by Franco the other night and left as soon as the roosters announced dawn.
“I heard he does not believe in magic,” said one Everpeakan soldier, looking at Cedric.
“Yeah I`ll show him magic,” said another one.
“Quiet you two,” warned Teodryll.
“Sorry, my king.”
“Sorry sir, but shan`t we silence those who doubt us?”
“This is not the time for punishment nor hatred, we`ve got enough as it is, besides there is still a chance to redeem him.”
“Right sir.”
“Bold of you to come on this,” Anfroy walked beside Cedric as they got out of the sea of grass and into the forest. “It would seem that the greater the danger is the better it brings people together, rivals, enemies, even those who are stubborn,” he looked at Cedric as he growled.
“Anfroy… I am not doing this for the sake of the realm, for the sake of the White City, I want to keep Villeurve safe, and I want to keep my people safe,” he finished.
“You are on the right path,” Anfroy touched him on the shoulder it was a friendly touch but Cedric even then pushed his hand away and walked away from him.
֎֎֎
Night fell and the companions were ready to set up a camp on a clearing in the forest, Liza walked further up ahead the muddy road that was covered with leaves, and as she was walking furthermore the chants and the songs sounded louder. A group of men singing in a tavern. “Bernard…” she whispered. “Guys we don`t have to sleep here,” she told them. “There`s a tavern up-ahead, I know the innkeeper he is friendly.”
They walked up ahead and stood in front of the inn.
“The quiet harpy,” read Franco. “Nothing quiet about it,” he walked inside and opened the door, he saw the chaos that it was, drunken people hugged shoulder to shoulder singing and holding their pints, somewhere dancing on the wooden round tables and spilled ale all over the wooden floor, the maid was bringing them, even more, pints wherever she could get amidst the chaos.
“Right, we should leave,” Franco turned toward the door.
“What? Not fancy enough for you?” Francis pushed him away and smiled, this was his territory.
“It`s better sleeping here than in the forest, trust me,” Liza persuaded him. All of them sat on a table that was in a corner away from the crowd, they wanted to be at peace.
“They have no idea,” Hugo looked at them with pity.
“It may be for the best that we keep it to our selves,” warned Liza. “People around aren`t keen on hearing about magic.”
“Why?” asked Aelizia.
“They don`t believe, they are ignorant and only believe into what they build or create,” the maid walked to their table as they ordered some food and drinks before they go to sleep. Liza spotted the innkeeper and walked up to the bar.
“Bernard you old fool,” she greeted him as he turned with a surprised face.
“Liza? But what are you doing here?” his voice was high pitched and had short curly dark hair.
“I am going home.”
“Home? Have they stopped the search?”
“Not that I heard off.”
“Liza,” he moved closer to her. “It`s going to be worse, people say you`ve gone the wrong path being a rogue and a mercenary and all, they are going to charge you for your crimes.”
“And who told you these rumors?”
“People tell things when they are not themselves,” he looked at the drunkards who come to the tavern every day.
“Right, well it`s not true,” she lied. “But we need rooms me and my companions we are on a quest.”
“Liza, what have you gotten yourself into?”
“I can`t tell you that, not now, you know how it is.”
“Right, I`ll see what I can do,” the innkeeper gave them two rooms each with three beds, the guys slept in one room as the girls slept in the room next to them. Francis was fast asleep as he drank a little too much and kept snoring preventing Hugo and Franco from sleeping.
“Do you feel the burden?” asked Franco as he was laying in the middle bed, his face illuminated by the moonlight.
“What?” Hugo`s voice came from the far end of the room.
“The burden,” repeated Franco. “You`ve got a child on the way and a kingdom to rule, subjects who depend on you.”
Hugo became silent for a while whilst starring at the ceiling. “I`ve made a promise to Cristina, that we are to return together and raise the child.”
“That`s nice,” commented Franco.
“Perhaps, you should try it.”
“Sure,” Franco turned on the other side. “We all make promises, don`t we? Even if we don`t mean them… Even if it means that we won't ever return from our journey.”
“What do you mean?” asked Hugo.
“This is a perilous journey, high risk, and low chance of survival, but we got the promises that we can't keep, and that makes it better, that makes it easier.”
“It does not, but you do everything to keep that promise. Even if you fail you will know that you have done your best and that is what matters,” finished Hugo.
“Sure…” Franco closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep.
At the girl's room the atmosphere was different they were gathered on one bed in a circle chatting amongst each other.
“People around here, they know you, you are not a mercenary, what are you Liza?” asked Cristina as Aelizia was also curious and both of them stared at her.
“There is nothing to it, my story is all there is,” she ignored.
“Liza…” Cristina called out to her as they stared at each other. “We have to trust each other when I tell stories to my kid I am going to have to tell him that a thief saved my life.”
“Nothing wrong with that,” said Liza.
“Can we help?” asked Aelizia.
“Look, It`s great of you but I do not need it,” she stood up and walked to the window as the others followed. “If I were to tell, you are going to think I am crazy, just like everybody does.”
“Well you have Francis who was skeptic about anything, now he is going to start practicing magic,” said Cristina. “So whatever you throw at us we are ready.”
“Yeah,” Aelizia and Cristina looked at each other, Liza went quiet for a while and just looked at them but then she turned toward the window.
“We were young, crazy, and smart,” she starred at the flickering stars above. “Me and my little sister, our civilization as you know are focused on machinery and creation, they don`t care about magic or The Watchers,” she turned back. “Me and my sister built this telescope to uncover the celestial mysteries, one day we found something…”
“What?” Cristina was impatient.
“Amongst the stars, there are countless of these giant round objects, each of them has a unique nature, some of them are barren, some are covered in ice but all of them had one thing in common, not a living soul on them.”
“Could it be that The Watchers created other realms?” asked Aelizia.
“I don`t know, however, there was this one realm, we saw life…”
“What?” Cristina could not believe it.
“There were two groups of men fighting amongst each other, on a very distant realm.”
“Where those The Watchers?” asked Aelizia.
“No, it could not have been, compared to what the witch described to me, their eyes were not glowing and these were simple mortal men. Once I told this to my sister she said that those patents for the telescope didn`t just come out of thin air, rather a Watcher visited her in the dreams and drew the patents,” Cristina sat down on the nearest bed as Liza and Aelizia grabbed the nearest chairs they could find. “I told my sister what I saw and she was never the same again.”
“What happened to her?”
“She kept repeating: We must warn them, we must warn everybody…”
“Warn everybody about what?”
“The voyagers she said, they are coming she said.”
“Who are they?”
“I don`t know… But she kept going on: The Voyagers they are coming, we must warn them…”
“And what did you do?”
“We took an action, of course, the governor laughed, he even brought himself to look through the telescope but there was nothing, the realm was empty.”
“Maybe they just stopped fighting.”
“No, it was a war, there were dead bodies, and when I looked there was nothing as if something or somebody prevented it from happening.”
“What happened then?”
“Everybody laughed at us, once our reputable family became a laughing stock, but my sister stayed the same, she kept talking about The Voyagers, she was thrown in an asylum there was nothing I could do, but I wasn`t going to stand idly, I continued the work until the governor had enough and gave me an ultimatum, either it`s the asylum or banishment. But to this day… I know what I saw.”
“Oh… you poor thing,” Cristina stood up and hugged her as she teared up but Aelizia also hugged both of them.
“So… There is more to this mystery, The Watchers, The Voyagers are they all connected? Are they enemies amongst each other?” Aelizia was curious.
“I don`t know, and perhaps we should not put much thought, we should focus on the task at hand,” said Liza. “Well then, let`s get some rest,” she walked to her bed and lay down.
“Right,” said Aelizia slowly but she wasn`t going to let this one slip past easily, as soon as she returns home she is going to create a research group, she had to know the secrets of it.
- Writer
