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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 7 The sun was bright through the leaves, the day well into the evening, and laughter was in the air. The wind blew through the village as if it had always been this way, even though she had never felt the breeze in the marketplace.
Her father was there, speaking to a couple in front of the Old Village Oak, the very center and lifeforce of their village. He was laughing like she had never seen him do before, and he had a smile from ear to ear. It made her insides burn with the love that only a daughter could give.
The air was sparkling with magic, pixies and faeries flittering around gayfully, having a wonderous time with the small Elven children, barely 10 years old. She remembered being so young and fragile, when everything in the world was new and fascinating. That was a time of bliss, and ignorance.
She hadn't known of the world back then as she does today, almost 24 years later. She didn't know about the darkness, and greed, and lust that distort the minds of beings all over the world. She didn't know of the Dark Lord and his followers, wreaking havoc on Emex and turning many helpless people into slaves and laborers. Nor of the deteriorating supply of magic and life that was once abundant on Emex, which would soon destroy the planet once the strain of loss becomes too much.
Turning toward her home, she walks through the arched doorway, pushing aside the leather flap that sheltered the open archway. She stopped in disbelief to see Toby and Hitan standing in front of her. She was about to give them her best smile, but her heart was filled with horror and fear as their faces began to warp into the disgusting, disfigured faces of a beast.
In her mind, she didn't know what the Dark Lord looked like, having never seen him. But her heart had shown her without discretion what the Dark Lord meant to her.
She wanted to scream, but no sound would escape her lips. She opened her mouth wide to try to scream once more, turned to scramble for the door, to call to her father who would have surely protected her from such monsters. But her body was paralyzed, the beasts closing in on her, their contorted bodies changing into a black smoke that surrounded her, taking away her breath, her life, her happiness. She was trapped... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Samara fluttered her eyes open. She lay there on the hard forest floor, leaves falling off trees around her from the gentle breeze that blew by. It was bright, but she didn't mind. The light of the sun was better than the black smoke that had almost engulfed her in her dream.
She had wished many times before that she didn't have the blood of a mage inside of her. It was this blood that caused her to dream. Normal elves did not dream, nor did they have any such magical attribute other than living incredibly long lives.
Samara sat up slowly, forcing her mind to escape from dwelling on the horrible nightmare she had awoken from. She wished not to think about such things, even if her father had explained that many of her dreams would be premonitions. 'If you pay attention to your dreams, you will have the ability to change the future,' he had once told her.
At the time, she thought it was something special, a gift that only she had, that she could use to her advantage. But she had soon realized that it was more of a curse than any gift she ever wanted. Seeing the deaths of her friends in the near future, the outbreak of wars, the conquering of nations. It had become too much for one elf to handle alone. So the Counsel had given her an enchanted bottle where she would be able to store the dreams that she wished not to remember.
Now she wished she had brought it along...
Samara looked around their makeshift campsite. The fire was only a pile of light ashes that blew away in the wind. Toby was asleep a few feet away from her. She didn't notice the drool dripping down his chin. She glanced around for Hitan, who had finally given them his name last night, and found him sitting on his stone seat around the firepit. He looked distraught.
Pushing her hair behind her ears, she wiped her eyes free of sleep, and got up to walk to the stone beside him. She looked at him with worry, something that was unfamiliar to her except for the little ones back at the village. How she missed them so. It hurt her heart to realize she wouldn't be able to see their smiling faces again for a long while.
Hearing Samara's footsteps, she saw Hitan look up and practially jump to his feet, stepping back, away from her. She gave him a puzzled look at first, but decided she had merely surprised him.
"I'm sorry if I startled you." she apologized, bowing her head slightly. "Are you alright, Hitan?"
He gave her a quizical stare, but nodded sharply. He seemed as though he was avoiding her gaze. She wondered why he was acting so skittish, since she had never seen him like this before. It was a bit nerve-wracking.
Samara nodded slowly in return. "Um, okay then. I guess we should be waking Toby and heading off. We should be getting into town today and we should probably--"she was cut off when Hitan was beside her, holding his hand over her mouth. She was caught off guard by his silence, but stopped her rambling. She wondered what he was doing, when she heard something moving in the nettles beside their camp. Her eyes averted toward the sound, and could see the bushes swaying with movement, as if something crawled through the leaves.
What could crawl through nettles and not get stung or cut by the leaves? she thought to herself, as Hitan carefully removed his hand from her mouth and down to where his sword lay comfortably on the ground. Is it something hostile?! she thought frantically. Even though she was a mage, and had some very effective threatening techniques, she still didn't know how to use her power to fight in a real battle. She barely knew how to burn a fire without literally blowing something up...which was why she didn't dare use her magic last night building their campfire.
She stood silent and still, hoping that whatever was crawling so close would merely pass by them, and leave them be on their way. She figured she should probably wake up Toby, but she didn't dare move, since she didn't want the creature to notice her presence.
Hitan had his sword in hand, unsheathed, blade gleaming in the sunlight. His eyes were focused, intense, and almost made Samara want to hide behind him so that he wouldn't confuse her with the prey. She would hate to be in the path of those eyes, which, if they were a blade themselves, would be able to slice through a slab of marble.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 8 Toby was dreaming. Something he hadn't been able to do in a long while. Though what his dream was about, he couldn't remember, since he was so abruptly awakened by the screaming of a loud voice and thundering footsteps.
He sat up quickly, his eyes focusing just in time to realized he should probably move out of the way. Hitan was being attacked by something that it seemed neither himself, nor Samara could see. It looked rather riduculous having an immensly muscled man swinging his sword all over the place hitting what seemed to be nothing but air. Toby had to stifle a laugh, though it wasn't all too hard considering he had to leap out of the way of Hitan and whatever he was being attacked by, rushing over to Samara.
He stood between Samara and Hitan, still swinging his sword dangerously close to the two of them. Toby turned quickly and pushed Samara back into the cover of the trees leaving Hitan to fend for himself. But he was given resistance when they passed the edge of the clearing.
"Toby! We have to help Hitan!" Samara said frantically. She was looking over her shoulder as she was being nudged still farther away from their campsite.
Toby just gave a sarcastic sort of laugh, sounding rather insulting, and kept right on pushing. "There's no way we can get between a crazy person and his imaginary nightmares." he told her confidentally.
Samara spun out of his grip, causing Toby to lose his balance and fall onto his face in the dirt. He heard her footsteps running back to the clearing. What does she think she's doing? You can't cure a mental case! he thought to himself, frustrated that she was going back to him. He was dangerous, but she still wanted to help him. Maybe she was crazy herself.
But still, Toby couldn't leave her there alone. So he pushed himself up off the floor, spitting a large wad of saliva and dirt out of his mouth before jumping up, brushing himself off, and sprinting back toward the campsite. There he found Samara dangerously close to where Hitan was now fighting some creature that resembled a large lizard in human form. It had...well, Toby couldn't really tell what color skin it had, since it kept changing depending on what was behind it.
The only reason they could see it now, was because Hitan was forcing it to move too fast and it's camouflage mechanism couldn't keep up, and was now just flashing different colors uselessly. It's face had an expression of worry and fatigue, having been fighting for a while now, against Hitan, who even Toby wouldn't want to battle against.
Despite the fact that Samara was in very close range of the two battling beasts, Toby wasn't going to dare go near them. One false swipe of Hitans sword, or of the chameleon-beast's large spear, and both of them would be dead. So instead, he just yelled at the Elf Maiden, hoping she had some sense and get away from them.
"Maiden! Samara! Please retreat from the battle area, unless you wished to have your head sliced off!" he shouted, though whether she was ignoring him, or just didn't hear him, she kept herself facing the two monsters brutely attacking each other. From where Toby crouched, behind a little holly bush, he could just barely see the look on Samara's face as she observed. She looked as if she was about to jump right in the middle, which caused much confusion and worry for Toby.
She really has gone crazy! If she tries to interfere she'll surely be hacked to pieces! Toby thought.
But what he saw next would stay with him for the rest of his life. He watched her eyes, that seemed to glow an eerie red-orange. They looked as if there was a fire burning brightly inside them, and as he watched, he could see her slender fingers begin to smoke. Was this the power of a mage at work?
He observed as she brought her hands up in front of her, palms facing the sky above them, completely unaware of the battle inching ever nearer to where she stood. He could see Hitan try to push the beast back away from the elf, but a hard blow to the stomach with the blunt end of the spear made him jump ever closer. Toby merely had to watch Hitan's face as he glanced back at Samara and realized what was about to happen.
Toby winced as Samara pushed her hands forward and a bright flash erupted from her fingers. A smoking flame burst from her palms and sparks emerged from her fingertips surrounding the fireball, blasting toward where Hitan and the Chameleon continuously attacked each other.
Right at the last minute, Hitan parried out of the path of the electrical fireball, which cleared the way to the Chameleon, hitting it squarly in its chest. The beast burst into flames, and collapsed to the ground as it got electricuted, it's eyes exploding in its head and large amounts of foam overflowing in its mouth. Just a few seconds later, the Chameleon lie dead on the forest floor.
Toby stayed where he was, filled with mixed emotions of fear, shock, and amazement. He just stared dumbstruck at the power unleashed by such a small girl. His attention was caught by movement near where Samara had now fallen onto her hands and knees to the ground. Hitan was standing over the Chameleon, jabbing it with his sword, making sure it was truly dead, instead of helping Samara.
Selfish b*****d... Toby thought frustrated.
He jogged over to Samara, and kneeled beside her, putting a hand on her shoulder. He heard her breath was heavy, and she looked very tired. "Samara? That was amazing!" he told her with a smile, "You really saved the day!" He saw a slight grin appear on her face, which made his insides flutter. Though why, he didn't know. Just the fact that she was smiling was enough to make him happy. Perhaps this feeling was a part of the magic that runs through the elf's blood. That must be the cause of his erratic emotions around her.
Samara sat back onto her knees, placing her hands on her thighs palms up. Toby had to move his head out of the way of the rising mix of steam and smoke that floated from her hands. She heaved a sigh, and looked up at him, her eyes still glowing with a faint red light that remained from the fire that had burned in them a moment earlier. When he stared at them, he could actually see the light fading slowly, though he wished that they stayed that way forever.
"No, I just helped it move along a little faster." she told him modestly. She glanced over at Hitan, now crouched beside the Chameleon's head, rolling it back and forth examining what exactly happened to it, watching it's charred skin flake off onto the ground. "I'm sure Hitan could have handled it himself."
Toby watched Samara close her eyes, and managed a quick glance to Hitan himself, who was gazing intently at the Elf Maiden as if she was something of great value, a prize that could be had. This angered Toby, though he knew Hitan wasn't paying any attention to him and his leer of death that he sent in Hitan's direction.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 9 Hitan knelt down next to the now charred Chameleon-beast that Samara so helpfully took care of. He was a bit upset that he didn't make the final blow, and that it was a woman, no-less, that took it away from him. He jabbed the beast with his sword, it's scales and flesh falling like ash to the ground. The smell was horrific, but Hitan barely acknowledged it.
Though he had to admit, he was a bit sceptic about the whole battle. He was afraid that Samara could have gotten hurt, which wasn't like him at all. His emotions were confusing him, and he had a headache from trying to figure out what was so different about this elf woman. He made it a chore to keep his mind away from such thoughts, at least until Samara was no longer around to stir them back up again.
Hitan lifted his gaze from the bubbling, steaming beast under his nose to Samara, who was now sitting with her hands smoking, eyes closed, and Toby annoyingly close to her. What was up with this guy anyway? He's just so...clingy. Hitan thought to himself. He, however, was not as interested in Toby as he was with Samara's power.
This entire situation got Hitan thinking, that maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to bring along the elf woman on his travels to find this 'ancient relic' that the Dark Lord wants to possess. Since it wouldn't be an awful idea to have a little extra power when trying to destroy the Dark Lord, perhaps he could bargain with her. In exchange for her power, he would offer something in return. Though it also depended on what she wanted from him. A lot of things, he just won't give.
He felt, rather than saw, the glare that Toby shot in his direction, though Hitan ignored it to the best of his ability. He felt a pang of regret for an instant, as his thouhts plumaged through the idea of using the elf woman as a weapon, but brushed it off just as quickly. He shouldn't, couldn't, get attached to people, or anything else. It's not good for his line of work.
Sighing and looking up into the sky, Hitan noticed that it was later than he thought. Now almost midday, Hitan stood and looked over to the two 'lovebirds.'
"Boy! Elf! We should be heading to town. How long until you get us there?" he asked, his deep voice easily penetrating the sounds of the forest and wildlife that lived there, his dark brown eyes now gazing directly into Samara's own radiant blue. He noticed her shutter slightly, barely enough for even himself to notice, so he knew that Toby hadn't. Hitan chuckled in his head.
The elf cleared her throat. "Uh...well, if we leave now, we should be there by mid-afternoon, or perhaps later depending on how many stops and interruptions there may be on the way." she said, with, surprisingly, no hint of hesitation or intimidation evident in her voice.
Hitan merely nodded, taking a step toward the two, sheathing his sword, and waiting for Samara and the boy to get their bearings together. He didn't bother gathering up his sleeping blanket. It was expendable. Though he watched with boredom Toby and Samara gather up their belongings and store them away in their bags. He was, however, intrigued with Samara's small pouch, that seemed to hold an immense amount of things for being so compact. She later explained that the pouch was enchanted by Elder magic, but Hitan didn't understand the most of her explanation.
They remarkably got throuh to the edge of the woods around mid-afternoon, just as Samara had told them. They had to stop but once all day, since the drink Samara had given him last night went right through Toby, or so he said.
The town was a little over half a mile from the forest's edges, surrounded by a river that blocks off any entrance except for the main gate. They had to cross the only bridge over the river in order to reach it, but it proved to be more challenging than expected.
It took everything he had to keep his sword in its sheath, and stop himself from taking out his frustration and hunger(which he wouldn't admit to) on the guards that wouldn't let them pass. If not for Samara, he probably would have killed Toby as well. That boy just annoyed him to no end.
"Please sir, we wish only to stay the night. If there is an Inn or pub inside, we would surely stay there. We don't wish to cause trouble." said Samara, who had been trying to get the guard to let them through for almost an hour. The man in the armor towering over the girl merely eyed her suspiciously. That eye would look perfect with a little black and blue. Hitan thought, but restrained himself from blowing all their chances of getting inside.
"You're an elf, and elves are not allowed into the city without written permission." said the guard, who glanced over to Hitan, who was just about the same height, and fidgeted nervously in his black, bulky armor. Hitan noticed the man was trying very hard not to look over in his direction. Heh, probably because he's a little weakling underneath all that shiny metal. Hitan thought bitterly, giving the man a glare as he glanced at Hitan just once more. The man kept his hand on the hilt of his sword, which in turn just made Hitan more annoyed and ready to bolt right into a battle. He resisted only because Samara had given him a quick look that told him to behave nicely, or else.
"I do have a parchment from my father, but I was told it was for the village Elder. So perhaps you could escort us to him so I could give him the message!" Samara bargained. The look on the guards face made Hitans insides boil. And to refrain from doing anything that all three of them would soon regret, Hitan turned on his heel and walked away. He heard the elf begin to mumble something, and stuttered between finding what to say to get Hitan back and get the guard to let them through at the same time. Toby just stood back and watched, his arms across his chest, looking as if nothing bothered him and it was the best day of his life.
That just topped it, and if the people stumbling across the bridge into the town saw the steam rising from his head, they failed to mention it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 10 Samara pleaded with the guard to let them pass, possibly with the guard escorting them to where they needed to go. But he denied their request, as he had for the past hour and a half. Samara let out a tired, frustrated grunt, lightly stomping her foot on the ground.
She glanced over at Toby, just standing there with an odd grin on his face, arms crossed over his chest. She mumbled under her breath because neither of her two companions were helping her out at all, then turned to Hitan. Except Hitan was already off the bridge in the opposite direction.
"Hey! Hitan! W-wait a minute!" she shouted after him, turning back to the guard with a glare, "Ooh, you...you...ugh!" Samara jabbed the guard in the chest hard, only hurting her own finger on the mans black armor instead of really intimidating the man. She kept it to herself, attempting to keep her eyes from watering from the pain, and hoping the man didn't notice she had hurt herself.
She turned quickly and ran toward Hitan, who could have won a marathon race with the way he was walking. She didn't even look back to see if Toby was following, though the crunching of grass and footsteps told Samara he was right behind her.
"Hitan! Come back! Wha-" she asked, as she grabbed his arm to stop him from getting away from them. "What's your problem? What are you doing? We need to get inside, and you losing your temper isn't helping the matters." she told him. She tried to sound important, figuring that Hitan might actually listen to her that way. Though, in the short time that the trio have been together, something told Samara he wasn't going to listen anyway...or even speak to her for that matter.
Well, she was wrong.
"I don't have a problem. It's the guard that has the problem!" he began shouting at her. Samara was shocked. She had never heard him like this, and it was rather frightening. She merely stared up at him as he continued to scream at her, a knot in her throat that prevented her from talking back. "I wanted to get into the town to lose you two! And I can't even do that because of that idiot!"
She saw him look over at Toby, but she couldn't remove her gaze from Hitans face. The only thing that distracted Samara was the fact that Toby had now jumped up and punched Hitan right in the face. She gasped and was pushed back onto the grass by Hitan as he reached across to Toby's neck, grasping it easily with one hand. Samara saw that Hitan's nose was bleeding from the punch, and she wanted to jumped on his arm to let go of Toby, but it didn't seem like Toby was hurt.
"Don't ever do that again, you little welp." Hitan mumbled in Toby's face. Toby had a defiant look on his face, refraining from showing any signs of fear or regret for what he did. He just stayed silent, falling onto his butt unexpectedly as Hitan let him go, realizing that Hitan had him almost a foot off the ground.
Samara stayed on sitting on the ground for a few more moments before making her way over to Toby, a few feet away from her. "Are you alright?" she asked while he rubbed his neck, keeping a nasty looking glare fixed on Hitan. He nodded, but didn't say anything. She looked up at Hitan, who wiped his bloody nose with his arm.
Standing up, she saw Hitan glancing over at the bridge, and turned around to see what he was looking at. The guard was standing facing them, his sword in hand, watching them. Great...just what we need. Samara thought to herself, as she let out a frustrated grunt.
She opened her mouth to say something about it, but stopped herself as she saw Hitan walk briskly past her, toward the guard. She inhaled deeply as she grabbed Toby by the wrist, pulling him up onto his feet, and began heading quickly in the direction that Hitan was going.
"Not good, not good, not good..." she said frantically, trying hard to catch up to him before Hitan did what she thought he was going to do.
But Toby pulled his wrist out of her hand, and looked at her with the same look he's been giving Hitan for a while now. "Let him go. It's his fault we can't get into the village anyway." He told her. "Let him do what he wants. It makes no difference to us."
Samara couldn't believe this. He sounded so cold, nothing like the Toby she remembered the first night they met. He was so open and cheerful that night. And Hitan...sure he was quiet, but now he was just frightening. She had no idea he felt that way about them, and something inside of her made her want to do what Toby had suggested. Leave him there and let him do what he wants. But she couldn't...despite what they might think, she thought of them as friends now.
So ignoring Toby, she turned and ran toward Hitan, grabbing his arm just as he swung his other arm to punch the guard in the nose. The strength he used caused him to have to use his entire body, thus causing the arm Samara had grabbed onto to lift her up off the ground as easily as if she was a doll, though it was only for a second. She hung on as she watched the guard fall backwards, his entire face bleeding profusely, making a loud clash of metal on stone as he landed hard with his armor. The mans sword landing in front of Samara's feet, and before she could think of anything, Hitan had grabbed her arm and began dragging her across the bridge and into the village.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 11 Toby stood back, watching the scene between Hitan and Samara. Hitan was probably the one person on this earth that Toby would have more pleasure in killing right now than even the Dark Lord. The way he spoke, or rather screamed, at Samara just made Toby lash out. His anger had been building for a while now, but seeing Hitan reprimand the Maiden for nothing caused him to lose his self-control.
Toby turned to head back toward the forest, ignoring the fact that Hitan had now punched out the guard blocking their only way in, and dragged Samara into the town. His frustration and anger kept him from rushing in to 'rescue' Samara from "Hitan the Brute." But his...admiration for Samara overcame it quickly.
Heaving a sigh, Toby turned around to face the bridge, now bustling with activity as guards and other personnel began gathering to form a search party for the intruders. He scratched the back of his head, debating whether or not he should head to town to save the two. He would much rather leave the authorities to Hitan, though he couldn't quite see Samara in a jail cell.
Finally, after a few more excruciating minutes of mental torment, Toby decided he wasn't going to make Samara spend so much time alone with Muscle Man...mostly for her own sanity.
He rushed over to the bridge, wishing ever more he still had his sword, and began pushing people out of his way, trying to get through. He knew the extra guards weren't going to let just anybody in, now that they let two unauthorized visitors through the gate, so Toby had to think of something. Though that didn't seem to pose much of a problem.
Toby moved to the very edge of the crowd, to the section where the guards were thinned out. He crouched behind a barrel, slinking past one of the guards yelling profanities at a bunch of traders trying to get in to sell their useless trinkets. He stayed quiet, and slipping past the guards seemed surprisingly easy. If he hadn't already known the intelligence level of the Guards here, he would have suspected something.
As he walked through the gate, he was greeted by shouting, and the loud hum of people in conversation. He had entered the Market, which was filled with people from places Toby had probably never even heard of. When he tuned in once in a while, he could hear many languages unlike his own. He saw children running through the crowd, small enough to sprint and weave easily past the legs of the merchants.
But getting back to what he had come for, he began scanning the crowd for Hitan, since Samara was probably too short to be noticed. It wasn't too difficult to target Hitan in this crowd, since he was the only one with a giant sword on his back and shoulders that were so broad he probably couldn't walk through a doorway without turning sideways. A closer inspection showed that Samara was right behind him, shouting over the crowd so that Hitan could hear her. About what, Toby couldn't tell, but she looked very angry.
Toby began working his way through the crowd. More than once he'd been pulled aside by merchants trying to sell their goods, but Toby neither had any use for them nor had the time to shop.
Finally, the crowd began to dissipate as he entered the center of the town. He was impressed by the way the town was built. Most of the buildings were made out of a white stone that almost glowed in the sunlight. He thought at first it was marble, but he realized that this wasn't any stone he had seen anywhere before. The streets were also made of stone, though they weren't the same white stone as the buildings, but rather a deep red rock. The first thought that came to mind for Toby was blood. He wondered why they would make their streets the color of blood.
The other strange thing Toby found about this town was the large wall that surrounded it. Of course he'd seen it from the outside, but when he looked at the town and how immense in size it was, he wondered how long it must've taken them to build it.
Scanning the open square, he finally spotted Samara and Hitan. They were standing conspicuously in a dark alley between two of the larger buildings in the square. Hitan was leaning agains the wall, his arms across his chest, his normal expressionless face staring down at Samara, who seemed rather excited and was speaking rapidly.
Toby took one more glance around him, searching for any guards that may be nearby. Finding the place authority-free, he ran over to the other two. When he stopped behind Samara, Hitan looked up at him. Samara immediatly stopped talking and spun around to face him.
"Toby! What are you doing here?" she asked with an apprehensive tone in her voice. "I thought you had made it clear you didn't want to help us." She squinted her eyes at him, which made Toby chuckle a little nervously.
"Uh, well...I said I wouldn't help him. I never said anything about leaving you to fend for yourself." he explained, putting one hand on his hip. "And besides...I wouldn't want to drop Hitan on my worst enemy." Toby shot a nasty glare in Hitan's direction.
Hitan grimaced, pushing off the wall with his foot, and reached over to grab the front of Toby's shirt. "I could be your worse nightmare, you fat mouthed weakling."
Toby breathed out through his nose, as he stared directly into Hitan's eyes, their faces inches apart. "Try it."
But before Hitan could do anything, Samara slipped underneath his arm, and pryed Toby from his grip. "Come on you guys, we can't keep bickering like this, or else we won't get anywhere. We came here for a reason. Whether they be different from each others, it doesn't matter, we still have to get it done. Now let's do what we came here to do, and try not to lose any limbs in the process, huh?" she told both of them. She spoke gently, as if scolding two children, though it seemed to work just as well with two grown men.
Hitan grunted, standing up tall, as if trying to intimidate them. Toby pulled on the bottom of his tunic, straightening out the loose part of his shirt that Hitan had grabbed. He was surprised Hitan hadn't wripped the cloth.
Toby saw Samara pat Hitan on the forearm, trying to get him to calm down some before something else happens. The contact between them made Toby's insides flare, though the emotion he couldn't quite identify. He could feel his face get hot, and hoped that neither of them noticed his face turning red.
Hitan was staring at him, and Toby noticed his left eye twitch. This guy has serious issues. Talk about the need for some self-control. He needs to learn how to keep his temper under control...damn barbarian. Toby thought to himself.
They both turned to look at Samara, who had cleared her throat rather loudly to get their attention. "Sorry to interrupt your little silent skirmish, but I think we may want to get out of here." she said barely above a whisper, pointing a long, elegant finger across the town square to where the street lead to the Market. Toby saw two guards, clad in the same black armor as the idiot who wouldn't let them pass earlier. One had his sword drawn, and was searching the square for the three of them. The other had his helmet on, noticeably shorter than his partner, and kept his sword in his sheath, though it hung securely at his hip. God, I hope I can get my sword back soon... Toby thought longingly.
There was a silent agreement between the three of them, that they won't argue until they were completely safe from any guardsmen around this city, and they all slipped out of the square and into a side street that lead straight to the Main Square. They would need a safe place to stay while they were here, and what better place than with other tourists. Upon arriving in the Main Square, they immediatly chose a random inn and stepped inside.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Chapter 12 They all stepped inside the inn, closing the large oak door behind them. The moist air and the smell of alcohol was overwhelming. Hitan realized that the inn they had chosen doubled as a bar, and there were many people sitting at the scattered tables around the room. There was a space in the far corner reserved for musicians. A man playing a violin sat there, along with a dancing woman who accompanied him with a flute.
Hitan came in last, Samara in the middle of Toby and himself, and had to make sure he didn't hit his head on the low doorframe.
He looked around, recieving a variety of different expressions from the people in the room. A few looked at the new group with suspicion in their eyes, while others gave them each a polite smile to greet them. Most of the drunks in the place didn't even acknowledge their entrance.
Samara walked up to the bartender, and leaned over the bar so she could speak easily over the live music playing. Hitan stayed back and observed at first. He didn't want to do anything that could offend any of the people here. They couldn't afford the attention.
He noticed Toby watching the woman in the corner, and could barely see Toby's head bobbing up and down with the beat of the music. Hitan found it rather difficult not to do the same. The tunes they were playing were almost entrancing, though he also noticed that Samara didn't show the slightest signs of being affected by it.
She came back a few minutes later with a key in her hand. She pushed her hair over her ears, to keep the fact she was an elf as unnoticable as possible, and dangled the key in front of Toby. "Here you go, guys. The room's upstairs, I think I'm going to stay down here for a little while. Why don't you go up and get settled." she told them, and she walked away toward the two musicians.
Toby looked back at Hitan, a confused look on his face, and shrugged. Hitan was just as confused, and wondered what was on the elf's mind. He sighed, and decided to just ask her about it later.
He followed Toby up the stairs to emerge into a long corridor carpeted with the same color red as the streets outside. The walls also resembled the town in being almost the same white, except these walls didn't glow like the buidings did. The doors were each a different color, and there were three doors on each side. The number on the key Toby was given was 3, which opened the last door on the left side. It was a dark green color, with a golden number three hanging on it.
Toby unlocked the door and walked into their room. There were only two beds, and one window, but it had a seperate door that led to their own bathroom, so they didn't have to share the public one down the hall.
Hitan stayed in the doorway, examining the room. He saw Toby jump onto one of the beds, put his hands behind his head, sighing, and closed his eyes.
"So who's sharing with Samara?" he asked with a grin on his face, opening one eye to look at Hitan. Hitan could feel his face flush. "Hmph, nobody. I'll sleep on the floor." he said uncharacteristically humble. He decided to check out the bathroom, hoping that Toby didn't notice his behavior.
It was almost an hour before Hitan decided to head downstairs. Toby was asleep on his bed, but Hitan spent most of his time contemplating what they were going to do from now on. His plan to get rid of these two had disappeared, and Toby didn't have any intention of leaving, so they were stuck together.
Hitan shut the green door behind him and wandered down the steps. He was amazed that they couldn't hear any of the music from upstairs, considering it was pretty loud. He spotted Samara easily, since she was the palest one in the room, and her champaign colored hair stuck out amongst the black and brown around her. She was sitting at a table with the woman from before. Now that he looked at her, he noticed she was also an elf, along with the man who accompanied her. The man was now playing with two other men who must have come while Hitan was upstairs. There was no lack of entertainment in this bar.
Hitan walked over to Samara, and stood behind her chair. The woman she was with looked up at him and gave him a very pleasant smile, but she didn't speak. Samara turned around in her chair to look at who was behind her, and smiled as well. "Hitan! Have a seat." she said cheerfully, and he did as he was told. He pulled over a chair and sat down with them. The woman was still smiling at him, though he noticed something about her that didn't seem quite right.
"Hitan, this is my sister. Her name is Madora." Samara said happily, gesturing with her hand toward her sister. "She's 40 years my elder, and taught me everything I know about music." Hitan took the hand Madora extended out to him, and shook it gently.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Hitan." Her voice was smooth, elegant. Samara and her sister sounded almost exactly alike, though Madora seemed more refined than her younger sister. She wore a gown made of fine silk and lace, her hair was covered in a pale green mesh, and her feet were bare. She only wore two colors, green and brown, and it made her look natural, yet very out of place.
"I asked her where I could find the elder of this town. She said that I had to ask the Mayor." Samara explained. Hitan nodded as she told him what they needed to do from here, but he couldn't help but get distracted by her sister, who hadn't taken her eyes from him. He also noticed that, unlike Samara's radiant blue eyes, her sister had very light grey, that gave her a very eerie look. They seemed distant, and unfocused, and that's when Hitan realized she was blind.
"...so the Mayor will know the whereabouts of th elder. We just have to figure out a way to get to him without the authorities finding us first." she concluded her explanation. Hitan nodded again, finally able to tear his gaze away from Madora, and back to Samara. "When will we leave?" he asked in his usual, expressionless tone.
"We should be out of town by the day after tomorrow. We'll go find the Mayor after we get some rest." She turned toward her sister. "I guess I'll be leaving you again, Madora. It was great to see you again." she said as she pushed her chair back to stand up. Madora did the same, and walked around the table to give her sister a loving hug. "We'll be seeing each other in the future, I'm sure."
They left the elegant Madora downstairs, as Hitan followed Samara up the steps and to their room. They had to knock for Toby to open the door, since it automatically locks from the inside. It took him a while to open the door, and Hitan figured he was still sleeping when they knocked. Samara took her phanny pack off her waist and opened the flap, reaching in to take out some extra clothes. Once again Hitan was amazed at how much that pack could hold, even though he was already told that it was due to magic.
Hitan took one of the pillows from Toby's bed, and used a spare blanket he found in the closet. He settled himself down on the floor, realizing that he was more fatigued than he thought, and was asleep before Samara even crawled into bed.
Temptation_bloodlust · Mon Oct 23, 2006 @ 01:49am · 0 Comments |
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