9. Chapter 9

Chapter nine

Day Eight

W hat was that sound?

I lean up, creaking in the cot as I do, to try and listen again. It sounded like crashing...and screaming? The candle that Gecko had lit to keep the bugs away was barely surviving in the night, but I was still able to faintly see. I get up and find my way to Corvu, who was sleeping above the blanket.

I nudge his shoulder gently, "Corvu." I whisper. His eyes open as if he weren't sleeping at all and leans up on his elbows. Perhaps I'm a little too close to his personal bubble but the noises concerned me, "I think something's happening outside." Without speaking he stands up beside me. Giving him room to go around he walks right up to the window. I'm not sure what he expects to see this late at night or through a window that was so heavily tinted, but he seemed intent on finding out what I was talking about. I nearly fall on top of Gecko as an explosion frightens me.

"We need to go." Corvu states. He dashes to the cabinet on the other side of his cot and pulls out what looks like a lantern. Using the candle barely alight he manages to brighten the room up more for us to see. Throwing our clothes back on in a hurry and picking up our bags we head for the door. I don't know if leaving was the best idea. Weren't we safer where we were?

I nearly trip going down the stairs, but Corvu keeps a firm grip on my upper arm. Gecko is holding onto the lantern and leading us in front. We don't head toward the front entrance but a back entrance I didn't even know existed. I can hear distant screaming for help. What was happening?

Indelicately we weren't the only ones who decided to try and run out in the middle of the night after hearing all the drama, which meant our exit strategy was rifled with obstacles in the shape of Snouts and other Daemonaria. As we push through to a back alley we part directions from the rest of the crowd.

"Why are we running?" I breathily question as we brace against a dark stone wall. Corvu peaks his head around the corner, but what he was so frightened of?

He turns to face me, now he's really close, "Because I think they're after you." I didn't like the sound of that.

"‘They' who?" I whisper.

Gecko peaks around on the other side of Corvu, "Orcs." He barely manages to say aloud. Orcs were something I at least recognised the name of. Peering around the bricks with Corvu I see that they aren't quite what I know them to be. I know Orcs to be big gnarly creatures, usually humanoid in shape but with tusks and walked around in near prehistoric garb. But these creatures didn't just have tusks, they had a whole bottom jaw of protruding teeth, gnarly clawed fingers and they seemed more like soldiers with their armoured chest plates, pikes and maces. Their skin, though difficult to tell exactly in the dark, was patchy with black and purple in unusual patterns. Nothing like the video game.

Pulling on my arm, Corvu directs us even further east of the city. We don't stop running until we reach a large stable, where no time is wasted opening up the first three gates. "Saddle them up," Corvu says, picking up and handing me the biggest and heaviest looking saddle I've ever held. In fact, it's the only saddle I've ever held. I watch him strap up the one in the next stable room and try to follow his movements, but I'm not used to the sheer weight. The horse I face is vastly larger than the ones I've seen in Central Park, but she is a beautiful white mare. Finally getting the saddle on top of the horse is my only victory. I have no idea how to tie the saddle. Even Gecko manages to find a small horse and get his bags attached. Am I this hopeless? Am I going to die because I'm not fast enough at saddling a horse of all things?

"I don't know how to do this." I hiss, fed up with the straps whacking me in the face. Corvu is by my side and with barely any trouble he's got the horse saddled up and ready to go in mere minutes. I would have to learn to do this eventually, but now isn't exactly the time for a lesson. I wasn't expecting it, but instead of waiting for me to get up myself, Corvu lifted me up by my waist in order to help me get on the saddle. I am still bewildered by his unusual strength. Was that normal for a Trickster? My horse doesn't exactly follow suggestions but she does end up following Corvu's black stallion out of the stable.

As the trot turns into a gallop we find our way to the Eastern gate, which although surrounded by guards it doesn't appear they were keeping anyone in, just stopping those who wanted to enter. Through the bustle we weren't given any attention, though I did notice Corvu put his hood up to stop any interest in him. I wonder what makes it obvious he was a cursed Daemonaria? His ears were certainly longer and pointier than Gecko's, and I suppose the sharpness of his fangs were a sight to behold, but they didn't seem so obvious to me. What did others see that I didn't?

As we rode off into the dark woods, my old hope was that my horse continued to follow the one in front of it. I held onto the reins with a tight grip, knowing it probably wouldn't do much help if I fell off.

The horses don't slow for a long time, and to be honest, I am getting a little sick from bouncing up and down so quickly. I'm fairly sure horses can't normally run for such a long time, but I also can't assume anything is normal in this world. There is one upside, just barely: I can see the light beginning to touch the sky, which means the sun is finally rising. Corvu reins his horse to a slower trot, a relief for Gecko's horse, I'm sure.

"Why did we run, exactly? How do you know they were after me?" I ask aloud, not used to the way my voice wopples from the horse's trotting. Corvu looks back over his shoulder and slows down so that his horse matches the pace of the one I'm riding.

"Orcs have been after witch's amulets for decades, why else would they have gone directly into the city?"

"So you're saying that was all my fault?"

"No, it was the fault of whoever discovered you had an amulet." Aside from Corvu and Gecko, the only person I could think of was Bella, but why would she tell the Orcs about it? She was persistent in keeping it hidden and protected. She saved me.Didn't she?

"Why do they want the amulet anyway?"

Corvu looked at me strangely, "I keep forgetting you're not from around here. Then you start talking." Well, that was rude. "Orcs are more or less the only Daemonaria that have refused to live under the King's new ruling. The rule being that there would no longer be wars between humans and Daemonaria, that we should live in peace. The King ended up creating a council with several Daemonaria on it to keep everyone happy. However, the Orcs still refused to accept the peace, they wanted the power to rule over the Skiora themselves. They don't have a lot of capabilities aside from their brute strength, but one of the great sharmons predicted that an Orc warlord would one day possess a witch's amulet and successfully take over Skiora." This was clearly bad news for me. "As you may recall, witch's have long been executed, even before our current King's reign, and many of the amulets were destroyed. The fact that you have one means two things, the first is that you clearly won't be able to return home without using its power, therefore you can't destroy it." A fact that sucked. "And secondly, if you don't destroy it, now that the Orcs know you're here and it exists, you're going to be a prime target for their entire race until we can get you home."

"This is insane." I mutter, not really sure if I had any other response. "I'd never even seen an Orc till last night now they're hunting me down? What about Gecko? He can't come with me, something might happen to him!"

"I'll be okay. I'm very quick and I can hide in tiny places Orcs can't reach." Gecko chuckles, kicking his horse to get ahead of us. I felt like I should be trying to protect him from things like that, that getting him involved in a potential war was the worst thing I could do for a small pixie boy.

"So," Corvu begins, ", what's it like in your world exactly? No wars?"

"Oh, I mean we've had world wars, but we haven't had a war in decades."

"Did you end up with a good king afterward?" How was I going to explain this,

"Uh, we don't have a King, not in my country."

"Then who makes the rules?"

"It's a little complicated." I probably could have spent time explaining it, but there were other things I want to talk about.

"Why don't you know how to saddle a horse? Or fight? I mean I assumed you were some kind of maid but even maids can saddle a horse." If I wasn't already feeling quite useless, I certainly was now.

"No one really knows how to saddle up a horse in the city, no one owns horses. Or donkeys, or whatever else you use for travel. We have cars that use an engine, not horses. I can't fight with a sword because the last time people carried a sword around was probably well over a century ago! You can't pick on me for that, I'm completely average in my world, I'm normal ." The statement made me feel a little pathetic. I really wasn't anything special, if anything I'm just a typical orphan. Most of my time is spent busking with poor magic tricks and night shifts at a convenience store, writing happily-ever-after fantasy fiction that is read by a bunch of people that spend all their time on the internet. Who was I kidding?

"Okay." Corvu responds. And that's all he says. I don't know how to respond in this kind of situation. My only choice was to get to the capital city as fast as I could, I just hoped we were nearly there.

"So with horses now we should make it in no time, right?" I ask,

"Well, faster than by foot at least."

"How long till we get to the capital anyway? Are we at least halfway there?" He laughs at that, so hard in fact his hood falls backward.

"Unless you want to travel all day and night, even with horses we will still take another couple weeks or so to get there." What did he just say?

"Weeks? Like multiple? Are weeks different here or are they usually seven days for you as well? Like are you kidding me?"

"Do you count the days where the sun rises and the sut sets?"

"Yes."

"Then yes, weeks."

"I'm stuck here for weeks ?" I exclaim. I can feel my mouth gaping open and yet for some reason I wasn't closing it. "I'm not going to have a proper shower or use an actual bathroom for another month? What if I catch an infection and die. I don't think my body can take this. I'm more fragile than I look!"

"You look pretty fragile to me." Corvu mumbles beneath his breath.

"I'm not ready to die! You guys probably still have plagues and killing people just seems second nature to you - no one would think twice about killing me-"

"That's where you're wrong." He interjects. I stop for a moment and look at him. "Okay, before you continue your rant, no one that knows you have the amulet will try and kill you. The amulet won't grant its power to someone who takes it from you. So as long as you don't give it up, no one will kill you. " When I hear this I let out the biggest sigh of relief. I might die from an infection but at least no one will try and cut my head off. "They may torture you and kill your travelling party though. So at the moment Gecko and I will likely be the only ones to die on this adventure. Should you give up the amulet to try and save us, though heroic, would be stupid."

"Why would that be stupid?"

"Because an Orc would never keep their word and spare us in trade for the amulet, as soon as you hand it to one, you're as good as dead." That didn't make me feel any better.

"Why don't I just give it to you and then travel with you up to the capital to figure out how to use it. You'd be better at protecting it." Although I didn't plan on it, I'm interested in his answer in being offered the amulet.

"Because it was given to you and to be honest I wouldn't want that kind of bounty on my head."

"Well," I sigh, ", as long as you're honest." At this point he smiles at me, this time much gentler than his usual cocky grin. My stomach rumbles as the sun grows hotter, unfortunately it wasn't very quiet .

"Really? We just ate last night." He sighs, leaning over to the other side of his horse where I was unable to see, and pulls out what looks to be one of those mystery oranges I tried yesterday. I accept it without a second thought.

"Thanks."

"Do you eat frequently where you're from too?"

"Just the usual three times a day." I grumble. As I start to open the orange he looks at me strangely. "What? Breakfast, lunch and dinner, that's three times a day."

"Oh, I think I got it." He snaps his fingers, as if a puzzle he'd been trying to work on was finally complete in his mind. "Are you some kind of royal where you're from? That would probably explain a few things, including the habit of eating breakfast, lunch and dinner."

I almost roll my eyes at the thought. "I'm not royal, I'm an orphan, I don't even know who my parents are." I finish pulling apart the orange and take a bite. With a chunk sitting in my cheek I respond, "I just work hard and earn money, I make my own way in life and eat like a proper young lady."

"Proper young ladies talk with food in their mouth where you're from? "

"Don't start with me, I've seen your table manners." I smirk. Since the first night I came here, I think it was the best conversation I've had with Corvu. In a way I also felt like I got to know him better. It was truly obvious he wasn't trying to trick me into giving him the amulet or he would have leaped at the opportunity when I mentioned it. The conversation I overheard with him that next morning was a clear misinterpretation type situation. It was a bit of a relief.

I knew we had a long way to go, but having never ridden on a horse for so long, or ever in my life, I was really starting to feel the pain. I want to suggest stopping for a rest, or perhaps asking how close the next village would be, but I also didn't want to make the trip take longer just because I couldn't handle a little pain in the back.

"The next village is only about a half hour away, can your rear end handle that, Princess?" I can't decide if I should be pissy and annoyed or grateful that we were so close to taking a break. I purse my lips and nod. I overhear him chuckle but otherwise says nothing.