13. Chapter 13

Chapter thirteen

Day Sixteen

Corvu found a place that was less like an inn, more like a backpacker's lodge for us to stay that night, we were just lucky that the extra bunk in the room was empty for the moment, so we had the time to ourselves.

As I look around the room, it's obvious that all sorts have occupied it, especially with all the unusual markings, cuts and stains spread amongst the walls. Completely grotesque. Luckily I had other things on my mind to occupy myself. The lodge had a bath, so instead of taking a bath in a lake I jumped at the idea to use hot water, so I told the boys I would be back shortly.

In fairness, I've never had to boil water for a bath before. I had dunked most of my foot in too early so it felt really sore by the time I'd finished, but at least I was finally clean. I was also sure that the ‘soap' they had available by the pound was for your body but I used it to aid in washing my hair a little. As the room was hot with a fire for boiling water it didn't take long for me to dry myself off and put my clothes back on. I'd have to ask how people washed their clothes around here, because I couldn't keep wearing the same thing over and over again.

I return to the room, but Gecko is nowhere to be found, just Corvu sitting on his bunk facing the large lattice gridded window. My hair wasn't dry yet, but since we were alone I decided to go ahead and finally understand what was eating at him lately. I come up in front of him and sit down on the cot next to him. He's a bit blown back by my sudden presence but otherwise relaxes quickly.

"Hey." I start .

"Something wrong?" He asks, genuine concern in his tone.

"Well, maybe. You've been a little different lately." He rubs the back of his head and sighs.

"How do you know I'm not normally like this? You haven't known me for a terribly long time." That was true, and it was hard to argue with that logic, but he was certainly feeling uneasy and I wanted to get at the bottom of it.

"I think something is bothering you, and that's bothering me. Makes it hard to concentrate on stabbing you with a pointy object during sparring when it's all I can think about." He finally lets out a chuckle.

"It's hard to explain." A lot of things are hard to explain in this world, and in mine, so I understand completely. His palms are stretched out over his knees, so I put my left hand over his right. As I do this his ears pull backward and turn a little red.

"Try? I'm not going anywhere."

"I think that's what's wrong." He states, looking down at my hand over his. "This is one hell of an adventure, one where we are going to risk our lives to make, and the end result, should we succeed…" Corvu exhales deeply before continuing, ", after all this I end up losing a really good friend. It's kind of nice having someone around that doesn't judge me for what I am." I had made the assumption something like that was bothering him, but I had also assumed it was selfish to think it was about me.

"Corvu," I begin, ", I know that the end goal for me is to go home. And I know that means you might not ever see me again," Who was I kidding? Once I was gone I wouldn't be able to come back again. "The thing is, if you really enjoy me being your friend, why not enjoy the time we have together while we still have it." At this point Corvu tilts his hand up and slightly holds mine. Goosebumps go up my arms but happily my long sleeve tunic covers that up from being seen.

"You're…right." He smiles, and for the first time in days it feels real. "I'm sorry."

"Nothing to apologize for." We're startled by the door of the room opening. Corvu pulls his hand away and I take mine back. It was actually kind of sad to be interrupted. Gecko comes rushing in to face both of us and stands in front of Corvu.

"Okay, watch the rock." He says to him. Corvu indulges and watches carefully as Gecko successfully pulls off the disappearing pebble magic trick I had shown him. I had no idea he was even practicing. I clap as he makes it disappear and Corvu seems puzzled. I guess simple magic tricks weren't commonly practiced in Skiora.

I pat Gecko on the lower arm. "Good job, you got it!"

"Wait," Corvu stops my congratulations and I retreat back to my regular position, ", where did it go?" Gecko tries to put on a bit of a show as he tries to make the pebble appear again but is a bit lost when he realizes it's no longer up his sleeve.

"Oh, here it is." I smirk, casually making it appear from behind Corvu's ear with a swift flick of the wrist.

"Whoa!" Gecko exclaims, clearly not picking up that I had taken it from him when I patted his arm. Corvu is completely bewildered and rubs his ear.

"I thought you couldn't use the amulet for magic." He blinks, but I just laugh.

"It's not real magic." I begin, "It's just a trick, perfected through the art of diversion and confusion."

He grabs my hand with the pebble in it and turns it over. "How'd you do it?"

"A magician never tells his, or her, secrets." I snicker. It's funny watching his curious reaction. I understand that magic and things that appear like magic probably aren't that common here, especially by a woman. Everyone would just think she's a Witch and execute them. "Actually, I'm curious about something." I state as both boys watch me closely, patiently waiting for me to ask. "You've mentioned that Witches are executed. Was there an actual reason for that?"

"Most Witches used their powers to try and overthrow the late King, so to prevent him and his son from being assassinated he ordered all witches executed. In hindsight it was not his best moment on the throne, but don't tell anyone I said that."

Now for the question I wasn't that interested in knowing the answer to, "And how did they execute them?" Corvu looked at me with a disturbed expression.

"A lot of different ways. Beheading normally. Some places they just got stoned to death by the villagers because the knights took too long to get there and they didn't want to feed the Witches as prisoners. Which is also another way they died, starvation." My mouth gaped a little but I shut it quickly,

"Do you think people that weren't Witches were killed? "

"I'm positive. Good Witches were also killed."

"So there are good Witches?"

"I think it was only ever a small coven of Witches that actually wanted to hurt the King. The others were just unfortunate casualties. Magic still exists here, but only really within Wizards and Warlocks. Or magical amulets that grant the wearer the power of Witches." Normally I'd probably be upset at a guy looking down at my chest, but I knew it wasn't me he was referring to, but the amulet that was hidden beneath my shirt.

"Why weren't these amulets destroyed?"

"Honestly? No idea. But every time you hear of one surfacing it's destroyed quite quickly. They seem to come out of nowhere now and then." Somehow the idea of possessing an amulet that people kill over due to its magical capabilities made me feel a little special.

"So, how does this thing work anyway? I haven't taken it off since I got it. Not even in the bath."

"Good. Don't. It's said only the wearer can pass on its magic by willingly giving it to another. They can't even take it off your dead body or it will lose power. I suppose Gecko and I should apologize in advance." My brow furrows .

"Why?"

"Because if you get caught and there is no way for us to rescue you without the risk of being caught ourselves, unfortunately you're on your own. You have a higher chance of survival that way." I wasn't sure if I should be offended or not. Gecko scrunched up his face.

"I'd still come and rescue you." He says, determined.

"Seriously? You're such a dumb pixie."

"Hey!"

"If she gets caught, they will just use us to force her to give the amulet away, and then kill her. If we don't get caught with her, they can't possibly make her give it away. Well, unless they torture her."

"Just to clarify," I interject, ", the ‘they' you're speaking about?"

"Orcs, mostly. There will be others but it's the Orcs that will be the worst case scenario. There are a lot of different Daemonaria that work for them too, which is why we have to be really careful about who we trust. Anyone could be working for them and still appear to be your best friend." Without really meaning to imply anything I lean away from him. "Not me! I don't want that stupid thing." If my memory serves me, I ran away because I thought he wanted it in order to sell it to a high bidder.

"How much do you think Orcs would pay to get their hands on this?" I question, pointing to the middle of my chest where only Gecko and Corvu would know what I'm talking about.

"I heard a lot of different things the night you first got here. I asked a Troll, who said he'd easily pay five thousand gal. A centaur said he'd pay only to bring it to the King. There was one strange character that said he'd give me a castle if I told him the location of one. But I think most of them thought I was just talking and asking hypothetical questions."

"Gal is gold, right?" I confirmed. He nods. I did my best to estimate what the conversation rate of shil and gal would be in American dollars. From what I can guess, one shil, or a silver piece, is worth about fifty in American, and a gal is about one hundred. That was a lot of money these Daemonaria were willing to pay for a piece of jewelry. I was relieved to know that Corvu's conversation with the Innkeeper that morning was nothing more than idle chat. To me, the whole thing seemed completely cleared up now. " How much further do we have to go until we reach the capital?" Corvu looked up and mentally started counting,

"Maybe another week and a bit. It depends how fast we get moving. We stop a lot and we don't exactly travel at full speed with the horses." Gecko groans in response. I know I wasn't the only one suffering from riding horses all day long. Gecko had even opted to walk alongside his occasionally. Instead of participating in the conversation any longer he goes over to the bunk where we had thrown most of our gear on. Corvu mentioned that when you wanted to keep an eye on your things it was better to sleep on them and be woken than have no food or money the next morning. Having only been mugged once, sort of, I can understand why losing your stuff isn't the favored option.

I get up and walk over to the bunk I'm going to occupy for the night. It looks more like a bed, but the wooden planks covered by a single blanket don't feel like a luxurious mattress. Lifting it a little, I see that the wood isn't properly varnished, and splinters catch on the material. This is going to be an interesting night. I decide it's warm enough outside, heated by the lanterns anyway, so I should sleep on top of the blankets for some level of comfort. Maybe I am being a princess. Gecko is sleeping on our cargo, and there's no way those pointy objects could possibly be comfortable. Before I turn to Corvu to say goodnight, I hear Gecko make a low snoring sound. Muffling my laughter, I see Corvu roll his eyes and then lie back on the bunk.

"Night." I say.

"Night." He responds, a small smile settles on his lips as he closes his eyes.

I think I'm having a dream, although I can't be too sure. I think I'm walking? No, I'm lying down. That's right, I'm sleeping in a bunk. I feel my ankle bend ever so slightly as something touches me. Wait. Something's touching me?

I jerk awake and open my eyes. Barely lit by the moonlight I see Corvu sitting at the end of my bed.

"Corvu, what-" He shushes me, putting a finger to his lips then pointing over toward his original bunk. It seems that the additional guest we were sharing a room with had decided to come in and roll himself, his very large and round self, half onto Corvu's bunk. We probably should have tried to separate them further when we had the chance earlier. I try not to giggle as the round man shuffles further to the side and takes up both bunks.

"Sorry." Corvu whispers, "I didn't mean to wake you. I just didn't want to get flattened." I don't know how long he's been sitting by my feet, but he needed more rest than he was getting. I slide across the bunk, giving an equal amount of room and pat down next to me. "I don't want to make you uncomfortable."

"Suit yourself. But don't blame me when you fall off your horse tomorrow because you fell asleep." I smirk, turning around and lying down on the side. I hear his deep inhale before he lies down next to me. Our backs are touching but that's okay. It actually makes me feel better. The silence that wraps around us doesn't last long – I'm the one that interrupts it. "Corvu?"

"Mm?" He murmurs sleepily.

"It's not super comfortable like this. If you spoon me, we might both be a bit more…comfortable?" He falls silent for a few moments, and I want to take my words back or palm it off as a silly joke as embarrassment washes over me.

"I… I don't have any spoons here with me, Tia. You know that. I'll have to get up and get some." He sounds genuinely confused, and that only makes his words that much funnier. I'm unable to hold back a laugh that will likely wake up the people around us, and it is only when Corvu hushes me that I fall quiet.

"You don't need any spoons to spoon me, silly," I murmur, still smiling. "It's just…an expression. Turn around." I'm not sure he's fully convinced he's not going to need any spoons just yet, but I do feel a shuffle around the bed as he turns around so he's facing me. Still, he keeps a bit of a respectful distance in between us. Wriggling a little closer to him, I get comfortable in my position – feeling his chest against my back. My hand reaches back, finding his, and drawing him in even closer. His arm is wrapped around me now, as his hand rests over my stomach. At last, he snuggles in a little closer as he gets comfortable on his end, and I feel like I never want to move again.

He's so close to me now, I feel his breath against the back of my shoulder as he nuzzles his face in. "Goodnight, Tia."

"Goodnight, Corvu."