Chapter 16
CHAPTER
Sometime during the night, I had lost the battle against my eyelids and dozed off.
When I finally opened them again, I jolted upright.
“Mm, just a few more minutes,” Ashley muttered, her arms embracing me as she drooled all over our bedrolls.
“What the heck?” I chuckled in surprise.
Ashley rubbed her eyes, looking up at me. “You looked so cuddle-able. You should thank me, it was either me or… you know what, it was only me.”
I burst into laughter, shoving her arms away. “Next time, ask.”
“That’s no fun,” Ashley pouted, rolling over to her other side.
“I second that,” Nate teased, now sitting up with a can in his hands, eating.
“Nobody asked you,” Mey cut in, pinching his arm.
“Hurry up and eat,” Malakai’s voice interrupted. “We’ve lost plenty of time already.”
I stiffened and looked up at him, but he kept packing, avoiding eye-contact for once. Strangely enough, it eased me; he wasn’t mad at me specifically, for once. We followed orders, helping each other pack our bags.
“I’ll take yours,” Mey said, snagging Nate’s pack from his grip.
“I’m not crippled, hand it back,” he hissed.
“Give it to me,” I snapped, ripping it from both of them. “Nate you hit your head, Mey you barely slept.”
Their eyebrows shot towards the sky, left speechless as they had no argument to follow up with.
“Then that settles it,” Lionel added behind me.
Nate walked between Lionel and Mey, in case he felt dizzy, Eve walked ahead of them and Ashley and I kept to the back. It felt easier, watching the group, having eyes on them as the demon led us.
According to the map, we weren’t far from the village we had set out to reach, before hell had broken loose with the mages.
We were already behind on time, we needed to resupply our inventories—not that they were critically low, but it was better to be prepared.
The hike was mostly quiet for once and it didn’t take long before we saw pastures, with livestock and the smell that came with them.
“Damn Lionel, could’ve warned us,” Nate joked, trying to fan the smell away from his nostrils.
Lionel sighed, not even the slightest impressed.
“Look!” Ashley threw herself forward, almost colliding with the three of them. “The village!”
We all followed her gaze and sure enough we saw houses emerging on the hill in front of us.
“I’ll race you!” She dashed off before anyone was able to react. The rest of us soon followed, like eager children exploring a new place.
The houses seemed dull, built of cobblestone with roofs on the verge of giving in with all the moss growing on top of them.
There were a few people in their gardens, who stiffened as they saw us.
Some stared, like frozen in place, reminding me of deer, while others slowly made their way inside and locked their doors.
Smart—because it wasn’t like we were hiding our weapons or anything.
My mind wandered off, trying to study the people and their state.
Were mages common around here considering how close to the border this village was situated?
Did they have another opinion of them around here?
The curiosity was gnawing at me, I hadn’t traveled to see other villages before, since the lack of food made travel a luxury most could not afford.
We wouldn’t survive in the wild for long, we were already starving.
Mey gasped. “Look, they have a market!” Excitement filled her voice and we were all taken aback by it. They weren’t short on supplies here, then?
Maybe the Ashen Corps provided them with things, considering that our soldiers often checked the perimeter around here, and needed shelter and food along the way.
I quickly unfolded the map, searching for the mark of the village.
“It’s…” I hummed, eagerly.
“It’s Newhelm,” Malakai said flatly.
He had probably been here a few times, this was nothing new or exciting for him. Well, I wasn’t going to let that kill my mood. I reached out and grabbed the sleeve of Lionel’s jacket. “Let’s go! I want to see it!”
He stumbled in surprise, but didn’t resist my pull.
There were wooden stalls, with small bits of cloth suspended above to shelter the tables from rain and wind. At least two dozen villagers wandered around the place in addition to us, the small road was crowded.
“Look, look!” Ashley squealed as she saw a stand with what looked like black powder.
“He has some nice daggers there too,” Eve agreed as they walked off together.
“Nate, look! A painter!” Mey gasped, pointing towards a stand with hand-drawn pictures of people and landscapes.
“You like painting?” I asked, glancing back at her.
“If our lives were different, I’d love to learn how to,” she sighed, her eyes glittering as she dragged Nate along with her.
I let my hand drop from Lionel’s sleeve, beelining for the first stand on the right to get a closer look, but as I moved away from him, he grabbed my hand. My head turned, cheeks burning as I looked at him, confused.
“Let’s not lose each other in the crowd,” he smiled, scratching his cheek as he averted his eyes.
Was he blushing? No words formed, my legs frozen in place as I watched him, my heartbeat racing. Slowly, his eyes found their way back to me. “You don’t like it?”
“No! I mean, yes… I mean,” I stuttered, embarrassed.
His eyes softened and his smile spread, his grip tightened, as he took the lead, tugging me along behind him.
My gaze locked at our entwined fingers. This wasn’t like Lionel, not at all.
It made me confused, nervous.
And happy.
First, we stopped by a vendor selling rations; it was a priority to make sure we stacked up on food—who knew when we would ever get the opportunity to actually pick what food to eat again? Traveling didn’t come with such luxury…
“Did you want to see these?” Lionel asked suddenly, his voice sweet as honey. I had to snap out of it.
“What?” I asked, finally able to look up.
The stand before us had wooden carvings, with beautiful details. Small figures of animals, houses and people. Behind the man selling them was a full-sized carving of a bear. I gaped, it was amazing, like nothing I had ever seen before.
“You want one?” Lionel turned and looked at me.
How would I ever be able to choose!?
There was a vase with flowers carved too, they looked stunning, but would probably cost a fortune.
My eyes landed on a small cat, and my smile disappeared.
“No?” Lionel looked confused.
“Nope, I’m okay,” I said through my teeth.
He turned back, his free hand digging in his pocket for something. “I’ll take the deer.”
“A deer?” I echoed, questioning his decision.
The man behind the stand placed the little wooden carving into a small pouch and handed it over to Lionel for a coin.
“It will be my new lucky charm.” He flashed me a smile and I began to wonder if it was him or Nate who had hit his head.
Meat hung over some of the stalls, others had crates filled with fruits, some that had seen better days than others. Still, to see this amount of food in one place left me stunned. How were they able to procure it, or keep it from the Ashen Corps? I gathered what I could with the small coin I had.
“I’ve missed this,” Lionel said along a deep breath.
“What? Normal people, animals, the smell of manure?” I teased.
“No. The slow-paced life, the everyday, you and me.”
Okay, now I knew Lionel had hit his head somewhere along the way.
“Well, adventuring together is… not exactly dull,” I chuckled, my nerves starting to give in.
My hand tugged abruptly, when I spun around he had stopped in his tracks, staring at me. His eyes were like open doors, emotions spilling out of them.
“How long are you going to pretend to not hear me?” he asked, his voice soft, but firmer than before.
“Of course I’m—”
“No, I just told you that I want to be with you,” his words cut me off.
I opened my mouth, but it was as if my tongue was swollen; no matter how I tried, nothing came out.
His fingers slowly slid out of my hand. “Ethalyn, if you don’t feel the same, tell me. Put an end to it.”
“I-I…” I stammered, choking on my words.
His posture slowly sank, the eyes that had glowed with life suddenly lost their shine. His head turned away and I knew he would slip out of reach if I didn’t act now.
My hands shot out and grabbed his arm, tight and violent, as if he was hanging from a cliff.
His head snapped back towards me, his eyes confused and yet eager.
“That’s not it,” I said, voice unsteady, fragile. “Lionel… I’m terrified of losing you.”
A moment of shock colored his face, as if this was news to him, before a faint smile appeared again and I relaxed my grip a little bit. He wasn’t on the edge of a cliff, he wasn’t falling.
He wasn’t going to leave me.
Suddenly our grip broke off as a woman tore in between us, and soon after screams followed as people began to run. A man shoved me, and I stumbled and fell behind one of the tables.
“Ethalyn!” I heard Lionel shout after me.
A large explosion went off, from the direction that we had arrived from. I watched in horror as fire climbed the skies, claiming the trees by the outskirts of the village.
“Save the people and their homes!” I shouted back, not sure if he was still there or even heard me.
I pushed myself up to my feet.
Dread filled me, as I saw blackened shapes emerging around the village, hundreds of them, hunting for anything living.
No one was safe, not in their homes, not in the streets. The roads were even more packed now than before, with people trying to flee, ready to abandon their homes if needed.
My eyes found Lionel in the crowd, fighting against one of the demons, similar to the shadow demons we had seen in the forest on our first mission.
I readied myself to sprint, but a black shadow crashed into me, sending me flying.
I landed on the ground with a thud, tumbling for a moment before I began coughing and gasping for air.