A House Divided

On our way back, Amber remained relatively quiet, only agreeing to whatever I tried saying to her with a nod or a slow “yes” Her eyes averted my entire being for as long as the walk did.

As we reached the inside of the Tavern, the keeper greeted the both of us with a smile spread across his face, and asked us if we’d like anything to drink to which Amber promptly refused and headed up the creaky rotten stairs to her room for the night.

I sat at the counter on a wobbly stool, as the old inn-keeper, with his enormous facial hair, continued to wipe down goblets with a stain-soaked rag.

“I’ll have a beer,”

He took out a goblet from underneath the counter and filled it from a barrel placed right beside and slid it over to me, my heart racing as the goblet fumbled for a few seconds, making me think it might tip over.

“The lady, she mad at ya?” he smirked.

I furrowed my eyebrows and nodded my head slowly, confirming his suspicions.

“But, how’d you know, Otto?” I questioned him, taking a gulp of the beer placed in front of me, cleansing my palate of the horrendous wine served at Remus’ manor.

“It’s been 3 months ‘ere give or take,” he continued, turning his back to me and proceeding to wipe a few more goblets down. “Not sure if I seen her like that ever before,”

“Like what?” I took another sip.

“A feller so smart should know by now she don’t feel good about something,” was the response I received and probably deserved. The conversation faded to silence. The silence enveloping the bar as I sat there drinking away any thoughts I had on the subject.

The wine and the beer with Otto started to hit hard as I tried going up the staircase for myself. Despite guiding my hand across the railing, the steps beneath me seemed to shift and I stumbled a few times before finally finding my footing.

After a hard-fought battle, I found myself at the top of the stairwell where I, instinctively, stopped across Amber’s room. Although I had no intention of being there, my feet felt heavier than usual and wouldn’t budge.

Eventually, I gave in and knocked on the door, my arms heavy and the door tilting ever-so-slowly to the right.

Soon enough, I came face to face with Amber, her eyes more curious than upset.

“Can I come in?”

Amber looked back inside, before opening the door all the way and gesturing to come inside.

I found my way inside the small room, the floor creaking underneath my footsteps as I stumbled and sat myself on the bed while she stood in front of me, her arms folded .

“What is it?” she snapped

“Look, I can understand you’re upset but can we at least talk about-”

“What is there to talk about? You went ahead and agreed to this ‘job’ before we even had a chance to discuss it.”

“Yes, but I didn’t know that would have been a problem, I mean we can barely afford to get food and the only reason we’re still staying here is because I helped out Otto with the trouble from the guards.”

“So it’s about the money now?” she scoffed, rolling her eyes.

“No, but getting to the capital means I can actually start doing proper work,” I said, my words now louder and more pronounced.

“Oh, yeah, like what?”

“Like trying to actually create laws that help the people, that save people from being chained from their necks,” I stood up, now looking down into Amber’s eyes.

“What, you think you can just waltz into the capital and they’ll accept whatever suggestion you throw at them?” she said walking over to the door, turning her back to me.

She sighed, folding her arms again, “I can’t go to the capital, you know?”

“What?”

“I can’t go to the capital,” her words louder as she turned around.

“Why not?”

“I’m an Ashvale,” she said, her words now barely above a whisper.

“So?”

“So, that means I’m a ‘demon’ and my kind should either be enslaved, killed, or jailed,” she said, lowering her head even further.

“What? I thought you were a human.”

“So are all demons, genius,” she rolled her eyes again.

“I…I don’t understand,”

She sighed once again and disapprovingly shook her head at me.

“Whatever lives in Ur, or anyone that lives beyond the Blutklamm mountains towards the north; human, orc, elf, it doesn’t matter,” she said holding her head, “they’re all demons.”

“I’m confused; so that means-”

Amber opened the door and pointed outside, her words now quieter but just as harsh as before, “just leave. I can’t be expected to make sense to a drunk right now,”

I grit my teeth and stormed out, turning just once to look over at Amber before making my way back to my room where I lay awake.

“Ashvale…Demons, she’s just not making sense to me,” I thought to myself as my eyes faced the plain wooden ceiling above me.

I tried twisting and turning but even the alcohol couldn’t lull me to sleep. .

I sat up, looking at the pile of leather-bound books on the desk in front of the grimy window. I walked up and seated myself before going through each and every book.

Some were a collection of judgements by past kings, others historical accounts that seemed too exaggerated to be true, and others anatomical guidelines between different creatures.

I flipped through tens of pages before eventually, the book that Amber had brought to me yesterday caught my eye. I opened it eagerly ‘History of Mittengrad,’

I scrolled through the book, meticulously going over each chapter until I finally found what I was looking for.

‘The 17 Year War’

After going over it in meticulous detail, I realised that the people of The Kingdom of Ur, a bordering kingdom past the mountain ranges in the North were labelled as Demons by King Aldric after a self-proclaimed vision from some god.

I scanned the pages, my fingers following every letter in the book; from the history of the war, to the battles, to even the outcomes until I finally found what I was looking for; the history of Ur itself.

As I scanned the pages, my heart sank when I came across a name in the texts that I recognised all too well.

‘Ashvale.’

For some reason, it made perfect sense. My mouth turned dry and the world around me started to spin just a little as I fought the urge to regurgitate the alcohol from my stomach.

I stood up and stumbled into my bed, my mind fresh with thoughts that I couldn’t piece together, or rather, didn’t want to.