Chapter 32 - A SImple Walk

Claire and Alanis walked down the road, about ten minutes away from Morden.

"It's been a long time since we've walked together like this, hasn't it?" Alanis asked. "Especially with dusk around the corner."

She looked up at the sky. She hadn't even noticed the time. "Yes, it has." She looked up at the sky. 

"Back home, you used to love dusk. You always loved how the sky turned orange, and how the sun disappeared behind the buildings and the mountains. You said it was because it was like the day itself was leaving the world, right?"

She nodded. "You remember more about me than I do myself. To be honest, when I escaped, it became another time in the day for me."

"Hmm. I see."

"I thought you'd be more upset by that."

"Why would I be? We can't always like the same things forever."

"It's the first thing you haven't chastised me for yet."

She pouted. "Am I supposed to be happy about my friend nearly killing herself for my sake?"

"If I didn't do it, we wouldn't be here right now."

"I know that, but still! Just because something is necessary doesn't mean I need to like it! I could've never seen you again, and I would've had no idea what happened to you!"

"That's true."

"At least you recognized it is. You used to be so stubborn back then. You wouldn't have even considered the thought of traveling with humans."

"What are you talking about?"

"You don't remember? You used to go on about how boring humans were all the time. 'I don't get them! They're so stupid and arrogant, despite only living a fraction of the lives we do! I would never go near one!' Something like that."

"...That's something about myself that should've stayed forgotten."

She giggled. "But anyways... you said they're Peter and Maya, right?"

"Yes. What about them?"

"I'm just a little curious about them. It's not every day you hear about humans going to the Tarlands and surviving. Now that they've gone shopping, what do you think of them?"

 "Maya is a capable hunter and marksman. She can hit animals from distances I can only dream of with the same gun. I only needed to start hunting after her rifle broke at the stock."

"Would you say she's better than our marksmen?"

"I wouldn't know. But she is quite capable with a gun on her hands."

"I see. And Peter?"

"Peter is a dependable man. I wouldn't have made it without him."

"Only dependable?"

"What are you suggesting?"

"I'm suggesting that he's more than just 'dependable' to you. After all, he was your first choice, wasn't he?"

"I chose him because I knew he was adept at magic."

"And yet, you didn't tell him to come into the cabin with you."

"That was a mistake on my part."

"Pretty big mistake to be having on the doorstep of Taykaw. Are you sure you only slipped up?"

"In that moment, I wondered if he really was strong enough to take on Taykaw. If he died because of a miscalculation on my part, I couldn't bear it."

"Oh! And you tell me he's just dependable?"

"I don't like anyone dying because of me."

"I suppose that's true. But you've been traveling together for quite a while! Tell me, what other things did you do?" She put her hand over her mouth, an exaggerated gasp escaping her lips. "Did you bathe together?"

"How did you know?"

"Oh, I didn't. That was a random guess. But now that I know... how scandalous!"

"What's scandalous about that? We bathed with the others back home and there were no issues."

"Yes, but they were elves. An elf, bathing with a human? And a man at that? Are you sure nothing else happened?"

"I am not entertaining your fantasies. All we did was wash each other's hair."

"Even that's a lot. You never washed my hair when we were kids."

She sighed. "You have a point. I don't know. Bathing with him let me relive a part of my past that I never thought I'd get back."

She smiled. "That sounds like he's more than a dependable man to you."

"I suppose so."

"...You sure nothing else happened?"

"Alanis."

"Sorry."

They continued for a bit longer before turning around. A minute later, Claire saw something from the corner of her eye. A rustling bush, perhaps?

"What's wrong?"

"I saw something move. I don't know what though. Perhaps I'm imagining things."

"Even so, we should probably hurry back."

"Yes." They picked up the pace, not stopping until they reached Morden.

. . .

Alanis woke up in the middle of the night, the other three sleeping peacefully in their hotel beds.

She yawned as she got up, placing a chair next to the window. She wasn't surprised; her sleeping habits, altered by her time at Applecot Mansion, would take a long time to dissipate. She sat down and stared at the moon, its glow piercing the night sky. Back at the mansion, getting a view like this was impossible; she'd either be too busy working or too busy sleeping. But now that she was free, she could look at the moon all she wanted.

A noise, coming from the street, broke her light trance. She looked down to see several people, some clad in armor, crowding the space in front of the hotel. She got up. All of them had weapons of some sort, from knives to guns.

And all of them looked at her.

She immediately backed away. She went to Claire and shook her until her eyes opened. She groaned as she got up. "Alanis? What's wrong?"

"There's people with weapons outside."

It only took a second for her to fully wake up. "What are they doing?"

"I don't know, but they're in front of the hotel."

Claire walked to the window, saw the men, and ran right back to her bed. "We need to go. Now."

Analis walked over to Peter, but before the two could wake them, someone banged on their hotel door. "Room service!" The voice behind it said.

The ruckus woke Peter and Maya up. "What the hell is that noise?" He asked, wiping his eyes.

Before anyone could answer him, the door flew open, introducing a hail of bullets.