At the Inn

“A flower?” asked Liam.

“Yes. I too have gained power through a Vampire. But it’s not borrowed, it’s mine now. Permanently.” he revealed. “There’s a special flower’s petal which can put even creatures like Acheron into a deep sleep long enough to be dealt with. It’s difficult to find, however I happen to have a convenient map in my camp.”

“Give us the map then,” Colinus demanded.

“It comes with a price,”

“Hmph! Then pray tell, what is your price?”

“It’s nothing you can give me. However…” Karth stared at Liam.

Liam noticed the attention, “Do I have something you want?” he asked, confused.

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll give it to you!”

“No. You won’t just yet,”

“What? No, I’m telling you, if I have something you want I’ll give it to you. I just want to help…” said Liam. He felt guilt. The novel was out of course and it caused his friends to lose their home; he had to be the problem. He didn’t belong.

Karth moved his hand to his chin, he leaned forward, closer to Liam. “Then promise me to give me what I want once we’re done here.”

“Hold on,” Colinus pushed him back, “What is it you want? Liam, you can’t just promise him anything! Who knows what he’ll ask for?”

Liam thought about it for a moment. Then he decided that he did trust Karth, and the request was probably something simple. And so he said to Karth: “I promise,”

Karth smiled, “Alright then, I suggest we split into two groups in the morning. One to get the map from my camp, and one to get a book containing what you’d call the ‘recipe’ from the leaves.”

“There’s a book?”

“Yes. The petals have to be grinded into a tea,”

“Okay, let’s do that then! First we need to find an inn-” Liam said as he heard rustling from the bushes beside him. Gwen appeared from behind the branches; no one had noticed she’d walked away and looked for an inn while they were bickering.

“Gwen?”

“Hello, I found an inn!” she said, removing small sticks from her hair.

They followed her and sure en0ugh, they reached a cosy building surrounded by greenery. The inn had the appearance of a cottage, there was a small wooden sign hanging from the side which said ‘Montgomery's Inn’.

Upon entering, a soft honey smell surrounded them. Behind the counter stood a short man. When he saw guests he quickly stepped up on his stool which he kept next to him.

“Welcome! How can I help you?” he gently asked.

“Four rooms, please,” Colinus said, fixing his white bangs which were in the way of his eyes.

The hotel owner looked a bit concerned, then he said, “Best I can do is two,”

“Just two?” Colinus asked to make sure he heard right.

“Yes; it’s high season now, mister. You’re lucky to even get two rooms!”

Colinus breathed out in annoyance and said, “Fine, we’ll take them.”

The rooms were on the second floor, there was a small spiral staircase next to the counter which Mr. Montgomery, the gentleman behind the counter, used as he led them to their rooms. There was a sort of relief once they found out they’d at the least be neighbours during the night. Their room numbers were eight and nine.

Key in hand and already yawning, Liam opened the door to room nine. Karth stood behind him, waiting to go in. But the door slammed in their faces when Colinus suddenly asked, “Where do you think you guys are going?”

“...?” said Liam.

“Why are you sharing?!” the prince burst out.

Glances were thrown in all directions between the group. The question had an obvious answer. Not that Colinus deemed it acceptable just because of that, but he did eventually retreat his hand. He opened the second room with a “tsk” and said no more.

Gwen left after giving a small wave of appreciation as worry about room arrangements were a thing in her mind since knowing they had to share. She would have shared with Liam, had the choice been hers and her decision was without objection.

But Colinus was dangerous if left with his enemy; she didn’t want to share with a renowned evil leader; Karthremith seemed to have only eyes for one person amongst them; and as much as she dreaded it, everyone was open to share with Liam, even if he didn’t know it himself.

They split up for the night.

Liam was in awe about the room. It wasn’t big in size but certainly held an atmosphere fitting of this cottage-like inn. Informed that some rooms lacked sufficient heating as well as lights, it was evident that he had picked the short straw between the rooms. Their light came from an oil lamp in the far corner by a small window surrounded by wines which reached in from outside.

He moved it to the table next to one of the beds; better safe than sorry, he thought.

“Are you impressed by this much?” he heard Karth ask from the other bed.

“WHat am I impressed by?” it almost seemed like the Khethovian was asking about something else.

“The room; you were staring at it with such big eyes when we entered.”

“Oh,” Liam glanced around, “Yeah, I like it.”

Karth laid down, he used one arm as a pillow on top of his actual pillow. “Good to know,”

Birds from outside sang their last song for the day. Liam wanted to ask what ‘Good to know’ meant but as he opened his mouth to ask he noticed Karth’s eyes were closed. It was unclear if the man was sleeping, but he didn’t bother finding out. He simply went to sleep.

The next day. Liam woke up from his comfortable sleep when the rays of light landed on his face. He shuffled around for a bit, hugging tightly to the second pillow he didn’t know he had. As he nuzzled himself back to sleep, there was a grunting coming from right beside him.

His eyes shot open and his pillow definitely wasn’t the classic feather filled one he thought. It was Karth!

“K-Karth?” he began stammering.

Karth sat up with a hidden smirk. He looked just as handsome waking up as he did normally. Those are great powers to possesse. “Don’t let your mind be dragged wrongfully. I was only helping-”

“Helping?” Liam said doubtfully. “Helping, how?”

“You were shivering; it was nothing more than me offering some warmth.”

“Oh, in that case, thank you,”

“Liam! Over here,” Gwen shouted. She sat by a table on the backside of the inn.

“Where’s Colinus?” he asked, sitting next to her. Karth sat down on the other side.

“He’s talking to the owner; asking about the current state of Luria, I think. Your guess is as good as mine, but I really think it’s important to keep an eye on him. He’s not thinking rationally, not right now,”

Liam nodded.

“What are we planning,” someone asked then.

As they turned around they breathed a breath of relief, it was just Colinus, in new clothes. It was unquestionably a wise choice, they were kind of outlaws now, were they not? Posters with their faces weren’t up yet but they would be soon, it was just a matter of time.

The only “free” person was, no doubt, the Khetover clan leader who in hindsight just happened to be at the ball during the time. He never intervened nor did he pick a side. He was simply there.

However, not being chased by Acheron, or more precisely, hated, didn’t mean he was out of the woods yet. He was powerful, not someone to make your enemy, but he had inevitably chosen side by being at the inn, in their presence, he was deemed an enemy as well.

Colinus brushed off his new outfit. It was a very neutral pallet. He wore mostly brown, the one exception being his green shirt. He still looked like a prince; his stance; the look in his eye; the mere presence of his aura was that of royalty. He was going to have to wear a hood, Liam decided in his head.

Liam coughed, “We should retrieve the map and get the flower,”

“Also the book,” Karth pitched in.

“Right, so we should have them be two separate journeys. Two get the map and the flower, two get the book,”

Colinus sighed, “And what are these two groups? Hm?”

He was ignored. The answer was obvious; it would be the groups they already decided on the night before. Because he was ignored, he rolled his eyes and asked another question.

“So, are Gwen and I getting the book? Sounds simple enough, are you going to be alright though?” he hinted at Liam.

Karth rose from his seat, “You don’t need to worry about him, we’re the ones getting the book. You are fetching the map and flower. Sounds simple enough?” he said monotone.

“What?”

Karth was joined in his rising. He let his eyes run past all the confused looks. “No need to wet your pants; my camp is relatively empty as of this moment. You’ll find my underling, he’ll give you what you want if you tell him I sent you and give him the secret sentence.”

The Khethovian camp was indeed relatively empty at the moment. Verthral scratched his ear. The lot of them were off duty, except for the one who was left behind to keep track of things, as well as any wounded. Scratches and bruises were expected from the fight; the winners would get time off, the loser (singular) was to stay in camp.

It ended up being the doctor who had to stay since he, first of all, wasn’t very athletic despite his proper build, and second, plenty of the warriors were wounded after the friendly fight and needed tending to.