Kage couldn’t help but stop and stare at the Old Gallows looming above.
The evening sun painted the old wooden platform with the orange glow that usually brings feelings of relaxation or relief, but instead, it seemed to glow red with the blood of years past.
She shivered and forced her eyes down from the sight.
It was, as Artlem had assumed, no longer in use, with a small plaque off to the side probably describing the history of this place. She might have read it if Bard hadn’t been moving steadily ahead. It was certainly strange that after finding this man, she was the one being led to the meeting point.
The Marker’s Inn wasn’t right next to the Old Gallows. That would probably have been bad for business, so it was situated around the street.
It was much fancier than Kage had expected. Though like the rest of the city it was made up of dark wood, she counted six floors with curving beams decorating the outside of its levels.
Bard stopped at the door and looked back at Kage. “Are you going to go find your friends?”
“Oh!” Her eyes widened. “Yeah.” She didn’t like the idea, as much as it made sense.
Light and loud voices came from behind the ornately carved double doors as she approached. She did her best not to hesitate and gripped the smooth but worn handle, took a breath, and pushed.
245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbbgIDgP5lG
Ew. The air reeked of alcohol. The door opened up into a lively bar, possibly one of the worst things in the world. People jostled each other, some grumpy, some jolly, all unpredictable in their current state.
It was brightly lit with lanterns with no fire similar to the ones in the guild, except these cast a much stronger, warmer light. This at least made it easy to navigate. Kage was pretty sure her height had to do with her inability to see Artlem or Shole in the crowd, but after glancing back to make sure Bard was behind her, she resolutely pushed through. She flinched away from a tough-looking soldier type who pushed past, her fingers erratically tapping the air. She tried to keep her eyes moving, searching, instead of focusing on the potential dangers around her.
She caught Bard’s eyes as she glanced back couple times, and couldn’t help but noticed how concerned he looked at her behavior. This was not a good part of herself to be showing, but there wasn’t much she could do about it at this point.
Finally, she caught a glimpse of Shole’s combination of blond hair on dark skin. His eyes met hers and his face lit up. He stood up from the table at the edge of the room where he sat, waving her over. His expressions turned to surprise as he saw the figure behind her. He said something to someone in the booth across from him, and Artlem’s head shot out, incredulous expression on his face at the sight of Kage followed by someone with the exact description of the one they were searching for.
“We were just talking about how searching this way might not be the best strategy…I guess we were wrong!” Shole said as Kage and Bard reached the table.
Kage gave a slight smile and turned to Bard. “Bard, this is Artlem, and this is Shole. Artlem, Shole, this is Bard.”
Artlem shot up, extending his hand. “Pleasure to meet you.”
Bard grimaced, but accepted Artlem’s hand and gave it a curt shake. “Right. First, this girl’s got an injury that needs attending.” 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2fbyT0AQ4c
Their eyes shot to Kage.
“Kage? What happened?” Shole asked. “What do you need? I have some stuff in my bag, or wait, I’m sure they have stuff here. Wait, let me-“
Kage snuck a look at her injury, and stopped. She adjusted her shirt to make sure it was covered. The bleeding had already stopped, and her skin was starting to fuse back together. She felt her heart beat faster and breath start to quicken. When she first landed in the dust, she had questioned whether or not she’d have the same healing properties as before. Apparently, she did, and the thought was anything but reassuring. What if she got hurt again, and they saw it? What if they found out she wasn’t completely human? What if someone like him existed in this world-
“Kage?” Shole’s voice cut through her thoughts. She glanced up to his concerned expression.
“I’m fine! Actually. It’s not bad, I’m fine.”
“What do you mean?” Artlem said. “Are you hurt or aren’t you?”
“It’s okay! It looked worse than it was.” She reassured, though she knew her voice was anything but convincing. She shoved past Shole into the corner of the booth.
Bard frowned, as if trying to determine the cause of her abrupt change of attitude. He looked like he was going to say something, but sighed instead, and turned to Artlem. “So you wanted to talk to me, kid? I only came along because Kage here took a knife to the side trying to find me, however serious.” He shot a glare at her, and Kage quickly averted her eyes.
“You’d better make your pitch, since it’s going to be a waste of both of our time.”
“Right. We’ll see about that.” Artlem said. He jerked his head at Shole, who moved past Artlem to the inside of the booth across from Kage.
He tried to meet her eyes, but she avoided his gaze, turning her head to Artlem and Bard, now across from each other.
Bard settled into the seat, which was not quite built for his height. He folded his arms and glared at Artlem. “Well?”
“Right, well, for starters, I think maybe Kage should get that looked at either way.”
Kage’s head shot up. “What? Why?”
“Well…Fine. I’ll be frank.” 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0r83yYC2Z5
“Are you every not?” Shole muttered.
“Shush. Kage, the fewer people know about this the better, probably even the better for you. You’re just here to do the job we hired you for, you don’t need to know the little details.” 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFLXa9OSaAS
Kage felt her ears redden. While she didn’t want to say anything, she knew Bard had been right in his advice earlier.
“Forget it.”
“Excuse me?” Artlem asked
“Forget it. You’re getting me involved in something and I need to know what it is. Especially since it’s obviously more dangerous than you led me to believe. I’m not going in blind, either you let me in here, or I’m out.”
Oh, Artlem looked mad, but he swallowed it more or less gracefully, if only to save face in front of Bard.
“Well, of course, all you had to do was ask!” He smiled, though the smile was somehow aggressive. But his expression turned serious as he turned back to Bard.
“Alright then, no more interruptions. First of all: are you aware that the king is dead?”
→ Request update
and then Add to home screen.