After a day of walking, they saw a small town in the distance. Anju put on his mask. "Are you some kind of criminal? Is that why you need to hide your face?" although he didnt answer, he begun to walk towards the town. She followed him. The closer they were the more she could see. She noticed 2 different flags above the town walls. "Why are there two of them?" she asked Anju."Each town has two of them. The first one belongs to lord in command and the second one is the flag of the kingdom."
"I see." she answered. The town"s gate was open and there were two guards standing in front of it. One of them was an old man with grey hair and the second one was probably his son. He had to be around the same age as Tia. They got cautious when they noticed masked Anju and Tia coming to them. They grabbed their spears, slowly pointed them on incoming strangers and the old man asked
"Who are you? Why are you here?" Anju stopped two meters in front of them, his dark clothes were waving in the wind.
"We are travelers. We would appreciate some warm food and room to stay a night." he told him with friendly voice.
"Fine, but we will keep an eye on you, stranger." he then indicated them to move inside the town with one quick move with his spear. Anju and Tia did exactly that. The town was full of life, there were stands where people sold different types of food, basic weapons and armor, some accessories.
"Wow! This is my first time visiting such a big town." said Tia excitedly while looking around. They were standing on the main street and far in the distance was an inn. Anju looked at Tia.
"I"m gonna book two rooms for night in that inn. You can explore this town on your own." this announcement made her happy.
"Really? Can I walk everywhere I want?"
"Sure, just be back until evening." then their ways got separated. Anju went to the inn and Tia went right to the apple stand. She bought two red apples from an old lady running the stand. She was eating while she was slowly walking through the main street. As she was looking around her, enjoying the atmosphere of the living town, she didn"t notice young man in front of her. She crashed into him.
"I"m sorry, are you okay?" she asked the man. Then she realized who he was. It was the young man who was guarding outside the town before.
"I"m okay, but you should be more careful or you could hurt yourself or someone else." he smiled. "Are you here for the first time?"
"Yes and I really like it here so far!" she answered with happy smile on her face.
"I can tell that from your expression. Can I show you the town? My name is Eric by the way." he offered her.
"I"m Tia." She had no reason to decline his offer so they went to explore the town together. He showed her all the interesting places, from a small church to the town hall. He told her who the lord of the town was and how terrible he was. Then they sat at the table in one small pub. "Oh by the way, I want to apologize for my father"s strange behaviour outside the town. But we need to be cautious nowadays, after all the terrible news." she ordered a pint of beer and asked Eric
"What terrible news?"
"Demon Lord Kale has been acting crazy since the day his son disappeared. That"s a reason why there are some of his thugs near our town. We need to be cautious." she took a sip of beer.
"So Kale has a son huh?"
"Actually he has three sons and one daughter. The oldest one disappeared few weeks ago though. Some people say he got kidnapped but n.o.body really knows."
"I see." Eric also ordered beer. While he was drinking it he kept watching Tia with shy expression. She felt little uncomfortable because of his stare so she finished her drink and said "Well I will have to go to the inn now. It"s late." Eric looked at her.
"Well then I will accompany you. It"s dangerous to be alone in dark." she agreed. They left the pub together and walked to the inn. When they arrived he asked "Can I see you again tomorrow?"
"Sure." she smiled, said goodbye and left him alone. He was excited when he walked home.
Tia had to ask the woman working in the inn where her room was. She gave her the key to the room that Anju had booked for her. However, she didn"t go there yet, she went to visit him. His room was next to hers. She knocked on his door.
"Come in." Anju"s voice said. She opened the door. He was standing in front of an opened window, cold breeze was blowing into the room. He had no shirt on, so Tia could see his naked back in moonshine. He turned around with his red eyes watching her. "Do you need something?" She checked his body and his face. She ignored his question and asked him.
"That scar under your left eye. How did you get it?" his expression changed into more serious one.
"That scar was a gift from my father." she was confused.
"What kind of father would do this to own son?" but he didn"t want to talk about it.
"That doesn"t matter now." she did two steps closer to him.
"You saved my life. Now you are helping me with.." she touched her belly ".. that. But I still don"t know anything about you. I only know your name. I want to know more." he wasn"t so excited about it though.
"The less you know about me the more safe you are. And you don"t really need more trouble right now." he said, then he turned back to look from the opened window. "You should go to your room, we will leave this town in the early morning tomorrow." She didn"t say anything back and left his room. *Why is he like this? Why doesn"t he understand me?* her mind was full of thoughts. She then lay on her bed. There was one thing bothering her. All the memories about her family and village. Even though she could recall everything, she didn"t feel any pain anymore. *Is it because of that snake?* she asked herself in her mind as she touched her belly. She still couldn"t feel it because of all the symbols and circles Anju drew on her. After a little while of thinking she fell asleep.
*
It was still dark when he woke her up. "We have to leave, now." he told her.
"Why? Why are you in such a hurry?" she asked Anju as she slowly got up her bed.
"Because I can sense someone powerful in this town. Someone who wasn"t here yesterday." then he looked from the window. "It may not be an enemy but I do not wish to find out." she got scared.
"Do you think it"s someone sent by Kale?" He shrugged his shoulders.
"I have no clue. But we have to leave. I will wait outside." he left her room. She quickly changed her clothes and packed her things. After that she left the room. Anju was standing there. "Ready?" she nodded in agreement. They left the inn but before they could leave the town, they got interrupted by young town guard.
"Tia!" he shouted. She turned around.
"Eric?" she was surprised. *What is he doing here?* she thought as he slowly got closer to her. Anju hadn"t put the mask on because he didn"t a.s.sume they would meet someone. Eric saw his face. It reminded him of someone but he couldn"t recall who.
"Are you leaving?" she could tell that he was sad.
"Yes." she answered. Anju looked really impatient. Eric didn"t pay any attention to him though and asked Tia another question.
"Then please take this." he said and took a necklace from his pocket. She was surprised. It was a glowing necklace made from amber and it looked like there was a small scorpion inside of it.
"Thank you! But wait did you give me a present?" She smiled and put the necklace on. He wanted to say something, but he got interrupted by Anju.
"I don"t want to ruin your talk, but we need to go. That person is getting closer." he looked at Tia. She nodded and looked at Eric, who was confused.
"I"m sorry. I really need to go now. Thank you for that present. Maybe we will meet each other again." She smiled for the last time, turned around and begun to run away with Anju. Eric stretched his hand.
"Please wait! I think I like you!" he said but she couldn"t hear him. They were already gone. Eric was angry. "Why? Why me? Why did I have to fall for a girl that I don"t even know!" he shouted. But then he could hear steps. He turned around, there were three people walking to him. There was a girl, a man and a masked person that he couldn"t identify.
"Hey you there, haven"t you seen a black-haired girl. She was probably with some man." asked the girl. She looked at him and bit her lip. *Who are these people?* thought Eric as he shaked his head.
"No. You are the first girl I"ve seen today." she smiled.
"He is lying." said the man.
"I know he is." she answered. "Shall we punish him?"
"No. Leave him alone." said the masked person. It was a male"s voice. "We already know where they are going."
"If you say so, Toby." the girl answered. "Goodbye boy, it"s a shame that we can"t play together." she told him and then the strangers left him alone.
*Who the h.e.l.l were these guys?* he thought as he watched them leave in the same direction as Tia did. He was worried about her. "I will find you Tia. I will tell you my feelings." Even though he saw her for only a few hours, he felt something that he hadn"t felt ever before.