“Axel?” He looked back at me. “What do you think of me? In all honesty.”

“You will make a great queen and-”

“No not that. How do you think of me?”

“I am not sure I understand what you are asking.”

“When we were younger and we would run around the garden, playing, we had a special connection. What happened? Now I am just a Princess to you and you are simply my guard. What happened to the freeness that we once had. The freeness to say what we wanted, or rather for you to say what you wanted without the princess title.” I walked to the balcony out my window and I leaned on the bars. Axel followed me and stood a foot away from me.

“We had to grow up, accept our duties, and move on. We aren’t kids anymore.” I heard him walk away and leave as my next guard came. Axel was leaving to the twenty year long war between us and the Humans, and I didn’t want his last words to be those. Much to my guard’s surprise, I ran out of the room and to Axel. My guard came running after me. I hugged Axel from behind, he of course heard me and my force hadn’t stumbled him in the slightest. He sighed and turned around. He removed me from him and opened his mouth to speak, but I interrupted him.

“Come home. Don’t die out there.”

He put his hand on my arm, and smiled. “I wouldn’t dream of it, Princess. I don’t want to die out there and leave you all alone. Besides, the King thinks it would be best for me to continue watching over you after the war.” He hesitated unsure of whether or not he should say something. “Plus, I have to tell you something. Hang tight, Princess.” He dropped his hand and left.

I turned to see my guard, mouth wide open. “Don’t tell anyone.”

“Yes, my Princess.” He closed his mouth and followed after me. I went to the gardens where I could see the guards leave and the injured ones come back. I watched as Axel got on a horse and left. I stood there until he completely disappeared into the forest surrounding the castle, he would still have to go through the villages. I turned and tried to walk calmly to my room. About halfway to my room, I collapsed and clutched my dress where my heart was, and started to cry.

Amara found me on the ground and helped me up. “Thalia? What’s wrong?” She asked alarm written all over her face. She looked up and around us. “Where’s Axel?” she paused, seeming to remember something. “Oh, nevermind.” I cried in her shoulder. I wouldn’t have cried as hard as I did that day if it was guaranteed that Axel would come back alive. I only had two people close to me in my life, I didn’t want to lose one of them.

I stayed in bed the rest of the day. As I lay in bed, I grasp the bracelet Axel gave me when we were kids. It was just a simple leather band with strings, but it was special because it came from him. He made matching bracelets for us both. I doubt he still had his, he probably forgot about the promise to always have them no matter what. It was childish, but it was so we don’t forget each other no matter where we are.

I ended up crying myself to sleep. Axel was in my dream. He was at war and I was there too. As he was staring at me in shock, I saw a human come up behind him with sword in hand. Axel was stabbed from behind and I watched. I tried to run to him, but my legs weren’t moving. I was stuck and the same scene happened over and over again.

I woke up panting, my guard was in panic and I figured I had screamed in my sleep. My Father walked in and sat on the bed, he sighed and looked at me. He must not have heard my scream, he wasn’t in a panic like my guard. Not like he would actually care if he heard me. He probably wouldn’t care anymore if I were to just die in my sleep.

“I am fine, it was just a nightmare.” I told my guard. I was reminded of Axel and what he used to do when I had a nightmare as kids. He would sit next to me and tell me stories as he rubbed my arm or run his fingers through my hair. I wanted to cry again.

Father interrupted my thoughts when he suddenly spoke. “We need peace.” He said, matter-of-factly. He cleared his throat. “So the Human king sent a letter and he suggests that I give you to his younger son in marriage. You can rule the kingdom, but he will live here with you.”

“What? No! Father, he will kill me the night we say our vows! Plus, I don’t even know him! How am I to trust him? How can you trust him? Those humans started the war and because of them, now Axel-” I covered my mouth after I said Axel’s name. I didn’t want Father knowing me and Axel were closer than he thought.

“Axel? That guard boy? What does he have to do with anything? Has he done something to you?”

“No Father, it’s nothing like that.” I started tearing thinking about my friend.

“So you love this boy? Is that why you are refusing?” For some reason, he didn’t sound accusatory, it more of something else. But I was too flustered to identify it before I replied.

“No Father, he is my friend. I already didn’t trust the humans, they are conniving and evil. They are out for their own gain.” He seemed to slump when I denied what he said, but he quickly recovered his “Kingly” posture. Or at least as straight as he could. He was now naturally slumped.

“I didn’t come to ask you for permission to agree.” He said, standing up. “I am telling you that you will marry the human prince. It will be in your best interest for the guard boy that is ‘just a friend’.” He left, leaving me even more upset. I stuffed my face into my pillow and screamed. I refused to leave my room and Amara stayed with me in my room the whole day, trying to keep my attention from wavering to death scenes of Axel.

I woke up the next morning and got ready, Prince Fredrik was coming today. I filled up the bath with warm water and climbed in. I was in for a good hour, thinking about Fredrik and coming up with a mental picture of how bad he would be. I imagined him ugly like all humans. We elves are way prettier naturally. I put makeup on slowly and tried not to think about how I was to marry him. The very thought of it made me gag. I walked to my closet and picked out my mother’s dress. It was the dress my mother wore when she first met father, she was a commoner and wanted to show her beauty. The dress complimented her light hair color and has a similar effect on my silver hair.

The dress had a low back and the sleeves rest on the upper arms. From the waist down it was puffed out and purple grey. The dress looked to be made out of feathers. The length of it went down to my ankles and I wore grey heels with straps going around my calves to my knees. I put in white feather earrings and looked at myself in the mirror. I picked up my crown and slowly put it on my head. I decided to keep my bracelet on. I wasn’t going to take it off for some human.

I took my time walking down the hall to where the second floor meets the first with two staircases. I walked to the railing and rested against it just as a figure walked through the doors. It was human. Prince Fredrik. He was tall from my viewpoint. his golden hair was slicked back and looked like he was trying too hard. Oh great, he is one of those guys. I thought to myself. His green eyes were visible from where I was. As far as I could tell, he was okay looking (for a human).

He looked up and saw me. I just stared as he waved. He seemed clueless to all the elves around glaring at him. If he tried to attack me, multiple guards would get to him first. I found it a bit creepy how he stared at me while I walked down the stairs. I walked up to him and we bowed. He gave me his arm, and I ignored it. I had to show him around the castle. Which was ironic because I was the worst person for it. We only made small talk as we walked on. I didn’t care to listen to most of his answers to questions.

At dinner we all just sat there in silence. I would have usually enjoyed it if it weren’t for Fredrik. Amara was giving me faces across the table, she didn’t like Prince Fredrik either. Father gave her disapproving looks, but I smiled. She was only 16 years old, she was still allowed to act silly. At least in my opinion. A guard ran in and whispered something to father. Father excused himself and ran out of the room, his face red. I excused myself and followed him at a distance. We ended up at his office, the door was still open. Father and our general, Venali, were talking in low voices and I could barely hear them. I moved closer to the door and listened.

Father began to yell, his face was probably still red. “What do you mean the 14th regiment went missing! In one night! But How!? They were under your best men’s watch!” The fourteenth regiment went missing!? That’s Axel’s group! I put one hand to cover my gaping mouth and the other went over my aching heart.

Time seemed to stop. I felt as if I was drowning and no one was there to help. The water came and engulfed my head, filling my lungs and burning my eyes. I heard a voice, distant and washed over by the water. I refocused my senses on what was going on.

“I’m sorry my lord. It was during the night. The camp was invaded by humans and they took our men as hostage. They are saying that we kidnapped their prince. The prince fooled us into thinking the letter came from the king. They let one of our men free, but he was poisoned and injured. He didn’t last long. But he lasted just long enough to give us the message.”

Father sighed. “We can’t go after them, it would be like killing our own men. We also don’t know once we return their prince if they will just kill our men.” father went into deep thought, looking for a solution.

“No disrespect your majesty, but my son, Axel, was among those taken. He is my only family left, we have to at least try to save them. Maybe in the night, or having a hostage switch-off at the same time. Also, it would be in the best interest for your daughter to save my son. They grew up together after all. While you weren’t around, it was my son who helped her out of grief for the late Queen.”

“What would you know about what is good for my daughter!?” Father yelled, making me jump.

“No disrespect, but I know a lot more than you do.”

“We are not going to do anything about it until we are sure the humans don’t have anything planned behind their backs. Now, leave me, you are dismissed.”


“But-”


“Did you not hear me? I said, You. Are. Dismissed.”


I quickly hid and watched Venali as he stomped out of the room. Father closed the doors. I waited until I was sure the coast was clear. I stood up and ran, letting my feet guide me to wherever. They brought me to the gardens, to a circle of granite benches. I plopped down on one of them. I let the tears stinging at the corners of my eyes fall. This was where me and Axel spent most of our time as kids, playing hide and seek or the floor is lava.


The benches across from me were silhouetted against the waterfall. I stood up and walked to the waterfall. It glowed at night because of the Khanas. The humans have fish, we have Khanas, named after the person who first discovered them. They glowed a light blue color and looked like pieces of silk. Their fins flowed in the water, even if they weren’t moving. I watched the Khanas until morning. Their flowing fins became entrancing. My entrance was interrupted by a loud noise behind me. It was none other than the troublemaker himself, Prince Fredrik.


“Hey your royal broodiness. I was looking for ya’.” He said as he sat next to me. I scooted away from him and turned away. “Aw, giving me the silent treatment?” A pause. “Wow, you look like you have been to hell and back.”


Thanks, I thought, that’s a nice way to make friends with someone you have tricked. Wait, why isn’t he locked up? I looked at him. “Why aren’t you locked up for tricking the King?”


“Ah, good question. Thankfully I have the answer. Pause for effect.” he said, still smiling. Psh, what effect? Now I really hated him. “I am under close watch by some of my men, if they don’t see me at specific times, they have orders to kill your men.” I looked around searching for his men. “It is no use trying to find them, they are hidden.”


My guard came running and panting with Amara close behind him. “There you are princess, we have been looking for you all night. Where did you run off to?”. He took a good look at me, “Man, you look awful. Have you been out here all night? You should probably get changed and washed up.”


I stood up, thankful for an excuse to leave. My guard walked ahead of me and my sister. We got to my room and on my vanity stand was food. The guard left the room after escorting me in. I walked to the mirror. There were dark circles under my eyes, and they were puffy and red from crying. I undressed and took a bath. When I got out, I walked to the vanity stand and stared at the food, not in the least bit hungry.


“You need to eat.” Amara said, rubbing my back. “Don’t worry, he will be back before you know it. I miss him too. If it wasn’t for the two of you raising me, I wouldn’t have been so happy.”


I heard a knock at the door. Opening the door, it was someone I didn’t want to see, Father. He didn’t know I had heard the conversation between him and the general, so I played innocent when he walked in.


“Hi Father, what’s up?” I asked in a I-am-completely-innocent-and-know-nothing tone.


He sighed and gestured to the bed. I sat down and he sat after me. I knew what he was going to say before he even said it. “Well, I have good news, bad news, and really bad news. Which would you like to hear first?”


Good news? What good news? Everything is far from good right now. “Good News first, really bad news last.”


“You won’t have to marry that prince Fredrik. Bad news, He tricked us and he was the one who sent the letter. Really bad news, the Fourteenth regiment went missing two nights ago. There is, as of right now, no way of finding or helping them. That guard boy, Axel I think his name was, was in that regiment. I’m sorry. We will have to just sit and wait for now.”


I acted like I was shocked and it hurt even more hearing my father actually tell me those words. He stood and gave me a sympathetic look and left. Not even comforting, even though it was past that point already. I sat for a while and then a crazy, nonsensical thought came to me. I could try to go and save the regiment. I could find Axel and bring him and the rest of the men home. It was crazy, but it was better than sitting and waiting around for something to happen.


“Amara.” I waved her to me and she fell on my shoulder crying. Axel and I were the only family she really had. “What if we go to find him?”


“What?” She sat up. “Are you crazy? We won’t survive two minutes out there. We are just a couple of princesses, what are we going to do against human troops?”


I grabbed one of her hands in both of mine. “I have a feeling that it wasn’t the humans.” I grabbed the collar of my dress. “I can feel it in my gut. Come with me, please?”


“No. You are downright crazy. Leave Dad to fix it.”


“Are you really fine with that? He’s gone, probably forever if no one does anything.”


“Why do you suddenly want to save him? Especially when we are the least qualified to do it.” She took one look at my face and sighed. “I won’t convince you otherwise. You get the supplies and I will meet you outside the walls tonight.”


“Okay. Thank you.” I watched as she walked out of the room.


I ran down to the kitchen with my guard close behind me, heaving as he tried to keep up. I closed and locked the door behind me so he wouldn’t come in. Kristal, the head cook was the only one in the kitchen. She was a plump, short elve. Her ears were pierced at the tip and they bend down due to the weight of the earrings she always wore. Her brown, tied-up hair was turning grey at the roots. She always re-dyed her hair brown whenever the grey showing got to the bottom of her ears. Axel used to joke that my hair was just like hers.


Kristal turned at the sound of me entering the room. Her peaceful, brown eyes lit up when she saw me. She wiped her hands on her apron, long worn out. She had always refused when I offered to buy her a new one. She came over and gave me a big embrace. She had a big smile as she pulled away. She still had her hands on my shoulders.


“What can I do for ya, my darling?” She asked turning to continue cooking. She was most likely making her breakfast.


“I am going to go on a trip and I need you to make me food. If you don’t mind.”


“Not at all darling! How long will you be gone?”


How long would I be gone? “A couple of weeks. But, I need it for easy carrying. Something light that will last a while.”


“When do you leave?”


“Tonight. Bring the food to my room and leave it on my vanity stand.”


“Okay.”


Kristal nodded and started putting the ingredients for her breakfast together to make whatever it was she was going to eat. I took it as a cue to leave. I opened the door and my guard stood there, angry. He opened his mouth to say something. I put up one hand and he closed his mouth. I started walking to the stables and remembered Leo, my white lion. I made a beeline for her cage in the gardens. It had been forever since I saw him last. He was in a cage because he didn’t like anyone except for me and Axel. We took him in as a cub, abandoned by it’s pride. Everyone was scared of him.


As we got closer, my guard slowed down and stopped about fifty feet from the gate. I opened up the gate and ran for Leo. My guard closed the gate then retreated about fifty feet away again. Leo looked at me and his blue eyes seemed to light up. He laid there and waited for me to come. I hugged his neck. Pulling back, I inspected his fur and face, making sure everything was okay since the last time I saw him. The castle staff had been doing a good job of keeping his fur clean and smooth. I stroked his fur for a long while, thinking about how to escape.


“Can you bring me a book?” I asked my guard, he seemed startled that I talked after being silent for a while. With that request, he was off. I layed against Leo’s back and watched the sky and clouds go by. It felt like forever before he returned with my book. I had to go to the gate though, he wasn’t willing to come into the cage to give it to me. Leo was asleep, there was nothing to be afraid of. I leaned against his back and read until a maid came and asked me to come in for dinner. I stroked Leo’s mane one last time before I went inside.


This time, Fredrik wasn’t at the table. He was probably told to go eat in the room he was staying in. There wasn’t even a place setting for him. We had an abundance of food. I still wasn’t hungry, but I had planned on escaping tonight, so I decided to eat anyway. The guard that watched me at night always fell asleep in the middle of the night. It was good for sneaking out with Axel when we were kids. But as I got older, it became more frightening.


Father dropped his spoon which startled me out of my daze.


“Sorry.” He mumbled.


I watched the way he was moving, he was tired. He most likely had stayed up all night last night.


“Father, why don’t you go to bed? You look exhausted.”


“Okay, I think I will do that.” He got up and left slowly.


I ate until I was beyond full. I didn’t want to have an empty stomach on my journey. I walked slowly to my room, looking at the castle with a new-found interest. I never thought of actually sneaking out and leaving before. Then again, I always thought Axel would never have to leave my side. When I got to my room, I saw the food packed in a satchel. I told my guard to wake me up when the night guard stood post because I wanted to make sure I was completely safe. Six hours later, I was woken up.


I packed a couple changes of clothes into the satchel. I changed into a brown, long-sleeve shirt and black, leather pants. I put on my boots and strapped them to the top. I pulled up my hair into a ponytail and then went to see if the night guard was asleep. Sure enough, he was; which was perfect. I grabbed my bag and grabbed a white, hooded overcoat. I slipped out the door and quietly made my way down corridor through corridor. The halls were dark. I barely breathed until I made it out of the castle, I didn’t want to get caught trying to sneak out.


I navigated around the gardens until I found an opening in the barrier wall around the castle, it was just big enough for me to fit through. I crouched through it and made it to the other side, managing not to get caught. Amara was waiting for me and we began our journey. I walked far enough to see the castle in it’s entirety. The castle was home and I didn’t want to leave it behind. It was beautiful now that I was leaving it. I turned around and walked without looking back.

We had been walking through the night. The tree canopy blocked out the moonlight, it was almost pitch black. We weren’t going to wait for it to get bright before we started to walking. They would have found us on the other side of the wall and I would never be able to do anything without supervision again. They would probably lock Amara up and away from me. It was my idea, so I would naturally take the blame for it. I reached out until I caught Amara’s hand. I held on tightly so I wouldn’t lose her.


It was starting to get brighter and at this point, I had no idea where we were going or how far we had gone. We came up to a small break in the forest and in the middle was a boulder. It looked like it was cut in half. There were flowers growing around the bottom of it. I walked to it and plopped down, hurting my butt from dropping too hard. Amara joined me.


“You should lay down and sleep.” I tell her and stroke her hair. She just nodded and laid down. She was soon asleep. I looked at the bracelet my guard boy gave me. What Axel gave me. I would never forget when he gave it to me.


“Thalia.” I heard someone call my name. I looked around but saw no one. Just as I was about to go back to reading, something moved. I stood and went around a bush to find Axel. It had been only six months since I saw him last, but he was way taller. He had multiple gashes in his arms that I could see.

“What happened?” I asked, touching his arm lightly.

“It’s nothing.” He shrugged. He looked around us then pulled something out of his pocket. “This is for you.” He held out a simple leather bracelet. After I stared at it for a bit, he sighed and grabbed my wrist. He tied it on himself and put up his right wrist. “I made them myself.” He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “It may not be anything special, but…” He trailed off.
“But what?” I asked, studying my bracelet.

“I wanted you to have a piece of me with you. So you don’t forget about me.” He grabbed my head and kissed my forehead. Then he ran away and back to where he was supposed to be. For a second, I thought I saw Father in a window. When I looked back, there was no one there. So I walked off.



Smiling at the memory, I looked up the sky. The last visible stars were disappearing.


A rustling startled me and I woke Amara. It came from one of the trees I didn’t know which one. But, whatever it was moved into a tree farther away. Soon, the sound was gone completely. We continued walking.


After what felt like years, my legs began to scream at me. I sat on the ground and massaged them. “What if I did this for nothing? What if father had just found the solution and is going to fix things right now? It would be a longshot, but you never know. Father occasionally comes up with a solution pretty quickly.” I told Amara, but mainly to myself. She sat next to me and sighed, pulling one knee to her chest.


“If you were going to doubt yourself as soon as we left, we would have been better off just staying in the castle.” Amara said.


“You’re right, but I can’t help it. We should probably just go back.” Amara set her jaw and and the look in her eyes became determined.


“No. We are going to go and find him.” She said. “I wasn’t thinking before. I miss Axel just as much as you. You both raised me and are a big part of my life, so I should be there when either of you are in trouble or need help.” I hugged her and our stomachs both growled. I took out the bundle of food from my satchel. I ate half of a large piece of dried meat and she ate the other half.

There was the faintest of sounds. Then, someone holding a blade was in my face. A different figure bent over me. It was a girl, but she didn’t look like any of the creatures I knew. Her ears were white-tipped and brown. They were rounded and furry. The rest of her that was uncovered was fur. The only skin was around her face. She had big, bright, blue eyes. Something moved behind her. I realized it was a tail. She had black around her eyes like a raccoon. It was natural, it wasn’t painted on, nor was it a mask.

“See Luna, it is the princess. I told you so.” She looked at who was holding the blade. I couldn’t see the person because she was in my face, but I guessed it was Luna.

“When we are trying to rob someone, don’t say our names.” Hissed the person holding the blade. The raccoon girl’s ears went down.
“I’m sorry, Luna. Oh, wait! I did it again.” She covered her mouth and backed off.

“Up.” The voice of the blade holder said. Me and Amara stood up. She was holding on my arm tightly. There was only two of them. Both girls.

I got a good look at the two girls. The raccoon girl was wearing mostly black, But it was embroidered with pink thread. She had bangs that looked like fur and a blade strapped on each hip. She was wearing boots with pink bows tied to them. The other was some sort of animal thing as well. She reminded me of a wolf more than anything. It was the ears that made me think of a wolf. She looked human or elven (depending on how you want to look at it) besides the tail and ears. She also had long, glossy hair. It was brown, grey, black, and tan. Her ears and tail were the same as her hair. Her eyes were like the moon. She was dressed in only black. She was still holding her blade out at me.

“What are the princesses doing out in the woods alone?” Luna asked.

“That’s a very good question.” Raccoon girl said. Luna glared at her. If there was a corner for raccoon girl to hide in, she would be there now.

“We snuck out of the castle to find someone.” I said.
“
Don’t you have people more trained to find a person?” Raccoon girl asked.

“Yeah. The princesses would definitely have those kinds of resources.” Luna asked.

“Instead of trying to rob them, I bet we could get more money off them by returning them to the castle.” Raccoon girl suggested, looking at Luna.

“Please don’t.” Amara said, letting go of my arm and stepping towards them. “Please help us, we will give you anything you want, we just really need to do this.”

“Why are you so desperate for help you would beg strangers?” Luna said, gripping her sword tighter. “You are supposed to be the kingdom’s privileged, you are supposed to get everything. What more do you want.”

“Why would I tell you when we don’t know you?”I asked, stepping forward in between the two girls and my sister. “What business is it of yours?”

“I need to know to determine what to do with you.” Luna said, shocking even raccoon girl. “What you say next determines your fate. Now tell me, who are you looking for so desperately that you left the comfort of the castle?”

“There was a camp of elven soldiers that went missing.” I said, wondering why it mattered so much to her. “In it was a friend of mine. He had been my friend since childhood. We are kind of in a stand-off with the humans and the king won’t do anything about it.”

“I’ll help.” Luna sheathed her sword on her back. “I will take you to someone special who can help you. It won’t take long for her to find him, trust me.” She started walking off and Raccoon girl grabbed my arm and pulled me forward. Amara followed.

“So, what’s your name?” I asked Raccoon girl. Might as well learn the name of the people helping me.

“Sophia.” She said, then bowed. “I am sorry my princesses for the way Luna treated you. She can be scary.” After a pause, she looked ahead at Luna’s back. “Though she is a good person once you get to know her.”

“So, I have never seen people, or you know, like you two before.” I stumbled over my words, wondering what they were.

“We are results of human genetic testing. They wanted to create better humans. Instead, they made monsters.” Sophia said, looking at the ground solemnly.

“We aren’t monsters, we just look like monsters.” Luna spoke up.

“When common people found out the scientists were doing genetic testing, they lashed out and stole us. Most mutations died because after being freed, they were left on their own. The two of us were taken in by thieves. However, they would kill people and keep their money to themselves. We didn’t want to do that. So, we left and now we take from the rich and give it to the poor. The weapons are for the rare occasions that we end up having to fight someone.”

“So, who is this boy you are looking for?” Sophia asked, changing the subject. “He must be important for you two to just leave without notice. Is he really just a friend?”

“Just a friend.” I told her. It felt like I was more of telling myself rather than her. He was just a friend. Wasn’t he?

“Right, just a friend.” Sophia said in a doubtful voice.

“Sophia.” Luna said her name and Sophia’s head dropped. We walked in silence for a long time after that, I felt awkward. Why am I even with them? I don’t even know who they really are.

“So,” Sophia ventured, “What is that on the bracelet?”

“My bracelet?” I looked down at it. “Ah, well, when we were children and the boy was learning leatherworking, he made me a bracelet. He has a matching one. They both have our initials in a design.”

“Right, because ‘just friends’ wear couple bracelets.”

“I told you it’s not like that.”

“Are you sure it’s not like that?” Amara said. She had been so quiet, I had almost forgotten she was with me. “I have seen the way you look at Axel when you go into your own world. Or the way he looks at you when you aren’t paying attention to him.”

“Can we drop this subject?” I ask and they bot became silent.

We came to a halt by a hut. Luna walked inside and motioned for us to come in. She went to a chest and gave me a black hooded cape. She took off my white one and put on the one she had told me to hold. She pulled the hood over my face and told me to keep it like that. She did the same for Amara.

“We are going to go into a goblin town. If they see you, who knows what they will do. They are violent and unpredictable.” Luna said.

We walked until we came to a small town. There were goblins everywhere, plus the occasional satyr. They were all in a drunken state. We walked into a bar and it was full of goblins of every sort. We got to the back without problems. But it was when we almost reached the back door, that two goblins got into a fight over who had the right to eat the pig due to who paid more. However, there was no pig there. There were mugs all around them.

The larger one pushed the smaller one. The smaller one reached out and grabbed my cloak in an attempt to catch itself. The cloak came off and he saw me. Luna quickly picked up the cloak and put it on me. The goblin was too drunk to completely recognize me. As Luna knocked on the door I heard their mumbled conversation.

“Sh luk lie te elh pricesh.”

“No, sh isn whae ould sh be ere?”

“I don know, I em drun!”

Cackling laughter followed.

The door opened and a woman looked out. She beckoned us in quickly. Thankfully, she was not a goblin and not a satyr. She had red hair peeking out of a black hood. She beckoned us is. We quickly filed into the room and she shut the door behind her. She pulled off her hood and looked me and Amara up and down. She was human as far as I could tell. She wore all black armor and had a blade resting on her hip. For some reason, she resembled someone familiar. I couldn’t quite put my hand on it.