Day 5

Lakisha and James Thornbulton waited at the inn with Christopher Blighte.

Tẽra’s response to Chris earlier that day had stuck with them. Chris had been beaten badly and at this point he was no threat to them. But he did have a gun, and he had managed to get beaten up by a group of thugs.

Thinking that he had sold a woman knowingly into slavery was just too horrible. Who does that? But they couldn’t quite shake it.

Chris winced about his wounds.

Lakisha was a pretty one. A lovely smile and dressed like the girl next door that does gardening, and needs to wash her hair.

“I am so hungry.” Chris said making conversation.

“We are all hungry.” James said feeling cranky.

“If they are not here soon, then we go to that church. Maybe that guy Sparrow will give us something to eat.” James added

He was not in the mood to talk.

“Let’s go now” Chris said.

“We agreed to wait, so we wait here as agreed.” Lakisha prompted “If they don’t come then we know something happened. Hopefully Viola will be back with her sister even if everyone else got caught. We need to try to be patient and positive.”

“Lakisha you are right.” Chris said positively “We will find a way home and everything will be as it should be.”

Kerri-liana arrived with Natrica and Spice. After introduction Kerri gave them bread to eat. It was a bit dry, but it was food. Kerri decided to test Chris as they sat and ate on the steps of the inn.

“I met a slave girl named Rachael. She speaks English and she had agreed to sneak us into the castle. She gave me the bread.” She lied looking for any tell on Chris’s face that indicated he knew Rachael.

“If this means a proper meal then let’s go now.” Chris said.

“We need to rest” Natrica said “Maybe sleep for a few hours??”

It had been a busy day.

“Let’s find somewhere to rest for a few hours and then we can go to the castle.” Kerri suggested.

“I saw an empty blacksmith’s shop earlier in town. We can rest there. Take turns on watch duty.” James said feeling a lot better after having eaten.

“Lead the way” Natrica said.

James wondered why she was wearing a big black coat.

But once they arrived at the blacksmiths he found out.

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It was humid after the drizzle. So Natrica took off her black coat so she could lie on it.

“WoWa” Chris said

“A dress like that could get you into trouble.”

“I have a guardian angel” she replied

“You need one! Looking like that”

“Stop looking if it bothers you so much.” Lakisha said

Natrica lay down.

“It doesn’t bother me at all. Not at all” Chris answered.

Natrica rolled her eyes. It didn’t take long for her to fall asleep.

“Stop staring” Lakisha moaned at James “You’ll only encourage the attention seeking behavior. After all you are going to marry a lady, not a hooker.”

“Judgy much.” James scolded.

James was on first watch and that was fine. Chris wasn’t on watch as he was beaten or so they told him. Truthfully, no one wanted to sleep if he was the only one awake. The Rachael story really bothered them.

Lakisha took the second shift. Which also went well.

Kerri –liana took the third shift, the midnight hours. She gazed at the beautiful stars and the amazing moon that light up the road and provided enough light for someone to see where they were going without a torch.

She saw someone was sneaking about, she wouldn’t have noticed if they hadn’t been running from shadow to shadow. Then a scuffle happened, she couldn’t hear what was being said.

Then four big burly men came towards the abandon blacksmiths shop.

She was about to start waking everyone when they said

“I have heard the rumors that the queen was hiding out here after her guards were massacred. But I have seen the posters. The queen wants these women found. So am I, really, to believe the queen was hiding?” he demanded from the other fellow

“I never told you rumors” the second man said

“But if you want rumors. They say the women escaped from the queen’s dungeon twice and they freed all the prisoners. Also, someone is asking about a surviving royal that wasn’t killed by the queen. Now if you ask me, the woman hiding was the surviving royal not the queen.”

“I didn’t ask you” the first man said flatly.

A skinning little man arrived, he looked nervous.

“What facts can you give me?” A third man asked the new man.

The skinny man began

“The queen has called for all her generals from across the land. They should be there within three days. Also, a Lovac hunter has been put on the trail of the escaping women.”

“I thought all the Lovac tribe were dead.” said the first man.

The skinny man continued

“The queen has Gogobeasts which she will use to destroy the Dragon Riders. She has people training them and riding them. She has dragon eggs too. So… What about my payment?”

“You get to live” the third man said.

They all dispersed disappearing into the town.

That was close, too close, Kerri thought.

Then her eyes fell on the shadows. She was sure she saw a dark shape moving in the shadows.

I’m just freaked out, she told herself.

As she looked back out of the abandoned shop she came face to face with a dark blue panther.

“You should trust your instincts” it purred

A big paw with claws partly out pressed against her throat.

She was speechless with fear. It sniffed her.

“Shhhhh”

It said as it walked through the place sniffing everyone.

Kerri’s body betrayed her. Refusing to move. She couldn’t even speak providing warning to the others. She stood at the door paralyzed with fear.

Finally, words came out

“Wake up” she squeaked.

Then she banged the door. Everyone woke up. The silver eyed Panther leaped out through the door.

Autumn sat on the roof listening. But she couldn’t understand anything they said.

“How did that thing get in here?” Chris demanded “Did you fall asleep?”

“Calm down. No one got hurt. What happened Kerri? Are you ok?” James asked.

Kerri stared at them. She didn’t know how to explain what had happened.

“It just came in. It didn’t care that I saw it. That wasn’t a normal panther.”

Natrica had awoken to the cat jumping over her.

“Silver eyes” she said dazed.

“Well, I don’t know about anyone else but I am not going back to sleep” Lakisha said.

Spice spoke up

“We should move on.”

Autumn began to get a splitting headache, and her vision blurred. So, she moved on seeking all the foreign smells. Tracking down these women was harder than she had expected.

It seemed that everyone blamed Kerri–liana. Saying she had fallen asleep or that she wasn’t watching. She knew what had happened but it was impossible,

“Spice, that Panther spoke to me, and I am not imagining it.” Kerri said while everyone gathered their things.

They were a noisy bunch.

“There are stories of mighty hunters with the power to control animals. Even making them speak. But no one has seen or heard a story about them for many moons. We believed the queen killed them all as she has tigers protecting her. It was believed that for self-preservation she killed them all first. Before ravaging the land.” Spice answered thoughtfully

“Not all stories are true and many rumors were spread to ensure division among the people. Many tribes had secrets that they kept to themselves. We all shared the land and traded and traveled, but each tribe was their own.” Spice finished

“So, it’s possible the cat spoke to me?” Kerri asked needing reassurance

Spice assured her.

“Yes, it is possible.”

The group thundered down the well moonlit streets.