"Come on, Einervaene, we're nearly there." I whisper to my friend's daughter as I slowly bounce her about to wake her up. It's a pity I failed, she cannot even enjoy the light of day or even the dark of night, it's only black for her.
"M-M-Mother...?" she slobbers unladylike with a wipe of her forearm.
"Easy now, I got you. I got you." I explain as she secures her hand in mine.
"Where are we?" she asks as we start to get awkward stares from the people out and about this modest place.
"The inn I told you about earlier."
"I've been sleeping for too long, I'll never get back into it..." she complains as I carefully open the door and bring her in. A little boy zooms past us with little care and I briefly follow him with my eyes until he goes too deep into the dark. My brow settles down again and I do much the same with Einervaene, leaving her at a quiet table. Stepping away with a loud stomp, the customers of this place give me one look and go back to their business.
"Excuse me, this is an inn, right?" I ask the man behind the counter as he eyes Einervaene suspiciously. He notes my hair before picking up some boards, their contents clear to me when I look down. Just some menus.
"It is, been in my family for half a dozen generations. Coming-On-Seventh is her name." he explains before he passes the boards over to a waitress.
"I understand that you are busy, going by the animals and that outside, but, do you have any rooms left? We only need a single bed for her, I'm fine with the cold hard floor outside if need be." I tell him and the man shuffles his jaw about on its unhinged axel.
"Got a bit of a mess left we can sort out, move a spare mattress in."
"Great, how much do I owe you?" I ask, reaching for what little money we did bring for circumstances like this.
"Nah, don't you worry, it's not a proper room. You can pay by sorting it out yourself." he explains before waving over what must be a or one of his sons.
"Thank you, we appreciate this." I explain as I start to follow after the quiet lad, taking one last glance at Einervaene before I go up the stairs. She can take care of herself for the moment, she knows what she can do if someone tries to take advantage of her lack of sight.
The wooden stairs creak like whiny chicks under the weight of my armour and I might as well be playing drums with how banging my steps are. Some others in the inn peak out their rooms and give me a look of disgust but I otherwise ignore them. The small guy unlocks the storage room and goes out into the hall to bring in a lantern so another can be lit. I nod in thanks as he rushes back downstairs without showing me anything else.
Shrugging my shoulders, I look around the room and spot what looks like a mattress rolled up on a shelf. Tugging it out, the thing thwacks itself back flat and I knock it out the way as dust and random strings of fodder blow up into the air. Waving my hand at the tolerable filth, I pick up and move everything about, narrowing the room a fair margin but managing all the same. Putting my foot on the new bed, I stomp gently and end up with an upwards-curving thing with a clear indenting spine.
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"Might be best to go light on our rations..." I mutter before heading to the door which had been closed at some point. Only, it doesn't move, with a groan, I move the lantern about and shine it upon the door handle. However, there's no internal lock, the only lock is on the outside. Frowning, I start to bang on the door in case someone accidentally closed it on me thinking this is still being used as a storage room.
Lots of noise suddenly erupts from downstairs and a lot of people move about outside. Focusing my senses, my eyes narrow as I pick up on the clear presence of weapons and armour adding to the power of many individuals. Nothing all that impressive, but, still concerning given how none of this was here a moment ago. A girl screams.
"Einervaene!" I go, my body quickly finding the openness of the hallway again. I quickly take in how someone has added on more locks than there was before. My magic lights up and I burst straight through the inn's supporting structure, its main floor cracking open when I land. Staring up at what's going on, I see the innkeeper gesture to a bounty notice and men draw their weapons.
Spotting Einervaene, I barrel up to her, knocking aside our attackers and grabbing onto her in a panicked frenzy. Gritting my teeth against the electrical currents she is filling me with, my magic propels us into the sky and I fly fast enough to go hypersonic. Clutching her tight, we crash into some metallic hill and I hold her carefully as she calms down. Quickly thinking back to our arrival there, I sigh thankfully as we haven't left anything behind.
Not that we have the time to go back there, really...
"What happened? People started grabbing me and shouting..." Einervaene lets out, confused to the core.
"We had our first run-in with the people who want you and Eratheen dead no doubt." I explain as I look up at the sky to see if there's any likelihood of rain or misery. Thankfully, this land deems clear skies as strange weather and the shell at the edge of the sky can be technically seen.
"What now?"
"We both get what rest we can. I made a point of bursting us far away on as little magic as possible. Whoever these guys are, we have to hope they are alone."
"There's no way they should've been able to follow us, though!" Einervaene rightfully whines and I frown thoughtfully.
"No, there isn't, no way for even a possible traitor in your mother's employment to warn these men. No, someone's saturating our path with troops and whatnot." I quickly deduce before letting my magic senses look for any sign of lacking arcane discipline. Any sign of life capable of casting or speaking magic. There are many groups, all clearly on patrol paths...
"We can't fight these men, Brewbrt! Mother will die if we waste time fighting!" Einervaene fails to scream as her hysteria gets her moving recklessly in the dark. The problem more so for me than for her. I pull her in close, clutching her head with gentle strokes as I look around at the many signs of campfires and hasty watch towers.
Their shadows grow in number with the rise of this dreaded realisation within me...
"We won't, we will keep moving, evading them for as long as we can." I explain as the inn comes to mind, looks like we will be swearing off comfortable sleeps for a period. If this place in the middle of nowhere is in the pockets of our attackers then the likelihood only increases as we move closer to hamlets and greater.
"Why did I have to be born like this...?" Einervaene cries as the stress gets to her once again. Hugging her tight, I nod in understanding as my mind otherwise takes note of my magic. Only when necessary, no jokes, no conveniences, nothing that will underhand me. Life or death.