Escaping the castle had gone surprisingly well. We had passed an empty servant’s room, and each of us found a disguise to wear. I had thrown on a servant girl’s dress over top of my trousers and tunic, and topped it with an apron so I looked like a kitchen maid, where the Hunter had changed his shirt to a spare tunic that the servant girl had had. It looked like a man’s nightshirt that had been left there, and I wondered curiously who had left it there. I could imagine how it had gotten there and didn’t want to think too much further about it. He looked ridiculous wearing dirty trousers and a night shirt, but after tossing an apron over it, it worked well enough. We had passed through the kitchens without delay, the cooks ignoring us in favor of their boiling soups and kneading of bread. The kitchens were often bustling with traffic, so it wasn’t strange that we’d simply passed through. Most servants did, apparently.
We had left the kitchens through the back, carefully stepping around chickens and skirting around chicken droppings. From there, it was simple going to exit the gate. The guards were only bothered with who entered, and there was a second, much smaller exit to the other side of the main entrance that was only guarded from people entering. We slipped through a small crowd of servants who didn’t live in the castle returning home to their cottages in the city. It was a typical time for those who worked in the castle but lived outside it to do so, as the sun was setting, and it was time for them to return home.
That was an hour or so ago now, though, and we had been walking for quite some time in silence. We were nearly outside of the city limits now. I recognized how far we were as we had just passed the café where all of this had started. My irritation at the vents of the day had been stewing, and finally came to a boil when I saw that sign boasting of the ‘best coffee in the city’. None of this would have happened without this idiot’s interfering with my life!
“We’ve gone far enough,” I said, stopping and grabbing the Hunter’s wrist to stop him, too. “Now we need to talk.”
He stared at me warily and nodded. “We do.”
“First of all, this was all your fault. You started this whole fucking mess.”
He nodded grimly, a look of such sadness and helplessness on his face that I immediately felt reproach and pity.
I backpedaled a little, easing off of him. “…and, uh, second of all, I helped you escape,” I said. “So, you’ll help me find the Demon King. You told me you know where the portals are. Do you?”
He bit his lip and avoided my gaze. “Sort of.”
“What?”
“I don’t know where they are, personally,” he reasoned, holding his hands up in defense.
“You’re fucking useless.” I turned forward to keep walking. This was the last straw. “I’ll find them myself. Why did I even bother…”
“Wait!” he said, starting after me. “I don’t know where they are, but I know some who does. I can take you to him, and we’ll go there together. I’ll help you, if you’ll still do something for me like you said.”
I stopped again to look him in the eye. His plain expression on his face didn’t seem like he was lying; in any case, it was more reasonable that he would know somebody that knew of the portals. Maybe this person would be more helpful than him, anyway.
“You said you’d fulfill a ‘royal wish’, or whatever, right?”
I nodded. “If it’s something a princess can grant, I’ll do it. After you get me to the Demon King, and all of this is over.”
“Great!” A smile lit up his whole face, his boyish charm disarming me. “I want you to vouch for my reinstatement into the Demon Hunter’s Guild!”
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I blinked. “…Reinstatement?” I questioned.
“Uh… yeah,” he said, shrugging. “I was kicked out. I guess I’m Rogue now.”
“You have a deal, Rogue Hunter,” I said, extending my hand for him to shake.
“Call me Tom,” he said, taking my hand and shaking it politely. “Anyway, we should get going…” He began to walk away, the handcuff swinging from his wrist.
I sighed again. This was going to be a long journey.
~
We walked out of the city, following the main roads, together in silence. We were still wearing our kitchen disguises, which were hot despite the cooling of the air as nighttime settled. The handcuff jingled from his wrist, clanking in an annoying fashion. Each clang speared into my ears like a weapon, causing the worst headache I’d had in years.
“You really should hide that,” I suggested, pointing at the handcuff.
“Oh yeah! I’d kind of gotten used to it.” He pressed somewhere on the cuff and it opened, releasing his wrist. He shoved it into his pocket, and we went on our way.
“Where did you get those, anyway?” I asked through gritted teeth. My headache still persisted, although at least now it wasn’t exacerbated by the noisy metal.
“Old friend of mine gave it to me as a gift,” he said conversationally. “It’s the one we’re going to go see, actually.”
“Interesting,” I said, barely listening, instead watching darkness of night fall over the countryside ahead of us. “This friend of yours, where does he live? Is it far?”
“Not really,” he said, watching his feet as they stepped one in front of the other. “It’s probably about a day and half of travel by the main road. That’s the only way I know how to get there.”
“That’ll be more dangerous,” I said. “I’m sure my mother has the entire army out searching for us by now.”
He shrugged. “I don’t know how else to get there. I think we’ll have to risk it.”
“Apparently so.”
We walked for a few more minutes, the sun fully set now.
A thought occurred to me. “We should travel through the night then, and sleep during the day. Maybe that’d be safer.”
Tom shrugged again. “Might be. But I’m real tired; I could use a good night’s sleep before walking all day.” He stared off into the distance. “Hey, is that an inn? Maybe we could rest there.” He turned his attention to me. “Do you have any money?”
“Bitch, do you?” I said, taken aback. “All I have is some spare change leftover from the coffee I bought earlier today. Not enough for a night at an inn.”
“Same. I thought the drink I bought would be the last stop before the queen would grant me some hospitality.”
“Heh, she did grant you some hospitality. Didn’t you get the finest of rooms in the dungeon?” I laughed.
He didn’t answer, but I saw a ghost of a smile peek at his lips. “You’re right, they even let me keep my field rations.” He lifted a small bag out of his pocket and shook it. “Let’s just say that today did not go as planned for either of us.”
We continued on our journey, walking down the main roads until we couldn’t anymore. The moon lit our path, reflecting off of trees as we approached the forested region just beyond the city. The leaves speckled the dirt below, light filtering through. I eyed the trees carefully, having never been this far out of the city before. Having the realization that we wouldn’t be able to sleep in a normal bed tonight, I’d come to terms with the fact that we would likely be napping up against one of these massive trunks. None of them looked remotely comfortable. Their bark looked rough and scratchy at best, the plants beneath them not at all soft and cozy. At least it was a warm summer night, and we probably wouldn’t freeze.
Tom sighed. “We should probably pick a spot for the night,” he said reluctantly. “I’ll let you choose.”
I’d never been camping before. “This is probably as good as any spot,” I said, pointing to some trees off of the path. “If we fluff up some foliage, we could sleep behind that big tree trunk.” It wasn’t so far away that we would get lost getting back to the main road, but it was hopefully far enough that a passerby wouldn’t see us immediately. It would have to do.
“Alright, then.”
We left the path to settle in for the night. A part of me was excited, though most of me apprehensive about the thought of sleeping out in the open. What about forest animals? Were there bears here? I decided to ignore that thought, instead settling in against a tree concealed from the road, the exhaustion of the day’s events taking over and closing my eyes for me.