For hours she tried convincing the oblivious doorkeeper, or in her case, the stairs-keeper, to let her pass through. He did not oblige for even a moment. He simply denied her over and over until she managed to convince him to let her sit on the first step and wait there.

The brawl outside had died down with both the fighters knocked out cold. The crowd had dispersed in disappointment seeing they had no victor to celebrate in the end after all. Everyone was back inside the Temptest Inn once more, spending their money on lust and liquor.

She bit into her nails unable to figure out if Roza had already left, perhaps jumped off a window, and had made her way back to the Moutain Home Inn without her. She worried holding ‘The Ravagers’ leaflet in her hands almost ready to twist it and tear it apart in frustration.

Just then, she heard footsteps at the top of the stairs. She whipped her head around to find Roza making her way down frantically.

Roza quickly pulled out a hand from her pocket and tipped the doorkeeper a coin before grabbing onto Vanya, who had no time to even sigh in relief.

“He…he wouldn’t let me in,” she whispered glancing back at the nonchalant doorkeeper as Roza and Vanya stepped out the main door and onto the street.

“Of course not. You need to give your name in the morning so he can add it to his list.”

“I told him your name and he still wouldn’t let me in.”

Roza looked at her partly embarrassed, “My name? You told him my real name?”

“Yes, and he said it was not on the list.”

Roza shook her head holding in a laugh, “Love, you don’t give your real name at places like this. I go by Tammy Long.”

Vanya gave Roza a push, “You are not serious.”

Roza let out a laugh, “I am. But never mind that. Do you want to hear the good news or not?”

Vanya clasped her hands sending the noise of the clap echoing down the cold and dark alley. She gasped seeing Roza pull out a pea-sized pendant that twinkled in the moonlight. It was deep yellow and glistened as Roza held it by the gold loop encapsulating the jewel in the middle.

“The amulet. That’s the amulet. Isn’t it?” Vanya whispered.

Roza quickly hid it back in a pocket at her breast, “It took me two hours to convince the bastard. I’m telling you he was as old as the dirt beneath us, an old grump.”

“The seller?” Vanya asked intertwining her hands with Roza’s as they turned to head back home.

Roza nodded, “Yes, he was such a show-off. Talking about how he knew more about the Northern Kingdom and all that. And how I should be careful with the amulet and not let anyone know I possess such a thing…”

Vanya watched as Roza tried imitating the seller in question.

“...He bragged about how he used to reside in Esmeth, the finest of areas. Heck, Tallon later mentioned that the old grump may have been a part of the royal court, possibly an advisor of some sort.”

Vanya stopped at her heels making Roza stumble herself to her halt as well.

“The royal court?” Vanya asked.

“That’s what Tallon said. He seemed so old and presented himself so wise so I have no doubt he may have once held a high-ranking position in the royal palace, it was probably before they banned magic though. He had so many items to sell. It wasn’t just the amulet. He had heaps and heaps of old items, a few grimoires that I put my name down so I can pick them up from Tallon next time. You know the grimoire that you held the night at the cave? That too was apparently from the old grump’s collections,” Roza said while her hand automatically circled the amulet in her pocket as if to check for its presence.

Vanya stayed in silence for a moment making Roza continue, “Is there a problem?”

“Are you sure he’s from Esmeth?” Vanya asked again, this time her heart pounding. She knew of a few people who were as old as time and served the royal family while residing in the finest of premises within the castle walls. They were well cared for and possessed a large collection of items gathered by simply having access to many nuanced things.

“He said it himself,” Roza replied watching Vanya behave so strangely.

“What…what did he look like?” Vanya drew closer to Roza with the natural next question.

“Old…very old with a beard as white as snow almost down to his knees. I’m so sure he had to cut his beard out of necessity of not having to tangle on it and fall flat on his face.”

Vanya gulped. In her lifetime, she had known only two incredibly old yet fervently opinionated individuals, and one of them had already passed two years ago. The other was her history tutor who retired a couple of years prior, losing all connection with the royal palace.

Vanya remembered him from their last lesson together. He huffed and puffed about his opinions on the ban on magic so freely as if Vanya was not the daughter of the King, and the future heir to the throne. It was only during their supposed next lesson did she came to know that he had retired and had already moved out of his home within the castle grounds.

“Aren,” she whispered to herself before turning to Roza and grabbing her shoulders to say, “I must go back. I…I need to find him.”

“Why?” Roza pressed on yet sensing that Vanya would not tell the actual reason she changed her line, “Let me help you too.”

Vanya nodded and turned around with Roza right on her heel as they looked back down the dark alleyway and marched on. But that only lasted a few moments before they both came to a discreet halt seeing three figures pop up blocking the way in front.

“I thought I told you to promise me that you’d meet me at the gathering. Don’t tell me I wasted a leaflet on you, love,” it was the same man that had Vanya’s skin crawl earlier in the evening. Only this time he had company with him. They all looked equally pleased to find Vanya and Roza blocked in a path with no one around, blanketed with the dark.

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“I’m sorry, who are you?” Roza shouted back. Her posture was confident and her body moved forward as if to take all three of them head-on.

His laugh reverberated against the thin walls enveloping the girls. Vanya crumpled the leaflet in her hand, regretting even picking it up. She quickly grabbed Roza’s wrist to whisper, “He’s come after me to drag me back inside. What should we do?”

Roza realizing that trouble had found its way to Vanya gave a glance towards her and whispered back, “Run.”

***

Vanya felt her chest burn. The cold air she was breathing in was not helping put out the fire making its way up her throat as she ran with all her might behind Roza. Her soles thrashed against the rough path and her feet dug in to help push herself to run as fast as she physically could.

She saw Roza glance back several times. Vanya did not dare look behind her to see the sight of three men chasing them down hurling swears at them, throwing stones their way to get them to stumble.

The cold breeze chaffed against Vanya’s skin making her eyes water and blur her vision. Yet she kept at Roza’s pace praying that they would outrun their enemies who were clearly much faster and agile than they were.

Just then, Vanya’s foot slipped and she thrashed to the ground. She felt the side of her face scrap against the rough earth and her palms started stinging in pain.

Roza, who was about to turn a corner spotted Vanya on her knees. Vanya tried flailing her hands to signal Roza to keep running yet Roza came right back to help Vanya up.

“No, leave. Go find help!” Vanya pushed Roza ahead. But Roza was her usual stubborn self wanting to carry Vanya with her.

Footsteps stopped right behind them.

“Give up, ladies,” the man, panting heavily, spoke through his breaths.

Roza pulled Vanya up yet Vanya fell to right back to her knees as her ankle twisted.

“Leave! I will buy you time,” Vanya whispered as she grabbed Roza closer to her.

But Roza only shook her head vehemently.

Soon, arms grabbed Roza away from Vanya and thrashed her against a dark wall where she fell with an unexpectedly severe blow to her spine.

Two men grabbed Roza from either side and held her up as she whirled curses their way and tried getting free of their grasp.

The man that Vanya met earlier snickered behind her. He made his way slowly towards her as she tried crawling away.

He heeled the skirt of her dress and made her stop. She felt herself let out a sob before she picked up the courage to glare back at him.

“Let her go! She has no part in this. I am the one you want,” Vanya managed to speak in a shaky voice.

He only laughed out loud, “Of course, I will let her go once she proves to me she is not a Yelhi.”

Vanya saw Roza stop for a second hearing the man. Roza took a few breaths and her brows furrowed before she immediately started squirming and pushing against the men keeping her down.

Vanya watched as the man tilted his head looking at her for a moment as if she was some rare breed ready for his consumption. He squatted next to her and curled a lock of her hair around his finger. She froze. Her mind told her in every which way to slap the man’s hand, push him over, and fight, yet her body stayed deathly still as if a layer of ice was forming over her limbs.

While Roza shouted in the back and kicked the men away, Vanya’s shaky pupils only saw the man next to her caress her cheek with his rough scaly fingers.

“Oh! For how long I have been searching your kind. And you appear in front of my eyes like a gentle flower.”

Vanya felt herself shiver before she managed to ask back, “What do you want?”

He leaned in closer, his drunken breath engulfing her face before she saw the glimmer of his dagger pointing to her eye.

“You. I want all your kind. Did you not read the leaflet, love? I’m only doing a service, a worthy cause to get rid of you all. But looking at you now, maybe, I might just keep you next to me instead. Let you stay alive.”

His brown teeth appeared as his cunning and creepy smile took over his face.

Vanya felt anger bursting through her. How dare he assume she would succumb to him without a fight. Before she knew it she had managed to open her mouth and spit on his face. Her saliva dripped down his nose as his lustful eyes turned to rage.

“You scum of the earth!” he bellowed as he grabbed the collar of her dress and his dagger tucked beneath her neck piercing into her skin.

Vanya closed her eyes feeling the blood beading at the cut ready to start pouring out in a gush. She heard Roza yell and get muffled by the other men. She felt herself already getting dizzy.

Just then, a pack of metal slings echoed as if swords were being unsheathed on command.

Her eyes shot open to find a figure beside her. The figure moved to the light where she saw his face take shape and the long sword he carried close to piercing right through the heart of the man with his dagger still pressing against her neck.

“Drop your dagger while I ask nicely of you–”

“Or what?” the man retorted to which he felt the sword pinch his back.

“Or I will kill you!”

“And I would die happy knowing I took a Yelhi down with me!” the man let out a laugh sending chills down Vanya’s back. She felt his grip on her dress tighten and suddenly he swung behind her without a warning to grip her by her hair as she yelled in pain, his dagger still at her neck.

“Stay back!” he shouted.

It was then that Vanya properly saw Rhohaz with the sword held up in her way, shocked and in terror.

“No! No, you’ve got the wrong person!” Roza shouted from the back. Taru and a few other men dressed in navy blue had disarmed the other two men who had Roza held down before. They all looked towards the impending doom with their swords ready and waiting for direction.

Rhohaz looked as if it was the first time he was holding a sword, his posture off and his grip too tight. Yet he was determined to drive the sword through. His eyes were flaming in anger and his gaze focused only on the eyes of the man holding Vanya hostage.

“Anton! Let her go! Your actions are going to have you banned from Elioth for the rest of your life!” Taru shouted back.

“Banned?” Anton let out a skin-crawling laugh, “Did you not hear me the first time, you idiot? I’m willing to take her to hell with me.”

Vanya felt a drop of blood roll down her neck. Anton pressed his dagger harder and started dragging Vanya with him trying to draw back into the shadows. She looked ahead to see the shocked group in front of her not knowing what to do. Rhohaz too stayed there frozen. Yet in a fleeting moment, she saw his eyes glow faintly right before a large rumble of rocks started piling down her way.

The dust enveloped her and Anton. She felt his grip loosen and his hand with the dagger held to her neck get knocked away by a large stone that whipped past her. She saw rocks falling down onto her head yet they landed on her soft and bouncy, unlike Anton who was yelling in pain and getting pummeled.

A hand pulled her out of the mess. She knocked her head against Rhohaz’s chest covered in silver dust.

Taru and his men moved fast and grabbed Anton while he was down.

Vanya looked at her bleeding palms from the fall before. It was then that she saw that she was shivering. Her entire body was shivering as if the realization that she could have had her life ended a moment ago fully sunk in.

Noticing fear taking over her, Rhohaz grabbed her hands making her focus her attention on him.

His other hand reached her neck and gently covered her exposed cut beading blood. She felt his hands warm her. Her heartbeat, which was so erratic making her huff for air every second, slowed into a sweet lullaby. His pale eyes were so full of worry and radiating relief at the same time. He was relieved to have found her.