Glitch

Six! Riding With Bandits

"Black hood?" Kyle asks confused. He continues, "The colour of his hood isn't stated. What are you talking about?"

"Wait hold on... I know this guy!" Peyton rambles, she palms her face in a desperate attempt to recollect something. She raises her head up a bit. "If he's the hooded vigilante then he's a good guy."

I don't understand what Peyton is going on about but I agree, the black hood that saved me didn't seem like a bad guy. Why did he save me then, as some sort of anti-hero?

"Well if he's a fugitive, he must have done something worthy of it. Maybe he killed one of the higher-ups and ran?" Kyle suggests. From the look on Peyton's face that couldn't have been what happened.

"Well we're still going on the quest. We're gonna find him and get answers." I turn my back to the drawing, walking ahead. My friends trail behind me and we exit the Village square.

For such a small-sounding building, it takes quite a while to get outside, about 20 cycles or so. "Do you even know where we're going, Carmine?" Kyle gives me a puzzled look.

"Of course I do. We just take this right turn here and..." My voice is drowned out by the hoots and harlots the villagers are making. Black smoky fumes emanate from the Blacksmith's workshop. There are clinks of rubies being exchanged between traders and costumers. The howling wind forces its way through the crowd, then the patter of raindrops and rustling of leaves.

"Great! We are right back at the market where we started and there's about to be a heavy rain. Why don't you ask when we'll get to where we're going? I don't know Carmine. Because we're LOST!" Kyle snarls at me. "Thanks so much for the directions... not!"

I only allow him rant because I'm equally at fault myself. I shouldn't have lead the way when I didn't know where I was going. But they have been here earlier than me, shouldn't they know where a hooded fugitive would be hiding?

"Come on Kyle, don't be like that... People get lost everyday. We'll find our way... someday. And look at the bright side, if we do end up walking around the village, we might find him." Peyton says and Kyle just stares, not understanding what she just said. Even I think it's a terrible idea.

Yelling under this rain, with our health reducing isn't working though. "Why don't we just stay in one of these shops till the rain is over? I don't think catching a cold under these conditions would be the best."

My plea seems to work. We all stand in the Blacksmith's shop, but soon we get invited by the blacksmith himself to come in for some warmth. We stay in till the rain stops falling and we are warm enough, my health goes back up immediately.

I thank him for his hospitality and he replies with the question I've been dreading since I entered this world. "Are you the irregular?" He continues, "The flames don't seem to have much effect on you."

"It depends. Who's asking?" I counter his question with mine - which isn't the smartest I can think of by the way.

He chuckles, "See you around kid." And like that we're back on the streets... what just happened? Me being an irregular doesn't seem to bother the blacksmith. I definitely need to come back some day and have a little chat with him. And what did he mean by 'the flames don't seem to have much effect on you'?

"Now where do we go this time?" Kyle asks, tapping his leg on the ground like the spoilt little brat he is. He's acting more brattier than usual. If Knights like Marcellus make up 85 percent of the government, I pray Knights like Kyle don't make up the other 15 percent. Spoilt and annoying. I would love to kick him in the nuts again but we have a quest to complete.

"Serena, can you pinpoint a person's location?" It looks like I'm talking to myself because of Kyle's and Peyton's concerned faces. But Serena responds.