Kissing Danger ✔️

TWENTY THREE

Word Count: 2318

~Aven

My head knocks against a hard surface, jolting me awake.

Yawning, I rub the part of my head I bumped before trying to stretch, silently cursing the small space of the cabin of the carriage. Light streams in through the window to my right, flooding the small space. Stace and Eryk sit in front of me, looking as tired as I feel. We left at a late hour last night, and I vaguely remember passing out quite quickly.

"How long have I been asleep?" I croak, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. My joints ache, protesting with each movement I make. My neck must have been bent at a strange angle, but at least Stace and Eryk seem to be in the same discomfort.

"Seven hours," Stace responds quietly, nodding out the window. "We are nearly there."

Curiously, I pull back at the threadbare curtain, examining the world outside. The land is flat, aside from some large, rolling hills...or are they dunes? Red sand covers the ground from as far as the eye can see, the wheels of the carriage kicking it up into a magnificent crimson cloud.

"All I see is desert," I exclaim. It's pretty to look at, but I'm frightened to step into it, to feel the dryness in the air. There is no civilization to be seen from my small window, causing doubt to crawl out from within me. I'm not accustomed to climates like this, not when I've grown up in a snowy labyrinth my entire life.

However, this is what I wanted, I remind myself. To travel, to see lands that would otherwise make me apprehensive, to explore.

"That's all Territory One is really," Stace sighs, not looking all that impressed. He has a black hood pulled over his head, hiding some of his dark curls, the bottom of it casting his unique tattoos into darkness. Here, he doesn't want to get recognised.

"I like it already. It's nothing like I've ever seen before," I admit distractedly, not able to tear my gaze from the sight of it.

"We are going to stay with a Noble," he adds solemnly.

"Really?"

"Kalder, his name is." It's not hard to see Stace doesn't have the best relationship with these immortals, but he seems more concerned with how I will perceive them. He must have decided that the Noble's will become aware of our presence when we enter, so we may as well announce ourselves and stay with the most preferred one. "I'll admit, I'm anxious to take you to him."

"Why?"

"Because he predicts imminent death," Eryk mutters from where he sits diagonal from me, looking out the other window. His head is bowed, dark brown hair brushing against the glass. He has shed of his usual partial leather jacket, opting instead for a tunic. The heat here bothers him, I assume.

"I don't think there is a single person who doesn't get nervous going to see him," Stace adds, shifting uncomfortably on the plush cushion atop the bench.

I look between both Eryk and Stace, narrowing my eyes. "You're both scared of him."

"No one wants to hear that they may die in the near future," Eryk sighs distastefully. I wonder if he's thinking he isn't getting paid enough for this, to walk into the clutches of a Noble who may tell you your life is going to end at any moment. Now travelling, seeing the Noble's is a far less alluring idea.

People with power here, it's not always good. It's dark, and it's demented, and it will inflict pain...

"And he would just...tell you that outright?" I ask nervously, fidgeting with my fingers knotted together on my lap. Nausea has risen up in my throat, wondering what personality is matched to this mysterious Noble.