Killing Chivalry

Chapter 5 - Hunters in the Square

They took it slow out of respect for Koeska's injuries. He never complained, but he constantly scanned the crowd, even after he should have gotten used to the noise and bustle of the city. She could tell he was nervous, and more than once the thought crossed her mind that someone else might actually have followed him through that portal thing.

They stopped at a random music store. She'd been wanting to get a copy of Verified Lust's latest album, as well as Soul Jar and Rizzelfiend. They had all three. She knew she shouldn't spend the money, but music was her weakness and she was giddy as she paid for them.

Koeska tagged along patiently, but he was getting tired. He needed someplace he could sit while she browsed. Someplace more interesting for him, because she enjoyed seeing him react to all these "new" things.

She led him to Cold Case and they weaved through the people and the smell of incense while he looked around with wide eyes. Cold Case was a goth shop. Well, mostly goth. It had jewelry, statuettes, clothes, funny t-shirts, novelty stuff, and lots of awesome hats.

It was also the most magical looking place she knew, and she wondered if he thought it was a wizard's shop or something. She giggled, knowing he couldn't hear it over the music on the loudspeaker. Incense hung in the air like dust and she pulled him back to where a chair was placed beside the fitting room.

"I want to try on some hats, so you can take it easy for a few."

He nodded and stared at the people in the store, his hand clenched on his belt again. She rolled her eyes and dropped her backpack beside him before taking a few steps to the hat racks.

She loved this store. She pulled out a ragged cowboy hat with red and orange flames painted on it and took a few steps to try it on in front of a mirror. She glanced over at him, but he was staring at the rack beside him full of action figures from the most popular sitcoms. They seemed to fascinate him.

"So, Koeska, what else do you want to do today?"

His head snapped back to her. "Are you sure we can't go to the park by your house and search?"

A knot formed in her belly at the thought of risking the cops finding her—them. She put the cowboy hat back and grabbed a bowler. "I think we should wait until tomorrow. They might be hanging around questioning people today and we don't want to get mixed up in that."

"It's vital I find that amulet and get back to my own world."

She sighed. If she let him wander back into that park they'd pick him up and put him in a nut house. She had to keep him away from it until the cops left. "We can't go right now. If you get involved with the cops they'll call for backup, and pretty soon the whole park will be swarming with them. You'd never find it then, and they'd haul you away."

He huffed and scowled in the general direction of the park. "Then we should look for an inn to wait out the day."

"A what?"

"An inn. So we have someplace to sleep if we aren't going back to your house."

"You mean a hotel?" Her face went red at the thought of being in a hotel with him and she pulled the bowler hat down to cover it until it went away. Not that they were going to do anything.

"I don't know that word."

She sighed and tossed the bowler back on the rack, pulling an olive drab military cap from a hook. She put it on and turned from side to side in front of the mirror, playing with how her hair laid at the sides.

"What do you think, Koeska?"

"It looks... lovely, my lady."

She huffed and went back to looking in the mirror. "Can't you just call me Airyn?"