A Drink To Remember

Epilogue

Obi goes outside to set up the traps as I get things ready in here. I really wish you would let me tell you Obi. I touch my stomach gently before heading to the bedroom. We decided it would be best for me to barricade myself in here, and if they make it passed Obi, I can go out the window and make a run for it. I can see myself surviving this, but I'm worried about him.

There's a light tapping on the window, and I look up expecting to see Obi. Who I see instead is one of the men who threatened me. I jump back in fear, but he holds up a white handkerchief. Slowly, I go up and crack the window. "Are you Ban?"

He smiles softly at me. "Yeah, that's me. I want to help you."

I give him a look. "Why?"

He frowns and looks down at his feet. "I don't like what Malachi does. He normally leaves us out of it, but he's calling in several of his favors that we owe him. It's not really my choice." He meets my eyes. "So I'm going to help you as much as I can."

I open the window the rest of the way. "How so?" He then sticks his hand out to show a couple of mushrooms in his hand. "What are those?" I ask.

"They're poisonous mushrooms." He says with a smile.

"How will those help me?" I ask with a raised eyebrow.

"You know the story of sleeping beauty?" He asks.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"These mushrooms will make you fall into a sleeplike death for about twelve hours. It takes an hour or so for them to kick in. Eat them in about fifteen minutes and I can pretend to accidentally kill you. Malachi might be sick, but he won't do that to a corpse. Takes all the fun out of it for him."

I blink at him a few times. "So let me get this straight. You want me to trust you and eat these poisonous mushrooms, let you pretend to kill me, and be fake dead until the three of you leave?"

I watch as he mentally connects dots and fact checks. "Yep! Sounds about right."

"Does Obi know about this?"

His smile falls to a sad frown. "No. He can't know because then he won't be willing to fight as hard. The harder he fights, the more likely that Malachi will only knock him out instead of kill him."

I take the mushrooms from his hand. "If I eat these, will they harm me?"

He shakes his head. "They slow your heart rate down and bring your breathing to a bare minimum. You'll almost be dead. A stab wound will even bleed slowly because of it."

"But what about..." I stop myself, hand on my stomach.

"...You're pregnant?" I slowly nod, a tear going down my cheek. "How far along?"

"If I had to guess, a month or two." I say quietly.

He lets out a sigh. "You should be in the clear then. I'll be extremely careful when I strike you." He strokes his chin for a moment, thinking. "Does Obi know?"

I let out a sigh. "I was trying to tell him. I pieced it together this morning. He kept cutting me off, probably thinking I was trying to say goodbye."

Ban shakes his head. "well I hope you both make it through this. I couldn't bare to see Obi a broken shell of what he is now."

"Me neither."

Ban leaves and I eat the mushrooms like he tells me to. "Hang in there my little Kitten." I whisper with a hand on my stomach. I hear yelling outside about twenty minutes later, followed by the sounds of swords striking one another. My heart rate goes up and my breathing quickens. "Don't die Kitty, please don't die." My breath hitches when I hear the swords stop clashing and the front doors of the tavern crack. I can't help but let out a scream.