This life, by myself

Chapter 18

Cale looked at his surroundings and realised that it was near the village.

"We will go to Rain City" he glanced at the kittens that had confused eyes. "Obviously if I'm going to fake my death, I need to see my funeral. It's not every day you can do that. I need to see how they will arrange it"

Cale could feel the judgmental stared he was receiving and took out a compass.

"It's a couple of day's travel by carriage that way" he point in a direction. "It will probably take a couple of days to arrange a funeral, if it's a decent one. So we can stay in Rain City then sneak in when it's time"

Cale peeked at the dragon.

"This great and mighty being will offer to fly you to that place" the dragon announced proudly.

"I am grateful that such a being is so generous" Cale smiled.

They were soon invisibly soaring through the grey sky. The dragon created a barrier around them to stop the wind blasting in their faces.

A few hours later, they arrived at the city. The four invisible individuals silently walked past the guards.

Cale slipped into a back alley and the dragon turned them visible again.

"Choose any inn that takes your fancy and we will stay there" he suddenly declared.

"Really?" The kids asked excitedly.

"Yeah. On, Hong, could you turn to your human forms. Someone might recognise you as the trash's cats. It's unlikely but it's better safe than sorry"

The kittens frowned at him calling himself trash but did as he said.

They chose a modest looking inn and booked a room.

"Tomorrow we'll be visiting somewhere" Cale said as he laid on the bed with two kittens and a dragon on his chest.

He saw the kittens ears droop.

"We should be back by late morning if we leave at dawn. After that, you can play all you want"

"Okay!"

Cale settled down and the kittens curled up on either side of his neck. The dragon sat at the top of the bed.

The next day, as the sun peeked over the horizon, the four left.

Cale landed on the ash covered ground with two kittens on his shoulders.

"Human, what happened here?" The dragon asked looking in horror at the landscape.

"Some bastards did this. It's an abandoned village now" Cale responded as he gazed at the destroyed Harris Village.

"Why are we here?"

"I want to do something quickly" Cale placed the kittens down. "Explore a bit but don't go past the wall or out of the village. After half an hour or so, return back here"

The kittens and dragon nodded and left to play.

Cale watched them disappear around a corner before he turned in the other direction.

It should be around here...

He wandered to the edge of the village and stopped.

So my memory serves me right.

Cale stared at the graves of the villagers that live here.

He stood like that for a minute before he walked to a nearby tree and sat at the base.

"I hate you" he mumbled resting his chin on his knees.

"I'm sorry that I hate you"

He stared at the scratchy names etched into flat rocks.