Elemental

Chapter 3

After about a week of traveling through the harsh snow, we have found a busy little town. There are stalls everywhere, the entire town is one big market!

Twi and I keep receiving stares and looks from everyone we are walking by, but we just pay no attention.

"Twi, how are we going to locate the other shape-shifter if no one wants to talk to us?" I asked through the connection.

"I did not plan that."

I look at her briefly before looking to where we are going. We stop at a stall and look around the fruit. "You know we are going to have to ask somebody. We can't just search every town in the country."

She sighed and nodded to a building on our left. "Let's go to the trader and see if he's willing to help."

"I'm following you."

We made our way over to the trader and open the door.

A short man was looking underneath the counter and I assume he is the trader. "Hello! The trader is open and-" he brought his head out and frowned when he saw us,"what do you two want?" he said, his tone suddenly changing.

We walk around the shop and look at what he has. Swords, books, lock picks, hides, he had a pretty good stock.

"We need information," Twi started,"and you're going to put away your thoughts of what we are and help us."

"Oh, really? What makes you say that?"

I saw Twi lean against the counter and say, "Because you know what we are, you've heard the tales of what we can do. So, if you're smart, you'll help us."

The trader let out a laugh, "Sweetheart, you're going to need to do better than that to scare me."

Twi smirked and looked to me. I took a step forward and lifted my hands up. As I did, icicles appeared around the trader's throat. He lifted his head up and his eyes bulged with fear.

"Okay! I'll tell you anything! I promise!"

I put my hands down and the icicles turned to water. We waited as the trader recovered.

"We are looking for another shape-shifter. We don't know what he or she looks like, but we need to find them quickly."

He looked us straight in the eye and said,"He came through here a few days ago. Didn't say a word. He just handed me a bag of gold and said he needed a passage to Rorath."

Twi and I looked to each other, then back to the trader.

"Did you give him passage?"

"For that much gold? Of course!"

"Good. Now don't mention that you saw us here," I said to him and we walked out.

"What now? We head to Rorath?" I asked Twi.

"I don't know. It's a dangerous town, that place." She was staring down at her feet. I leaned against the wall, put my hands on my head and let out a breath.

"It is. But as long as God is with us, who can stand against us?"

Twi looked at me and smiled so I smiled back. The trader came out of his door and we looked at each other before he took off running. Twi and I exchanged looks and walked through the town.

I was about to turn a corner when Twi quickly pulled me back and I hit the wall.

"Twi-" she put her index finger in my face and was looking around the corner.

I waited until she looked back at me and mouthed,"Guard."

"How are we going to get out of this?" she asked.

I looked up and pointed. We began climbing quickly up the building and made it to the top just as the Guard turned the corner.

"How did they find is if they don't have their dogs?" I asked Twi.

She was silent and looked to the right. "Probably because of him." she pointed to the trader that we had talked to earlier.

"That traitor!"

"Come on, we've got to get out of here and I'd prefer to travel during the daytime."

I nodded and we began jumping roof to roof, trying to avoid the Guard at all costs. Finally, our feet landed on the top of the wall that surrounded the town.

"See that big city off in the distance?" Twi pointed to the distance.

I squinted and saw a dot. "Kind of. Is that Rorath?"

Twi nodded.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" Guard saw us and charged toward us, but we jumped down and our feet landed in the grass.

It was still a bit cold, but there wouldn't be any torturous blizzards to travel through.