The Order of the Skull

Chapters 11-15

11: Cynthia

As Christopher opened the main door to the tavern a strange smell of blood and alcohol made me cringe. I wasn't as worried about the smell though as I was Christopher, he looked pale and tense as though he had seen the ghost of an old friend come back to haunt him. As for the cut on my leg, it was basically nothing, it was barely a scratch I'd say, more like a paper cut, but with a knife and not paper.
"Well, you look downright cheerful," I said to Christopher's unnaturally pale and sunken face.

He looked at me and for a second he smiled and the sunken expression in his face vanished for a small second. "I'm sorry, just, uh, fighting, guards and stuff. Nothing unusual you know."

Both Darkeen and I raised an eyebrow at Christopher, but decided not to press the matter as he looked almost frightened and conflicted. My, my, though, what was that sentence, 'Nothing unusual.' Something was definitely up, it's like the suspect who screams 'I didn't do it' before the guard asks any questions. There's no reason to pry though, not now anyway, he looks pretty shaken up.

"Well," I began, breaking the silence, "We should get far away from here."

"I couldn't agree more." Darkeen said as we mounted our horses that had been fortunately left unharmed outside the tavern. We galloped through the woods that had brought us here until we arrived at the road that would lead us to Drakkrif and eventually our destination at the dagger mountains.

"What do you think all those machines were for?" I asked, breaking the silence that loomed over our small party.

"I'm not sure I want to know honestly." Christopher sighed as he looked back at the cursed tavern. "Whatever it is, I'm glad we stopped it."

Darkeen nodded but kept a grim expression on his face, "Whatever it is, it seems oddly connected to the return of the dragons."

Being back on the road felt like heaven after a day inside that... place. The knowledge that so easily I had been deceived and possibly killed was also hard to accept. Deep down I know we've relatively just left on this journey that's turning my world upside down, and I have a feeling that the tavern won't be the only evil we encounter as we push forward.

. . .

"Well it just feels unfriendly you know," Christopher said as he halted several yards from where the official border between the dwarven and orcish kingdoms lay in the sparkling snow.

"Actually, I don't know," Darkeen said flatly to Christopher, "Maybe because it's a fake line made by politicians and not a person who can physically be unfriendly."

"Christopher," I said teasingly, "It's not going to eat you."

"Well, I know that." Christopher replied with the hint of a smile. "It's just that-"

"Christopher," I began again as I walked forward along the road, "I'm crossing the line, oh no." I made a big deal of dramatically walking across the should be border to Drakkif. "Oh my goodness, I'm still alive. How about you also come over here?"

"Oh stop," Christopher said as he quickly rode across the border and pulled up next to me. "I'm not afraid of the border. It's just orcs aren't particularly fond of humans."

I touched his shoulder, "Don't worry, they can't all dislike you."

"Well 100 percent of the orcs in this conversation do!" Darkeen cut in.

I sighed, "Thanks Darkeen. Really helping my case here." I looked back into Christopher's dazzling green eyes. "If they try to kill you. We'll just kill them. It's a simple way to survive in this world, if someone tries to kill you kill them before they succeed. Now let's go!"