ira

Chapter 3: Calm Before the Storm

I waited as Sark and Montohar talked, which seemed to take forever.

I came up next to Sark, "Hey, I'm going to get some air and probably go to the hut. See you later?"

Sark nodded and continued talking to Montohar.

I walked outside to the dark night sky freckled with stars. There were people walking all about even after the market had been shut down. People were hauling carts filled with carpets and silks, and dragging around cows with six legs, or five horns. I nodded and smiled at the people I passed and came upon a medium sized hut with loud music coming from it. I looked around and asked what the building was.

"It like bar. You drink, have fun." An elderly woman with a thick accent replied.

Going against my better judgement, I decided to go in. There were drunk Kinra people everywhere. Alcoholic beverages being thrown through the air, and people falling to the floor. I grabbed a seat next to an elderly man with a long beard dripping into his glass, which held a weird, green liquid. I turned to my right and saw a woman who was clearly not Kinra. I couldn't see her face, but she had huge red hair, and was wearing a skimpy bikini. The bartender was nowhere to be seen, so I waited. Finally I was able to order a glass of Bita, a light vodka type drink. Waiting for it, I felt something fuzzy rub against my leg. I swatted at it and the woman next to me jumped. Turning around I could finally see her face. She had bright yellow eyes and long teeth. Whiskers adorned her cheeks.

"I, uh, I'm sorry." I stuttered.

She scoffed at me and walked away from the bar.

My drink was delivered to me and I drank it in silence for while until I felt a tap on my back. I turned around and saw Ehs.

I looked at him, he looked much older than his age of 21. He must have been drinking.

"Ehs, what are you doing here?" I asked, confused on why he wasn't back in Irongate.

He stumbled and sat down in the seat that had previously been the cat ladies, "I saw you leave, and I followed you."

I've known Ehs since I was 3. We grew up together, knew every secret about each other. He was a foot taller than me, with light tan skin, dark brown fluffy hair, and green eyes. The one thing I hated about him was he gets drunk a lot and tends to stumble around Irongate at night.

"Um, I got your note, but I didn't know what it meant." I grabbed his shoulders so he wouldn't fall out of the chair.

He nodded, "", and laughed a bit.

He looked around, "Yeah. The note... What note?"

I raised my eyebrows, "The one you wrote? It was a riddle?"

"I didn't write anything." He stood up, and immediately tripped over himself.   

"I think it's time for you to go to home, don't you think?" I asked, watching him nod slowly with his eyes closed, "Are you staying in one of the houses in the residential area?"

He shrugged, "I don't know."

I sighed and stood up, having him lean on my shoulder, "You can stay with me then. I hope you don't mind that. Sark is with us too, but I'm not sure when he's going to be back."

"That's fine." He smiled and we stumbled out the door and into the cool night air.

We slowly walked around people and huts, making our way to the house I was staying in. I opened the door and noticed how dark it was. I sat Ehs down on a chair and looked around and opened cabinets in search of matches. Finally finding one, I lit the torch the hung on the wall, lighting up the small house. It held two small thatch beds, a wool couch, some chairs, a small cabinet and a sink. I turned around to see Ehs nearly falling off of the chair.

I ran over to him, "Hey, hey, don't fall asleep yet. Here, let's get your jacket and shoes off."

I pulled off his heavy brown jacket and set it on one of the chairs. I turned back and Ehs had his legs stretched outward. I untied his boots and set them by the door.

I picked him up again and listened as he mumbled something.

"What did you say?" I asked.

He cleared his throat and took his time saying, "Can you tell me what... you're doing out here."

"How about we talk about that in the morning? You're really drunk right now. You should get some sleep." I helped him over to the bed and had him lay down.

I was about to walk away when he grabbed my hand, "Mmm.. Thanks...."

I smiled at him and nodded. He let go of me and rolled over. I turned off the lights and went outside. I looked around and noticed nobody was out. I walk towards Montohars hut. It was dead silent except for the occasional stir of sand, and the squawk of crows. I looked up and saw dozens of crows swarming over the village. I hurried along and got inside the chief's hut. I saw Sark and Montohar talking in the corner of the rom. I walked over to them.

"Really sorry to interrupt, but there's a swarm of crows outside? Is that normal?" I looked at Montohar, whose eyes widened.

He stood up and peeked out the door, and ran back in, "This is not good," Montohar turned to a nearby guard, "Get every soldier, guard every inch of the wall, and keep your eyes to the sky!"

Sark looked at me, "What's going on?"

I looked at all the guards coming and going and started to worry, "I have no idea."