On the Wrong Side

Chapter 2

Myerdden made his way back to the room he was occupying at the inn. It was a small, clammy room with wooden walls and a creaky door, but he had gotten it for a low price. It was only four copper coins a night. The other rooms had been too expensive, in his opinion, for the luxuries they provided. He wanted to save his coins. While he was walking, his thoughts were on the girl. She was an odd girl, yet she was the only one he had met, so far, that had treated him kindly, unlike those he met in the streets of Qyrelt.

She was kind, though nosy, and didn't want him to be troubled with cleaning the mess he had made. He continued to wonder about her strange character. She had black hair with streaks of white yet looked about fifteen Summer's old. She had clear blue eyes that showed a hidden wisdom way beyond her years. She was half faerie which he could tell from her slim, faerie-like figure and the fact that she had told him, yet she was still kind to him. Faeries and Egesa wet once widely known to be mortal enemies.

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Emalin made her way back to Caradan's chambers. She was still thinking about that boy. 'His exit was rude to say the least. But then again, he did help me with the herbs. Maybe he was busy. He could have at least told me his name. The strangest things were his eyes. They were not windows, they were doors. He let no emotions through except surprise at my faerie descent. What happened to him to cause that? Was it trained? Was it trauma? And his throat, I didn't get a good look at it but I think I saw a scar. No man, let alone a boy, deserves that. Maybe his form of protecting himself is guarding his emotions. Maybe he's kinder than he seems.' So lost in thought was she that she hadn't realized that she had reached Caradan's chambers where she dropped to herbs off before searching through Caradan's books for information on the history of the Egesa.

"Emalin, what do you need?" A voice asked.

"Oh, hello, Caradan. I'm looking for the history of the Egesa. Do you know anything?"

"That I do."

"Please tell." He stared at her for a moment before starting his tale.

"The Egesa were a magical race. They were an ancient hybrid of dragon, elf, and demon, though people say that they were more demon than anything else. They were always peaceful and content in their villages. Loholt and Jonathan were once allies with them. The Egesa were powerful in magic and strong fighters. That was before Jonathan's kingdom, the kingdom of Qyrelt, suffered a great tragedy. Their queen had died without an heir. She had been ill for many months, some say she was poisoned by the deadly bitter bell flower, and was in the care of an Egesa healer. Jonathan was driven mad with grief and ordered the execution of the healer. He was not satisfied. He needed an heir. He traveled to Loholt's kingdom and kidnapped Loholt's wife and newborn son. This act broke the treaty but Loholt didn't want his son to grow up in a time of war so they never declared war. He knew Jonathan would look over Anchael as his own. The queen would not help Jonathan in anyway but Jonathan would need an assistant to calm him and set him back on track, so he would most likely keep her alive. These actions did not satisfy him. He vanished all the Egesa from his kingdom on pain of death before riding out to the villages and spending the next ten years wiping the Egesa from the land.  He often took the young prince with him. Some say that in one of the raids, the prince found an Egesa and trained it, yet this has never been proven." Caradan finished and breathed in deeply.

"Why the sudden interest my girl?" he asked.

"Oh, I bumped into someone who I thought was an Egesa. Probably not, because, as you said, they all perished."

"Alright... Anything else you need?"

"No, Caradan."

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Myerdden left his coins on the pillow as he gathered his things and headed out. He was heading to the woods. 'I need a break from the city.' He never left his stuff in the inn invade someone found it.

He walked along the path until he came to a clearing in which be sat down and thought about what his plan was.

At the same time, Emalin was walking along the path in the forest until she reached her favorite clearing. Someone was there. She stepped close and saw that it was the Egesa.

"Hello?" she called out.

Myerdden looked up and saw the girl from yesterday. 'Just my luck,' he thought. 'A nosy girl to go pressing into things I'd rather not think about. I suppose I should welcome her over, don't want to seem too rude.' He waved her over and she sat down near him. He saw that she had brought a notebook and some sticks of graphite. Ink wells were a hassle to carry around.

"What's your name?" she asked, "You can write your answers in here." 'So that's what it's for,' he thought as she struggled to find a clean page. He took the graphite and wrote, "Does it really matter?" Emalin read it quickly before replying, "Yes. It does. And anyways, it's just a name." He quickly write a reply. "Names have power." She sighed before telling him, "I swear on my honor as a girl if faerie descent that I will not use your name to curse or bring harm to you." To swear on your honor as a race was a very serious oath meaning that if you broke this path, you relinquished all claims to your bloodline. You would be nameless and have no communication with your race which was often where most got their support. So after hearing this, Myerdden wrote down his name to which she replied with her name.

After that, their conversation went smoothly starting from Emalin showing off her magic, mainly harmless party tricks, to Myerdden sharing his "stories." He didn't tell his real experiences but rather a modified version so as to not cause alarm to Emalin.

She eventually sprang the question.

"Myerdden, are you an Egesa?" He looked shocked but hesitantly nodded. 'It's pretty obvious I am one. I shouldn't be surprised.'

"Then why are none of your stories from the village?" He stated for a moment before replying, "Some things are better left forgotten." She was silent for a moment before talking about her own childhood and the pranks she had pulled on Caradan. Soon, the sun was low in the sky, and they departed.

"Shall we meet again tomorrow?" Emalin asked.

"If you wish," was the note she got back.

They continued to meet before Emalin offered him a position as Caradan's assistant. Caradan was in need of another one as her help was sometimes not enough. Myerdden accepted the offer.

A/N: What's this? Another update? This is my third day in a row updating. I'm proud. Then again, I had the story all planned out. So I will be rewriting my Mergana fanfic and Dragonling but they are still up for adoption. So, ya... See you tomorrow. Maybe. Who knows?