The World of The Winged

Lanosan

Chapter 10:

We made a mistake, Lanosan really was THAT BAD. The moment we set foot, well, hoove, in that town, I knew we would get in some kind of trouble. And indeed we did. We stood at the beginning of the town and immediatly a little boy ran past us with a tomato in his hand while he was being chased by two grown men who were yelling at him to give that tomato back or they would hurt the little boy.

But that's just a bad first impression, right? Nope, it really actually was that bad. Grave mistake of us to come here. I had already seen 3 inns for prostitutes, I mean, not that that's a bad thing or anything. The women at least looked like they were having fun, apart from their bruises... It isn't a bad thing to be a prostitute, sometimes you're just lured into the bussiness before you even know what's happening and suddenly, you can't get out! At least, that's what I've heard.

I just couldn't get over all of the crime in this city... I felt kinda bad for having a (kind of) normal life. But then again, what's normal?

We had just rented a room at our inn, a normal one, on the edge of town and I quickly ran to an open field with Sam to train her a little. It went great, she obeyed and already knew what to do when I said a certain command.

I was so proud and happy when training her but after a while, I saw a couple of men walking towards me. I quickly took the dagger I had stored in my boot, since my swords were at the inn, and hid it in my sleeve.

I called Sam over to me and kneeled down beside her while stroking her head and neck. The men finally reached me and I stood up to face them. They had weird smiles on their faces with a threatening glint in their eyes. "Excuse me miss, could you help us? We're lost, I'm afraid." The shortest man said, I felt the dagger in my sleeve again for reassurance. "It depends on where you want to go, I don't really know the area either." I answered, as nicely as I could. I had a bad feeling about these men.

Sam quietly growled for a couple of seconds and a scowl appeared on the face of the tallest man. "Yer should shut your dog up lass, or bad things might happen." He said with a heavy accent and I frowned at him. "I'd hurt anyone who'd want to hurt her. Now if you don't mind, sir, how about you tell me where you want to go?" I replied with a hint of a warning in my tone as my eyes darkened. He took a step towards me but the short man put his hand in front of him so he wouldn't go forward. "I'm sorry miss, we're trying to find The Red Hoove. Do you happen to know where that is?" He said with a small polite but forced smile.

I calmed down a little, "I don't think it's in this field, but I wouldn't know where it is in the town either. I'm sorry I couldn't help you." I started walking past them with Sam following me.

But that's when I heard some whimpers that seemed to be from a child. I looked around as did Sam and after a few second of searching and listening, Sam started running forward and I quickly ran after her. Sam stopped running and laid down next to a small figure in the high grass. It was a little girl with dark skin and small horns. A Mardane, like Kranin. She was hurt and her shirt was covered in blood. I looked around and found that the men who had talked to me already dissapeared. I turned back to the girl, who looked about 10 years old, she was breathing heavily and her face was scrunched up in pain.

"Mama?" She softly spoke, I placed my hand on her cheek, "I'm sorry, I'm not your mother. My name is Amelia, can you tell me what happened to you?" I asked her with worry in my voice. "The men were angry with me." She said with a British accent. She coughed and her face contorted into a pained expression.

I lifted her head onto my lap and pulled my jacket off and wrapped it around her stomach. "It's gonna be okay, you're gonna be okay, can you tell me your name?" I asked her as I put pressure on her wound and slowly lifted her off the ground and started walking to the inn. "My name is Celine, am I-" She coughed up some blood and continued, "Am I going to join my mama and papa?" She asked and I almost started crying as she looked at me in pain but with a hint of hope.