Her Hero

Chapter 8

*Hannah's P.O.V*

I rode out into the forest. My sword was attached firmly to my hip. I lived the smell of the dirt and trees. It was a hundred times better than that dusty palace, though the palace did have one thing on the forest. It had a certain princess. STOP THIS HANNAH! I said to myself. Mamrie had made herself very clear. I had no shot with the princess and there was no reason for me to stay in the palace any longer than I had to.
I rode Charles up to a small bar at the edge of town. I remembered this place well. I had come here with Joshua the night he died. I remember sitting on the two stools farthest from the door, sipping on glasses of burbon. He was telling me how his training was going and that he couldn't wait to someday be head guard. Josh was always such a kind a and caring soul. Why anybody would want to kill him was beyond me.
I went and sat in that same chair, hoping it might jog back a memory or two about what happened after we left.
"What can I get'cha little lady?"
The bartender asked. His voice was just as gruff as his apperance. He was tall and built like a bull. There was no doubt that he could kill a man with just one thought. Wait a minute... that was it! Ask the bartender! Nice thinking Hannah!
"Just get me a burbon."

The man laughed.
"Ya sure you can handle that? That is some serious liquor?"

My eyes narrowed. There was no way in hell I was going to let him tell me what drinks I could handle.

"I'll take my chances."
I said coldly. He slid the amber liquid across the counter and into my hand. As I downed it, the gentle burn that the liquid left in my throat was oddly soothing.
"Hey,"
I began as I turned my attention to the bartender.
I pulled out an old picture that I had of Joshua from about 2 years ago. He looked the same the night we were here, so it would be easy to recognize him from the picture.

"About a month ago, I came in here with this man."
I set the picture infront of him.
"Did you, by any chance, see him acting strangly?"

The man's eyes raked over the picture.

"Never seen'm before."

I sighed with frustration.

"Are you SURE?"

He pointed his sausage like fingers very close to my face.

"Look lady I don't know anything. Even if I did, I wouldn't tell you. Now get out of my bar before I throw you out."

With my pride wounded, I stood up and walked out, just as he told me to. I glanced down at the picture. Joshua's smiling face was staring up at me, that damn smile forever plastered on his face. Anger began to bubble up inside meas I shoved the picture back into my bag. I was never one to break a promise and I'd be damned if I was going to break fhis one.
I quickly mounted Charles and rode off to the only other place he would think to go after a night of drinking. The practice arena.

*Grace's P.O.V*

Damnit I thought to myself as we reached a clearing in the woods. Hannah was nowhere to be seen.

"We lost her."
I said as I turned to Mamrie.

Her eyes were staring off into the distance as if she could see Hannah.

"No. I think I know where she went."

She stepped down off of Beanz and began walking towards this bar. Confused, I followed the red head without another word.

"Put your hood up, Princess and stay behind me. This is gonna be fun."

As we entered the bar, I was taken a back by the sour smell that assaulted my nose. Call me spoiled, but this was disgusting. Everywhere I looked, there were large monsters, burping and having a great time.
Marie stepped up to the counter and cleared her throat.

"Excuse me, but have you by any chance seen a short little blonde, she may have talked to you."

The man's eyes narrowed at Hannah's descriptuon.

" Yeah, I saw her, but I tossed her ass out."
I looked at Mamrie with a concerned gaze. She met it with an equally disturbed expression.

"Could you tell us why?"

He let out a loud and sarcastic chuckle.

"That little dwarf tried to accuse me if killing that guard. I got upset and told her to leave. So she did."

"Any idea where she might have gone? "

"Look, in my business, the only question you ask is a person's drink order. Nothing else. As for where she went, I couldn't care less. Now are you two gonna order something or not."

Mamrie let out a frustrated sigh and ordered us bloody mary's.
We drank and didn't ask any more questions. Which was probably a good thing, considering the temper on that bartender.

"What do we do now?"
I asked in a whisper.

Mamrie sighed.

"We keep looking and hope she doesn't do something stupid. Which with Hannah may be too much to ask. "
I fiddled with the celery stick in my glass and tried not to say anything. I knew that if I said too much, my cover would be blown and things would go south really fast. It was safe to say that in this part of the kingdom,   my family wasn't well liked. When my father became king, he divided the kingdom between humans and magical creatures. He never told me why he thought the division was necessary, but I vowed that when I became queen, I would change things. My coronation would be in three months,  which was why everyone was pushing me to get married. I was all for it, but I wanted to marry the person of my choice. I wanted to marry someone I loved. That was starting to look like that would be Hannah.

"We should probably get going."
Mamrie said as she placed the payment for the drinks on the counter.
"She can't have gone too far."

I followed the red head out the door and back on to our horses. I understood that Hannah wanted to catch her friend's killer, but since we had no idea who that was, danger would be around every corner. I needed to make sure she was safe. No matter what.

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for taking so long to update, but here is another chapter. I hope you guys enjoy❤

                      -Liz