Where Worlds Collide[FANTASY/ADVENTURE]

Bitter Truths

Tridore's POV

Amara was still unconscious  when we reached the village. By that time, the tangerine sky had declared the passing of yet another day.

Noctis carried her bridal style all the way to the Fat Duckling. The way he handled her, delicately. As if she were a china doll.

More than once I caught his eyes studying the sleeping girl. Every time a scratch or a bruise on the girl caught his eyes, his jaws would clench.

I know my student. I know the way he thinks. He can be the kindest person on earth on the best of days, a trait received from his mother, I believe. He's compassionate most of the times, unless you give him a reason not to....

But the strange spark in his eyes when he looks at her....this, I couldn't quite place....

It was that very inability that gave birth to fear in me. Fear of those words....

When we entered the village, people flocked around us with intrigue.

The hermit had come out of hiding! That too accompanied by the Knight!

But what got the villagers most worked up was the fact that Amara was with us too, unconcious.

The men concernedly speculated what happened to the belle of Mitra. Some even cast wary glances at the mysterious Knight and the old hermit with conviction.

Some of the older women seemed concerned, the mid-aged housewives were whispering about the way Noct carried her and the lasses were fuming with envy.

Typical villager behaviour.

Noctis's POV

I carried Amara all the way to the
inn.

As I pushed past the doors, a chilly flow of air engulfed us. 

The inn stood vacant of any life. I expected her mother to come running, with her daughter being previously missing and currently unconcious. 

But the innkeeper was nowhere to be seen.

Only a dimly lit candle on the innkeeper's desk, at the far end of the dining hall stood as a belligerent against the dark trying to engulf the empty room. The dying candle cast ghostly shadows over the abandoned frunishings.

"Let's get her to lie down somewhere." Tridore said breaking the silence.

So I took Amara up to the second floor. I placed her down on the bed in my room and placed the blanket over her petite figure.

As I came down the stairs, I could hear Tridore talking to Mrs.Aldaine.

So, she's back then, from wherever she had been.

Good.

Time for a little chat.

Mrs. Aldaine's POV