Lances and Daggers

10. Prey in Sight

The long-awaited day arrived. It was tonight that the giant Aberration would appear, and it was tonight that Reinfried and I would hunt it down. I didn't know how the town guards had prepared, but I hadn't stopped training since the duel. No matter how long I tried, however, I wasn't able to master the Art of Channeling. It seemed more advanced than Reinfried had implied—or maybe I wasn't good at using magic. Either way, Channeling had to wait until our fight against the Aberration ended.

"This goes here, and this goes there." I fastened my throwing knives to my belt. "All right, now the other equipment." I spread a black cape across my shoulders, folded the local-area map into one pocket, and tucked the compass inside another. When I was sure that I hadn't forgotten anything, I slunk out of my room and went downstairs with careful steps.

On my way to the front door, I found Demetrius reading in a secluded corner. He's always holding that book, but I never asked him what it's about. We rarely talked, and our conversations since the duel didn't amount to ten sentences. When I passed near him, however, he put the book down and said, "You should stay here tonight."

"Why?"

"My tarot cards say so. It's too dangerous to go out."

"You've seen the duel. This time, Reinfried and I will be on the same side. I don't think anything can stand in our way."

Demetrius didn't respond. He picked up his book and returned to reading. You start the conversation and then ignore me? I sighed and headed to the door. I was about to walk out of the inn, but a voice gave me the shivers. She caught me.

"Are you leaving?" Marie said. "It's still sunset."

"Reinfried asked me to be there early."

I turned to look at her. She was biting her lower lip and fidgeting with a keychain. I knew she would be worried, so I wanted to leave unnoticed. Well, at least I tried.

"It's still too early."

"The earlier, the better," I said. "I'll be back before you miss me."

"I won't." She folded her arms and looked away. Then her eyes came back searching for me as she added, "Are you sure you'll be safe?"

"Reinfried and his men will fight by my side; I won't be alone. We'll clean up this mess, and you'll be able to go outside again."

"Don't do anything rash. Promise me."

"I promise," I smiled. "You won't even notice that I'm gone. And when I'm back, maybe we can go to Azuria together."

"Azuria?"

"Yeah, it's more cheerful than here, and there are a lot of nice places to visit."

Marie remained hesitant.

"Think about it."

"Aren't we getting ahead of ourselves?" Demetrius said, but I ignored him.

"I'll go now. Reinfried's waiting." I opened the inn's door. "Take care, Marie."

"Wait!" she said.

But I didn't stop. The door closed behind me, and I hurried to the meeting point on the outskirts of Ashenbrook. The sky was bleeding. The colors of sunset painted the fog crimson. Sometimes the world sends us warnings, and many times we choose to ignore them. Brave or reckless, I ran through the streets without doubts or second thoughts.

Few people were outdoors, because the curfew was about to start. I felt that the town was preparing for an apocalypse: the doors were bolted, and even the windows were covered with wooden boards.