The Place in Between

3-Deception

I walked on that road until it was dark. It was only then that I came across the men camped on the side of the road.

They took up a good amount of space, tents and campfires spread throughout the roadside forest. I saw bottles of alcohol being passed around. As I got closer, I felt a kind of tug in my heart. It pulled me towards the center of camp.

I hid behind a tree and listened to their conversations. They talked about the cold nights and the excitement of reaching the place, later revealed to be my home as their tongues got looser with more alcohol. They talked about "that dagger" helping this morning in the thick fog. They still didn't understand the dagger or it's real purpose, they thought it was a metaphor for some kind of "flamethrower" or whatever. Although I had no idea what a "flamethrower" was, aside from the men and women in my home that threw torches.

I wasn't going to be able to just walk in there dressed like this. It was much different from their clothes and they would notice immediately.

So of course, the plan I came up with was much harder than just stealing some of their clothes that were laying around and pretending to be one of them.

I decided that the easiest thing to do would be to steal some alcohol, drink it, and pretend that I was a drunken loner abandoned in the woods by my friends after a party.

I succeeded in getting the alcohol. I drank two bottles, drained some of the third and half-faked staggering into the camp of men after telling Seren to stay put. I made it halfway to my destination, or just about anyways I couldn't really tell, before the men noticed the drunk pirate woman in their midst.

"Hey pretty lady, what are you doing here dressed like that," one of the men asked. His hands wandered over my calves and I stumbled a bit before straightening and looking at him with a sad face Seren gave me sometimes.

"Oh, should I not be here? I'm sorry it's just that...well I was having a party with my friends and they dared me to put this on and when I cam back from changing they were gone and now I don't know where they are cause they left me all alone in these scary woods," I ended, breaking down and collapsing to the ground crying. I took another drink of the beer, crying more when I saw that the bottle was somehow empty. I didn't think I had made it more than half empty before coming in here and I was pretty sure I hadn't drunk more while walking through. I sat up and threw the bottle at a nearby tree, showering glass onto the ground.

The soldier put a comforting hand on my back and stood me up, rubbing slow circles on my back to help calm me down. He had seemed like a flirt at first but he was actually really nice and helpful. I smiled at him and started crying again at how nice he was.

"Aww please stop crying. You're too pretty to cry young lady," he said. I laughed at that. "Listen, I'm going to take you to the Commander's tent so he can help you. Don't worry, if he's asleep I'll just leave a note for you to give him and you can sleep in there. That sound good to you," he asked. I nodded and smiled in gratitude. This guy was really nice. Then I remembered that if they found my home, he would be slaughtering my friends and family and my smile faltered a bit. I paid attention as best I could on the way there so I would have a quick exit once I got the dagger.

My eyes were threatening to close, fluttering every few steps, as we got closer. The soldier helping me called out for the commander, walking in when he heard a grunt in response.

"What is it Sanders," the man asked in a gruff voice. His face and body fit his voice, very rough and scary looking. I almost burst into tears at the sight of him.

Sanders saluted before giving his report, his hands at his side instead of on my back now. "Sir, this girl wandered into camp after her friends abandoned her drunk in the woods. I figured you would know what to do best so I brought her to you," he snapped out. He stared straight ahead as he waited for his leader's response.

"I see. Well, she can have my bed in that case. She looks pretty drunk so she should just fall asleep as soon as she hits that mattress. You can leave now Sanders," he told the man. He nodded and waved a small goodbye to me. I waved back and turned around after he was gone.

When I turned back around, the Commander was snoring in his chair. The pull was really strong now, so I ignored him and followed it to a small metal box. It had a lock with spinny number things on it. I tried some random combinations but they didn't work. I tried to something with the code on it before turning to the Commander and seeing some numbers written on his palm. I entered the numbers I saw there, 9775, into the lock and it opened. I just laughed for a bit at the thought of the Commander being so careless.

Inside the box was a dagger. It looked like it was made of black glass. I picked it up and prayed there wouldn't be any fog tomorrow morning. I put the dagger inside my hat rim where it curled up on the left side and I left the tent. Sanders was no where to be seen.

I walked off to the right of the tent so I wouldn't accidentally encounter Sanders again. He was nice, but I was sure he would take me back if he saw me. I walked briskly, making it within feet of the edge of camp before he caught me. Sanders had managed to find me even with the extra effort I took to stay away from him.

"What are you doing? Why aren't you asleep in Commander's tent," he asked. He sounded really worried for me.

"Don't be worried I just had to go to the bathroom. I'll go back as soon as I'm done don't worry," I reassured him.

"No, you can't do that. The guys have been saying there is a giant mountain lion out there. It's not safe, you don't have anything to protect yourself with," he said.

"That's silly of you. Of course I have weapons, I'm a pirate," I giggled at his silliness. I pushed the sides of my coat away to reveal to pistol and the sword.

His eyes grew round before he asked, " So that's what those shots were earlier. Are you okay? Nobody hurt you right?"

I nodded. "I'm fine. Thanks for worrying though, not many people do," I said. He let go of my arm and waved goodbye suddenly. I waved back and walked into the woods.

I "went to the bathroom", taking the time that would have used to find Seren and walk away quickly. I walked as far away as I could before my legs were ready to give out and climbed a tree to sleep in, just in case the soldiers came looking for me. Seren climbed the big, twisting oak and slept in the hollow made by its separating branches with me.