How could I forget about Vaurte?
It was such a perfect place for the runaway Crown Prince and the princess of the fallen kingdom. A village that was regarded as a tourist destination where people came in at any time of the day.
A small village with cozy little inns filled to the brim that always managed to find a room for any traveller. No one would even pay any heed to two cloaked strangers entering at midnight covered in mud and weird stains on their cloaks.
Entering a small and obscure inn, I removed my boots and shook the snow and mud out of them. Nyx did the same. The innkeeper glanced at his new guests as I walked up to him, holding the bag of coins in my left pocket protectively.
"A room for two, we'll stay for one night," I told him as he glanced at me then Nyx and then me again. "You lot better not get into any trouble here at my inn, get me?"
I smiled, "Well, of course! We are nothing but lonely tourists here to look at the natural beauty of this pretty little village."
He eyed us suspiciously and stated, "Five gold."
Five gold coins? Was this man mad? We only had forty gold coins. I felt Nyx's elbow hit my arm as she signalled at me to look at the men at the bar behind us.
There were four men sitting at the bar laughing with beer jugs in the hands. They all had different tattoos covering their bodies. But one tattoo remained consistent.
On each of their right shoulders was a symbol of two bloody knives arranged in an 'X'.
Fuck, these were members of the notorious gang- Steel and Terror. I had only heard of their disgusting and inhumane crimes in the castle but looking at them now, in real life, scared me.
I glanced at Nyx, who was staring at me like she was waiting for me to do something. Hell, she must be scared. I put my hand on her shoulder, trying to provide her some comfort. It felt awkward touching a corpse I believed to be dead for years.
Nyx looked disappointed and then pulled out the bag of coins from my pocket and held out five golden coins to the innkeeper. "We'll take the room," she declared and the innkeeper smiled, amused.
He took the money and traded it for a key, "Up the stairs and fifth door to the left," he said trying to get a peek of Nyx's face under her hood.
Confused and irritated by the innkeeper, I took hold of Nyx's hand once again and led her towards the room.