A small crowd had gathered around the camp stove and hungrily passed out bowls of roasted chicken, egg and vegetables over simple noodles. Miri recognized some of the people they had been introduced to last night, as well as several more who looked at them curiously. She remembered that Raigh had mentioned that an Elf was travelling with them and eagerly Miri searched for her kin. If anyone could alleviate her concerns about the carnival it would be them.
As Miri searched the crowd, she felt a hand tenderly caress her shoulder and she turned with a gasp. Ralis smiled shyly back at her, even as she frowned at him.
“Ezra told me you were worried about me?” He asked, with a slight blush.
“It is not just me! Amri and Browen were also worried, we have not seen you all day.” She snapped and turned to resume her search. She didn’t want to look at him or think about what he had been doing with Raigh all day.
“I’m sorry, I should have visited sooner.” Ralis replied as he ran his fingers through his soft fluffy hair with a sheepish grin. “I lost track of time. Raigh is really interesting, she’s been with the carnival for as long as she can remember.” He looked back through the crowd with a sad smile. “Her life has been so different and yet so similar to mine.”
“Do not forget about our task. Its importance is greater than you making a… friend.” She crossed her arms angrily. The last time she had felt so irrationally angry at him had been while they were locked up in Snow’s End. So much had happened between them since then that the strange foreign feeling felt somehow worse now.
“I won’t forget Miri.” Ralis sighed as she stubbornly kept her gaze away from him and he reached out to take her hands in his. “I’m being careful Miri; you don’t need to worry.”
But she did need to worry, he didn’t know what she knew, he didn’t see what she had seen. The memory of him being buried to death under a mountain of gold brought a tear to her eye and she quickly blinked to hide it, but Ralis was too observant. He frowned at her clear distress.
“These are good people Miri, what are you worried about?”
His earnest expression chiseled away at her anger and she nearly felt herself tell him the details of the death vision. And yet, she dared not say the words out loud, that would make them real. That and she didn’t know how he would react to knowing that he was fated to die unless something changed.
“Promise me Ralis, that when it is time to leave you will join us. Promise that you will not stay here with these people.” She felt her lower lip waver at the request.
“Of course Miri, I haven’t forgotten what brought us together.”
Someone bumped into Ralis and pushed him closer to Miri. She blushed at the more intimate proximity and squeaked nervously as she pulled away. Ralis tried not to laugh at her reaction, which only made her want to turn and hide in the crowd around them, but his hands held hers firmly.
“We have a quest to complete.” He affirmed, saying the words in a whisper made for her. “And I made a promise that I would see it through. Nothing is going to get in the way of that.”
She nodded, accepting his word, and yet the vision continued to lurk at the edges of her mind. He had said in the vision that he had made a deal before becoming buried in coins. “Promise you will not make any deals with them?” Miri added.
Ralis cocked his eyebrows at the curious request. “I promise.”
Miri sighed in relief, maybe that was all she needed to do to prevent that dark vision of the future from coming to pass.
“Did you have a vision?” He asked quietly.
“No!” She hurriedly replied. “I simply have a bad feeling.” She sighed, no matter how many times she repeated it, her friends seemed capable of seeing through the lie.
“There you are!”
Miri cringed as she heard Raigh from behind Ralis. Her arms looped around his waist and pulled him away from Miri with a giggle.
“We’re going to start moving soon. Oh, hey Miri.” Raigh gave Miri a brief half-smile before she returned her attention to Ralis.
Miri felt anger flare up within her at the look that Raigh was giving Ralis. She focused on Raigh with a glare then to her surprise felt something tug within her and then the world seemed to stand still.
A demonic roar ripped through the night and was immediately followed by the screams of a baby. The mother, a red skinned Na’tyr with yellow eyes, long black hair, a monstrous pair of horns, a whip like tail, and tall wings, looked down at her child in disgust. It was a reminder of a mistake, one that would cost her life if the others found out. She would need to deal with the child and yet she couldn’t simply kill it, it was still her blood after all.
“Raighlae.” The woman whispered with a hateful scowl. “Your name is Raighlae.”
The world spun from the gloom of the birthing room to the colours and sound of a carnival taking place. The Na’tyr woman hurriedly placed a basket on the steps to the Ringmasters wagon before flying into the darkness of the night. The baby cried and the door opened, and a much skinnier Ringmaster bent down to inspect the basket. He frowned at the note tucked into the folds of her blankets.
“Raighlae?”
The crying temporarily stopped at the name and the Ringmaster took the basket inside with a worried frown.
Miri blinked as the world around her resumed. The vision had left her feeling shaken and she looked at Raigh with new eyes.
Still looking at Ralis, Raigh added. “Kim was mentioning that there is a roadhouse ahead, I was thinking it would be great practice as your first performance.”
Ralis looked between the two girls earnestly, his normally pale skin slightly tinged pink on the cheeks. “My first real performance.” His smile grew wider at the notion and his dark eyes sparked with excitement.
Miri blinked, neither of them had noticed the brief vision.
Raigh giggled at his reaction. “We need to plan your performance, so you don’t make a fool of yourself. Come on.”
Ralis looked to Miri with a pleading expression, and she nodded. She still felt shocked by the vision that had spontaneously invaded her. She had never had a vision so unprompted before. Then again, she had been focusing all of her attention on Raigh. And what she had seen left her feeling a deep sense of loneliness, Raigh had never been wanted, she had been a mistake. Maybe Miri had been too harsh on her.
Ralis beamed at her with a nod and mouthed the words thank you before allowing Raigh to drag him away from Miri again. Worry chewed its way through Miri as she watched him leave. He looked so excited to finally see his dream become a reality. She couldn’t refuse him that, not with all that she and her visions were demanding of him and his friends.
Everyone was dispersing back to their wagons. Miri had lost track of Ezra, Amri and Browen and decided to meet them at the storage wagon that they had been riding on. She didn’t have to wait long before they climbed aboard and took their seats between the tightly packed boxes. Ezra was still carrying a tin bowl loaded with food and excitedly dug in as the caravan started to move again.
“We’re going to be stopping at a roadhouse tonight.” Amri started the conversation. “Apparently it’s a safer place to stop for the night than the woods, and the carnival has a chance to make some money.”
“I had heard.” Miri sighed stubbornly.
“We’re making really good time.” Browen beamed as he withdrew a map from his bag and began to unfold it. “I borrowed this from a man named Edwin, one of the drivers at the front.”
“Borrowing implies that you will be returning it.” Ezra mentioned between bites.
“And I intend to.” Browen nodded firmly. “When we get to Goldwyn, I can buy us our own map.”
“How much money do you have left, money bags?” Amri teased, bumping her shoulder into Browen’s.
“Enough.” He began before deciding to confess. “It is getting really low thou
gh, that winter gear took most of it.”
“How many more days must we endure this carnival before we arrive in Esper?” Miri asked, looking back towards the direction of Raigh’s wagon. Despite her most recent vision she still worried about the death she had foreseen. She needed to get them away from before it came to pass.
“At this pace, we’ll be in Goldwyn in a couple of nights.” Browen pointed to the large map. “It’s the next big city on our way. I was told that it was a successful Human settlement before Queen Zarrennia. Then maybe three or four more days of travel after Goldwyn and we’ll be at the Endarin River. That’s the border between Esper and Madaria. If we’re travelling by foot after, it might be another week before we get to Frellan, the capital of Esper. Edwin wasn’t sure what the Ringmaster’s plans were after we reach Endar, the main border city between Esper and Madaria. But if we’re lucky and they enter Esper we could be at Frellan in little over a week from now.”
Miri had followed Browen’s fingers as they marked the path and landmarks that they would be taking. This map looked different from the one they had used in the mountains north of Snow’s End. It was easier to read but it also showed much more of the world than Miri had ever seen depicted. It was a map of all Madaria and a portion of the neighboring lands. At its center was Verta, the largest city in the world and once the capital of the Elven Empire. Her eyes trailed over to Esper in the eastern parts of the map. Most of it was cut off but she could see the place that Browen had called Frellan seated at the edge of the paper. It felt like a lifetime away looking at the world drawn out so small, but then she looked to where they had been. Her eyes fell on the words that spelled out Snow’s End, near the topmost part of the map. The map’s creator had begun to etch in mountains but had run out of parchment. According to Browen’s fingers they had already put a significant distance between that town of bad memories and themselves.
Miri’s attention was pulled from the map suddenly as Amri gave her a gentle warning kick and gestured for her to hide her ears. Miri had not noticed that her hood had started to slip back, and she pulled it forward to conceal her curly red hair and pointed ears. She then followed Amri’s gaze and noticed the patrol of soldiers that walked the opposite direction of the carnival. She felt her heart stop as the soldiers curiously observed the wagons and their passengers as they passed. Ezra had disappeared deeper between the boxes of supplies and Browen and pulled up the map to cover his face, only Amri and Miri kept their eyes on the passing soldiers. Then she felt it again that strange magical tug at the back of her mind, she blinked in surprise, she had never had two visions in one day before.
It was dark when the caravan arrived at a large roadhouse and everyone hurried inside. Ralis was excited for his first performance and Raigh gave him a kiss of good luck before pushing him towards the prepared stage. The roadhouse was mostly empty, aside from two tables with their own weary travelers enjoying a late dinner. Miri sat with Ezra, Browen, and Amri in the back and kept to the shadows.
The world shifted slightly, and Miri watched Ralis perform on the stage. It was unforgettably beautiful, and she was disappointed that she had only seen the end of it. The crowd stood as they cheered and the few travelers who were staying at the roadhouse presented their coin, grateful for the amazing show. Miri felt sick but kept her mouth shut as the coins landed on the stage at Ralis’s feet, not enough to bury him but enough to remind Miri of what she needed to prevent from happening.
A shadow moved at the edge of Miri’s vision and she saw a pair of pale hooded figures looking at several pieces of paper. The paper moved too quickly for her to read the words, but she noted the likeness of Ezra and Browen drawn on two of them. The hooded figures then stood and moved towards the table where Miri, Ezra, Amri and Browen sat.
Miri opened her mouth to cry out a warning, but it was too late. The hooded figures moved with deadly speed and accuracy as they knocked both Browen and Ezra unconscious with a precise blow to the back of the head. Amri stood and drew her daggers but was quickly disarmed and bound by cold iron bindings. The carnival troupe stayed out of the way as the other figure restrained Miri. She cried out as she struggled against the attack but the hooded figure that held her was the stronger. In seconds the four of them were locked in chains of cold iron and were dragged from the room.
Ralis shouted from the stage and leapt off to help. As he passed Raigh’s table she reached out and held him back while the mercenaries dragged Miri and the others out of the roadhouse. Miri then felt something hard hit the back of her head and then the world went dark.
Miri didn’t breathe in the wake of the second vision that day. She had not even noticed that the danger had passed, and the soldiers were long gone down the road. On Amri’s word Ezra had climbed back out to join them at the edge of the wagon with a frown. None of them seemed to notice that Miri had pulled her limbs in tight around her. She had seen another dark future that she would need to prevent.
“I can’t believe they didn’t stop us.” Browen mused as he folded up his map again.
“Not worth the effort?” Ezra shrugged equally unsure.
“This is great news, just like blending into a crowd.” Amri smiled mischievously. “We should stay with them as long as we can. We travel much faster on the road with the wagons and apparently the soldiers don’t care about us.”
“Agreed.” Ezra nodded. “It’s better than walking for days at a time.”
“We’re safe now Miri, the danger has passed.” Browen rested a comforting hand on Miri’s shoulder and she flinched.
“We cannot go to the roadhouse.” She whispered then looked to her friends anxiously, her eyes wide. With more confidence she repeated. “We cannot go to the roadhouse. I… I just had a vision… If we go there, we will be found by agents of the Queen. We will be caught.”
The others were silent for a long moment as they drank in her words. They looked between each other with concerned frowns and nodded.
“What do we do?” Browen asked.
“We tell them to not stop, simple.” Ezra replied with her commanding tone that reminded all of them of who she was.
“And when they ask why?” Amri countered, then she took a deep breath. “Maybe we should leave the caravan, walking may be slower, but it is safer.”
Ezra grumbled at the suggestion but surprisingly it was Browen who spoke up.
“I don’t think we need to abandon the caravan just yet. Raigh might be able to convince the Ringmaster to skip the roadhouse. Or worst-case scenario we stay outside.”
“Either way we must speak with Ralis.” Miri added, her nauseous guilt began to gnaw at her again. “We must warn him of the danger.”
Ezra frowned at Miri. “This isn’t some convoluted plot to get him away from Raigh is it?”
“Why would I wish to pull Ralis from Raigh?” Miri asked, concealing her true feelings even from herself. “I do not care that he wishes to spend his time with her, I only worry that one of the chosen may be in danger. If she wishes to avoid the roadhouse with us, then so be it.”
“Let’s do this then. Every minute we waste talking is another minute closer to the roadhouse.” Amri remarked jumping from the moving wagon and waiting for the others to follow.
Chapter Seven
Ralis
Time had no concept in Raigh’s wagon. It somehow seemed to both stand still and rush by far too quickly. Raigh had put up a curtain over her barred door to offer the pair more privacy as they travelled along the road and they had spent the entire morning recounting their lives to one another. Both had equally endured their own sets of hardships. Raigh had been abandoned to the Carnival of Dreams as a baby and knew nothing of her real parents or where she came from. She referred to the carnival troupe as her family and clearly was fond of all of them. But as Ralis described his own childhood she struggled to conceal her jealousy of Ralis upbringing. For as isolated as he had b
een, he still had a constant loving figure in his life who sought to protect him even at the cost of her own life in the end. He had known a stability that Raigh couldn’t even begin to imagine.
But in turn, Ralis was jealous of the freedom that Raigh had always known. It was a notion that he had only recently started to experience, at the greatest cost of all. She had spent her life travelling across, not only Madaria, but the neighboring lands. She had seen the world and met interesting new people. But for as close as she was with her troupe, she never had a real family or someone who really loved her. She was constantly surrounded by people, and yet was lonelier than Ralis, secluded in his cabin, ever was.
After they had stopped for lunch Raigh had decided to prepare Ralis for his first performance. A concept that made him both elated and terrified. He kept his worries to himself however as Raigh helped him pick out the songs he would play and offered to find him something a little more festive to wear for the performance.
Their preparations were frequently interrupted however by brief breaks, during which their lips would find one another, and their hands would roam each other’s bodies. It was a struggle for both of them to keep focused on conversation or preparations. They both found something in the other that they had been missing in their lives. Ralis did not want to let go of the one person who seemed to understand him, who was interested in him without the magic that had influenced so many others. And she had confessed, between many hot kisses, that she had never been with someone who cared as much about other people as he did.
Her fingers had once again curled into his hair and found his small black horns. She seemed to delight in delicately running her fingers over their brief length whenever they kissed. Ralis’s hands had found their place on her waist and he pulled her closer to him as the passion of the kiss became overwhelming. He longed to undress her, to lie naked with her and let the rest of the world pass them by but continued to resist. She was different from the others he had been with; he wanted that moment to be special, memorable, not just an impulse of the moment. He could feel that she was longing to take things further. But regardless of how passionate things between them became, she respected his wish and kept herself back until he was ready.
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