Rogue Light

by Brian Nyaude

  25

  It was now all too familiar with me, that creepy feeling you get when you feel like something is not right. This inn had me in a nerve wrecking state of panic. I just couldn’t explain this gut feeling in my stomach telling us to get out of this place. We followed the old man through a series of mind riddling floor towards our appointed rooms. My eyes wandered left and right trying to memorize the passages we had gone through, but it was impossible. Every floor zigzagged in different floors, some going up and others going down. Was this really an inn? For a second, I thought I saw one of the walls move slightly. Dashe grabbed for his sword again only to be stopped by Glazer again. Glazer gripped his hand tightly and looked at him with a sign of disapproval. Finally, the idiot got the message and drew his hand off his weapons. I could tell that everyone was uncomfortable with this surprise twist. No longer were any of us sure that this was an inn or some sort of labyrinth trap. Just who were these people? Were they leading us into a trap?

  Despite their human appearance, their energies felt like those of monsters. Another strange thing to add, we saw no one on any of the floors like the place had been vacant for a while. Surely enough, I had seen people come in and none leave after us. You might think me paranoid, but I know when something is not quite right when I see it. I shivered as I felt something follow us through the walls. Seriously, this place was giving me some unpleasant vibes all over. It was powerful enough to make me ignore the terrible aching itch all over my body.

  “These are your rooms,” he pointed to two rooms on opposite side from each other.

  The doors of these rooms were brand new as if they had never been used before. He handed us a pair of keys after he had opened the two doors. I took one of the key from his hand and Masonku took the other. The rooms were a bit dim with a few candles lit inside.

  “Dinner will be in a while,” he smiled maniacally looking straight into my eyes. “The bathroom is right outside if you go this way straight. And the dining room is next to the reception table on the left.”

  After saying that, he quickly limped away and vanished onto next floor. The tiny presence I had felt earlier didn’t leave. It was emitting a small trace of energy all through the inn. My whole body quivered as I felt uneasy. I didn’t like the look the old man gave me before he left us. It felt like he was plotting to do something terrible to us when we least expected it. At the moment, it wasn’t my most concerning thought to deal with.

  “I’m going out to the bathroom,” I said running slowly towards the door that led outside. “I will be back in a few minutes.”

  I waltzed right through the door, slamming it open with my left shoulder. To my surprise, I found myself looking at a series of corridors going in different direction. If I wandered off and got lost, I wouldn’t find my way back so easily even with these eyes of mine. And yes, I could not see through the walls of this place like before. Should have probably mentioned it when I first entered the inn; however, I didn’t want to dissuade the others. The possibility that this was all an illusion dawned on me. I brushed all thoughts away as the itching became less bearable. For now, taking a bath took priority over everything else. Looking straight ahead in the middle floor, I found the door leading outside and ran towards it. The large metal door was bolted on, the only thing standing in my way. Prying and pulling hard, the metal door wouldn’t budge an inch. I summoned one of my flintlocks without thinking and blasted the door hinge apart. Note to self, apologize to the old couple when you see them. The door let out a small creak as it opened up slowly. Without waiting for it to open fully, I forced my way out and got outside. I looked back at door surprised for a while. I had never seen such a dense metallic door before. What was it for? This door only opened from the outside which was rather strange. I think it was meant to keep people in and not out. Little by little, my suspicion about this inn began to manifest. It was more than it appeared to be. The lush wave of the wind blowing past me drowned everything out. It felt like I had been released from a prison. The sun was almost beyond the horizon, leaving an incredible spectacle color over the whole sky. In front of me, a grand and stone marbled tub stood, beamed with clean water. It was surrounded by three large wooden walls separating the inn from the outside city. Quickly, I removed my coat and jumped in while still wearing my shirt, pants, and shoes. The water felt refreshing and warm, washing away gently all the dirt of the day from my skin. I sighed slowly, feeling the much better and blank minded.

  “How is the water?” Kaya said and jumped into the tub too.

  What the! Why hadn’t I sensed him approach? Had he followed me? Well so much for a nice bath alone. I watched him practice his swimming strokes near of edge of the tub a few feet away from me.

  “This water is great,” he said playing in the water, “I was feeling itchy all day long, and I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to be a burden to you all. I am glad you decided to stop at this place.”

  Well at least I wasn’t the only one having the itch trouble to begin with. I sighed out loud, closing my eyes to relax my whole body. Had to admit it too, this water was really amazing.

  “This is nice,” Ogana jumped into the bathe. “It’s been a while since I took one.”

  “Oh come on,” I said to myself disappointed. I just wanted one single bath to myself, but that was impossible. The moment Ogana got into the tub the water rose and turned a little bit brown in color. It was safe to assume Ogana hadn’t taken a bath in a very long long time. He sat by the corner of the tub, on the far left side sipping his ale peacefully. I really couldn’t believe he even drank while taking a bath.

  “So what are you losers doing now?” Dashe slipped in quickly without being noticed.

  Oh great, the bunion decided to join us. Apparently it just wasn’t my day. On the bright side, Dashe was keeping his mouth shut. The tub was really big, we all fit inside without having our feet touch one another. The gentle water brushed all my thoughts away, leaving me in a trance of repose. I leaned my head against the edge of the tub, looking straight up. The light of the four moons in the sky left a glistened reflection upon the surface of the water.

  “Where are Masonku, Glazer, and Showe?” I asked getting half my body out of the water.

  “They decided to stay in their room, polishing their weapons and inventory for the battle to come.” Ogana replied taking a huge sip with his booze.

  Seeing him drink made me wonder if there was ever an hour he went by without drinking. For a normal man, that much drinking could’ve killed him. But since Ogana was a tree giant I guess his body system was different. Back in Rogue, I used to be like him. Drowning all my frustrations and regrets on booze at every party I went to. It consumed me to a point that I couldn’t think straight or do anything without drinking a gallon of booze every half a day. Openly, I had been tempted on so many occasions to ask him for a drink, even a sip. At the last second, the horrific memory from my past flashed back into me, stopping my urges completely. My drinking habits had caused someone to lose their life, a mistake I could never forgive myself for.

  “Do you guys feel like something is off?” Dashe suddenly interrupted my thinking. “There is something wrong with this inn. I feel like we are being watched right now.”

  For once, I didn’t feel like shoving something down his throat as he spoke. There was a lot of concern on my part too about this creepy inn. Dashe was a bunion, but his intuitions were excellent. I felt it too, like something or someone was watching us from the shadows. Taking everyone’s strength into account, I felt no reason to worry ourselves with it. We had to conserve our strength for the final battle to come instead of fighting every small worm that crossed our path.

  “I feel your concern,” Ogana scruffed his leafy beard. “But don’t go poking holes into everything Dashe. We are only here to rest until morning, and not to start fights.”

  Ogana was absolutely right, hiding out inside our enemy’s domain required precise restraint and vigilanc
e. To put it into simpler words for Dashe, no fighting unless provoked.

  “Has anyone noticed that there are no other customers besides us?” Kaya popped his head out of the water, looking at each of us with blurry eyes. “I mean it seems it’s just us and the owners.”

  Kaya’s words stirred heavily in my heart, bringing further questions into my mind. Everything about this inn felt out of place. I mean we saw customers come in and yet there were no people inside. The whole place felt like a dark labyrinth, almost like a trap for us. Perhaps it had been a mistake to stop here in the first place. What am I saying? This water was too wonderful, an experience felt once in a lifetime. I sighed out loud feeling rather relaxed and calm. Dashe twitched silently sitting at the corner on the right, his eyes closed completely. Ogana and Dashe were definitely two interesting individuals, I wanted to know more about them. Well since we were sort of bonding, I felt constrained to learn more about them. As allies, getting to know one another was great for team work and communication.

  “So Ogana,” I began, looking straight at him. “I always heard that tree giant were much taller and ranged up to twenty feet in height. Why are you so different?”

  He laughed hard as he scratched his belly, “alright I guess I can tell you since you are my friend. Tree giants do grow up to twenty feet or more and some of us are even violent. I am different because I drink a lot. Booze is bad for tree giants because it shrinks our bodies greatly. I wasn’t always this small you know? I was nineteen feet, had a wife, a good occupation, and a nice house. But it didn’t work out between my wife and I, you can say we sort of grew apart. Shortly after, I started drinking and been doing it since then, travelling with my brother till recently in Okaya. The booze helps make all my bad memories go away, I would drown in regret if I didn’t have it.”

  “But why can’t you go back to your wife,” I asked with some concern in my voice. “I am sure she misses you deeply. If you love her then you should fight for her and do whatever it takes to win her heart.”

  “Rid listen,” he looked at me calmly. “Letting someone go is also to love someone, it is a reality we all have to face. I hope you never have to make the same decision in your future.”

  “To let them go is also a form of love,” I thought to myself.

  Ogana’s story sounded sad that I almost shed a tear. Maybe it hadn’t been such a great idea to ask him at all. It now explained why he went crazy whenever he saw women around in bars. It was his way of trying to fill his empty void.

  “You are not going to ask me too are you?” Dashe asked getting out of the water. “Well too bad. I’m getting out of the water and going back to the room. Look at all this dirt Ogana put in the water, disgusting.”

  I yelped out loud as I looked at the water, it was almost light brown in color. My word, this was more disgusting than the swamp monster. I almost lost it when Kaya emerged out from the deep water, slurping in some of the water into his mouth. Dashe stood at the edge of the tub putting back on his hooded cloak. Truth be told, I had no intention of asking Dashe about his past. I had seen some of it and did not want to know the rest. I heard creatures of the night emerged, making rhythmic noises in the glitter of the moons. We had been in the tub for more than half an hour, enjoying ourselves in peace. I still couldn’t believe we were in Danyen, the city engulfed in darkness. It all felt surreal as I couldn’t even believe it myself. After a while, I finally got out of the water feeling groggy and heavy like a sponge. For some unknown reason, I felt tired and worn out. On the plus side, the itching pain had receded. The night brought a cold and refreshing breeze of air that swept around my red wet hair wildly.

  “What was that?” Dashe jumped landing in the bath water, two swords unsheathed. “I felt something move in the ground.”

  This was no mere coincidence because I felt it too. Something was beneath us, lurking underneath the surface. I almost shrieked when I saw the tub and the ground move up and down slowly. This was not normal, I was sure now that we were not alone. But who or where was it?

  “Get ready,” I warned them all, eyeing to make a dash for the door. “Looks like trouble found us.”