Page 12 of Forgotten Fate

So he was in The Cracked Hoof with us, and didn’t just appear out of thin air in the alley like it seemed. “Then whydidyou intervene?” I asked, curious as to why he felt the need to come to my aid. Most hardened criminals wouldn’t have bothered, I thought.

“I watched them follow you out,” he said without turning to look at me this time. I could sense anger starting to emanate from him. “Before they walked out, I heard them talking about you. Let’s just say they did not have good intentions.” His tone was bitter yet calm, but a muscle in his jaw tightened.

I thought for a moment. “That was a noisy tavern,” I said. “You must have been standing pretty close to be able to hear them.” I may have sounded more accusatory than I wanted. But for all I knew, the whole hero-act was just that. An act. Then he would get me alone and do gods-know-what with me.

“I was close enough,” was all he said.

I frowned before pressing further. “I’m surprised I didn’t see you. You don’t look like you…fit in there.” I was referring to his decent clothes and clean appearance – something the other patrons lacked. He would have stood out to me, but I swore I didn’t see him when Ientered.

“I’m not from here,” he said. “I just stopped at the closest place for a drink, and sat in the back.”

“If you sat at the back then how could you hear—”

“You ask a lot of questions,” he interrupted, irritation in his tone.

I glared at him. “I’m just trying to gage if I should truly trust you.”

His eyes flicked to mine, then to the street in front of us. “I walked up to the bar for another drink after you left. Then I heard the men talking.”

I went quiet, deciding it wasn’t a big enough deal to interrogate him further. Perhaps the hustle and bustle of the place made it easy to not take notice. There was a decent amount of people there, after all. Too many for me to take note of each and every one of them for the brief moment I was inside.

Another few minutes of silence went by, save for the sound of our boots hitting the cobblestone streets echoing off the stone walls of the buildings around us. Although the silence was tense, I was still enjoying the walk through Rimor. I hadn’t been able to walk the streets unreservedly for years. And without the ridiculous amount of guards that regularly surrounded me, I felt…free.

I continued to admire the intricate stonework of each building we passed. Most of the structures were small, with thatched roofs. These were likely homes for entire families, even though each building was just the size of my bedroom. Other, larger buildings that had banners or wooden signs out front indicated some sort of establishment – bakeries, shops, bath houses. I stared at every single one, wondering what they were like on the inside. Maybe one day, if my father ended his overprotective tyranny against me, I would be able to see.

It was a chilly night, and the later it became and the further we were from the Cracked Hoof, the less people there were wandering the streets. Other than a few homeless people sleeping on the street corners, it seemed the stranger and I were alone. This sent a shiverdown my spine.

I broke the silence before the eerie realization could truly seep in and give me cold feet. “So you’ve truly been to the Forest of Torment?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“And you were able to navigate the labyrinth? And made it back alive?”

“Yes.”

“Was it dangerous?”

“Yes.”

He was a man of few words.

“How dangerous?”

He let air out through his nose, as if he were annoyed. “There is a reason the rumors surrounding the Forest are harsh – a reason it’s called the Forest ofTorment. There are truth to those rumors and the name.”

I gulped. “And you’re willing to travel there again? With me?”

Why would he risk death and torment?

“Depends on how much you’re willing to pay,” he replied.

Ah, there it was. He’d risk it all for the right price.

I thought for a moment. “How much do you have in mind?”

He answered more quickly than I expected. “Four hundred gold pieces.”

I nearly stumbled when I heard him. “You must be mad,” I laughed. Four hundred gold was nearly all I brought with me, as I fit as much as I could into a few pouches that existed within my pack. Unless you were from Chatus, the Golden City, or you were incredibly wealthy, not many people had that kind of money. It was enough to live a lifetime in comfort.