Raghnall told me not to go back to the village to get my stuff. He said it would be better if no one knew I was leaving, and that I didn�t need all the stuff I had been planning to take. I reluctantly obeyed, and there we went. At first I felt awkward, nervous and giddy. That feeling didn�t leave me until Raghnall said we should call it a night. I had no idea how far we had walked since then; it felt like a hundred kilometers, according to my feet. But it couldn�t have been that far, because Raghnall said we were still in Lacuna�s forest.
I was happy when Raghnall said it was time for us to sleep. My feet were sore and I could hardly see the path we were walking on, causing me to almost trip multiple times. I looked over at Raghnall.
�Um�where are we supposed to sleep?�
He looked at me in a funny way, as if what I just said was such a weird question. Instead of answering, he just plopped down and sat against the trunk of a big tree.
�Right�� I mumbled, but went to sit next to him anyway. �You know�I�m kind of hungry.� I said, which was true. We had been walking for several hours and hadn�t eaten since then.
�Tomorrow. Just rest now, we�ll eat tomorrow.�
�Okay�� I yawned, but couldn�t sleep just yet. There had been one thing bugging me all day. �Hey, Raghnall�� I started, �aren�t you going to tell me where we are going and what we�re going to do yet?�
He chuckled at that. �You�ll find out soon enough.�
I think you can image that I didn�t fall asleep with a reassuring feeling that night.
~
When I woke up, Raghnall was nowhere to be found. For a moment, I felt a pang of panic inside my chest. What if he really was gone? What if he left me here? I didn�t know how to get back; I would be lost in the forest forever!
But then I heard some noise right behind me, and when I turned I saw him. It was Raghnall, carrying a big fish he must have caught in the river that was streaming nearby. I must have had a relieved look on my face, because he let out an amused laugh.
�Happy to see me?�
I decided to ignore that remark and just watch how he was going to bake that fish. In our village, we used firestones; just hit them against each other hard enough to produce a spark above some wood, and then blow. So far, Raghnall only had some branches for firewood. He stuck one of them through the fish and let it rest on two standing ones. And then, he did something, which would never cease to amaze me.
He put his hand on the firewood that was lying beneath the fish, and then, there was fire. A big, warm fire, to bake the fish with. I gaped at him, and I must have looked hilarious, because Raghnall was laughing at me, laughing at me gaping at that trick. First I thought, and then I said:
�Magic?�
And when Raghnall had calmed down, he said:
�Magic!�
�But�but how?� I asked, still stunned. And he just smiled at me, in this mysterious way he always smiled. And I figured it must have been because he was an Elf, because I had never seen something like this before. While we both waited for the fish to be done, I took my time to study Raghnall. For someone who was 410 years old, he didn�t look that bad at all. I remembered what he had said about Elves: They age much slower than humans. That must have been the reason he looked so young.
�Oi.� The sudden sound startled me, and I saw Raghnall looking at me with an amused expression on his face. �Seeing something you like?�
I realized I had been staring at him and blushed bright red. He chuckled and threw a piece of the fish to me, which I caught clumsily. As we ate in silence, I thought this whole �escape� over. I realized there was no turning back now. I had agreed on coming with Raghnall, and there was no way I could go back now. I would never see my family and friends again, and this realization made me feel a bit nervous. I looked over at Raghnall; he didn�t seem to be bothered by anything. But then again, he wasn�t leaving everything behind. There was nothing here that tied him to this forest.
�Listen, I shouldn�t worry too much about it, if I were you. What I would worry about more is the things that are to come.� For a second I wondered if he could read minds too, but then I realized I must have looked worried.
�Well, thanks a lot. That�s really reassuring.� He laughed, and then smiled at me in a way that did reassure me.
�Don�t worry! I�ll be there to protect this �damsel in distress�!�
I blushed at that, and muttered: �I�m no damsel�� And he just smiled and then hopped on his feet.
�Come on, let�s go. We still have to go a long way!�
�If you would just tell me where we are going�!� I yelled at him, at which he just laughed rather evilly.
~
We had been walking all day, with three short rests, and everything was starting to hurt. My feet from walking; my back from the uncomfortable place I had slept on the previous night and my throat from having almost nothing to drink all day, except for a little water from the river. It was getting darker and darker and when I asked Raghnall, who didn�t seem to be bothered by anything, when we were going to rest, he just answered �soon�.
And at some point, I noticed the lights. The dark had settled in, and it was hard not to notice the lights coming from the house, even though it was hidden behind the trees. I squinted my eyes.
�What is that?�
�That is the end of Lacuna�s forest, and that is where we are going to sleep tonight.�
I could have kissed him right then, but I didn�t. I just followed him, and as we walked to the source of the light, I could see what it was exactly.
From what I could see in the dark, it was like a small tavern. There seemed to be on main house where a bar was located in, judging on the drunken laugher I could hear. On the left and the right were the two bigger parts. There were three stories on both sides, with a lot of windows. Out of most of the windows, there was light coming, and there were a few that were dark. The whole tavern was made of brown bricks and the roof seemed to be made of sods. When we came closer to it, I could see a sign hanging from the roof, saying �The Golden Arrow�, and a little cupid drawn above it. It all looked very cozy and I could almost feel myself lying in a soft bed.
And when Raghnall opened the door, the force of the sounds that came from inside almost knocked me over. We stepped in, and it looked like I had been right. It was a bar, a bar with hundreds of people laughing and drinking. The actual bar was a square in the middle of the room, with bar stools around it. Against the wall there were tables and chairs were one could sit on and converse with your companions. Raghnall walked over to the bar, ordered something, got handed two huge glasses of something that looked like beer to me, and then dragged me over to an empty seat in the corner. He put one glass on the table, right before me, and began drinking of his own. I picked it up and smelled it. Definitely beer.
�Um��
�What?� He looked at me questionably.
�I don�t�drink.�
�You�re thirsty, right?�
�Yes�� I said, not really knowing where he was going.
�This is all that they have that wouldn�t make you go rolling over the floor. If you want something else, you will have to wait till tomorrow, then you can drink out of the river. Until then, this is all that you�ll get.�
He had me there. I gave in and just took small gulps of the beer. I still didn�t like it much, but I had no other choice. And I suppose I was so busy trying not to gag on the bitter substance that I didn�t see a pair of eyes staring at me. Neither did I notice somebody walking towards me, until I felt a big, heavy arm being draped over my shoulder. I turned my head to the right and got the scare of my life.
Just an inch away from my own face, was an ugly, sweating pig of a man. His nose was as red as a strawberry, but twice the size. His whole face looked flushed and his hair was oily and stuck together. He was wearing something, which looked like burlap, and it was covered in dirt. I shrieked and he just laughed at that. When he spoke, the most disgusting smell that reminded me of the smell that hung around our village when our Druid was brewing a new potion. And that mixed with alcohol, seeing as he was obviously drunk. His teeth were like the gravestones on the cemetery.
�Hey, little girl�what is a beautiful lady like yourself doing with a useless bloke like him?�
�Um�� I stammered.
�Excuse me. Who did you just call a useless bloke?� And there was Raghnall, who had stood up and was now standing behind the drunkard. He had an expression on his face I hadn�t seen before; he looked angry and annoyed.
�You. I called you a useless bloke.� The drunkard grinned at Raghnall and stood up to face him. �Look at you, you pansy. Look like a fucking girl with the long hair and all.�
And before he could blink, Raghnall�s first was right in the drunkard�s face. He flew backwards, over the table I was sitting next to, and slammed against the wall. Everybody stopped talking at the same time and the silence that followed was almost deafening. The drunkard groaned and pushed himself off the table slowly. A big, purple bruise on his right cheek was quickly forming. Even though he had received quite a blow, he wasn�t out of the match quite yet. He set his eyes on Raghnall, and with a roar he ran towards the Elf.
�You bastard!� Everybody in the bar knew the drunkard had no chance. Everybody, except for the drunkard himself. He swung his fist in Raghnall�s general direction. Raghnall himself was doing quite well � he was dodging the drunkards first without any difficulty. When he decided it was enough, he gave the other man a hard punch in the stomach, causing the drunkard to double over and fall onto the floor in pain. I could just hear him whispering:
�Damn you, you Elven scum�I�ll get you back for this!�
before the noise in the pub returned at full power. Raghnall walked over to the ward with a satisfied smirk on his face. The Elf signaled for me to come over and I heard him ask the ward if we could stay the night here. They discussed the price and when they had made an agreement, Raghnall pulled out a pouch from his pocket and handed the ward his money. The ward let us to the staircase that was hidden into the far right corner of the tavern. The staircase was dark and circled upwards; they reminded me a bit of a fairytale I had read when I was younger. Once upstairs, I saw that you could go to the left or to the right and I figured that both hallways must lead to the two wings I had seen from the outside. The ward turned to the right and opened the third door. Inside was a small room with two beds, a table and two chairs, and a door that I thought let to the bathroom. There was one candle burning on the bedside cabinet, illuminating the room. A window gave view to the dark forest we had come out of only an hour ago. I stepped in, heard the ward mumble a �goodnight� and after he closed the door, we were alone.
I plopped on the bed that was the closest to the door and stretched myself. I looked over to Raghnall, who was just standing there, looking very disapproving.
�What?� I asked.
�I just don�t know why you humans find beds so comfortable.� He shook his head, as in amazement.
�I suppose you find trees more comfortable, then?�
�As a matter of fact, I do. But seeing as you have been complaining about your back all day, I suppose we could sleep here, just for today. You ought to be thankful to me!�
�Why you-!� And I grabbed a pillow from my bed and threw it at him. To my disappointment, he caught it with ease and threw it back to me, right against my head. I grumbled and put it back on the bed. �By the way, that was quite a stunt you pulled there!�
�What?�
�The thing that you did in the pub. You know, the fight with the drunkard. I think you gave him quite a blow! You never told me you could fight like that.�
�You never asked me.� He answered in a very matter-of-fact tone, and walked to the window to close the curtains.
�Where did you learn that?�
�Got to have something to do in those 410 years!� And with that, he kicked off his shoes, and removed his cape, quiver and bow. For some reason, he looked awfully naked without them. Raghnall didn�t seem to mind though; he let himself fall backwards on the other bed and sighed contently.
�We�ll eat tomorrow, okay? Right now, I�m just tired and I want to sleep.� He yawned to prove he wasn�t lying.
�Okay�� I agreed. To be honest, I was tired too. The walk in the forest had worn me out and the beer I had drunken in the bar made me feel even drowsier. I blew out the candle on the bedside table and lay back down on the bed. Without the light, it was almost completely dark in the room. Looking over to the right, I saw that Raghnall hadn�t fallen asleep yet; he was staring at the ceiling. I decided to try my luck.
�Raghnall?� I whispered.
�Hmm?� came the reply.
�Are you going to tell me where we are going yet?� I silently prayed he would.
�Nope. Maybe later. It�s much more fun this way, don�t you think?� I could just see him smirking right then. I frowned and sighed, knowing it wasn�t any use to try again.
�Fine then�goodnight, Raghnall.� I crawled under the covers and closed my eyes. The last thing I heard before I fell asleep was:
�Night, Shaylee��
