Dragon Princess

chapter 4: Shade

We were silent for a long while. I wasn’t going to try and force information out of him so I just let the silence be meditative and time for me to reach for more of my magic. However my stomach didn’t agree with me.

“Man you’re hungry,” the hooded man stated, “I didn’t think princesses ate.”

I rolled my eyes, “Well you should know by now that I’m not a normal princess.”

“That you are not Aralia.”

I stopped in my tracks and it took him a couple steps before he turned around to face me. “That,” I started, “is just not fair.”

He had his arm crossed, “And what is not fair love?”

“You know my name, you knew where to find me and you know pretty much everything about me, except for my appetite. But yet I know nothing about you.”

“Well my dear if you will so kindly as to walk for a few more steps: we are almost at the village. When we get to the inn I will explain everything to you.” he waved his hands straight ahead and I had no choice but to comply.

It wasn’t long until we were at the edge of the trees and I saw a village a little ways away. Wooden buildings and houses lined the dirt road, it was a rather small and enclosed, but I think that’s why we were going there. There weren’t many people to be seen as we walked closer to the village, just some kids playing on the road and a couple of men lugging barrels from a cart.

The hooded man led me to a small and quiet looking house that was farther away from the other buildings. On the front a small sign said Loretta’s Inn. We entered and a bell rang as we opened the door. The room was small, with a door opened slightly to the left of us and another door closed behind a small desk. A small blond woman stood behind the desk and gave us a warm smile.

“Are you looking for an accommodation?”

The hooded man said nothing just nodded, the woman wrote something down on a piece of parchment and spoke again, “Would you like one bed or two?”

“One” he said.

“Two” I said.

We spoke at the same time and the woman just laughed to herself and wrote something else down. “Alight that will be 7 silver shillings. The prices are a bit high here, but we don’t get that many people in town.”

My companion placed the money on the counter and I smiled and thanked her. She then pointed to the door to the left and said, “Your room is going to be the last door to the right.”

I nodded and thanked her again. We went through the door into a very narrow hall with three doors on each side. We stopped at the last door on the right and opened it to find a very small room with two cots across from each other with a wooden chest between them, and two small chamber pots, one beside each bed. There was a small square window above the chest, other than that there was no other light or exit in this tight room.

I walked in and took a seat on the hard and uncomfortable cot as the hooded man closed the door and took a seat across from me. I sat forward resting my elbows on my knees and said to him, “Okay, we’re here, now will you tell me everything? Let’s start with your name.”

He laid back resting his hands behind his head, “If you insist, sweets.”

He was silent for a few moments as if collecting his thoughts before speaking again, “I don’t have a name. I was never given one.”

I furrowed my brow, “What? Everyone has a name.”

He shook his head, “Not I, sweets. I might have at some point, but now I just don’t.”