The Stupid Knight

Chapter Seven

What do you guys think of the new cover? Fancy, eh? Credits to MissBookNut for this one. The fabulous musicalkey had made the former one. Thank you guys so much!!

Not putting up Xael here because I hate her design, but if you're desperate, go look for her in my artbook, "Literal Sketches."

Sorry for not updating sooner! Been busy af. Second part of this chapter is coming soon iA.

Today was the fourth day of the eleventh month. At least, that's what the moss covered sign outside the noisy tavern door said.

First off, I could not fathom why a tavern was amidst this forest. After crossing a few more miles of cold forest ground-- which Hamilton still claimed was actually warmer than I imagined-- we happened upon a cleared path that greatly resembled where we had been before the fire storm.

"What the hell?" my voice was a mere whisper from the disbelief that cloaked it. The tavern stood in the center of the clearing, a large brass bell at the top, swinging lightly in the dancing wind but providing not even the faintest of sounds. The grey brick was powdery and crumbling, with yellowed plaster peeled around the doorway-- probably didn't go through health inspections anytime soon.

"Were we in the forest for that long?" I ask in a daze.

The sandy haired knight next to me scoffed. "More likely that that sign hasn't been changed since last winter."

Ah, that made more sense. I didn't know how to react if I had found out that we had lost three months in that illusion.

What didn't make sense was the pitch black void, swirling with a stream of magic as if it were a witch's cauldron.

Yep, no door.

A sign, hanging by one nail read, "Ridgewood Inn." The R and the final N were weathered away from the carving, but I had no doubt this was where Ham wanted us to go.

"Uh...do we go in?" I asked, hiding a bit behind Hamilton. "I don't think we should go. It'll be bad if we went, right? So let's not."

Hamilton scoffed. "I would let anything happen to you, milady. The only enemies to harm you would have to get through me." He was a proud knight, alright, but if the witch took our best swordsman-- despite his foolishness, Amancio did get chosen by Sir Raphael d'Morte to train under him, so he's pretty good-- then I couldn't imagine what would happen to Hamilton. He was the quickwitted one though.

The shrubbery around it was neatly cut, not overgrown like the vines around the rest of the property. Instead of a healthy green, however, the leaves had some metallic luster around them. Bending down to pick at a silver leaf, it bit me.

"OH MOTHER OF THE GODS!"

Hamilton looked over his shoulder, now standing at the threshold. "That's a unique plant, known as nimubious frocetrera. It settles it's roots in magic deposits."

I screamed, slapping away a thorny stem that flailed as if alive, coming to tear more of my skin. "Well it's also eating my entire arm!"

Unamused, Hamilton pulled me out of it's toothy grasp. "We need your blood anyway, so hold on."

"What happened to not letting anything happen to me?!" I wailed, shaking from my sudden encounter.

A whisp of a smile graced his lips, before he looked at me expressionless once again. "The door only appears when bluest of bloods are present. Prince Eliot, Princess Freya, and you are applicable." I hissed at the pressure he put on the bitten finger, crimson liquid flowing out in a fast stream. "Wait for it..."