"Food. Take my life but gimme food," Tiyasha was saying, walking with her shoulders drooped and her back bent like an old woman, through an alley of the village Took had spotted yesterday. Shivam and Josh were with her, but as per plan, Took had remained behind in the forest. A baby dragon would have drawn too much unwanted attention, which they had to avoid.
"It's okay. I'm sure someone will give us something to eat," Shivam assured.
"But we got no money," Josh reminded.
"FOOD!" Tiyasha whimpered. Back in her home, back when her home hadn't been burnt to the ground, she had never paid much attention to the meals she got to eat everyday--the meals had been a taken for granted thing, she never realized what they meant, what their true value was. Tiyasha had been a talented witch right from her childhood, she learned her craft quite fast, and she was good in using her magic for combat training, too. But that had been all--she had always believed if she just focused on her witchcraft, nothing bad would ever happen to her family and friends.
She hadn't known how fast things could change.
How sudden cruel Fate could be.
"We never realize the values of things until they are taken from us, do we?" Shivam mused aloud.
'Can this guy read my thoughts?' Tiyasha thought. Shivam, after all, was a Raiser...what if he could hear human minds too?
"Why are you blushing?" Josh asked Tiyasha innocently.
"Blushing? Who is blushing. I'm not blushing. I'm just hungry," Tiyasha blurted out.
"Well, your face certainly does NOT look pale, I'll tell you that," Shivam said.
Tiyasha thought about invoking the skulls of Hecate and hurling them at Shivam, then resisted the temptation.
The Trio walked slowly, tired and slumped, through the village. They passed some modest huts made of clay, and some people wearing simple white dresses, people who looked at them in an odd way, but didn't say or do anything.
"Seems to be a village of poor people, big brother," Josh observed.
"Right you are, little brother," Shivam agreed.
"So where do we find food?" Tiyasha asked eagerly.
"My idea is to find a hotel, order breakfasts, eat them, and then reveal we got no money. I mean, what will they do about it. They surely won't kill us for it," Shivam said. "We can do dishes for them or something. I mean, what can be worse than eating roasted rats, right?"
"But isn't that cheating?" Tiyasha asked.
"Me coming into this village, in a way, is also cheating. I'm banished, remember?" Josh said.
"Don't worry about that, no one will recognise you here," Tiyasha said.
"Look! A restaurant!" Shivam said eagerly.
Right ahead of them was a small, one-storied restaurant. At least, a painted billboard claimed it to be so: it looked more like a cabin made up of bamboos and cheap wood panellings. It didn't matter though, Shivam and company weren't looking for a five-star anyway.
Shivam pushed its door and entered tentatively, followed by Tiyasha and Josh. A fat, grumpy middle aged man was wiping glasses with a dirty towel behind a small wooden counter. Round wooden tables were spread across a room of moderate size, but most of them were unoccupied. A very old man was seated at one of them, struggling to slice a poached egg with his shaking hand. A hooded figure was seated on the farthest table from the doorway, and he--or she, maybe, the person's face was hidden--was drinking something from a cup.
"Who's he?" Tiyasha whispered suspiciously in Shivam's ears.
"Don't worry, I know he looks like a branded villain. We'll sit on the table that's farthest from him."
So the trio went to a table near a large, but dirty mirror, and seated themselves. The man behind the counter put down the glasses and the rag, and approached them. "Here he comes. Tiyasha, this is upto you," Shivam said.
"Me? Why me!" Tiyasha said. But before she could say anything else, the fat man had approached them.
"What will you have? We have poached eggs, french omlettes, mashed potatoes, bacon slices..."
"Bring everything you have," Tiyasha said, trying to smile dazzlingly. The fat man narrowed his eyes, and went away without a word.
"Bring everything? Bring EVERYTHING?" Shivam began, ludicrous.
"That's the best order I have ever heard," Josh declared happily.
"And that's the best order I have ever placed...but damn, we all look horrible!" Tiyasha said, looking at the mirror.
Shivam looked at the mirror, too, and saw that she had a point. His once clean-shaven face was now moderately bearded, his cheeks appeared hollow, and there were shadows under his eyes.
The fat man came back with bread and three poached eggs. Before they could say anything, he went away again. As soon as the plates were on their table, they started gobbling up the buttered bread, ignoring the eggs initially. After their ravenous hunger had been satiated a little, they took to the poached eggs and began eating them in a more civilized manner.
"He's looking at us," Josh whispered.
"The hooded villain?"
"Yeah."
Shivam stopped his eating and stared boldly at the hooded man or woman. The hoodie man hastily looked away.
Now Shivam started to feel a bit uneasy. He looked around carefully. More people were coming in, and occupying the tables near them. The old man who had been struggling with his poached egg had gotten up, and was approaching the empty counter. The fat man wasn't anywhere to be seen.
And then it caught Shivam's eyes. A poster.
A "WANTED" poster with Tiyasha's face on it.
The old man approached that poster, than cut his index finger with the fork, and dabbed the poster with his blood.
Shivam didn't know what he was doing, but it smelled of trouble. "Let's run," he said.
But it was too late...more villagers were coming in now. They had been caught.