A large, imposing man sat on a wooden throne-like chair at the end of the long room they had entered. His face was weathered and had deep lines. His skin was leathery wherever it showed, speaking of countless hours spent outside. His muscles bulged under a somewhat clean tunic. Five other equally physically impressive men stood around him, deep in conversation. At Connor and Lilia's appearance, however, their talk quickly petered out.
"What is the meaning of this intrusion?" the man in the throne asked angrily.
Connor stepped forward, partially in front of Lilia, as if to block her from the man's words and gaze. Although she appreciated his concern, she stepped out to stand next to him, shooting him a look that she hoped conveyed the message, we're in this together.
"Sir, we come bearing bad tidings," Connor said formally. "I regret to inform you that Prince Luca's army marches upon your town as we speak."
The room froze. The man's eyebrows lifted slowly. When he spoke, it was like he was breaking a spell. "You're sure of this?"
"We passed them on our way into town."
"Who are you?"
Connor lied quickly and easily. "I'm Theodore. This is my sister, Penelope."
Lilia glanced at him. Penelope? Seriously? And "sister?" She couldn't see how it was believable, what with her hair being a rather dull shade of brown and his the lightest blond there could be.
"Sister?" the man asked suspiciously, voicing Lilia's thoughts.
"Half sister," Connor amended smoothly. "Same father, different mothers."
The man still seemed suspicious, but accepted the story for the time being. "So you claim that Prince Luca's men march on our village? And where do you hail from?"
"A town several miles from here. It was completely destroyed when the prince attacked. Our friend was murdered." At least Connor wasn't lying on this front.
The man's eyebrows dropped from their raised position to furrow deeply, making his wrinkles even more prominent. "Is that so?"
"Yes, sir."
"Is his story true?" the man asked suddenly, focusing on Lilia.
Lilia was so startled at the attention in the room swiveling to her that she couldn't speak for a second. When she rediscovered her voice, she said as confidently as she could manage, "Yes, sir."
The man gestured to one of his comrades, his gaze still on Connor and Lilia. Lilia fought the urge to reach for Connor's hand out of fear.
The latter man bent down so as to listen to what the man in the throne had to say. He nodded, stood, beckoned for yet another man to follow him, and together they left the building.
"If you are lying to us," the man in the throne said darkly, "I will not hesitate to put you in the same position that the unfortunate thief outside was in."
Lilia's hand instinctively rose to her neck and she felt a flash of panic. No, she told herself sternly. We have nothing to fear. We saw the army with our own eyes. An army can't just disappear in a matter of minutes.
But then again, this wasn't Earth. This was a strange, magical planet with strange, magical rules. The insanity of it all hit Lilia hard for what felt like the millionth time in the two days she had been in Dwirinel.
"Please, you have to evacuate your people now," Connor pleaded. "They're all going to die if you do not."
The man rose from his throne. He was even taller than he had seemed, towering over Connor, who was a good six feet at least. His eyes sparked like a fire.
"I will tell my people to prepare for evacuation," he said grandly. "If you are telling the truth, they will be safe. If you are lying, they will get to watch another execution."
"Yes, sir," Connor said calmly.
How can he be so relaxed? Lilia wondered. Her palms were sweating and she felt slightly sick to her stomach. She had always had trouble with her nerves...then she remembered the multiple times in the four-month span of Star of Winter alone in which Connor had been threatened with death or nearly died. Another possibility of being murdered must have felt routine to him.
Connor turned her to him with a hand on her shoulder. When he spoke, his voice was cool and businesslike. "We need to get food from the general store before its owner is evacuated."
"Or we could just wait until everyone's evacuated and then take what we need," Lilia whispered. She felt terrible for suggesting it, but they needed to conserve money if they were going to take a new, more difficult path to the wizard.
Connor half smiled. "I like the way you're thinking, but we can't risk the army showing up as we're still in town."
"True." Lilia nodded and followed him from the building.
As Connor led her quickly through the streets of the town, she heard the leader of the town start to speak from the platform behind them. "My people! Today, I have received troubling news..."
The pair rounded a corner and was out of earshot. Lilia couldn't hide how relieved she was at how well the situation was gone and wriggled slightly, grinning.
Connor chuckled, bemused, at her. "What?"
"I'm just so thrilled to be helping, is all!" Lilia explained. "Now, where's the general store?"
Connor smiled and gestured to the building they had stopped in front of. He led the way inside.
The store was dark and crowded. Lilia instantly felt uncomfortable in it, but Connor weaved his way expertly through the aisles of random supplies, which didn't seem to have any organizational strategy whatsoever.
Soon, this will all be destroyed, Lilia thought, her happiness diminishing like an extinguished flame at the sobering thought.
She got even sadder when the owner of the shop stood up from whatever she had been bending over behind the counter.
She was an old woman, with a full head of wispy white hair left. Her eyes were squinted, a sign that she had needed glasses for quite a long time, but laugh lines around them chased away any possible illusions of surliness. Likewise, she wasn't smiling, but signs of laughter lingered around her lips. Her wrinkles were deep, looking almost like bloodless cuts in her sagging cheeks. She was wearing a shapeless, bright blue dress that Lilia found positively adorable.
"Hello!" she said cheerily, her lips lifting into a smile. "What can I do for you?"
"We just need some food. Going on an adventure," Connor explained shortly, his tone light and kind. It was obvious that he wasn't going to break the bad news to this sweet old woman - at least, not until they had purchased their supplies.
"Oh, well, my non perishables are right over there," the shopkeeper said, gesturing to the right side of the shop.
Connor led Lilia over to the shelves. "We don't need ingredients - I can't cook to save my life," he explained. "Crackers, a bit of bread, maybe. That sort of thing."
Lilia nodded and grabbed the first bag of crackers she saw. Connor did the same and crossed the room to retrieve a loaf of bread from the perishable foods.
Unsure what to do, Lilia wandered through the store, looking at the various products. Her gaze fell upon a rack of books and her heart sped up. She reached out and grabbed the first novel that she could. Opening it up, she inhaled the familiar smell of old paper. This book was different from Earthen ones in that it was handwritten, which probably meant it was too expensive for them to buy for pure enjoyment. She sighed, glancing at the cover.
"'The Customs of Dwirinel,'" she whispered to herself, and a shiver of longing laced her spine. Imagine, a wistful little voice murmured. Imagine having a book from this world, about this world.
"Wolf cub," Connor called, and Lilia jumped. Replacing the book with one more mournful glance, she trotted to his side.
He was holding a loaf of bread. "Do you think we should get some cheese or no?" he asked.
"I like cheese," she offered, thinking how strange it was to talk about the fate of a village one minute and then cheese the next.
He shrugged. "Cheese it is." Grabbing a packaged hunk of it, he handed her a fistful of coins. "Can you buy it for me? I'm going to poke around a little longer."
"Oh! Um, okay." Nervously, Lilia accepted the food and took it up to the counter. The old woman smiled gently at her.
Lilia couldn't help herself. "Listen," she said, leaning over the counter and lowering her voice. "You're in danger. There - there's an army marching on your town. You need to get out."
The elderly woman's eyes widened. Then, they squinted suspiciously at her. "Are you telling me the truth, girl?"
"Yes, I swear it." Lilia plopped her handful of coins down on the counter. The shopkeeper counted through them quickly and made as if to give her a few of them back, her expression troubled.
Lilia jumped as Connor suddenly reached past her to place the book she had been looking at on the top of the pile in the bag. He smiled at the old woman. "Those coins will cover this, I believe," he said gently, casting a glance at Lilia. She bounced on her toes, a wild grin overtaking her face.
Connor accepted the bag, bade farewell to the shopkeeper, and led Lilia out of the store. Leaning against its front, he handed her the book as the old woman left the shop after them, locking it and nodding gratefully to Lilia.
Lilia flipped through the book's large pages, drinking in the words and drawings. On impulse, she sprang onto her tiptoes and threw her arms around Connor's neck. "Thank you." He couldn't possibly know how much this meant, to have something that was familiar even in the slightest when so much was happening that made no sense.
After a moment of hesitation, Connor wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. She breathed in deeply, closing her eyes, loving the way he smelled - like the forest, like rain.
A few seconds later, Lilia realized that the hug had gone far past its social boundaries. Almost unwillingly, she pulled away, feigning deep interest in her new book to hide the blush rising in her cheeks. Her front felt cold, no longer pressed against Connor's warmth.
"We should go see if the townspeople have left yet," Connor murmured, his voice rough. Lilia could see in her peripheral vision that he was moving about items in the bag, also avoiding her gaze.
"Yeah," she agreed, closing her book and daring to look at him. He was still looking at the objects in the bag. His ears were the slightest shade red.
She bit back a smile. Star of Winter hadn't mentioned that Connor was a blusher.
He cleared his throat, replacing the food in the sack, and started toward the town square.
As soon as they entered it, they were met with a scene of mayhem.
The townspeople scurried around like ants whose anthill has been pulverized. Nearly all of them carried some sort of luggage and a few of them were even atop horses. One family was in a wagon which pealed through the town square on its way out of the village, nearly knocking over several pedestrians. One small child screamed as he wandered aimlessly around the cobblestone expanse, searching for his family. The town's leader stood atop the guillotine platform, watching the chaotic scene before him with a weary, resignated expression.
"We need to leave," Connor said, starting quickly through the crowd. Lilia placed a hand on his shoulder so as to not get separated from him. He reached up and pressed a hand over hers, as he had done while they were leaving his town.
They weaved and ducked through the crowd, barely avoiding a pack of children running wild and almost stepping on several stray chickens, upset by the commotion.
Suddenly, the press of the crowd got greater. Screams filled the air. Hoofbeats pounded along to the terrified beating of Lilia's heart: Not yet, not yet, not yet, not yet.
Someone shoved their way in between Lilia and Connor. Her hand was ripped off of his shoulder and she was sent spiraling away before she could react.
Faintly, she heard Connor yelling for her: "Wolf cub? Wolf cub! Lilia!"
"Connor!" she screamed, trying to fight her way to the pale hair that she could barely see over everyone, but just then, a tall man cut in front of her. When he moved away, her sight of Connor was lost.
Lilia tried to control the panic that was rising in her throat. Stay calm, stay calm, get out of the village, regroup with Connor outside of the village, stay calm, stay calm...
A hand twisted in her hair and lifted her off of the ground by the chestnut strands alone. She shrieked with the terrible pain, feeling as though her skin was being ripped from her head. Her scalp was on fire as she stared into the eyes of a leering Southern Realms soldier.
"Well, aren't you a pretty thing?" he cooed softly, dangerously.
Tears streamed down Lilia's face, reacting to the rush of blood, blurring the man's hideous face. She removed her hands from on top of his, where they had instinctively traveled in an attempt to make him release her, and stabbed him in the eyes with her pointer and middle finger, just as her mother had taught her. Howling, the man released her and she fell to the ground. Slamming against the rocky surface of the cobblestone, Lilia felt her bones give a jolt.
Still crying, she climbed to her feet and dashed into the crowd before the man could make another grab at her. She tried desperately to wipe away the tears in her eyes so she could see where she was going.
I'm going to die here.
The dark, absolute certainty of it washed over her and she nearly gasped from it, as if someone had doused her in a bucket of ice cold water. She started shivering uncontrollably.
Am I going into shock? she wondered numbly. Lilia didn't stop moving, however. She forged onward, her legs somehow knowing that if they were to stop, if they were to halt in propelling her toward the edge of the town, she would die. Maybe not from the sharp edge of a soldier's blade or, if they kept her alive, their later abuse but from the darkness that was welling up inside of her, the cold emptiness threatening to consume her.
I just want to go home.
Mommy, Daddy, Kasey - please, I just want to go home.
Finally, she was free of the stifling town, free of the scent of blood, free of the terror. That is, the external terror. The fear that resided within her still raged as strongly as ever, as did the pain in her scalp and the side of her body that had hit the ground when the soldier dropped her.
She staggered into the forest, walking as far as she could before her legs were shaking so hard that she fell over. She crawled to a tree and leaned against it, pulling her knees to her chest and burying her face in her hands as she sobbed.