“Finally,” I said as I walked out of the woods into an open valley.

‘Yep took us 2 full days, but we are finally out of the woods.’

“Come on. There should be some sort of civilisation nearby. I want to sleep in a bed, not in a tree” before Alexis could say anything, I started walking down the path which cut through the valley. The valley consisted of low cur green grass and the occasional flower. There was a gentle breeze that rolled across the valley.

“Ahhhh. This is nice. It’s a lot better to look at than the Forrest.”

‘Ha, you think this looks nice. Then you haven’t seen anything yet. Back where I used to live, the valleys were beautiful. Amazing white cliffs circled the valley, beautiful emerald green grass and an amazing cloudless sky. It was gorgeous… it was…. Home’

I felt a single tear roll down my face. I quickly brought my arm up and wiped it.

“Alexis… you alright.”

‘Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little homesick is all.’

“Where did you live anyway.”

‘It was a kingdom up north. I can’t remember the name, and it doesn’t matter anyway. The kingdom was falling apart when I was put in the pyramid. I wouldn’t be surprised if everything about has been forgotten.’

“Okay then. I’ll tell you what. We will go up north and visit your home. I don’t believe everything is gone. There must be something at least.”

‘You don’t nee’

“Nope, not changing my mind. We are going, and besides, it sounds like you need closure.”

‘You’re not budging on this, are you

“Nope”

‘*sigh* fine. I guess it wouldn’t be too bad if I went home.’

“That’s the spirit. Now let’s get a move on.”

I continued walking for several hours until nightfall until finally, we saw some light in the distance. I ran a bit closer to the light, and the light started to separate out into smaller lights.

“Is that”

‘I don’t know, and I don’t care. I want to see civilisation. Run to it.’

“wait, give me a minute” I reached into my bag of holding and took out a few copper and silver coins. And the dirty blue tunic. I found a clean patch on the tunic and tore it from the rest, and wrapped it around my mouth like a cover.

“It will do for now. I don’t want to give the game away too soon.”

I put the rest of the tunic back into the bag and started running towards the light.

 

It took me around 30 minutes to run to the lights, but I made I now stood at the gates of what turned out to be a village. A big stocky man stood at the entrance of the gates.

“Are you just going to Gawk at the gate, lass, or are you gonna come in”

I snapped out of my trance and walked to the entrance.

“Sorry, My mind was elsewhere.”

“It’s alright lass, Anyway; what brings you to this ol’village”

“Just here to get a night sleep.”

“adventurer, are you lass?”

“I would call myself a wanderer.”

“A wanderer, are you. Never heard of that job, lass. What are ye hiding” the guard said with a stern look and put his hand on his sword. I got ready for a fight, but then the guard burst into laughter.

“HAHAHA I’m sorry, lass, I’m just messing with ya. You need to have a laugh once in a while whilst doing this job.”

I relaxed and got out of my fighting pose. “You had me there. I thought I was going to have a fight on my hands.”

“Oh, it’s fine, lass. As long as you don’t cause any trouble, I have no qualms with ya. Anyway, let me stop wasting ya time. Do you have a guild card?”

“guild card?”

“Wow, you really aren’t from around here, are you lass”

I gave a nervous laugh

“Well, a guild card is a form of identification for certain guilds. For example, we have a merchant guild and an adventure guild in this town. The cards allow you to do business with the merchant guild and take requests from the adventure guild. It also works as a way of identifying yourself. Anyway, seeing as you don’t have a guild card, you have to pay a toll of 50 silver coins for entry. We will keep it until you have some form of id. You can get one from the adventure guild in the morning.”

“Thanks for the info. Here are the 50 silver pieces.”

“Thank you. Welcome to Steepwatch. Cause no trouble.”

“Oh, before I go, is there anywhere I can get some rest for the night.

“Yea visit Anne’s inn The Jaded rabbit” The Tell them Jacob sent ya”

“Will do. Thanks”

“No problem, lass. Have a good night.”

I walked through the gate and into the village. There was a cobbled path winding through the village. Old wooden houses and surrounded the path and the occasional shop. I walked along the path until I reached a well. The path circled the well and split into 5 different directions. I looked around and saw a large building with a wooded sign that had a rabbit sleeping in a bed.

“Finally, a warm bed.”

I ran to the entrance of the inn. I could hear singing inside and the sound of music. I pushed the door open. I was assaulted with the smell of cooked food and the sound of people talking, laughing and singing. I walked towards the bar and took a seat on a stool. A barmaid with long brown hair ran around the bar serving all the customers.

“Whatchu want?” she said with a very rough voice.

“errrrrr”

“Spit it out! I’m busy.”

“I errrrr need a room for a couple of days.”

“How much is a couple.”

“3 days or so.”

“that will be 75 silver breakfast is included.”

I gave her the coins, and she put them in the register; she then took a key from below the bar and handed it to me.

“room number 7 on the second floor”

She then took off and started serving the other patrons.

“E-E-excuse me”

The barmaid snapped towards me with a frustrated look on her face.

“What!”

“Do the rooms have a shower?”

“What kind of second rate inn do you think this is. Of course, they have a shower. Now, if you’re done with asking me stupid questions. Stop wasting my time!”

Not wanting to get on her bad side anymore, I left and started to head to my room. I wormed my way through the mass of people. I was making good progress until a drunk man wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

“HeEYyy therrrr beautiFUL. WaNNa *hick* Go upStaIrs for some FuN Time.”

“No, thank you.”

“Oh cOmE On HoW MUch?” his hand started to move down towards my breasts.

“I’m not interested!” I turned around and gently pushed him away. However, he was too drunk and lost balance, falling over and smacking his head on a nearby table. There was blood coming down his head.

“YOU BITCH”

He got up and grabbed a nearby bottle. The crowd backed away from around us. I got into my fight pose, ready to fight him. He got ready to charge me with the bottle.

“THAT’S ENOUGH” A familiar rough voice yelled out. The barmaid walked out from the crowd.

“Cedric, I’m only going to say this once. Put the bottle down and go home.”

“Make me Anne.” He said, and he charged the barmaid. The barmaid rolled her eyes and sidestepped the oncoming drunk. As he sailed by where she was, she stuck her leg out and tripped him over. He fell and slid across the floor.

“You bit” before he could even finish the sentence, the barmaid walked up to his head and kicked it, knocking him out instantly.

“Somebody take him home. And you,” she pointed at me, “Cause any more ill boot your ass onto the street, understand.”

“Yes, ma’am” she gave me a nod and walked back to the bar.

‘That was eventful, wasn’t it’

‘Yeah, it was Alexis; come on, let’s get some sleep.’

And without a further word, I walked to my room, looking forward to a shower and warm bed.