We ran through the crowded streets to save as much time as possible. I could have ran faster but then I would have to leave Allenya behind, also with that speed it would look weird.
Eventually we found the centre of the village. People were walking left and right between the stalls. The larger buildings were also here. Among them was the inn we were looking for. We entered the inn as soon as possible. Even though it was evening there was almost no one, only the receptionist the staff in the small restaurant and some customers who were eating a steaming hot dish that mostly consisted of fish.
"Good evening how can I help you?"
A middle aged lady at the counter greeted us. She had a few strings of grey in her otherwise chestnut brown hair. Some wrinkles were forming on her friendly face but she seemed happy with the way her life was going. Her nearly gey eyes sparkled upon seeing new people in the inn.
"Good evening. We would like to get a few rooms. We are with six people. The others will join soon."
"Okay. You can take room three, four and five. They are at the end of the hallway on the left." She waited until Allenya paid and then handed us the keys.
Immediately we hurried to room three. I busted in the room and Allenya followed. When she entered she closed the door and locked it. I swiftly closed the windows.
Now no one could see us I finally had the chance to let go of the magic.
I was panting heavily while the image slowly faded. "That was a close one."
I sighed in relive and sat down on the bed. I had used up most of my energy . ("I will ask the others to get me some food once they come here.")
We waited for a few minutes then I could already hear Yohan talking to the receptionist. The sounds of footsteps followed closely after that.
Eventually they stopped before our door.
Allenya immediately sprung up when we heard the knocking on the door. "It's okay, the others have arrived. And there are no other humans with them."
She relaxed again and walked to the door. With a swift flick of her wrist she unlocked and opened it.
Alex was the first to enter the room and looked around with wide eyes. "This place is huge!"
Gert rolled his eyes. "wasn't the mansion not just as big, if not bigger?"
Alex smirked "That one doesn't count."
Yohan on the other hand looked with a concerned expression my way. "Did you make it."
I nodded. "Yea, but it was a close one."
Allenya sprung up and clapped in her hands. "Lets go get some food. Gustave, we will bring something for you to when we get back."
I nodded.
Everyone dropped their bags in the room they would be staying in and then left the building. I sat on my bed staring in the room. with my hand I stroke through my hair. Eventually I touched my horns, they were surprisingly sharp. I didn't like them one bit. The only purpose they served was making it harder to disguise myself.
I sighed, slowly tapping with my tail on the bed. I was really hungry right now. ("How long will the others take?")
I let myself fall down on the soft bed and rolled on my side. Lying down with wings really was annoying. Eventually I sat back up and stretched my wings to better inspect them. They had bonelike spikes at each tip and on the part that connected to my back were some scales.
Then I stretched them as far out as I could. My wingspan was around four and a half meter. I folded my wings again and once again stared at the wall.
A few minutes passed. Finally I heard the footsteps of the group in the hallway.
They came in with a lot of food packed in the giant leaves of the plants that grew in the lake.
"Hey Gustave, we decided that it would be more fun to eat together . so, we brought all the food with us!"
Since there was no table in the room we placed everything on the floor. Once they unpacked everything I joined them.
The food was still warm. Most of it was fish. However, among every dich that was displayed something caught my eye.
"What is that?"
I pointed at something that looked like a stake, but purple.
Alex smiled. "It's one of this village's specialties. It's called Zǐsè."
I frowned. "It stinks. I'm not eating that."
Alex was nearly chocking in his own laughter. "Sais the one who ate a raw deer."
"I can't argue with that. But I'm still not doing it."
After we finished eating Alex and Gert left for room four, and Elisa and Yohan headed to room five. Allenya decided to stay under the excuse that she had already dropped her stuff here.