Chapter 17:
Preparations
"Alright, that's it for today, everyone!" Silas shouted as the men stood in a straight line in front of him, "Go get some rest, and be ready to move out anytime now!"
His team bowed slightly at him before dispersing, all heading out of the training arena. Silas sighed as he watched them go, then grabbed his things, putting them in his leather supply bag, and began to head out too, following the faint footsteps in the dusty arena that led out to the open area and barracks outside of the arena. He walked forward, listening to his footsteps crunch in the sand, as the voices of the next team training began to approach him. As he continued to walk, they quickly appeared, all young, fresh-faced young men and women.
These must be the new recruits. Silas thought to himself as he nodded at the group. They all froze, shocked, before remembering what to do and slightly bowing before proceeding forward. Silas glanced back at them with a smile, remembering not so long ago when he first joined the military. He used to be as fresh faced as they were, though he had the added difficulty of trying to learn the human methods of swordplay. This was an incredible challenge when he first arrived, but Silas had learned how to adapt, so the two sword styles had blended enough to impress his superiors.
Silas readjusted the bag on his shoulder as he walked, listening to the trees rustling in the wind and the happy cries of playing children as they raced around him, circling him twice before taking off past him. Soon Silas entered the town square, which was packed with people. He tried to hide his grimace as he slipped and weaved around people like how Adora had taught him to as people stood shoulder to shoulder trying to get to the merchants' stands and stores. They held up their arms and shouted at each other and small bickering began to break out. Silas rolled his eyes and continued forward, seeing his building in the distance.
Maybe I should have stopped at the palace. Silas pondered as he continued to slip through the massive crowd. It would have let this obnoxious crowd die down a little. Silas suddenly twisted his head to the side as a random elbow came out of nowhere and almost gave him a black eye, How do people live like this every day? Thank the gods I'm shipping out again soon. If not, I might be killed.
Silas held his bag close to his hip and slipped around the last of the large group. He sighed in relief as he emerged from the rowdy mass of people and could finally breathe. He glanced back at the moving behemoth before shaking his head and moving forward. He kept moving until he heard the fast, approaching sound of high heels clicking on the ground, with a familiar voice shouting,
"Hey, you! Wait, please!" He turned to see the singer from the bar he went on his day off with Adora a few days ago racing up to him, her gloved hands wrapped around a small purse and a tight, red dress that hung to just below her knees not restricting her fast pace as she approached Silas. Recognizing the familiar woman, Silas stopped and waited as the singer ran forward and caught up to him, her styled, blonde hair bobbing slightly as she briskly walked, and the small, red cape that covered the upper half of her outfit lightly blowing behind her.
"Thank you for stopping." She said as she slowed in front of Silas, taking a moment to catch her breath with her hand on her chest, "Goodness, that crowd is absolutely horrid! I could hardly move! Thank goodness I saw you, or I would have been trapped in there!"
Silas turned away from her, preparing to walk away, "I'm glad I could help, Ma'am. Have a good day."
"Wait, wait, wait! Please!" She said, grabbing Silas's arm with a gloved hand and wrapping it around his lower arm like a snake, which caused Silas to look down at it with a raised eyebrow. "I'm actually lost. If you don't mind, could you lead me back to my lodging?"
"I'm sorry, Ma'am, but I am incredibly busy." Silas said as he attempted to shake off the singer's tight grip on his arm, but her grip strengthened.
"Please don't leave me here. I'm incredibly lost!" She pleaded, "You remember me, right? I sang at the bar that you were with your friend at a few days ago! If you can't help me get back to my lodging, at least take me back to the bar you saw me sing at. Please!"
Silas looked down at her pleading brown eyes, hidden behind long lashes. Silas looked at the fear in her eyes and sighed before he nodded reluctantly.
"Okay, but I'm only taking you to the tavern." The well-dressed woman smiled, the corners of her red lips lifting to show her white teeth.
She snuggled up next to Silas as he began to walk, and Silas looked down at her, but she shrugged and said, "I don't want to get lost again." As the two began to walk towards the crowd, she added, "I never properly introduced myself, did I? My name's Eva. It's nice to meet you-"
"Silas."
Eva grinned, "It's nice to meet you, Silas."
"It's nice to meet you too, Eva."
The two entered the buzzing crowd.
…
Silas pointed with his free arm at the tavern with the "Traveler's Tavern" sign hanging above it, which was within a few hundred feet in front of them, "There's the tavern. I guess this is where we part ways."
"While don't you come in and get a drink with me? It's the least I can do, seeing as you went so far out of your way for me." She said with a bright smile as she released Silas's arm.
"Sorry, I have some business to attend to after this." Silas said, looking away.
"One drink? Please." She said, placing a gloved hand on Silas's chest. Silas uncomfortably looked back and looked into her deep, brown eyes, and before he knew what he was doing, he had followed Eva into the tavern.
Though the crowd was bustling outside the tavern, inside the atmosphere was warm and lively, and there were enough people inside to hold a private conversation without being overheard. Eva sauntered into the tavern as Silas followed behind her with some distance between the two. Eva's eyes glossed over the other tables and patrons until the pair found a small round table near the back of the bar. Silas pulled out Eva's chair for her before sitting across from her in his own chair.
"I really can't stay long." Silas said apologetically, glancing around at the buzzing bar.
Eva's painted lips were raised into a small smile as she lifted her hand, calling over a waitress with her long, gloved fingers, "Just a few drinks and some food then." Only a short moment later a waitress came over with a large smile on her face and asked what they would like to drink. It was not too late in the day, but Eva ordered some small elven dishes and drinks.
"Why don't we have some of those roasted nuts and the pickled olives, hm?" Eva tapped her nails on the wooden table as she listed off some simple dishes. Her eyes glanced over to Silas as she said, "Red wine sounds delightful too. Doesn't it, Silas?"
Silas nodded his head in response, becoming swept up in Eva's pace.
"Great. Two glasses then, please." Her smile widened, exposing her straight, white teeth that were starkly contrasted against her painted lips.
The waitress bowed quickly to the pair before turning back and going to the kitchen to retrieve their food. Silas was not particularly hungry after training, but he was not against eating something light before dinner. There was still time before he would eat supper anyway. And it had been quite a while since he had last shared a meal with a woman other than Adora.
"Well Captain, now that I have you to myself, I want to know more about you." Eva's narrow brown eyes danced around the tavern as her short, blonde hair bounced as she moved her head. Her eyes finally landed on Silas before she smiled again, her brown eyes glistening flirtatiously.
Seeing her gaze, Silas felt a bit at a loss. "What do you want to know?" He felt he could not refuse.
"Well, judging by your accent, you're not from around here. That's one thing we have in common." Eva paused as the waitress returned with the two drinks, as well as some of their plates. Eva smiled and pulled some money out of her purse, giving more than enough to the waitress, who smiled in return before heading over to another occupied table. Silas attempted to protest, but Eva shook her head, "You helped me when I was lost. This is the least I could do to repay you." Eva grabbed her cup, bringing it to her lips and taking a sip before placing it back on the table, "So where are you from, Silas?"
"Out east." Silas said shortly.
"Out east." Eva repeated, thinking, "That could be the Yursear kingdom, or the Bethell kingdom. I hope it's not the Yursear kingdom, especially since it's been participating in that horrible elven genocide for the last few years." Eva paused for a moment, glancing at Silas's face as he tried to remain neutral, "All of those poor elves having to flee their homeland, or fear being brutally murdered, because the king wanted revenge for the attempted assassination of his son. A true shame on both sides."
"Truly a shame." Silas said as he grabbed a toothpick and stabbed it into one of the olives, slowly placing it in his mouth and popping the olive off the toothpick with his teeth.
"I only asked, because I know many Yursearan elves fled to the Faelfier Kingdom, and particularly Moireach, trying to find somewhere safe. These last ten years have not been kind to the elven race." Eva placed her hands on the table, placing one gloved hand over the other, as she stared at Silas's unwavering face, "And now many displaced elves are stuck in a foreign country with no friends or family, and their culture is dying. On top of that, Moireach was not prepared for the influx of refugees, so overpopulation has become a large problem, which of course leads to problems with food, jobs, housing, and of course crime. The Moireach people are taking all this surprisingly well from what I've seen, which we can surely thank the wise King Benick for, but I'm sure the citizens are hanging on by a very thin line of patience."
"You sure do know a lot for being a simple singer." Silas said, staring back at the mysterious stranger.
"Oh, Silas. There is nothing 'simple' about me." She paused, taking another sip of her wine, "I have a great deal of empathy for the elves, and I'd like to help them return to their home country."
"So that's why you were insistent about speaking with me. Why do you want to help them?" Silas grabbed another fresh green olive. He chewed it pensively before swallowing it and saying, "And how do I play into this?"
Eva leaned forward with her consistent smile, lowering her voice "I need help. I want to help the monarchy take a long vacation from their positions. But I can't do it myself. Their royal family has a deathly grip on the country, and there's no way an outsider like myself can do it alone." She grabbed her toothpick and carefully stabbed it into an olive before popping it off in her mouth too, "And there's many reasons I want to help. Reasons I can't say right now. All I can say is that you can trust me. We have the same goal."
"Let me be honest with you. My life there ended ten years ago. It would be insanely stupid of me to give up the life I've spent ten years building for some farce you are trying to pull me in on. Honestly, I have no reason to trust you or to help you. If that's all you have to say to me, I have things to do." Silas placed both his hands on the wooden table and stood up, beginning to leave the busy tavern.
"I know where your family is." Eva said, keeping her face forward. Silas froze and stared at Eva's stiff body, "And I don't mean your dead wife. Emmeline, right?" Eva turned to look at Silas, and the façade he had managed to keep up cracked. Eva smiled at this, "I mean your mother and siblings." Eva held out her hand, signaling Silas to sit, "Please take a seat, and we can discuss it further."
"What did you just say?" Silas whispered as he stared at Eva, his expression changing by the second.
"Your family. Your mother and twin siblings. They're alive and healthy, and I can help you see them again." Eva finally turned and looked at Silas's ghostly white face, "Silas, please take a seat." Silas stood frozen for a moment, his mind finally registering the words that left Eva's mouth. As he kept his eyes on her, Silas slowly moved back to his seat and pulled his chair out, slowly sinking back into his chair. He leaned in heavily, his stern face getting within inches of Eva's face as she leaned in too, her face resting calmly on her hand.
"How do you know these things about me?"
"I can help you find them."
"You didn't answer the question."
"And I won't, until I know I can trust you."
Silas looked to the side as he thought about everything this mysterious woman had said. He did not trust her at all, and he knew the likelihood of her telling the truth was incredibly slim.
Yet, the thought of seeing his family again, the family he thought for sure has been dead for ten years, shook Silas to his core. He tried not to let the thought affect him, but he could not help himself. He thought of all the nights when he'd lay in his bed and think of his family, or the days when it would get quiet for a moment, and his thoughts wandered to his missing family. Silas squeezed his eyes shut, thinking of the life he had created here. The friends and family he had come to appreciate, the small apartment that was one of the few things that he had left of Emmeline, and the career he had built up from the bottom.
Silas opened his eyes and stared at Eva.
"I need proof."
"So you agree to work with me then? Fantastic." Eva leaned back and grabbed her purse, "I'll be touch with you soon." With that, she swiftly slid out of her seat, smoothed out her dress, and walked out the door. Silas finally let his façade fall apart as the front door clicked behind her, and Silas put his head in his hands, trying to control his frantic breathing. He barely managed to control his breathing when he looked up, and that was when he saw a small card sitting on the table, right in front of him.
Who is that woman? Silas thought bitterly as he placed his hand on the card and slid it over to him. And how does she know all these things? He pulled the card up and flipped it over. On it read:
Two days from today. Here. Noon. I'll have your proof then.
Silas stared down at the white card, looking at the cursive letters written in the elven tongue. It looked like handwriting that could belong to Eva, but Silas was confused how Eva could know the elven language. It was an important and hidden language that only elves or those incredibly close to elves would know.
Silas crumpled up the note in his hand and thought, Well, if she wrote this, she isn't lying about some things at least. Silas stood up and walked over to the small fireplace in the corner of the tavern, near the bar, and threw the card in with a look of frustration and vexation. I guess I'll find out for sure in two days. And by that point, Silas watched as the note caught on fire and began to quickly burn, I'll be ready.
With that, Silas turned on his heels and stormed out of the noisy tavern.