The festival. Of course.
When the Nobles get together to have their ball, commoners in the town get together to have themselves a festival. Octavia guessed it was seen that because they were having what was effectively a party, so should they.
How wrong they were this time about the ball being a party.
"I think we need to get out of the town. The leader left the room as I did, so he's probably going to search for me outside the castle now. Probably with his men as well if they managed to get away from the guards and knights. So, I don't think we should stick around here."
"Makes sense."
"You don't have to come with me. I know you are worried about Desmon and his family, so am I, but he's like family to you, so if you want to stay here to make sure they are ok once those men leave then that's fine. I'm the one that they are after, so me staying here just puts them in more danger."
It was a hard question to ask, and an even harder one for Sylvia to answer. Part of Octavia had wanted to just not say anything, hoping she would put them to the back of her mind as they tried to escape so they could go together. But that would have been wrong. She had to ask her.
After she asked, they started to move, needing to get out of the graveyard and towards the outskirts of the town. Whatever her decision, Octavia still needed to flee, and they couldn't just wait around all day till she did. Both of them knew that.
Travelling down the pathways of the town, Sylvia was still deliberating whether to join Octavia as they fled. Could she just leave this town, a town that she had been living in, had friends in and a family? They may end up being unable to re-enter it for the foreseeable future if the men were still around.
Octavia was sure that after this whole episode, Lord Desmon would be hunting them down. But with their skill, it may be some time before that happens, which meant if she set foot in the town again, she would be a target for whoever was left. They were tenacious and were sure to keep coming after her. For reasons, she had no clue about, which was even scarier.
So, Sylvia took her time, and rightly so, but eventually she had made her choice. And it was one that she had not expected.
"I'll come with you."
That flummoxed Octavia for a moment. Sure, there was a connection between them, something to be explored, but for her to leave Lord Desmon and his family behind, this town behind. She couldn't help but ask, "Why?"
"I want to travel with you. Have…wanted to travel with you."
She took a deep breath before continuing.
"I know the circumstances of us leaving now are…not the best and it's forcing this. But, ever since I learnt of my mum's death, I have been thinking more and more about what I wanted to do. I came here to find her and I have. The last few days, I wondered where I should go from here, and I realised I wanted to continue what she started. She was always so focused on her work, but she was always there for me as I grew up and I really want to help her finish it. I mean it feels like fate when I end up meeting one of the members of the supposedly extinct races that my mum was trying to learn about. So that's what I want to do. I want to finish her research, find out where all the Lamia's went and learn all about them. For my mum. And for myself."
Octavia couldn't find anything to say to that. She could see the conviction in her eyes and knew that this was the path she had chosen and would remain on. There wasn't anything she could say to change her mind if she wanted to. So, she just said 'ok', and they carried on moving, in silence now.
They passed by houses and the more they went by, the louder the music and brighter the lights from the festival got. They were not far from it now and would soon see all of the people attending it.
But, as they turned the corner, Octavia stumbled back and pulled Sylvia with her, hiding behind the nearby wall. As, not several meters away, she could see one of the masked men walking by a house.
"What happened," Sylvia asked in a whisper.
"One of the men walked by. I don't think he saw us."
"Where do we go from here then?"
Octavia racked her brain for some sort of answer, and as she heard a cheer from the festival nearby, realised the solution was obvious.
"We can lose them in the festival. With so many people we will just blend into the crowd."
She then quickly looked down at herself.
"But first…we need to change."
Looking around the houses nearby, she could see washing lines of sorts, littering the small patches of greenery at the front of them. Sure, she didn't like the idea of stealing from them, but with the other option being either death or kidnapped, she got over it pretty fast.
Plus, it's not like the one they would steal from would lose out.
"Are we really leaving our dresses here? They are so beautiful," Sylvia practically whined as they quickly stripped off, grabbing some very simplistic garments from one unlucky or lucky homeowner's clothing line, depending on how you saw it.
"Yes, we have nowhere to put them, our bags are full. We can't just carry them as it will draw a lot of attention. We need to leave them."
"Fine."
Yeah, she wasn't happy about it.
So, they draped them on the homeowner's line, which will surely give them a shock when they get back, finding very expensive noblewomen dresses for them to use or sell, and headed off.
They chose very loose-fitting clothing, finishing it off with something akin to a robe, which allowed them to cover a good deal of what they had on them. It couldn't do it all, but it should be enough that you needed to do a double-take to notice what they had. Plus, there was also the added benefit, that a good portion of her tail was covered as well, the remainder only being visible along the floor. Not that she had much left to keep hidden.
"Right, let's get out of here."
Heading through narrow pathways, they managed to reach the festival itself, it taking place across several connecting sections of the town.
The first thing that came into view was the massive number of stalls. All of them were homemade, comprising of many different colours, shapes and sizes. Some looked especially shoddy, so much so that they could collapse at any minute. But, that didn't stop anyone from crowding around it to see what was being displayed.
As far as she could see, there was all manner of things going on with the stalls. Some were selling produce, with so many people around it is probably a good place to do it. Others had what Octavia could only describe as handicrafts. All of them were selling an assortment of baskets, dolls, weaves, rugs, hats, clothes, and toys to name a few, but the list went on. Anything that you could make in your own home was being sold.
Aside from this, there were several stalls that provided entertainment rather than selling items. There were a couple that had puppet shows, where you had to pay to see them. She also saw one that she was sure was something akin to a shadow puppet show. Then there were games involving dice, ranging from guessing numbers, to beating a component by achieving the highest number. Then what surprised her was one stall which looked to be doing card games.
"I wouldn't have thought a deck of cards would be a thing in this sort of time." she wondered to herself.
She had no clue if that was the case, but saying that, while this was similar to medieval times there was magic all around them, so who's to say what should and shouldn't be present in this world?
The deck itself was rudimentary, being made of thin pieces of paper or parchment, or whatever was actually used in this world. They didn't glide like the ones from Earth, it looked to be quite difficult to handle them and there were quite a few imperfections in the symbols and numbers used on the faces. If she had to guess, this may be a first version of a deck of cards in this world, and they were showing off how to use them hoping that they could sell a few.
Now, Octavia is obviously on the run, but as she looked around, she couldn't see anyone wearing a mask or who looked to be a professional kidnapper. What that look is, she didn't actually know, but everyone looked to be enjoying the games and stalls rather than loitering to find her.
And she realised that once they are out of this town, there are going to be times when things will get very boring. So, she took this opportunity to grab a pack.
Dashing over, the owner of the stall had to blink a few times after seeing the green-faced lady that just suddenly showed up. But once he got his bearings, managed to sell a pack of cards to her, before she suddenly dashed away. Sure, it was a little odd to him, but he managed to sell a pack, and in doing so, caused some of the others watching to buy one too, believing that the one who had just brought it saw it as a good deal.
His thanks went out to the green-skinned lady, as the festival turned into a gold mine for himself where more and more people brought his cards.