"Wake up Elihu" said Mero as he walked to where Elihu was sleeping on the base of a tree as he patted him on his shoulder.
"Oh, but it is too early, the sun is not even out yet" said Elihu as he groaned and he yawned as Mero shook his head at him, he was not even the one who had to look out and watch over the area while they were asleep, and yet, here he was being lazy.
"Wake up Elihu, get up, because if you do not, I am sure that the Queen will come and try to wake you up herself, and believe you me, you would not want that at all" said Mero as Elihu groaned, it would be even worse if Wura came over here, she would nag him nonstop, and her voice would be like an annoying melody to his ears.
"Fine" said Elihu as he got up reluctantly, if he had a choice, he would have said that they rest for longer before continuing, they had been moving for days now, and yet still, no sign of Liam, he was starting to lose hope, but Wura adamant on them going on.
Elihu stretched out as he walked to Zuph who was making a fire with Nora as they were speaking.
"Nora, what are you doing?" asked Wura as she walked to where Nora and Zuph were.
"Oh Good Morrow my Queen" said Nora as she turned to look at Wura and she smiled and Wura gave her a quick smile.
"Sir Zuph just showed me how to collect fresh dew from the tree leaves for us to have fresh water to drink" said Nora as she smiled and she explained to Wura.
"Oh really now?" asked Wura. "Yes my Queen" said Nora as she nodded her head. "Well that is nice" said Wura as she smiled and she walked away as she checked the map yet again, they were so close yet so far, Liam had stopped moving, the red dot was still, while they were still very far away from him, the thought was painful.
"My Queen, you have to eat something, I have some bread here with me" said Nora as she looked at Wura.
"Hmm, I am not hungry, you can have it for yourself Nora" replied Wura idly as she did not even turn to look at Nora at all and she only replied. Nora looked at Mero and the others and they looked back at her, it had been like this for a few days now, Wura rarely ate, and when she did, it was only a little bit, she was always only focused on that map and nothing else.
"But my Queen, you had nothing to eat last night, and you need strength this morning for us to go on" said Nora.
"I am fine Nora, really, you can have it for yourself" replied Wura once again. Nora looked at Mero, she did not like this at all, she was pleading with him with her eyes to beg Wura to eat, because she knew that Wura would listen to him, or at least consider his words, Nora did not like the way Wura was starving herself, it was doing her no good at all. Mero sighed, he knew what Nora wanted him to do, it was obvious from the way that he was looking at her.
"My Queen, Nora is right, you need to eat, it is not good for you to skip your meals like this" said Mero as Wura turned to look at him.
"Well I told you all already, I am not hungry" said Wura as she did not like that they were pestering her, not at all.
"My Queen, please listen to us and eat" said Mero.
"Enough of this, I am tired of hearing you speak about the same thing" said Wura.
"If you all have time to talk to me about eating, then I am sure that you all are not hungry at all, so if that is the case, we should stop wasting time here, and continue on" said Wura as she did not have time for this, not at all, she could not stand that they were all trying to force her to do something that she did not want to do at all.
"My Queen, please calm down, we did not mean it that way, we are only worried for your wellbeing, you have not been eating well these past few days, and I fear that you may get ill" said Nora as Wura looked at her.
"Nora, I appreciate your concern, but I am fine, I am alright, if anything, what will make me ill is you all insisting for me to do something that I do not want to do at all" said Wura as she sighed, she knew that she actually needed to calm down, she was overreacting.
"I am sorry if you think so my Queen" said Nora in a small voice as Wura sighed. "You all can eat if you want to, when you are done, let us go" said Wura as she took a deep breath, this was stressing her, she could not deal with this anymore, so she just walked away.
"She has a worse temper than Liam when he gets upset" said Elihu as day by day, he had started to see the many similarities between Liam and his wife, they were one in the same, controlling, have a bad temper, determined and stubborn, no wonder Liam married her, he married someone just like him.
"Sir Mero, I am sorry that her Majesty Is upset with you because I asked you to speak with her, please accept my apology" said Nora as she bowed her head and Mero just looked at her.
"It is alright, it Is not your fault at all" said Mero as Nora still felt bad, Wura had not been very nice to Mero as of late, it would seem that everything he did or said made her easily agitated, Nora did not think that Mero deserved that kind of treatment from Wura at all, but she could not talk to her, not when she was like this.
"Everyone, just eat breakfast so we can be on our way" said Mero as Elihu and Zuph nodded.
"Are you not going to eat as well?" asked Nora as she kept her head down.
"I am not hungry" said Mero as he walked away to untie the horses as Nora kept her gaze down.
"Mero and her Majesty are both the same" said Elihu as he sighed, he could not tell which out of the two of them were better.
"They really are, but well, it means more food for us" said Zuph as Elihu had to agree with that.
…
Silence, that was what reigned between them , silence as they all rode quietly, Wura was in her own thoughts, she felt bad, she should not have snapped on all of them like that, but she was just so frustrated at the time.
Wura sighed internally as she was snapped out of her thoughts when she started to hear faint, muffled noises in the distance as she looked ahead.
"What is…" said Wura as she paused. "People?" asked Zuph in surprise as he could see what looked like people ahead, after so many days of being in nothing but the wilderness.
"I do not think that those are any type of people" said Mero as he could see some strange figures as Wura paused.
"Wait, before we go any further, we need to be sure that place is safe" said Mero as he stopped his horse and he checked the map as he was surprised, it would seem that this would be some market of some sort, but the strange thing was that Mero could promise you that he had never seen this place before on the map.
"What is it Mero?" asked Wura as she could sense something was wrong.
"That place is a market my Queen" said Mero as he replied.
"Wait, let me see" said Wura as she got down from her horse and Mero got down from his as he handed her the map and she looked at it. It was true, that did look like some sort of market, but what caught Wura by surprise was that the red dot that was supposed to be Liam was right at the edge of the market, at the very end, Wura gasped in mixed feelings, he was so close, she did not know why he was here, did he turn back? Nevertheless, they had to get to him now.
"Liam is right across that market, we have to get to him now" said Wura as she looked at Mero.
"My Queen, I do not think that is a good idea, we do not know what can be in that market, it is not a normal human market after all" said Zuph as Elihu and the rest agreed with him, he spoke truth.
"My Queen, he is right" said Mero.
"Perhaps we can go around the market" said Mero.
"No, no we cannot, the map does not show another way, and besides, even if there was, it would take us a long time to go around, we have to go through it" said Wura.
"My Queen, it is too dangerous" said Mero.
"Do not tell me that, we are so close to Liam, so close, and now you want me to lose him again just because of supposed danger, I am not going to stand for this, we are going through that market now, whether you agree with me or not" said Wura as Mero sighed, she always did this, and he knew that this time, she was very serious.
"Alright then, if you insist, why do we not disguise ourselves?" asked Elihu.
"Disguise like how?" asked Mero as he looked at Elihu.
"We should cover ourselves with our cloaks, I do not think that those creatures will be able to tell that we are human" said Elihu.
"Yes, that Is a good idea, let us do that" said Wura as she walked to Nora who go down from the horse.
"Hold this Nora" said Wura as she gave Nora the map as she held it and Wura rummaged through the bag as she found her black cloak and she put it on immediately as she wasted no time at all.
"Come no now, let us go" said Wura as she covered the hood of her cloak on her head and Mero looked at Elihu and Zuph, she was not going to back down at all.
"Alright my Queen, but we have to continue on foot, and stay close" said Mero.
"I will" said Wura as she nodded her head and Nora gave her back the map as she held it tightly in her hands.
…
The noise and sound of many voices in the bustling market could be heard, to the far eye, it would seem like a normal market, but that was not the case at all.
As Wura, Mero, Nora, Zuph and Elihu walked through the busy market, they could hear different languages and voices, and as they passed through, they could see how these creatures were not human at all, some had three eyes, some had only one eye and three fingers as they shouted, they looked like horrible, horrible creatures, speaking in their own tongues.
Wura did not dare look at any of them, she was scared, she just kept her head down as she walked straight ahead and she kept close to Mero just as he had said.
Elihu looked around, he could see a bunch of fish heads displayed in one stall, he felt like throwing up, the smell itself was putrid.
"How much longer do we have to stay here Mero?" asked Elihu as he whispered so Mero alone could hear him as he held the horses behind him.
"Not too long, we should be out of here soon" said Mero as he moved past a creature standing in front of him.
Wura gasped as she accidentally glanced at one of the stalls where she saw something unsettling, they looked like fingers, bony, bloody, human fingers, she knew the difference. Wura subconsciously held Mero tightly as he could tell that she was scared.
"My Queen, just keep on looking ahead, and you will be fine" said Mero as he whispered and Wura nodded her head as Zuph stayed close to Nora so she would not get lost and in no time, they had finally made it out to the other side of the market as they could no longer see anyone.
"What now? There is nothing here" said Elihu as Wura let go of Mero and she quickly checked the map again as she could see the red dot, right in front of her, she felt her heart beat quicken as she quickly rushed ahead.
"Oh what now?" asked Elihu as Mero said nothing and he quickly followed after Wura.
Wura looked down at the map as she ran, the blue dot moved as she moved, and she could see the blue dot slowly getting closer to the red one as she ran faster, but she stopped to catch her breath as she looked ahead and she saw him.
She saw him, Liam her Liam, even though his back was turned to her, she knew that it was him. Wura felt like crying right now, crying in relief that she had finally found him, but she decided to save her tears, she had to go to him now, she had to.
"Liam!!" shouted Wura in joy as she called out to him and she ran straight for him as fast as she could and she could not help herself as she hugged him, she hugged him from behind very tightly.
"Liam, I missed you, I am sorry" said Wura as she felt her tears staring to drop as she hugged Liam, but the next words that she head him say broke her heart in an instant.
"Who are you?" asked Liam as he turned to face Wura as he pushed her away from himself with force as Wura felt like her whole world came crashing down in an instant.