Caroline waited for Edgar at the door of the cavern as he thanked the lady for her hospitality. The gossip went on still in the group but the topic was changed to a new one. She listened and then watched Edgar and the woman. Once in a while, she noticed the woman look in her direction. What was Edgar telling her this time?
" I will be passing by Haloria to see what you are talking about ". Caroline heard the man in the gossip group speak and turned to see him standing up.
" I will come with you. Haloria is in the route of Darkish ". One of the women said, standing to follow the man. Caroline saw them head to the door and gave space for them.
However, as the man went after the woman, he paused to look at Caroline. For a while, he gazed her up, staring at her red hair and longer at her neck before walking out in haste.
Caroline stood transfixed at her position, she could swear that she saw a flicker of red and black in his eyes. His gaze. She shook her head in disbelief. It was that of someone hungry and very frightening. She wiped the beads of sweat off her forehead. A vampire?
" What's that I see? A blush? ". She heard Edgar's voice as a wave to her ears. Her absent mind pondered on what she saw.
The man. She was sure she had seen him somewhere. Somewhere not in Regima or Keshock. Somewhere in Haloria. She squinted her eyes as she tried to remember where she had seen him. His eyes apart, his other features reminded her of someone she knew.
Edgar came to stand in her front, but her eyes like a beam passed through him. He watched her every deposition, from the distorting of her face to the squinting of her eyes and the twisting of her lips. He perceived she was in deep thought. Something painful and a bit confusing. He could smell the confusion like a perfume she reeked of.
" I bother you? " He asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.
Caroline looked at him. Her eyes withheld annoyance that beat the smirk on his face and fell it into a frown.
" What bothers you? ". He rephrased the question to emphasize the thing that emerged intolerant in her thought.
She blinked her eyes, confused at first but as time progressed, she understood he had watched her intently or perhaps had called her and she had not responded.
" Nothing ". She lied and left the cavern, leaving him to stare at her in amusement.
Edgar went after her the next minute and turned her around. " You are too abrupt in your decisions ". He said to her as he caught up with her. " You didn't get to appreciate the owner of the cavern ". He added, filling the silence that came after his first words.
The latter shook her head as his words sank in and with utmost embarrassment and guilty conscience, she blinked and apologized. " I'm sorry ". She said, going back into the cavern.
He looked at her, his eyes banged with bewilderment and surprise. For the hours he had been with her and the hours they had journeyed through villages, she had only refuted his words and acted in the opposite of what he asked her to do. Glimpsing her going back to the cavern— he was perplexed.
Caroline went into the cavern and straight to the woman. She stood tall over the woman, not because she wanted to act bold and fearless. Those qualities were not needed now. The woman's height being petite and stunted stayed at the chest level of every average person in the cavern. It was only Edgar, she noticed, that had the woman at his hip level. He was taller than any man she had seen.
" Thank you ". She commenced as she bowed to avoid sighting the woman's V-shaped brows. The dark brows that looked like they were driving down the bridge of her nose reminded her of Madame Katherine. " Your hospitality would be remembered ".
" Nora ". She heard Edgar call and the woman answered or was it a snort?. Her upper body was bent and waiting for the woman to permit her up.
" You are good. Please stand ". Nora, the cavern said as she patted her shoulders.
Oh, but Caroline regretted it the next minute as she stood upright. In her eyes now, the woman stood as a dwarf. God, help her she had to bend again to hug the woman when asked to.
" Thank you Nora. We would be on our way now ". Edgar thanked her and brushed Caroline's arm to follow him.
" Take care dears ".
The cavern was situated at the end of the market and with the expanse taking four to five stalls in the market. Caroline and Edgar walked through the market and it was when they got to the center of it that she saw the route they had passed into market. Cloth sellers crowded the path they had taken. A craft she never knew existed caught her attention as they passed by the stalls.
She saw Edgar stop but was too occupied by what the men were making. Sticks, she saw, were tied with scarlet threads and lapped with plum feathers at the North, South, East, and West poles. Beads of purple, white, blue, and red, either mixed or alone adorned the center.
" They are here ". She heard Edgar's anxious voice and turned to look at what he was talking about.
Her eyes took her to the path ahead where six men in black cloaks wandered, asking about a drawing in their hands.
The vampire, she cried internally as she saw them stop by a woman's stall to inquire about the drawing. Luckily, the woman backed them but the relief she felt turned to worry as she saw in the drawing, a sketch of Edgar.
" Follow me ". Edgar beckoned, dragging her out from there and in another direction, away from the market and into a valley of darkness.