"There is only one bed." The old man said as he glanced at me.
"Leave it at that. He can have the bed. It's not as if I want to lie on it." The prince said to the man before he turned to me, "hope you won't mind spending the night with me in the room?"
"You are unbelievable!" I folded my palms as I glared at him.
"What did I do?" He chuckled as if he doesn't know what I was talking about.
"This is the key to the room. If there's anything else you want that's not in the room, you can let me know."
"Okay." The prince took the keys the man dropped on the table. "Let's go, Dynma." He said as he started going up the stairs to the room, and I followed him.
"Young Man, if you would rather not be in just a room, there are spare rooms. You can choose from any of them." The old man winked at me.
"Thank you, sir." I hastened after the prince, who was already halfway up the stairs. "Wait for me, will you?"
"Why should I do that?" He didn't stop.
The prince continued up the stairs and straight to our room.
"You can take the bed, I will—"
"We can share the bed."
"You want to share the bed?" He sounded surprised.
"Why not? The bed is enormous. And we are both males. There is no reason not to share it." I strode towards the bench by the window and sat down.
In the chamber, the only pieces of furniture in it are the bench by the window, and the bed.
There was nothing else in the room. It was just empty.
"If you said so." He dropped the things we got from the market and walked towards me. "We will stay here tonight. And after that, we will continue on our journey."
"Is it still far?"
"No."
"Hmm." I pursed my lips. "how certain are you that it's not far?"
"Trust me on this. We are not too far from the mountains." He said before he opened the window and leaned on it to watch the people walking below.
***************
I went downstairs after having my bath, while the prince stayed back to bathe.
And just like the old man said, when I reached downstairs, I discovered that almost all the tables were occupied.
Men chattered as they drank. Their loud chatter and laughter made the place lively, but noisy.
"Are you still interested in the room? There are enough for you to choose if you don't—"
"He doesn't need a new room. You don't have to force him." The prince circled his hand around my shoulder, "let's go and have a drink. Ring our table up." He removed his hand from around my neck and started for a table, which wasn't far from where I was standing.
As I followed him, I can feel the stares of the men in the tavern, but I pretended as if I don't feel it.
"Hurry." The prince called out as he motioned to the chair opposite his.
I hurried towards him and sat down as I discreetly glanced around the place.
"Stop looking around." The prince whispered as he leaned close, "you will make them fix their attention on us."
"Oh," I nodded.
"Have you heard?" A man who was a table away from ours asked his partner.
"Heard what?" The partner asked.
"The prince is out scouting for men to help rescue his sister!"
"What?"
"You've not heard the news?"
"No, this is my first time."
"The prince is a bastard!" A fellow sitting alone close to the door hit the empty bottles of his drink on the table.
The prince winced at the man's words. He balled his hands into fists and gritted his teeth.
"What did the prince do?" The men who were conversing earlier asked the loner.
"The prince is a bastard!" He shouted once more, earning the attention of everyone in the place.
"What did the prince do?" The man asked once more, eager for some gossip
"When our kingdom was evaded, we pleaded with the royal family to assist us, but they ignored our pleas.
And now, they are expecting the village to aid them in rescuing the princess?" He laughed, as if there were something funny in his words. "They are fools if they think we will help them!" He hit his bottle on the table once more.
"Yes, that's true! How can they expect us to help when they never treated us as part of the Kingdom?"
"That's true! We will never assist them! I say we stand for what's right!"
"Yes, we will never assist them!"
I glanced at the prince, who looked like he was moments away from knocking all of them down.
"We won't help them!"
"Yes!"
"Even if the witches kill the princess, we will—"
Zoban hit his palm on the table.
And the noise caused everyone present to focus their attention on us.
"Who are you?" The man who first spoke when he came here advanced towards us.
The others followed suit, with menacing expressions on their faces.
"I have never seen your face in this village before now.
Who are you, and where did you come from?" He stopped in front of our table.
"We are the children of the Earth." Zoban stood up from the chair he was sitting on. "if you don't mind, gentlemen, we will take our leave."
"What?" The man laughed, "are you mocking us?"
His words caused murmurs to arise.
"We are not mocking you, my dear sir." Zoban clenched his teeth. "We only want to return to our room."
"What?" The man frowned at him.
"We are meditating. And the noise around here is hindering our communication with the Earth. If you don't mind, my dear sirs, we will take our leave." Zoban partially bowed to them before he started for the stairs.
"Excuse me, sirs." I also partially bowed to them before I ran after Zoban, who was storming up the stairs.