Chapter 16: Their luck.
My head hurt. Water… I needed water. I rose from the thin mattress and looked around. There was a pitcher of water and cup sitting by me as if waiting. I drunk from it greedily and sat still until the pain began to pass. To be honest I couldn't remember much of what happened last night. Images and moments ran through my head but they felt disjointed to where I was now. Yep, I had way too much to drink. The demons kept feeding them to me. Their alcohol was nice though, mellow with a powerful aftertaste that fizzled in your mouth. It was more addicting the more you drank. Though right now the thought of it made me want to puke.
Another mattress laid next to mine on the floor. The blankets had been haphazardly thrown aside. Whoever had slept next to me was gone, it was probably Ardent. I had to wonder if he was okay, he had drunk even more than me and done some pretty weird things. I walked out the room sliding the door across. A small passage led me into the dining area. Taylor was seated at the table alone eating what looked like bread and soup.
"Good morning," I yawned and sat opposite of her. "Is there any for me?"
She avoided my eyes and focused on her soup pointing instead, "Over there."
I stood up and saw the pot, helping myself to the flavourful liquid. This time I sat beside Taylor and without word began to eat. She made no effort to speak and instead seemed like she was eluding me. Thinking back we had danced together last night but I was pretty sure that was all. Parts of the dance we did have to get quite close to each other. I began to get self-conscious. Reminder to self, don't drink too much.
"Last night was fun," I said eventually.
"Yeah it was…," Taylor mumbled.
"Ardent went a little wild."
"The fireworks were nice."
"…." I turned and looked at her directly, "Did I do something?"
"No," she faced away. That totally meant I did something. The scary thing was, what had I done to make her act like that? A part of me really didn't want to know.
"Haha," I laughed poorly and focused back on my breakfast.
"Sorry," the word was said so quietly I barely heard her.
"What?"
"Last night was a lot of fun," her hair covered her face. "It wasn't like me so I just can't talk to you right now."
"Right, no problem," I said plainly. Inside however I was screaming. Really just what happened!? "I'm going to head outside…."
I left Taylor and exited the house. We were staying in Servius' home. It was newly built and made for him when he became an adult. The man himself was nowhere to be found. I walked outside and enjoyed the light rays of sun streaming down through the trees. The specs of light lit up the village like a tapestry. There were a lot less people mingling about than yesterday even though it was near noon. It would seem there quite a lot of people still recovering from last night.
"Yo Rain boy," a man's voice called to me. I turned to source of the sound. It was the four armed man from yesterday. A memory of him and I drinking together entered my mind. Him with four cups in each hand and me keeping up with him with two. "Good morning to you."
"Good morning," I replied in kind. "You recovered quickly."
He laughed powerfully, "Years of experience my boy. If you're looking for the Master Wizard he is being cared for in Ms Ula's home. The man is not faring well from last night."
"So that's where he is," I said. "He should be fine."
"Are you doing much today boy?"
I shook my head, "Nothing planned." I did want to search the forest for clues about Axel's assailants but without Ardent or Taylor I wouldn't get anywhere fast.
"I see. Servius tells me you're good with your hands, care to help me?"
"Well you look like you have plenty but sure," I joked and he laughed.
He took my two hands with two each in a shake, "Name's Gola. I thought you might not remember from last night."
"You'd be right," I admitted.
He led me through the village and I was able to get a glimpse of their proper life without all the excitement. While each house had its own garden there were larger plantations throughout the town and the villagers were continuously tending to them. There weren't any livestock and it seemed most of their meat came from hunting or whatever they traded with Axel. Eventually after greeting several others Gola led me to his own home, outside under the rafters were strips of cloth hanging and half-finished sewing.
"You're a tailor," I said with pleasant surprise.
"Many hands lead to quick work with the needle," he smiled. "I planned to have some new clothes ready but because of last night I am behind. Please do assist me."
"I'll see what I can do," I sat down as he passed me some cloth and thread. Together we spent our time talking while sewing. As I expected he was quite dexterous. It was fun learning new designs and methods, though some of those methods I couldn't use due to lack of appendages.
An hour or so passed when Servius came running towards us, "Rain there you are." He breathed out tiredly. "We have a problem."
"Did Taylor do something?" I had to ask.
"No… it's worse." He frowned, "We have guests."
"Guests?" From what I heard Kerchest was pretty far from other villages or major towns. They hardly ever had visitors.
"From the horned tribe. They said they got lost and are asking to stay the night. Nothing too strange but you should probably avoid them just in case."
I could understand why. Taylor, Ardent and I were pretending to be part of their race. We also knew almost zero of their customs. Even if we said we were born here it would be a bit of stretch to not know anything. I nodded, "I'll go speak with Taylor."
"I already tried to talk with the Master Wizard but he's still unconscious…."
I smirked, "Maybe that's for the best." With his curiosity he might really just give us away by talking to them. "Gola thank you for spending your time with me." I bowed to him.
"And I you," he returned the gesture. "You're help has got me back on track."
Servius stuck to my side as we went to look for Taylor. While the village had a low population it was quite spread out and had many blind spots. Aside from the obvious places to look for her, like Servius' home and the village hall, there wasn't much else to go on. With how she was acting this morning she may even be hiding and if that was the case it was going to be impossible to find her.
We passed by the centre of the village and I caught my first glimpse of the horned tribe visitors. They were all wearing thin brown robes over their clothing and looked quite like any human. Their form and size were the same but like their namesake and my disguise, various horns grew from their heads. I blended myself into the passing villagers using my learnings as a hunter.
"This village is very nice," a taller woman leading them said. "Though you really are far away from anyone else."
"We're remote but we still do make a living," Servius' father was talking to them.
"I must thank you again for agreeing to let us stay the night," the women smiled. She was quite attractive and had a friendly charisma. "We don't have much but please share these with your people." She took a box from one of her companions and passed it over.
"What is it?" Servius' father opened the box pulling out a bottle.
"Wine we have made ourselves," the lady replied happily. "We intended to give it as a gift for a friend's wedding but alas I don't believe we'll make it to him in time."
"Still even if you are late I believe the gesture would be kind. Do not mind us."
"Hush hush," the women laughed. "We have other gifts as well, the wine was for the party which would be long over by the time we arrive. Better to drink it now in good company. Please there is plenty to share."
"Then we shall accept graciously," Servius' father nodded his head. He held up the bottle to the gathering crowd, "There's enough for everyone!"
It would have been suspicious for us to leave at the sound of a free drink. Like the others around us we went forward to have a cup poured. The wine had a nice mellow and fruity taste. It was very different to the drink I had last night and more to what I was used to but I enjoyed it nonetheless. A shame that Ardent was out cold and wouldn't enjoy it, then again maybe that was also for the better. The man should probably stop drinking for a while.
The horned tribe visitors seemed amicable enough and strangely like the people of Axel I couldn't feel much difference between us. For all my worries about them having different traditions that could out me, there was nothing like that. I had to wonder just how similar demons were to humans as a whole. Aside from their multiple difference races and thus bodily functions, it was looking like their lifestyles were much the same. That being said the bodily differences were a pretty big deal and I had heard from some of the scaleskins about how they shed once a year.
Eventually we found Taylor by the edge of the village near a small pond, or more appropriately she had found us. Servius screamed when she surprised him.
"By the Goddess did you have to do that!" he glared at her angrily.
"You scare too easily," she laughed.
I however was caught up on a different line, "Wait, the Goddess? You believe in her?"
"Huh?" for a moment he was confused. "Of course we do. The Goddess who watches over us and the force that guides the world. We have temples and shrines to worship her. Why, don't you?"
"No we do," I said uneasily. It wasn't like I had much faith in the Goddess but in the Kingdom and Empire she was practically the one religious figure. I had thought the Demons would worship someone else.
Taylor opened her mouth, "In the Empire the Goddess blesses all humans and prosecutes demons."
"That's a loud of dunder fluff," Servius snapped. "The Goddess' teachings say nothing of the sort. Are you sure she's the same?"
"Same person, different teachers," Taylor quipped.
I decided to change the topic, "Anyway Taylor there's a bunch of horned tribe visitors in the village, it would be best if you avoid them."
"Yeah I saw them," she said. "Don't worry they didn't see me. Though I must say their drinks were quite nice."
"Just what I expected of you," I smiled.
"It's what I do," she stretched releasing a yawn. "So what are we doing today?"
I looked at Servius trying to decide whether or not to speak in front of him. In the end his innocent gaze stopped me from sending him away. He already knew about it anyway. "Ardent's out of commission for the day so we won't get far if we search ourselves. Let's just relax and start tomorrow."
"No complaints here," she smiled.
"Looks like you're better from this morning," I commented.
"It's okay because I remembered nothing happened," she sighed. "It just took a while for my memory to come back."
"Right…." Why did it sound like she was disappointed?
In the end we laid low and spent our time observing the village. Gola had even knit some clothes for me and Taylor specifically. I did think that the measurements he had given me were familiar but to think they were Taylor's. The man had a good eye to know them. They were fine clothes and although mine didn't quite suit, Taylor's truly made her look like one of the villagers. Ardent didn't wake up….