We walked out and went to get our horses, but we were intercepted by the arrow boy. He looked around cautiously before speaking.
"Are you leaving?" he asked.
"Yes, but we have to inform the town head first. We can't just leave, right?" Harold said.
"I think… I think you should leave. I'll tell them," he said urgently.
"Why?" Harold asked, feigning innocence.
"Just… it's not safe for you here," he replied.
"How? Are the undead back?" he asked, looking around. His pretense annoyed me; can't we just leave?
"No, it's… uh…" he said, glancing around. "The people are distressed. They are really good people; they just don't feel safe, that's why," he kept ranting.
"That's why what?" Harold asked.
"That's why they want to…"
"Cato, what's going on here?" the old man asked as he approached us.
"Well, uh… they said they want to leave," he said, giving me a look that I didn't understand.
"Already? But you saved our town. At least let us thank you," he said.
"If you want to thank us, then give us supplies for the road. We're looking for someone, and it might take days to get to our destination," I said before Harold could say anything.
"Oh, if that's the case, we'd do just that. In the meantime, rest up. The town was wrecked, and we might have a hard time salvaging what's left," he said.
"Then we…" Harold was saying, but I cut in.
"We'd leave either way; we're behind on our schedule," I said, and Harold looked at me with an annoyed expression. "We are leaving," I said to him and walked away.
"But your horses need to…"
"Is there a reason why you insist on keeping us here?" Harold asked.
"No, no," the old man said, glancing at the arrow boy.
"He didn't say anything; don't worry," he said, enjoying the man's reaction. "Did you even for a second assume you could plot your childish nonsense with me finding out?"
"Well, we…"
"Do you even know who this person is?" he asked, pointing at me.
"What are you doing?" I whispered.
"She's Cady Hall," he continued. The man looked surprised, then horrified.
First, why is he telling them my name? Second, why is he scared? What rumors are they spreading about me?
I'm not surprised that he knows my name; like I mentioned earlier, my brother and I are pretty popular.
"Do you understand?" Harold asked. No, I don't.
"I… I do. I'm really sorry; we are desperate here. We don't know how to protect ourselves," he said, looking down.
"We'll be on our way. If I were you, I'd try to put up a wall in this place; a barrier would be up for a week. Work with your people and save yourselves or die," Harold said and walked away.
'Why is he still helping them?'
I followed him, with Alvin on our trail. He had readied the horses and was dragging them out.
"They took our things," he said.
"I'll go get them," Alvin offered and left. What's with this lazy prince?
"Why are you helping them out?" I asked.
"They are civilians," he said.
"You…" I started, but I shook my head and turned to leave.
"They might say they are sorry, but they're not," he said, and I turned to look at him, confused.
"How do you know?" I asked, and he shrugged and kept working.
"You can't just judge people by assumptions; someone once said that, and I believe it," I said and turned to leave.
I saw Alvin approaching us with the arrow boy and some other people, and I sighed. I didn't want to deal with this again; I wanted to get back to my search.
"Miss," the old man called as they neared. "I'm really sorry for the trouble my people caused. We just need someone to protect us since we are just civilians and don't know what is going on. You can't possibly blame us for trying to look out for ourselves," he said.
"They might say they are sorry, but they're not."
"Of course," I said and turned to leave.
"Umm… can I… can I go with you?" I heard the arrow boy say. I turned, amused by the sudden request. "I know you're going somewhere and have a goal, but I… I want to be out there. I want to help however I can," he said.
"No," I said plainly and walked to Alvin to take the things he was carrying, but he refused.
"Please."
"Why don't you start by helping your people?" I asked, and he glanced back at them.
"Can I also come?" the boy who almost got me killed stepped forward.
"They might say they are sorry, but they're not."
"No," I said and walked away. 'Don't people normally say I'm sorry in situations like this?'
Harold dragged out three horses, including Bean, and waited for us to return with our things.
"Did you ask before taking that?" I asked.
"Payment for saving their lives."
"Here," Alvin said, dropping the things he was holding. They arranged everything, and we were set to go.
"Wait, please, take me with you," the arrow boy said, rushing after us. Harold studied him and looked at me.
"I already said no," I said.
"I'm good at shooting, cleaning, anything at all. I won't get in your way. I can't stay here anymore," he said.
"Aren't your family here?"
"No, I don't… I owed the head for a while, and after clearing my debts, he still let me stay with him, but I want to leave," he said.
"That's a touching story; let him come," Harold said.
"How come you can use aura?" I asked.
"I'm not that good at it, but a knight taught me how to control my aura," he said, and I nodded.
"Get a horse from the stables and follow us. Welcome to the team," Harold said.
"I didn't…" I didn't get to finish my statement; the arrow boy ran off excitedly.
"He's a good person," Harold said, facing me.
"How do you know?" I asked, and he smiled and turned away.
"You don't give people a chance, huh? You save people but never try to even form a relationship," Harold said.
"What use is that?" I asked, and he started laughing.
"Sometimes the good ones are the monsters, and the monsters are more human than you think. You might be smart, but I'm a better judge of character," he said boldly.
"Thank you?" I said, not sure if it was a compliment or an insult.
The arrow boy came back, fully packed. Did he prepare the night before?
"I'm Harold, a mage. This is Alvin, the fourth prince, and Cady, an uptight knight," Harold introduced each person. Fifth prince.
"I'm Cato. Thank you for letting me join you," he said.
"Since we'll be working together, I'll come clean," Harold said, still smiling. "I was going to let you all die yesterday," he said and continued.
"Wait, what?" Cato asked, but no one responded.
Our journey to find Elton and hopefully the nail continued. I never asked how we'd find the nail; well, finding Elton takes top priority.