Book One Chapter Eighteen: Tagedy Beneath Danabro

Nick and his friends journey to the village of Danabro, only to discover that there is more to the village than what meets the eye...

Chapter Eighteen Tragedy Beneath Danabro:

“The next nearest town is Danabro.” Said Serena.

“In that case, we should probably go there next.” I suggested.

“We are done here, that would be best." Carlos offered.

We exited Arknan and headed for the main gate. We walked out onto the barren plain once more. I wondered why this place was so featureless. I noticed that between all the villages it was relatively flat. Aside from the odd lump or rock in the ground. I decided to ask Lauren.

“Why is the ground here so flat and barren?” I asked Lauren.

Lauren looked at me.

“In the past there have been a lot of battles here. Won and lost. Saja had told me of these before. The soldiers marched all over Ectoclis, they flattened the very ground beneath their feet. Ectoclis was never very mountainous to begin with, so that made flattening the ground an easy task over the centuries. The various wars have been fought for centuries in the past, it is a shame that another is upon us so soon.” Lauren continued.

“Who were those wars between?” I asked.

Lauren looked off onto the horizon, as if she was remembering the battles.

“Mostly between werewolves, humans and vampires, but a few concerned even the Kerulen.” Lauren explained.

I nodded, taking in the new information.

“What can you tell me about Saja? About her past?" I asked.

“Well, she committed a crime, a terrible crime that was worthy for execution. But she somehow managed to escape. The council tried to find her for centuries but never did.” Lauren explained.

“What crime did she commit?” I asked.

I already had the information that the king and queen gave me on Saja, but I wanted to see if there was anything I missed, anything new.

“Saja was young and arrogant. She did not like the council’s way of doing things, so she stacked a rebellion against them. After a few months she got impatient and led the rebellion before she had necessary weapons and followers. So the council defeated them all. The council did make a statement that day though.” She said.

“What was that?” I asked.

“They made an example of her.” Lauren finished.

We saw a village in the distance, I was so distracted talking to Lauren that I didn't see it.

“This is Danabro.” Said Serena.

We entered the village, and we looked around. This village was considerably larger than the others that we had previously been through. It was larger than even Arknan. Danabro houses packed closely together, inns, a few churches, shops and other buildings were also densely packed. The buildings here were two stories high, with only a few one story high buildings. We saw people going about their day, there were more people in Danabro than the other villages. No signs of a scuffle, however. No signs of trouble. That was good.

We walked around a little more. We saw an inn but didn’t buy rooms now. We were going to wait until dark. We continued to walk around the village. I was wary of my surroundings, I expected to see Luna rounding a corner, looking for us, but I never did. We wandered the village until it got dark, which wasn't too long. It had been twilight when we arrived at Danabro, and it was now dusk. We went to the inn and walked through the front door. We were greeted by the innkeeper behind the counter. He was a man who was around sixty years old. He wore long brown pants, a white t-shirt, he had faded blue eyes, short, gray hair and he was a pretty muscular guy.

“Hello, travelers! Welcome to Danabro’s quaint and tranquil inn. Rooms are three Yentos each night. What do you say?” Asked the innkeeper.

“That sounds good, thank you.” Carlos said.

Carlos bought us each a room. He reached into his pocket and withdrew a few of those silvery black rectangular coins and placed them on the table.

“Thank you very much! Your rooms are on the second floor. Enjoy your stay here in Danabro!” The innkeeper said to us.

“Thank you.” I told him.

I followed the others upstairs and went to my room. I gazed around my room. It was simple, though there was something strange about it. I looked around the room but found nothing out of the ordinary. I was probably just tired, as I could feel the dreary gleam of fatigue on my vision. I lay down in my bed. It felt very soft and was comfortable enough. I fell asleep in minutes, but I awoke to the sound of an earthquake.

Fear shot through me. What was happening? I ran out to the hall dividing our rooms. Every one of us ran out at the same time.

“What is happening?” asked Lauren.

We looked around for clues. We gave up after a second. The sound of the earthquake had abruptly stopped. I looked out the front window of the inn and couldn’t believe my eyes. I saw a huge underground cave with people; I’m assuming vampires, walking around. I grabbed the sword from my belt and drew it from its sheath. I caught one vampire’s eye, he looked alarmed. He motioned a few other vampires to follow him. They were running towards us! My fear from before hadn't yet faded. My friends and I all stowed away in our rooms. I hid behind my mirror. A vampire came into my room. A male. I quietly stepped out from behind my mirror, sword ready, but the male vampire saw me.

He lunged at me. I sidestepped him and he smashed through the door, knocking it off its hinges. He got up just as quickly as he lunged at me, and jumped for me again, this time pinning me to the wall. He was so quick that I couldn't use my sword. He stared at me, and I saw bloodlust in his eyes. I was scared out of my mind. His fangs plunged into my throat. I flailed around, trying to throw the vampire off of me. I couldn’t put up much of a fight for long; the all too familiar weakness that accompanied a vampire bite was returning and I soon had no energy left to fight the vampire off.

“Get off of me, you leech!” I shouted with whatever strength I had left.

Before the vampire took too much of my blood, I heard footsteps out in the hall. I saw Carlos walk in through the doorway. He saw my situation and had his gun up in an instant. He took carful aim and shot the vampire off of me. The vampire cried out and fell backwards. I collapsed to the ground due to my lack of energy.

“Nick, are you alright?” Asked Carlos.

I clutched my neck. It was aching right now, but that would soon pass. I pulled my hand off of my neck and found it covered in blood.

“Yes, I’ll be fine in a minute. I just need a moment.” I told him.

The others all entered my room.

“Nick, are you alright?” Serena asked.

“He just needs to recover his strength.” Carlos explained.

After a few minutes of laying on the ground, I began to feel better.

“Okay, I’m fine now. Are you all ready to go out there?” I asked them, standing up.

I went over to the window and looked out. I saw a huge complex. It was definitely underground. The walls were made of brown stone but the floor was grey concrete, or whatever they used as concrete here on Ectoclis. There were lots of vampires in sight.

“God, Nick. That bite looks very painful.” Serena said.

I walked over to the mirror I had his behind when the vampire came into my room, and I stood in front of it. I saw my reflection and I saw the two fang wounds on my neck, and I saw the outline of the vampires lower teeth, this meant that he bit me very hard. I also saw a few other bit marks on my neck, probably from where Saja had bitten me back in her prison when she first captured me.

“Guys, there is lots of activity out there, you sure about this?” Asked Fenton.

Carlos reloaded and cocked his gun.

“Ready.” He said.

"I am as ready as I will ever be." Said Lauren.

“Who knows? This could be Saja’s secret base. What else could it be?” Fenton asked.

“A vampire safe house?” I asked suggested.

The king and queen looked very forlorn, probably still upset about Luna’s betrayal. We walked out the door.

“Don’t draw attention to us.” I whispered.

We all made our way to the front door of the inn. The innkeeper was gone. My imagination wandered for a moment and I wondered if the innkeeper made some kind of deal to bring his guests down here to feed the vampires. What could he possibly gain from that? It didn’t matter right now. I snapped back to reality when Fenton opened the front door.

None of the vampires seemed to notice us.

“Some of the other vampire’s scent must have rubbed off on us when we fought them.” Said Fenton.

We walked towards the right side of the room where I saw a corridor.

“Should we go there?” I asked, pointing the corridor out.

“Why not?” Serena asked.

We turned into the narrow corridor and saw a room that looked like a library. I went inside. I motioned for the others to stay and keep watch at the door. I went into the room. Row upon row of bookcases were visible, I quickly scanned the spines of the books for a title that would interest me. I went to the sixth row, which was as far back as the library went. It was very dimly lit in here. I scanned the titles of the books. I did not find any that interested me. I sat down beside a window and looked down, to rest my head. Out of the very top of my vision I saw a dusty and tattered book under one of the bookcases. I picked it up and opened it. I began to read.

 

01/05/1688

Vampires are real. My name is Hale and I am underneath Danabro. I bought a room at the inn and woke up to the sound of grinding metal. I looked out the window and saw this underground place. The vampires came after me but I hid and barricaded myself in this library. My strength is quickly dwindling for I was bitten on the shoulder. I am writing this in hope that someone finds it. In hope that my crusade was not entirely forgotten. I am a rebel. I was going to defeat Saja and restore peace to the world. I dug too deep. I am going to die. Vampires are real.

Real.

 

I finished reading the journal entry. Hale was probably sitting in this very spot when he wrote this. The thought in an odd way comforted me. It made me feel not so alone in this stony room. Even though my friends were waiting just outside. I packed the book and put it in my pocket. I went out to the others.

“I found this.” I said, holding up the journal.

I held it out to them.

Carlos took it from my hand and began to read it, the others read from over his shoulder. They all finished reading it after a minute and handed it back to me. I put it in my pocket again and we started out. We passed more rooms. One was much like the library I was in except it gave off the impression of a study of some sort.

“What do you think, guys?” I asked.

They didn’t answer. They were awestruck. A rising village, who knew? We rounded a dimly lit corner.

I then felt something come behind me and grab my neck! It was chocking me! Fear and anger spread throughout my system, I prepared to punch the source of contact, but Serena readied her bow in an instant and shot an arrow in my direction. The arrow sailed beside my head, hitting a vampire in the neck. It collapsed. It was a vampire who had tried strangling me. A few more vampires, probably guards saw us and charged. I unsheathed my sword and stabbed one in the chest. I then slashed one in the neck and it also collapsed.

“Intruders!” I heard a female voice say.

I looked around and in about two seconds I saw her. A female vampire. I cut her across the neck and she died instantly. More guards flooded out of the various rooms. I heard Carlos’s gun as he shot them over and over again. I stabbed and slashed each and every vampire that made its way to me. Serena used her bow skillfully, the king used his mace and the queen used her axe. Fenton used his silver dagger and attacked the vampires as they came at him. He used his dagger a little awkwardly, so I don't think he was much of a fighter. We had finally dispatched all of the vampires and we were alone.

“It’s too quiet.” I said.

“There has to be more.” The king said.

We continued on into the passage. We at last came to a dead end.

“This is it?” I asked, a little disappointed.

“It appears so.” Said Fenton. Nothing was on the wall except a torch.

“What is this place, anyway?” Fenton asked.

“Well, the vampires were surprised to see intruders so it must be a safe house or a bunker of some kind.” I said.

“I hear something!” exclaimed Serena.

She readied her bow and knocked Lauren into the torch by accident. She grunted with the impact and quickly got out of the way so as not to let her clothes catch fire.

“Sorry.” Serena said sheepishly.

The torch shifted to the side and the wall in front of us slid aside to reveal that the passage continues. Awe filled me.

“A hidden corridor!” I exclaimed.

“Where does it lead?” The queen asked.

“Do we really want to find out?” Fenton asked nervously.

“Do we have a choice?” I asked him.

Fenton hung his head in defeat.

“I suppose not.” He said as he ventured into the hidden corridor.

The rest of us followed him. Our footsteps echoed off of the walls. There were torches on the wall every few feet so it wasn’t totally dark. We continued for a few more minutes and saw a figure coming towards us. It was Luna! She was walking towards us, so she may have been on her way to the main room that the inn was in!

“Luna.” I said, anger fueled my voice with a burning intensity.

She was wearing the same armor as before and had her barbed blade with her. I hoped that she wasn’t shielded, Carlos had said that shields were a common use for magic.

“Oh! What a surprise! I was just going to check on security in the safe house down here.” Luna said.

So it was a safehouse.

“Since you are here, I will not simply toy with you this time. I think I will do Saja a favor and kill a traitor!” Luna exclaimed.

"I'd like to see you try!" Lauren shouted at her.

Serena shot an arrow at her but as last time, it deflected off. Same with Carlos’s bullet and my sword. Okay, that was unfair. Luna was shielded yet again. I was getting angry. Why was Saja so afraid of a fair fight? Did she think that my friends and I could best her? Luna swung her sword at me. I ducked. Before I could taunt her, she stabbed at me with her sword. I slid back on my feet and the tip of the sword missed me by about an inch. Too close. How would we defeat her now? We could try what we did last time. I nodded to the others, they knew what it meant.

“Now!” Shouted Carlos.

We all attacked on Carlos's mark, but it didn't do anything. Surprise! Saja pimped Luna out since our last battle and we had the bad luck to run in to her down here. Saja was such a coward. Luna had some sort of shield that was generated by her armor. She swung her sword low and I jumped over it. She wasn’t playing around this time.

“I will kill every single one of you to kill the traitor if I have to!” Luna said threateningly as she stabbed at me.

I dodged but didn’t attack her. Luna couldn’t be damaged and she would soon hit me with her poisoned blade. I thought of a way to outdo her. She was clever, but she couldn’t possibly think of every little flaw in my plans. I swung my sword again. It deflected off. What the heck? I had nothing to lose by trying to damage her.

“Carlos, Serena, Fenton, King, Queen! We need to fight Luna. It’s our only option here.” I told them.

“I agree. There must be a way to outdo her shield again!” Fenton said as he ran forward and attacked Luna with his dagger.

Luna blocked his attack, but Fenton was quick with his dagger and spun around while ducking, avoiding any attack Luna could have made and stabbed her in the side. His dagger deflected.

“Oh, that tickles!” Luna taunted.

Serena shot a few more arrows at her and Carlos began shooting with his gun. I waited until they stopped and Fenton, the king, the queen and I ran at Luna and began attacking her with our weapons. She did her best to block all of us, but she couldn’t our attacks got to her one by one no matter how quickly she blocked us individually.

I noticed something; Luna was staggering, though just a little with each blow given to her. I looked to Serena and Carlos.

“Keep attacking her! Her shield won’t protect her from all of our attacks for very long!” I exclaimed.

They nodded. They opened fire on her. Luna began staggering and jerking like she was being electrocuted. Her flinching was subtle at first, but the strength and violence of her flinches increased as Serena and Carlos damaged her more and more. I now knew how Luna's armor worked. It protected her for a limited time, it could only take a certain amount of hits, and then it became useless! We now had a way of defeating Luna every time she came at us! My hopes were rising. Serena and Carlos stopped firing at her.

“Finish her off!” Carlos shouted.

I ran at Luna and smacked her with my sword. My sword hit her shield, but Luna fell back against the far wall and kneeled. Her shield was almost gone! She got up again just as I slashed at her a second time. I raised my sword and swung at her a third time, but she bolted out of the way.

“You are not getting away!” Lauren shouted.

Lauren jumped in and tackled Luna to the wall, restraining her. They both fell to the ground, but Lauren let out a piercing scream of pure agony and suffering. Luna’s shield was electrocuting her! Serena fired an arrow and it hit Luna's sword, which she then dropped. I saw my window of opportunity and went for it. I ran towards Luna and scooped up her sword so she could not reclaim it. I raised my sword and I stabbed Luna, piercing her armor. There was a bright flash of white light coming from Luna’s armor. She screamed and blood began to flow from her chest.

“You think you’ve won?” Luna said, almost laughed.

What? How was she not dead yet? Other than the scream of pain, she showed no signs that she was injured.

“Saja gave me an enchantment that allows me to block any pain past the beginning of the injury, you fool!” Luna said.

With that Saja flew down the hall from behind Luna and came between me and Luna, preventing me from going so much as a step more near her. I remembered what Luna had said; she was not here for amusement, she was here to kill the traitor, which was Lauren. She succeeded. Saja was not going to escape this time, we were going to end this right here and right now.

“Oh, Luna. You killed that traitor, Lauren. Nicely done!” Saja exclaimed with joy.

I readied Luna's sword in one hand and my own sword in the other. I wielded both swords now, this would be interesting. I ran at Saja, she pulled her own blade.

"Oh, you want to fight? If it's a fight you want, then it's a fight you'll get!" Saja exclaimed. Saja emphasized the last word by thrusting at my torso.

I blocked her thrust with both of my swords, then I jumped out of the way. Saja went for a slash on my torso, but I spun around and dodged it. I used Luna's blade to hit Saja this time. I swung at Saja and she was too slow to block me. The blade connected with her arm, and Saja cried out in pain, she kneeled down, clutching it. I raised the sword to take the killing blow. This was it. Today, destiny was my friend. I chopped down on Saja, just before the blade connected, Saja rolled out of the way. Saja was back on her feet now. A few seconds later, Serena and Carlos had started shooting at Saja.

Saja picked Luna up, Luna seemed pretty out of it, but she was alive. Luna opened her eyes. Serena and Carlos shot at Luna, but her armor had a little more protective properties left in it, and the projectiles deflected off. Saja was using Luna has her shield! Saja flew down the corridor and out of sight, taking Luna with her. I was so close to killing Saja. I also knew that I was over my fear of Saja. I had no doubt that she'd be more careful in the future. I had to find protective armor like that, or else I might not stand a chance against Saja when we confront her at her castle. I looked over to Lauren to find that she was dying on the ground.

“Lauren!” I shouted.

She was burned all over. Her arms were toasted and her chest was scorched. She couldn’t move.

“Lauren! Can’t you heal yourself or something?” I frantically asked.

She shook her head weakly.

“No.” she said.

Her voice put even more emphasis on how weak she was.

“I cannot do what your legends say I can.” She said weakly.

I put a hand on hers. It was freezing, even for a vampire.

“You’re freezing.” I said.

She nodded.

“I know.” She said.

“I have at least two minutes before I pass.” Her voice went weak mid-sentence.

“No!” I shouted in defiance.

“It is alright.” She said, hiding her weakness.

“I have served my purpose in this crusade.”

“No, no! It can’t be this way!” I shouted, sadness filling me.

I could see her fading now, literally.

“I was supposed to change you back to a human!” I cried.

I was crying now, she didn't deserve to die, she didn't deserve this. She hated killing things to survive, yet it was the only way that she could do so, was it possible that death was a good thing for Lauren? A sweet relief to her? She was now almost transparent.

“No!” I yelled again.

She was glowing now. A bright orb of light was forming in her center. The orb of light got brighter and brighter. She was being pulled up by it. It pulled her up until she was about four inches off the floor. Since she still had a soul, I wondered if she was being pulled up to Heaven.

The orb pulled her up again and she disappeared. I kneel down, unable to think. I couldn’t do anything, except kneel there.

“I swear.” I said through a tear choked voice.

“I swear I will kill Saja.” I choked out.

Carlos put a hand on my shoulder.

“I know what it feels like to have someone you know gone.” He said in his accented voice.

I got up, a little dazed. I couldn’t believe Lauren was actually dead. I was going to restore her former life. I put Lauren aside, as painful as it was but we had to get out of here first. I tried not to think of her but the image of her charred body was burned into my brain. We went back down the hall and around the corner and back to the central area where we first arrived. The inn was still there. We went into the inn to find it empty. Not even the innkeeper was here. We all went back to our rooms. We fell asleep. A few hours later we awoke to the sound of the metal grinding and walked out to the familiar scenery of Danabro.

I awoke and walked out into the hallway, finding that my friends were already there waiting for me.

“We could go to Alrack.” Said the king.

“It is the closest village to us that we haven’t been to.” I said.

“That sounds good.” Fenton said.

“Aye, it does.” Serena agreed.

I was still shaken by Lauren's death, but I had to put it aside, I had to remain clear on the objective, there was no room for error, regardless of the reason. We walked out the front gate of Danabro. It was a foggy morning and visibility was reduced to ten feet in any direction. I kept thinking I saw figures in the fog but they danced away before I could get a good look.

“Does anyone else see anything in there?” I said, pointing to the fog.

Everyone regarded me with strange looks.

“Are you alright, Nick?” Asked Serena.

I nodded.

“Yes, I’m fine. Let’s just get to Alrack.” I said, shaking my head.

I then heard something shifting in the fog somewhere. I saw motion.

“There!” I shouted.

We all turned toward where I pointed.

Something caught Carlos’s eye.

“Don’t move.” Said Carlos.

We were all back to back in a circle. We heard shifting again.

“It sounds big.” I said.

“It sounds massive.” Agreed Fenton. I could tell that he was getting worried.

The thing in the fog moaned. We heard more shifting. I saw more movement. Serena spoke.

“What-”

She didn’t finish.

A giant snake like thing grabbed her from behind. She screamed as it pulled her into the fogbank, out of sight.

“Serena!” I shouted.

No answer.

A cold pit of fear formed in my stomach.

“Why did it have to be a snake?” asked Fenton.

The quote reminded me of Indiana Jones. I unsheathed my sword, fear made my hands shaky. Carlos readied his gun. I saw movement. I was going to point but Carlos had a good eye. He shot and we heard a scream of what sounded like rage from the snake. It came into view and we saw it; it was a massive snake with a meter and a half thick stomach. I estimated it was about thirty feet long. I saw Serena coiled up in its tail.

"What is that thing?" I shouted.

"Does it really matter?" Asked Carlos, while firing at it.

Carlos shot again and again but nothing happened. It worked a minute ago, why won’t it work now? I thought. I studied the snake for a weakness but found none. It had a peculiar pattern on its scales and wondered if that had something to do with it. The pattern was a series of crossing and interconnecting red lines. The snake lunged its head toward me but I slashed it across the nose. It didn’t scratch it but it made the snake stop attacking me, almost like it flinched. I ran at the snake’s mid-section but it coiled up and knocked me back.

I slashed at its tail but it kept moving out of the way. I examined the pattern more. The lines had spaces here and there and the pattern moved when the snake did. I jumped to the right but faked and went to the left where the snake moved its tail when I approached the other side. I stabbed one of the spaces and it left a cut! Carlos must have hit one of the spaces. The snake dropped Serena and she fell to the ground, dropping her bow. The snake saw Serena was unarmed and brought its tail down in between her and the bow. The pattern on its scales moved as it did, as I noticed before. But the pattern wound all the way up the neck and went on until it stopped between its eyes. I scrambled over to help Serena. No one else was dying today. I stabbed the tail in another one of the spaces. It moved its tail and I scooped up Serena’s bow and handed it to her. She shot two more of the spaces and the snake howled.

The snake stabbed its head toward Serena when she was not ready for it. The left fang would have penetrated her leg bone and broken it but a mace came flying from the other direction and hit the snake in the side of the head, knocking its head to the side of Serena, saving her life. The snake looked dazed and snapped at the king the same way it stabbed its head at Serena except there was no mace flying to save him. It took the king’s leg and ripped it clean off! The king yelled out and was down on the ground with a bleeding stump where his leg was, but he was alive.

“Let’s finish it!” I shouted to Serena.

She nodded and shot the rest of the tail spaces. Each shot she took earned a pained cry from the snake. It didn’t die. I then realized that the head space hasn’t been hit yet. I looked to Carlos but he was already on it. It looked to Carlos but as soon as it turned its head, Carlos shot it between the eyes. It shrieked and fell to the ground. I looked to the king. Fenton was treating his leg with a bandage. 

“There is a hospital in Alrack.” Fenton said.

“We will continue.” Said the king.

“Can you even walk?” I asked.

The king shook his head.

“No.” He said.

“Someone carry him.” I ordered.

Fenton and Carlos helped him up and supported either side of him.

“We have to get him to Alrack.” I said.

We continued on toward Alrack. The fog was thicker than before for some reason. At last we saw a small village in the distance.

“Alrack!” I exclaimed.

We passed through the gate and walked to the main square. I looked around. Alrack was even larger than Danabro! Around us were three story buildings, a series of churches, stores, shops, vendor booths and a farm here and there. We saw a white building made out of stone and I assumed it was the hospital. We walked in and we were lucky. It was. I saw a man in a white coat and asked

“Could you help my friend? He was attacked by some giant snake thing out there.” I said.

The man in the white coat looked alarmed.

“You were attacked by the limprey?” He asked, sounding stunned.

I nodded.

“Yes, but we killed it.” I added.

He was stunned in awe.

“You have done Alrack a great and noble dead! The limprey has plagued our village for years!” The man said. He sounded very excited.

“I will gladly tend to your friend charge free.” He said happily.

He then told us to leave the king at the hospital. We left him at the hospital and went to look around. We were good on weapons. We went to the general store upon my suggestion for a map. We went in and asked for one. The shopkeeper pulled a map out from behind the counter.

“Pay up then, its twenty Yentos.” The man said.

We explained we killed the limprey and he graciously gave us a map for free. He didn't even want proof! We looked it over. To the east was Alrack, to the south east was Arknan, to the southwest was Danabro, to the west was Libel and to the far north there was village called Memberg. The villages on the map were drawn in size relative to their actual sizes. Libel, for example, was pretty small with a few buildings on the map marking it, including inns, shops, churches and other buildings. There was also a legend, which told us what the markings on the map were, for example, a sword was a weapon shop, a shield was an armor shop, and a bed was an inn, etcetera.

I picked up a piece of charcoal off the ground and marked where we have gone already. I marked Arknan, Alrack, Libel and Danabro. I discovered something; the villages were in the shape of a star. Also that Alum was not on there, maybe because it was not a major village, seeing as it was very small, smaller than Libel.

I then had a thought. I turned to the others.

“We have to go to Memberg. If Saja's castle is anywhere in Ectoclis, it has to be in Memberg, it's the only place on the map that we haven't been to yet." I told them.

It seemed a little far-fetched, after all, Saja wouldn’t take up residence in an already existing village. She would want to rule people, not follow them, so she would probably create her own village, but the others seemed to agree.

“But we have to wait until the king has his leg fixed. Until then we can’t go anywhere.” Fenton said.

Serena shrugged.

“We have to wait in town then.” She said.

I nodded.

“Exactly.” I told her.

It was getting dark, so walked around Alrack until we found the inn. We walked through the inn’s front door. There were tables around the room, wide bay windows on the walls, and the walls were coated in brown paint. We were greeted by the innkeeper who was standing behind the counter across the room from us. The innkeeper was a woman. She was a little taller than me, she had lighter skin than me, and she had short black hair and hazel eyes. She also had finely rounded facial features. She looked like the innkeeper in Libel.

“Excuse me, sir?” Asked the innkeeper, looking at me.

“Yes?” I asked.

“Why do you stare at me?” Asked the woman.

Her question caught me off guard, I had not realized that I was staring.

“Oh, I am sorry. You look like someone I know, that’s all.” I told her.

“Oh. Who do I look like that you know?” Asked the innkeeper.

“You look like the innkeeper at another village.” I said.

“What other village?” Asked the woman.

I had seemed to peak her interest with that last statement.

“Libel. Why?” I asked.

“What was the innkeeper’s name there?” Asked the innkeeper.

I wracked my brain for the answer to her question. I eventually remembered the woman’s name.

“Her name is Beatrice.” I said.

The innkeeper smiled widely.

“So, she is still the innkeeper there?” She asked, mainly to herself.

“Why? Do you know her?” I asked.

The innkeeper nodded.

“Yes, that woman is my sister.” The innkeeper said.

Oh, that would explain the resemblance.

“What is your name, sir?” Asked the innkeeper.

“My name is Nick.” I told the innkeeper.

The innkeeper’s smile widened.

“I recently spoke to my sister, you see. And she told me of a man matching your name and description. She told me that there is a kind gentleman named Nick that she had at her inn a while ago. She told me that if a man matching your name and description comes here, she told me to give him and his friends free rooms.” The innkeeper said.

I saw Carlos reaching into his pocket to pay for the rooms, but he stopped when the innkeeper mentioned free rooms.

“What is your name?” I asked the innkeeper.

“Charolette.” The innkeeper said.

“Well, thank you for your kindness, Charolette.” I told her.

She smiled in return.

“Your rooms are on the third floor.” Charolette said.

“Thank you.” I told her with a smile.

We went upstairs to our rooms. Remembering Carlos reaching into his pocket to pay for our rooms sparked a question in my mind.

"Hey, Carlos. Where do you get all of that money?" I asked him.

Carlos turned around.

"Being an expert marksman can get you attention, good and bad. I worked as a hired gun for a few years, I made great pay. I sometimes had to kill vampires, I sometimes had to kill humans." Carlos explained.

"So you were like, a hit man?" I asked him.

"Exactly, I was a hit man." Carlos said while nodding.

I went to my room and fell asleep.

A few hours later, I awoke to the light of dawn. I woke the others up to see if the king had his leg fixed. We walked down into the lobby of the inn. Charolette was not behind the counter, she must still be asleep. We walked down the street to the hospital. We walked inside and found only one open room. It had the man with the white coat in it, and the king. The king was missing his leg, and he was asleep on a stone table... Either that or he passed out. He did look pretty pale. Sadly, he didn’t have his leg fixed. Which meant we had to wait in town longer. This meant we had to wait longer to defeat Saja.

“I want to look around, I want to take my mind off of things.” I told the other's once we were out of the hospital.

"I shall do the same." Said the queen.

"I think it would be good for all of us to look for something to distract us temporarily." Said Carlos.

I parted from the group. I headed to the church. I looked inside but found nothing that would occupy me. I decided to go to the library. I walked around and soon found a building that was two stories tall and it was marked by a sign with a book at the entrance. I walked over to it and entered the building. There were bookshelves everywhere and there was a staircase leading to the top floor. I browsed the lower section first. I found that the dates ranged from 1508 to 1690. I found titles that belonged to books ranging from cook books to bibles to blacksmith guides, everything you could think of was here. The books didn’t seem to be in any specific order here, so it made it difficult to find anything. I passed all of the bookshelves and found plenty of books on vampires. I think that vampires were a big part of culture on Ectoclis. I finally found a book titled Magic. I decided to take a look. I took it off the shelf and began to read:

Magic is the art of spells. Magic had many uses, but is mainly used for enchanting healing, shielding or attacking someone or something. Only a few people can use magic. Any race; werewolf, vampire or human are capable of using magic, so long as the person is gifted with the ability to use magic.

I shut the book. I put it back on the shelf and I browed the library for more books of interest. I stayed in the library for quite some time skimming over titles of books and reading the occasional one. After about an hour or two, I began to get bored and went outside. I saw everyone else across the street looking in the window of a shop.

“I’m back.” I said.

Serena turned to face me.

“Oh, hello Nick. We are just looking at this fine jewelry.” Serena said, giggling.

I looked at the jewelry on display in the window. There were bracelets and necklaces and ear rings bearing pink, purple, blue and red stones. They looked very expensive.

“I see.” I said.

 After a few silent minutes I spoke again.

“Is the king out of the hospital yet?” I asked.

Serena shook her head.

“No.” She said.

"I just went back to the hospital, the doctor said that your friend will be out tomorrow morning, he said that the king is making very good healing progress." Carlos told me.

 “Excellent!” I exclaimed.

Since the king was making good progress in healing. I wondered if that had something to do with him having healing abilities or being a werewolf. I was bored right now. I couldn’t think of anything else that I could do to pass the time, so I figured that I could sleep it off.

“I’m going back to the inn.” I told everyone.

“Alright. We will see you tomorrow, then.” The queen said.

I went back to the inn. Charolette was not behind the counter now, either. I ignored that fact and went to my room. I layed down in the bed. I ran over all of the events up until now that placed me here. I reviewed the memories from the time I found that Saja was a vampire to when the king had his leg bitten off by the limprey. I soon grew tired enough to fall asleep. I woke up early. I walked out of my room and into the hallway. I woke the others by going to their rooms and knocking on their doors. When everyone was in the hallway with me we went to see the king. We walked out of the inn and down to the white hospital building. We entered the king’s room. The doctor saw us and bowed his head slightly.

“His leg cannot be recovered.” Said the doctor.

“Well, it was eaten by a giant snake, so…” Serena trailed off.

“But I replaced it with a wooden one that will give the same feeling and serve the same purpose as a regular leg.” He added, ignoring Serena’s remark.

I smiled.

“Thank you so much.” I said.

The king got of the stone table and stood on his leg.

“It feels like my old one.” He said.

“As it should.” Said the doctor.

We thanked him again and parted. We went to the front gate of the village.

“If my theory is correct, then Memberg will be the final step in our journey, that and killing Saja. I just wanted to say that I could never have done any of this without you guys.” I told them.

They all smiled.

“Same for us. We could have never got this far without you.” Fenton said.

I nodded, smiling.

“We should head to Memberg now.” I said.

We then walked out of Alrack.

Author's Note

Please tell me what you think :)