Alcingeria Chapter Eighteen: A New Day

Don has a theory about what was in the burlap sack in the woods. The Scorpions run into two familiar men in Riverguard.

Chapter Eighteen A New Day: I could feel warm golden sunlight on my face that streamed in through the window next to me. I opened my eyes and rubbed them. The sun was well into the sky. It was almost noon! I got out of bed and walked over to the door. I opened it and stepped into the hallway. I made my way to the lobby and found Macalister Don and Robert sitting at a table in the far corner of the room. They were all talking. As I got closer I could hear what they were saying.

            “That thing that was in the burlap sack in the forest, I still don’t know what it could have been.” Robert said, puzzled.

They heard me approaching and looked at me.

            “Good morning sunshine! Ugly as ever, you’re.” Don said mockingly.

This earned a chuckle from the others.

            “I can see the term ‘beauty sleep’ does not apply to you either.” I said wittily.

Don laughed.        

            “Alright, Alright. We were just talking about that thing that the two men had in the woods. The thing in the burlap sack. Please, join us.” Don said.

I sat down with them.

            “We theorized that the thing in the burlap sack was an animal. That’s a logical answer, right?” Don asked.

I nodded.

            “Yes, I suppose.” I said.

            “Well, we know that vampires are real and we have speculated that other supernatural creatures are real as well, right?” Don asked.

            “Where is this leading?” I asked.

            “I had a theory last night. The burlap sack was too small to hold an animal that would actually be worth the effort to poach, and any animal that small wouldn’t fetch a hefty price either. Judging by the looks of the two men, they’re not poor so they don’t need to hunt to survive.” Don continued.

            “What are you saying?” I asked.

Robert and Macalister remained silent but their faces bore the looks of anticipation. I got the feeling that Don had already told them his theory and they wanted me to hear it.

            “I think that those two men had a fairy in that burlap sack.” Don said quietly.

That caught me off guard.

            “A… Fairy?” I asked.

Don nodded.

            “Yes. As insane and fictitious as it sounds it’s the only other theory that makes sense. We have thought of several non-supernatural theories and we have come up empty. However if we look at the supernatural side of things it does not seem so unrealistic. After all, we have seen for ourselves that vampires exist. Who is to say that other supernatural creatures don’t exist?” Don asked.

My face assumed a confused look.

            “Think about it. Queen Yuka ordered two men to go out and catch something for her in the wilderness. She threatened to have those two men’s heads if they didn’t bring it to her by nightfall. It couldn’t have been an animal. Like I said before; an animal that size wouldn’t be worth the effort to catch and it wouldn’t be worth much. If it was a fairy it would make more sense because a fairy would be worth the effort to catch.” Don said.

It took me a minute to process this. It did make sense. What would Queen Yuka want with a fairy?

            “I admit. The theory sounds crazy, but crazier things have happened in the past. Take Ignacio for example; he was under orders by King Lucias to catch us. King Lucias has a dark secret, as do King Bunsen, King Desmond and Queen Yuka. They all use vampires to hunt dangerous criminals. If Queen Yuka is willing to make deals with blood sucking monsters, who knows what she will do with the magical power harnessed from a fairy?” Don asked.

            “Wait a minute. We don’t know for sure if it’s a fairy that those men in the forest had, however we must assume that it was a fairy. It’s the only explanation that we have so far and it very well may be correct.” I said.

            “I know it’s hard to believe, but look at the clues; we came across two men in the woods who had a small creature in their burlap sack. They were very protective of that sack. They threatened to shoot us over it. They said that they were working for Queen Yuka. Queen Yuka may use vampires and who knows what else to catch criminals and do who knows what else, but she’s a queen, and queens don’t break laws. There is no way that Queen Yuka is a criminal. There is no way that she would order men to poach her an animal and even if she did, it wouldn’t have been an animal that small. It has to have been a fairy. Plus we found it in the woods. Is that not where fairies reside?” Don said.

I took that all in. I nodded.

            “Don, I think you’re right.” I told him.

            “Macalister and I believe that Don’s theory is correct.” Robert said.

            “So how should we play this?” I asked.

Robert cleared his throat.

            “Well if Queen Yuka somehow finds out that we know about what she does with vampires or fairies she could have us punished. She’s a tyrant after all.” Robert said.

            “Yes, but Queen Yuka does not attack anyone unless she suspects any disloyalty or anything else that’s suspicious. That’s when she lashes out.” Macalister said.

            “How do you know?” Don asked.

            “I’m from Vulrock. I was born and raised in Straf. Someone made a public scene of disobeying Queen Yuka. He was taken away and never heard from again.” Macalister said.

            “Oh yes. I do recall you telling us that.” Don said with a laugh.

            “I’m hungry. Can we afford breakfast?” Robert asked.

I reached into my pocket searching for gold but found none. I had spent all of the gold I had buying the inn rooms.

            “I’m broke. How about you all?” I asked.

Everyone came up empty except for Macalister, who had one gold piece.

            “We need more money.” I said.

Macalister put the gold piece back into his pocket. Robert looked around for listeners. The lobby was nearly empty except for a woman sitting at a table on the other end of the room.

            “We need to steal some more money.” Robert said quietly.

            “Agreed.” Don said.

Robert got up from his seat and walked over to the innkeeper’s desk. He withdrew his room key from his pocket and placed it on the desk. He then turned around and headed for the door. He walked outside. Don Macalister and I did the same. We followed Robert outside. As soon as the door opened the sound of rushing water and the chatter of the ever present crowd of people filled the air.

            “Follow me!” Robert called over the chattering of the crowd.

Robert altered his direction and began walking down a road that branched off from the fountain in the town square. We hadn’t been down this road before. I looked left and right. There were no shops lining the streets. There were only residential areas. The crowd wasn’t dense back here and the father we walked the smaller the crowd became. This was probably because there were no shops back here, only houses. There were still a few people around us, maybe twenty. I then heard Don shuffle his feet nervously.

            “Robert, the money can wait.” Don said nervously.

Robert turned to Don.

            “What? Why is that? What are you talking about?” Robert asked.

Don pointed to two men ahead of us. Those two men looked oddly familiar. The longer I looked at them, the more familiar they became. They had their backs to us, but from here I could see that one was taller than the other. Could it be?

            “Don, do you know those men?” Robert asked.

I then figured out who they were. There was no doubt about it. They were the men in the forest with the burlap sack.

            “Yes, I do.” Don said.

            “I do as well.” I said.

            “Well, who are they?” Robert asked urgently.

            “They’re the men who threatened to shoot us if we followed them to Vulrock.” Don said.

            “The men with the fairy?” Macalister asked.

I nodded.

            “Yes.” I told Macalister.

Author's Note

Please tell me what you think!

Reviews

[KeithKVH]

Nice, nice. I like the exchange between Redmond and Don at the start, very much sass and wittiness there. Also raised my interest with the slight tidbit about Macalister's hometown too.

I pretty much guessed it was a fairy. I notice the way they're figuring things out is flowing a bit more tidily. I see you've still got a slight bit of recap in there, but most of the information that's gone over again was pretty necessary to their deduction. Feels like it's been chapters since I've paused on any grammar or spelling too. ;)

Slight bit of cliffhanger too, I like. Didn't expect they'd run into them again so soon. Good work, I'll check out more soon! ^^

[Ryan Henderson]

Thank you so much for the review!