Empress of the Gods

Atarah

Despite the kind of truce she had with William, she knew Galad would keep an eye on him while she slept, but she didn’t know he would be out there. As soon as she opened her eyes, still in bed, she saw white fur next to the footboard of the bed, and when she leaned across, she saw her protector lying near the fireplace as he watched William sleep. She must have been in a deep sleep to not notice the light that illuminated almost everything around her when Galad went out.

“And I thought I was the one with trust issues,” she whispered when she sat on the edge of the bed, contemplating the sunlight that covered the wooden floor. When Will woke up, he jumped after seeing Galad, who observed him and growled at him. He even cursed under his breath.

“He better not be visible when we leave the room,” William warned. She looked at him with one eye closed because the sunlight bothered her. “I don’t feel like explaining what makes a furry beast sleeping inside an inn and less breaking a few bones in an attempt to silence them.”

Galad emitted a slight growl at his comment.

“Always so violent,” she replied, grinning, as she stretched out her arms to her sides. “As soon as I go out, he won’t be visible,” she assured him, but he stared with narrow eyes at her. “What?”

“I thought we had a truce,” Will reminded her as he approached the bed, watching his steps so he didn’t get too close to Galad, who was following him with his eyes.

“Indeed, we have,” she replied as she got out of bed, “but that doesn’t mean he has it with you. Also, I told you last night I can’t control what he does.”

“You agreed,” he reminded her.

“I know. That’s why I’m telling you he won’t be seen,” she interrupted him as she approached him.

“Fine,” he said, staring at her. “I’ll save you a seat for breakfast. Don’t be late,” he told her as he tried to grab his jacket from on the couch behind Galad. He stared at her protector for a moment, as if he was evaluating how necessary it was. Atarah observed him curiously about what he was about to do, while Galad didn’t take his eyes off him, showing him his canines when he got close. Somehow, he took the jacket, and Galad emitted a slight growl as if he was going to attack him, which made William look directly at him to show him that he was not afraid. Then he got out of the room without saying a word. Atarah tried to drown out her laugh and not smile at all.

“As much as I enjoy teasing him, remember that we have a truce with him. Understood?” she ordered him as she approached to scratch him under his chin. If anyone saw him, they would run terrified. And they would probably wonder how the hell a tiger of his size entered in that room without being noticed.

William spotted her as soon as she went downstairs for breakfast. He was waiting for her with an empty chair next to him. It surprised her to see he’d waited for her. As they waited for their food, the spaces of silence were occasionally filled with banal talk. When they finished, he told her that he would go out to buy a horse so that they could leave as soon as possible, but she was restless, so since she could not stand idly just waiting, she remembered the plan he had. Maybe asking around hadn’t been a bad idea after all.

There was no way people could have missed Myrah’s presence in that place. Her sister was hard to ignore, also she knew how to make friends easily and how to blend in. So, at least someone had to have noticed her.

“Excuse me, have you seen a girl in her twenties with a long brown hair, almost the same height as me, blue eyes, with some curves, and a very nice attitude?” she asked the lady who seemed to work there. The woman shook her head in response. She asked the same to another person sitting at the bar, this time adding: “She goes by the name ‘Myrah.’”

“I can pretend I’m her if you want, doll,” said a drunken man who was at the tavern behind her, smiling with what barely appeared to be his teeth. As soon as she turned back to the person she was talking to, she heard a loud knock behind her. Will slammed the man’s head on top of the wooden countertop and placed a dagger very close to one of his fingers. Everything went silent. Even the bard stopped singing and she felt all eyes on them.

“Think about touching her again and I’ll rip off your hand,” William growled.

“I didn’t do anything to her,” the man angrily objected, his face still on the countertop.

“Good thing you didn’t because you wouldn’t only have lost your hand,” Will replied with a threating voice. “Now leave,” he hissed. Atarah turned to face him, but her gaze following the mortal that left out the door, terrified. “What are you doing?” he demanded in a small tone as he got close to her.

“Looking for my sister,” she whispered.

“In a human tavern where creatures are not welcome?”

“Yesterday, fae creatures were here. Also, they would have noticed if something was out of the ordinary. And as I recall, you were the one who said to go looking,” she reminded him.

“Haven’t you noticed all eyes are on you?” he whispered in her ear. She shook her head in response, and Will just closed his eyes and nodded. Then she looked around to contradict him when she saw curious eyes trailing over them. The moment William turned his gaze to those who looked at them, they continued with their business because they were more afraid of the hunter than her. “I thought we had a truce,” he repeated like that morning. She had a feeling that she would be getting used to that phrase sooner rather than later. She didn’t like to be controlled by anyone, only she was letting him do it so they could find her sister sooner.

She only took a deep breath and tried to count to ten. “You were the one who brought the attention to us,” she whispered when she got close to him. “We’ll do it your way, but as soon as the agreement stops working for me, I will leave you behind and I will look for my sister on my own and I dare you to stop me. I dare you to see what I’m capable of,” she replied before she left the tavern.

The weather seemed odd for the middle of spring. She could feel the cold air brushing her spine and her eyes tried to adjust to the strange light that made the city look like a gloomy place. Sunrays tried to sneak through those gray clouds. Some streets vendors didn’t dare raise their voices, but she could hear the murmurs of the people around them as each one of the footsteps from the horses and the wheel carts that were passing by. Atarah lowered her mental shield, feeling she needed to pay attention to every step she took and every word she uttered. She had to put her shield back on because she could no longer have it down. Their fear was starting to become hers. She saw how they reacted when fae soldiers passed by. They didn’t even glance at the hunter that was next to her or even looked at her. And fortunately, Galad wasn’t outside, otherwise he would drag unwanted attention.

“Someone is following us,” Will quietly warned her.

“What?” she asked as she slowly turned to see around them, but she didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. “How do you know that?” she added when he gently grabbed her elbow so she could keep walking.

“He’s not the only one who has been following us,” he replied, ignoring her question. Either he developed a six sense, or she was too distracted to notice anything.

Atarah followed Will without realizing that he led them into an alley until she saw him grab a fae by the collar of his shirt and push him against the wall of one of the houses, lifting him in the air. The fae was a little bit taller than she was, with golden to the shoulders curly hair that was tied with a ponytail, and from his impeccable clothes, she assumed he was someone of noble ranking. The fae lifted his hands in front of him with a mandolin in one of them, as if he wanted to protect his face from an imminent punch. The poor fae seemed to be wetting his trousers.

“Why are you following us?” Will demanded to know, pulling out one of his daggers.

“What are you doing?” she asked when she approached William, trying to make him lower down his dagger. He didn’t reply. He just kept looking at that fae as if he could know exactly who he was or who he believed he was.

“Who do you work for?” he asked him, bringing his dagger closer to his stomach. The fae was trembling and couldn’t utter any words.

“I don’t think he works for anyone but himself. This is ridiculous. Please put him down,” she replied as she folded her arms. When he didn’t do it, she thought about his favorite phrase. “I thought we had a truce,” she uttered as she got closer and used the same tone he used when they were in the room and in the tavern. Will looked at the sky and put his dagger away, but she stared at him, waiting for him to let him go. She held his gaze, and he shook his head as if he was telling her that he did not intend to let the fae go. The fae looked interested in what he was witnessing. Atarah could see how Will was about to grind his teeth as he slowly lowered the fae, but she continued with her arms crossed and with an arched eyebrow. Then Will fixed up the jacket the fae was wearing, and he gave her a fake smile, which she returned with one of her own.

“Thank you,” said the bard.

“Why were you following us?” she asked in a not-so-friendly tone. She felt Will’s gaze before drawing his attention back to the fae.

“I heard you asked for a girl in the tavern. Myrah, isn’t it?”

Atarah stared at him, wide-eyed, in the hope that the fae would know about her. And then she gave Will a soft punch to his chest with the palm of her hand, so he’d pay attention as she tried to prove that what she’d done had worked. She waited for the fae to tell them something that could help them find Myrah.

“Did you see her or hear anything about her?” she asked.

“She traveled with two men,” he quickly replied. Atarah was beginning to wonder if those men he was talking about had anything to do with those in Khrysaor who had captured them. Atarah felt heartburn, and not knowing what to think, what to say or to ask, she looked back and further between the two men.

“How was she? Did you see her? Was she hurt?” she asked eagerly not realizing she’d advanced into his space, making him take a step back, pushing him to the wall. His sky-blue eyes stood up in his beautiful, light face. Then she felt Will’s warm hand on her shoulder and that was when she let him go and took a step back. “Sorry, I just need to know.”

“What’s your name?” Will asked him.

“Robbie … Robbie Quileth.”

“Well, Robbie, do you want a drink?” Will asked in a calm voice while Atarah looked at him as if he were the one acting irrationally. There were more important things to discuss, and he was offering him a drink. Will gave her a look as if he wanted her to play along with him, somehow making her understand his idea. They had a truce, so they were going to try it his way.

“Sure, why not?” replied Robbie in confusion, who also didn’t understand what was going on.

When they returned to the inn where they were staying at, Will was the one who asked for a couple of drinks and something to eat. While they waited, Robbie told them that he had seen a girl in her twenties, with the description she had given, entering to one of the taverns where he had gone to play his mandolin. He told them that she came with two bounty hunters, but it did not seem that she was their prisoner. It seemed like she was with them and that they were talking about their plans to go to Ekkirah.

On one hand, that wasn’t so strange to Atarah, since her sister had always been friendly. What she was really wondering was why she wanted to go to Ekkirah if she knew they had to go to Euthoria. Will also seemed to wonder the same thing as her. Then Robbie told them that right before they arrived, he’d seen her leave with both bounty hunters.

After Robbie left, they returned to the room so they could have some privacy as the tavern began to fill up.

Atarah walked back and forth at the foot of the bed, while he sat on the armchair that was in front of the window. He closed his eyes and placed his fingers on the bridge of his nose.

“Could you please stop for a second?” Will asked her when he put his hands together.

“I’m thinking,” she replied. “We should be on our way to Ekkirah. We can’t keep wasting time, especially if she has the—” she stopped before she mentioned the dagger. Will patiently waited for her to finish her idea, but she didn’t. “And even more so if she’s in the habit of making dangerous friends.”

“Right now?” he asked as he placed his elbows on his legs and put the palm of his hands together, pressing his lips on his fingers. “If she’s in the habit of making dangerous friends. Don’t you think that protects her in a certain way?” he added.

“Aha. That is why we cannot waste any more time,” she replied.

Atarah could not tell him that Myrah had the dagger because she couldn’t be certain about it, but if Myrah had it, then that put her at more risk than she’d originally thought she was. Although she could choose to tell him and in that way, they would leave as soon as possible.

“You want to leave when it’s almost dark,” he continued as she nodded her head, “at this point when we’re not going to be able to see anything and we may get lost along the way.” He looked at her as if he tried to reason with her. Atarah sat on the opposite armchair and let go a long sigh as she rested her head on the back of the armchair and then closed her eyes. Then she sighed again.

“Look, I know she’s not a girl anymore and she probably knows how to take care of herself, but she is my sister, and I’ve lost too much already. I just can’t lose her, because if I do—” I don’t know what would happen to me, she finished her thought in her head. She didn’t dare say the last thing out loud, but something told her that Will could understand what she meant. Because he did. He had lost his family and was being chased by other hunters. Atarah felt his gaze on her, but as soon as she opened her eyes, she saw him looking at the fire.

“We are going to find your sister,” he assured her without looking at her. “Tomorrow at first light we leave this place, but for now try to rest,” he suggested before leaving the room. She stared at that door, letting her thoughts go with him. Wondering where he would go or why he was so far away from her. The determination with which he said it made her curious about him. She had so many questions that didn’t seem to have answers, like the one she was beginning to ask herself with her heart. Atarah tried to shake those thoughts because her priority was her sister and the dagger. Without forgetting, she had something else to do.