Escape from the Witch Hunters

“We want one room.” Gillian told the innkeeper.

Ryia’s stomach bubbled. Bessie had insisted that they stay in the newlyweds room and that they stay there for a couple days at the very least.

Gillian and Ryia insisted that they didn’t want to stay very long, and they settled with a short one day, leaving Bessie muttering words about them being a very “unaffectionate” couple.

“Ah, you’re the new couple that Bessie shoved to the law house, eh?” the toothy innkeeper grinned mischievously.

“Something like that.” Gillian muttered as he wrote down his name in the record book.

The innkeeper kept grinning. “The newlywed room I suppose?”

“Yeah.” he sighed.

The innkeeper handed them a key. “Here you go. Up the stairs, down the hall, and then up the spiral stairs, and then it’ll be there.”

“Thank you.” Gillian took the key then picked up their few belongings that he didn’t trust the stablehand to not steal and they started walking up the stairs.

Ryia followed close behind, quickly stepping up the stairs to keep up with Gillian.

They continued down the hall in dreary silence. The sun was still high in the sky and there was still half of the day left to kill. After walking up the spiral stairs, Gillian opened up the door.

“Well.” Ryia looked around at the spacious room. There was a big bed in the middle with a white bedspread and a lacy skirt around the bottom. A small desk was in the corner of the room, a table a few feet from that with a pitcher of water with a cloth on the side. “What are we doing today?”

“Probably taking naps, maybe shopping, staying in our room. Doing things that couples do.” he set the bundles down on the floor and flopped down on the bed, spreading his arms out and looking at the ceiling.

“Oh.” she sat down on the edge of the bed. “I’m sorry.”

Gillian sat up and looked at her for a minute. “Don’t be. I’ll be done with you after you get to Carenthia, and it’s not like I was ever planning to settle down anyway.”

“Right.” she looked down.

They both sat there uncomfortably for a minute before Gillian broke the silence. “Well I’m going to go down and see if I can get something to eat.”

Ryia nodded and stood up. “I’ll go with you.”

She felt her ring as they went back down the stairs and towards the dining hall. I can’t believe I’m married. To Gillian what’s more. Mother would have wanted to be there.

Ryia had dreamed of getting married since she was a little child, and she wanted her mother to be there, standing by her, supporting her.

She wanted mother to meet Gillian and love him as well. Ryia scrunched her face and shook her head. Love him as well? I do not love him. He’s just very nice, and he takes care of me, and...he just happens to be very attractive.

She grabbed her head and fingered through her hair in an attempt to stop her thoughts from flowing unthinkable thoughts. Not to mention inappropriate. She almost smiled at the irony of it all. It isn’t inappropriate now that we’re married. Now I could think about how handsome he is, all day, I could think about- she rolled her eyes. “Shut your mouth, Ryia.” she muttered to herself. They entered the dining hall and made their way over to a small table with a couple chairs.

Gillian pulled out the chair for Ryia. Did she just say “Shut your mouth, Ryia.”? he chuckled, wondering what she had been thinking about.

He sat down at the table, sitting across from her. “What’s wrong?” he studied her frowning face.

She looked up at him and quickly smiled. “Nothing is wrong. I’m just thinking.”

He raised an eyebrow but didn’t push it.

“What would your mother say?” she questioned.

Gillian frowned. “About me getting married? Or about getting married to you?” He didn’t let her answer and he continued. “She would probably roll over in her grave if she new that I was married, and as for you, she would probably like you.”

How could someone not like Ryia? he scrunched his nose. Those were not thoughts he was supposed to have. He was just going to leave her once she got to Carenthia.

Ryia laughed softly. “Is you getting married such a ridiculous idea?”

“Yep.” Gillian nodded. When he was a boy, he didn’t care one bit about girls. When he met Chloe, he was smitten, all of his childish ways abandoned him. After her, he never wanted to meet another girl again. As far as he was concerned, all girls were spawns of the devil.

That was until he met Ryia. He could fall in love again if he let his guard down. Only his heart wasn’t ready to be ripped apart again. Even if it were, he wouldn’t allow it to happen. Especially since he was just going to be separated from her before long. It’d do him good to not get attached.

“Gillian?” she took hold of his attention again.

A young man, maybe around Gillian’s age, stood at their table, waiting for an order.

“What do you have?” Gillian asked the young man.

“Today we’ve got some roast pig, hot potatoes with gravy, fresh lamb chops, beans, and corn.”

“I’ll have the roast pig with potatoes and gravy.” he told the waiter.

“So we’ve got two portions of roast pig, one serving of potatoes and gravy, and one serving of beans. Correct?” he looked back and forth between Gillian and Ryia.

Gillian looked at Ryia. He had no idea what she had ordered.

“That’s right.” Ryia nodded.

The waiter snickered quietly at Gillian’s uninformed look.

Gillian glared back.

“I’ll be right back M’lady.” the waiter bowed to Ryia, ignored Gillian and slipped back into the kitchen for a few minutes.

“I don’t like him.” Gillian muttered to Ryia.

“I thought he was nice enough.” she shrugged back.

Gillian snorted. “To you, yes. He was rather rude to me.”

“He wasn’t any nicer to me than he was to you.” she patted his hand.

Gillian rolled his eyes. “So snickering at me isn’t rude, and bowing to you and calling you M’lady and ignoring me, isn’t rude?”

“He didn’t snicker, and well I suppose that ignoring you is rude, but he might have just forgotten.” she offered.

Hardly. You can’t just forget. he shook his head at her ignorance.

The waiter reappeared with two platters of food, piled high and steam coming from them.

Gillian’s mouth watered as he eyed the food. The waiter was rude, yes, but cooks were exceptional.

He set the food down on their table. “Enjoy the food, miss.” he grudgingly turned to Gillian. “And you, sir.” he almost sneered.

“Thank you.” Ryia smiled at him.

Gillian was silent.

Ryia kicked his shin.

“Ow!” he looked at Ryia. What is her problem?

“Say thank you.” she mouthed.

The waiter stood there smugly, waiting for his thanks.

“Thank you.” Gillian glared daggers into the man.

“My pleasure.” he grinned with his annoyingly smug face and walked off to another table.

“Insufferable man.” Gillian muttered.

Ryia looked at Gillian. “He isn’t that bad, is he?”

He raised an eyebrow as if to say, “I beg to differ” .

“Yes, he was.” he answered shortly before stabbing his roast pig.

Ryia looked timidly looked down at her plate and took a small bite of her food.

You didn’t have to snap at her you know. his thoughts plagued his pleasant meal. You know she honestly didn’t know. She just thinks the best of people.

He sank his teeth into the tender and juicy pig. Well she didn’t have to be so nice and friendly towards him.

Once and for all she is not going to be in your life forever, so you should just get used to it.

He stuffed a bite of potatoes in his mouth. the once delicious smelling food had lost its appeal.

Ryia appeared to be enjoying her food, though she was taking tiny bites.

Gillian scraped the potatoes into a pile and stuffed them all into his mouth.

Ryia looked up at him with a raised eyebrow.

His mother would be appalled at his manners. But she was dead. He swallowed and stuffed the rest of his pig into his mouth.

Ryia’s eyes got wider and she put another small bit of beans in her mouth.

He sat back in his chair and chewed vigorously on his food.

He swallowed and watched Ryia eat her food.

His leg bounced up and down.

Ryia stuffed the last few bites in her mouth, not wanting to keep Gillian waiting. She quickly patted her mouth with the cloth that was provided for her.

"Are we all done here?" the pesky waiter reappeared.

"Yes." Gillian growled.

"You know," the waiter looked at Ryia with a look that said, I'm handsome and I know it, "I get off work soon, I could show you around town if you and your brother don't have plans." he smiled suggestively and Gillian swore he saw the eyebrows wiggle.

Ryia's eyebrows went up and her jaw dropped.

Gillian saw red. He couldn't stand it anymore.

He stood up rapidly, causing his chair to fall over backwards. "You will do nothing of the sort! She is my wife, not my sister, and you will have nothing to do with her. You are a waiter and I do not pay you to make eyes at my wife!" he grabbed the collar of the man's shirt before lowering his voice as he spoke harshly into the waiter's ear. "Do you understand?"

The waiter nodded, his eyes wide.

"Good." Gillian dropped the collar before grabbing Ryia's hand, yanking her from her chair, and leading her upstairs, back to their bedroom.

He kicked open their bedroom door and let her go.

"He thought we were brother and sister." she sat on the bed, shocked and stunned.

"Yes I suppose he would." Gillian ran a hand through his hair as he paced the room.

She turned to him, looking almost horrified. "We didn't have to get married. You could still be as free as a bird. People would have believed the story."

Gillian turned and looked at her. "Does it look like I care? I wasn't planning on getting married anyway! And the waiter only thought that because he wanted us to be brother and sister! Can't you see? Every male under the age of thirty will be fighting for your attention, and you give it to them. Freely! A man could take advantage of your niceness and naiveness! When will you stop being so dense?"

Ryia just stared at him, unable to form a coherent sentence.

Gillian rolled his eyes and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

He stomped down the stairs. He hadn't meant to sound so harsh, but why couldn't she see that every man would love to have her? Was she really that blind?

He hopped down the last flight of stairs, and as he was leaving the inn he thought he heard the innkeeper say, "the couple is having their first fight. Over another man what's more".

Gillian slammed the inn's door behind him. It sounded almost as if the glass were breaking.

I hope it does. he glared at the ground in front of him.

He was walking aimlessly down the street when his eyes caught sight of two men, dressed in darker colors, signifying themselves as belonging to the law.

He froze in his tracks. They hadn't been there before. They could only be here for one reason.