Heed My Warnings and Survive (Second Draft)

Chapter Thirty-Six

I woke the next morning on the floor of my room, with a blanket over me. I sat up, and stretched, with a yawn. My back was aching, and my neck was killing me. I heard a groan from the bed.

“Are there curtains in here? The sun is so bright,” Kiara mumbled. I chuckled.

“Unfortunately not love, I’m afraid you’ll just have to get up,” I said. A louder groan escaped her mouth. She sat up, and stretched her arms.

“Good morning,” She said with a yawn.

“Morning,” I replied. Standing slowly so as to not hurt my aching body, but the slow pace made it worse, and I groaned. Kiara chuckled.

“I liked the forest floor more,” I said. She laughed again.

“I’m getting quite hungry,” She said, swinging her legs off the bed. I nodded in agreement.

“Should we wake Imelda?” Kiara asked.

“No, I think it best to let her sleep. She went through a lot last night, she should rest.” Kiara nodded, and we went down to the tavern together, and bought a meal.

As we sat at our table, a thought came to me.

“Do you think we should hunt Devin down?” I asked. Kiara raised her eyebrows.

“What do you mean?” she asked. I sat back in my chair.

“I’m just.” I sighed, and pushed back my hair from my forehead. “Tired of being hunted,” I finished. Kiara gave me a sympathetic smile.

“I know. But I’m not sure going after him would be the safest thing,” She replied with a small breathy laugh.

“Perhaps not, but I’m sick of Devin, and the witch, I’m tired Kiara.” She took my hand in hers and rubbed it with her thumb.

“I know. But perhaps we get some help, perhaps we should hold off.” I stood, trying my best to extract my hand without being rude, or forceful.

“We have to stop making excuses,” I said quietly, not wanting all the room to hear us. Kiara raised an eyebrow at me.

“Alright, no more excuses, I just simply do not want to go,” She said. I sighed deeply, and sat back down.

“I will not force you to come, or to stay, I am not a dictator, in fact I’d prefer if you stayed, but I can’t keep running, I can’t spend anymore of my life fearing that I could die at any second,” I told her. She came closer to me, and stroked my cheek, my heart fluttered.

“Alright then. Have it your way, we’ll go after him.” She sighed.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to force you,”

“You’re not, it’s my choice, where you go, I go,” She said resolutely. I nodded, and kissed her cheek.

“Thank you.” She gave me a smile, and a nod.

Once we finished our food, we went back to my room, where Imelda was up, and about.

“Good morning,” I said, she was bustling around the room as though looking for something.

“Morning,” She replied quickly, only pausing for a moment to address us.

“What are you searching for?” Kiara asked. Imelda began rubbing her collar bone.

“I have a pendant, my brother gave it to me, I can’t seem to find it,”

“Oh.” Kiara reached into her pocket, and pulled out a small pendant, it didn’t look all that special, it was only a flattened gold piece. “Is this it?” She asked. Imelda rushed over, and claimed it.

“Yes! Thank you.” Kiara smiled.

“I found it last night, and forgot to return it,” she explained. Imelda slipped the pendant around her neck. “You’re sure he didn’t steal that?” Kiara asked. Imelda chuckled.

“No. I gave him a good talking to when I found out about your ring, and he straightened himself out, got a job. This was the first gold piece he made. He flattened it so it would be unusable if someone tried to steal it,” Imelda replied, fingering the pendant. She sat on the bed. I glanced at Kiara, then back at Imelda. Imelda furrowed her eyebrows. “What?” she asked.

“We,” I sighed. “We’re leaving,” I said. Imelda nodded.

“We went over that,” she said.

“No, we’re not running anymore, we’re going after them.” Imelda raised her eyebrows.

“What? You can’t do that, that is way too dangerous,” She protested.

“We have to, we’ve been running for to long,”

“Well what’s your plan? What do you think you’re going to do? You can’t fight him. He has men does he not? How will you take them down?” I rubbed my forehead.

“I have a plan, do you think I’d be that stupid? I’ve thought about it, I’m not going in blind,” I told her, lying through my teeth. Imelda put her hands up in defense.

“No I don’t think your stupid, I’m only making sure you’ve thought about it,”

“Of course I have.” Lie. “I always think through these things.” Lie. I’m prepared.” Lie. Imelda nodded.

“I trust you then,” She said. You definitely should not. I thought to myself. “Why don’t you stock up at the shop, and I’ll pack my things, and head for my fathers house,” She said. I nodded.

“Thank you.”