AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"I was trying to speak to the woman in the tavern," I said without turning around. "She might have seen other things as well." I glanced over my shoulder. "Did you see the rat?"
"I, er, no. I saw you touch, well, air." Wesley came around to stand beside me as the moon cast a dim ray over the upper town of Cape Massin. "I did wonder what you were about. A rat, you say? That is curious." He ran his hands up and down the sides of his long chin.
"It is?" I asked.
"Oh, most certainly. Do you think she was scared of rats before tonight?"
"That was why I wanted to speak to her." I barely contained my irritation.
"Ah, shall we look for her then? I think she went around the next corner." Wesley waved.
The moon rose a little higher. If the moon was fuller, we could spot her as clear as day, but that was several nights away.
"There you are." Kerina appeared out of the shadows, knife in hand. She slipped it away and crossed her arms. "Well? Which way are we going?"
"This way." Wesley headed off before I could stop him. The bard was going to get himself killed if he ran into trouble so fast. It was a wonder he hadn't already.
"Come on," I muttered to Kerina and moved carefully down the street after the bard's back.
I kept my senses open for signs of anything which might be out of place. In spite of that, I almost missed the presence of two—no three minds up ahead.
"Wesley," I whispered. "Wait."
"What is it?" Wesley said loudly. He almost got a knife in the chest for his trouble. It missed him by a whisker and clattered against the wall beside him. He let out a squeak of fright, but the knife hadn't been thrown hard enough to do more than graze.
Kerina grabbed it up before anyone else could move.
I held up my hands to either side. "I just want to talk."
"Who are you?"
I recognised the woman's voice. "I saw the vermin too. I just wanted to—"
"I imagined it," she snapped. "I must have." Her voice trailed off and her certainty with it.
"No, you didn't," I replied. "It was a huge rat. I've never seen one so big."
A figure stepped closer to me. I lowered my hands but kept one near my knife.
"You're the man who tried to touch it," she stated. "Your hand passed through it. It can't have been real."
"Can we go somewhere to talk?" I asked.
"Why?" she asked. "It wasn't real. We need to accept that. Forget about it. Pray to Hades to—to…"
"Keep rats away?" I suggested.
The shudder she gave in response was physical and mental. "Horrid things." I felt her disgust.
"Were you scared of them before tonight?" Kerina was cleaning her nails with the knife she'd picked up.
"Yes,” the woman replied. "I always have been, ever since one bit me when I was small."
"That would do it," Kerina agreed."I'm not a big fan of them myself. They're still better than spiders."
"Yuck," Wesley muttered. "They're all horrid."
While they talked, I squinted at the other two figures. Young women, unless I was mistaken. The woman's daughters perhaps.
