Afraid of the Dark

Chapter 3: All That Glitters

The ancient city of Lithonilynn sits on the rise of a mountain, that at the peak is a colossal stone bridge across the snowy canyon that on the other side is another mountain crest with the Nerithal Keep carved into the rock. A castle born a mix of natural and man-made sculpting.

The keep is massive. The gates alone stand intimidating at what looks like twenty feet high from the level of the bridge. Stationed along the path are armed soldiers clad in silver and black armor, with flowing white feathers sticking out the tops of their helmets.

Before the three begin walking towards the gates, Reela swiftly stops as she remembers her parting promise to Cree before he was dropped off in Manatria. She glances back. "Toya, get my phone please," she reaches over her shoulder.

The fennec fox rustles around in her bag and sneezes. "Fine, but you know, it would be easier if you could organize to save your life. Do you really need this many shirts?"

"Shut up, it's my emergency wardrobe," Reela huffs and Toya pops up out of her bag with Reela's phone in her mouth. She places it in her hand before burrowing back down into the pit of clothes slung over Reela's back.

Reela opens the phone and quickly types 'Made it safely to Letroseli. About to talk to the council of narcs. Any luck on your end?' and she hits 'send.'

She puts her phone away since she knows that it takes Cree at least a couple hours to respond to a single message. At most, a few days. She really wishes she knew programming. If she did, she would find a way to make Achilles frantically screech at her dad until he texts her back. And even then, he would probably still just end up calling.

She nods to herself and glances back at Corb and Todo to make sure they're both ready as well before they start making their way across the bridge. It must be at least a hundred feet between the two mountains. So a hundred feet to walk to reach the gates.

Where they're stopped by one guy in a white blouse and jacket who insists that they cannot enter until their bags are thoroughly searched. Reela had to bite her tongue to not snap at him and just let him search through her things.

It only takes a minute before questions are raised.

"Ma'am... Why do you have so many knives?" the man asks with a hint of concern.

Reela huffs and crosses her arms. "Hey, that's my emotional-support knife collection," she states, then awkwardly chuckles. "Oh, and uh... Ignore the hand-me-down diazepam."

Imagine if he knew how many knives she has on her that aren't in her bag.

"Sir. Sir, with all due respect, kindly fuck off," Toya squeaks. "It's cold as shit out there."

Reela couldn't help but let out a soft snort when the fox nipped the guy's hand and probably scared the soul out of his body. He deserves it after confiscating her knives.

Todo was next, and as usual, he's the good boy who doesn't have a stash of knives, drugs or firearms in his bag.

But then it was Corb's turn.

The man denied him access to the keep for refusing to part with his gun. Maybe it's for the best. Corb's never been good at taking a hint, which would be bad when speaking to a sacred council in an ancient Adaliaen keep. At least they let Corb stay in the foyer while Reela and Todo proceed forward, so he won't end up freezing out on the bridge.

The only demand for Todo was that he had to revert his centaur form to his human one. Reela came really close to calling the man out for being racist, but after entering the keep, she realizes it's just because there are a lot of breakables inside, and centaurs in their true form are not exactly graceful.