Cursed Forest [Ongoing]

Chapter 26

Aaspaelwin woke up the following morning, crammed in between Sekafi's large, furry form and a bunch of goblins. They had all managed to squeeze into a small shack in a less favourable district. Bleary-eyed, he sat up and looked about. A red-haired human stood by the poor excuse for a door and Aspen froze for a second. Then he remembered. Hiaashaqwi. Breathing out, he stood and carefully stepped away from the sleeping figures. Hiaashaqwi glanced back, then returned to peeking out the cracks in the door.

'Morning,' Aspen mumbled. 'See anything?'

'There were some commotion earlier,' Hiaashaqwi whispered. 'Seems calm now.'

Aspen nodded. 'We need to get going soon.'

The samandar nodded. 'Maybe wake her up?'

Aspen took three steps back, bent and pulled at Sekafi's boot. 'Oi, kitty, get up.'

Sekafi muttered something unintelligible and kicked at him.

He staggered back, bumping into Hiaashaqwi. 'Sorry,' he whispered at the annoyed look he got. 'Sekafi!' he hissed and pulled at her boot again.

'I'm awake, elfling,' she grumbled.

He grinned. 'Sure. We gotta go, get up.'

She looked around, then carefully stood without disturbing the sleeping goblins. 'I'm ready. Are you?'

'I was born ready,' Aspen joked as Hiaashaqwi nodded.

Sekafi snorted.

'Leaving?'

Aspen looked towards the voice. Mirok sat peering at them from a corner.

'Yeah. We have to meet up with the mage, and Sir Hapow.'

'The meany?' Mirok bared her teeth, her large ears folding backwards.

Aspen smiled. 'Yeah. But he's not as bad as he was. Don't worry. He's helping us, you know.'

She huffed. 'When we meet again?'

He glanced at Sekafi. 'I think it's best if we keep our meetings to a minimum. It'll take at least a day or two, I'm guessing, to get the information we need from Hapow. So until then, it's probably best if you lay low. I'll contact you through the orb when we know what we're doing next. That sound okay?'

Mirok nodded. 'We stay, ready to go when you say.'

'Good. Thank you.' He followed Sekafi and Hiaashaqwi out the door, pulling up his hood as he went.

The sun blazed again, and the humid, hot air quickly became unbearable. Sweating, Aspen followed his friends through the streets, the alternately dry cracked mud and slippery puddles forcing them to swerve back and forth as they made their way back to more respectable areas. Resisting to whine about the heat, Aspen kept his eyes on their surroundings, noting the suspicious glances people gave each other, and lack of humanoids. He supposed the ones left stayed hidden as much as possible to avoid trouble. His stomach growled, and he wished they had something to eat. Maybe Salabil would be kind enough to pay for some food when they met, he hoped.

They arrived at the stables at the same time as Salabil. She rounded the street corner right as they stopped by the doors. She raised a hand and waved, her many bracelets jingling. More than one head turned to look at her, Aspen noticed. Her vibrant robes, colourful ribbons, bright veil, and bracelets made her stand out as someone important. Someone rich. He supposed she was, being a mage and all, but it wasn't great that people took notice. Nonetheless, he waved back and smiled.

They exchanged some quick pleasantries, decided to leave the horse, and walked towards the Red Manticore.

'How did your meeting with Lady Hennaja's family go?' Sekafi asked.