Each year the Kingdom of Khearia throws a festival in remembrance of one of their most beloved kings who had tragically perished along with his wife and second son. His first son, Prince Fabian, was the only one to survive. Witnesses claimed his cro...
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As if to beat them whilst they were at their lowest, rain slapped down, soaking through their clothes till their fingers were numb around the reins. Because of those merciless clouds, no moonlight could poke through to guide their paths, leaving them in complete darkness.
ㅤJames struggled. Even with Eris' comfort, the aftershocks of his freakout were striking up an anxious chill in him, putting him on edge. Considering the others' struggle to see at that point, James was even worse; he couldn't tell when his eyes were open or closed. A few times, his heart would start trembling, fearful that he was dreaming, stuck asleep, unable to decipher if he was truly conscious, unable to confirm reality through sight. If Eris hadn't been with him, he wouldn't have been able to keep pulling himself off that ledge, time after time.
ㅤWith all the men feeling cold, wet and mildly traumatised, no one wanted to say anything. James had to put all his faith and trust into the animal he was on, listening to the other horses' hooves fumbling over slippery cobble to confirm he was still with the group.
ㅤIt should've felt like a relief when they made it to Athel's Lynn, street lamps lighting up the nothingness. But with the rain, people were holed up inside all the inns, drinking.
ㅤPlace after place they went, begging for a room, even if it was no more than a storage cupboard, but the inns simply couldn't accommodate them, throwing them back onto the streets. James numbly followed each bid by Alex, feeling the futility yet offering no alternatives.
ㅤEventually, it was Thomas who snapped. They stood under the awning of a small hotel, the front door locked, no life in sight. Thomas kicked and banged at the entrance, taking out his frustration on it. An employee eventually woke to the noise and cracked it open, glaring.
ㅤ"We're knights in need of emergency accommodation," he said to her, thrusting his Drykas knight's crest in her face. She had no choice but to let them in, snidely throwing a key onto the counter and retreating back into her room.
ㅤWith no change of clothes, the men dumped their jackets onto a heap on the floor of their room before returning downstairs to the entrance hall to light the fire.
ㅤJames watched the flames dance, modest and docile, slowly savouring the logs with only a small appetite. The fire would cough a little, shivering, but it was nothing like the roaring and all-consuming monster that had ravaged the Ankaid palace when he was a child, gorging on material and people alike, no end to its gluttony. James wouldn't be fooled by the offensively tame act.
ㅤ"What do we do now?" Fletcher asked, quietly.
ㅤThe men looked across the table at each other, Thomas still kneeling by the fireplace to amuse and distract the flames by prodding it with more food. They were the only people there, the other guests presumably sleeping through the storm.
ㅤAlex stared at the tabletop for a moment, before leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.
ㅤ"Let's go through what we found," he said, "James, can you lay out those documents you stole?"
