18 Voices

After spending a few more minutes with Midknight, the pair decided to head inside "The Snake Pitt Inn", bringing their bags with them that the horses carried. On entering through the old, wooden door, the smell of ale and smoke filled the air. The loud chatter suddenly dropped as the people sitting at their tables, and the stools at the bar ahead stopped and looked at the two strangers who entered.

They walked forwards, meeting the other three to the left side of the bar. The atmosphere gradually started getting loud again as the people continued with their own conversations.

"I have spoken to the innkeeper. They had two rooms left. We can drop our stuff off, grab a bite to eat before heading back out," Axel spoke to the two who had just caught up with them.

He turned back around and led the way through a set of doors on the far left of the bar. The group followed behind him; once they were through the doors, they followed a narrow corridor until they saw some wooden stairs that creaked under the group's sudden weight ascending it. Once they were on the landing, Axel unlocked the first door on the right before handing a key to Cilv, who walked to the next door further along the corridor.

Evanna already guessed that she would be sharing a room with Cilv and followed behind her. On entering the small room, she saw one double bed in the middle of the room; a dining chair was placed across from the bed in the corner, along with a wooden bathtub. Evanna's eyes looked longingly at the tub; that would be the first thing she did when they were back from the black market.

For now, the girls put their bags down on the bed and met the others outside of their room. The group went back down to the bar area and luckily found a table just to the right side of the double doors they entered through.

As they took their seats, Axel went to speak to the man behind the bar before sitting down with the rest.

"That was quite the show out there", Cilv spoke in a low voice; although it was loud, they did not want to risk anyone overhearing their conversations.

The group had unintentionally leaned in, placing their arms on the round table, so they could hear each other. Evanna could not help but shrug in response; she already explained herself to Ger, and it did not seem like now was the best time to discuss it. Cilv smiled at her reaction,

"I found it quite entertaining, although spilling a bit of blood would have taught him a lesson" Her eyes glinted dangerously.

"We need to lay low until we are out of this miserable town," Axel grumbled; just as he finished speaking, workers from the inn had made their way to their table, the group leaned back as bowls of broth and bread was placed in front of them.

Cilv made a face of disgust after smelling the food, her sense of smell was powerful, and although the food was warm, she could tell it was hours old. She left the broth and just ate the bread, though she preferred fresh meat and fish mainly over anything else. Everyone else ate the food without complaint, and once they were done, they drank the water they asked for before making their way back out of the inn.

Outside of The Snakes Pitt Inn, the wind picked up as dark clouds started to fill the sky, hiding the sun. They picked up their pace and walked across the street, wondering if it was going to rain. As they continued down the road across from them, they then began to weave in and out of different streets that Evanna would never have remembered if she were by herself. Axel led the way, as usual; she took a guess that he had been to the market before.

Their footsteps could be heard as the mud they were walking on started to squelch from the many footprints that were left pushed into the ground. They then followed an alley that curved around until finally, there in front of them was a huge opening with many stalls and tents scattered about. Just as the others started to step forwards, Evanna stopped, a soft pure voice started singing a lullaby from behind her.

Looking to her right side, she saw an alley, taking a step towards that direction, the voice became louder. Her mind started to cloud over, her eyes staring in a trance as she started walking in the direction of the alley. Her body began to sense that something was wrong, but the delightful singing voice then smoothed out any doubts from her head and her gut, along with making the surrounding sounds vanish. Taking another step, she was now at the entrance of the street where the voice was; she frowned as another voice seemed to find its way into her head. She could not quite understand it.

But she felt like she knew this voice; a slight ringing then started to sound in her ear, making her flinch. All of a sudden, she felt someone grab her arm roughly and pull her away from the alley. Evanna outstretched her hand in the direction where she could still hear the beautiful singing voice, yet, the further she got away from the passage, the ringing noise grew as the singing started to subside. Awareness began to flow back into her mind like a fog was slowly sliding away from her eyes. Evanna gasped as the voice evaporated; she was brought around to face Ger, who now held her by the shoulders.

"What the fuck, Eva-"

"Raven"

Ger glared at Ronan's interruption; he was too angry to care about her stupid nickname. He had been walking with the others to then realise that Evanna was not behind him but walking in the opposite direction towards a dark alley. He was scowling at her; he did not care if she was a princess. Her naivety could have cost her.

"I did not know what I was doing, I just heard this voice and then all my senses.. they just.. vanished," her voice came out small; she did not like the way Ger was looking at her right now. She felt like a child. He took a sharp breath in, his eyes widening, immediately blaming himself for not being more vigilant.

"Witches. What would they want with you?" Ronan whisper shouted at them as he looked around the market. Evanna's eyes widened at what Ronan said, and she looked directly at Ger, who was staring back at her.

"Ger, stay behind her. Ronan flank her side, Cilv.." Axel looked around; Cilv was nowhere in sight. He raised his hand to the bridge of his nose, eyes closed as his frustration grew at the woman who just suddenly left.

"For fu-. Ughhhh...I will lead the way. Just do not bring any attention to yourselves. And try not to look like her bodyguards because that will put a price on her head" Axel sighed exasperatedly, he did not usually lose his cool, but with Evanna already almost being taken by witches, for reasons unknown. Then Cilv taking her leave; he was feeling incredibly frustrated. He reminded himself again, that once they had the map, they could leave.