006-Ravenhead

"Lilith, demon of the night, ha?" Nonoth repeated, with a smirk on her face.

"Human has a thing about dark, don't you think?" Mal laughed at the sarcasm in her tone.

"Yeah, they blame everything horrible to the night, and they think everything of night horrible, haha. I think it's a fear they created by themselves, FOR themselves."

Mal thought carefully for a while and shook his head: "Phantasms are for fools and those who are too lazy to seek the truth. They shall see night's beauty and that of the creatures wandering in night if they simply just look."

"You don't say!" Nonoth nodded, adding: "I do admit that night can be dangerous to some people, but the irony is that, that danger comes mostly from human themselves, cause those with ill-intent dare only do evil under the protection of darkness."

"They seek for protection from darkness, yet still speak ill of it." Mal said, "That's not nice."

"Hahaha..." Nonoth burst into laughter. Mal had innocence of a new born baby. Some "common sense" can be confusing to him, the line between politeness and hypocrisy being one of them, and he gave the most innocent look when he's confused by those "rules". It always made Nonoth laugh.

"Aww, cute, cute, little Mal. How nice one's world must be, with a so innocent and kind heart like yours." Feeling a lot brighter hearing Mal's comments, Nonoth said with a huge smile still on her face.

Her laughter didn't make Mal feel bad or awkward at all, he knew he can be ignorant of some human thing from time to time, and he just laughed along, happy that he put a smile on her face.

The advantage of being an undead, is that they don't need to eat. But a mummy is a little bit different. They need water. Sorry, they need to drink water, but they are also afraid to get water on their skin -- meaning the bandages.

Life is hard, even for the undead.

Still, water is a bit easier to get than food, so Mal was okay with travelling day and night if would be rarely seen by human. Besides, he can travel fast if by himself because by himself, he can travel by sand.

But Nonoth could neither travel by sand, nor could she not eat at least some meals a day. So there they were, traveling at a very slow speed, one crowd town after another.

Unlike witches, a mummy can attract some ill heed. Nonoth cast a disguise spell on a rag for Mal. When people look at him they would see a guy under a huge coat and a big tall hat.

"Wow! This is so cool!" After the third people who passed Mal took off their own hat as a greeting, Mal exclaimed, for the third time. People has never been so friendly to him like this.

"I have got some tricks, okay?~" Nonoth laughed at his exaggerating reaction.

Sadly, her taste and Mal's clumsy moves got Mal almost as much attention as him showing up straight as a mummy. It would have been so even if it wasn't that hot a summer night.

"There's a tavern that's nice and shabby!" Nonoth shouted when they spotted an old wooden pub in the new town they found. It was a small town called Streamy Night. It had been a rough couple of days travelling from last town to here. While Mal could not feel tiredness nor hunger nor thirst, Nonoth was genuinely thrilled to finally saw the hope of a soft bed and some warm food.

With the usual confused look on his face, Mal followed Nonoth forwarding to the pub. He did not ask what was "nice" about an old and shabby tavern.

"What's nice about it," Nonoth said after she drank a bulk of the not so fine beer and caught her breath, "is that the shabbier and older a tavern is, the better chance to find people with information there."

Nonoth and Mal was sitting in the somewhat middle of the room, in which Mal's funny outfits was temporarily not the most eye catching one.

"They used to sell raven heads here. They are DELICIOUS!!! That's how they got the name by the way! Alas the good old days..." A man next table yells drunkenly to his friend.

"Yeah...they were good, but some just don't like the idea of raven heads soaking in the brew. What's wrong with that?!" Obviously his friend was also a fan of the raven heads.

"But that's the beauty of the brew! It's such a mellow taste that ravens gather around the barrels for a taste. They tend to drop in the barrels trying, or drop in after a taste because they got drunk hahaha!!!" The man raised the huge mug full of obscure liquid in his hand and took a bulk.

"That's just a myth, haha! Cannot believe you bought that!" His friend laughed so hard he spilled his drink everywhere.

"Nooo!! It's real!" The man got angry for his friend's doubt. He suddenly seemed a little bit sober and took his friend by his shoulder and pulled him closer as if he didn't want others to hear: "It's true. They say the owner is a witch, and that's why that brew is so delicious! It's magic!"

It's magical to Nonoth that someone would consider such a dirty look drink magic.

Although the man lowered his voice, but being so used to drunk and loud, his effort didn't prevent Nonoth and Mal hearing his "whispered secret".

"Maybe we should start with this 'witch'." Coming from a man so unreliable, the information about the owner being a witch was authentic enough only for a quoted witch in Nonoth's sentence.

"...hmmm... is that drink really that good?" Mal was not at all paying attention to her with his eyes fixed on the huge mug in that man's hand.

"Hahaha, Mal, you don't even eat!" Nonoth burst into laughter.

"Because I'm undead so I don't have to, but I can still be curious." Mal protested.

"Aww how I wish I had brought some wine from the cloud for you. They have decent wines even though they forgot how to enjoy good stuff a long time ago." Nonoth patted on Mal's head sympathetically.

"Do you think I can try some?" Mal appealed to her with so much expectation in his eyes.

"Of course. But you are aware that it's a brew supposedly to have raven heads soaked in." Nonoth frowned, having a hard time imagine how good a taste that would be.

"Yeah, soaked in because the brew is so good that they got drunk over it! I'm so excited!"

When you gaze into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.

Yes, Nonoth was right. A crowded tavern IS a good place to get information without noticing, but it's also a good place to get noticed.

As Nonoth and Mal walking toward the untidy bar for that dirty drink, a pair of eyes followed them there.