COMPASS OF TRUE LOVE - CHAPTER 15

Chapter 15: I’m being hunted by super powerful bad demon people and somehow found a new friend along the way

-Stephanie-

I let out a terrified scream as the ratling jumped on our boat.

The black-furred terror was right in between me and Nydia. My mind raced trying to figure out what kind of spell I could use. Shit this is why Marlon was so much better at this stuff.

I could vaguely make out Cassie who was trying to get one of her swords out, but there was too little space in the small boat.

Maybe a wind spell? I didn’t want to risk turning the boat though. Luckily Nydia reacted faster and swung one of the oars at our assailant. Much to the surprise of the ratling, who was promptly hit in the head and almost tumbled out of the boat.

Nydia pulled back for a second hit when the horrid monstrosity put its hands up defensively. It was almost cute, if it didn’t just try to murder us.

“WAIT, DON’T HIT ME!” the ratling peeped pleadingly.

What?

Nydia was stunned dumbfoundedly, the oar still in the air and Cassie stopped fumbling with the sword and looked back up in surprise.

“Woah did that actually work?” the end of the world incarnate muttered.

“What?” I blurted out.

“It thought for sure I was done for! I really hate water,” the murder monster elaborated.

“What?!” me and Cassie exclaimed. Nydia still looked like she was about to smack the beast into the river.

“Oh shit, where are my manners, I’m Ashe, nice to meet you!” my personal grim reaper smiled threateningly.

“WHAT?!” this time Nydia joined in as well.

“Umm, so I kinda need to get out of the city and I saw you guys heading upriver and I really hate water and I was barely holding on to the bridge, so it was either jump down to you or perish. And I really don’t want to perish just yet, I only just turned ten! I’m actually the only one in my litter that made it all the way to adulthood, yay me!”

We all stared at the ratling and I could practically hear our newest worldview shatter. Okay so maybe she wasn’t as evil as I made her out to be. I also noticed that she had no visible weapons on her which helped a little, though I was still wary of her.

“So, uhm, can we row and talk? Cuz I really need to get out of the city and you don’t need your hands to stare confusedly at me,” she addressed Nydia.

The noblewoman blinked a few times before lowering the oar back into the water and picking up the other one again. She continued starting daggers at the ravenette rat but slowly rowed us further upriver.

Ashe kept looking between the three of us and I realised none of us said anything besides ‘what’ all this time, so I decided to take the initiative.

“Hey Ashe. I’m Stephanie, but you can call me Sephie. The girl with the oars is Nydia and the girl in the overalls is Cassie. We’re also trying to get out of the city.”

The rat girl gave me a wide smile, which still felt very threatening to me. It gave off that same ‘sharp’ feeling that Nydia’s smile did, except that Ashe’s teeth were actually very sharp from the looks of it. The rest of her look was much more cute than threatening though. She was tiny compared to me, it was hard to tell white she was sitting, but definitely less than a metre.

 She had mostly black fur, though there was a white streak from her forehead down to her pink nose and then around her mouth. Her hair was woven into one thick braid that seemed to be almost as long as her. One of its streaks was also white and weaved its way all the way down the braid.

She wore some simple leathers around her chest and waist and a rugged black hooded cape was slung back over her shoulder. She had some simple fingerless wool gloves on her hands and the rest of her limbs had some bandages wrapped around them.

Lastly, there was a large, for her size, bag slung around her that was packed full. The contents clattered around every time Ashe moved. Once we were out of the city, I’d ask about it, I decided.

We had already passed the North Bridge, which was equally massive and house laden as the South Bridge. Now all only needed to pass under the bridge in Nautique and we would be out.

The closer we got the more I worried it was going to blow like the other one, but it stood. Soon enough we were right in front of it and my eyes kept scanning the structure for anyone dangerous looking. I already had a protective barrier spell prepared that could encase the entire boat if I pulled in every drop of my power.

A couple of civilians ran across, away from the battle at the east side. A patrol of guards rushes in the opposite direction, spears held at the ready. And an old man stood at the railing overlooking the river.

A shudder ran down my spine when our eyes met. His skin was snow-white. He had a long grey-black beard and wore a deep hood. He wore thick winter furs and had a goat skull strapped to his shoulder. The eyes were surrounded by black make up that ran down his face like he was crying.

All of that was weird and out of place, but not what made my hairs stand up. His eyes were slitted like a cat’s and the irises shone in a piercing ice blue. Every part of my body told me to run, flee, anything, just not to get closer. Yet Nydia kept rowing us closer and closer.

His eyes were constantly fixed on me, unblinking and following along with even the tiniest movement. Just before we passed below the bridge, I noticed the eye holes of the goat skull spark in that same ice blue glow but nothing seemed to happen.

“Did anyone else notice that old man?” I asked quietly.

Nydia was obviously focussed on manoeuvring the boat, but Cassie and Ashe had been looking around. They both shook their head, though. Maybe they only noticed in passing so I elaborated.

“He wore black winter clothes and had a goat skull on his shoulder and his eyes were glowing blue. He was at the railing on the bridge right above where we passed under.”

Ashe frowned a little, which looked pretty cute with her mousey face and Cassie spoke up, “There was no one standing on the bridge Sephie. Just a couple civilians and a patrol running across it.”

“No he was standing right above where we passed. He was looking down at us all the way until we were out of sight!” I argued. Cassie and Ashe both shook their heads.

“I was looking for any saboteurs at the bridge,” Ashe piped up. “There was definitely no one standing at the railing where we passed.”

By that point we crossed to the other side and I looked back to the bridge scanning for the old man. And there he was, at the railing on the other side, staring down at us as we emerged from the bridge. The goat skull was still glowing, same as his eyes. His back was arched badly and he was leaning on a short but fancy whittled walking stick.

I immediately turned back to my companions and whispered, “See there he is! I told you!”

Ashe and Cassie both frowned at me again and even Nydia gave me a questioning look this time.

“There is no one there, Sephie,” Nydia assured me. “The bridge is empty.”

“No but,” I turned around again and he was still there. “He is right there!” This time I even pointed at him and I swear I could see him smirk at me when I did.

“Sephie there is no one there, what are you talking about? Are you alright?” Cassie asked softly.

She was obviously worried about me, but… I wasn’t imagining anything! I turned to the bridge again and a panic set in. He was gone. He was just there, now he was gone. How? I… I wasn’t imagining things! He was there! I looked around the shorelines erratically, but I couldn’t find any trace of him. He just… disappeared.

My pulse quickened even more. My hairs were still standing up and I could help but feel watched. He was out there somewhere, coldly watching us, I was certain. And he was dangerous. I could feel it. Power had a feeling to it that I couldn’t describe, but he definitely had it!

The corners of my vision became hazy and my mind was racing. I was overcome with dread. Every dark corner along the shore. Every house, every tree, every rock. He could be anywhere.

I was suddenly feeling dizzy and the haziness crept further in. My breathing became ragged and the last thing I heard was Nydia’s voice, “Sephie, you don’t look so good, are you- “

*****

When I came to, I was greeted by a pair of worried looking red glowing eyes and a jagged mouth repeatedly calling my name. Part of me immediately wanted to slip into unconsciousness again, but somehow, I knew this person wasn’t a danger to me.

I blinked a few times until my image cleared and I realised it was Ashe who was sitting on me and calling my name.

“Sephie are you okay?” the rat girl asked. She sounded extremely worried, which was a little weird considering we had only just met earlier, but it was also really nice to know that she cared.

“I’m okay I think,” I replied softly. “How long was I gone?”

“Only a minute or so. We’re just out of the city,” Nydia answered from behind the tiny furball.

Sure enough, when I looked around the city was behind us. There were still a few watermills and farmhouses along the river, but we had escaped the battle at least.

When everyone was sure I was okay we talked about our plans going forward. Ashe wanted to get out of the river as quickly as possible, she wasn’t joking when she said she really didn’t like water, I guess. Cassie was fine with whatever, but Nydia wanted to go upriver till sundown just to be safe.

From my time at Grimbolt’s I still remembered a bit about the geography around here. There should be a small village at the east side of the river a few hours further up, shortly behind Three-Point-Fort. We could get a room or two at a local inn, then figure things out from there.

Nydia really liked that plan and Cassie much preferred a warm bed over camping. The only one unhappy with the plan was Ashe, since we would be on the river until past sundown.

The journey upriver was very uneventful from here on out. At some point I swapped with Nydia, because her arms were getting tired and by sundown Cassie took over from me. There were a handful other boats on their way upriver, fleeing from the city, but we mostly kept to ourselves. Having one of the rats that assaulted their homes earlier in our boat didn’t really fill the other refugees with much trust.

Eventually, somewhere before midnight, we arrived at the little village nestled into a bend in the river. The imposing towers of Three-Point-Fort could barely be seen in the northwest and the foothills of the Great Northern Mountains rose up to the northeast.

We found an empty spot to tie up our boat and started looking for a local inn. It didn’t take us long and we found ourselves in the common room of the Fairy Jester while Nydia was getting us some rooms. The place was more a bar than an inn, but they did have a handful of rooms. Except there was a little problem.

They had single bedrooms, double bedrooms and twin bedrooms. Cassie wanted to get a double bedroom and then just share the small beds, but Nydia wanted to split us into two rooms. Ashe didn’t really have an opinion on the matter and I got the feeling the little cutie didn’t have that much experience sleeping in beds.

“I just don’t want to be split apart! And it’s much cheaper anyways…” Cassie protested.

“We can get rooms that are next to each other. I like cuddling as much as the next person, but I need some personal space sometimes too!” Nydia argued. “Besides, I’m the one paying, it’s only fair I get to decide,” she added matter-of-factly.

“You just want to get rid of me and Sephie to yourself again!”

Wait what did this have to do with me? Before I could unpack any of that the argument escalated further.

“Maybe if you weren’t such a prickly bitch, I wouldn’t mind sharing! Get a grip on your fucking jealousy,” Nydia bit back.

Yea no I wasn’t having any of this, I decided. I grabbed Ashe’s hand and slammed five silvers on the counter. “Room for two, please.”

Ashe had obviously been as uncomfortable as I about our two companions arguing, so she relaxed a little when we got out of there. Expectedly, our room was very small. There was a slim bed at the left and right wall each. There was just enough space in between them to fit a cozy little night table. Above it was a small, round window that could be closed up by rectangle shutters and a simple curtain.

After working through a little bit of wariness, Ashe carefully climbed into the left one and slipped under the covers. Meanwhile, I took off my shoes, coat and pants before slipping into the right one. At first, I thought Ashe had gone into bed with shoes on, but then I remembered she only wore a few bandages around her feet. Were regular shoes uncomfortable for her species, or could she simply never afford them? Either way, I figured we should try and find some better footwear for her sometime.

I was about to close my eyes, when there was a soft knock at the door.

With a sigh I heaved myself back out to open the door, I figured it was either Cassie or Nydia. To my surprise it was both of them. They looked a little ashamed and Cassie was fidgeting with her hands.

“Sephie, can we still stay with you two tonight?” the usually so confident minx asked shyly.

Nydia looked a bit sorry herself, though she was kind of pouting.

I didn’t really want any of us to argue, though. So I waved the both of them in and slipped back into my bed. Cassie and Nydia looked in between the two beds, like they were unsure how to split up. At some point Cassie slipped out of her shoes and overalls and climbed into my bed. Nydia still looked a bit lost for a bit but eventually she took off her shoes and slipped in next to Ashe, who had already fallen asleep by now.

I tried my best to fall asleep, but the beds were a lot smaller than the ones in Nautique. Cassie had her head buried in my shoulder while her hands were clinging to my blouse like she was afraid I was going to suddenly disappear overnight. I was pretty sure everyone else was already sound asleep. But I still felt… not awake… more… wary. Whenever I started to drift off the image of the old man on the bridge surfaced and I shook myself awake again.

I thought I would spend the entire night constantly flitting between nightmare and sleeplessness, but eventually I found a dream that was nightmare free.

“Invading my dreams again I see.”