Reality

Second Chapter

Three days later I finally found Kayne. His face was severely bruised and the cut on his lip looked infected. He looked somewhat happy to see me.

"Roland!" He jumped up and hugged me. I started to cry. I was so happy to see him okay. "Are you crying?" He looked at me.

I wasn't going to deny it, "Yeah..." We laughed together. I think he enjoyed my company no matter how much he denied it.

"I'm surprised you found me..." He stopped.

"Well you know I AM the BEST tracker EVER." I said sarcastically. He pushed my shoulder playfully. "You look awful." I said.

"Oh well, I AM the better looking brother." Kayne replied.

"Yeah... right."

"Yeah Roland, I am right. Just like I always am."

"Whatever. Let's go get some lunch. I'm starving!" Kayne and I walked to a pub in the nearby town of Forochal. I noticed a commotion outside the pub. A lady was being harassed by a couple of men. No one but Kayne and I seemed to notice, so we went to go help the lady. She was gorgeous. She had short brown hair that was pulled back. And eyes were as blue as the sea on a cloudy day. Kayne had also noticed. His mouth was open in amazement of how pretty she was. We glanced at each other and decided to help her.

"Hey!" Kayne yelled to the men who turned toward us and charged. I jumped out of the way but Kayne got hit... hard. They knocked him to the ground and started punching him. Somehow I managed to get myself in there. It was us two against about seven of them. Our chances of winning were slim. But we managed to fend them off one by one. The last man of the group took one look at us and ran away.

"Yeah you BETTER run!" Kayne yelled.

"Kayne stop they might come back..." I told him, "Hello miss are you okay...? You’re not hurt are you?"

"I'm fine..." She gave me a quick smile, "Thank you."

"You’re quite welcome..." I said. Kayne just stood there silently, which was kind of strange.

"I'm Cora by the way..." She said quickly.

"I'm Roland. And this is my little brother Kayne."

"Hi..." Kayne gave a shy wave and was silent again.

She giggled, "He doesn't talk much does he?"

"You have no idea..." I laughed with her. Kayne gave a weak smile.” Would you want to join us for lunch?" I blurted out. Kayne shot an awkward look at me. Like he was almost scared of her company.

"I would love too!" Cora smiled. We walked back into the pub and sat down. Cora sat next to me and Kayne was on the other side of the table. He had a sour look on his face. Kayne looked as if he was about to see his breakfast all over again

"Ummm..." he began to say, "May I be excused?"

I nodded. He jumped up and walked towards the back of the pub. That left me sitting across the table from Cora. I didn't speak, but instead studied her face. Her head was turned away from me, towards the window, so she didn't notice me.

She had delicate facial features. She had a slightly upturned nose, giving her an appearance of arrogance. She turned suddenly and saw me looking at her. I turned away and felt heat rush to my face. Just as I was about to say something to her, Kayne ran over to the table. He was in a state of panic.

"Roland! Dad found us! He's on his way into the pub. He must've seen me outside!"

I shot a glance at Cora. She looked worried, but seemed to understand. Kayne and I grabbed our bags and bolted out the door. How could he have found us? We ran as fast as we could, mostly sticking to alleys and back roads. At one point, we were sprinting behind stranger's houses, jumping over their bushes and trampling their flower beds. When we got back on the main road, I almost crashed into an old man. I tried to dodge, but tripped over his staff. He helped me up, but before he could say anything about my clumsiness, I ran after Kayne. He had stopped a little way up the road and was standing near a tree, waiting.

I stopped to catch my breath when I got closer. I know that I had seen that man somewhere, but where? Oh well. Kayne stamped his foot impatiently.

"C'mon!" He said with a sense of urgency in his voice, "Let's go!" This time I was the first one to run. I knew that father wasn't one to go rampaging through the forest, so I made a bee - line for the trees. Since this town was surrounded by a forest, it wasn't long at all before Kayne and I were closed in on all sides with thick, brown trees. We walked and walked until the foliage became so dense that we couldn't go any further. Kayne plopped down a pile of leaves, exhausted.

"Let's... rest." He panted. I sat down next to him and leaned back against a tree. I sat down next to him and leaned back against a tree. When I looked up at the sky, I noticed that it was beginning to get dark. The sun had not yet set, but the horizon had begun to burst into red and orange flames. Kayne yawned. Even though it wasn’t late, I was tired. And apparently, so was he.

“Kayne,” I said, “We should stay here for the night. We’ll venture back into town tomorrow.”

He nodded. Or maybe he nodded off because I didn’t hear another word from him. I sat in silence for a few minutes and then closed my eyes. The last thing I remember was the sound of a branch crunching under my weight.

I walked into a dark, dank cave. The walls seemed to be closing in on me as I walked farther and farther into the cave. I stepped into a room and there was only one thing in the room. A chest. But there was another person in the room. He was standing over the chest with a staff in his hand. He raised his staff towards the box and it started to glow. The lock on the chest clicked open. He bent over and opened it.

I woke up to the sound of a bird chirping in the tree above me. Kayne was asleep on a pile of leaves next to me. It was about eight o’clock as far as I could tell. I shook Kayne until he woke up.

“Come on. We have to go back to town. Father should be long gone by now.”

He got up slowly and stretched his back. I jumped up and started to walk back towards the road. I still didn’t know who that old man had been, but he seemed so familiar. We plodded into Forochal, hoping, praying that father had left.

Kayne spoke, “Yesterday, we were in such a hurry, I don’t think that we grabbed all of our stuff.”

I quickly took inventory of our belongings. We had our packs, Kayne’s dagger, and both of our bows and quivers. We had everything.

“No. We got everything. Unless you had something extra that you forgot...”

He shook his head. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone walk into a building. It was Cora. I turned. “Cora!” I yelled. She turned and motioned us over.

“Hello. Is everything okay? You two left so quickly yesterday… Why did you do that anyway?”

I relayed the situation to her. She seemed to understand. But how could she possibly understand?

“I know the feeling of being followed. I ran away from home once too.” She said not a word more, but instead focused on getting inside. Once she opened the door, she invited us in.

We both stepped inside the house. It was small, but not as small as our house had been. There seemed to be nobody home.

“Sorry. The place is a mess. I haven’t been home all day, and we weren't expecting company.

“It’s fine.” I said, “Believe me, our house was worse.”

She said something to me but I wasn’t paying attention to a word she said. I was looking around the kitchen instead.

“Kayne,” I said, “Where are we going to sleep tonight?”

Before Kayne could say anything, Cora interjected an idea. “There’s an inn right down the road. You could stay there.”

“That would be a great idea,” replied Kayne, “except for the fact that we don’t have any money and they don’t let people stay there for free.”

“Trust me. That won’t be a problem. You see, the folks that own the inn are my aunt and uncle. I’m sure I could pull a few strings and get you two a room.”

“You don’t know how much we would appreciate that.” I said, “After sleeping on cold, hard ground for the past four days, a bed would feel like heaven!”

Kayne nodded his agreement. My back was starting to hurt after almost a week of sleeping on rocks and dirt.

“Okay then. Why don’t we all go down to the inn? Bring your stuff because I’m pretty sure you won’t be sleeping here tonight.”

So Kayne and I grabbed our packs and stood up. We followed Cora out the door and down the street. She stopped in front of a large brick building with a low doorway. There was a sign over the doorway that read, ‘Nobleman Inn’.

“Well, here it is.” Cora said.

“Thanks.” Kayne replied quietly. I elbowed Kayne as I walked by and into the door. The inn was nothing more than a dimly lit house. A few weary travelers were slumped in chairs or on benches, but for the most part, the place was empty. There was a huge fireplace over in the corner of the main room. The rest of the room had assorted tables and chairs in it.

A larger reddish brown haired woman walked over towards us. “Cora! Where have you been? You had us worried.”

She turned to look at the woman. “Sorry.” She pointed at Kayne and I, “Roland and Kayne need a place to stay.”

“And they don’t have any money,” The inn-keeper stated crossly, “If they can’t pay, we can’t house ’m.”

“M’am, my brother and I, we’re willing to work for our stay. If you have anything that needs done-”

“Good. You two can go talk to my husband, Daemon. He’s outside near the barn.”

I nodded and nudged Kayne towards the back door. Once outside, I squinted in the bright light. We kept walking until we came to a run-down barn. No one was in sight, so we walked inside.

Dust came down like a snowstorm. It looked like nobody had cleaned in here for years. Wearied horses poked their heads out of stalls as we strode along the well-worn path in the middle of the barn.

“Hello?” Kayne said, looking for anyone who might be Daemon. Someone stuck their head out of the last stall. It was covered with flame red hair that spread from the top of his head and wrapped around to his chin. He rose from the squatting position that he had been in to stand, and walked over to us.

“Yeah?” he asked, looking down at us with an icy stare. “Why are you here?”


ok..... this chapter's not done...... i'll put in on here when it is!