Zhara sighed at Gavin's retreating back. Then, when she couldn't see him anymore, collapsed back on the ground. She needed a moment to get more energy and to think. What happened? She thought to herself trying to remember something but she couldn't. The girl shook her head when she felt a headache coming on.
"Pull yourself together," Zhara told herself. "You're probably just tired. That was quite a hit you took to the head. Let's rest and worry about it late."
The girl mage heaved herself up and begin the march back to the room at the inn where she will take a nice long nap. When she wake, she'd go find dinner. Hopefully by then, she'd be back to normal. Also, hopefully, she'd she Gavin again, and maybe he'd have some news and an inkling to what was going on.
Zhara was clearly much more exhausted than she thought, as her rest turned into a deep sleep that had her under til well after dark. Her room was completely pitch black and as she stirred Zhara could only hear the sound of her own breathing along with feeling cold sweat all over her body. It seemed her body fought through some sort of illness in her sleep.
As she decided whether or not to just go back to sleep, Zhara swore she heard something move in her room.
Zhara blinked trying to adjust to the darkness. She patted herself all over. Crap. What the hell happened? She thought to herself feeling the dampness all over her.
When she heard something move, Zhara sat up immediately.
"Who's there?" Zhara shouted. There wasn't much in her room but enough for her plan to work. She took a finger and swirled it around in the darkness to conjure up a small little tornado in her room. It wasn't a strong one but strong enough for the knickknacks in her room to fly around and hopefilly hit whoever or whatnever was in her room.
The loose objects in the room flew off their places as Zhara summoned the mini twister. It didn't take long for something to fall on something else that made a strange little noise that sounded awfully alive.
The window in the room suddenly sprang wide open, and the mage could hear the patter of feet scurrying toward it. Though it was dark, the light of the moon showed a tiny figure wrapped in a cloak leap right through the space.
Then came a loud banging at her door, "Hello? Miss? Are you alright we heard a loud crash coming from your room."
The little twister created a bigger commotion than the young girl had anticipated. However, it did as she hoped it would. Zhara had flung her leg off the bed and stood up. However, whatever it was too fast and leapt away from her window.
"Damn!" She cried.
After calming the little wind storm down, Zhara shouted at the banging on the door, "Hang on!"
The young girl grumpily walked toward the direction of the door. Even with the light of the moon shining through, the girl stepped on an object that was displaced from its original position. She crashed with a loud thud! Zhara cursed rather loudly while getting up. Now that her room seemed to have so much stuff now that it was scattered all over the floor, Zhara kept stepping on things as she walked the short distance to the door. Each time she cried out in pain cursing and getting more and more irrated at whatever it was that had visited her while she was sleeping.
Finally, with much irration and pain, the unhappy mage wrung the door open and snapped, "No, I'm not alright. Someone was in my room. Did you know that? Who let strangers in my room? I don't know anyone here!"
The man at the door was a normal staffer at the inn, happening to have been making his normal rounds when he heard the commotion in Zhara's room.
There was a confused expression on his face, "I've let no one past me all evening miss, I just walked this hallway not five minutes ago and was just making my pass again."
The hallway was lit by the light of a lantern the night man carried along with a few sconces that lined the walls. He peered into the room, shining his light to see the extent of the damage. His lantern revealed several broken things, such as glass from a hung mirror and drinking glasses along with thrown decor.
"Are you sure you're alright miss?" he had to ask again. "Nothing was stolen?"
Zhara narrowed her eyes at the man's answer. She stared around her room. With the light and the fact that she didn't really have much possession, she determined that nothing really was taken.
"Can you have someone clean up the mess?" The young mage told the man. She waved a hand quickly and a gust of wind pulled the windows shut.
Zhara ran down the stairs and out into the night. She knew it was probably a futile effort, but she needed some air and looking for who or what was in her room was a worthwhile effort.
It looked like the night man was about to say something before Zhara just zipped on past him, leaving him bewildered as he looked at and then her room.
It was still the middle of the night, a few hours til the light of dawn would surface. The streets of Wistvale were dead quiet, void of life short of the odd sounds here and there from the rustle of loose objects thrown on the ground or the creak of wood. There was a slight chill in the air, but nothing to burn a fire over. The stiff air breezed past Zhara as the mage went on her futile look for whomever was just in her room.
After a bit of searching, it seemed like the whole thing would be fruitless and she'd have to return to the inn empty handed. It was just then, thanks to the black of night, that Zhara made out a light of sorts coming from an alleyway. It was easy to make out, but the sounds that were coming from the same source as the light were strange.
They were like high pitched whines, mixed in what almost seemed like sobs...
The darkness of the night seemed amplify whatever that was going on. The girl felt a chill running down her spine. However, that didn't deter her. Zhara was never a shy girl. On the contrary, whatever mystery that was going seemed to egg her on than deter her.
Things are getting stranger and stranger by the moment, the girl commented inside her head. Zhara's curiosity had always been her biggest down. However, it was like an itch that couldn't be scratched.
Zhara followed the sound hoping that whatever "it" was it wasn't going to be dangerous.
As Zhara followed the noise, she noted that it got increasingly louder and louder. When she was finally able to see what was making the noise, Zhara discovered it to be the tiny cloaked figure from before.
It sat at the end of the alleyway, with a strange light emanating from within the cloak it wore. Zhara could see that its back was turned as it seemed to be tinkering with something underneath the rags it wore.
The light being produced was not the work of light magic, as she knew it, nor of any magic she was aware of. The walls of the alley were being lit with an assortment of colors, like the creature held the rainbow in its hands. It was almost, inviting. Zhara could feel herself being drawn to it as she moved to investigate whatever this phenomenon was.
But as she moved, Zhara tapped something, a glass bottle, with the side of her foot.
In an instant the light show stopped as the creature turned to face the dryad. The very next moment, Zhara could feel an invisible force rapidly approaching her, too fast for her to escape from. It knocked her on her back, but left Zhara conscious.
The mage could hear the sound of tiny feet trying to run by her in the dark, again.
Zhara quickly got up on her feet to dash after the figure.
"Wait!" She called after the cloaked creature hoping she didn't sound threatening, "I just wanna talk. Why were you in my room?"
The girl mage didn't want to scare off the creature further by using magic, but she really wanted to just talk (if it could talk) who or whatever it was. So, she would just rely on her feet to catch up the creature.
As soon as Zhara called after the creature, it shouted back in an incomprehensible language; complete gibberish to her ears. The only thing she knew for certain was that it seemed to be in a panic of sorts, obviously trying to get away from the towering dryad.
Getting a view of the thing from her standing point, the thing was no taller than her knee, as if an infant with the ability to walk. Or run, in this case. Their significant height difference, allowed her to catch up with the creature in no time as there was no way its short legs could outpace her.
Just before Zhara could tag the being, it tripped and fell on its face. It quickly turned on its back and panicked as it saw Zhara stand before it. Being that it was still dark out, it was difficult to see the face of the thing under the cloak, but the mage had another issue on her hands.
In its panic, the creature began to scream and cry out like an infant, as if it knew nothing else to do to stave off death from the terrible, terrible Dryad.
Seeing its childish antics, the young girl stopped slowly. She knelt down beside it not knowing what to do. Zhara had never known any child other the few she had seen from faraway but had never interact with. However, seeing that it was clearly distressed, the young girl did what she could think only to do. The girl knelt there still beside the screaming creature waiting for it to stop.
The voice came after a slamming of window doors from a building not 10 feet away from Zhara, and it was not alone. Many citizens popped their heads outside their windows to see where the racket was coming from, a few even bothering to get out of their homes to see what the fuss was.
Zhara could see a pair of sentinels rushing down the street to investigate the distress that plagued the whole area.
There was a shadow as the man stepped from an alleyway and stood over Zhara. He was thin, almost too thin, his crisp black suit hanging on his frame rather loosely. His wide brimmed hat was pulled low, obscuring the top half of his face, while a thick scarf was wrapped around the bottom, the tails fluttering over his shoulder in the breeze. Somehow, he'd managed to thread a cigarette through the flaps of the scarf, a thin smoke trail rising behind him as he gave Zhara a blank sort of look that was somehow encouraging, then put a hand up to the approaching sentinels.
Gentlemen, please... He gave a small bow.
I want to thank you for finding my niece. She's a tricky little thing. Got away from me an hour ago, with her little... He shot a look down, then back up, not raising his head.
Pet. And gods know, these old bones can't keep up. I'm sure the gentlemen of the guard took quite good care of her. Do give my regards to your Captain, if she still serves. With that he waved his hand, as if dismissing them, and leaned down to Zhara, tipping up his hat. Under the brim was nothing but a blackness...but somehow a friendly space. Like he was waving from the dark.
Now, let's get you and your pet to somewhere safe, hmm? Your mother will be worried sick. She'll kill me if anything should happen to you.
Of all the graveyards in all the towns in all the world, she had to walk into mine.