The Harvest Festival (5)
Eldric gripped her hand as their laughter died down in their throats replaced with the slowly spreading dread.

Their room was dark, save for the thin ray of light coming from the slightly opened window. Once their eyes had adjusted to the dark, they realized that their room was turned upside down. Lia stilled, not moving, not daring to breathe as she scanned the look around the room. Her gut feeling told her that there were some more sinister things hiding in the dark corners of the room, ready to swallow them whole.

Her chest hammered as her mind raced. Were they followed? Did the Unseen already figure out that she was disguised as one of Eldric’s men? What were they trying to find? Or was this the ambush from the original plot? She did not know anymore. Despite all that, a small part of her was glad that she took her bag with her when she went out. She did not want them finding out the map.

It was not until she felt the pain in her hand that she realized that Eldric was gripping her hand hard to get her attention. She could see the silhouette of Eldric beside her and noticed him looking around while sending signals in her hand.

‘Go left,’ he wrote on her palm. To her left was the room divider but they put it close to the wall earlier. It was also close to where they were so they could see that there was no one using it to hide.

That was where Eldric wanted Lia to hide.

Lia gripped Eldric’s hand as a sign of her agreement and felt him tapped at her hand. ‘One, two, three.’

They part ways but it was more like Eldric pushed her to the side as he faced the attacks that came from different directions. Someone stumbled on the balcony that wrecked the window but gave them light in the room. Much to her horror, there were three men fighting Eldric. She recognized one of them as one of the inn staff that guided them when they arrived.

Despite her training, it was not enough to face someone like these men. She would be more of a liability to Eldric than of help but she still gripped the hilt of the dagger tighter.

The door was close to her hiding place. If she could crawl without anyone noticing then she would be able to call for help. Tim and others might have come back too so they would help Eldric fight these men off.

She was about to bolt to the door when she realized that someone was creeping up behind Eldric, holding a knife. Eldric was engaged with one of the bad guys and had yet to realize what was happening behind him. If Lia would not send him a signal then he would be stabbed.

But her limbs were faster than her voice when she found herself standing in front of the man, her dagger in her hands piercing through his body. The man and Lia were both shocked. The attacker aimed to stab her arm but Eldric knocked the knife out of his hands and covered Lia’s hand with his own, pushing the knife up to the hilt.

The door opened just as the man dropped to the floor like a discarded puppet.