A/N: Hello my lovely readers, here is chapter 4! Warning, there is one cuss word, so I moved the rating up to T. Please let me know what you think. I assure you that the pace will quicken very soon. Thank you for reading!
IV
The fifth soldier, who had ascended the stairs of the Gilded Goblet, reached for the door handle of room number 5 where young Kunie was quartered. The door was stubborn, thick as lead, and only when he thrust himself into it did it give way. Within its doors he found an empty room, with an unpainted dresser and table, window with golden shutters—which were thrust open— and a stiff bed, which was pushed up against the door. Other than this, it was a quaint quarter, bereft of the traveling girl. The rest of the rooms in the inn were occupied by the remaining men in red armor, each as empty as number 5, and the woman the good innkeeper had spoken of was nowhere to be found. Had the innkeeper lied? The men cared not. Their leader, the tall dark man, was the only one with a trace of curiosity.
Kunie, who had without hesitation gathered her things and left the building through the small square window, landing with a swear as her ankles throbbed, now walked rather deliberately through the soggy grounds northeast of Chao. The rain came still. She had many miles to walk until she would reach her next destination, a desert town just outside the Si Wong and she would not rest until dusk hit that night. In a few weeks, if she was not found by that cursed band in red armor, she would reach its safety, but fire has a way of seeking out even the most versatile subjects and reducing them to ash.
For three days Kunie passed peacefully through the prairies northeast of Chao and forests of the valley. On the fourth day her journey was hindered. The weather worsened. Torrential rains pounded the wood of the Kolau valley, the winds became savage even when barricaded by the trees, and the lightning was omnipresent. Kunie was wearied in her travels by noon that day and stopped to rest beneath a great maple tree and eat her modest meal. She rested there for a quarter of an hour and all along listened to the growling of the thunder. In her mind she cursed the sky. It was too restless for her now, too angry, too active, and all the time interfering. Yet, in her heart she found the thunder beating in harmony with her restless soul. It shook the earth and set fire to the air, gave current and ambition and drive to the monsoon who nourished the earth. It was the power behind the storm, the force and the beauty and the fire.
Kunie stood, resolving that no more time should be wasted. The thunder ceased for a moment and she started on. But, as she strode away, not reaching ten feet from the spot, a jolt of light came from the sky. Its ferocious, hissing, and spastic figure came down upon the tall maple tree. It split apart, sending splinters of wood into the air. The surge of electricity swelled through the ground, and Kunie, absorbing some of its energy, was thrown from the ground. Her heart was sent into a tantrum and her limbs were numb, but she sat up, gazing out upon the old trunk of the tree, where flames were flaring and spreading. It was painful. Her feet were dumbstruck, but she fled, she fled the engorging flames with all possible speed, though the winds worked against her. They aided the flames in their spreading about the forest; the flames came before her and she was barricaded. Panicking, her face growing hot and feet feeling groundless, she glanced about, searching for an escape. There it was.
A burrow, large and earthen, was in the east. She ran for it.
The leader of the band of men, the men in red armor who had entered Chao, looked down upon the good innkeeper. He looked grave in his coarse red clothing.
"Now why, good man, would you tell me that there was a woman quartered in your inn when in fact there was no woman to be found?"
The innkeeper was startled. He had seen the young girl return to her room as the men in red armor had entered the village. "I don't think I quite understand what you're asking. I know the girl was here not twenty minutes ago."
"There is no girl."
"She was just here, sir." The innkeeper backed away a bit. The man's gaze was frightful.
"What room," demanded the man.
"Sir?" said the innkeeper.
"What damn room was she in?"
"Number 5, sir."
The tall man in red armor looked out through the open doors where the rain had hardened. "A man of mine, who took that room, claims its doors were guarded, that a bed frame had been hastened against it."
The innkeeper gave no response. He looked anywhere but at the severe, dark man who had intruded upon him and his fellows. The man grew impatient.
"Well?" His voice was sharp.
"I don't know what to tell you, sir. The girl retreated to the upstairs before you entered my business, and that is the last I saw of her."
"Do you think it ordinary that a girl would react in such a way," inquired the man. "To bar her door from us, without not a moment to see our intent?"
"I imagine it might be so. The young are frightened easily."
"I disagree," retorted the man. His brow furrowed. "And what was her appearance? What did she look like?"
The innkeeper hesitated. "How is that relevant?"
"Answer the question," the man commanded.
The good innkeeper folded his bulky arms and stared into the ceiling with squinted eyes. "Small, but not too young. At least of sixteen years, maybe seventeen. Unusually pallid skin, unlike the dark sun-bitten skin of other travelers. Hair the color of copper, long, and peculiar eyes. Almond shaped ones." He looked the man in the eyes. "A rather odd woman, sir, but quite harmless I assure you."
"Peculiar eyes, you say?" inquired the military man.
"Yes, sir."
"Ember dirtied with green?"
The innkeeper showed surprise. "Why yes sir. A very odd girl."
The man gave a hoarse cough, near a laugh. He touched his forefinger and thumb to his coarse, full lips. His black brow folded again. "Anything else, good man?"
"Her dialect was a bit developed for this area. She had to have come from the Guódong Province, in the far south. I can recognize their tongue easy." He smiled. "A good friend of mine lived there once."
The military man grinned. "Thank you for your assistance. You have been of great service. I believe we shall continue this conversation later, for my men and I are in need of nourishment. Until another time."
With that, the man in red armor left the building, his limp loud against the earthen floor, and stood beneath the covered porch outside. Thunder was rolling and lightning circulating. Thinking over this girl only for a moment more, he called out to his men, who were seated inside the tavern. "Ai ya, men, let us eat!"
