Chapter 8

Catherine was dozing off in her saddle. Her head was beginning to bob and she only stayed awake by the eventual dip in the road which she found her horse seemed to enjoy stepping into. Catherine began dozing off again, but was interrupted this time because she found herself tilting backwards, for her horse was now making it's way up a slope, following her still very awake companions.
Catherine wondered how long they had been traveling now, for she had lost track after she put her book away and began to drift in and out of sleep. She looked up above her for the sun, for it's location in the sky should tell her what time it was. She couldn't see the sky through the still dense foliage above her, but she could see the glow of the sun coming through the leaves. She guessed it was about 4 p.m. by it's position. That meant they had been traveling for about five hours. This puzzled her. She called ahead.
"Shouldn't we of seen Rome by now?" she was right to ask, for she was told that Rome was only a four hour ride from her home village.
"Rome is west of here, on the shore of the Tyrrhenian Sea, and that's in the opposite direction of where we want to go. We should see the Adriatic Sea soon enough. When we reach it we'll follow it's shores northwards, and when we reach it's end we will turn east towards Transylvania." He still spoke without turning his head to talk to her. Instead he leaned forward and gazed up the hill. Catherine and Amelia followed his gaze and farther up the trail they saw an opening through the dense trees, where blue sky was visible.
Amelia was the first to hurry her horse up the steep slope. Catherine followed and Van Helsing brought up the rear. Rocks slid down the path, and dirt clouded the air, but eventually they made it to the top.
Amelia halted her horse and gazed into the distance. Before her was a steep cliff drop. At the bottom monstrous waves clashed against the rocky cliff. When Catherine came up she didn't see the drop at first but luckily her horse did. It halted just as the front hooves were only an inch from the ledge.
"Whoa!" Catherine shouted. The sudden jolt lifted her from her seat and she slid forwards a bit. When she looked down over the horse's neck she could see rolling waves slamming into treacherous rocks below her. She backed up her horse so she was aligned with Amelia. Van Helsing was on her other side. He was shaking his head, laughing at Catherine's silliness.
"Always look before you act." were Amelia's first words so far in the trip. She was trying not to laugh herself, but she still smiled. Catherine crossed her arms, trying to cover her embarrassment by putting on a serious face and gazing out toward the blue sea ahead of her. The Sea. She had only seen it a few times before, but that was from a distance, atop one of the mountains surrounding her village, but that was the Tyrrhenian Sea, and it was only a blue blur against the horizon.
"Such a beautiful sight, the sea. But it's a shame we see it for such horrific reasons." Van Helsing said. He gave his horse a kick in the side and a slight tug on the reins so that it would follow the path along the ledge of the cliff northwards.

They made their journey along the ledge until sundown, when they found it too dangerous to continue like this for fear of going over due to not being able to see the steep edge.
They moved away from the edge toward the outskirts of the forest. Two hours into trekking though the night, a small village was seen below, where the cliffs lowered to a sandy beach and the waves rolled gently, discarding shells and driftwood along the shore. The house numbered eighteen in total, just a small fishing village.
As the three companions approached the small settlement of buildings, the word INN was visible above the glowing windows of a small two story building. From the hustling and constant flow of people entering and leaving (walking sideways some of them) it was clear that the main floor was a bar. It seemed more people were gathered in there than in the houses.
Van Helsing led them into the small town, observing their surroundings for any sign of strange activity. The houses were made of stone, to protect their residences from the unfortunate weather that living next to the sea seemed to bring in. A two metre wall of sandbags was piled at the eastern edge of town, facing the sea. It was apparently a feeble attempt to keep the waves from flooding the dirt roads and houses.
The three horses and their riders trotted through the town towards the glowing lights of the bar and INN. They dismounted the horses and tied the reins tightly to a post. A trough of hay rested on the ground, where the horses happily ate after their long day of continuous walking.
Van Helsing lead the two girls into the bar. It stunk heavily of cigar smoke and booze.
The three of them weren't dressed in a way that proved they were wealthy, but they did stick out in the crowd. The inhabitants here were very unclean. The men had their beards long and knotted, their faces had blotches of dirt and grime. The clothes were all torn, from hard work on the fishing boats. The few women wore dresses or tunics with aprons that were completely filthy. The worst looking of them all was the bartender. He looked as if he was being mummified and halfway through he was discovered to still be alive.
Van Helsing spoke to the girls over his shoulder. "Whatever you do, don't order any drinks here. This place looks unhealthy enough that one bottle of brandy will bring down a herd of elephants." Amelia pushed pass him.
"Stop joking around. We need some rooms." she eyed them both. Her gaze stopped on Catherine.
Catherine was eying around the room hopefully. It was the drinks that had caught her attention, despite what Van Helsing said, which according to the look of the people here, could be true.
"Hey, Cat. Snap out of it." Amelia snapped her fingers in Catherine's face. Catherine shook her head to clear her mind of the trance. She had never drank before, for Amelia never allowed it. But the weird thing to Catherine was that Amelia drank. Not often, and not enough that she walked funny, but enough that she slept a bit longer than usual in the morning.
The three of them walked up to the counter toward the raggedy old bartender. He was polishing a glass that seemed to never get the dirty old fingerprints off. He looked up at them with a raised eyebrow when Amelia placed her hands on the old wooden bar table.
"You in charge of the INN, by any chance?" was what Amelia yelled. She had to yell to get her voice loud enough to hear over the drunken crowd around her. She got a grunt from the old man in return. She took it as a yes.
"Do you have any rooms available? I'd prefer two if isn't too much of a hassle." she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small pouch that was clinking with small coins inside.
She untied the top of the pouch and dumped a few coins into her open palm.
Amelia held them up to the bartender. He inspected them with an interested eye. He doesn't get many customers coming for the INN. He had all eight rooms available. The amount these people were offering was enough for all the rooms, but he didn't mention this. Best to make as much money as possible, even if it is by cheating a customer.
"Is this enough?" Amelia asked. When the bartender nodded, she placed the coins back into the empty pouch. The bartender watched with a curious eye. He did not notice though that as she was pouring the coins back into the pouch, most were slipping down into her sleeve. Only one tenth of what she had offered to the bartender is what she actually gave him. She handed him the pouch and beckoned to the other two to follow her as she climbed the staircase to the top floor.
When the bartender discovered that he had just been cheated, the travellers were already out of sight up the stairs.