The Inn

Katherine's POV:

"Come on you useless trash, get on the carriage and stay quiet."

Allen and Nick shiver every time someone talks loudly. We do as they say and get on the carriage without speaking a single word. We all sit next to each other, almost on top of the other people because of the little space there is. The kids sit on my lap so they are much more comfortable than me.

The carriage is connected to a Triceratops saddle, I wonder where exactly they'll take us. The masked man said they had slave buyers from distant lands to negotiate with..

This situation reminds me of fifteen years ago, when my son Nathan almost got kidnapped during the war between the Warriors tribe and the Dark Clouds. My husband saved him but not much later he got killed by a Dragon, leaving me with my son. The Dark Clouds see that Dragon as a god and worship him.. Why can't everyone just leave in peace..

"Miss Kat, where are we going?" Allen asked me, freeing me from my dark memories.

"We will go somewhere safe." I lied, trying to make him feel better.

"I want to see mommy again."

"You'll see her soon, don't worry. Just rest now."

....

I'm really sorry Allen but if your mother isn't here with us then she's probably dead... I must not let him feel bad for now, he'll find out the truth when the right time comes.

After everyone got on the carriage, the masked man gave out an order and the dinosaur started to move.

It seems we are headed north... This is bad. It means we'll be under Dark Clouds territory soon. The Warriors must hurry.

Nathan's POV:

It's been an interesting experience finding this group. And very convenient as well since we're all going to the same place. They all seem like good people so it should be alright for me to stay with them.

We've been walking for a few hours now, and just when we were about to set up camp for the time being, we spot what seems to be a castle in the distance.

"That must be it. The Warriors main base." I say, happy to have finally arrived.

"I was starting to doubt it was even real." Silva comments.

"Let's hurry, the sooner we get there the better."

And so, we have arrived at the Warriors base.

The castle was surrounded by a huge wall with balista turrets and a few catapults placed on top of it, circling the entire place.

"It's like a whole kingdom... they surely are well protected." Daniel says, surprised.

We approach the entrance gate , and four guards step up from it.

"Who are you?"

"We came from separate villages to the east, Dark Clouds have attacked us and we came to report the situation."

The guards look at each other and nod, like if they were expecting us.

"We have heard of the situation from a few scouts already, come in and head to the building next to the castle, you can rest there. Someone will come to get more information from you at a later time."

We do as the guard told us and enter the Warriors base. Upon entering, we realized there was more to it than just a simple castle for the tribe leaders to give out orders. It really was like a small kingdom in there, with far more people than what was expected.

Most of people present seem to be in the same situation as us, there are barely any actual soldiers. I wonder how many more villages got raided..

We get to the building the guard said and open the door. It had a very 'tavern' like atmosphere, the place is filled with people eating and drinking.

"Does anyone have any coins? I'm kinda hungry.." Silva says, looking at all the food on the tables.

We all look at each other hoping someone would step up, but it seems that we all don't have any coins..

"Hey you!" A voice came from somewhere inside the place. We look around and find a young lady waving at us. She delivers a drink to one of the people and then comes in our direction, I guess she runs this place.

"Are you new here? Never seen your faces around."

"Yes, we just arrived." Leonard answers. "We came here because our villages were destroyed, the guards at the gate said for us to come here."

"Oh! I'm sorry... Come with me, I'll have a few rooms ready for you to rest."

She turns around and goes to the stairs that are in one of the corners of this place. Guess this is some sort of inn...

An inn in the Warriors base huh, who would have thought..

We quickly follow her upstairs, where three rooms are available for us to use.

"I'm really sorry that I can't give you a room for each person, in fact, most of the rooms are being used by people in the same situation as you. All those downstairs had their places destroyed. There should be some clothes in the wardrobes in your rooms in case you want to change to something lighter."

I see... This is worst than I thought, we might already be war.

"It's alright, we don't mind. Thank you for everything."

"Well then, I'll go back now, I still need to get a lot of things done down there. Our tribe has provided food for people that got their villages raided, so if you feel like it, you're all free to eat for free. Just go downstairs and pick a table!"

"Ohhh that would be very nice." Silva says, obviously starving.

"I'll change my clothes and put down my sword." Carrying this all day has been exhausting.. I really want to rest a bit.

"Same." Leonard follows up.

Miguel, Filipe, Silva and Daniel all go downstairs to grab some food, while me and Leonard decide to rest.

"Now that there is no place to go, what do you think of applying to the Warriors tribe official soldiers?" Leonard asks, breaking the silence.

"Yes, I was planning on doing that from the beginning. Hopefully I get to save my missing mother, and Jason."

"The blacksmith you talked about last night huh... Do you really think he survived? The way you said it, I don't see how he could get out of that place in one piece."

"I believe he's still alive, and my mom as well. Only seeing their corpses will change my mind."

"You're awfully calm considering what happened.."

He's right.. I'm not even sure myself, but I thought I'd be angrier or sadder in this situation.

"Well, getting all worked up won't do anything. I'll head to bed now, I don't really feel like eating anything.." Pretty sure I was hungry when we got here but remembering what happened two days ago made me lose all the apetite.

"I will as well. Have a nice rest." Leonard says, opening the door for one of the rooms.

I open enter a different one and put my sword down, next to the bed. I open the wardrobe and there were indeed a few sets of clothes, nothing great but it would be comfortable enough for the time being.

I change, and lay on bed. It's not even night yet, but all the walking made me tired...

Closing my eyes, my body relaxes for the first time in two days, making me fall asleep faster than ever.