Follow me

Maddie, Matt, Annie, Ollie and Curtis were all shocked by what was happening that they could not move at all, they were frozen in shock, there were other people here, but they did not look like they were friendly at all, not with all their swords that were drawn against them.

"What do you want here?" asked the woman as she pointed her sword directly at Curtis as she looked like she would not hesitate to kill him right here.

"We come in peace" said Curtis as he spoke up and the woman raised her eyebrow at him.

"How can we be sure of that?" asked the woman as she scoffed, she did not even know why she had still left Curtis and all of the others with him alive, they were strangers.

Curtis moved his hand to his pocket as he brought out something shiny.

"Because we have this" said Curtis as he showed the golden brooch that Ivor had given to him, and there seemed to be some sort of recognition in the woman's eyes as she gasped silently, and she composed herself.

"Give it" she said as Curtis threw the brooch to her while putting his hands in the air to show that he meant no harm, and the woman caught the brooch in her right hand while still pointing her sword at Curtis, she was not going to take any chances, she knew better than to do that.

The woman looked away from Curtis for a brief second as she looked at the brooch in her hand, and she scanned the brooch, it was real, it was actually real.

"Where did you get this from?" asked the woman as she looked at Curtis.

"A friend gave it to me, he said to show it to anyone we find" said Curtis as the woman looked at him in suspicion.

"Hmm" said the woman.

"Stand down" she said as all the men behind her withdrew their swords and she withdrew her sword as well.

"Who are you?" asked the woman as she looked at Curtis and she held the brooch in her hand.

"My name is Curtis, these are my friends, Annie, Maddie, Matt and Ollie" said Curtis as he introduced themselves.

"What is your relationship with the owner of this brooch?" asked the woman.

"We are friends with him" said Curtis as the woman looked at him, as if trying to decipher if there was any atom of truth in what he was saying, but she could see no deception at all, Curtis's eyes looked clear, besides, she knew that the owner of this brooch would never loose it, and neither would he allow anyone to take it away from him.

"Alright… they are saying the truth" said the woman as she turned to look at the men behind her, they all had confusion written on their faces for why they were asked to stand down, but they would not dare try to refute her orders, they knew better than that.

"Follow me" said the woman as she looked at Curtis and he nodded as she walked ahead of them past the wall as Curtis followed after her, and Annie and the rest followed after him, as the men followed behind them, as if guarding them from trying to run away or something.

"Umm, what just happened?" asked Maddie as she looked at Annie and she whispered as they walked and followed after the strange woman.

"I have no idea Maddie" said Annie as she whispered back, she was just as confused and curious as everyone else was.

"Curtis has some explaining to do, and how long has he had that brooch for, and where is it from?" asked Maddie as she whispered back.

"Stop talking" said the woman as she kept on walking and Maddie kept shut as she really did not want to be hurt by this extremely dangerous and strange woman.

…

"Just what in the world are we doing here? I suggest that we run away or something, these people are crazy" said Maddie as she looked at Annie, Matt, Ollie and Curtis as they were all sitting down in a room of some sort, that the strange woman had left them in as she left to who knew where.

"We are not going anywhere Maddie" said Curtis.

"Are you serious Curtis? These people shot arrows at us, they were literally going to kill us, and you say that we should just wait for that woman to return? No way Curtis, no way" said Maddie as she looked at Curtis and she shook her head as Curtis said nothing to her at all.

"Annie, can you talk some sense into this book? He's literally going to get us killed, all this people are crazy" said Maddie as she lowered her voice, she did not want to risk any of the other people outside hearing what she said, and then they would come in and actually kill them.

"Curtis, what is going on?" asked Annie as she looked at Curtis and Curtis just looked at her.

"I do not know for sure, but that woman is Ivor's friend, and we can trust her" said Curtis as Annie just nodded her head, she did not even know what to think at this point.

"And how are you so sure Curtis?" asked Ollie as Curtis looked at him.

"Thank you!" said Maddie as she looked at Ollie, for once, she agreed with him, were they the only sensible people here? Maddie already ruled out Matt because she knew that of course, he would be on Annie's side, and Annie was always clearly on Curtis's side.

"We all just need to keep calm and wait for what will happen next" said Curtis.

"That does not sound logical at all in anyway" said Maddie as she wondered if Curtis would see her point of view.

"*Ahem*" came the voice of the same woman as she opened the door and she entered into the room as they all turned to look at her and Maddie kept quiet.

"I apologize for the arrows shot at you earlier, some of you did not seem to like it" said the woman as she looked at Maddie and Maddie kept quiet, she had heard what she was said, she was so scared right now.

"It will not happen again, although I cannot make any promises" said the woman.

She had long brown hair, and brown eyes, and a very serious look on her face at all times as her sword was in its sheath pinned to her waist.

"My name is Katarina" said the woman.

"You can call me Katarina or Rina, whichever one you prefer" said Katarina as she looked at them.

"And I also apologize for pointing my sword at you, one has to be careful nowadays, you never know what hidden intentions people have within them" said Katarina.

"I do not take an offence, no hard feelings" said Curtis.

"Mhmm" said Katarina.

"Are you going to give me back the brooch that I gave you?" asked Curtis as Katarina looked at him.

"No, it belonged to me first" she replied as she sighed.

"Anyway on to more important things, what is your true relationship with Ivor?" asked Katarina.

"Like I told you, we are friends" said Curtis as he replied and Katarina scoffed, she did not believe that.

"Ivor doesn't have any friends, he's a lone wolf, tell me how you got this?" asked Katarina.

"Well sorry to say, but he has friends, and he gave it to me, he told me to use it as a precaution" said Curtis as he could sense that Katarina seemed to know Ivor very well.

"If you do not believe me, he also gave me this map" said Curtis as he handed Katarina the map and she looked at him as she reluctantly took the map as she looked at it.

It truly was in Ivor's handwriting, she was sure that he had made this map, she was even more sure that she was with him when he started to make this map.

"I believe you" said Katarina as she gave the map back to Curtis, now she was even more suspicious of these people, just who were they, and why were they here?

"Good" said Curtis.

"Now, you are going to tell me why you are all here? Who sent you, why you know Ivor, and what you are looking for here, and nothing but the truth, believe me, I will know if there are any lies" said Katarina as she skillfully brought out a dagger and she quickly stuck it in the wooden table.

"Cool" said Maddie under her breath.

"I am going to be unarmed, so you do not have to be scared" said Katarina as she removed her sword and she placed it on the ground.

"Now, start talking" said Katarina as she looked at Curtis, she could tell that he was the leader here.