A Black Cat

No windows were facing the road that we rode down, but I was mostly just focusing on the road ahead of me. The two of us kept a steady pace, and no one came out to talk to us or even look at us.

It was an eerie feeling though, I could feel eyes on me from everywhere. Thankfully it didn't take very long to get to the only building in the two with any color that wasn't off white or grey.

The Red Merchant was a dusty red squared building with a single low sloped roof. As we dismounted I was able to briefly notice. There was a window on the top floor, but I only saw the bottom of it, and I dared not look higher.

We tied up the horses in silence and then I followed Tim up a small flight of steps up to a brown wooden door without any detail. Tim opened the door, and we walked inside and there was a counter, but there were no goods displayed.

The entire place was very bland with nothing on the walls and a wooden counter that had a door behind it. We both stood silently waiting, but soon the door opened, and a very plain looking man with very little in the way of distinguishing features, or characteristics walked out.

He was a bald head man with an orange housecoat on. The man was wearing a blank expression, almost looking at us stupidly, but I waited to see what was going to happen.

"What chu want? Chu inside naw, chu can look up here at me!" The man said talking in a weird and drawn way.

Both of us stood up straight and took our hoods off, and the man waved us forward. The man smiled when he looked at Tim.

"Woah, it's chu, chu dat nif guy, right? Chu been here before, but who dis?" The man asked, pointing at me.

"Dalphonse, this is Kiada, Guild Leader of The Red Legion, and my leader as well. We need to get some supplies, and then we will be on our way, just like always. Can you help us?" Tim asked Dalphonse.

"She got da seal?" He asked.

"Yes," Tim said.

"Can I," But I cut the weirdo off.

"No, I would like to buy the needed supplies and then I will speak to your master to seal the deal and pay. Please take our order and we can be on our way."

I spoke firmly, and there was a pause, and the man looked at me for a moment, thinking about something, maybe breakfast. Then, Dalphonse nodded and extended a hand, and Tim handed him a list of everything that we would need.

Gastbo had written it out for us before we left to make things quicker, and so nothing was forgotten. Dalphonse nodded after looking at the list and told us that the master would be out shortly as he got the order ready.

I turned away from the counter after the man left back through the door. I took a deep breath in and let it out. We just had to get through this and we could leave. So far the people just seemed weird, but I had only just met one.

I wonder if they all walked around in housecoats like that? I would have to ask Tim after we left. I didn't want to talk, Tim had seemed pretty paranoid, and that usually meant trouble, so I kept tight-lipped the entire time.

After about an hour, an older woman in a purple housecoat came out, squinting at me. She didn't even glance at Tim, he was on the other side of the room.

"Are you the Guild Leader, Kiada?" The old woman croaked.

"Yes, Are you Leader of the Red Merchant, Grena?" I replied with my own question to get confirmation so I didn't mess it up.

"Yes, eight hundred gold pieces, and proof that you are the Leader, and our business is done here," The old woman croaked.

She had black hair in a big loose bun that shook as she talked until a black cat crawled out and made itself more comfortable. She paid it no mind and extended her hand across the wooden countertop.

I stepped forward and showed her my left arm, where all the black bars were tattooed. she nodded and pulled back while I pulled out the single platinum coin, and handed it over.

"You know we can make no change?" Grena said in confusion.

"It's okay, I would just like to get going without any problems. If this will help ensure this, then we will take our goods and leave your peaceful small village," I said with a smile, and Grena gave me the barest of smiles, but it was better than nothing.

Dalphonse was already outside and loading the supplies into our saddlebags quietly without talking. We got on our horses, we had already put our hoods back on and we just waited until Dalphonse was down, and then turned and headed out of town.

Once we were about ten minutes outside of the town, we started to pick up the pace. I wanted to ask about the strange way the people talked and a bunch of other things, but it was already starting to get dark.

I needed to keep my eyes focused on the road ahead, we needed to get back to the camp now that this was over.

We were lucky, the sun stayed up with us for most of the ride back, and we came up to the bend but no lights were coming from up ahead. Panic hit me like wildfire, and I looked over at Tim, but his face was filled with concern.

We raced over to where we had helped set up camp, and they were gone. Everything was gone, there wasn't a trace of them other than the fire pit and the marks where we had parked.

They were gone.