Just outside the merchant village, Kasmira and Amberline wore their disguises. Amberline wore a matted brown wig and a peasant dress while Kasmira wore a silver wig with an enormous dress. Both wore black hooded cloaks over their clothes. Amberline grumbled, “If we must wear disguises, then why do we have to dress down? Why can’t we make ourselves look better than we normally do, like Cinderlla?”
“Maybe we can do that when we go to the nobleman’s village,” Kasmira suggested.
Amberline exclaimed, “That’s a fantastic idea! I’m going to make us all nice clothes, let Mac try and stop me!”
“Where will you get the material?” Kasmira asked.
Amberline answered, “Oh Heavens, I don’t know! I’m sure someone can supply us with something. The peasants are very helpful, maybe these people will be just as altruistic.”
They entered the village, and Kasmira was amazed by the simple beauty of this village. The architecture looked hastily made, but it was made of strong yet elegant wood. There were blooming flowers and nicely paved, cobblestone streets. The clothing of the villagers were clean and free of stains and holes. Every house contained either a shop of some sort or a market that sat below a house. The people seemed pretty friendly and worry-free. It was the type of place that was easy to feel at home in.
Amberline stopped Kasmira suddenly. “Look inside that apothecary!” she said in a very gossip-y tone.
Kasmria looked and saw a fairly handsome man in his early thirties with long brown hair, blue eyes, and stubble on his strong jaw line. He looked busy as he measured a vile of red fluid. Kasmira wasn’t sure what she was supposed to not of this scene, so she asked, “Do you know him or should I know him from the Rebllion or…why are we looking at him?”
Amberline sighed. “He’s gorgeous! Look, he’s also a pretty successful business man. And I bet he’s smart too! Just imagine if we were married; if I got sick, he’d be ready with a cure, mending me with those strong hands! He’s perfect!”
“Then why don’t you go talk to him?”
“Are you mad? I can’t just go in just to say hi! He has a business to run. He has to be ready for his customers. The only way I could talk to him properly would be if I was sick. Hey-there’s an idea!”
“But you’re not sick!”
“No, I can’t make myself sick, he would know. Oh, but I could be injured! Quick, break my legs!”
Kasmira didn’t reply. She looked at her like she was crazy, but she also looked pretty amused. Amberline told her, “Okay, at least just break my nose!”
“If you’re not going to talk to him, maybe we should keep moving,” Kasmira suggested.
Amberline sighed. “Fine, let’s keep moving.”
As they turned to leave, they didn’t realize that a couple of people were standing right in front of them, so consequently, they literally ran right into them. They meant to hastily apologize, but their mouths were frozen when they realized it was two Blood Warriors! One was thin from head to toe-thin body, thin mustache, thin hair. The other was old and large, rather like an ominous walrus. Before they could muster the courage to say anything, the thin one asked in a patronizing tone, “What are you two hens clucking about?”
Kasmira thought fast. “We’re from the peasant’s village, but we’ve enough gold to buy a small house here. Our husbands sent us here to look around, but my friend here is being a little naughty look at another-”
The thin Blood Warrior stopped her. “Silence, hen! I don’t speak in your clucking tone!”
The large Blood Warrior added, “Be careful of that young chap. We suspect he may be a wizard. In fact, I’m going to have a chat with him.”
As the large Blood Warrior waddles to the apothecary, the thin one told them, “Now, you hens flutter away like you do best.”
Amberline couldn’t help but say, “Please be nice to that young man! He’s harmless, really!”
The thin Blood Warrior insulted her, “Don’t waste your chicken mind on him! A man of his standing wouldn’t bother with the likes of you! Now, run along or I’ll boil you in some soup!”
Amberline was highly insulted. “You talk of me as if you were such higher class! Well, to me, you’re nothing but a-”
“Sorry,” he told her snidely, “I know you’re trying to talk, but all I can hear is bock, bock, bock!”
Amberline bit her thumb at him, and he looked affronted. Kasmira pulled Amberline away from his eye sight before anymore words could be exchanged. Amberline still shouted, “Yeah, you don’t need to understand our language to know what that means!”
From behind them, the girls heard the thin Blood Warrior ask a villager, “Did you see that hen bite her thumb at me?”
The merchant replied, confused, “Hens don’t have thumbs!” Amberline looked back to see the thin Blood Warrior pouting. They turned away and laughed.
When they were far enough away, Amberline pined, “Oh I hope my apothecary man is okay!”
Kasmira replied, “I’m just glad we managed to escape from them! You know, I used to think of the Blood Warriors as scary monsters, but that man just seemed ignorant.”
They walked around the village for a little while, not really talking to anybody else but just observed people selling and buying various goods. After about an hour, they had circled the whole village. Naturally, Amberline wantd to see if the apothecary was okay, so Kasmira agreed that they should go pass by. They headed in that direction when a door from an inn burst open and an old couple were thrown out into the streets. A sully inn keeper stood at the doorway and said, “On that last inspection, they almost found you! Thank God the cat just happened to be shifting around the attic or you would’ve been caught. Yes, you used to be my boss and you got me this job, but I’ve paid my debt. I can’t risk my wife and children’s home to harbor a couple of outlaws anymore! Find somewhere else to go! I’m not sorry!”
He threw out a couple of suitcases and slammed the door. As they picked themselves up and started to gather their things, Amberline and Kasmira approached them. Kasmira inquired, “Are you alright?”
The old man replied, “We’ll be fine. I’m sure someone can take us in. If not, we will try the peasant village.”
Amberline said to them, “We have a safe place for you to go-just beyond the hill by a river bend in the forest-”
The old woman interupted her, “We’re not going to risk our lives to help out a Rebellion of only a few people. They’re against the odds of succeeding. I’d rather live on the streets!”
Amberline objected, “But you’re outlawas either way! Why not use what time you have left to help a good cause?”
The merchant that the thin Blood Warrior talked to offered, “You don’t need to live with those doomed souls. I have a basement you could live in.”
The old man spat, “See, we’re fine! Leave us be!”
Kasmira desperately shouted, “But it won’t be your home for much longer!” They stopped to stare at her. She bravely spoke, “I heard from Prince Orlando himself that King Davidson wants to turn this place to another I.W.T.S.”
The old woman looked at her skeptically, “You have spoken to Prince Orlando?”
“Yes!” Kasmira was annoyed at their resistance to the truth. “We know a few people in the castle. Mad Queen Mary objected to his request but she hasn’t been seen or heard from in a while, so no one knows what will happen to the kingdom with only King Davidson in charge.” The old couple and the merchant softened somewhat but still looked skeptical. Kasmira gave up but said angrily, “Fine, don’t believe us. What if I’m right and you wake up in an I.W.T.S? I’m going to the Rebellion-even if it ends up not making a difference, at least I can say I wasn’t a catalyst to this reign of terror.”
Amberline and Kasmira started to leave, but someone grabbed their sleeves to stop them…
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