A Journey Within the Realm
Chapter 5: The Traderobbers and Crystalstaff

There we were, preparing for battle against bandits. Miki unsheathed her sword.

“Okay… here’s the plan,” Miki began, “Randy; you stay behind us and be alert. Kuri; you’re great at using earth spells like fire and ground. Use those. Nori; can you process a bandit or two and make them attack their own kind?”

Nori nodded. Her eyes began to glow red.

“Good. I will attack using my sword,” Miki continued, “Get ready, Guys. Here they come!”

We got to our places. Miki glanced at everyone to make sure they were ready. Then, she noticed something about me.

“Randy,” Miki exclaimed, “Put your hood on. We don’t want them to know you are a man.”

I nodded and pull my hood up. Just then, the bandits arrived. The bandits split up into four groups. There were two groups of two; one fighting Miki while the other was battling Kuri. The third group, a group of three, was fighting Nori. Well… actually, only two were fighting her. She processed one of them and was battling the others. That left me to fight the last three bandits.

“Get away from me,” I yelled, swinging my staff.

“Then, give us your money,” replied the first bandit.

“I told you that I have none,” I yelled, backing up.

“Then, we’ll take you,” the same bandit replied, “Grab her, guys!”

The first bandit knocked away my staff while the other two grabbed me.

“Take her away,” said the bandit.

I looked over at my teammates. They had all won their battles while I was being carried away.

“Miki! Kuri! Nori! Help,” I yelled.

They heard me and started to rush over.

“Stop where you are,” the bandit commanded, “Give us your goods or this woman dies!”

As afraid as I was, I was more angry than afraid. Because of my anger, I started to struggle.

“Hey,” the bandit exclaimed, “Stop that wiggling! I’m warning you!”

“Let… me… go…,” I said, in a low growl.

The bandit started laughing her heart out.

“Let you go?” she asked, “Why should I? You are not going to be released until your friends cough up the goods or you’re dead.”

“I said, let me go,” I yelled.

Suddenly, I felt different. Sort of strange. Something that I had never felt before. It was like energy flowing through me. I watched as my three teammates backed up in puzzlement. I let out a scream and stomped the ground. To my surprise, it caused a small shock wave that made the two bandits holding me fly five feet backwards. Then, I pointed at the first bandit in anger, causing a lightning bolt to shoot out of the end of my finger and straight at the bandit. She shook wildly before falling to the ground. The other two bandits saw what had happen, got up, and ran for the hills. I looked at what I had done, dusted myself off, walked to my staff was, and picked it up. Then, I turned towards my team and shrugged.

“What the hell, just happened?” Nori asked.

“That’s what I want to know,” Miki replied.

“What did it look like?” I asked.

“You were glowing a white light around you,” answered Kuri.

“Yet another thing to tell the Elder,” I said, about to pull down my hood.

“Keep you hood on,” Miki whispered, pointing behind me.

I turned around and saw a farmer driving a horse-drawn carriage.

“Hullo,” said the farmer, “That was some magic you just preformed. What’s your name, Ma’am?”

“Uhhh…,” I stuttered.

“Her name is Ronnie,” Miki answered quickly, “But, you can call her Ron.”

“Nice to meet you, Ron,” said the farmer, “The name’s Jane. I have a farm over that hill.”

She pointed at the road behind her. You couldn’t see the farm because of the hill Jane mentioned.

“Where are you guys heading?” Jane asked.

“Crystalstaff,” Miki answered.

“Well, by golly! That’s where I’m heading,” Jane replied, “Would you four like a ride there? I can get you there by nightfall.”

“That saves us a day on foot,” Kuri said to Miki.

Before Miki could say anything, I masked my voice and agreed to the offer. As we got in, Jane asked if I didn’t mind sitting up front with her. I told her that I didn’t mind and got up onto the seat next to her. After Jane made sure that everybody was settled, she told the horse to start moving. There was silence for the first couple of hours. Jane was the one who started the conversation.

“What’s your business in Crystalstaff?” asked Jane.

“I need to meet with the Elder,” I replied, “What’s yours?”

“I’m selling milk,” Jane said, pointing to the back, “Have to make money somehow.”

I looked at the sky. The sun was setting. Jane nudged me in the side. When I turned towards her, she pointed in front of her. There, where she was pointing, was Crystalstaff at the bottom of the hill. Jane lit her lantern as the horse walked down the hill. Shortly after, the sky went dark. However, the moon had not come up yet. It took us ten minutes to reach the town.

“Here you go, ladies,” Jane said, stopping the carriage next to the shop, “Crystalstaff. I got you here by nightfall as promised.”

“Thanks, Jane,” I replied, getting off, “Hope your milk sells at a good price.”

Jane smiled as she waited for the rest of my group to get off. Once everyone was safely off, Jane waved good-bye as she had the horse move behind the store.

“It’s getting late,” Miki said, “Too late to see the Elder. We should find an inn for the night.”

We all agreed with Miki’s suggestion. As we walked to the nearest inn, I looked around the town. Almost every building was made of brick. Over at the town’s square stood statues of three women. They were all dressed in robes and were holding a staff in one hand, one also held some sort of orb. We found the inn near the square. After we entered, we walked over to the front desk. Miki rang the bell and the clerk popped up from behind the desk.

“May I help you?” the clerk asked.

“We would like three beds,” Miki answered.

“For how many nights?” asked the clerk.

“Just one for now,” Miki replied.

“Very good, Ma’am,” said the clerk, “I will ring for the bellhop.”

She rang a different bell and a bellhop appeared.

“You rang, Ma’am?” asked the bellhop.

“Yes,” the clerk replied, “Take these four ladies to room six.”

“Right away, Ma’am,” the bellhop said before turning towards us, “This way, please.”

The bellhop took the key from the clerk and showed us the way to our room. After the bellhop unlocked the door, she handed the key to Miki.

“Is that everything?” asked the bellhop.

“Are you still serving dinner?” asked Miki.

“I sorry Ma’am,” answered the bellhop, “We stop serving dinner at seven.”

I looked at the clock on the wall of the room. It read eight o’clock. We were one hour late.

“Can we have some sandwiches sent to our room?” asked Miki.

“Yes, Ma’am,” answered the bellhop, “What would you like?”

“Half turkey, half roast beef,” replied Miki.

“I will have it up right away,” the bellhop said.

“Thank you,” Miki said, giving the bellhop two silver coins, “I will give you a gold coin when you bring the sandwiches.”

“Thank you, Ma’am,” the bellhop replied, smiling, “You’re very kind.”

I watched as the bellhop went to fetch the sandwiches. I waited until Miki was inside before asking her what had been bothering me since we had checked in.

“Miki?” I asked, “We have three beds. Who’s sleeping in what?”

“Kuri’s sleeping in the dresser while Nori takes the bed farthest away from the window,” Miki answered, “You have the choice of which of the other beds you want and I will take the last one.”

“Gotcha,” I replied, “I’ll take the one closest to the window.”

“Then, I will take the middle one,” Miki said.

Just then, the bellhop returned with the sandwiches. Miki paid her the gold coin she promised and said good-night to the bellhop. We quickly ate our dinner, got ready for bed, and went to sleep. Well… everybody except me. I just lay in bed, staring at the moon. Tomorrow, I will hopefully find the answers to all my questions. I turned my head towards Miki. She was fast asleep. I checked Kuri. Same thing. I sat up in bed and looked around the room. The place was dark, but peaceful. Suddenly, I heard Nori move. I watched as she sat up and looked at me, rubbing her eyes. Her whole body was glowing dimly in the dark.

“You’re still up, Randy?” asked Nori, “What’s wrong?”

“Can’t sleep. I’m too awake,” I answered.

“How come?” Nori asked.

“Tomorrow, we’re going to see the Elder,” I replied, “I will finally get my answers.”

Nori floated over to me. When the moon’s light struck her, Nori’s eyes went from silver to red.

“That’s creepy,” I said.

“What?” Nori asked.

“Your eyes.”

“Oh… you mean that they change when the moon hits me? It shows when ghosts are about to haunt.”

“But, what about you? You’re not haunting.”

“I’m too young to haunt. I only know procession, being invisible, and dream eating.”

“What’s dream eating?”

“It’s where I can jump into people’s dreams. I can even control them if I wanted to.”

“That’s cool. Just try not to do it to us, okay?” S~ᴇaʀᴄh the Find ɴøᴠel.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“Sure. Well, I’m going back to bed. Try to get some sleep, Randy.”

“I’ll try. Good-night, Nori.”

I watched Nori as she floated back to her bed. Once she was asleep, I went back to staring at the moon.

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