Knights of Rhimellot (Day 2)

The sun peeked through the window directly onto us. Katli has intertwined her arms and legs around me like a giant chain. I squirmed trying to free myself from her grasp, but she didn’t budge. I sighed as I waited for her to wake up.

I nearly dozed off again before she let out a humongous yawn that could rival a wolf’s howl. I saw her open her ember eyes and she got a look at me.

“Ew!” She yelled. “Get off of me, creep!” She pushed me off of her and off the bed.

“Me? You were the one tangling me up against your body!” She pauses for a second.

“Well you were in the way of the blanket.” I scoffed at her as I began to put back on my armor. “Whatever, let’s get going.”

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As we made our way through the town, I had noticed a small potion shop that I hadn’t seen last night. The words “TALEBA’S TRINKETS & TONICS” were proudly etched into the green painted wooden sign.

“C’mon, Katli, let’s see what they have.” Neither of us were really into using magic, but we had not idea what we were going to encounter on the way.

The inside was not what I expected. The wooden shelves held various glass bottles of multi-colored elixirs, enchanted weaponry, and spellbound materials. Hanging along the walls and dangling from the ceiling were dream catchers, painted banners, and placemats for rituals. The place was very high brow and ornate, it felt too premium for us.

“Excuse me, kind sir.” I heard from in front of me, I had almost walked straight into an Anubis. She wore nothing but a purple loincloth, bra, and a golden crown. She held a broom in one paw and a bottle in the other. She stared up at me, I was considerably taller than her. “Are you here looking for any specific item?” She asked. I assumed she was Taleba.

“Not now, thanks.” I carefully turned down an aisle of shelves making sure not to break anything, Katli following behind me. The various potions had a variety of powers, both physical and mental. These were including, but not limited to; invisibility, mind control, stealth, lust, and others.

“Get some of these!” Katli suggested from behind me, she pointed at a bottle of green liquid. It was labeled “MONSTER MARROW THE DEVIL DRUG”.

“Hell no.”

“How do we even know this isn’t a scam anyway. Hey furball! Do these things even work?” She yelled out to the Anubis, I was obviously not for the name. The Anubis looked at her with a stern look and threw a bag of powder at her. Katli coughed at the pink dust that now surrounded her. “Hey! What’s the...” Paused with a puzzled look on her face. “Where are we, Eric?” She asked.

“W-what did you do to her?” The Anubis shrugged.

“I proved my magic works, erased the last 10 minutes of her memory. Are you interested?” I grabbed Katli by her arm and we promptly left.

“What was with that uppity bitch?”

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Day two of traveling went without issue, only stepping aside to kill a cow for more food. Night fell and came a terrible storm. We rushed through the woods, and came across a castle seemingly out of nowhere.

The brown brick exterior was laid out in a rectangle, four tall keeps stood in the corners. There were no windows on any of the walls, and the walkways had tall battlements enough to guard several people. Katli and I walked to the wooden overarching doors that we believed to be the entrance, and knocked several times. After about a minute, one door meekly opened to reveal a short Kikimora.

“H-hallo. Who is eet?” She spoke in a heavy French accent.

“This is Eric and Katli from the Rhimellot village. Whose castle is this?”

“Thees is tha cassel of my masteh, Lord Graham.” I could tell she struggles with English, but I had no idea how to speak French.

“Please go and tell your master that we have been charged by King Gilliam with a quest to kill the beast of Blackholde. If he will give us food and shelter for the night, he can join us in our quest.” I explained. The Kikimora stood there with a frown.

“Well, Ai’ll ask heem, but I dunt theenk heel be vury keen. Pleese wat heere.” She closed the door on us and walked inside.

“That went better than I expected.” Katli admitted. We waited out in the rain for a while before she opened the door.

“Lord Graham has akseepted yor rekest. Pleese fallo me.” Katli and I high fives as we followed the maid into the castle, winding through a maze like interior before she stopped at a door. “Heer is yor room.” I thanked her as we walked in, only one bed, nothing else.

“Better here than the rain.” I said. Katli ran to the bed and jumped in. “Save some room for me.” She scoffed.

“Don’t touch me again.” I took off my soaking armor and laid down for another nights rest.