Much to her annoyance, Natalya was not allowed to leave the house. She went straight from being locked up in the crusty old guy’s house to being stuck Lord Henry’s house. The problem wasn’t that she was held up for a day or two – she could tolerate some inconveniences; the problem was that she hadn’t been able to do anything she wanted from the moment she stepped foot in Valcadia.

When she lived in Alnwick, she would always pester the travelers for their stories, their stories and experiences with food. Sometimes she would hear about the delicate and artistic dishes from the Wood Elves with their berries and fruits. Other times, she would hear about the dragon-fire grilled meat of the dragon tribes. She heard so many stories about foods and recipes, but the ones that stood out the most were the ones from Valcadia. It wasn’t because they had the most unique cooking styles and recipes or the most exotic dishes and restaurants; it was because Valcadia was a hub of cultures and people from all over the world, it blended the different food dishes and cooking styles from all over. Down in Valcadia, you could get a taste of anything and everything, but the only food Natalya ever got to taste was the cooking of some random inn and whatever dish she could throw together by raiding the pantries of others.

The reason was the man sitting in front of her gazing out the window. Suran was an interesting guy – no one she had ever met was quite like him. There was something off, something different, about him she just couldn’t put her finger on. When Alnwick got raided, she figured there would be no better time to leave, and this curious man coming along gave her someone to follow and keep things interesting. Curiosity caused her to follow Suran.

But things really didn’t turn out exactly how she imagined. She learned virtually nothing about Suran. He hated questions. He really hated questions about himself. He hated small talk. In the end, he would only talk if there was something that needed to be said. Getting any conversation out of him felt like an accomplishment, and anything he did say sometimes made little sense. Now she couldn’t even get him to say pretty much anything. Suran was sitting almost lifelessly, looking out the window. Ever since last night when he rescued her, she could tell something was unusual about the already unusual man; he killed the old lady when there were probably better alternatives. It didn’t seem like the sort of thing the man who fought bandits an Alnwick would do.

Maybe she just didn’t know him well enough. It hasn’t even been two full weeks since they first met. At any rate, she could deal with a man who said nothing – she had lived with far worse anyways. What she couldn’t deal with was getting on this wild ride of a request and not being able to do anything she wanted to do. Sure it was fun, going out and doing detective work, breaking into people’s homes, and causing a mess in the city, but what she really wanted to do was explore the food in the city, something she barely got to do.

As of now, she was stuck here because it was ‘too dangerous’ to leave the house. Natalya didn’t understand how since Henry Reginald left early in the morning to go report the crusty old guy to the police. If that guy was the one making everything dangerous, and he is getting arrested, why would it be dangerous to go out?

She couldn’t follow everything that was going on, and at this point, she didn’t even care anymore. All she understood was that whatever that was going on wasn’t done yet so she had to find some way to kill time. She cycled through various activities from bothering Suran to bother Keira to going in and out of the pantry to see if anything new was in there. Sprawled out on a couch, she resigned herself to tossing nuts into the air and trying to catch them with her mouth. The success rate was passing, good enough for her.

As if to deliver her from this hell, Baron Reginald came swooping in like an angel. “It is done; the case was made.”

Suran, who had not moved an inch since Lord Henry left hour ago, turned to Reginald, “What was the result?”

“Well, the King said he would look into it. His words virtually assure an investigation will be opened up for our dear friend Hendrick von Auer. Until then, I reckon it would safe to do whatever it is you were needing to do; the last few days have been hectic after all and I imagine you have other business in the city.”

Natalya’s eyes lit up. Did she just hear that right? It was safe to go out and do what she wanted? Suran turned back to the window and said, “No, there is nothing I need—”

She was not going to let this opportunity go to waste. Natalya hastily got up, spilling all the nuts that littered over her, ran over to Suran, grabbed him by the arm, and dragged him out of the chair and through the door. “What do you mean there is nothing? Don’t you remember the important stuff we have to do?” Surprisingly, Suran gave little resistance as Natalya strong-armed him out.

After being dragged out into the lawn, Suran finally wrestled himself free, “What are you doing?”

“Look here,” she said swirling around, hand on her hip and wagging her finger, “We spent the last two weeks working to get into the adventure’s guild for some reason I can’t even remember. I’m not sure if you know what you’re doing, but I sure as hell do! I came here to take in the food of Valcadia, to taste the savoriest dishes, and to find the best recipes. Now that I’m free to do it, I will go out and do that. And you are coming with me.” Natalya swiveled back around and marched outside to the street. Suran hesitantly followed her.

Natalya bounded through the streets. It was a glorious, sunny day, the faint aroma of food and burning lingered in the air, and she was free. Her nose served as their guide, and quickly the two found themselves surrounded by merchants selling spice and ingredients, food stands whipping up food, and elegant restaurants dining patrons.

She browsed through the stalls, going from vendor to vendor. Many ingredients and spices sold she had never seen before. She went from merchant to merchant, pestering each of them what this spice was used for or what that ingredient was, exhausting all of their knowledge.

All the ingredients had her curiosity, but the stalls serving up food had her attention. It was amazing to see the cooks handle several dishes at once, going from throwing spice in one dish to dicing meat to stirring another dish in the blink of an eye. At the same time, as they were going through the flurry of cooking motions, they were also keeping track and every customer, taking their orders and serving them swiftly.

While she was engrossed in the cooking stands, contemplating on grabbing a bowl of noodles from vendor or a crunchy meat platter from another, Suran tapped her shoulder and whispered into her ear, “Be careful, there are armed guards everywhere.”

She stopped in the crowd and looked around. There did seem to be armed knights standing around and patrolling the area, but she didn’t think much of it. “Why? Is there something to worry about?”

“While I rescued you, there was a coordinated attack on the docks. Reginald told me that the damage was substantial; nearly the entire harbor was on fire till morning. The guards must be placed to prevent another incident, so we need to keep our heads down.”

“Keep our heads down? It’s not like we did anything in relation to what happened last night, right?”

“Not entirely correct.”

Natalya rolled her eyes, “Of course, why would I think otherwise. Whatever, who cares. We just won’t cause trouble then.” Suran was suspicious on alert, but Natalya thought his cause of concern was unfounded; he was just being overly paranoid.

Taking his arm again, she dragged him to a food stand. They were selling slices of meat on a stick that were dipped into a vat of boiling liquid. After a few moments, they take out the meat which was turned a crispy, golden color that made her mouth water. She ordered two. Nearly drooling, she eagerly took both sticks and immediately devoured one. It had a crispy, crunchy outer layer which hid the soft, tender meat inside, a type of dish Alnwick had never seen before.

With one stick out of the way, she immediately chomped down on the other one, biting it clean. She tossed both sticks aside, “Wow, that was good!” She never had something like this before and wondered what other dishes could make use of this boiling-to-a-crisp style.

“Was it?”

Oops, she thought. She was so hungry, she forgot about Suran. “Yeah it was. Forgot to ask, did you want one?”

“No, not really.” His voice had no emotion at all. Despite saying no, Natalya felt bad she didn’t ask and ignored him and both another for him. He reluctantly accepted and nibbled on it as she continued her adventure. She didn’t stop until her stomach would accept no more food and the stalls were closing down, preventing her from even trying to shove more food down her throat.

“It’s time we go,” Suran said.

Natalya popped a chocolate in her mouth, desperately trying to finish the dessert she had purchase, and licked her fingers clean. “I guess it’s time.” Suran nodded and began walking down the street, leading the way back to Reginald’s home. Natalya followed him, but first, she tossed her candy wrappers into a disposal bin on the street and on top of a half-eaten stick of crunchy meat.

The two casually went back to Henry Reginald’s house and retired for the night.

Natalya was rudely awoken the next morning due to a boisterous ruckus the next morning. Groggily, she got up, got dressed, and headed out from her guest room to see what was going on. The house was being turned upside down by Henry and a bunch of other fancily dressed people she had never seen before. No one seemed to acknowledge she was awake so she had to listen to the hectic discussions between the men to figure out what was going on. It sounded like they were all going to the castle because the King had made some sort of decision. Suran mentioned the other day that the crusty old dude was getting investigated so maybe it had to deal with him.

Moments later, everyone began filing out of the house, and Natalya decided to tag along without telling anyone. If she had asked anyone, she guessed the answer would have been no and there was no fun in that.

She went along – and no one seemed to notice – as Reginald, Suran, and a few other people she had never seen before headed towards the castle that stood above all of Valcadia. The castle was as gorgeous as it was daunting, but it took really long walk to get there, so Natalya could only think of her aching feet.

The castle was enclosed in a huge fort and the group was received by guards who opened the gates to let them in. She walked in at the back of the pack, feeling out of place; she was in a group full of people dressed in fancy clothes surrounded by another group of people who dressed in intimidating armor and swords.

They were led through the courtyard of the inner walls which led various other buildings towards the castle. At the door at the castles, they were stopped and vigorously searched by the armed men for any weapons. While her friends didn’t seem to notice her, the guards certainly did, but they didn’t give her as much trouble compared to Suran, Reginald, and the others. More armed men led them inside the castle itself.

“Natalya, why are you here?”

She jumped, startled. Someone had finally noticed she was here. “I’ve been here the whole time.”

“We are going to meet the king,” Suran said. It was a simple statement, but it sounded like a warning to Natalya to not do something stupid.

Finally, the group was brought to a final stop outside a massive black door decorated in green. It was a fancy door, so it must be the entrance to the throne room, she thought.

The next moment, the grand doors swung open, revealing the throne room to no surprise. She walked in with Suran at the back of the group down a rich green carpet with black borders. At the end of the carpet, sat upon an elevated black throne was the King of Valeryia, King Alexander. He looked past his prime, but still fit enough to be sane. His light blonde hair was slick without a single stray hair. Even though he was sitting, she could tell he was a tall man.

Reginald led the group up to him then kneeled. Everyone behind him followed suit, including her and Suran.

“Rise.” Everyone got up. “I call you here, Baron Reginald, to give you my verdict.” King Alexander was stoic, but his voice commanded the room. Everyone was holding their breath. “The Black Paladins looked into the matter, and found your concerns to be well-founded.” A collective sigh of relief emitted from Reginald and his colleagues. “He has been stripped of his title and holdings. For bringing this matter to light, Baron, you shall be compensated for your efforts from his wealth.”

“T-thank you very much, my King.” He took a bow, “You are too generous.”

“Is that the man you mentioned?” Alexander pointed toward Suran. As a response, Suran moved up to the front.

“Yes he is, my King,” Reginald answered.

“Tell me, foreigner, what is your name?”

“Suran. Suran Ibrahim.”

The King nodded his head and leaned back in his throne. “I shall leave his reward to you, Baron. See that he is properly taken care of.”

“O-of course! I will reward him appropriately.”

King Alexander stood up from his throne, “Come with me to the windows,” he said, motioning over to his left. “After this, you may be dismissed.”

It sounded like a request, but everyone treated it as a command. Reginald and his colleagues swiftly took towards the window while the King slowly walked up. Natalya took up a spot right next to Suran.

Through the window, she could see a garden that was splattered in color. At the center was a clearing with a wooden riser. On top of the riser was a guillotine with the crusty old guy locked underneath it. He looked like he was beaten to a pulp, making it hard to recognize him through all the swelling, bruises, and lacerations.

“Hendrick von Auer shall pay for his crimes here and now,” the King declared.

Natalya turned to Suran and whispered, “See, Suran? There is nothing to have been worried about! As soon as he cuts this guy’s head off, you will be free to do whatever you want. I know I dragged you along for my stuff yesterday, but today we can do whatever it is you want to do.”

“I can do whatever I want?” He asked quietly.

“Sure, why not? There won’t be anything stopping you – I mean you have a life after all, there must be something you want to do right?”

“I’m going to step outside…” Suran said, turning away from the window and feebly walking away.

Natalya shrugged, “Suit yourself.” Suran left, and she turned her attention to Hendrick who was placed underneath the guillotine. A man garbed in black walked up to the mechanism and prepared the guillotine. When it was ready to go, the man turned towards the window and looked at the King. Alexander nodded his head and waved his hand. The executioner nodded and the guillotine fell, slicing Hendrick’s head clean off. Natalya winced and muttered, “Brutal.”

The King left the window and walked back to his throne, “He was but one man. The Black Paladins will work tirelessly to out his conspirators.”

It was finally over, Natalya thought. She chuckled to herself because she found it funny that they went through all this work to try and get into that adventure’s guild. It didn’t help that she forgot she had the money to pay for the fees the entire time. Now Reginald can work his end of the deal and get them in, but the question was, what next? Suran never really mentioned what exactly he wanted to do after. All he said was trying to find the end to his journey, or something like that. It didn’t make that much sense anyways.

She shrugged. If he didn’t know what he was doing, it was his problem. As long as she could tag along and do what she wanted, all was well. She exited the throne room with Reginald and the others.

Outside the throne room, Natalya looked around. She couldn’t find Suran. She waited till Reginald and the others left, and still couldn’t find him in the empty hallway. The guards posted outside didn’t know where he went either. She frowned and rubbed her chin. Where did Suran go?”

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Part 1 End

Apologies to anyone who read the story and was disappointed by my vanishing after Chapter 17. After getting tied up with work and college, my time ran short and I quickly lost track of posting the chapters here since I mainly operated on a wordpress site. None the less, I was working on it in my spare time and finally finished part one of the story as evident by the slew of chapters I have just thrown up.

Before getting to part two, I might be taking a break (sorry -- it might just seem I came back) to collect my notes and plans and finalize part two. At the same time, I might test the water with other stories and narratives just to get a taste of something new, but this will be my main project. On that note, I do not think I can effectively maintain my chapter postings and updates here, so instead of doing a half-assed job which has been evident here, I invite anyone who enjoys my writing to follow my wordpress. I am more apt at keeping stuff relatively on track there as opposed to running around and making sure I have kept up everywhere.

On an unrelated note, I would like to talk about how the story is progressing. Right now I think things are going find, even though I would very much like to revise some of the earlier portions -- another project for another time. However, I can't objectively critique my own writing; I'm deaf to my own flaws. I don't know what I'm doing right nor do I know what I am doing wrong, so if anyone has any critique, be it about something good or something bad, please let me know! I enjoy writing and I enjoy the story I am crafting, but I want to do it justice.

Finally, I tried to do the extra lore project, as evident by that one random posting asking about lore, but I got caught up between all my commitments and writing the actual story, it kind of fell through. Now that I am taking a step back and looking over everything, I have freed myself up to do a little bit of extra lore if that is something people want. Instead of constricting to that poll, I would rather people just ask what they want to know about and I might make entries to address some of those questions in full.

Again, I apologize if it seemed like I disappeared to anyone who was wanting to read more of the story. I originally used my wordpress before trying to branch out to other places, but found it to be something that slipped my mind rather easily. If you are keen and reading more of my writing as I finish it, the best bet would be to go to the wordpress because I cant guarantee I will ever remember to update here. To all of those who have been reading and enjoying the story, thanks! And to those who read everything up till here but didn't enjoy it or like it, congratulations for slogging through and subjecting yourself to 24 chapters of this.

Thanks for reading,

Linus