The main road was a flurry of activity when we got on it. People seemed to have found something exciting to talk about as the usual sound of merchants yelling out their wares had turned to an excited discussion between stall-owners and passing customers alike.

“Did you hear?”

“That was the Faceless One’s retinue.”

“I heard that they were recently attacked.”

“By who?!”

The town was abuzz with the talk. The broad highway was a dull roar of conversation. “Quit dawdling kid,” Frederick responded. God, why was he always so aggressive? It wasn’t too far before we turned off the highway. Apparently, the road was the Royal Road and further on it split off into three routes at the square. The same square that we had watched the public execution at. Further ahead an extensive line of traffic filled the street. Huge men that looked like stone statues walked alongside carriages, their size almost seeming to take up the same space as a carriage…

Wait a sec. Squinting my eyes, I looked closer at the men. They moved as fluid as a person, but I didn’t see anything that would hint of humanity. I think that those are statues. I pointed out the distant figures. “Frederick, what are those things?”

The muscular man shrugged. “I’ve only heard rumors, but those are Stone-Men.”

“Stone-men? Like they are men that look like stone?”

“I’m not certain, but apparently the Lord of their Realm created these statues to serve in their army.” I could feel my eyes widen in disbelief, Living Statues? It reminded me of Gargoyles but they didn’t look anything like what I would have imagined them to look like.

The group seemed to have stopped at the square its line of men, statues, carriages, and horses snaked forward following the middle road where a gate seemed to have halted their approach. Two people seemed to be discussing something, but I couldn’t make out any details.

As we stopped, orienting ourselves to the large group. I took note of the bulletin board near the entrance to the square. It was covered in parchments, many of them looking to have been recently put their, covered so much that you couldn't see the wood because of the sheer amount of papers posted to it. Most of the papers didn't seem very interesting, recruitment for the guard, church schedules, and a schedule for the government activities were the first few things I noticed.

But behind the recruitment papers just peeking out I saw the word "WANTED" posted. Pulling it out, curious, I encountered not one portrait but multiple, each listing crimes underneath their portrait. Many of them seemed to be Demi-Human, one especially caught my eye, a race that I had yet to see here.

The portrait seemed to have been a hand-drawn sketch, the man had a rough appearance, scaley appearance, narrow iris, and no hair. He had a reptilian appearance to himself, best thing I could think of was a lumberjack and a lizard-man had a child this man would be what it would look like grown up. 

 Regar Halfcreed, wanted for the kidnapping of the daughter of Noble Vin as well as crimes against the crown. Last seen at Market End, Twenty gold pieces his capture; five instead for delivery of his body.

"Hey what are you looking at?" A voice questioned gruffly, I turned my head to see Frederik loom over, his face visibly grimacing at the sheet of paper I was inspecting. "Come on, let's go." I took another glance at the paper before turning away and following Frederik.

The tavern was nearby; we took a side street so as not to get mixed up in the mess. God were those stone-men fascinating I just wanted to stare at them and draw them. “Fucking come on!” Frederick yelled. “Can you not see how busy it is in there? Quit gawking.”

Looks like he’s back in a bad mood. We came to a stop near a set of large wooden doors. Frederick started rummaging through his pocket; his brows knitted close. “Where the hell is it?” He grumbled.

While we were waiting for my thoughts went back to Rosary. Where had she gone? Hopefully, she’s back. It seemed like everyone was pissy, hell that included myself. But that girl never seemed to be mad. Sad yes, lonely too, but mostly she just seemed mischievous and cheerful.

“There it is.” Frederick pulled out a large bronze key; it still looked shiny. Which made me wonder, when they thought up this city or whatever the hell they call it, did that also mean they thought up every single key, window, door? Privy? How does that even work? The door opened without even a sound and we were immediately attacked by the sound of the patrons. It was busy.

Frederick and I quickly went to work unloading the supplies into the building. My stomach grumbled as the scent of seared meat reminded me that it had been nearly half a day since we left.

By the time we finished unloading the roar of voices had only escalated, I could barely hear myself. Jean walked by and with a smile told me that after we were done to get myself a plate. Frederick left, pulling the donkey and cart in tow, apparently, they didn’t own the cart but had instead rented it from an acquaintance as was usual.

I peeked over at the bar on my way down to the kitchen. It was just as crowded as it sounded, all the tables and seats were taken, though the patrons of the bar today seemed far different from the ones yesterday.

All of them were unnaturally pale as if their bodies had never seen the sunlight. Some of them even seemed to be Albino. All of the patrons had masks some of which were worn while they ate, the masks covering the upper half of their face. Others had them laying next to them as they ate. Every mask looked stylized and ornate and seemed to be made of some sort of metal though the inside seemed to be lined with a thin layer of fur.

None of the men or women seemed to be drinking alcohol and their conversations seemed far more subdued so much so that I could only guess that just the sheer number of people here made them seem so much louder.

“Ah, there you are!” Emma came up from behind me. Her breasts were still very much being suffocated, but it seemed that Emma had gotten used to the shirt. In both, her hands were trays of food.

“I’d ask if you’ve been busy, but it’s pretty obvious isn’t it.”

She shrugged, “I’ve worked worse. Jean said you could eat in your room.” Thank Raph-what ever his name. I hated crowds and didn’t like the idea of eating either alone in there or with random people. “Jean did say that you would be helping out after wards though,” Emma responded as if having read my mind.

“Gehh, I guess I don’t have a choice,” I responded discouragingly.

“Waitress, we’d like another serving.” A voice responded in the background.

“I gotta go, Daniel,” She turned to leave and even took a step but then stepped. Her face turned to face me again. Her eyes seeming to be worried about something. “Rosary is back, but she seems pretty shaken by something.” Then she waded into the sea of bodies.

Upstairs, the cacophony of voices died down to a minor hum. In my hand was a plate of food for myself and a bowl of food for Rosary. Opening the door to my room my eyes quickly started looking around. Where was she? The first place I looked was the bed, and she wasn’t there. I walked further into the bedroom, my bed had been made in my absence, and she wasn’t there either. Had she disappeared again?

For some reason that made me feel lonely, but that line of thinking was shattered. “Welcome back Daniel.” A cheerful voice said from behind, and then I got to feeling the reassuring… and just a little bit erotic feel of her breasts on my back. Wait a sec had she gotten larger? I don’t remember her. Ohhhh, my thoughts went haywire as they squished into me. My breath is coming to me just a little faster. Calm down Daniel, just calm down.

“Rosary where have you been?” I asked sitting down on the bed and putting out our meals. Rosary let go of her glomp and glided over to her food. Her red feathers were seeming to glisten in my eyes. I could feel myself getting excited again while looking at her sleek, exotic body.

She smiled at me, “I was just out enjoying the sun, you don’t need to worry about me.” A burden seemed to fall from my shoulders, did I feel relieved?

“Oh good, I was worried about you. Emma made me even more worried when she told me you were back.”

Blue and Hazel mixed eyes that seemed almost cat-like stared into my eyes. It seemed weird that I just now noticed the inhuman look of her eyes. “What did Emma say?” She asked, her head bobbing cutely.

“Oh, she just said that you looked upset.”

Rosary blinked and looked away, “I see,” she said noncommittally and refused to look back. A cool breeze meandered inside the room, Rosary shivered, though the shivering seemed to be a lot worse then what that breeze should have made it. Maybe she was extra sensitive to the cold? I closed the window and wrapped my hands around her body.

Rosary yelped in surprise, “What are you doing?” she squeaked cutely.

“You seemed cold. So I figured I’d help you warm up?” I realized just now that my hands were wrapped in a way that could very much seem like I was trying to molest her. Shit! I went to let go when I felt a sharp nipping pain. Rosary looked up at me, “Don’t you dare let go.” Her face seemed to have warmed, as a healthy flush of red were in her cheeks. “You’re right I was warm, now you’ve gotta keep me warm.” She snuggled into my hands. She did seem larger; I swear last time I could fit her in two hands, now it looked like I could only partially cover her.