" Are you sure Tobius gave us the right directions? This place seems shady af. Not our parents but hell even Emris herself won't be able to find us in this creep hole!" Helene said scrunching her nose. Rats were running everywhere and the roads had more pot holes than concrete . Gutters were filled with muddy water and it seems like maintenance was just a myth. Most of the vendors in the market had patched up eyes and wooden legs. They were ex convicts, the mages could tell. Even the weather contributed to the creepy atmosphere, as it was slightly raining and gloomy. While Luna and Helene were passing by each stall they heard plenty of men whistling at them," lost your way young ladies? I'll help you." One man with almost no teeth said, baring what was left of a smile." If you want to keep your other two teeth with you, I would suggest you to leave us alone." Luna said while gripping her sword, giving him a deadly glare." Feisty I see. You may leave. But you are missing out on a fine diamond ladies!" They heard the man yell while they were at least 15m away. " Heard that one before pal!!" Helene yelled back without looking back at him.

" We might have to ask from someone, Hells. I mean we roamed all through this market and found nothing named ' the Knight's manner' whatsoever." Luna said while still looking around trying to find the place. " If that Tobius lied to us I will kick his arse hard so that he won't even feel he has one." Helene said while looking around mimicking the same as her cousin. "I'm going to ask that guy. He seems pretty decent." Luna said while pointing from her nose at a vendor who was cutting fish. " You call that decent? Are you blind?!" Helene said while making sure her sister didn't grow any horns on her head." "Who else then! The guy there who was looking at us while we roamed this whole market! Oh there's one, pretty sure he is selling some illegal substance. Ah! That one who is literally selling swords while holding a freaking machete himself! Oh an..."; " okay! Okay! You proved your point! Ask from the decent fish guy who is also holding a knife which looks like a freaking sword to me.!" Helene retorted." Much more like it." Luna said while striding towards the fish mart.

" Hello Mr. I'm looking for a place called ' the Knights manner', would you please help us with directions.?" As soon as she ended the word directions the man beheaded the fish with a huge thud." Ouch! " Helene gasped silently while Luna gulped, still keeping her hard posture without breaking character. If anyone knew they were royal mages they wouldn't survive a second. This was an illegal market for Emiris sake. Just when Luna looked back at her cousin because the guy said nothing, the only thing she saw was darkness. She went to a deep slumber and 'it's not even night time 'was the last thing her mind silently said.

Luna was once again under the familiar tree laying her head on the man's lap. " What's wrong love?" The stranger who no longer felt like one asked her without taking his head from the book he was Reading. " No, you are here. I'm okay." His light chuckle was enough for Luna to feel at home. Psst Lulu! lulu!! Helene! What are you doing here!" Luna's eyes slowly opened and her head was pounding with a massive headache. " Ughh" Luna said, trying to sway away the dizziness of the eyes. " Are you okay?!" Helene said while looking worriedly at her cousin. "Yeah.. yeah I'm okay! Where are we? Wha...why can't I move my hands?" Luna said while trying to untangle her hands, still trying to shake away the feeling. " For your information we got kidnapped and currently held hostage in this creepy cell" Helene said, waiting for Luna to get back to her senses. " A cell? " Luna looked around the small room which was almost dark and was reeking a rotting smell. " Remind me to ask the king to upgrade our jail cells. We can't let anyone stay In a place like this.!" Luna said, still investigating the cell they were bound up to. " Tea time is over ladies! The boss is asking for you" a man who had blonde hair and from his physique a very tough man opened up the cell. He had a prominent scar on his left eye and thankfully somehow the eye was not damaged entirely. He had a muscular physique and looked as if he alone could win a fight with thirty men. Non uttered a word as the man was leading them through a small doorway. He didn't even try to look back to see whether the captures escaped somehow. Guess he was pretty solid about his skills, and just kept on leading the now confused girls through which felt like endless hallways. As they saw a huge door at the end, the Guy gestured them to move forward and so they did. There they saw the name, ' the Knight manner' written in gold on a wall. " Guess the Knight manner' found us instead." Luna said while leaving a heavy sigh. " Mhm it sure did" Helene agreed to her sister. " Stop talking and move!" The guy said while pushing Helene and Luna forward who almost Kissed the floor to his force. " O Emris! Chill my guy!" Helene said while puffing a white lock of hair off her face.

They entered a study room decorated with a darker shade of red and gold. Who ever owned this manner was certainly wealthy for their own good. "kneel!" The guy pushed the girls to the ground as both slumped down on their knees. " Not a very polite way to treat your guests I must say." Helene said while looking at the man who seem to have no facial expression on his. Not even frown, and certainly not a smile. They heard the door open to the study and a man who was wearing all black from head to toe came in. "Guess we found your match sis!" Helene remarked through the link. "not a good time to play match maker hells" Luna frowned at Helene," just because a guy wears black doesn't mean he is my type." Luna looked at the man who was now taking a seat on a red chair behind a huge wooden desk. He was covering his head with hood and a mask and the only thing which was possible to see was his eyes.

His ocean blue eyes were looking directly at Luna's midnight black eyes, she could have sworn she had seen them somewhere. The gaze, somehow felt familiar, as she tried to remember where and when she first saw those soul piercing eyes, she began to feel her memory slowly slip away, it felt intoxicating... She shrugged off the thought of ever meeting that man and focused her mind on the mission." What brings you mages to my manner." The man asked looking at the girls. " I thought the owner was some old man, but you seem young." Helene said rather sarcastically. " Sorry to disappoint you mage....but just tell me why are you here.?" He finished. " Who told you we are mages. We are just travelers who lost our way." Luna said rather convincingly." Darling do I look dumb to you. Your tattoos forgot to cover them up I see." The blue eyed man chuckled. "Shit!" Helene spoke through the mind link. The tattoos were something very important to each kingdom.. the kingdom of Otos was represented by an owl while Viltarin by a raven. Not only the kingdoms, even the defenders, healers and hunters possessed their very own tattoo. " You are a defender while you are a healer." The man said while gazing down at them." So ask away. What do you need from us? This will be the last time I'm going to ask this and better tell me the truth because I do hate liars." The man said rather coldly. Luna inhaled a sharp breath and started talking while Helene was praying not to get killed by some random man in Arianrhood, which in her opinion was worse than dying. " We want to get to Viltarin. They stole something precious from us and we need to get it bad as soon as possible. And for that we need your help." Luna looked directly at the man while speaking the truth but not entirely." Okay? But don't you have a tunnel system just for that." He retorted. " Yes we had a tunnel. But not anymore. At Least for a while. It was ruined by the same criminal who stole our precious thing." Luna made sure to be careful with each and every word she uttered from her mouth. If they knew the princess was missing then they'll surely do something wicked to their kingdom." Very well then. May I ask what that valuable thing is?" The man was interesting. He was a gentleman who knew his way with talking. " That is classified information only for us. We would like to keep it private. " Helene said without even trying to look at the man. She wanted to get this done soon. "It's your luck that I have some business to take care of in Viltarin.. I, myself will go there tomorrow. Perfect timing I would say. But to take you there, what do I get in return?" He stood up from his chair and walked around the table to get to the girls. " What do you need?" Luna asked while examining his every move towards them. He bent down to Luna's eye level and said, " would you give me anything I need then?" ; "Depends.... But sure anything you need " Luna said without breaking eye contact. She came this far and was not going to back down even if Emris herself would have told her to so. " I'm a man who keeps his promises. So give me and my group invitations for the princess's upcoming courting ceremony." He said getting back up. " You think you have a chance with the princess?" Helene spoke up looking all amused at the guy in front of her." Oh no I just wanted to go an enjoy a party. That's all, '' he said, almost annoyed at her remark. " Okay we'll get you the invitations even though I'm not very much pleased with it. Just take us to Viltarin with you tomorrow." Luna inclined. " Your wish is my command darling." The guy said while chuckling. " Logan untie them. We can't treat our guests that way now can we?" The guy sat down once again. " Now you give us hospitality." Helene huffed while the blonde brute whose name was Logan untied them. As he did he glared at Helene for her sarcastic comment "I mean I'm not complaining " Helene said flashing him an awkward smile. " Oh where are my manners? I'm Damien Alexander Knight. The real owner of the night manner. And the old guy you were talking about is actually my butler Olfius who manages everything." Damien said while winking at the two girls. " Was that supposed to swoon us or something? '' Helene mocked. Damien chuckled at her childish behavior and said, '' well this is Logan as I said earlier," the guy nodded slightly " and the others you can meet later. Now would you mind telling me who you are?" He gazed back and forth at the two girls. " I'm Luna Archwood and this is my cousin Helene Archwood," Luna said, thinking that telling their real names was a wrong move. "Hello," Helene said, rather uninterested. " We will leave tomorrow morning at dusk Logan will show you to your rooms and dinner will be also served in your rooms. I don't want you to roam around the mansion." Damien left without speaking any further. " Come with me." Logan once again led the girls to their rooms.

They were surprised and pleased about the room they got . They were sharing one room with two queen size beds. The room was huge and very cozy and smelt like vanilla. Both were lying on their specific beds when Helene broke the silence. " Lulu, do you think we made the right decision by trusting this Damien guy.?" Helene was looking at the beautiful chandelier hung up on the ceiling. " I don't know hells. I'm hoping that we made the right choice. There's no other way left for us rather than this. So either go inside the devils border by ourselves and get killed by some stinky beast or just go with someone who really does know their way inside the forest." Luna said with a deep sigh thinking over their very eventful day. " Yeah, do or die I guess." Helene said while closing her eyes. After what seemed like 10 minutes the room was filled by light snoring sounds coming from the two exhausted sisters. The beds certainly did their magic for making these two warriors sleep without even thinking that they're in someone else's place who probably can not be trusted.

What will the future hold for them and did they make the right choice by trusting Damien, whoever this guy was. So many unanswered questions were drowning them in their own minds even during their deep slumber.