Chapter 47 - 48. Grandmother
When we arrived, I rolled down from the horse mane because I could not use my wings. Naar's horse feet almost stepped on me and I vomited all my breakfast. It was my first experience riding that animal. I felt some strange sensation in my stomach. I ever took a carriage with Hana or flew with Kerberos. But honestly this felt much worse than my previous experience with them, the content of my stomach was like stirred into one.
Before I come back to my normal state, someone lifted me. It was Azalea. She gave me to Naar, "Take her!" She said.
Naar placed me on his shoulder, I just could sit while gripped on the armor he was wearing. It was like a collar that protected his neck. Azalea walked at the front side and we all followed her.
When Azalea said a palace, it was not what my mind imagined, a beautiful magnificent place like in fairy tales. But it was a simple country style with quite a scary look inside it, like on Halloween day.
Dark black trees withered all over the yard with the ground covered by dry leaves as if it was being neglected for a long time. Near the door, there were black roses planted in a patch of area surrounded only by bricks piled up without cement.
"It looks like the house of a witch," I said slowly.
"It is the house of witches, Tha," Naar explained.
'Oh my God, of course! How could I forget it' I felt ridiculous.
All the soldiers brought by Azalea were in ready positions outside with the other soldiers. Who looked like having a leader, a witch, too. Yoru, Naar, and five others went inside the house.
We walked into a room with an altar. There was an iron soldier on each side. They were wearing black armors with the head resembling a lion. A luxurious table and chairs complete with the dishes were arranged neatly in that room. Azalea took the front seat, Yoru and Naar were standing to the left and right of her, while five others were standing to guard the entrance.
It looked like we came the earliest. After waiting for some time, the other guests started coming. I saw a creature that chased me in the forest with Kerberos. He was wearing black gown resembling smoke on the edge and flying. A man of three meter high or even more, was sitting next to Azalea. His face was so horrifying with sharp pointed teeth which were visible when he was talking with Azalea.
The sound of organ filled up the room. The music instrument that was placed near the altar was playing by itself. My attention was distracted when someone went into the room, he was an old man with graying hair. I would say he was a very respectable person, everyone stood up when he walked into the room. He then asked all the guests to sit back to their seats.
"Before we start the meeting, I want to entertain all of you in my simple house," his words were calm, "We have provided the best dishes. I hope you can enjoy all of them,``he added as he sat back not far from Azalea.
Azalea asked Naar to put me down on the dining table, and I understood what she wanted, just by sitting by the dishes I could recognize if the food was good or bad from the scent. And I thought all was good.
I nodded. I signaled her that the food was all safe so that she did not hesitate when she picked up a bowl of soup which seemed to be made of bird nest and some cuts of mushrooms.
I thought it was shitake mushroom but strangely it smelled different. When I looked at it more closely and quite long my danger alarm was on. And, when Azalea was about to lift her spoon, I stopped her.
I shook my head, signaling her not to eat it. I felt so much relieved when Azalea chose to put that soup back on the table.
The next second, I decided to look around all the food served. All were safe. But there were some that were strange, cream in the bread, slices of meat in the salad. They were not in the same kind of food, but in the same component of ingredients in every meal served.
"Miss, don't eat all of the food," I said slowly when I was near her.
Azalea's expression suddenly changed. She was worried about all the guests who looked so calm enjoying their food. "You follow me," She ordered us, then she stood from her chair and left the room. Naar lifted me and put me on his shoulder, following her.
Azalea instructed her men who stood by the entrance to remain there, then she went out hurriedly. We walked along the hall of a building which I remembered did not exist. "Illusion," that woman spoke quietly.
"Naar, what does that supposed to mean?" I was confused.
"The owner of the house wants us to stay inside, so he made an illusion spell. Whoever goes in will not be able to go out," Naar explained.
When we decided to go back to that room, we could not find the door we had used to go out, it was replaced with forked walls and hallways. Looking out of the window, Azalea said something that shocked us all, "We are all set up,"
Three of us were trapped in gapless passageways. We did not know where we had to go. I saw Azalea touch the wall near us. She might try to find a hidden way out.
But after only a few steps, she disappeared into a hole. From the top, it looked like a bottomless floor, but when we walked on it, we went directly down to another room.
"We had better stick together. Don't spread up!" said Azalea.
I nodded and saw Yoru took out the knife he had taken with him, marking the wall around us.
A stair heading up attracted our curiosity. I thought it would lead us to the banquet room, or at least the same hallway where we had fallen from. But when we went up, we came into a different room. Azalea checked the floor of that room, while Naar and Yoru checked the wall.
Both two men went in different directions, but then suddenly Yoru was gone. Our attention focused on the wall checked by that man. Apparently that was an entrance to another room.
When we decided to go in together, we found stairs leading down. We kept walking following the stairs but it led us to the room where we came from. We were really lost, or it might be that someone was trying to make fun of us.
It was proven that several times we just circled through the same room although we took different routes. Azalea uttered certain magic spells, but turned out into nothing, we remained unmoving from where we were.
"Try to hold your breath, all of you!" I instructed them. At first they were just looking at each other, perhaps they did not really understand what I meant, "Just hold your breath, but eyes stay open," And I started holding my breath, and they finally followed the same thing I did.
Slowly but surely, the walls in front of us were faded. I was surprised for a moment before I turned around, following my instinct. Right after I turned around, I saw the room where the banquet was held, "Turn around and keep holding your breath," I instructed them again.
They were surprised, so was I. we who previously walked up and down the stairs in fact did not move an inch from the front door of the room.
Not intending to waste any more time, we went into the door. And the banquet was still running on when we were in.
We behaved as if nothing happened and went back to mingle with the others again. Finally, someone asked Azalea where she had been going because she left for a pretty long time, and that woman replied that question with a smile.
"How did you know the way to overcome our problem by holding our breath?" Naar's question attracted my attention.
"When I was in Dark Moon, I walked to a shop selling stuff for worshipping, one of the things was very strange. I had not had the chance to go in, but I vomited right away, then the shop owner gave me a drink of sweet taste and a soothing scent. It made me able to tolerate all the strange stuff there, even though it was really disgusting. I guess sometimes magic is brain manipulation, it comes not only from the spells, but also from the scents," Naar was quiet listening to my explanation. I had no power as they did, not even understood anything related to magic. For me, it was something new. I was just sure that everything was connected to each other and I simply needed to find the connection.
Azalea did not touch any food a bit although all the guests enjoyed what was served for them. That made me believe one thing, she trusted me so much.
That graying hair man stood up from his chair, asked the waiters to serve the dessert. Every guest got a different dessert, chocolate pudding with simple sauce, toast with salad, and Azalea received cuts of berry with cream.
Naar put me down again on the table before Azalea ate it. I stirred the food and checked the ingredients in it. After I felt all was good I nodded that it was okay and safe
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