Page 9 of A Soul to Guide

She didn’t know how much longer she had to go before she made it to the inn, but the smell of burnt food and hay wafted under her nose. She covered it when it became stronger.

Either the food here is terrible, or people just don’t know how to cook.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” A woman softly chuckled a few feet away from her.

She paused when three, maybe four, people entered the path in front of her.

It wasn’t very narrow, so if she asked politely, there was surely no issue in her passing – that’s if they didn’t stop her to make fun of her accent. Raewyn was constantly listening and learning, gaining experience before she started fully communicating with humans.

“Please excuse me,” Raewyn greeted kindly while hugging the wall with her shoulder.

Someone stepped in front of her.

“We’ve been watching you. Haven’t we, Jackson?” a woman said with a haughty undertone. She smelt awful, like burnt food and mouldy hay.

“You always come back to this inn around this time of day,” Jackson answered with a smugness in his voice.

Her back stiffened, realising she’d been cornered on purpose. She could almost picture their rapacious expressions as they leaned against houses or fencing in plain sight, Raewyn none the wiser.

This path wasn’t narrow, which gave her a lot of freedom to run. However, she would never consider doing so, since she didn’t want to fall on her face or run into something.

A small breeze ruffled her cloak and dress, pushing them forward as she considered her options.

I know how to fight in hand-to-hand combat, but what if they have weapons?She’d never had to fight before without being watched by an instructor, nor had she ever wielded a weapon – or fought against one.

“Let me through,” Raewyn stated firmly, before adding, “please.”

She tried to step around the woman, who was obviously much shorter than her as her voice came from below, but the sound and scent of a different person blocked her way.

“How does a blind lady find herself in such nice living quarters?” a man asked, his voice deep but not comforting.

Raewyn’s ears twitched nervously under her hood as she backed up a step.

“Seems a little suspicious to me,” said a younger man on the other side of the pathway, as though to block that exit as well.

Raewyn noticed someone’s scuffling feet as they manoeuvred behind her. She was completely blocked in.

She almost laughed. They probably thought they had her trapped and defenceless. Perhaps if she were a human woman, she might have been. Unfortunately for them, she’d trained her reflexes, participated in hand-to-hand combat to sharpen her skills.

Before the accident, she’d never had much interest in learning to fight, and she never needed to. She’d only signed up for the courses to teach herself how to wield her senses, and she learned she had a rather good knack for fighting.

Not to boast, but she was kind of good at everything she put her heart and – more importantly – herbrainto.

She wasn’t the strongest, or the fastest, and definitely not the bravest, but against humans? A child Elysian could beat them with their eyes closed and both hands tied behind their back. She’d studied their physiological makeup – they were one of the slowest species of sentient creatures.

“I bought my stay, just like anyone else,” she answered as she squared her shoulders and lifted her nose. “But I’m guessing you don’t particularly care how I obtained my gold. Your questions are more to rouse fear in me like a feeble, helpless person.”

The woman to her left laughed. “Listen to the way she speaks!Liwke a veeble, welplezz purrrson.Where the hell did the guards pick you up from? Was that supposed to be scary?”

Raewyn’s left ear twitched in annoyance while both heated in embarrassment. She thought she’d spoken quite well that time, but for goodness’ sake, she was trying to speak a language she’d learnt when she was young!

She also hadn’t paid attention to her father. She liked mathematical equations, not off-realm languages. She’d never thought she’d need to learn them.

“Shut it, Lori,” the guy behind her bit. “I already feel bad about robbin’ her. Don’t make me feel worse by pickin’ on the way she speaks.”

“The sun is going down, lady,” one of the men from behind said as they crept closer.

“Just give us the money, and no one has to get hurt,” Jackson, warned. He was the one near Lori.

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