The Dark of Night

In the dark of night, Natalia and Matteo walks as they are nearing the capital. He lit up a torch and held right after Natalia as she opens the scroll. She reads carefully, barely understanding anything.

"These markings I've seen it before." Matteo ran his hand to the symbols, touching the scroll. "But the words I don't understand. What is it for?"

"These are Magical Incantations." Natalia claimed.

Matteo looked at her. He swore he recognized some of the markings. "Possibly. But I will need a reference to translate that out."

"This is ancient language. Here I learned some from a class I took with Elena. This says here 'fire', and this one is 'magic'" Natalia points at some words she can comprehend. "The others I cannot make out. We should probably take this to Tigreal, see if he can help."

They are walking out in the woods. Natalia suddenly felt uneasy. She slowed down as they walk. Matteo felt that someone may be following them. He turned to his back to look but no one is there.

"Hello?" He shouted. Matteo looks carefully in between trees, covering Natalia behind him. She puts her dagger out and readies herself. Matteo let out a deep sigh, and just as he turned back…

"Aaaargh!" A man wearing a mask jumped right above them.

"Up the tree!" Natalia shouted as she saw another man lurking above them trying to shoot them with arrows.

Matteo drops his torch to the ground lighting up the grass as it slowly burn. He parries an arrow with his dagger and runs off until he was blocked by the masked man. The man draws a sword and swings it above Matteo as he consistently dodged. He is strong and accurate, it's evident in his attacks, but Matteo is swift; he was able to anticipate and dodge every strike the enemy makes.

The forest ground lights up with fire as it continues to spread. Natalia immediately hides behind a tree. She hears the sound of an arrow hitting the trunk. Just as she heard a break she ran to another tree to take a peek on the enemy location. An archer was standing above a branch a few meters away from her. She then held her dagger by the tip, and took a deep breath. As she heard the arrow shot at her, she turned to her left and threw the dagger on the enemy with precision. She then saw the man fall onto his back.

Matteo, still focused on his opponent, is waiting for the opportunity to strike. He slowly backs down as his enemy continues to strike. He then bumped his back to a tree and he immediately thought of something. The masked man swung the sword to Matteo's left as he dodged, letting the sword get stuck on the tree. Then Matteo jumped, kicking himself from the tree for power and struck the masked man on his neck with his dagger.

"Matteo! How many are there?" Natalia came running towards him. Matteo then hugged her tight.

He took another look. "I think we're clear." He fixes her hair as he checks up on her to see if she's injured. "Are you alright?"

"I'm well. Are you?" Natalia looked at him, worrying.

"We're good." He pants as he talk. "Who were these people?" Matteo scanned the dead bodies. They were looking like assassins with rugged clothes and weapons.

"Assassins." Natalia went up to the man she killed at the tree and removed her knife from his chest. As she removed she noticed that the blood on the dagger wasn't red. "These are pawns, like the men in the cave."

Matteo, kneeled to check the masked man. He went curious and removed the mask on his face. "This one is scorched, too."

Just as they are observing, they hear soldiers on their horses on their way to them. Natalia noticed Tigreal leading the pack.

"Natalia!" He is surprised to see her. "We saw the smoke and immediately went here." Tigreal stopped in front of her, calming his horse. "Who is he?" He looks at Matteo.

"I'm with him. We went from the church monastery together." Natalia said.

"I'm Matteo, Signore. Pleasure." Matteo introduced himself.

Tigreal slightly bowed to Matteo. He then turned to Natalia. "I didn't know you had company. Anyway, what happened here?"

"We were attacked by these men." She pointed at the bodies they killed. "Assassins, sent to eliminate us."

Tigreal went down from his horse and went straight to the dead body. He kneeled and took a closer look. "Faramis' pawn?" He asked.

"We don't even know now. We also got an information about someone called the 'Queen', whoever she may be." Natalia said in confusion.

"Why were these two after you?" Tigreal asked.

"Maybe because of this." Natalia gave the satchel to Tigreal. "It contains something I believe is destructive."

Tigreal took the satchel and saw the scroll inside. "Not here, it's too dangerous. Let's move." Tigreal went back to ride his horse just as Natalia and Matteo were given a ride back to the capital.

"I think we should discuss this tomorrow. It's already late at night I think you two should get some rest." Tigreal said as they reach the capital. "Where are you staying? You can stay at my home for the meantime."

Tigreal escorted Natalia and Matteo to his house. "I have a spare room you two can stay. I'll be expecting you to be up early tomorrow morning. We'll discuss this and the plan I have in mind." He then opened the door to a room. "But for tonight get some rest. You both done well."

They walked in, admiring how beautiful and extravagant the room is, "Grazie signore." Natalia thanked him.

"Should you need anything don't hesitate to call the helpers." Tigreal then shut the door.

Matteo observes in awe. "This room is beautiful."

She smiled. "That is my exact reaction the moment I stepped in his front porch earlier." Natalia chuckled.

Natalia felt the weariness after today and immediately dropped her bag to the floor and sat on the chair. She let out a sigh. "There's so much that happened this day."

"That's true" Matteo unpacks his bag and looks for his night gown.

"I haven't even told you how Tigreal welcomed me earlier, have I?" She asked him.

"I believe you haven't."

Natalia chuckled. She tells the story to Matteo and he laughs in disbelief. Natalia then took her bath and just as she went out in her night gown, she notices the one, large bed in the room, "Wait, are we going to share the same bed?" Natalia realized while she's fixing her hair.

Matteo smiled at her, "You don't have a choice, do you?" He laughs in contentment.

"No, I won't share a bed with you! I'm sleeping on the couch." She immediately placed a pillow on to the couch, readying her bed.

"I'm just kidding. You sleep on the bed. I'll sleep there." Matteo offered.

"How will I know you will not lie next to me while I sleep?" She asked doubtfully.

"You just gonna have to trust me." Matteo said. "Too bad, I thought we were gonna sleep together."

"Well, today isn't your lucky day pal." She smiled.

Natalia then went to bed and fixed her blanket. Just as she closed her eyes she immediately fell asleep. From across her is Matteo lying on the couch. He turns to look at her. Even though the night lamp is turned off, the moonlight shines through the window, allowing him to see Natalia's face. He looks at her and sees a beautiful girl with a broken past. He knew how she felt. He wanted to mend her, to protect her. He never really expected she'd agree they sleep on the same bed nor does he care. Just to be in the same room with her already makes him feel so happy and special. He can look at her all night.