Chapter 4

STOP! Three imposing guards stood in front of them, and what could have been the captain of the garrison exclaimed: - to enter the capital you must fill out documents with all your personal information and also we must search you to see if you have poison or contraband items. -. Mahel snorted under his breath, every time he passed through the capital they always had to search him, they never recognized him.

Elisabhet on the other hand, if her name was really Elisabhet, she didn't seem upset, she was happy, radiant like a child who sees the sea for the first time, it was the first time she came to the capital so she saw only the white walls of the city, its houses. in the main street and the multitude of well-dressed people who were walking around the city, did not see the shadows and the rottenness of the city.

They got off the horse and entered the gatehouse to fill out the forms, a young man just let Elisabhet in after having searched her, after a few minutes her voice was heard exclaiming: - Sorry, but I can't read this document. Mitorhoil's documents were all written in Semi-Elvish a language born from the union between the Elvish and the Human languages, also called Nilinvar, the iron word.

the Boy exclaimed, turning to him, - sir, now you can enter to explain to the girl how to fill in the document, now if you don't mind I have to hit her - The boy a little hesitant began to hit him, when he found the lasso knives he turned pale but steady hand took them off him placing them on a nearby table, Mahel in the meantime of that long procedure began to get nervous and, with a quick gesture extracted the daggers from the sleeves, placing them on the table,

the boy, turned completely white, and with a plotting hand put his hand to the sword he had on his hip,

-quiet- he said to the boy-I wanted to speed up the process, also I have a bandaged arm for a sword wound-

-or..okay- and dropped the sword, stepping aside to let him pass. the gatehouse was a small brick stone room with a small cell next to the door, no window and only one entrance, clustered around the room, Elisabhet was trying to read the document placed on a very damaged fir table, Mahel approached her without make the slightest noise and said practically attached to her ear, you are really useless you did not come here without even knowing how to speak or read the Nilinvar, Elisabhet as soon as she heard Mahel's cold voice stand an inch from her ear, she gasped, frightened -Aaaaah! To ... what .... where .... why .... when-

- shut up and write, here you have to enter your name and surname or mother or father, here where and when you were born and here if you were adopted or orphaned.

Immediately after she recovered Elisabhet, all red in the face, wrote down everything "Alexander" had even though she knew her where she said and handed it to the boy at the door as he went out,

Mahel instead as soon as Elisabhet left the room, took a white document and wrote his false identity, after having delivered it, he took his weapons from the table and went out.

As soon as he came out, the captain of the garrison put the reins of the horse on Mahel's hand, -it's clean, nothing suspicious but I must say you have a beautiful sword-

-not mine, it belonged to a badito who attacked us yesterday, his name was Ducan-

-Ducan did you say ?! is a level 3 wanted man! I lost so many soldiers looking for him-

-so there is a bounty on his head-

-you, also very substantial, let me call a person to have the sword checked -

After about ten minutes, an old lady around sixty years old arrived at the gate, with a long shamanic stick, the captain welcomed her in the guardhouse and after a couple of minutes, she went out with the sword, approached mahel and said, mister Alexander the sword is the real one, so here is Ducan's bounty: three hundred gold coins plus he can hold his sword, but now you enter the city that is blocking the line.

The midday light illuminated the city, near the walls the cool shade sheltered the poor and the guards, as soon as they entered Mahel and Elisabhet began looking for an inn, at least Elisabhet was looking, Mahel instead headed towards the inner part of the city. The city was made up of four zones, external where the ordinary citizens, bourgeois and merchants live, internal where the very rich merchant low-ranking nobles and the commercial district, the royal zone where the high-ranking nobles and the royal family lived and finally the suburbs an underground area full of poor people, murderers and smugglers.

arrived in the upper area, the atmosphere suddenly changed, the shop windows sparkled while they put on display weapons and jewels that ordinary citizens could not afford, near one of these shops there was a large inn, outside it was in light stone and granite while the windows were colored with many colors giving the facade a very refined touch, they entered the inn, and the voice of a man in his thirties greeted them-Welcome, to the "Locanda del Ricco Vagabondo" how can I help you-?

-Hello Hedgar, how long has it been huh! -

- Let my beard fall out! It's really you! -

- I see your memory not improved, old dwarf-

-Nano? - Elisabhet said and in that moment, what looked like a respectable human host dressed well, got off a stool behind the counter and trudged with his little legs towards "Alexander" to shake his hand, Elisabhet was paralyzed she did not expect a dwarf in a human city and especially in the upper area,

- what do you want from this old dwarf anyway? -

-two bedrooms, possibly with bathtub included-

-Okay brother, but no discount-

-As usual-

Mahel took the keys and gave one to Elisabhet telling her: - go take a hot bath you stink-

Elisabhet badly took the key and, blushing and cursing in the same measure, went to his room, - stupid, stupid, son of a cave troll, in the guise of a lousy ogre, next time I slap him at the cursed the key and when he was in front of the door of his room, a polished pine door with a three-six engraved on it, he inserted the key and entered the room, he was stunned the room was entirely in wood, the floor in pine excuse while the walls in fir , went to the bed and sat down on it, it was soft, extraordinarily soft, it was like a cloud covered with feathers, smooth and soft, in front of the bed there was a small fireplace together with two armchairs resting on an elegant oriental carpet.

Near the mosaic window that overlooked the main street, there was a small room separated from the room only by a curtain, Elisabhet approached and found in the bathroom equipped with toilet, cellar and tub, the cellar was in fine ceramic as the instead was in marble, Elisabhet then to follow the "advice" of "Alexander", filled the tub by opening the tap with hot water and still a little annoyed by "Alexander", undressed and immersed herself, the water was hot and , perhaps due to fatigue or perhaps something else, he fell asleep almost immediately.

meanwhile downstairs, Mahel and Hedgar had secluded themselves in a small staff room,

-So, what do you call yourself now? -

-I call myself Alexander, so avoid calling me Mahel-

-Okay Mahel, but a question what are you doing here, in Mitorhoil, who is your target? -

-As you could have guessed I have to kill someone, moreover that girl asked me to be her guide so I took the opportunity to get an alibi-

-Furbo as usual, but tell me who your target is-

- the baker Borg Nhortis -

-...... how much?-

-Four hundred silver coins-

-Mahel since when do you accept silver? you never did when you were with us-

- You said it now, I'm no longer with you-

-Mahel, every time you come here I say it, go back to whoever taught you, go back to the "Crow" guild, you were also part of the group.

-SHUT UP! I will not return there-

hedgar was amazed at Mahel's reaction, he had never lost his temper since he had known him, but like a storm Mahel's anger disappeared, replaced by his usual coldness.

-See you Hedgard-

Mahel, slowly left the room, going to his room the train-three in front of that of Elisabhet, I enter his room which was the same as that of Elisabhet, he locked the door and lit the fire, went to the bathroom, there he undressed and filled the tub with cold water, dived calmly and after having cslmi again, I began to remove the bandages, throwing them near the tub, took the soap and washed his whole body, after a good half hour in Mahel water with extreme calm he came out of the water wrapping a towel over his hair that was now up to his neck, from his bag he took his spare clothes: wool breeches, linen trousers and a white shirt, he did not dry his hair, but instead put new bandages on the arm.

He went out of the room, locking it, and knocked in Elisabhet's room, no answer, again he knocked, still no answer, he was not worried, he was just annoyed, Mitorhoil was a rotten city when he was a child and it is still now, robberies, kidnappings and extortions are the order of the day, so he put his hand on the lock and concentrated, with a click the door opened and silent as a shadow entered the room, the window was closed, the door was until recently, she approached the bathroom and opened the curtain with force, in front of him was Elisabhet immersed in the bathtub asleep but completely naked, at that moment, as in the best novels, Elisabhet already opened her eyes alerted by the noises, at first glance she did not notice " Alexander "but after a few moments he saw it:

A tall boy dressed in black linen trousers and a white shirt that revealed a sculpted but lean musculature, pale with hair as black as a raven's feather, damp from a bath, a sharp face, though hard and marked by suffering , she would not have recognized him if it had not been for the bandages on her arm and the cold look, that look that she feared and that at times she wanted to understand, opened her mouth to scream, when a hand, even before emitting a sound, covered her mouth, "Alexander" his heart skipped a beat, he was close very close if he could stretch his neck he would touch him.

-Shut up, okay silence, now keep this- he said as he handed her a towel, he had no ambiguous or perverse looks his eyes looked at her eyes without looking away, with an impassive expression,

-thank you ...- she whispered, taking the towel -you could go out- but he was already out, after having covered herself she left the bathroom, she saw him intent on lighting the fireplace while a change of clothes was placed on the bed,

- get dressed or you will catch cold, then get near the fire that will dry your hair -

he did it without objecting, the change was simple: black trousers, white shirt and a sky-blue waistcoat, he had not allowed himself to take underwear or had forgotten about it, however he took underwear and dressed in the bathroom.

As he opened the door he said:

- let's forget this event okay? it would be embarrassing if-

when you opened the door she saw him, he was lying on the ground, unconscious, he had convulsions white foam came out of his mouth while the bandages of his right arm were dyed red, he became paralyzed, panic overwhelmed her, had to find help she opened the door of the room and flowed downstairs shouting: -hedgard, Hedgar! - the dwarf immediately left the counter alarmed

-What's up girl? -

-Alexander, he's on the floor in my room he's having convusions I don't know how-

The good dwarf sketched like lightning towards the room, he had to hurry or it would have been too late, arrived at the room he slinged on Mahel, he put his ear to his chest, the heart was not beating and there was no breath, the dwarf then pulled out from his shirt a small crystal pendant, he placed it on Mahel's chest and a white light enveloped the room.