11

"What did you just say?" Bella said and stepped in front of me.

The tiny, old woman wore a long, gray shawl. When Bella addressed her, she pulled the hood from her head and looked in her direction. Her eyes were as white as clouds.

"I asked if you were talking about Laura Delmoore and her husband Elias, I wasn't eavesdropping, it's just been so long since I've heard anyone mention them," the old woman said.

"What do you know about them, even you would be too young to have known them," Bella said, studying the woman cautiously.

"I'll ignore the subtle jab at my age and just tell you that my family served the Delmoore family. I was raised in the same home as Laura," she said.

She didn't follow Bella with her eyes or acknowledge that she noticed the rest of us, so I figured she was blind.

"So, what if I was talking about them? What's it to you?" Bella asked.

"Well, if you were looking for more information about what came of them, I could tell you everything you need to know, for a small favor of course," the old woman said.

"What kind of favor?" Bella asked. Her curiosity had definitely been piqued.

"Well, I'm not sure if you can tell or not but I'm a little on the older side. I know that within the next year I will leave the mortal realm behind. All I want before I die is to visit the Delmoore family shrine one last time. Since our two families are so intertwined it's actually my family's shrine as well," she said.

"Why take the time to pay respects when you can just wait a while and join them," Teresa said just before I nudged her with my elbow.

The old woman chuckled.

"I guess that would take less effort, but as a member of a servant family, I believe in going the extra mile," she said and faced Teresa's general direction. When she answered the question there wasn't any hostility in her voice, like she didn't find it disrespectful.

"So, the favor would be what, escorting you to the shrine?" Bella said.

"Yes exactly, and once we make it, I will tell you everything I know about what came of my lady and her husband," she said.

"There's a catch, where is this shrine," Teresa said.

"It's just up the road, on a private manor near the crest of Mount Silver," The old woman replied.

"So, it's at an abandoned shack on top of a mountain crawling with bandits and horrible creatures, got it," Teresa said and folded her arms in front of herself.

"I used to take the trip alone when I was younger, I'm sure the three of you can manage the trip," she said and smiled.

How does she know there's three of us, was the only thought on my mind after she said that.

"Oh, don't be so alarmed sweetie, just because I can't see doesn't mean I'm blind," she said, still smiling. Her gaze was fixed on nothing in particular.

"Okay so if we do help you get there, what kind of information can you give us? I'm not really concerned with how Laura was as a child or anything like that," Bella said.

"Oh no, nothing like that. I can tell you things like why Elias was locked away, who did it, and what came of Laura afterward. Is that the kind of information you're looking for?" she said.

Bella turned and looked at Teresa and me.

"What do you guys think?" she asked. Her eyes darted from Teresa to me and back again.

"I don't see the issue; you wanted a lead and now you have one. Let's do it," I said.

"If Simeon's in then I'm in, but I would like to point out that this will not be as simple as she is making it sound," Teresa said.

"Okay we'll do it. When would you like to leave?" Bella asked, her usual cold indifference had been replaced by something that almost looked like excitement.

"I'm ready to leave as soon as you all are. The trip only takes a few hours, and we can rest at the manor so there isn't a need to gather a bunch of supplies," she said.

"Even so, we're gonna go and gather some," Teresa said. "We will meet you at the silver trail."

"So, there's a silver mine, forest, trail and mountain. I guess creativity wasn't fashionable when these places were named," I said, thinking out loud.

Bella, Teresa, and I went and spent the remainder of the gold I had on supplies. Every time Teresa picked up something else, she said we would need, I reminded her that the trip wasn't going to take that long. She ignored me the way she ignored the woman. We went from shop to shop until I was completely out of gold. We were walking toward the forest of silver when Teresa suddenly came to a complete stop.

"You know what we still haven't found?" She said and placed her face in her palm.

"There is no way we forgot something, we're carrying half of the market district," I snapped at her.

"Yeah, I think you have a problem sis," Bella said and slowly shook her head.

"No, we never got you a weapon, love," Teresa said.

"Oh, crap you're completely right, what am I supposed to do if we get attacked?" I asked in a panicked voice.

"Yeah, because a melee level of 5 and no other levels in anything even remotely combat related is gonna help us in a fight," Bella said and laughed.

"My charisma level is through the roof," I said defensively.

"Good, then you can try and convince the bad guys not to kill you," she said and walked past Teresa and me.

The sun was just starting to set when we met up with the old woman. She stood near a sign that read: silver trail may be inhabited by dangerous creatures and/or people. Enter at your own risk.

"Are you sure you can make the trip this time," I asked the old woman.

"I was actually feeling overwhelmed as I came here, do you think you could carry me? I promise I'm not very heavy and I won't squirm," she said.

"Listen here you old bat, no woman rides him but me!" Teresa yelled at her with rage in her eyes.

"Calm down, I'll carry her. I'm not gonna be able to help in a fight, let me be of use in this way," I said and knelt in front of the old woman.

The old woman wrapped her arms around my shoulders as I stood up. I pulled her legs around me and held them. With her on my back like this her head rested directly on my right shoulder.

"Are you okay like this?" I asked.

"This is the most action I've had in decades, oh yeah I'm great back here," she said and giggled.

"You're cutting it close, you blind hag," Teresa said and started up the trail.

We followed her in silence. I was nervous, but I also felt like we could handle anything this mountain could throw at us.