You're still here? Thought you had left for the midlands."
The old man asked him.
It's been two days. During the midday Ravina was brighter than other times Because the sun was directly above casting no shadows but all the light unto the establishment.
People have stepped out of their work and daily hustles as they bathe in its sunlight.
Drinks cheered among men as women gossiped about their worries. Children playing the twisting roads as the shop was filled with people today.
At this time of the day, they preferred to wear light clothes. Exposing bodies to the sun, even the women were allowed to wear revealing clothes. Many men roamed shirtless or with just a surcoat.
The old man himself was busy as he dwindled around to assess the needs of his customers. That was when he noticed the same man he had met days ago. An old brown cape with stitches of various other clothing over his exposed body and a pair of muddy jeans and a backpack.
"Apparently, I need more than just commitment to really go south."
The man mumbled, his words buried by the chattering of people around.
"Can you speak up boy? I can barely hear you from under there."
The old man told him.
The man lifted it back, as many others watched from the sideline as they noticed his face.
A bone white colour mask covering his entire face with horns swaying like waves from the top.
Not much of a human appearance he bore.
The old man, not surprised at all, lifted his eyebrows.
"You should've just begun with that."
He told the young man.
"You're a death eater."
The man nodded faintly as he looked around for people's reaction.
Mostly feared as they stepped back from the counter. Some did in amazement as they checked him out.
some were familiar and others just continued about their business.
Few of them stood out to him.
Sitting to his south-east at a table with few other unimportant figures was a hunter, with an eye patch on his right eye. Long brown hair and bearded. Brownish gloves, coats and boots. Someone about their thirties judging by the wrinkles on this forehead.
Right next to him leaned on the pillar was a man with shiny steel armor and white turned yellow baggy pants loosely knotted around the waist with two ends of the fabric. His face is of a young warrior with well maintained small hair.
To his right on the other hand, was just a single woman likely around his age but her white hair caused doubt. She wore a white sleeveless jacket with red striping on the parameters of the cloth with a black top, jeans and boots. She wore an expression of interest but with the intent not so vicious as the other two.
"I have never seen one up close and this lonely."
The old man continued.
"Are you a lost calf? Separated from its herd?"
It was rare for death eaters to wander this close into a human civilization. Usually they tend to keep away in their own groups in the wild and most of them are never found this north. They tend to stay south.
"Not by choice."
The young man raised his voice, it was so clear as if he wasn't really wearing any mask.
"carrying someone's will?"
The old man asked with curiosity bubbling up in his mind.
"That is not something I am comfortable sharing with you."
The man simply replied as he added in one breath.
"I need three things. A navigator, a gun and some knowledge."
The old man stood in silence before clicking his tongue.
"plenty of people here for you to choose for a navigator. A gun is something that you would need to get yourself right from the mouth of the ramanians…or their dead body if it already haven't been scavenged and for your usual information, you'd need to pay me in gold."
The old man laid it out to him.
"Gold? Wasn't it word for word?"
He asked him.
"Inflation, boy. Right now, tangible things are holding more value in the capital than words."
The old man told him as his eyes moved on the hunter as soon as he passed the word tangible.
"And just right now, you have exposed quite a rare trophy for the collectors."
The old man hinted at his head.
"If it was an accessory I would have surely sold it to you by now."
He replied.
"Whats the hesitation? Is this skull of some rare breed of animal that is too sacred to lose?"
The old man grinned as his eyes darted around his face.
"I don't know about sacred but it sure has become a part of my body literally."
He added as he held his cape down revealing the weird stitched mess around the top of his neck spreading down.
"You ought to get that fixed?"
The old man asked but he didn't answer.
"And what would be your name?"
A voice joined in between their conversation.
The woman who had her eyes on the man had walked close as she saw the opportunity to slip in.
"of what importance would it be to you?"
The man asked.
"You said you were looking for a navigator."
She said with a convincing smile on her face as she turned sideways to her right. pointing at her deltoid on which was the sigil of the navigator.
In black ink etched deep in her skin. A compass point at all for directions with small vertical lines forming a circle around it.
"and why would you be interested in helping? What's in it for you?"
He asked, turning his head towards her as he backed off from the front.
"Travelling alone as a girl is dangerous."
She answered with honesty in her eyes but the man sensed deception.
"you should ask that warrior if protection is what you seek."
The man said, looking at the man he had spotted earlier. The warrior smirked as he continued to watch from afar.
The woman looked at him and then again at the man who began to leave.
"Why does it matter to you? You will get where you want to go" she shouted walking in his direction.
The man had left the veranda as he descended a few stairs down to the road.
Just then, he was interrupted by a voice.
"And where do you think you're going?"
The voice shouted as the man looked back.
It was the warrior who had his eyes on him.
"bones collected by death eaters are such a rare antique for the capital."
The warrior stated, tilting his head with a smirk on his lips.
"It would be such a shame to not have a head of one on my way there. You know, the highlords will really like a gift of decoration."
They stared each other down as the woman watched from behind.
Other people have backed off as some stayed intently to watch a fight occur.
"I don't suppose you will be able to take it off my head though."
The death eater replied as the warrior's expression diluted within, disappearing with his grin.
"You're right… I guess I will just take your head with it as well."
The man exclaimed as he pulled out a short blade sword twisted on its metal like a vine.
Both readied up as everyone around them went silent.
Bang!
A deafening sound ran throughout the area.
The warrior's brain sprayed all over the grown as he fell over. Screams followed up as women ran away in haste. Others have also gotten up as the situation has escalated with such terrible actions.
But who was it that shot him? It wasn't the woman or the death eater as the shop owner himself went out to look.
It was the hunter.