The Veil of Darkness
Chapter 124: Trespassing and Explanations

Chapter 124: Trespassing and Explanations

Annalise stared at the huge jar that was sitting in front of her on the table. Its size was probably twice that of her head and the servant, who had brought the wine for her on her order, was staring at her non-stop as if to see her drink the wine with his very own eyes.

"How... strong is this wine...?" She wanted to sound strong but her voice clearly betrayed her emotions.

"Since it’s the best wine in our store, it’s also the strongest one. Please enjoy." The servant answered with a not-so-polite smile that made her regret her decision for ordering the wine without thinking properly about the consequences.

Now, she was in a big dilemma. She couldn’t drink as the wine was strong but not drinking it also didn’t seem like an option for her as the servant was still waiting for her to drink the wine... and probably comment whether it was good or not according to her.

She stared at the huge wine jar and then her gaze moved to the set of small porcelain wine cups that were sitting beside the wine jar. "This... how am I supposed to... pour... the wine...?" Her question was too long but the answer came the very next blink as the servant handed her a wine ladle.

"Oh...!" What else was she supposed to respond with as she looked almost stupid at that moment? Thankfully, no one else other than the servant was paying attention to her and she was saved from getting embarrassed on a large scale.

She stood up with the ladle in one of her hands before she opened the wine jar and moved her face closer to the lid to smell the wine. The strong smell hit her nose and almost made her recoil but she ended up controlling herself at the very last moment.

She spared a quick look in the servant’s direction and found him keenly observing her. If she didn’t know better, she would have mistaken his interest as a suspicion. But in his case, she could tell that he was merely interested to see if she could really drink the wine or was just bluffing... and she could see where he was coming from, even she wasn’t convinced by her act let alone anyone else.

She poured the wine into one of the cups and settled down on her seat. Since there was nothing she could think about to save herself from the situation, she decided to go with the flow as she chucked down the entire content of the cup in her mouth in one quick move.

The strong taste of the wine hit her tastebuds and throat and successfully made her choke. It took several long moments for her to calm down and during that short time, she had successfully pulled the attention of a couple of customers sitting nearby her table toward her.

She gave them all a weak smile before she poured another cup of wine for herself and drink it all in another single move, once again being merciless toward her body but at least, that servant finally decided to leave her and pay attention to the other customers.

As soon as the man was gone, Annalise immediately put down the wine cup and looked around the tavern. Even though the place looked small from the outside, it was not that small and even had another floor.

From where she was sitting, she could only see a couple of tables that were arranged on the upper floor but not one person appeared like those mysterious men in cloaks.

She let out a sigh as she realized that there was a great chance she had already missed them. There were chances that they could have already left the tavern while she was busy changing her appearance, or maybe when she was busy chucking down those few cups of wine. There was even a chance that they had left through another door, like a back door or something, and there was also the chance that they were still in the tavern just hidden from her sight.

Another sigh left her mouth as she poured herself another cup of wine. Though pretty strong, the wine actually tasted good since her mouth had already gotten used to it after the initial few cups.

Several long minutes passed and she was already in her fifth or probably sixth cup of wine when she again noticed those men in cloaks. They were descending the stairs of the tavern and heading outside.

She didn’t waste any time this round as she hurriedly placed a couple of silver coins on the table and followed behind the group of mysterious men.

She followed them in the shadows and made sure to keep herself hidden while maintaining some distance between them and herself and at the very same time, making sure to not lose them from her sight.

The men very swiftly crossed the market area and headed toward the farthest corner of the town which was mostly abandoned at this time of the day. What surprised her was how they successfully avoided the people of the town and almost no one seemed to notice them.

If not for the fact that she saw the talking to the tavern manager and she was able to see them pretty clearly, she would have almost taken them as invisible beings considering how no one was paying them any attention despite their odd attire and sneaky behavior.

Their group only stopped when they were almost at the end of the street where a couple of horses could be seen tied to a pole. Two of those men suddenly turned around while Annalise was still standing out in the open. She almost got caught but then a hand was wrapping around her mouth as she got pulled next to a house and out of those mysterious men’s view.

She instantly knew that whoever was keeping her mouth shut was not someone of her acquaintance as she couldn’t recognize the energy of that person. The only good thing was that she couldn’t feel any bad feelings coming from the person behind her. Whoever it was... he/she wasn’t a foe.

She tapped on the hand that was covering her mouth and the person immediately let her go and stepped back a little.

Annalise hurriedly turned around and found a beautiful girl standing behind her. With long black hair, dark blue eyes, and fair skin with a little blue glittery shine, the eighteen or nineteen-year-old girl was undoubtedly someone from the Mer Court.

"Who are you?"

"Sssh...!" The girl hurriedly silenced her before she signaled in the direction of the men in cloaks that had already mounted their horses and were now heading out of the town toward the forest.

"Let’s go and follow them before we lost them." The girl advised as she started moving in the direction in which those men were heading, the forest, but Annalise couldn’t move on time as she was rooted in her place.

The girl turned around to look at her in confusion before she asked, "Why aren’t you moving already?"

"Who are you? And why are you helping me?" Annalise asked the girl as she quickly spared a glance in the direction of those men. While her inner voice was telling her to follow those mysterious men, she couldn’t be reckless when there was a stranger suddenly helping her out of the blue. Besides, the girl appeared way stronger compared to her appearance and age, not only physically but also in magical powers.

The girl let out a small sigh before she took hold of Annalise’s arm and started her dragging in the direction of the trail that those mysterious men had left behind. "I’ll answer all your questions bug right now, we have to follow those men. If my guess isn’t wrong then those people will be able to give us some really good information."

Annalise looked at the girl in surprise but still found herself following her. Those men had already reached the outskirts of the forest and were about to disappear inside the woods. If she really needed to catch up with them, she needed to run faster. But considering that those men were riding horses, though pretty slowly, and she was on foot, though running, it was quite hard for her to catch up with them.

It took a while and a lot of running before both she and the girl were finally entering the forest. However, they barely stepped inside the woods before sharp swords were placed against their necks.

"Who are you two and why you have been following us?" The questions came from one of those cloak men as he stepped forward and stared at both Annalise and the little girl.

While Annalise struggled to answer, the little girl was quick to counterattack. "Hey! You guys are the ones trespassing in our territory, you all should be the ones giving explanations."