Page 19 of The Hellbeast's Betrayal

At the center of the square was a water fountain of what looked like a horned god, with the legs of a goat holding an upturned hallowed skull as a bowl overflowing with carved stone fruit. Water flowed from the skulls eye sockets and between the teeth of its open jaw, as well as the top of pole the creature danced around.

The stone was marred in black looking moss, like it hadn’t been cleaned in decades. The whole place teemed with demons and ghostly figures which at first, had shocked me. Not by how frightening it was but at how normal and charming it all looked.

As for the rest of the village, it was like something you would have found in the renaissance. With houses that weren’t quite level but were cute with their dark wooden beams and pale stone walls. Each with their pepper pot roofs in blue slate tiles, that looked to be all different sizes slotted together. The mismatch style made it look like they were wearing patchwork quilts hats.

Dimpled frosted glass windows also made a charming feature, despite not being able to see inside the buildings. However, it was easy to detect which of these were homes and which were shops. This thanks to the old fashion painted signs swinging on chains from beams that stuck out above the doors.

The language wasn’t one I could read, and many just had ancient looking symbols in the center of painted shields like family crests. Others were obvious, like the tavern we headed toward that had a drinking horn with foam rolling from the top painted above.

“What does that writing mean?” I asked Asher, nodding to the sign.

“The Tavern’s name,” he replied, making me smirk when asking,

“Which is?”

“The Horniman,” Tyr replied before Asher could, doing so with a wink at me as he strode in front so as to open the door for me.

“After you, Mi’lady,” he said gallantly.

“Now what did I say about you calling me that?” I chastised lightheartedly.

“That I may call you it as long as I don’t add the little part.”

I rolled my eyes at him, making him chuckle. A smile I shared until I walked inside the tavern and ended up stopping short the second I saw the room full of rowdy demons. Demons who were mixed with those that, at first glance, could have been human.

I didn’t understand it, were these people dead or alive or somewhere in between? I would have asked but now didn’t exactly seem like the time, especially when all faces turned toward me… and not exactly in a friendly way.

However, the second Tyr followed in behind me was when things changed. Everyone’s eyes widened before they all looked away as one. Clearly, the Viking God had a reputation. Something I was thankful for, because it made entering this space slightly less intimidating for me. And just like in the marketplace, it was like stepping back in time, something I was now well acquainted with.

Although I had never been in a place like this on my time-jumping travels, but the Viking looked right at home.

The size was definitely deceptive from the outside, I was expecting a cramped room with low ceilings. Instead, it was a large open space with high ceilings. Meaning when I looked up, I could see the curved arches of roof beams, two-stories high, with a second-floor balcony framing the room below.

The pale stone block floor had a warm glow that reflected the flames from the huge, roaring fireplace that was the main feature to our right. Long wooden bench tables were arranged like Tetris, with just enough space between to squeeze bodies through. A bar off to the right of the fire was nestled under the balcony, the shelves filled with bottles in all shapes and sizes.

A kaleidoscope of colored glass shone from the flickering flames provided by the pillar candles, that were held on the shelves by an overabundance of wax. Wrought iron lanterns hung on chains from under the wooden frame of the balcony, that matched the lanterns on the stone walls.

Tyr led me towards a table set for four that was tucked away in a corner. Seeing as the place was full, I didn’t know why he picked one that was clearly occupied. That was until he pulled forward his huge axe from his back and dropped it on the table hard enough to spill their drinks. The faces of demons, all with bluish skin, scaled brows, and metal plates hammered into their flesh, all looked up in anger. That was until they saw who it was, and the second Tyr stated in a firm tone,

“This table is taken.” They all scrambled back as one, before rushing from their seats in a comical way.

I gave him a wry look, but he just answered this with his devastating smirk, before grabbing one of the fallen chairs and offering it to me. Asher took his own seat beside me, while Tyr took the other. This put me in the middle of the two great hulking protectors. Meaning no one wanted to make eye contact, despite the whispers being obvious, no doubt questioning who we were.

“Is this safe, being in the open like this?” I asked, eyeing the rest of the tables and watching the way they gossiped.

A table of beings nearby were each wearing cloaks with their hoods raised, and trying to glance our way without being too obvious. Another table of humanoid looking demons all seemed like they had been dipped in a yellowish mud before letting it dry and crack. Every inch of them was covered in the stuff, making me wonder if it was, in fact, skin. They too seemed to be talking about us, making me quickly look away.

“What do you mean?” Tyr asked as he raised a hand, holding out three fingers toward a waitress behind the bar. A short plump girl with killer hips and the swagger to match.

She was wearing a floaty peasant-style white blouse with a teal color under-bust corset, and a maroon gypsy skirt. As for her features, they were half human, half something else entirely. Being that from her nose down to her neck, her skin looked like it was made from charcoal. This was the same as her hands, as they were black as night, with the rest of her arms with skin like petrified wood. Her eyes were a dirty yellow color that, even from here, I could see widened at the sight of Tyr.

“Well won’t people talk?” I asked, wondering if he was oblivious to what I could see.

“So?” he asked with a shrug of his large shoulders.

“I’m sure you’re already aware here, but I am trying to hide from Garmr finding me,”I whispered behind my hand. To which Tyr draped his thick, muscular arm at the back of my chair and turned his body in toward me.

“He would need an army to take you from me.”

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