Young Writers Society

Kellach wasn't all that eager to hear more personal stories at the moment, especially if they were as tragic as some of the last ones. "I'd rather go to the tavern again," he said under his breath.

Maahes looked over at Ciannet. "The tavern sounds like a good place," he agreed, turning back to Kellach. "We can be as loud as we want to there, and our voices would probably get drowned out by the other customers. We wouldn't have to worry about anyone overhearing us."

"Sounds like a plan," said Kellach, turning around and walking in what he guessed was the direction of the tavern. He didn't look back to see if anyone was following him.

Kixig looked around at the group (still strangers, but he considered them friends), before hurriedly following behind Kellach. He jogged up beside him.

"This has all been pretty odd, hasn't it?" He asked casually.

Maahes cast a quick glance over at Ciannet, who was currently clinging to his side. He appreciated the sentiment. Both of them had been alone for so long; the thought of leaving her even for a minute made him feel deeply uncomfortable.

He looked back at Kixig. "It has been," he said, "and I've seen my share of strange things."

Kixig looked over at Maahes, his eyes widening with interest. "Ooh! I wanna hear about them."

Where to begin? There were so many, especially if he counted the ones that came before this summoning. His times with the Ancients in particular had a plethora of strange incidents when compared to modern times.

"Hm..." He paused. "There's the communication stones, which switch the bodies of the users. I've been involved in way too many messy situations because of them, though it's only happened to me four times."

Kixig jogged ahead a few steps and opened the door to the tavern for Kellach and Maahes and the others, all the while, his eyes and ears attentively stuck on Maahes as he eagerly listened to his reply.

"Switch bodies? Like how?" He asked, his curiosity bubbling up at the idea.

Kellach would've entered the tavern - he was a step away from walking inside - but he heard some rustling around the corner of the building, along with a familiar groan. Since Kixig was too distracted listening to Maahes, and the rest of the group had already gone inside, Kellach slipped away fairly easily.

Walking around the building's edge, Kellach nearly tripped over the figure slumped against the wall. Leaping back, Kellach scanned the person masked in the shadows. Person? No, they clearly weren't human, if the snout was anything to go by. They seemed asleep, shaking occasionally.

Kellach leaned in closer, suddenly recognizing the face. "Kendrik?" he said quietly, poking the bipedal hound. Kendrik didn't move.

Looking around, Kellach saw no other familiar faces, to his great disappointment. Still, there was no point in leaving Kendrick outside; straining, Kellach hoisted Kendrik onto his shoulders and, slowly, began to walk back towards the tavern entrance, Kendrik's legs dragging on the ground.

Maahes entered the tavern, offering Kixig a brief word of gratitude before seeking out a table that would fit everyone. He found the largest in the room and sat down there. If the past hour had been any sort of indicator, they needed to be prepared for the sudden arrival of more people.

"I'm not really sure how it works," he admitted. "You grab the stones, and then suddenly you're in a body that's not your own. I'm used to changing my form, but it's not fun being stuck in the body of an actual human. And whoever ends up in my body starts freaking out because suddenly they have tentacles. It's not a pleasant experience for either one of us."

Ciannet slid into the seat beside him. "It looks like one of your friends found another person," she commented, raising a hand and pointing at Kellach. He was in the middle of trying to drag someone into the tavern. Maahes and Ciannet both rushed to their feet and hurried over to help carry the person.

Kellach wouldn't have admitted it, but he was relieved when Maahes and Ciannet helped pick up Kendrik. Despite the odd stares from everyone else, the three set Kendrik down on one of the seats. Kendrik continued to sleep, head titled back. "Any way to wake him up?" said Kellach, snapping his fingers by one of Kendrik's ears to no effect.

"Anybody got smelling salts?" Kixig suggested.

Maahes started to open his mouth to reply that he didn't, but Ciannet beat him to speaking. She triumphantly pulled out a small wooden container from the depths of her cloak. "I do," she said, handing it to Kellach. "Just open it up and it should do the trick."

Kellach accepted the bottle with a little suspicion. Still, he trusted Ciannet enough, and it wasn't like he knew any other way to wake up Kendrik. Waving the bottle under Kendrik's nose, Kellach watched as Kendrik's eyes began to flutter open. "I think he's-" began Kellach, before being punched in the nose.

He knew he should've seen it coming, but he'd trusted his reflexes too much. Kellach clutched his nose and pulled his head under the table, cursing.

From above, Kendrik groaned. Peeking over the table's edge, Kellach saw Kendrik prop his elbows on the table and place his head in his hands. "What was that?" Kendrik said, shaking his head and blinking.