Plagued Company and Other Stories by Aigner Loren Wilson

Author:Aigner Loren Wilson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Haus of Crows LLC

Sweet Midnight Sister

The food was … judging by my occupant’s reaction, not good. Not good at all. But they and the boy ate it up because they were starving, as they had been saying.

“Well, that was awful,” my occupant said to the barkeep. “But I thank you all the same.”

Someone came up behind us and slapped my backplate. “Don’t lie to him. He’s gullible.” A bronze-skinned woman slides into the stool beside the boy. She ruffles his hair before pointing at a bottle and saying, “Give me two. Line ‘em up.”

Without comment, the barkeep complied and gave the woman her shots.

“The food here is shit, but the liquor is, well, it’s also shit. It’s cheap, though.” She drank down the first shot and coughed, clutching at her chest and making a sour expression. “So, what brings such an odd pair like you to this hole in the forest?”

‘We should leave.’

I didn’t want to have any more church escapades happen, and this person didn’t have the look of someone who should be trusted. Her hands shook until she grabbed hold of the liquor, and her eyes couldn’t stay still. It was like she was looking for something or someone.

“We should be going,” my occupant said. “Come, lad.”

“I know a nice place to sleep away from this foul place.” She took her last shot. “Come with me. I’ll do you right.”

‘Do us right into a hole in the ground.’

“No, no, you’re all right. We can find our way to some shelter.”

We turned away from the bar and ran into a small, frail white woman. She fell to the ground, her numerous bangles clattering against each other. A small moan escaped her lips. The young boy ran to help her up.

“Madam, excuse us,” my occupant said, assisting the boy in lifting the bottom-heavy older woman off the ground.

‘Can’t do anything right, can we?’

“That’s okay, young knight, I’ve been knocked down before,” the old woman’s voice was smooth as crystal and stone. It gave youth to her old, cracked exterior. “But never by someone as nice as you and this young man.” She smiled down at Rio, showcasing her array of missing teeth and a tongue like a slug.

My occupant and I bowed. Them earnestly, me with a bit of resentment to the whole affair.

“Don’t tell me you’re leaving now. Where is someone like you off to? Important work to do for the clergymen, I bet?” She winked her milky eyes at the corner of the room.

“Yes, we must be moving on to the next town.”

So, we began to leave when the two women both called out to us.

The young one gave the blind older woman a death glare and stepped in front of her before she had the chance to speak. “I know this land well enough to lead you where you’re going and in no time at all. Why don’t you let me take you the rest of the way on your journey?”

‘No!’ A part of me didn’t want her to join

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