14 Chapter 14: My Dear Wife (1/2)

SALEM: I watched her eat. She was humming a tune I've never heard before. She seemed happy.

Which was a problem.

If a witch was happy, then it meant she has schemed something. If she has schemed something, then it meant trouble for me.

I reached for a potato. She slapped my hand. She kept eating. Non-stop. I wondered if her mouth actually led to a stomach or just a bottomless pit.

Anyways.

Whatever she has schemed, it shouldn't be anything significant. Because she can't do much in her current form.

I stood up.

Elina stopped chewing and looked up at me. Her brown eyes curious.

”What's wrong?” she asked.

”I'm going to talk to someone.”

”The innkeeper? Order another plate of food while you're at it.”

”I'm not talking to the innkeeper.”

”Oh.”

She looked at her plate. Then she looked at me again.

She said, ”I'm still hungry.”

”That's your problem.”

I left the table before she could say more. Although I did feel her angry gaze on my back.

Not that it mattered. There was something else that needed to be done. Something important.

I crossed the hall and stood at the table where the two men from the Church sat. Full armor. Swords and daggers. Thick leather gloves. Combat ready.

I said, ”Gentlemen, may I join you?”

One of them looked up. Green eyes with suspicion in them. I gave him my best smile. Which was a great smile. But Yulia always said it was creepy.

I said, ”Traveling on this road is a lonely journey. It's a pleasant surprise to see fellow members of the Church out here.”

Suspicion turned to doubt. Green eyes didn't like me. Don't know why. I guess I'll find out. But the other man gestured for me to sit down. I ordered the cheapest ale the inn had.

Green eyes said, ”You work for the Church of Deliverance?”

”How rude of me, I haven't introduced myself. I am Salem. I'm not a fully fledged member like you two. I work as a contractor.”

”Contractor doing what?”

”Witch hunting.”

Silence. Disbelief. Doubt.

I said, ”There's always some witches that need hunting.”

The second man said, ”That is true.”

Green eyes said, ”A witch hunter traveling with a witch?” He glanced back at Elina.

Huh, this green eye bastard was sharp. Maybe he's been observing me the entire time. But to guess that Elina was a witch. He's sharp. Too sharp.

I laughed and said, ”Oh no, she's no witch. She is my wife.”

Green Eyes raised an eyebrow. ”A witch hunter traveling with his wife?”

I said, ”It's a long story, but I met her during a witch hunt and...”

I dished out a story pieced together from different witch hunts, embellished with a little fantasy here and there. An evil witch. An innocent maiden. Life and death. A happy ending.

The story lasted through two pints of ale. Enough to get them drunk and merry.

Merry men tell tales. Drunk men tell the truth.

I asked, ”What brings two great knights from the Church all the way out here?”