Chapter 17: Hungry Inhabitants

                                    

                                          
Please like, comment, vote and share with friends.
                          
The spiralling staircase finally met the dim yellow lights. The place looked like a rundown tavern. It had decaying wood walls, chairs and table, oak wood floors, and cracked and dirty glass windows. 
                          
The tavern was populated with various creatures they had read about in fairy tales and adventure books but never dreamt would be real. 
                          
All they though they knew about, all their beliefs and views were thrown out the window. Their sight was not lying to them as their minds attempted to do. It was all real.
                          
They observed three satyrs drinking from wooden mugs. Two of them sat at the bar while the third, the bartender wiped a cup with a dirty rag.  
                          
They also perceived two Lyiades, one a male and the other a female, seated next to the window gazing into each other's eyes. 
                          
At the biggest table sat a loud and rowdy bunch of huge dark blue, muscular wolves on their hind legs dressed in brown loincloths. 
                          
Their eyes were yellow and emanated brightly in the dark and their hair was long, grey and frizzed. 
                          
Their teeth were silver and sharp and hence made their race be called the Silvertooths (Silver-tooths). It looked like they were heavily gambling and drinking. 
                          
"Aw, I will crush him like a Scornide, if I see him again."
                          
"Down, down, down, more, you can do it."
                          
"Raw, raw, raw." 
                          
Finally, the two witnessed a figure concealed in a black robe. The figure was clutching a wooden cup and took sips of his drink, every few seconds. 
                          
Whispering to Shark as they stood on the marble staircase, which looked like it continued upwards, Troy said, "What do you think we should do? Should we ask someone for help? Maybe they could answer some of our questions?" 
                          
Shark was not so sure any of them could and what if they turned out to be another Panthora. 
                          
"I think we should try and make our way out of here without drawing any attention to ourselves," replied Shark. 
                          
He looked around for the safest route, a route nowhere near the sharp teeth wolves which were getting drunker and louder by the second. Their path was a dangerous one and any misstep could explode in their faces like a landmine.
                          
"I'm stronger."
                          
"No, I'm stronger."
                          
"Then let's have a duel."
                          
Troy did not make eye contact with Shark. He would see the uneasiness and fear which lingered on his face. He continued observing the rowdy wolves. 
                          
Two of them were now wrestling while the others howled and cheered them on, banging on the nearby tables and waving their hands. 
                          
"I think we should ask someone where, or even better yet, when we are," murmured Troy. 
                          
"I'm not so sure but if you think so, I suggest we avoid them," responded Shark. 
                          
Troy, very nervous was about to leave the staircase and walk over to the bartender when Shark grasped him by the arm and pulled him back. 
                          
"What's wrong?" demanded a whispering Troy. 
                          
"There have to be humans here, who we can ask for help," replied Shark in an undertone. 
                          
Troy was mystified. Where did Shark get this information from? 
                          
"How do you know that?"
                          
Shark grabbed his shoulder, turned him around, and pointed to a slanted grey photo frame. 
                          
There were two small boys with bronze skin chasing each other in a moving picture once again marvelling and upturning their beliefs. There was a smidge of hope that there was someone who looked like them and could possibly help.  
                          
All they had to do now was to get outside and find them, but outside seemed to be over a long, rickety bridge with crocodiles awaiting their fall.
                          
"Then that settles it," said Troy. "We should try and make our way out of here without drawing any attention to ourselves." 
                          
Flashes of crocodiles with the faces of wolves tearing them apart were all he thought of, but he had to be brave. 
                          
"What if we're the first humans here and they try to capture us like aliens and do horrible experiments on us?" whimpered Shark.
                          
Troy looked back at the slanted moving picture.
                          
"We can't be the first ones here. They wouldn't have that picture on the wall. They would not know what humans really looked like. Just like we don't really know what aliens look like? They're just fabricated from our imaginations." 
                          
Troy was correct. If humans were like aliens to them then just like in their world, only the superiors would have the knowledge and certainly they would not share it with the current hooligans seemingly at the bottom of the social hierarchy. 
                          
"Let's do it. Let's get outside and hopefully we'll see some familiar faces." 
                          
Troy nodded in agreement and they were on their way, slowly walking and trying not to look at anyone in the eyes. They avoided the furniture's, for one stumped toe or falling cup would draw the room's attention to them and boom, explosion. 
                          
They neared the middle of the room when a shaky voice shouted, "Younglings are not allowed in taverns." 
                          
The two noticed an angry look on the bartender's face. All eyes had fallen on them, the exact thing they tried to avoid. 
                          
The two gulped and gazed around, their stomachs coiling and twisting. The patrons of the tavern looked mesmerized by them like they had never seen kids before. 
                          
Shark and Troy were worried. What if humans had lived in the land but became extinct because they were hunted down and killed like animals. 
                          
Shark, now back-to-back with Troy said, his heart pounding at his chest for its freedom, "We should make a run for it. This is our only chance." 
                          
The tallest of the wolves, wearing what looked like a brown cape strapped around his neck said to the bartender in a husky voice, "Strange attire they have on." 
                          
Another of the wolves walked up behind the tallest and said, "Bartender Panotes, let us take care of them for you. They will understand why younglings are not allowed in taverns," and he smirked at them wickedly.