Chapter 293A Thread Wanders

It didn't take us very long to fly out over the countryside and bury Isabel almost underneath a tree far from the road. Considering the age of the tree, we both deemed it unlikely for anyone to soon uncover the body. Ideally, it would be time to find the queen, the woman of the Gypsies now.

"Muriel, where would you try and find Gypsies?"

She shrugged. "In the park, near water or out of the city. If they did that to her, they won't be far."

"We could check the park again..." It was a long shot but why not.

"Alright."

We rose up and flew to the park, the night was mostly silent, filled only with shards of sounds emanating from cars and people in the distance. Both of us were quiet and thoughtful with the whole situation. It wasn't like we'd found all the pieces of the puzzles already, not even the edges were complete. Where did this end?

The park was, of course, completely filled with the absence of Gypsies.

Muriel added simply. "Not there."

I nodded. "It doesn't look like they've been here recently either."

She looked around and nodded as well. "Maybe they've taken up a place near the street on purpose?"

"There isn't any water nearby that street, or a park. But it's not far from the edge of the city. It's worth a try at least."

We rose up again, flying over the living, breathing city with all it's inhabitants. Despite the hour of the night, it was quite crowded in places. I'd forgotten all about time and days of the week, but I assumed this was a night where people would go out. We found the street easily and then followed it out to the city, flying high over any traffic or pedestrians.

They were there.

It took a bit of searching, as they were hiding a little away from the highway to avoid people noticing them easily. But with our higher vantage-point we spotted them after a while. Their camp was much smaller too, much less obvious and no big campfire in between them. Just the few carts in a small circle.

They were mostly silent too, only their soft voices on the wind.

We couldn't just fly into the camp so we landed near the highway, out of view of both but in such a way it looked like we just walked from the town. Muriel looked very out of place with her almost antique clothing style, but I hoped it would mostly go unnoticed. after five minutes of walking in silence, we arrived at the camp.

The big guy saw us nearing and the expression on his face was one of surprise and, to my own surprise, anger. He motioned the others to stand aside while we walked in. A little voice in the back of my mind told me it wasn't me they were angry about. It was Muriel.

Perhaps she had some mythological status among them.

"Amy, isn't it? You can go inside, but she", he spat out the word with vigor, "will stay here. Where we can see her."

I turned to Muriel who didn't look at all worried. And she shouldn't, she was far stronger than them and with her sword at hand she had nothing to worry about.

Her sword.

"Muriel, will you give me your sword, please?"

She looked at me and nodded, unfastening her sword instead of drawing it. She gave it to me and I gave it to the man in a gesture of peace.

"We're not here to fight. Keep this until we leave."

His wonder and awe at my gesture was priceless. Finally a smile appeared on his face and the welcome was a lot warmer. "I see."

After a small pause he added. "Thank you."

I turned to Muriel and smiled as well. "Thanks as well for keeping this calm."

She nodded and sat down calmly on the ground. As long as she was opposing normal humans, a sword wasn't even needed. Despite that, it was kind of impressive she allowed me to give the sword to them for now. It showed she really didn't want to fight them and she trusted me enough to judge them.

With a slightly warmer glow in my heart than I had felt so far tonight, I followed the man into the wagon.

Where the gypsy woman was waiting.