After resting and drinking their fill from the river, Aaron and Tikvah continued on horseback.
Although Aaron had suggested that they could stay by the river if they wanted to have a conversation, Tikvah had restated their current state of urgency, so Aaron found himself riding with Tikvah once again.
"So Tikvah..." Aaron Began.
"Do not waste your breath with a preamble, ask your question and be done with it." Tikvah said, her words practically lashing out.
"How do you know Iccos?" Aaron asked concisely.
Tikvah took a moment before responding.
"We met in the same group we're going to now."
"Right, I know that. But what is this group, and why wasn't Iccos with you? How'd he end up in jail?"
"I will not tell you what our group's identity or purpose is, as I am not it's leader, and am unsure as to if I am in a position to do." Tikvah responded.
"Why do you talk like that?"
Aaron was unsure as to why he asked such a thing, but it was blurted out in the spirit of questions.
While Aaron could not see Tikvah's face, he felt something like a twitch come from her body upon hearing Aaron's question.
"What do you mean by that?" Tikvah said after a moment.
"The way you talk, it's so matter of fact and monotone. You don't notice that?"
Aaron waited for a response that never came. He was now concerned that he was not considerate enough with his words, and that he had insulted Tikvah.
They rode in this silence for some time.
***
When night fell, Aaron and Tikvah had just made it to a small inn.
Tikvah took care of her horse, while Aaron had gone inside to pay for a room for the night with money Tikvah gave him.
The room was small, but had a bed and enough floor space where Aaron envisioned he'd be sleeping that night.
"Well, goodnight." Aaron told Tikvah as he did his best to position himself in a way that would make the floorboards comfortable.
"What are you doing? Would you rather not sleep in the bed?" Tikvah said, and Aaron couldn't tell if she was purposefully trying to over emphasize words to give herself a different tone.
Aaron got up to look at Tikvah from across the bed.
"The bed? With you?" Aaron blushed and regretted his question almost immediately.
Aaron could scarcely make out in the dark if Tikvah was blushing too, as she most likely also disliked Aaron's question.
"I will not be in the bed, therefore you should use it, or it'd be a waste of coin to rent a room and not use its facilities."
Aaron could not find a flaw in her logic, so he slowly crawled into the bed, and pulled the covers up to his head.
"Well, goodnight Tikvah."
"Yes, goodnight Aaron." Even in the dark, Aaron could make out Tikvah stumbling through her words with a strange expression.
That night, Aaron dreamed of the vision he had seen all that time ago.
So much had happened that he had almost forgotten about what he had seen in that tree.
The throne ablaze turning into bones, the pooling blood, and the horrible creature. Yet, at the end of all of it, was peace.
"Quiet you, do it now and be done with it."
A whispering voice brought Aaron out of his dream.
He opened his eyes to see a man to his left holding a sword with both of his hands, above his head, the blade ready to plunge into Aaron at any moment.
Aaron screamed, and threw his pillow and covers at the sword wielding man.
As Aaron tried to escape on the right side of his bed, but to face another man wielding a sword.
At this time, a noise came from the closet in the room.
Tikvah sprang forth, and threw a knife at the man by Aaron before leaping onto him and plunging another knife into the man's throat.
"Aaron! Hold them down!"
Aaron panicked and flung himself onto the first swordsmen who was still struggling in the thrown covers.
He put himself behind the man and took the covers in both hands, interlocking his hands and pulling until he heard the sounds of choking.
"Aaron!"
Aaron looked to Tikvah, who had worry written on her face, something that Aaron had not seen on her before.
Aaron loosened his grip on the covers, and the man coughed and wheezed trying to catch his breath.
Tikvah removed the covers from the man and held her knife to him.
"Who are you, and why are you trying to kill us?" Tikvah demanded.
The man, still coughing, replied weakly.
"We were only sent to kill him, we didn't know he'd had a traveling partner."
Confusion found its way to Aaron and Tikvah, as they both furrowed their bows in their lack of understanding.
"Me?" Aaron chimed in. "Why kill me, what did I do?"
"Not what you did-" The man coughed again. "What you saw...the tree."
Aaron suddenly realized what was happening, and was able to put the pieces together.
"The king..." Aaron said in a whisper so quiet he could barely hear what he said himself.
"What?" Tikvah asked.
"The king, he sent them. Or at least the captain of the city guard from Fruma, the city where Iccos and I were put in jail. No one else knows about the tree."
Tikvah considered what Aaron said for a moment.
"Aaron, we're going to burn the building down."
"What?"
"Start a fire using the lantern in this room, and go run and scream that there's a fire once it's big enough. And you..."
Tikvah turned to face the man she held at knife point.
"You will say he was killed, but then in the struggle he knocked over a lantern and it burned down the inn, which is why you can't produce a body. Respond only with a nod if you understand."
The swordsman nodded.
***
The inhabitants of the inn, most of them being in sleep gowns and clothes, were grouped in front of the burning inn, its blaze lighting up the night.
As Aaron looked behind from the back of Tikvah's horse running off, he pondered on how he was once again leaving death and destruction in his wake, and if his life was really worth all of this.