38. Night Out

“...So then Counter comes out of the house, soot all up his arms, eyebrows burnt clean off, and do you know what he says?” Haden said in a raised voice. He took a big gulp from his tankard as he gestured vigorously for the others to respond with his free hand.

“What did he say?” Lace asked.

He affected Counter’s mirthless baritone. “‘Turns out the Villain had a fire-based Power after all.’”

Haden burst out laughing, thumping the table so cups and plates were flying. He laughed until snot came out of his nose. Tommyn chuckled along with him, hand over his mouth.

Lace gave a polite giggle and glanced over at Kiren, who simply shrugged and returned to his drink.

The Golden Lion was bustling this evening, with over two-dozen patrons conversing at the tables. Warm firelight filled the place with a homely glow. Jen and Avon’s niece were busy handing out drinks and food, while the innkeeper himself stood behind the bar and told stories with grand gestures to a few rapt listeners.

It felt good to be back.

It had been too long.

To think that only a couple short months ago, Lace had been the one serving drinks and wiping tables.

Haden eventually calmed himself down and wiped tears from his eyes. “Oh, my lord. Yeah, Counter can be funnier than he seems sometimes.”

“I can tell,” Lace said. She leaned forward over the table. “Let's hear about you two, though. We’ve heard about your exploits as Counter’s apprentices, but what about before that? What made you both want to join up with the Heroes’ Guild?”

“Mm, good question,” Haden said, raising his tankard and pointing his index finger at Lace. He looked over at Tommyn. “What do you say, Tom? Want me to go first?”

Tommyn bit his lip and nodded.

“Alright, then.” Haden cleared his throat. “As you all know, I’m a Trodvis. Seventeenth son of such-and-such.” He waved his hand nonchalantly. “I inherited my family’s Power. The Trodvis strength.” He flexed his right arm, causing his bulging bicep to strain against the sleeve of his shirt. “Someday, they’ll call me Lord Trodvis.

“Now, we Trodvis don’t rule by sitting in big chairs and pointing pedicured fingers. Not like the Ludenhaas do. Back in the day, when we were a royal house, we used to come down and resolve the disputes of our people in person. It is a tradition we have kept up over the generations.

“So when Mara, my aunt, suggested I come to Goldbrand and learn what it means to be a Hero, my father jumped at the chance.”

Haden seemed to lose some of his enthusiasm and nursed his drink for a few moments as he looked out of a window behind Lace.

“A lord, huh?” Kiren said. He scoffed. “Must be nice.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Haden said with a light sigh. “Feels like a shackle around the neck sometimes, though.” He tried to smile, but it ended up a bitter grimace.

Tommyn rubbed Haden’s big arm, and he quickly returned to his happy, bubbly self.

“What about you, Tommyn?” Lace asked. “How come you’re here?”

“I-I-I don’t really seem like the Hero type, do I?” Tommyn asked with a shy smile. He sipped from a glass of wine. “Truth-f-fully, it wasn’t my first choice. Like Haden, I am my father’s heir. He is a spice merchant working out of Goldbrand and a few o-other cities.”

Tommyn reached inside his messy mop of hair and pulled out a mouse, which he slid up his sleeve.

“My father was never too fond of me. I-I’m too weak to inherit the family, he says. So he sent me here, in the hopes that I’ll get stronger. I’m n-not to return until I’ve become a Hero.”

He shrugged and placed his chin against the tabletop. “I ju-just hope I’ll make him p-proud.”

Kiren sat up straight for the first time in the evening and thumped the palm of his hand on the table. “Fuck your dads!”

Haden and Tommyn exchanged an incredulous look.

“I mean it,” Kiren said. “They’re trying to control you.” He unbuttoned his shirt and pointed to the myriad of scars on his midsection, those not already covered by the patchy mutations. A few of the inn’s patrons gasped, but he seemed too drunk to care. “I’ve been on the other end of that kind of control. So fuck ‘em. They didn’t realize that when they sent you here, but they set you free. As Heroes, you’ll have the power to take charge of your own destinies.”

“Wow,” Tommyn said. “T-That’s actually kinda…”

“Nice,” Haden finished.

Kiren swayed for a moment, then his cheeks bulged out. He held up an empty tankard to his mouth and hurled. He put it down once he was done, sighed with relief, and wiped chunky vomit from his lips.

Haden laughed, and Kiren gave a thumbs up.

Jen came over with an empty tray under her arm, smiling warmly at the apprentices.

“So nice to have you back, Lace,” she said with a wink. “Feels like ages since we had you here.” She nodded towards Kiren. “Your friend there drink a little too much?”

Lace giggled and stroked Kiren’s head as he struggled to recover. “He has. Don’t worry, though, he’ll sober up in a couple minutes. Hero stuff, y’know.”

Jen smiled. “Right. Hero stuff. Anyway, you guys want refills?”

Everyone voiced an affirmative. Jen picked up all the empty tankards, grimaced when she took the one with Kiren’s vomit in it, and made her way back over to the bar. She returned a minute later with fresh mead.

Kiren raised his tankard, having already perked up a bit. “To shitty dads.”

Haden and Tommyn hesitated, then raised theirs. “To shitty dads,” they said in tandem.

“To Dad,” Lace murmured, holding up her tankard.

They drank, and Kiren wiped a bit of mead that leaked out of his elongated lip on the left side of his face.

“Now, I don’t know what you guys are thinking,” Haden said. “But I think the responsible thing to do is head back to the Lodge. It’s going to be an early morning, as usual.”

Almost as if to specifically contradict him, Avon called from the bar. “Oh, Lace!” He waved with one hand, stroking his sparse mustache with the other. “Do you think you could show off your Powers a little bit? My patrons are awfully curious to see you Heroes in action.”

“Uh, I don’t know…” Lace said, rubbing the back of her neck. “It’s getting pretty late.”

“There’s money in it for you,” Avon said. He took a couple coppers out of his pocket and rubbed them together. “Judging by the tab you’ve racked up tonight, you may just need it.”

Lace felt herself go pale. She dug around in her hose but found only two coppers and some lint.

“We’ll do it!” Kiren called. He raised his tankard high so that some spilled over his arm.

There was a collected cheer from the patrons.

Tommyn let his head slump between his shoulders, while Haden stood with a broad grin, all thoughts of an early evening clearly forgotten.

*****

Kiren struggled up the steps, Lace in tow.

She’d had a little too much to drink, and now she was slurring and stumbling everywhere. Haden was in a similar state, so rather than having to drag them both back to the Lodge in the middle of the night, the innkeeper—who was supposedly Lace’s old boss—had offered to let them stay in two of the rooms overnight for free.

Kiren, unfortunately, was fully sober as he took the last step onto the second floor and pulled Lace along with him.

The place was dark, lit only with a candle here or there set into holders on the walls. All the doors along the narrow hall were closed apart from two on the end. He headed for those.

He got Lace into one of the rooms, while Haden and Tommyn took the other. Kiren didn’t know how he did it, but somehow, the little man managed to get Haden on the bed, where he sprawled out to take up the whole thing, already snoring when head hit pillow.

Kiren got Lace in bed, too. She was floppy and difficult and bitey, but he managed it with a bit of elbow grease. She finally settled onto the down mattress and he tucked her into the covers.

He watched her fall asleep and decided to sit up for a little while to make sure she would be okay. He had seen more than one vagrant in the Slog dead from choking on his own vomit in his sleep.

He got the candle from the nightstand in the darkened room and lit it on one of the ones in the hall, giving the room some sparse light, then pulled out a chair and sat.

With no one else to hold his attention, his good mood quickly faded.

Kiren felt his scars flare up with old pain. It was one of those nights where Father lingered in his mind.

In one way, it was a good thing, not having to sleep. At least, that meant he didn’t have to see him in his dreams.

He was always there.

Always watching.

Always laughing.

Kiren clenched his fists.

Someday, Ripper. It’ll be you and me.

When that happens, I’ll be the one giving you nightmares.

His head slumped against the backrest of the chair. Shadows stirred in the corners of the room, indistinct faces forming and merging with the blackness.

So tired…

One face was distinct. It showed itself over and over, stuck in a silent scream, features contorted in terror.

Mother.

Kiren shielded his face. He didn’t want her to see him like this.

Like him.

“My little Bean,” she whispered in his ear. The shadows roiled around his feet like an onrushing tide. Her voice was cold and distant. “Such a disappointment you are. Always a child. Never strong enough to do what has to be done.”

Her voice changed, becoming fearful. “Kiren, please! Save me!”

Her face merged with her body, and she stepped out of the shadows. She slowly walked closer to him, her expressions changing every second, face contorting into unnatural positions.

She leaned in close to him and whispered:

“Save her.”

Kiren started awake.

He sat upright in his chair and almost fell out of it in the process. It took him a moment to reorient himself.

The candle had burnt down to a nub.

Lace thrashed and screamed in the bed. She wailed in her sleep and thrust her limbs in a single direction as if trying to push something away.

Kiren hurried over to her, unsure what to do. He got on one knee by the bed and tentatively raised one hand to her warm cheek.

“Lace,” he said. “Lace, wake up. It’s a dream. Only a dream.”

There was no change.

He tapped her on the cheek, and that seemed to rouse her. Her body stiffened and went still as her eyes opened, searching the room for a few moments before settling on him.

Her features were streaked with worry, but when her eyes found him, they smoothed a little.

“Hey,” Kiren said with a smile. “Bad dream?”

Lace got the nightmares too, he knew that. Not usually this bad, though.

“Better now,” Lace mumbled. She pulled up her covers, concealing an exposed leg. “But…”

“Yeah?” Kiren asked.

“Could you… keep me company?”

She scooted to the side and patted the spot next to her on the mattress.

“Um, are you sure about that?” Kiren asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“Mhm,” Lace murmured with an absent-minded nod. “No ideas, though. Just… company.”

Kiren didn’t need to be asked twice.

He got into bed next to Lace, and she offered him a piece of the covers. He pressed his body against hers, feeling the warmth of her smooth skin against his rough, scarred body.

He threw an arm over her, and her hand found his, fingers interlocking.

“Goodnight, Kiren,” she murmured and curled up in a little ball.

Kiren hesitated.

“Goodnight,” he whispered.

He slept soundly that night.

No nightmares.

*****

Kiren awoke far later than he had expected. He rose to a morning sun that was already high in the sky.

Crippled or not, Kiren bet Excelerate could still give them a proper beating if they showed up too late for his liking.

So he reluctantly pulled himself from the warmth of the bed, rising up and cracking his bones with a few simple stretches.

He shook Lace until she was awake. She sat up blearily after a couple minutes with a tangle of matted hair about her face.

“We need to get the fuck back to the Lodge,” Kiren said urgently. “Training will already have started.”

Lace understood the urgency well enough. She was up and straightening out her clothes within the minute. Once she was done on that front, she started fixing her hair, running her hands through it over and over to work out the tangles.

“Go check if Haden and Tommyn are up,” Lace said. “Counter will have some special kind of hell cooked up for tardy risers.”

Kiren nodded, already on the way to the door when Lace had finished her sentence.

He went out into the hall and knocked on the door opposite theirs.

There was no response.

Aw, fuck. I don’t have time for this.

Kiren yanked the door open and stormed inside.

“Alright, guys, time to get up! We need to…”

He trailed off when he laid eyes on Tommyn and Haden. The green-haired man was straddled atop Haden, hands on his broad, bare chest. Their faces were only a centimeter apart, both staring up at him in frozen shock.

Kiren fumbled for words.

“Oookay,” h said. “I think I’m just going to… go…”

Tommyn rolled off of the bigger man, and Haden was on his feet in a second. He caught Kiren by the collar and hauled him inside with one hand, slamming the door shut with the other.

He threw Kiren against the back wall, his black flaring with pain. He didn’t even have time to utter a curse before Haden had lifted him into the air by the shirt with both hands.

“Whoa, whoa!” Kiren said.

“What did you just see?” Haden asked.

“Uh, just a couple guys enjoying each other’s company, is all.”

He glanced over at Tommyn, who was getting dressed at a feverish pace. His face had turned a beet red.

“Wrong answer,” Haden said, grip tightening. “Try again.”

Kiren rolled his eyes. “Nothing. I saw nothing.”

Haden let him down. “Good.”

Kiren looked between the two of them. A sheepish silence followed, no one sure what to do with the other.

“If you were doing what I think you were doing,” Kiren said, “that’s illegal. You know that, right? Your good old dads can’t be too happy about this.”

“Don’t get smart with us,” Haden said. His big hands were balled up. “No one must know.”

“Hey, I know how crime works,” Kiren said with a grin. “I’m the criminal here, remember?”

“P-Promise not to tell anyone what you saw,” Tommyn pleaded. “Even Lace.”

Kiren shrugged, then rolled his aching shoulders. “Sure. I can keep a secret.”

“Swear it.”

“I swear on my name.”

Haden blinked, as if surprised that had worked. “Why? Why would you keep our secret?”

Kiren smiled and gave Haden a clap on the arm. “You took good care of Lace, and you helped make sure I didn’t get expelled from the Guild. You’re less idiotic than most people, far as I’m concerned. Besides, I’m honestly a little happy you till the other field, if you know what I mean. Less competition for me.”

Haden smiled brightly. “Thank you,” he said.

“Yeah, th-thanks,” Tommyn echoed.

“Don’t mention it,” Kiren said. “Honor among thieves, and all that. One condition, though.”

“What’s that?” Haden asked.

Kiren held up a finger. “I get to tell Lace. She sees right through my lies, anyway.”

Haden and Tommyn shared a brief look. Tommyn shrugged.

Haden turned back to face Kiren. “Yeah, fine. You can tell her about it. But only her.”

Kiren made a mock bow. “A-thank you, sirs. May your plowings be long and bountiful.”