Ora calmly took 4 steps backwards, Quib stood protectively in front of her with his spikes slowly rising and a small growl emitting from his thin furry lips.

Aggie pulled out her longer dagger, she wanted to be sure to retrieve her 2 perfectly good throwing knives that were still lodged behind the scowling barkeep in one of the large wooden barrels of ale.

Arlen had yet to draw his weapon, but his eyes were trained on the 2 massive Beast Awares in front of him.

The Beast Awares on the right had long horns curling out from his forehead, and a black furry muscled body. His eyes were a bright yellow, and a large ring pierced his septum, he wore nothing but trousers with a large battleaxe clutched casually in his right hand. The most terrifying thing about him however, was that he stood nearly 9 feet tall.

The Beast Awares on the left was perhaps only as tall as Aggie, but had long yellow front teeth, a thick skin tail that he seemed to have perfect control over, and a wiry strength to him.

Tork grunted. The Beast Awares with the gold hoop huffed, and then the Beast Awares with the long teeth lunged at Tork- teeth first.

Tork backhanded him, and he went flying across the room, crashing into a table and chairs 6 feet away with a small yelp.

The bigger Beast Awares stepped forward with a powerful fist that was so large it was next to impossible to dodge in a crowded space, so Tork didn’t dodge, he stepped forward, and gave a blow to the beast’s lower abdomen.

It had to have been a powerful, or well-aimed blow, for he doubled over with a wheeze, but stepped closer into Tork so that the bounty hunter was completely hemmed into his massive furred body.

Aggie saw the fist that had been aimed at Tork previously, was now clutching the sheathed broad sword on his back, and was about to pull it free.

Without thinking, Aggie took advantage of the Beast Awares being bent over. She stepped forward, and with a short strike, stabbed him in the eye.

Blood gushed from the blow, and he let out a deafening roar of pain, as Aggie managed to pull out the soaked bloody blade, and step back quickly. She hadn’t realized her legs were shaking, until she stumbled on her second backwards step, and Arlen caught her before she fell.

In a blur of motion, the Servicer half carried her out of the inn, leaving Tork and Ora alone with the barkeep.

Once outside, Arlen slowly eased Aggie to sit on the bench that was ounder one of the tavern’s windows-, the establishment incidentally was called ‘Bullrush’. Her hands were trembling, and she was still clutching the bloody dagger in her hand, noticing with a churning stomach there was some fur and flesh still attached to it.

She vomited up her breakfast between her legs as Arlen calmly sat beside her, rubbing her back.

“S-Sorry.” She whispered as her eyes watered from the acid in her throat.

“No need to be sorry to me, my Lady.” Arlen whispered as he heard a thud from inside the tavern, and then quick chattering.

“W-Why didn’t you move to help Tork as well…?” She asked her voice trembling along with her hands.

“Because Tork had a knife to the Beast Awares back. He was going to stab him before losing his sword.” Aggie’s eyes widened, she hadn’t seen that at all.

“Tork had the situation in hand the whole time?” She whispered feeling even deeper regret.

“He did, yes. Those Beast Awares have strength, but no formal training. Tork was trained by some of the best warriors and assassins that ever lived. I will tell you more about those like him later. For now, give me your dagger.” Arlen gently took the bloodied blade from her limp hands, and rinsed the knife in a rain barrel that sat under the tavern’s eaves trough.

Aggie looked away, but then noticed that people passing by were staring at her with wariness, and even anger. She could no longer meet their harsh gazes, so she dropped her eyes to the ground until Tork exited the tavern.

He looked incredibly angry, but when he saw Aggie sitting there trembling on the bench near a smelly puddle of her own vomit, he seemed to let some of the ferocity melt away. He gestured at them to come, as Ora and Quib filed out of the tavern calmly.

Aggie was having some trouble getting her legs to work, so Arlen offered his arm for her to lean on as she wobbled after Tork.

It wasn’t until they were seated back the Red Dawn Inn, and Aggie had a few gulps of water and bites of food, that Tork finally spoke.

“Beatha, never attack without my signal again.” He stared at her levelly, and Aggie shied away from his directness at first, but then raised her eyes to his and nodded.

“I’m sorry Tork.”

“I’m sure you’re already feeling awful, but I want you to fully face what you’ve done to truly understand the weight of such actions.” Aggie didn’t understand what he meant until Tork continued explaining.

“You’ve caused permanent damage to a person. You have scarred him for the rest of his life, and nothing is going to fix him. I would have stabbed him near a kidney, but he would have recovered. He would’ve had a scar yes, but he would’ve lived his life as he always had. You have changed it. Forever. That is the guilt you will have to bear for your life. You took his eye. Anytime you permanently damage a person, let alone take a life, you destroy someone’s world.”

Aggie felt like being sick again, but instead of vomit, she succumbed to tears. Arlen gently put his hand on her back, and rubbed soothing circles. He looked at Tork, and gave him a short nod of approval.

Tork nodded back.

As Aggie cried softly into her lap, she couldn’t see that the Beast Awares was pleased. Not because of the violence, and not because of her tears, but because he could tell she took her actions seriously. She understood the weight of her decision in a moment of panic.

He had trained some men and women, that didn’t have such compassion, and he had at one point or another, had to deal with them for wrongful actions. He was relieved to see that Agnes Beatha still had a good heart.

“We did find out the information we needed.” Tork said quietly, as Aggie gradually brought herself down from her misery. Arlen looked at Tork expectantly, and stopped soothing his Lady.

“There is a young lad who frequents a place… but it isn’t a tavern. Though Gus does own the establishment.”

Aggie wiped her eyes, and saw that her hands were now stained with black shoe polish. She couldn’t bring herself to care in the moment as she tried to take her mind off of the memory of her knife piercing flesh.

“Beatha you should stay here while myself and Arlen go. Ora and Quib can keep you company.”

“No!” Aggie’s tone wasn’t angry, so much as it was desperate, causing Tork to raise a skeptical eyebrow at her, while Arlen seemed to already know what she would say.

“I can’t… I can’t just hide because I’m scared. It doesn’t do anything.”

“Beatha, I wasn’t suggesting that you don’t partake in this venture out of fear. It was more that this is an… indecent place for a Lady.”

“I need to get used to the world. If I’m on my own, I can’t expect to be shielded all the time.” She whispered sounding completely terrified as she tried to not let her mind wander.

Tork studied her face for a moment, as he thought over his opinion on the Lady deeply.

He wasn’t sure if she was stupid, or brave.

Whatever ones opinion was of the young woman; no one could deny that she wasn’t strong-willed. She did not take things lying down, even if she was literally shaking like a leaf, and relieved of her previous meals.

“Very well Beatha. Though Ora, I do think it is best if you don’t join. Quib will not be welcome there, and if he gets into anything while there-”

Ora held up a hand quickly and waved. She didn’t need to be told anything more. Instead, she tucked into her tankard of ale, and munched down on her lunch which consisted of an entire chicken.

Tork nodded, and then he too returned to his lunch of baked potatoes, ham, and peas.

Aggie wasn’t feeling all that hungry, but at Arlen’s insistence, managed to eat a bit more of the bread and cheese in front of her.

She wasn’t sure she was prepared for any more excitement for the day, but she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“I don’t have a choice. I either deal with how everything is, or be beaten by it.” She opened her eyes again, and finished the last of her cheese.

Arlen couldn’t help but stare at her as color gradually returned to her face, and her shaking subsided.

She really was an impressive Lady.

*

They had passed by several women and men of questionable character on their route to where the crowned North Prince allegedly was spending his days and nights. Aggie could see Arlen moving closer and closer to her, whether consciously or unconsciously, she wasn’t sure, but it was abundantly clear that he was nervous.

The sun was setting over the turquoise water as they drew near the bottom of the hill that marked where the city ended, and the ocean began. The smell of rotting fish hung in the air, and reminded Aggie of the harbor at home, where her father’s vessels lined the peer proudly. Their masts always were polished to a gleam, and their decks freshly painted, making the sight a very proud one.

Aggie was broken out of her memories, as they passed by the fish vendors lined outside on the side of the streets, shouting their competing prices at anyone who walked by. It wasn’t until they passed the last dilapidated stand, and stood in front of a warehouse, that it was quiet from the bustle of the city. The warehouse had one of its sidewalls sinking into the ocean, while the other end remained firmly on land, and perhaps had once been painted a pretty pale blue, but now looked grungy with its flaking paint revealing rotting wood beneath it.

“This is the place.” Tork had stopped in front of the sinking half-drowned building, and was nodding towards the run down bay doors, where there was a collapsed beam blocking their entry.

Aggie looked around at the nearby shacks, and raised her eyebrow quizzically.

“There’s a side door, I’ll take lead, Arlen you take the back end. Beatha do not attack unless I say so.” Aggie’s eyes went round. She hadn’t anticipated violence again so soon, and was about to say so ,when Tork held out his hand.

In it were the 2 knives she had previously thrown at the disgusting barkeep earlier that day…

She forced herself to take them, and stow them away, suddenly all too conscious of what their presence signified. Tork saw her pale expression, but steeled himself away from his worry. She was the one who wanted to learn to survive on her own.

Tork found a narrow alley beside the warehouse, completely hidden by the shacks around it. Aggie followed, and Arlen kept close to her, and as soon as they were enveloped in the shadows, Aggie could smell a sickeningly sweet and bitter odor that she had never smelled before. The location of the warehouse made perfect sense if someone were trying to hide such a noteworthy smell.

“That there Beatha, is the smell of a potent drug. It’s made from a flower from the Fey world, and crushed together with a mushroom from our world. We call it; Amanita. It’s poisonous, and most people addicted to it die shortly after developing such a dependence, so let us hope that isn’t what the Prince is doing down here.” Tork whispered quietly.

“Why do people eat it if it’s poison?”

“People take it Beatha, they say, because you see a world so fantastical, magical and happy, that you forget everything you ever knew. Including your pain.” Tork turned towards a rotting wooden door that looked wet for some reason, despite it being days since the last rain.

With a strong fist, Tork pounded on the door, only to have it swing open at the first knock. Not because someone had allowed them entry, but because the poor door gave up under such force.

They stepped into what at first seemed like darkness, but as Aggie and Arlen’s eyes adjusted, saw that the room was lit, albeit dimly, with long tables of mushrooms in multiple different phases of growth pushed against all of the walls. Candelabras stood at each end of the tables; their tiny flames flickering dangerously near the weak wooden walls.

After taking the initial step over the threshold, Aggie found her foot sinking into a plush red carpet, and after the second step, found her first unconscious body.

The man appeared to be in his mid-twenties, and had vomited profusely over his tunic. He looked as though he had been apart of a heavy labor trade given his broad muscular body, yet in that moment, he writhed on the ground helplessly with unseeing eyes.

Aggie leapt away from his convulsions, only to realize that every living body in the room was doing the same. Finding a direct path through that room and into the next was not an easy task. Aggie stepped over one woman with green skin who lay on the floor twitching, while there were a few still beings that looked gray in complexion laying near her, that were completely still…

Arlen drew his sword slowly, and Tork nodded silently over his shoulder in agreement. As they progressed further into the damp warehouse, Tork pulled his own short sword out, but not his broad sword. Aggie didn’t reach for her weapons, despite feeling a strong urge to do so.

It wasn’t until they came across the third room of plush pillows and carpets, that Tork raised a fist, signaling them to stop.

“-I don’t care! We need him to know exactly whom he must be loyal to! If we give him another dose, it’ll be a week since we started and…”

Aggie recognized the voice, and immediately her stomach clenched painfully.

The exchange that was about to happen was not going to be a pleasant one.

When the trio stepped into the third room, there were no tables of mushrooms, only a pile of men and women lying on faded jeweled tone pillows. Some were drooling, some were convulsing, and there was even a woman atop a man, riding him.

The lewd sight momentarily distracted Aggie; making her stop in her tracks out of shock at seeing an act that she had been previously lead to believe would be meaningful. Instead, it looked crude, and disgusting. The woman appeared to be nearing her 40th year, with long mousey brown hair hanging in clumps of unwashed mats. She was grunting and drooling at the same time, while the man under her was gripping her sizable thighs, and opening and closing his mouth silently.

“Should’ve known you had him, Gus.”

Tork’s voice pulled everyone’s attention to him, as Gus’ back became stiff at the sound of Tork’s voice. He stood over a young man with faded wavy brown hair, whom was wearing a beige stained tunic, and brown trousers. The unconscious lad’s mouth hung open, and his eyes remained closed. Seeming completely oblivious to his surroundings, it wasn’t until Aggie saw the glint of gold around his neck that Aggie knew for certain who the fellow was.

A young woman was holding the crowned North Prince up by the head, and Gus was crouched over him, wearing the same deep green coat Aggie had first seen him wear, and holding what looked like diced white mushrooms, and… purple petals?

Aggie instinctively felt her hand drift towards the knife at her back. The air ran with electricity as Gus slowly stood straight, and glowered darkly at Tork.

“This isn’t your concern Tork.” He spoke with an air of offense that Aggie was amazed to hear.

“Well seeing as you’re drugging my bounty into oblivion, it seems like it is. How did you get him? Find out he was in town drinking and spending a fortune, and figured you could put him under your thumb by making him addicted to your product?”

“What an awful thing to say Tork!” Gus put his hands on his hips as the young woman slowly put the crown Prince’s head down on the floor, and began edging away.

Aggie was in a state of astonishment; he was acting as though writhing poisoned people weren’t surrounding him, and the crowned Prince of the North wasn’t comatose behind him.

“Gus, do you realize what you’ve done?” Tork asked sadly, his disappointment in his friend abundantly clear.

“I haven’t done anything Tork! He came here not wanting to ever return home, and willing to drink himself to oblivion!” Gus still had the call to act indignantly.

The sound of steel moving and stopping rang into the shadowed room, and while Aggie whipped her head to look at the source, Tork did not.

Arlen was pointing his sword at the young woman that Aggie could recognize now that she was closer.

It was their barmaid from the Red Dawn Inn. Her jaw dropped. They had been spied on from the moment they had arrived!

It was then that Gus tried to leap away, he soared high in the air, and for a moment his ascent looked like it would carry him over the entire group, but in another moment Tork’s hand was around his throat, and he slammed the small body into the nearest wall.

“When did the drugs start Gus?” Tork’s voice was incredibly calm, so much so that it terrified Aggie.

“I-I DIDN’T- HOW DARE YOU! HE WOULD’VE WANTED THEM ANYWAY!”

“Gus, on behalf of our King Aidan O’Malley, I sentence you to death in the kidnapping, imprisonment, and poisoning the crown Prince against his will. This sentence has only one penalty; Death.”

Gus opened his mouth to shout, when a small twitch in Tork’s left shoulder, resulted in blood filling the tiny man’s mouth. It dribbled from the corners of his wide lips, and he stared wide-eyed at Tork, opening and closing his jaw as though trying to speak.

Aggie covered her mouth in horror, as tears sprung to her eyes. The barmaid gave a squeal and tried to run away again, but Arlen grabbed her arm firmly.

Tork released Gus, and the soulless body crumpled to the floor like a broken doll.

Aggie was too shocked to throw up, but when she looked at Tork, saw that his glowing yellow orange eyes glimmered in the faint light with tears of his own.

“Let’s go find these people a healer.” His voice was controlled, and when Aggie didn’t move as she stared at him, Arlen used his free hand to gently touch her shoulder from behind.

The three turned, and filed out of the rooms in the reverse order in which they entered. Arlen now had to pin the barmaid’s arms at her side to prevent her from escaping as she began squirming harder and harder against Arlen’s touch.

As they entered the final room, 2 women Beast Awares blocked the door.

One with green tinted skin and an oversized jaw, wore a stained tunic that was too short to cover her sex. The other looked like a regular woman, aside from the different colored rings of fur that grew down her legs that were visible due to her robe hanging open.

“Beatha. Both. Now.” Aggie jumped. She wished she didn’t know what Tork meant when he said those words, but when she heard the Beast Awares wearing the robe begin to growl and pull out a dagger, she knew Arlen and the barmaid would be the first to die if she didn’t do something.

Aggie pulled out both her knives, and threw with great force as the 2 women stepped forward hastily in unison.

Both blades lodged in their throats, and both of them fell back, and fumbled for the hilts of the bloodied daggers. Arlen strode past them, pushing the now hysterical barmaid wth greater force past the carnage, but Aggie paused.

As she crouched down to stare at the green Beast Awares, she saw that the woman wasn’t quite dead, and saw the hatred that emanated from her eyes. She didn’t seem to care that Aggie had tears rolling down her face, and her lips curled in a sneer as the Lady pulled the dagger from her throat. Aggie watched as the last spurt of blood took the light in the woman’s eyes with it, and yet the sneer remained frozen in place.

Aggie turned to the other Beast Awares, and was grateful to see that she was undoubtedly dead. She pulled out the dagger with trembling bloodied hands, stood straight again, and shakily stepped outside.

As she turned down the now pitch black alley, she could see the faint outline of Arlen and the barmaid in front of her. As a gentle cool breeze touched her face, Aggie immediately retched up everything she had eaten before.

Tork gently patted her back, and waited her to finish before saying:

“It’ll get easier.”

“I don’t want it to.” Aggie sputtered. Tears, snot, and vomit poured out of her, until she wiped her face using her sleeve. She knew she had only stained the tunic with the black shoe polish, and that her face now looked a wreck, but she didn’t care at all.

Tork handed her his waterskin, and she gratefully took a deep drink as they began to walk towards Arlen who was still managing to hold on to the barmaid.

“That’s the only way to survive on your own Beatha. If you want survive and live as a free woman in this world, that’s the price you pay. You have to be able to defend yourself.”

Aggie didn’t say it, but she couldn’t help but wish that there had to be a better way.

She realized how foolish the wish was moments later, as the group walked back up the main road they had first come, and passed by Beast Awares and men fighting in the streets. Curses were being thrown around like a farmer threw his seeds, and it was then Aggie realized that if she were ever caught in those fights, she would be torn to shreds. As a result, the true cost of her desire to be free, dawned on her with heavy dread.

For the first time since running away, Aggie wondered if she had made the right decision after all.