16 – An unexpected visit

Tommy left the room in silence, careful not to wake up the sleeping man next to his bed. He didn’t quite understand why Mateus was even sleeping, because he knew that his mechanical body didn’t need to sleep or rest like a human’s would. If anyone of the two should be awake at night, it should be the one made of tiny robots, as he called them, and not the flesh and blood wolf-kin.

But, alas, it fell upon him to gather knowledge, even at the cost of sleep. It hadn’t escaped, in fact, his sensitive ears all the chatter coming from below as he lied awake in his bed. The people were doing what they always did: they gossiped and talked. It was just as his father had always told him when he was little: if one wanted to gather information, they had to listen to what people said. And, after listening, they also had to decide what was real, what was made up, and what was simply exaggerated for storytelling purposes by whoever was speaking.

The narrow corridor was dark, but his eyes quickly adjusted to the light level; his slits expanding into tiny points of darkness that drank in the light. The floor was made of loosely connected wooden planks, and it creaked even under his light and padded feet. He briefly considered going back in his room to put on his shoes, but didn’t. He was here already, and there was no use having shoes he didn’t need.

He went down below, and was mostly ignored and unnoticed by most of the chattering people. It was not his age, because being fifteen meant that he was by all means an adult already, but it was his tiny size and looks that made him pass for a child and blend in unnoticed. The unfortunate consequence of years of his life spent either in the streets or in the forest was coming in handy, and he was not one to refuse an opportunity, especially after suffering so much to get it.

He leaned against a wooden beam, and listened. The shadow enveloped his frame, and only his eyes were visible as little beads of yellow against the black wall. The chatter was mostly inconclusive, but a few bits and pieces of information reached his ears from time to time. He learned, first and foremost, that the four returned heroes had been given a knighthood and a nobility title, which came with a large patch of land at the far edges of the kingdom where they could retreat in luxury.

Nothing for Mateus, however. This lack of recognition for the fallen hero worried Tommy, because it made no sense for them to try and remove all reference to him. To them, he was dead, and shouldn’t be a problem even if for some reason they happened to hate him. There was something else going on, he concluded, and he got the confirmation from the ranger himself.

“But yes, as you said, they were also quite messy as those heroes usually are. Did you know that one of them even got publicly denounced for rape?”

He paused, gauging the captivated audience.

“Rape? I knew it. Those heroes are up to no good as usual.” One of them said. The ranger smiled faintly, satisfied of the reaction he got from the crowd. Apart from the man who just talked, in fact, all the others were looking right at him, dead silent. He chuckled.

“You would be right… if not for the fact that the king himself spoke for him. The girl? Turns out she’s a no good, a spider of a woman who tried to usurp the good names of the heroes to make a fortune off of them. She, and her family all conspired against the heroes and the crown, defaming their name and blackmailing them.”

The crowd gasped. “Who were them?”

“Erina Melgoth, and family. Eh, but they didn’t get away with it for long, no. They are due to be processed and put to death in a matter of days!”

“Ha!” Came a yell. “That’s what they deserve for trying to make money off of other honest people. People like me, who break their backs all day for some change.” It was the dwarf who spoke now, slurring his words through the haze of the alcohol.

The others gave him a sideways look, but didn’t say anything.

Tommy, having heard enough, retreated to his room to sleep. He found that he could not easily empty his mind, or rest his thoughts. At the edge of his consciousness, there were things that worried him, and the name that was uttered by the ranger down below echoed in his mind. Eventually, the dark night took him, and his consciousness faded. He thought he could hear noises, voices from far away, and suddenly jerked awake.

He felt watched. His heart thumping in his chest, he looked around. For a great deal of time, he stood motionless, with his eyes scanning the dark and the window. A soft silver shell of light came from the moon, and the sky was clear once again. But the storm would come back, he heard from the fishermen, who were always right when it came to predicting the weather. The morning would be cold, and wet.

He released a breath he didn’t even know he was holding. Nothing moved outside, not even the cold winds that travelled up the river and through the valley. There was only silence, and he relaxed. He found that his bed was now cold, and the sweat behind his back was also cold and it sent a shiver up his spine.

It was a long time until his eyes closed. Longer still until he could sleep again.

The next morning the two travelers were greeted by a great deal of chaos and confusion coming from downstairs. As they went to the main hall to get breakfast, they noticed that the whole room was in upheaval and all the maids and cooks were working fast and hard to scrub the whole place clean.

Mateus shook his head in disbelief. “What is happening?” He asked, stopping one of the maids.

She looked at him for a moment, seemingly seizing him up, before replying in a hurry.

“Haven’t you heard?” She looked at him again. “Well, looks like you haven’t; or you wouldn’t have come down dressed like that.” She scoffed. “An inquisitor is coming to this city, for some reason. We don’t know what his business here is, or where he is headed to but… what if he comes to our inn? What if he decides to spend the night here? That would be… oh my god. What if he decided to even look at me, among all people? I need to prepare; I need to go!” She ran off.

Tommy shook his head. “It’s unlikely an inquisitor would even waste his time with a maid in an inn. They’re known for their strictness and maniacal control over their own life above all.”

Mateus nodded. “I agree. I wonder why he’s come all this way out here, though.”

Glancing outside, Mateus saw that the weather hadn’t gotten any better compared to last night. It was even worse in fact, with a heavy rain pelting the windows and the blinders, and a strong wind howling through the cracks in the wooden walls. Tommy too looked outside, and seemed to shiver, as if chilled by the very wind to the bone.

They sat in the main room, by the bar, and ordered breakfast. A good, warm meal made from real food would be the best way to cheer the boy up. They didn’t need to go out with this weather, and they could enjoy some warm food. The commotion too had died down after a while, when it was finally clear that the inquisitor was still out of town and that he wouldn’t be arriving for a few hours at least. As the spirits calmed, it became quite evident to all the people present that a person of such caliber would never be interested in a rundown inn at the edge of town like this, where all but the simplest and humblest spent the night or the evening at the bar. This seemed to calm them somewhat.

While they ate, Tommy was strangely silent, seemingly pondering over some thoughts in his head. Similarly, the former hero as well was thinking about his next actions. Tommy gave him a look, and returned to his meal immediately after, not leaving room for conversation as he ate with all of his mind taken by the meal. Mateus attributed this to the troubled past of the kid, who was not a kid he had to remind himself, and gave it little thought.

The wolf-kin, on the other hand, was struggling to reach a decision.

He’s like an open book, the young demi-human thought without taking his eyes off the plate. He wants to go talk with the inquisitor; he wants to try to make it all right by explaining what happened. He doesn’t have the slightest clue the inquisitor is here to hunt him down. To him, it’s all a fortunate encounter. For now, at least.

The problem was dire. In his eyes, the fallen hero had to leave behind his naivety and grow up a bit. But, at the same time, this thought reminded him of his own childhood, and how his father had him shed away his own innocence when he was still a little child. He didn’t want that for Mateus. It was rare to find someone as pure as him, someone who after having killed a scum of the earth like the merchant in self-defense, cried for hours assailed by guilt.

He wanted to protect that. But, he knew, he could not tell him not to go to the inquisitor. It would sort the opposite effect. He had to decide whether to talk him down, or to let him get hurt so that he would learn his lesson, however painful that lesson would be for both of them to witness.

But would he even survive the confrontation? Would Tommy be able to live with the guilt afterwards? Yes, he told himself. He would. He had lived through much worse things, and he was still here.

He sighed, and said nothing. A decision was taken that moment, and now he had to make sure the best would come out of this situation.

“I think I’ll go meet him outside the city. Have a talk, set things straight…” Mateus said after a while.

Tommy just smiled at him. “Want me to come?”

“Nah, it’s better if I go alone. I’ll explain what happened to me after the fight, and how I came to become… this. Then, I’ll be able to go home.”

“Home… what a beautiful thing. What was your last name again? I must have forgotten…”

“Melgoth.” Mateus said proudly. He got up, ruffled Tommy’s hair for a moment, and went for the door. “See you later!” he went, a skip in his steps.

“Melgoth…” Tommy muttered. “As I feared.”