Chapter 4

He strolled knowingly into the building with the girl bringing up the rear. To their left was a small separate bar and straight down the hall was the main bar and rest of the tavern. To their right was a room where the sound of clinking coins could be heard. He walked into the office, there was an older human male with pale skin who seemed like he was in his mid-forties with long dark purple hair, draped over his shoulder with a wrinkled forehead as he was sitting near the opposite end of the medium-sized plainly fashioned room behind a desk writing, counting gold coins and moving them into stacks.

“Hey, old man! I’m back to collect!” he shouted at the man, even though he was only a few feet away.

He crossed his muscular arms tightly across his chest and waited for a response. The fellow didn’t look up for a moment but it was obvious he was listening as he began smiling.

“Comotos, my boy! It’s been too long.”

He finally glanced upward with light brown irises after counting coins and stared with a surprised expression for a moment.

“What happened, son? Who’s the scumbag that scratched your face?! And your eyes! Last time I saw you they weren’t so… deadly looking!”

The man stood up and walked out from behind the desk to reveal a plain grey shirt and maroon baggy pants with slim black shoes on his feet. He stepped silently closer to put his hand on his broad shoulder.

He blinked a few times and seemed surprised.

“I’m alright… just the way things are, I suppose.”

He would tell his mentor how he gained those scalding hot scars and the venom swirling in his eyes soon enough.

“I've brought someone with me that I’d like you to meet. Drusilla Almani.” She stepped out from behind him. Mark didn’t even notice her standing behind the taller blue-skinned elf when he had walked into the office. She curtsied and the older gentleman studied her formal barmaid’s outfit and polite mannerisms. He smiled and bowed his head to her.

“My name is Mark! Good to meet you, my dear. Let’s make our way to a table, we can talk about everything that’s happened.”

He ushered them out of the door and they went down the hall and took the corner but he stayed at the bar as he was ordering something. Comotos sat at an empty table with four chairs, far enough away from the other patrons in the tavern that they couldn’t hear their conversation. Mark asked the pink-haired lady if she wanted anything as she also stayed at the bar, she wasn’t much of an alcohol drinker so she said.

“Some tea would be great, thank you.”

He nodded to her and she made her way through the tavern to sit beside him. He seemed impatient because he was tapping his nails on the table rapidly as he stared at the people outside of a large window on his right. As soon as she was seated beside him he ceased his action and admired her, then moved his irises to where Mark was. His foot began tapping under the table. She peered at him and he stopped again and adjusted himself in his chair as Mark meandered to join them.

“I’ve ordered a few rounds for us, and tea for Ms. Almani as well. Now, tell me what happened on your journey. Last I remember you had just left for your first solo mission.”

He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. Comotos noticed the tan-skinned, grey-haired barmaid in a pink outfit similar to his companion, walking over to them with a tray of mugs each filled to the brim with frothy beer, a mug of tea, and sandwiches to get them started. He smirked as the barmaid placed the beers and sandwiches on the table and placed the mug of tea in front of her. Mark thanked the lady and she smiled at him and turned to leave. As soon as the barmaid had gone to other patrons' tables he felt he could speak freely.

“Mission completed, but the ones who hired me disappeared before they paid me the full amount. I tracked the scumbags down, found them, and even asked them nicely to pay me the other half of what they owed. They had the nerve of pointing knives at me, so you can guess what happened when they tried to attack me…”

He trailed off, clearing his throat. He took a short breath and continued.

“You know that every year before my birthday I have that nightmare... well I had it again this year, only this time with some extras. I felt faint when I took a walk outside and got hit by a freak lightning storm and after that, I met Drusilla and Tukmah.”

Mark furrowed his brows and held up his hand for him to stop talking.

“You're telling me that you fought Tukmah? The same Tukmah that killed over forty people last year?”

Comotos nodded, “He was a rapist too, wasn’t he?”

Mark nodded slower in return, noticing a sickened expression on her face.

“Drusilla was almost in his clutches, but I realized who he was before he could do any serious damage. From there I fought his buddles that he brought with him. They didn’t stand a chance, of course, but... that felon almost got me. She was the one who told me about my pendants' hidden power and she gave him one hell of a wallop too! It’s a silver and black Axe, can you believe it? So in the heat of battle, I threw my weapon at him and his head went flying and that’s how I claimed this shirt and these gloves. she tailored them to fit me!”

Mark blinked and raised an eyebrow, making sure to catch each of their expressions when he asked them, “And I hope you gave her something nice in return?” The couple blinked at the same time.

His soft blue skin blushed a deep sapphire on his cheeks and he looked away as Drusilla tried to hide a smile behind her mug. Mark's expression went from confusion to adoration when he eventually understood why they were being bashful.

“Ah, young love! It never ceases to amaze me.”

He cleared his throat again dramatically, “Anyways, I returned as promptly as I could to claim my reward and you know how much that is, right? Fifty thousand gold and ten platinum coins for Tukmah's bounty, dead or alive! I have his shirt and a witness to prove that I killed him, now pay up old man!”

Mark laughed out loud, moving a hand to his face to lower the volume. “That’s just like you. Alright, visit the office before you depart and you’ll get your loot.”

The men grinned at each other. They both grabbed a sandwich and devoured it and then they grabbed a mug of beer and touched their mugs together. They both guzzled their beers back as quickly as possible. The girl giggled and sipped her mug of tea which tasted and smelled a lot like the wildflowers in the surrounding area, they had the same kind at the Zephyr Tavern. There was a moment of silence between the three of them until Comotos spoke up.

“So, any new jobs? I’m ready for just about anything right now!”

Mark placed his empty mug on the table and leaned forward, lowering his voice so that only those at his table could hear what he was about to say.

“There’s a new gang that showed up here a few days ago. They call themselves, “Steel Bandits'' but they're nothing but a bunch of petty thieves and hoodlums. They’ve been recruiting a lot of the teens in this town so they have a decent amount of new members… tough for just one or even two to defeat.”

He smirked and peered at the pretty lady next to him and she nodded, “I’m willing to help if you need it.” She took another sip of her steaming tea. Mark regarded that the girl didn't look very strong but he needed all the help he could get to run them out of town. As his mentor was yammering away, Comotos took the opportunity to guzzle down one-third of his next mug of beer. A wall-shaking belch made its way out of his mouth before he could explain.

Mark sarcastically applauded his friends' ability to drink and he grinned at his mentor. “So, where do we start?” was all he said. He pointed behind him with a thumb. There were a few tables full of different people, Yajuu’s, Chiisai’s, Humans, he even saw a few Kuro males amongst the group. They weren’t being loud or rowdy or anything but just then something soft yet firm hit him on the side of his head.

“Keep it down, you blue bastard! *hic*”

Something sparked in his body. “Is he one of them?”

Mark nodded quickly, seeing that his friend was about to snap. He stood up perhaps bit too quickly and grabbed the back of his chair with his right hand and swung towards the man who had started shit with the Infamous Comotos Wellshur. The guy was now unconscious in a pile of broken chair bits. The tavern went silent. Everyone’s attention was on the tables that had a variety of races. They began to move in unison, quietly, silently, making their way towards the three of them.

Drusilla stood up from her seat as soon as a small group of pervy-faced men came after her. She smiled to herself. They really didn’t know what they were in for. Mark stood at the same time as her. Comotos exchanged a few fists and knees to the first few who dared to attack him. The gang members were conveniently knocked into the rest of the crowd and he felt that familiar tingle in his stomach and he chuckled while he grabbed two heads and knocked them together. He kept a close eye on his comrades, even though he knew they were both great fighters.

She put up her fists towards the group that was invading her territory. It was like they all had the same expression when they looked at her. Perverts were all alike. She was very quick and precise about where she kicked the first man that approached her. He squealed and dropped like a rock. The next few fell to the same fate. The remaining gang members tried to be smarter and hide their crotches to her attacks but it was no use. They were all slapped away like rag dolls.

Mark was definitely in a league of his own. He had two gang members and he was using their bodies and attacks on each other at the same time fending off others who were approaching. A limp body was thrown into a fellow that was creeping up behind him. Mark glanced at Comotos and he nodded for the save and then went back to pummeling the people in front of him. Every last member of the Steel Bandits was now defeated and there was a heavy silence that fell over the rest of the patrons that were not part of the gang. The trio looked over the unconscious bodies and our blue hero began to pickpocket every single one of those brutes.

A human male with light hair ran into the bar area and seemed shocked. The entire gang had been defeated but he was the last to show up, “Who’s responsible for this?! The Steel Bandits leader has finally arrived!” Drusilla was the first to step towards him. “So you’re the leader? You're just a kid, what do you know about being a leader?” She continued walking towards him at a steady pace, taking in his dark-shaded attire and swords on his belt. Before he could say anything she grabbed his ear and squeezed as hard as she could, which was super strength hard.

He cried out in agony and dropped to his knees. she loosened her grip on the ear and grinned, “Now, you’re going to give yourself up to the authorities, right?” he shrugged his heavily tattooed arms idly so she squeezed his ear again. He screamed loudly and shrilly this time, “OK! I’ll do it! Just let go of my ear!” his voice sounded desperate. She lifted him to his feet by his ear and he screamed again, “For some reason, I don’t trust you, so I thought I’d escort you to them.” She began walking towards the door still holding tight to this guys’ ear where Mark was now standing talking to a soldier from a nearby camp that was conveniently walking down the road when the fight was nearing its end.

The Steel Bandits leader was dragged along willingly, if he didn’t he was sure he would lose his appendage forever. She let go eventually and Mark took the gang leaders’ shoulder and handed him over to the soldier. The soldier tied the guys’ hands behind his back with some rope and escorted him to the cage attached to a carriage drawn by a set of four Monsors, every single one of the Steel Bandits was stuffed in the cage and brought to the Kingdom for processing. Mark and Drusilla congratulated each other on a job well done and walked back into the tavern to see their blue-skinned friend sitting on the floor with a pile of bronze and silver coins too high and too many to put in his pouch. He looked kind of sad actually.

Mark walked over to his graduate and patted him on the shoulder.

“I’m sure I can find something for you to carry all of your loot.”

They made a beeline to his office and he began rummaging in another room that was attached. Comotos knew that room very well. He had slept in there for many years and he remembered all of the good times he had with Mark training to become a Bounty Hunter. He was glad and thankful every day that Mark had helped him. A moment or two went by and he emerged from the room with a duffel bag with a medium-length strap that looked big enough to carry all of the loose change. Mark handed him the bag and he began to rearrange the coins in the other room in the various pockets to make hauling it less of a strain on his shoulder. Immediately upon finishing he motioned to follow him to the office.

“Momentarily you have to get rewarded for finishing your first mission AND defeating Tukmah, think you have some room left in that bag of yours?”

The tall Kuro man chuckled, and patted his new bag as they entered the office.

“Depends on how old this sack is but I’m sure it can handle it.”

Mark sat on the lush chair at his desk and opened a drawer. He removed a small and medium-sized black velvety bag from the drawer and tossed them across the table towards him.

“Fifty thousand gold and ten platinum coins as an official reward for finishing the bounty against Tukmah, and two-hundred silver coins for your first mission. Congratulations my boy!”

He looked at the bags and grabbed them, lifting them onto the palm of his large hand. He felt the weight of them and then opened the bigger pouch. Sure enough, he saw gold and the murky grey of platinum and almost began drooling.

Drusilla strolled up to the desk to get a better look. She peeked around his body and noticed that he was staring at an open black bag in his large blue hand. Mark looked over at her then back up at his friend with a raised eyebrow.

“My boy, today you have a companion with you, I suggest that you buy her something as pretty as she is. And do very cautious, there are creatures in this world worse than Tukmah.”

She blinked, “Worse than Tukmah?”

She shrunk beside Comotos but he gave her a smirk of reassurance. “Don’t worry, as long as we travel together I won’t let any creeps touch you.”

She seemed reassured by his words and stood beside him again. He closed the drawer after he grabbed a piece of paper and a pen from its depths.

“Now I have to write a letter to the King of Ashlar of your good deed on taking down Tukmah. If you two don’t have anywhere to go you should accompany me there. I’m sure the King would be pleased to meet the people involved in his demise!”

He just squinted at Mark. Drusilla seemed excited enough.

“I’ve never been inside of a palace before!”

“Alright Mark. Finish your letter and we’ll get going, but for now… I want another drink.” He sighed knowing how long it took Mark to write letters, he always had extremely neat handwriting and it always took forever.

Comotos ordered another mug of ale from the grateful bartender and Drusilla ordered another tea for herself. Once they finished their beverages they left the tavern and all three hopped into the carriage they arrived in and told the driver they were heading for the Ashlar Kingdom. It took them the rest of the day to make it to where the palace was. They made a stop on the way to use a tavern's facilities. She was staring out of the window for the entire last half of the journey and the boys took a nap as the carriage rumbled traversely on the dirt road. It was sunset by the time they reached the outer walls of the palace.

The whole building was huge but it looked weird as if round blobs of white clay were squished together in uneven clumps while crude windows had been carved out in various places. Mark made his way up to the gates to let the guards know that they needed to speak with the King on matters of the wanted criminal, Tukmah. He helped her out of the carriage once again and noticed that Mark had pointed at them and then he motioned for them to follow him into the castle. The trio made their way through the castle doors. Both of them were in awe of how large and beautiful the interior of the castle was. Mark had obviously been here before but it was the couple's first time in the Ashlar Palace.

There were live flowers of every colour planted in heightened gardens around the edges and in the middle of the room, there was an extremely oversized fountain that was spewing out multiple different hued water sprays. He had never seen so many flowers in one place before and it made his nose hairs tickle. He raised a gloved hand to his face as he sneezed into it. She giggled when she heard him sneeze and he looked at her and then sneezed again in the palm of his gloved hand, when he was finished he wiped it onto the butt of his pants.

“Wait here,” Mark said and then he made his way up a wide, winding staircase. He gazed upwards and saw on the balcony above them and it seemed like two people were sitting on large, high-back chairs at the very top.