Chapter 47

“It’s the bounties. There’s a bunch of random fucks involved now who are after us just for the gold coins Reed promised. Wouldn’t be surprised if a couple of Alira’s boys are behind us as well.” I’m not pleased with Bertrand’s words and there’s a sinking feeling in my stomach. Fuck, I should’ve grabbed something to eat before running to the front enclosure this morning. We don’t stay in the slums any longer and head back to the entertainment district. We run down another alleyway and right as we’re about to turn a corner, someone pops out right in front of us and tackles me to the ground without giving me a chance to fight back. “Get the fuck off of him Nars. That’s a member of Candle you’ve got on the ground.”

Whoever tackled me knocked the wind out of me and now I’m lying on my back, coughing and gasping for air. It’s dark but I can still slightly make out the man who’s on top of me. It’s a robust bald man with scars all over his face. He only has a brown mustache over his upper lip and doesn’t have any sort of facial hair aside from the mustache. There’s a crazed look in his brown eyes as he stares at me below him with a smile on his face. Bertrand has his sword pressed against Nars’s neck but it doesn’t seem to phase him as he says with a laugh, “Sorry ‘bout that Bertrand. Heard there was a manhunt in our territory and wanted to take a look-see.”

“Get the fuck off of him Nars. Or do you want to explain this to Alira?”

The man named Nars gets off of me and pulls me to my feet by my arm. “No need to make a fuss of this, Bertrand. Honest mistake. Honestly.” He pats me down on my shoulders and pats me on the back, brushing the dirt off. When it looks like he’s satisfied with his work, he walks off in a different direction than the one we were going in with his hands in his pockets, humming a tune.

“Nars, one of Alira’s captains. Never approach him by yourself and don’t get anywhere near him if possible. He’s completely mad and there’s no telling when something will tick him off and he’ll cut off your ears before trying to feed them to you. Fuck. They caught up to us. The house we came out of this afternoon.” Bertrand pushes me in one direction while he runs the other shouting, “Hey! Here I am! 10 gold coins to the man who takes my head!” Fuck! He’s turning himself into bait for me to get away. I hesitate for a second because he might need my help but I don’t want to waste this chance he gave me. Besides, he’s a better fighter than me and he’s much more experienced. Damn it. I turn away from him and I start running.

Bertrand’s actions split up the people after us considerably and only one out of every five men chasing us followed after me when we split. There’s still too many of them for me to take on alone and exhausted but I’m able to keep running. This isn’t looking good for me. I don’t recognize the streets I’m running through and my legs are starting to feel really heavy. Before I can take a look around and try to find something I can recognize, someone in front of me steps out of a dark alleyway and breaks into a dash towards me with a dagger in hand when he spots me. You really think you can kill me on your own and have a gold coin all to yourself? Be my guest, you’re welcome to try. I break into a dash towards him, surprising him, and ram into him with my shield, sending both of us to the ground with me on top of him. Before he can do anything, I impale my blade under his ribs and he painfully groans before going still. I can’t afford to catch my breath here because I can hear the shouting from behind catching up to me. When I stand up while pulling my sword free, a wooden door opens up next to me and I twist my body around, ready for anything.

It’s a blond woman wearing a white dress standing in a dark doorway. Her face looks familiar to me. Where have I… oh, the ears. It’s the elf from last night. She doesn’t say a word but stands aside slightly, offering to let me in. Looking back, I can see the lights from brightstones, lanterns, and torches coming towards this place. Either I keep running or I trust this woman I’ve never met before and maybe I’ll be able to catch my breath. Aww fuck, would this pretty elf lady really lead me into a trap? For what reason? Damn it, I’m going to hate myself for this if I end up dying. But godsdamn I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone more beautiful in my life. Though I haven’t been alive all that long to be fair. I accepted her offer and ran into her building. She quickly closes the door behind her and we’re plunged into darkness. Okay, admittedly I wasn’t thinking with my brain there. I was thinking with something else just then and I’m starting to regret it now. The seconds roll by as I’m stuck inside a pitch black, silent room. The only thing I can really think about is her intoxicating scent and it’s driving me insane because there’s an intense struggle inside me between my fear and my desires. My grip around my sword and shield tightens as my palms start to sweat. Right as I’m about to say something, a fire bursts to life right before me. The elven woman ignited a lantern and she’s standing right in front of me. Her golden eyes stare at me curiously and I’m entranced by them, I can’t look away. She gestures toward the wall with her hand and I oblige, taking a seat on the wooden floor. She looks at me for a second before walking out of the room taking the lantern with her.

A moment later, she comes back with a wooden mug and hands it to me. Looking into the mug, it looks like water but I can’t seem to calm down my paranoia right now. Scoffing, she takes the mug from me and drinks from it before handing it back. Alright, good enough for me. I gulp down half of the water before I feel satisfied. “Thank you.” She doesn’t respond back and instead just opts to stare at me. It’s a little uncomfortable but at least I can catch my breath and rest a little bit here. After a few minutes, I feel good enough to leave and get back to the compound but I’m too curious to leave without asking, “Why’d you help me?”

Instead of answering, she asked a question herself, “Why did you kill the priest?” Her voice is somewhat peculiar. It sounded pleasant enough but it was strange. I don’t know how to describe it. It’s like her voice was melodious as if she was singing but she wasn’t. Do all elves sound like this?

I’m not surprised. She saw me carrying a body to the well I’m assuming she uses pretty often. It could have been Humphrey as well but I guess he’s not as well known around here as Jerome is. She’s been nothing but kind to me and I don’t think the church’s scandal will stay a secret for long. Besides, the whole purpose of torturing Jerome was for people to find out and she already knows I had a hand in it. Oh fuck, I should’ve told Bertrand about this last night. Oh well. “Priest Jerome was a two faced bastard. He was trafficking the orphanage’s children right from the church and sold them to nobles both in and out of the city. He deserved what he got. The other one we left behind was one of the nobles who he sold to and he got his just desserts as well.” She doesn’t say anything but just nods her head a few times. “I answered your question and I appreciate you helping me but could you answer mine? Why’d you help me? You could have gotten hurt if any of Reed’s men saw you helping me.”

She stays silent for a moment to gather her thoughts before responding, “The other girls told me that if someone went to such lengths to make sure the priest suffered and wanted everyone to find out just how much he suffered before dying, he must’ve done something horrible to someone and probably deserved it. The fact that the fat noble who was found next to him was infamous for being a creep around here only solidified the girls’ suspicion about the priest. I thought since you had a hand in getting rid of him, you couldn’t be too bad yourself?”

What? “That’s it? That’s why you helped me?”

She gives me a smile and says, “That’s it.”

I can’t help myself and I let out a chuckle. Risking your life to help a stranger because he couldn’t be too bad, huh? I’m alright with that. I don’t impose myself any longer since I feel rested enough and I get ready to leave. I ask the elven woman to point me in the direction of the well since I can use that as my landmark to get back to the compound. Before I open the door and step outside, I ask for her name. She just smiles at me without saying anything. Damn. With a broken heart, I venture back out into the dark night. I think it’s a broken heart. I’ve never felt like this before but I’ve also never really felt attracted to someone like this either. I don’t know, maybe I’ll ask Wraine later. Using the well as my landmark, I make my way back to the compound following the route Bertrand and I used last night. Right when I stepped outside, I noticed the man I stabbed earlier is still there. It looks like no one bothered to bring the body with them. Poor guy. But it looks like his dagger’s gone so there’s that.

I stick to the dark alleys as I make my way back and I try to avoid running into anyone. I’m not afraid of a fight since I found my second wind but I don’t want the commotion from it attracting more people towards where I am. Before long, I’m in the vicinity of the compound and I discreetly make my way around the buildings when I finally reach the house we came out of earlier. I open the back door and carefully make my way inside the dark house. I’d like to use my brightstone in a box but I’m sure the light would expose me instantly in this dark house. Before I can get too far, someone grabs a hold of me from behind and clamps their hand over my mouth. Bertrand shushes me and I nod, showing him I won't scream in surprise. He lets me go and heads over to the rug, pulling it away and showing the wooden hatch underneath. When we get down the ladder and once the iron door’s locked, he asks what happened to me and why I took so long. I recount my encounter with the elven woman and he bursts out laughing, asking if I fell in love at first sight. Godsdamnit, is that what this feeling is?

As we’re heading back into the compound, Bertrand tells me it looks like Reed and his men couldn’t get through the gate or the walls. They seem to be calling it a night and they should be back bright and early. Oh fuck, another day of this shit? My second wind ran out by the time I got down the ladder and I could barely keep my eyes open as I absentmindedly followed behind Bertrand. When we get to the backyard of the compound, Angelene’s still there with a thick blanket covering her. She opens her eyes and looks at us when we arrive but closes them again without a word. We head to the front enclosure to find Quinn and Wraine there with blankets covering them. It looks like they have a guard shift set up and it’s Quinn’s turn right now. When we brief each other about what happened on each other’s end, we find out Quinn led an assault outside with Wraine when most of Reed’s men left to chase us and cleaned up a good portion of those that remained. They gave up on attacking the stronghold for the day at that point and joined the hunt for the two of us instead. They’ll rest for the night and be right back at it tomorrow. All we need to do is survive the morning and Derriv will be back with the rest of Candle by the afternoon. Bertrand tells me that’s a good 20 men each capable of handling a few guys by themselves. Gods I hope so.

Bertrand hands me a blanket and tells me to stay in the rear with Angelene. When I get there, I sit on the ground and lean against one of the surrounding buildings’ walls. When I ask her if she wants to set up a guard shift with me, she tells me she’s a light sleeper and we’ll be fine. She also said she didn’t see any action today and she’s not tired. She’s actually pissed about not killing anyone and says she’ll be the one who goes outside for the assaults tomorrow.

When we’re finished talking, I don’t sleep immediately but I take a moment to think about all the people I’ve killed today. With everything happening all at once and without a moment to rest, I didn’t really have a chance to calm down and process it all. My hands are still covered in blood since I didn’t have a chance to clean them. My sword’s not much better and it’s caked with multiple layers of dried blood. But I don’t really feel anything towards any of this. Rather, I just feel empty and that feeling of emptiness worries me the most. Like I think I’m supposed to feel disgust or guilt right now but there’s nothing there. Instead, seeing the blood on my hands and the blood covering my sword, I can’t help but think about what a day I’ve had and that puts a smile on my face. I’m broken out of my gruesome revelry by the sound of someone walking towards me.

Looking up, I see a little girl with brown hair, around eight or nine winters old, carrying a plate of dried meat and a wooden mug in her hands. There’s an anxious look on her face as she holds out the plate and the mug for me. When I reach out my hands for them, she recoils when she sees my bloody hands. I quickly pull them back and hide them under the blanket. Instead, she places the plate and the mug by my feet before running around the corner of the building and peeking her small head out to watch me. Seeing her running around and lively like this puts a smile on my face and I say to her, “Sorry about my hands. Thanks for the food Mary.”

Hearing me speak, she pops out her head a little more and asks, “How’d you know my name?”

“You remember the big man with the long hair and the long beard and the boy with short brown hair who rescued you last night? They’re my friends and they told me about saving you from the… evil villain last night.”

“Really? I know your name. Ilya told me the boy with red hair is big brother Isaac and if I ask you really nicely, you’ll read me a book before bedtime.”

“Did she? You know what, I’m too sleepy tonight to read you a book but I’ll read it to you tomorrow night, how does that sound?”

“Promise?”

“Promise. Now get to bed, it’s too late for you to be awake.” Mary runs back to the building where Ilya’s room is, which is in the center of the compound and the safest building in the whole place. She’s a sweet girl and she doesn’t deserve all this hardship. Thinking she’ll just get sent back to the orphanage once all this is over is bitter. But what can I do? Fucking adopt her? I’m fucking 14 winters old myself, only 6 winters older than her. I can’t think of anything. I feel powerless and useless and worthless. While I’m lamenting my worthless self, I rip into the dried meat and pour the ale down my throat. Feeling full and satisfied for the first time today, I drift off to sleep.

…

It doesn’t feel like I’ve slept long at all when Angelene’s shouts wake me up, “Isaac wake up! They've broken through the walls, they’re inside the compound!” Here we go again.