The Tagrosi Occupation Begins

Upon returning to town, while everyone else was still gathered in the square to hear Jayden’s news regarding the foreign army on our horizon, I hurried over to the inn to retrieve Zac. I could only imagine how frightened he must have been by then, having hidden in that dark cellar for so long, knowing full well that he’d seen spiders and mice there before.

Once inside the inn, I jumped behind the counter, stomped into the kitchen, and marched to the cellar door. The planks on the door were cut at an angle, making it almost impossible to distinguish any gaps between them and the rest of the wooden planks on the floor, unless one were specifically looking for them. One knothole in the wood acted as the handle, and I stuck my index finger in to lift it up. Immediately under the wood was yet another trapdoor, a steel one with a lock on it. I gave the ring-handle on it a light tug, immediately discovering that Zac had remembered to lock the door from the inside.

Good boy.

From my vest pocket, I produced my key, unlocked the cellar door, and pulled it open. Down below I saw only blackness, not a hint of Zac anywhere.

When I started my descent, I opened my mouth and breathed in so I could call out to Zac and let him know it was me. Dust from below saw the opening and took the opportunity to snake its way into my throat, causing me to cough and hack as I walked down the stairs.

“Zac…” I croaked out.

I can only assume that both the sound of my voice and the sight of my shadowed silhouette must have been terrifying for the boy, for when I’d reached the second to last step on the staircase I felt a sharp, sudden pain in my… well, let’s just say Zac’s wooden sword ensured he would be an only child for a long time.

I doubled over in pain at the bottom of the stairs, holding my precious parts in both hands and groaning.

Whack!

Zac’s wooden sword smacked me on the temple.

Whack!

Whack!

And twice more on my side.

I reached up and locked my fingers around the weapon just as it came down again, my palm aching from the impact. For one so small, he sure knew how to hit hard.

“Zac, it’s me!” I whimpered, my words distorted by pain and dust.

Either he didn’t recognize my voice or he didn’t hear it at all in his panic, for the next thing I felt was his heel connect with my nose.

“I’ll bust you open!” Zac shouted, followed by some words I was certain I hadn’t taught him.

“Zac? What’s going on down there?” came Benji’s voice from above.

“Mr. Benji!” Zac cried out. “There’s a bad man down here! Help!”

The stairs crunched and creaked as Benji scurried down.

“Benji, it’s me!” I tried to yell, but my voice was little more than a croak.

One of Benji’s massive hands seized me by the back of the shirt and lifted me off the ground. “Think you’re so brave, attacking a small boy, hmm?” Benji growled. He turned and stormed back up the stairs, dragging me up every step along the way. “Well, we can’t have that, can we?”

“Benji…” I moaned again.

Once at the top of the stairs, Benji hoisted me up in one hand by my collar and pinned me to the wall. He made a fist and pulled it back. By the size of his knuckles and the strength of those arms, I was certain he could crush my skull in a single blow. “No one hurts a child on my…”

His eyes flew wider open than I’ve ever seen them when he actually got a good look at my bruised face. His hand released my collar and his fist unclenched. “Ahv! So sorry! I thought you were a bad feller.”

I slouched back against the wall, one hand on my injured groin and the other on my bloodied nose. “Yeah, so did Zac.”

Zac stood at the top of the cellar stairs now, pained guilt on his face. He looked down at the wooden sword in his hand, up at me, then hid the weapon behind his back. “Umm… Uh… I’m sorry! I didn’t know… Mr. Muk said a bad man was coming.”

“I know,” I groaned. “Jus’… gib me a liddel dime..” I removed the hand from my nose and held it up to quiet him. “Ugh… it all hurtsh…”

Zac snickered, but immediately covered his mouth and held in the rest of his laughter.

Benji knelt down next to me. “I can carry ya upstairs if you’d like ta try to sleep it off.”

For some reason, Benji’s offers to do things like that always made me feel like I needed to prove I was tough, and I started pushing myself to my feet. “No… I’ll be fine…”

“Beaten up by a child, I see?” came a half-laughing, feminine voice from behind me. I removed my hand from my groin and snapped my head around to see Elora leaning over the counter. Her white eyes betrayed her amusement at my suffering.

“In my defense,” I said, sniffing the leaking blood back into my nostril, “he ambushed me, he was armed, and I’m the one who taught him how to use a sword.”

Elora chuckled. “Well, he must be the most dangerous little boy ever, then, if you taught him.”

I gave her a weak smile.

And she gave me a handkerchief from her coat pocket. “Here. For your nose.”

“Thanks,” I said, promptly ruining the white piece of cloth with my blood. There was a silent understanding that I would keep the handkerchief after that.

I glanced back at the kitchen, ensuring that from where Elora stood she couldn’t see the cellar door. Once I was satisfied that she hadn’t seen it, and Benji emerged from the kitchen with Zac sitting on his left shoulder, I asked her, “So, were you just… waiting in here the whole time? While everyone else was getting ready for war?”

Elora’s fists rested on her wide hips and she narrowed her white eyes at me. “No, I was outside, preparing to fight and die with the rest of them. Then you came back into town and immediately headed back to the inn. I thought that was curious, so I followed you.”

Benji and Zac drew close behind me, and the burly inn-keeper cleared his throat. “Oh!” I said. “Pardon me, Elora, this is Benjamin Strato, my employer and owner of this inn, and Zac, my son.”

Elora held out her hand to Benji. “A pleasure,” she said.

Benji took her hand in his giant fingers and raised it as he bent forward to press his lips to her knuckles. “A pleasure, ma’am,” he said.

A hint of pink found its way to Elora’s cheeks. “Umm… yes,” she replied, then turned back to me. “So, what’s going on?” She folded her arms. “That army out there… are they not on their way to attack us?”

I shook my head. “No. They’re not.”

“So, they’re not bad men?” Zac asked.

“No, they’re plenty bad,” said Benji as he twirled the end of his curly mustache around his index finger. “They’re just not here for us.”

“Oh…” said Zac, though by the way he said it I could tell he was only pretending to understand.

I continued, “They just want to use our bridge to cross the river. They’re on their way to war somewhere else.”

Elora grunted her disbelief. “Shouldn’t someone go warn the marquis? Or, better yet, the king?”

“I imagine the sheriff has that under control,” I said, “But, the less we know about all that the better. If we keep our heads down and mind our own business, we’ll come out of this alive.”

Elora’s brow furrowed with anger. “You’re just going to let this foreign army march through your town? What if they burn the next city they come across?”

“They might very well do that.” I raised both of my hands defensively. “But there’s not really much we can do about it, is there? That whole army has Ancient weapons, Elora. Every. Single. Soldier. And there are thousands of them. I’ve never seen so many Ancient weapons in one place. Worse yet, somehow they managed to travel at night, when the darklings prowl.”

“So, you’ll just do nothing?” Elora huffed. She brought her face closer to mine, until I could feel the heat of her breath. My pulse raced when she drew so close. “What happened to the brave man I worked with all those years ago?” she scolded

“You mean the reckless man?” I corrected her, taking a step back. “The one who climbed into ruins, where darklings nested, without a hint of fear? He had a child and settled down. Now he’s not so quick to throw his life away trying to be a hero.”

“Wait… what?” Zac said.

“That’s what your dad used to do,” Benji whispered to him.

When I looked back at Zac, I saw his mouth hanging agape. I’d never told him about my time as a delver, partially because I didn’t like to brag, and partially because I didn’t want him running off and trying to do the same thing. There were far better occupations for him to pursue.

And, certainly, most of them would steer him away from the secrets of the Ancients, wherein he might discover his dark origins.

“My Dad used to be cool?” Zac whispered.

When I returned my gaze to Elora’s face again, the understanding and compassion there surprised me. “I see… Yes, you have a child to care for now.” She grinned, her cheeks pushing her ears up. “You said the sheriff has a plan?”

“I’m sure he does,” I said.

She peered over her shoulder, out the inn’s front window. “Good… good…”