Part 1

“No! Stop!-” I shouted as the myriad of hands clawed at my legs, their nails sinking into my flesh all the way to the bone, gripping me like hooks “- I said stop!”

The lake of blood was all around me. Waves became hands. Hands became arms and the faces of those I killed resurfaced, morphed, almost indistinguishable, cursing at me with their eerie growls. As always, I was being dragged down, pulled underneath the lake. It was always the same. The same scene. The same pain. The same faces. Until all I could see was red.

No matter how much I shouted, struggled, begged, or fought back, the result was always the same. The hands grabbed me and pulled me down beneath the surfaces. Claws sank into my flesh. The faces that did not growl chewed on my skin. Then, finally, I would drown as Lucas’ figure shaped in blood pointed his finger at me accusatorily.

I awoke suddenly, my body drenched in cold sweat, with great throwing of sheets and whatnot. In doing so, I rose from my lying position, and as soon as my upper body was straight, a piercing pain penetrated my chest and dug a hole until it reached my spine, robbing me of all breath as it did. Between shouts and grunts, I fell back down on the sweat-drenched pillow as I clutched at my chest with both hands. An innate instinct of all living beings, to search for the source of pain even when it clearly is beyond our touch.

“Calm down, big boy-” said the voice of a shouting man from beyond the door. It was familiar, very much so, but I just couldn’t give a face to that voice. It felt as if I should’ve known who it belonged to…but I just couldn’t connect the two. Then, realization came when he entered the room “- Couple of your ribs are cracked, one was broken. You better not move around too much else the patching up done to you’ll come undone”

“Y-You!” I said with a broken and quickened breath.

“Calm down, I tell you. I’m not here to fight-” Tried to explain the man as he put down the tray he held and gestured me to calm down with his hands. Seeing as it was very ineffective, he instead chose to face the door and shout: “- Lass! Your brother’s awake and he’s all pissy about me. Told you it was an awful idea!”

With a sigh, he turned to me and shrugged his shoulders before slumping down into a nearby rocking chair. He reached for an inner pocket of his elegant, blue vest and took out an extensively decorated wooden pipe refined in gold. Lit it using a match from another pocket, took a puff, closed his eyes, and let himself rock restfully on his chair. Not even thirty seconds later, the footsteps from beyond the door became louder and louder until Julie came rushing into the room with tangled hair and a trail of dribble running down her mouth. Clearly, she had just woken up. The next second she jumped across the room with agility I did not know she was capable of and slammed herself right onto me, stealing my breath once more.

I wheezed and gasped as I tried to untangle the mass of crying hair and poor-structured curses. Julie grasped none of that, or she simply didn’t care. Either way, she kept hugging me, her head resting just below my sternum and swinging from side to side as if to make as much contact as possible.

“J-Julie…please” I managed to say between strained breaths.

“Lass, let the man go-” Said the dwarf who was now standing up with one hand on my sister’s shoulder “- He’s barely awake and most likely in pain. He’ll faint again if you keep the assault going”

Realizing what she was doing, Julie jumped back with apologetic eyes as wide as a puppy while she tried to utter some words of sorry but ended up saying only a bunch of muttered nonsense. In the end, she was able to convey the fact that I had fainted and blacked out for a long time and that got her worried. All the while, the dwarf that caused all this mess was leisurely smoking his pipe while watching the scene with a somewhat amused smile on his face.

“I get it, I get it-” I replied sighing as I slowly shifted position on the bed until I was sitting somewhat straight “- I’m sorry I got you so worried, Julie. Now, care to explain where are we and how did I end up here?”

“Easy that-” Said the dwarf with a long puff of white smoke “- You’re in my house right now. You're welcome, by the way”

“Your house? This?” I answered incredulously.

I was too focused on suppressing the pain striking nails into my body to take a proper look at the room I was in before. Now I had the chance. It was large, way larger than an inn’s, with one large bed. It was neither king nor queen size, but it still gave me considerable space, enough to roll around if I so wished. The room had one large wardrobe in the corner of the room, on the bed’s right, a tall and wide mirror right in front of the bed, a cabinet and a bedside table on each side of the bed, the rocking chair, a table and a wide window beside it. The bedframe, like every other piece of furniture in the room, was made of wood, a soft rustic cherry with a shade of red in its veins. Sophisticated but not refined. It was clear to the eye that none of them were cheap, but neither were they outrageously expensive like the ones straight out of a noble’s home. The only piece of furniture that outclassed the standard of the room was a wide oval carpet, soft to the eyes with its warm red and calming blue colors. The faint sheet of dust resting atop the wardrobe and the mirror was enough of a sign that this was not the main room but rather something along the lines of a guest room. Meaning the dwarf sitting on the rocking chair owned an even richer room.

“I suppose I do owe you some explanations-” The dwarf said sighing as soon as he spotted the suspicion taking shape in my eyes “- In light our our little…*ehm* scuffle. Go on then, ask away”

“Alright then. Who are you?” I asked away.

“Name’s Belluth Fuiloath Edar’Aibhni” Simply replied the dwarf.

“Fuiloath…fuiloath…fuiloath…-” I said to myself as I tried to recall the meaning of that second name “-Mhh, doesn’t it have to do with the royal family? I can’t remember”

“You are right! I’m a royal guard sworn to the king and the royal family-” Belluth exclaimed surprised “- A lad this young knows about a dwarf’s second name? How’d you learn?”

“Books mostly along with conversations between drunken dwarves back in Alamara” I replied as I still struggled to make the connection between the name Fuiloath and the royal lineage.

“HAHA! And here I thought only dwarves and old men knew of our names. But Alamara, uh…You a mage or something?” Asked Belluth with an expression that seemed a lot more relaxed than before.

“Yes, I studied as a mage, though circumstances are now that force me to use as little mana as possible. Still, I’m the one supposed to ask questions” I replied quickly, hoping the change the subject as soon as possible.

“Yes-” the dwarf said absentmindedly as his eyes darkened just slightly while focused on me. He wasn’t looking me in the eye but rather he was focused on a point around my elbow or forearm. That shift in his eyes took just a second and, as our eyes met, I couldn’t tell whether it was just my imagination or not “- Yes, sorry, I’m curious by nature and I’ve never visited much of the Raiden continent. What would you like to know next?”

“What happened after I fainted?”

“In short. Your sister cried-” The dwarf said causing him to receive a string of indignant screeches from my sister “- guards came, asked questions, the guild dude that was following you explained. Your sister joined in, I vouched for you, the two adventurers were dragged away, I brought you here, called a healer and here we are. Satisfactory?”

“Mildly. What do you mean you vouched for me? Why did you not go through with the beating? Actually, why did you start in the first place after I explained my reasons?” I asked as I grew pissed off in remembering the prior events.

“Haha…ha…Well, that’s where the misunderstanding I spoke of before comes in. Ye see…-” explained Belluth as he scratched his chin with a guilty expression “-it was my day off, right? So I kinda wanted to let off some steam, so I began drinking ‘till I got drunk-”

“Drunk?!” I interrupted in surprise.

“Yeah, drunk” Replied the dwarf with a stifled laugh that was supposed to hide his embarrassment.

“It wasn’t even noon!” I replied in complete disbelief.

“It was my day off! What was I supposed to do? Smell flowers and sing songs?-” Shouted Belluth as he threw his hands in the air causing some of the pipe’s ash to fall on the floor and on his shoulder “- Anyway, I got drunk and was then looking for some action. Being a royal guard is dandy and all but it lacks action. I can’t just waltz into the slums and start slashing at every crook I see. It’d be a bad look for the king, so, when I saw you looking all strong and mighty, I thought to myself that you’d be a good sport”

“For real?-” I asked again in disbelief “- I know people tend to be spontaneous when drunk, but this…”

“Yes, well, I admit it’s my fault. Truly. I got too excited and went overboard, especially since you had all reason to be mad and didn’t actually spill any blood. Thing is, it's rare to see someone with such vicious eyes as yours on the upper levels, so that got me fired up….As for the reason why I stopped, well, your surname” Answered with extreme simplicity the dwarf.

“What does my surname have to do with anything?” I asked, getting more and more confused as the dwarf answered my questions.

“Well, thing is, I talked a bit with your sister and turns out my suspicions were true. Bluescale is the surname of a man I adventured a bit when I was younger. Seems like that man and a woman I was with are your father and mother. Arthur and Elizabeth…I knew there was something between them, but marriage? Never would’ve guessed” He answered with a satisfied expression and dreamy eyes as if he was looking back at the memories of that time.

“Wait-” I said with great use of hand gestures “- You are the dwarf that traveled with them and the Evergard?”

“Indeed” He replied proudly.

“The same one that completely cut off all contacts from both families?!” I prodded once more.

“Well, if you put it that way it sounds like I did it on purpose. It was more like…*ehm* Let’s just say things got dicey for a while after I parted ways with the whole group” The dwarf replied with a guilty laugh.

“I see-” I replied along with a heavy sigh. The impulse to just lay back down and go to sleep for twelve more hours almost overtook me “- So basically I got beat up by a drunk royal guard in search of a fight, and then, when he heard my name, he felt guilty about it because I was the son of his old friends?”

“It sounds really messed up if you put it that way-” Answered Belluth as he stood up and, surprisingly, bowed his head in front of me “- but you are correct. I won’t deny that it is fully my fault. So, to mend my wrongs, you can stay at my house for as long as you wish. Days, months, however long you need. And, please, ask anything of me. I heard a bit about your story from Julie, though she was reluctant to share details. I’d like to help in any way I can”

“I thank you. It’s quite generous of you…-” I said as I felt the tension between us ease just a bit before gaining even more weight the moment my next words exited my mouth “-...Did she tell you about-”

“Yes…-” Belluth said, his eyes cast downward and his voice filled with deep sorrow “- Yes, she did…How did it go?”

“It happened before I found the two of them. In the labyrinth-” I replied as my face turned into a pained grimace filled with the memories of that day “- Cannibals were around at that time…She took the hit instead of Julie”

“...Brave until the end-” Belluth replied with a forced smile that betrayed his deep sadness “- And her body? Did she receive proper burial?”

“She did, mostly at least…I could not bury her in that cursed place where undead roamed free, and neither could I do it amongst the sands of the desert. She’s still here with us until we find our father” I replied with my teeth grinding.

“How do you know if he’s even still alive?!-” He shouted as he slammed his fist on the nearby bedside table, snapping the corner clean off “- Sorry, I don’t know what-”

“You loved her” I stated matter of factly, without a single shred of tone in my voice. It was a realization I came to after seeing his burst of anger. The signs were there all along.

“WHAT?” Exclaimed Julie who finally decided to jump off the bed and stare at us both, darting her shocked eyes from one side to the other.

It took a while for Belluth to answer as he first darted his eyes between me with shock and Julie who was doing the same as his but in disbelief. At some point, after the sixth time his eyes met mine, he began chuckling as he sat back down on the rocking chair. Swung himself twice and with shaking hands he tried to refill the pipe. Alas, failing the last task.

“...Hard not to. She was a gorgeous woman, both in body and soul. So radiant that I sometimes still dream of her…was it obvious?” He said after a few seconds of silence and a heavy sigh.

“Not really-” I admitted “-the signs were there, sure, but it still was a bit of a gamble”

“I see…Do you…Would you mind telling me a bit about her and Arthur? I was the one who ‘cut off all contacts’ as you said, so I have no right to demand that of you but-” Belluth said in a surprisingly meek tone as he played around anxiously with a strange ring he wore. It was completely black, without a single imperfection, and looked as if it was carved out of one singular stone. Atop it, where the ring flattened into a rectangular shape with rounded corners, five very detailed golden crowns sat majesticly. It really was a nice ring “- If you could share even just a little, I’d be satisfied”

I took my time to judge the dwarf’s request. Between the implications that came with telling him our family’s story and the possible motives of the man whom we barely knew, I could not come to a conclusion. While I wanted to honor his request, in the name of his old friendship with my parents, a muffled voice in the back of my mind struggled to make itself heard and renounce the request. Unable to decide, I turned to Julie who, after understanding my intentions, nodded.

“Very well then-” I said as I raised my pillow to make my seating more comfortable “- I’ll tell you as much as I can”

Part 2

Several hours had gone by as I recounted my life back in Migur, leaving some details unspoken, and Julie recounted hers from when Lucas and I left. Moments of joy and laughter followed those of sorrow and anger, especially when it came to Lucas’ birth circumstances. Belluth struggled not to cry as he turned to face the window instead of us. It was plain to see how deep his feelings were for my mother. Then, came the events of the labyrinth. The fall, the city, my foolish decision to delve into the depths of it, my escape, and the encounter with my sister. Lucas’ death was spoken of only in passing. A hint really, nothing more than that. It was neither out of disrespect nor lack of trust, but rather a personal matter. I wished not to speak of it in front of my sister. I could not bare my sins naked in front of her. By the time our story came to an end, the city had quieted down and only a few distant sounds could be heard.

The silence full of different and heavy emotions that followed the end of the story lingered stagnant in the room that now felt too tiny for the three of us to share. The thin smell of smoke still hovered in the room, like a low cloud, granting the room a relaxing mood, unfitting the situation.

“So then you came here? I just don’t understand why you would do that” Belluth asked as he sighed heavily, his head slumping backward and looking at the ceiling.

“What other choice did we have really? Speaking in terms of practicality, what was I supposed to do? Walk through the whole desert until we could get a lift to the demon lands? Julie is with me and she knows nothing about survival and little about self-defense. Aiming for a more civilized place was our best bet” I replied shortly and concisely, rude even if I was to consider Belluth interest in the matter. I simply was too tired and mentally drained by the last two hours to keep being amendable.

“All that for your goal?-” retorted Belluth once more “- You don’t even know if he’s-”

Suddenly, bits and shards of the window rushed through the room as the loud sound of glass breaking shook the room to attention. Without giving much thought to my condition, I tried to jump to Julie’s aid but was stopped mid-movement by a piercing pain in my chest that propagated all the way to my spine, just like before. Belluth, instead, was fast. He rushed past the bed with one simple, quick motion, and then was upon Julie, shielding her from the glass. A thin trail of blood ran down his side as one such shard embedded itself in his back. A flesh wound, luckily.

“SORRY!-” We heard shouting from below in a loud, booming voice slurred to the extent that it was clear the owner of said voice had drunk his guts out “- Kinda slipped my…hand. My hand kinda slipped!”

The man outside kept rambling some more nonsense as he slurred his words to the point that it reached us as nothing more than a non-coherent mumbling. Painfully and groaning, I stood up from the bed, slowly, and by the time I was up, Belluth was already checking Julie for wounds, disregarding his own. I quickly asked him about it but he shooed off my question while getting rid of the shard and pressing the wound together as if to try and push out any residual glass. Then, angered and stomping his feet, Belluth marched to the window, grabbed the hammer stuck between glass and frame, and then, threw it back at the drunk man.

“Fuck you, you drunk bastard!-” He shouted as the hammer hit the other dwarf right in the head causing him to jolt in pain, stagger, lose balance, land on his ass, and curse back “- You fucking broke m window! Almost hurt the lass! Are you out of ye mind?! GO HOME!”

“Fuck ya, I said I’m sorry!-” Replied the dwarf, his voice sounding more and more familiar the more I listened to the curse-packed conversation “- I ain't got no house to go back, ya beardless bastard!...No wait, I do have a house…but I don’t remember where”

“Then go sleep by the side of the road, asshole! What’chu throwing things at windows for, huh?” Shouted back Belluth, grabbing a closeby chandelier but resisting the urge to throw it against the other dwarf.

“Oh yeah-” The drunk dwarf replied with a chirp in his voice “- ‘Bout that, see I was at the guild ‘fore, looking for a friend of mine. Tall guy, human, black hair, always moping about, and overly serious about shit-knows-what. Turns out folks at the guild said ya beat the shit out of him and carried him away. I came here to get him back, ya bastard!”

[Oh no…] I thought while face-palming so hard that I hurt my nose. I had realized who the owner of the voice was and shuddered at the thought of having to deal with his again…so soon.

“The fuck you think you can do when you can barely stand?!” Replied the ever-so-angered Belluth, this time throwing the chandelier.

“Open the door and I’ll show ya just what I can do!” Shouted in reply the drunk dwarf.

“And why would I ever do something so dumb?! You are out of your mind. Go away!”

“Where are you hiding ‘em?-” The drunk dwarf shouted as the picked up and threw several rocks and missing the mark with all of them “- Where’s Raphael and Julie?”

Belluth was now fuming with rage, rapidly scanning the room for objects heavy enough to throw at the drunk man. Sensing that the situation was quickly deteriorating, Julie rushed past my bed, jumping over the broken glass as she grabbed firmly onto Belluth’s shirt, ripping the first button.

“We know him!-” Julie shouted as Belluth turned around in utter surprise “- He’s a friend. His name is Ballarak. We traveled together until we reached the city!”

[Aaand now we are fucked!] I thought as I laid myself back on the bed, waiting for the inevitable chaos that was to ensue.

Belluth looked absolutely astonished. Impossible to tell whether that was because he realized who Ballarak was or why were we traveling together with a man who, in his drunken stupor, shouts and throws rocks at people’s homes. His eyes darted between my tired, and definitely annoyed eyes, and Julie’s pleading puppy gaze. Only when I finally sighed and nodded did Belluth relented on his crusade against the drunk dwarf.

“Really?” He asked me skeptical with a hint of disappointment in his tone.

“Unluckily so” I replied plainly to which Belluth finally let go of the silver tray he was still holding menacingly in his hand.

“Door’s on the other side…dumbass” Finally said Belluth to the drunk dwarf after several seconds of silence.

It took Ballarak several minutes before finally finding out which door was open, thanks to Julie’s aid, and climbing the stairs to reach our room. A task apparently a little too difficult for the drunk dwarf. His entrance into the room was flashy in all the wrong ways. First, he lost his balance before crossing the threshold and slammed his head on the wall. Then, without caring in the slightest about the bump quickly forming on his forehead, he stepped into the room and, in an attempt to hug me, missed me completely and instead hugged one of the pillars of the bedframe. Lastly, he slurred some sort of greeting before diving head-first into the foot of the bed.

“So you are telling me-” Scornily said Belluth as he poked Ballarak’s head with a piece of wood from the broken window “- that this is supposed to be Ballark Moltenblood? THE BALLARAK MOLTENBLOOD! Famous blacksmith and several times crowed as the King’s blacksmith? This drunken slob? Please!”

“He- He really is Ballarak” Replied Julie with a face that spoke volumes of the mistrust of her own words.

“Seriously? And you traveled with this? I am surprised he survived this long without falling down a slope or getting eaten by a drake! I can only imagine how much you had to babysit this drunken excuse of a dwarf…I see…that’s why the bags under your eyes look so heavy” Belluth continued as he poked away at the collapsed man with great disgust.

“Ehm, actually he never drunk” Answered Julie, causing Belluth to turn his head violently toward my sister’s direction with an expression of utter shock.

“No Julie, he did drink” I corrected which seemed to wash away the surprise in Belluth's face only to make room for an expression that said ‘I told you’.

“Really? But I never noticed!” Argued Julie.

“That’s ‘cause he drunk when you were fast asleep and only in the last week or so…plus, it never got this bad…I heard dwarves have a high tolerance for alcohol. Was I mistaken?” I explained and asked, shifting my eyes from my sister first to Belluth.

“Yes, that’s precisely why this is so absurd-” Sighed heavily the sober dwarf as he finally got tired of poking Ballark and leaned on the bedside table beside me “- For a dwarf, especially one as old as this fool, to end up this drunk means that what he drank wasn’t simply glasses or jugs, but straight up barrels. Absurd I tell you!”

“Why did he drink so much?” Asked Julie as she found what she was rummaging through the closet for. A wide, greyish blanket which she delicately laid onto the passed-out man.

“No lady don't!-” Tried to warn her Belluth but stopped mid-sentence as he got shot with Julie’s eyes full of youthful innocence. He stood no chance but to relent “- You know what? Nevermind. Hope yer brother doesn’t mind company”

“Not like I have much choice, do I?-” I replied sarcastically “- You don’t really strike me as the type that would princess-carry him to another room. Mayhaps I am mistaken?” I smirked.

“Oh, shut it!-” Belluth replied as he lightly pushed my sister out of the room and dismissed my snarky remark with a swing of his hand “- We’ll continue our conversation tomorrow. I would wish you a good rest but I can bet you that this living barrel’s gonna keep you awake with his snoring…Good luck!” Belluth concluded as he left the room laughing merrily.

“Yes, and fuck you too as well!” I cursed as, promptly as the door closed and I laid my head on the pillow, Ballarak began snoring.

Part 3

- JULIE BLUESCALE’S POV -

Eggs, fish, freshly baked bread, fruits, and milk were all neatly arranged on the big circular table occupying the better half of the room. Two maids were in the room, both dwarven women shorter than me, one standing by the side awaiting orders and the other busy with the setting up of the table. The sweet smell belonging to a pie beckoned me from beyond the door on the far side of the room, most likely the one leading to the kitchen.

Three men were sitting at the table, one at the head and two on the sides facing each other. The man sitting at the head, Belluth, was dressed in a welcoming mix of comfortable clothes and smart ones. A large cream-colored cotton shirt laid loosely over his torso with the brick-colored strings supposed to close the shirt over the man’s chest loose enough to show the tufts of hair on his chiseled, wide chest. Fit dark-brown pants, a pair of comfortable-looking leather shoes and a string tying his hair completed Belluth’s look. To his left sat Ballarak donning a long, fancy crimson bathrobe. On the right sat my brother wearing the same clothes he wore the previous day except for his wide hat. He seemed paler than before, as if color was being slowly drained away from his face, and his eyes felt out of focus, continuously shifting between the two men he was conversing with and something beyond his reach.

The atmosphere, the countless smells of food filling my senses, it all felt warm. That very warmth coursed through my veins and softened my muscles. Briefly, a thought just in passing, I remembered home. The warmth, that cheerful and melodious voice I would never hear again, my mom’s voice…dad’s imposing figure yet easy-going personality. I felt the world shift as I was, once more, brought back between those walls. Then, the sound of silverware cluttering on the ground and Belluth's loud voice brought me back to reality.

“How can you be so sure?!-” He shouted as he slammed his fists on the table, causing the silverware to fly out of the table and his glass to spill “- What certainties you have that he’s still alive?!”

“None-” Replied Raphael plainly. His did not meet Belluth’s questioning gaze but it was not out of shame nor shyness. His downcast eyes were void of everything “- I can’t possibly know whether my father is alive or not. His whereabouts are also beyond me. But he left the labyrinth alive, of that I am certain”

“And how can you be?!-” Shouted again Belluth, rising from his seat “- You already said that ‘someone’ told you he did, but how could he know? Uh? How could he?! You are full of shit! This…mission of yours is nothing but a fruitless suicide journey!”

“I cannot tell you who…he is because if I did, you would believe me even less than you do now” Raphael replied as he meticulously cut his fish.

“Right, right, so let’s just search around the whole world with a little girl in tow only for what? What? So you can lay her off to your father and go about this business of yours that you wouldn’t tell us? What you’re doing is just-” Belluth said before he got cut off by Ballarak's loud, fake coughing as nodded his head sideways in my direction.

All heads turned in my direction, and even Raphael’s gaze rose from his plate to meet my eyes. Though all he regarded me with was a nod. Ballarak gestured with his hand to come to sit at the table as he patted amicably the seat next to him. Belluth, instead, looked mortified to the point that he even began stuttering his apologies, but I stopped him before he could finish.

“There’s no need to say sorry-” I said as I took my place at the table and thanked the kind maid who prepared my plate and silverware “- I know me and my brother must look like two blind, hopeless kids but please don’t get mad at him. I know he cares about me. I trust him!”

“Yes…yes, I mean, I know that but-” Began to explain Belluth before something in his eyes changed. He looked at me with longing, tenderness, and surprise before chuckling and falling back onto his seat “- *sigh* You and your mother have more in common than you may imagine, lassie. Fine, I won’t say another word about that matter”

“Thank you” I replied with a wide, genuine smile. It felt like I was being listened to and treated like an adult. It felt good.

An uncomfortable silence fell for the subsequent minutes in which the only sounds that filled the room were those made by the silverware. Ballarak's loud chewing was not only a disturbance to that almost holy silence but it also felt rude. Something in the air and the way Belluth eyes twitched with restlessness made me realize that, perhaps, what I heard of their conversation was but a small portion. If they had discussed something heavier than that, then the awkward atmosphere carried even more weight than I imagined.

“Well then-” Suddenly said Ballarak with a chirp in his voice as he patted his belly several times. A clear and visible sign of his enjoyment of the meal “- s’pose tis time we tell the lass the good news, eh?”

“What?-” I asked surprised with a way-too-high pitched voice “- W-what good news?”

“Well, ya see-” Replied Ballarak with a wide grin “- when a man and a woman love each other-”

Suddenly a knife flew across the table, thrown with such speed that it’s silverly shadow was barely visible. It passed by Ballarak so close that it almost grazed him and landed stuck on the wooden frame of a painting depicting a castle in strange colors. Raphael, who threw the knife, had a murderous yet tired and spent look in his eyes.

“I swear I’ll skewer you like a pork at a village festival if you keep fucking around” He said as he looked in the direction of the two startled maids and nodded apologetically.

“Shees! Talk about a bad mood, uh?-” Ballarak replied in his usual cheerful and easy-going tone, though his expression lightly betrayed his surprise and, most likely, fear “- Then, let’s make it quick. Rejoice, lass, ‘cause I’ll be joining ya in yer travels!”

“...Sorry?!-” I asked surprised as I looked for confirmation in my brother’s eyes. With his only answer being a long, defeated sigh and a slow nod, my brother spoke volumes in response to my question “- I don’t believe it…-” I continued, more out of disbelief at my brother’s acceptance than anything else “- Why? What about the position as the King’s blacksmith?”

“Yeah, that’s about half the reason why I’m coming along” Replied the bearded dwarf, stuffing his mouth full of omelet.

“*Sigh* If you explain it like that she’ll never understand you dumb goat!” Said Belluth while massaging his temples.

“Oh, right, right. Details! Sorry, it’s just this breakfast is soo…wow. Gotta hire myself a maid one of these days. Anyway, I’ll give ya the short version ‘cause I don’t feel like going about it all over a second time” Answered Ballarak as he gulped down all he had in his mouth and got comfortable on his chair.

“Can’t you tell-” I tried to suggest before being abruptly interrupted.

“Shush!-” Said Ballarak with a raised finger “- Here’s the thing. I was supposed to participate in the tournament, though it was all a front, nothing more. The king had already chosen me as his blacksmith so the whole contest was just a little, fancy theater for the common folk…The first night in Drughmin, guards came knocking at my inn, led me to the king and here shit gets interesting. Our oh-so-glorious and magnanimous king-” Ballarak said in a mocking tone.

“Careful with your words-” Threatened Belluth as he fixed his gaze on Ballarak’s menacingly “- I am still a royal guard. Do not cross the line”

“Right, right. Forgot ya were one of them golden knights. Anyway, where was I? Right! Long story short, after praise upon praises and a speech of honor, fame, and greatness, the king hinted at the fact that I’d basically be a slave to the crown”

“Not like in Blackwall, Julie-” Said Raphael as soon as he saw me cringe. I did so unconsciously, as memories of the slaves I saw caged below the mansion of the previous ruler of Blackwall filled my mind “- It’s just a manner of speech”

“Precisely-” Replied Ballarak “- Now stop interrupting me! The king wanted me to forge only what the crown and some high nobles wanted me to. No commission, no wandering swordsman from afar, nothing of the sort. Only what the crown approved. Seemed a bit unfair so I asked if I was allowed to forge on my own, without selling my creations. Of course, it was with the crown’s funds…It was a categorical no. I was only allowed to create for the crown and by request of the crown. Why? ‘Cause ‘my creations are good enough to possibly become a threat to the crown’s power’...A FUCKING LOAD OF BULLSHIT I TELL YOU!-” Shouted Ballarak as he slammed his fists on the table “- A sword’s made for cutting, a shield for protecting, weapons made to kill and armor to save. What was he expecting me to do? Craft them pretty little flowers of glass those stuck-up elves of the republic do? Fuck off! By the gods, I’m a blacksmith. A BLACKSMITH I TELL YOU! I create stuff to kill and stuff to save. ‘Course folks will use ‘em to kill and protect”

“And? What happened next?” I asked, feeling my curiosity rise as the feeling that the climax was yet to come.

“Right, sorry. Got a bit dragged by the moment. Ehm, as ya imagine, I said no. The king didn’t take it very kindly so I got dragged into a cell and locked there to ‘think it over’. Thing is, I got some pulls around this city. Some nobles here, a mine supervisor there. If word of me being locked up unjustly gets out, the king gets his share of steaming shit. So, I got released yesterday night, couple hours after dinner. Got asked the same question and gave the same answer. The king got pissed and said I’d pay for my insolence-

“Yes, and you farted in front of the king!-” Interrupted Belluth visibly pissed off “- What kind of…uncultured baboon does that?!”

“T’was my standing against that injustice!” Proudly proclaimed Ballarak, rapidly following his words with a loud, hearty laugh.

“A fart? A standing?...-” Asked Belluth shocked and somewhat disgusted “- Just admit it, you’re an idiot”

“Bah! Ya’re a dog of the crown…no offense, ya can’t understand me. Anyway, after that, I strolled around the city thinking of what to do, found myself a cozy tavern, and drank myself stupid…ya know the rest” Finished Ballarak as he reached for the pitcher of golden-orange liquid before getting his hand shooed away by Belluth’s.

“It’s a…interesting and very twisted in a strange way story-” I replied, still wrapping my head around the strange tale “- Still, it doesn’t explain why you are coming with us”

“I’ll tell you that-” Said Belluth as he finished ordering his maids to take the ale away from the table, visibly upsetting Ballarak “- I don’t feel like hearing this fool talk any more than he has already. To make it short, in his drunken state, he had the genius enlightenment to accompany you along your journey. The reason was so that he could ‘re-alight the spark he had lost’, he said. Though it’s, most likely, just an excuse to leave the city without hiring guards…My theory is that he spent all his gold on ale”

“Not all-” Replied Ballarak laughing “- I’ve still got some left. It was a glorious night!”

“So that’s it?-” I asked, now voicing my utter surprise “- He just comes with us? I’m not complaining, I like having you around Ballarak, but why did you accept, Raphael?”

“...A second pair of eyes is welcome, or rather, we need it. Better him than some random adventurer” Raphael replied with difficulty, as if he struggled to admit that he needed Ballarak’s help.

“Oh, I see-” I said while recalling some of the nights when I was half-asleep and Raphael kept guard at the expense of his sleeping hours “- Then welcome back, Ballarak!”

“HAHAHA! Lass, ya are a ray of sunshine!-” Laughed Ballarak with a wide, warm smile “- Worry not, I’ll be sure to pull my own weight!”

“If you don’t mind me asking-” Said Belluth as he gestured for the maid to take all plates away from the table since we had all eaten our fill “- Why them? How are you so sure that traveling with them will re-ignite your spark?”

“Ya telling me ya fought against the lad and did not see it?-” Asked Ballark with genuine surprise plastered on his face “- The lad’s sword is something else, something new…a bit brutal maybe, but it’s majestic, let me tell ya”

“Mhh, I’ve never been a fan of swords. I’d rather use my punches. Still, if the King’s blacksmith, who has seen and met many swordsmen and forged double the sword, goes so far as to say that Raphael’s swordsmanship is special, who am I to judge?-” Continued Belluth as he scratched his chin with a pensive expression “- Now then, shall we put an end to this breakfast? Raphael, I called for a doctor. Your wounds may not seem too grave but if you plan to travel through the eastern mountain pass, I’d rather you be in full shape. There are fewer drakes on those roads but double the number of bandits. Julie and Ballarak, you should start gathering the necessary resources for the journey. I trust you, Julie, to have learned something from looking at how your brother does things”

“Yes!-” I said, feeling compelled to stand up as if called to attention “- I know what to buy and how much!”

“Good-” Replied Belluth with a satisfied, paternal half-smirk “- In that case, there will be no need for me to accompany the two of you. Instead, I’ll go have a chat with some… acquaintances regarding your father, as I promised you, Raphael…Well then-” He continued as he stood up and walked towards the door that led to the stairs “- I doubt you will be leaving tomorrow so take your time, you are more than welcome to stay at my house for as long as you need. I’ll see you all at lunch!”

Shortly after, we all prepared to leave, with the exception of Raphael who was relegated at home as he waited for the doctor’s arrival. I spent most of the morning walking around the market and shops of Drughmin along with Ballarak. As Belluth suggested, we took things slowly and I got to experience the full burst of life and cheerfulness of the city’s life. When it was nearing lunch, me and Ballarak made our way home with just a new tent and some camping supplies. The moment we opened the door, chaos broke loose. Two maids were running around, one was rushing down the stairs with towels drenched in red while the other was carrying up the stairs a large bowl of steaming water. A third maid was being screamed at by Belluth whose neck veins were popping up like snakes crawling under his skin.

Raphael had fallen asleep shortly before the doctor arrived…and did not wake up.