Ashes of Revenge

The small group arrived at the pub at the same time.

“Yeh got yer horse back,” Raven remarked.

Colt nodded as he locked it into the stable before looking behind him to ensure the Knights weren’t following them.

“Colt,” Richard said, “it’s fine.” Colt nodded, the movement too stiff to mean he was at any ease.

Entering the pub, they all found they had almost gotten used to the muskiness. The group walked up to their room and dumped their possessions on the table and sat.

Silence passed between them.

“I won,” Richard said with a shrug.

“No, that’s crazy. I won,” Colt said.

“Yeh both are delusional, I clearly won,” Raven shot back.

“Oll yeh got to show for it is a big bag of coins!” Colt exclaimed.

“Which I took from a Palace Official!”

“That’s supposed to mean somethin’ to us?!” Colt asked.

“Yeah, yeh bloody twat!”

“Ladies, ladies,” Richard chimed in, “I won.”

“That’s ridiculous!” Both Colt and Raven said.

“Oll yeh did was trade in yer stuff for coins!” Raven added.

“Yeh bloody idiots, what else am I supposed to do?!” When they had these debates, Richard acted like Raven and Colt. It was a nice change of pace from his usually stern and mature persona.

“Richard . . . Raven,” Colt said, leaning back in his chair and sighing. “I clearly won.”

“Bull shite!” Raven yelled.

“Agreed!” Richard banged his hand onto the table. All the coins and other possessions jumped slightly against the worn wood.

“I have both money an’ jewelry!”

“An’ what are we supposed to do with that? Wear ’em?!” Richard questioned.

“Raven could!”

“No!” Raven exclaimed. “Yeh lost!”

“Agreed,” Richard said.

Colt’s face fell as his knife extended. He scooped his findings into his pocket in an almost violent manner. “Richard won,” he grumbled, his face still in its fallen state.

Raven’s face fell. She had been defeated yet again by Richard.

Richard smiled as he sat back in his chair. “Ha.”

“Shut up.”

As they all put away their findings, a silence passed between them.

“We all see tha Knights?” Colt asked suddenly. He ran his fingers through his hair a few times. It was normal to have Knights in the villages, but the ones he had seen had been with an Official and were from the Castle, just like the previous Knights they had encountered.

“A King is comin’ through here,” Richard said. If it was an Official, then only the towns they were visiting would be checked; when it involved the Royal family, the entire Kingdom was inspected.

“When do yeh think?” Colt asked.

Raven shrugged. “Could be a day or a month. But it’s happenin’.”

They all sat back in their chairs. The alliances were beginning. The group knew this would start, but they had no idea they would begin this early. Now, they knew they needed to burn down the villages at a rapid pace to try and slow this.

“How are yer weapons?” Richard asked the pair; sometimes they forgot about such simple things.

“Fine,” both responded.

“Show me.”

Raven began to flick her wrists, subsequently causing a dagger to slide into her hands, which she tossed onto the table each time. It was simply a series of holsters strapped to her arm under her clothes. She never took off the weapons.

Colt placed his arrows against the table.

“Yeh need more,” Richard commented, despite Colt recently buying arrows. A stern look made any argument leave the Shifter. Mumbling, Colt exited the room.

Richard looked at Raven and watched as a small smile fell upon her face.

“Wanna play Zahler?” Raven asked, sliding her knives back up her sleeve.

Richard smiled. “I’d love to.”

Raven pulled out the wooden board game that she had been playing on in the previous village.

Once it was set up, Raven looked up at Richard, telling him to go first. He moved a piece forward two spaces. Raven moved one of her players as Richard looked at her.

“Yer move,” Raven said after a second or so of Richard not countering.

Richard moved the player.

Raven was quick to move one of the smaller players.

Richard moved another piece before he looked back up at her.

“What?” Raven finally asked. “Yer starin’ at me. What?”

“How are yeh?” Raven stared at him. “The other day when yeh were starin’ at yerself in tha lake-”

“What about it? I was starin’ at myself because I was in a body of water.” Raven moved a piece and grabbed one of Richard’s.

“Then last night yeh had a nightmare-”

“I always have nightmares.”

Richard moved a middle player across the board and snagged one of Raven’s. “They’ve gotten worse, haven’t they?”

Raven sat there in silence for a few seconds. “Yer concentration on tha game has gotten worse,” she finally retorted, brushing her hand against her nose. Shivers arose on her skin as her burned finger brushed against her unburned flesh. Her gloved hand tapped against her leg in a fast-paced pattern.

Raven grabbed the second biggest player and moved it out of its barricaded spot. She stopped when the piece was next to Richard’s middle one.

He moved the piece away from Raven’s.

Raven moved a piece.

Then Richard.

Then Raven.

Then Richard.

The pattern continued until both had only a few players left.

The sound of her gloved hand against her leg was the only thing that could be heard. Richard was sitting as still as stone, staring at the pieces. Her free hand snapped and his gaze shifted to her as she moved a player with her other hand.

The tapping stopped, and Raven smiled. “I win.” His biggest and most crucial piece had fallen over, and Raven’s bigger player was in its place.

Right on cue, Colt walked into the room. “I hate this town! How hard is it to have a decent weapon seller? This is ridiculous!”

“That’s my cue to check up on tha men,” Richard said as he stood and left.

Raven put away Zalher and Colt placed all his weapons on the table. She started to clean her already polished sword and ring.

“How was tha game?” Colt asked.

“I won.”

“Yeh always win.”

Raven moved her head side to side as if she was debating that fact. “True.” Colt faintly chuckled at how matter of factly she had said it. “What happened with tha weapons?”

“None of tha sellers had anything durable an’ tha ones that did were overchargin’.”

“Nothin’ new, I see.” She pulled out a throwing knife, using her nail to scratch off fragments of dirt and blood. All her daggers were the exact same: a matt black handle that slowly transitioned into dots once on the blade, becoming fewer and fewer until the shiny silver was left.

“I almost had to use my charm.” Colt laughed at his joke. Raven raised an eyebrow as a weirdly confused and amused expression washed over her face. “Yeh know I’m funny.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Yeh poor soul.” Colt’s face contorted into one of sarcastic sadness. Raven mimicked him.

Colt undid the crossbow from his wrist, and within a matter of seconds, the device was completely dismantled. He pulled all his new arrows out - the tips weren’t as sharp as he liked, but they were cheap. A knife extended from his hand, and he began to sharpen the dull steel. “How’s yer hand an’ shoulder?” he asked, remembering.

“Ok.”

“Let me see.”

“It’s fine.”

“Just let me look at yer bloody hand an’ shoulder, then yeh can go an’ get wasted.”

Raven sighed before she removed her glove and undid the fabric. Her fingers twitched as the cold air fell against her raw skin. She slowly lowered it on the table. Her fingers tried to run over the small differing textures of the wood. The original burning had been so severe that it was hard for her to feel smaller textures.

The skin underneath the cloth was a mixture of yellow, white, brown, and red.

There was a moment of silence.

“I’ve seen worse,” Colt said.

Raven looked at him with a raised eyebrow, and he looked at her with a toothy smile. Both rolled their eyes directly after. However, Raven’s eyes didn’t return to Colt’s face; instead, she looked at a wall.

Colt began to remove more dead skin and tissue from her swollen skin. He poked her hand gently with the knife and watched as Raven continued to stare at a wall.

“How are yer nerves?”

“Did yeh just poke me?”

“Yeah.”

“Then not that good.” Raven sighed. “I don’t know. I can feel temperatures an’ tha glove. Maybe once tha swelling goes down, I’ll feel more.” Raven shrugged as she allowed her body to deflate.

Colt looked at Raven and gave a sad side smile, despite her not seeing. He rewrapped her hand before he stood and began to examine her shoulder. Gently, he pulled her shirt off her right shoulder and looked at the wound. It was healing nicely, and the two holes didn’t look like they were getting infected. Colt took two fingers and opened up the wound slightly.

Raven winced in pain as she turned her head to look at him. Because the swelling had gone down, he was making sure that there were no fragments in the wound that would cause any issues down the road. He re-tied the shirt piece and moved her shirt back onto her shoulder.

“Go get drunk.”

Raven smiled, stood, and placed her ring back on her finger before walking out of the room.

Colt went back to sharpening his arrows, his grip around the shaft increasing with every swipe. The methodical noise of metal against metal resonated through the room and his head. Each knife stroke he pretended was going into the person that had hurt him most, but he knew they wouldn’t attack the Shifter Kingdom for a while. For now, slowly destroying the Monstro Kingdom would have to be enough, and it was for him.

The arrow snapped in half.

Raven sat at the bar and raised two fingers towards Malik. He began to get her a drink when someone sat beside her. It was a Monstro. The one thing that she wanted to do was enjoy a few drinks by herself.

The Monstro gestured for Malik to make him a drink as well.

“What ar’ yeh?” the Monstro asked. Raven ignored him. “Oy?”

“What’s it to yeh?” Raven defensively asked.

“Just tryin’ to make conversation.”

Raven’s jaw tightened. There had to be an endgame. “Are yeh goin’ to kill me if I tell yeh?”

The Monstro’s face shifted slightly. “No, I’m just wonderin’.”

“Why?”

“. . . Because my brain is capable of thinking. . . ,” The Monstro said his words slowly as his eyes squinted. It was as if Raven had asked him one of the dumbest questions imaginable.

Malik slid them both their drinks.

“Mundus, yeah?” the Monstro asked. Raven didn’t respond. “That wasn’t too hard.”

Raven stared at him again before she took a sip of her Birra.

“I’m a Necromancer.” Raven immediately coughed up her drink onto the counter. Malik wiped up Raven’s spilled drink even though he was shocked by the Necromancer’s response.

Necromancers were some of the rarer Monstros. Rumors were they lived in the Morte Mountains and never associated with society. They were something of a legend and myth.

“Could yeh please repeat that?” Raven asked in a raspy voice.

“I’m a Necromancer. . . ?” The Necromancer asked as he squinted his eyes.

Raven continued to stare at him, finding that the way he looked made sense. The tips of his fingers were an obsidian black, and at his wrist, the skin turned to a pearly white - black vein-like lines throughout it. His grey eyes had a small twinkle in them that Raven seemed to be lacking in hers. Black loose curls almost resembled Colt’s hair, only an inch or so longer than the Shifter’s.

“What brings yeh here?” Raven questioned after a few seconds of her uncomfortably staring at him.

“Tha alcohol.” Raven continued to stare at him. “Do yeh have a name?” the Necromancer asked. “I’m Ash.”

“Raven.” She was so surprised that she was sitting next to a Necromancer that her rule about giving out her name to strangers disappeared.

Ash extended his hand to her, and she only looked at it. “I’m not gonna bite yeh.” He smiled.

Raven’s gloved hand slid into his, and they awkwardly shook. She took another sip of her drink, trying to loosen up.

“What brings yeh here?” Ash asked.

“Tha alcohol,” Raven responded as she took another sip. “So what’s a Necromancer doin’ at a pub in a small village?”

“I could ask a Mundus tha same thing.” Raven raised an eyebrow. The alcohol was beginning to affect her slowly. Ash cleared his throat. “To be honest, I’m just wanderin’ around, seein’ what I like an’ dislike. Now, yer turn.”

“Essentially tha same thing as yeh. Just movin’ around.” His gaze froze on her scarred face, and something resembling sadness shot into his eyes. She quickly looked away.

Socializing time was over. She just wanted to be alone with her terrible beverage.

***

Richard walked into the pub after a long day of patrolling the village and scouting out the Knights and Official. He froze where he was when he saw Raven and a Monstro.

“- an’ then I don’t remember anythin’!” Raven practically shouted in a slurred speech.

The man laughed as his hand slammed down on the counter.

Malik was leaning against a wall with all four of his arms crossed over his chest. He had been watching the drunken show for some time now, and he loved it.

Raven continued to laugh as she leaned over her legs. In the next second, she crashed into the floor. Ash laughed harder as he leaned back and kicked his legs.

Richard sighed and walked to Malik. “How far gone is she?” he asked.

“Sha had four drinks.”

Richard leaned down and picked Raven off the ground and threw her over his shoulder. “How much?” he grunted.

“Ten livres.” Richard was too tired to bring up the fact that despite her drinking less, he was being charged the same.

Richard extended his hand over the counter and made coins appear. Malik glared at the Farian for almost rubbing in his species’ abilities.

Richard smiled and walked up the stairs.

Malik looked over to Ash, who was still laughing. After a few seconds, the laughter slowly died down. He sat up, almost already sober again. Malik prepared him another drink.

Richard walked into the room as Colt looked up at them with an amused expression. Richard flipped Raven onto the bed, earning a groan.

“My turn,” Colt said as he left the room before Richard could protest.

Colt didn’t get drunk as many times as Raven did, but he would make exceptions, and since coming to the Monstro Kingdom, he had made a lot. At night, he couldn’t go outside, and now with the Knights in the town, he didn’t want to go out. This was the next best thing.

Richard sighed as he took off Raven’s overshirt and boots. Sighing heavily again, he slumped down in the chair. The new arrows rested against the table, at least he had done that and Richard knew Raven had cleaned her knives.

Richard loved Raven and Colt and believed they were mature for their age; however, when either of them was around alcohol, they shut down. He understood why each of them would drink, but he hated they felt the need to. He wished he could shield and protect them from everything that had or will happen, but from his own experience, knew that that was impossible.

He pulled out his heavy shining silver sword and grabbed a rag, carefully wiping the blood and dirt off it. The weapon was simple in design: the cross guard matching the blade. The only variation was the black handle, dark blue and silver lines swirling down it. He would continue to clean and sharpen his pa’s sword until he felt it was time to retrieve Colt.

Colt sat down at the bar, and Malik began to get a drink. A Monstro glanced at Colt and took a sip of his drink.

Malik handed Colt a pint.

“Yeh a Shifter?”

Colt paused for a moment before he turned and looked at the Monstro, who glanced at Colt’s hands. Horror washed over Colt when he saw a semblance of a metal line embedded in his skin.

“Yeh got good eyes,” Colt said. His leg began to bounce, and he ran his fingers through his hair. “Yer a Monstro, I take it?”

He nodded and shifted his hand, and within the movement, a thick black liquid coated his palm. The liquid seemed to move and slither on its own like a black serpent in water. The Monstro stared at it for a few seconds. “Necromancer.”

Colt stared at the Necromance, his face becoming paler and paler by the second. He blinked several times as silence fell over them.

“Oll right then,” Colt said, finally breaking the silence. He rolled up his sleeves as he became hot. He had heard stories about Necromancers and their abilities and, truth be told, he was scared.

Ash’s eyes glanced down at Colt’s arm, and he saw a few straight scars as well as four messy square ones. Ash knew that a knife or another Shifter caused the wounds. Teliks would have simply killed him; Mundus’ would have tried to pull the blades out of his body; Monstros would have made teeth or claw marks; Farians would have made the scars cleaner and prettier. There was no other Kingdom that would have made such markings.

Colt shoved his sleeves down when he noticed Ash looking at them, invertedly causing a straight scar on his collarbone to become visible. Colt readjusted his shirt to cover up that one too.

Ash looked away.

Colt drank more.

***

Richard descended the stairs and looked out onto the bar to find Ash and Colt. Their arms were wrapped over each other’s shoulders as they ‘sung’ together. Neither one was singing the same song, and neither was actually speaking coherent words. Malik, yet again, was watching with amusement.

“How much for this sorry muppet?” Richard asked.

“Eleven livres.” Richard extended his hand over the counter, and coins appeared.

“Richard!” Colt exclaimed. “This is my friend, Ass . . . shhh.”

Richard nodded as he pried Colt off of Ash. Ash leaned against the counter as he began to laugh and cough.

Richard struggled and barely managed to get Colt up the stairs and into the room. Colt’s feet were dragging against the ground, and his hands were grasping onto Richard for dear life. Richard placed him onto the bed, next to a passed out Raven.

“What’s goin’ on?” Colt groggily asked.

“Yer goin’ to go to sleep.”

Colt suddenly sat up as he clutched onto Richard’s shirt, pulling Richard down on his knees. “I don’t wanna-”

“Yeh will be fine. I’ll be in tha room with yeh tha entire time. Ok?”

Colt shook his head as he began to stand. Richard shoved Colt back down and held him there, keeping him in a sitting position. Richard placed his forehead onto Colt’s. “I know yeh don’t want to. But yeh don’t have anythin’ to worry about, I’ll be here tha entire time.” Colt shook his head and began to mumble pleas. “If yeh have a nightmare, wake me up. Ok?” Richard asked, cutting off the boy before he could work himself up into a panic attack.

Colt finally nodded. Richard removed his forehead from Colt’s and looked at his teary, two different colored eyes. He reached up, causing the Shifter to flinch, but he only moved Colt’s sweaty hair off of his forehead. Slowly, he pushed him onto the bed.

Within a matter of seconds, Colt passed out.

Richard removed Colt’s overshirt and boots, tossing them into a pile, next to Raven’s. He collapsed into a chair and leaned against the wall again. Looking at Raven and Colt, a sad smile crept across his lips.

“I’ll always protect yeh guys,” Richard mumbled. “Yeh won’t be hurt again. . . . I promise.” His head fell against the wall, and he sighed.

His eyes slowly closed.

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