by Arizona Tape
“N-Not to be pissy, but c-can we get out of h-here? I’m getting cold,” JP mumbled, a shiver running along his body as he watched the woods behind us. I watched the wind blow through the leaves and branches, making it look like the trees were trying to grab us. Yeah, leaving this place didn’t sound like a bad idea at all.
With our arms full of dry branches and twigs, we made our descent back to our abandoned barn. I wondered if inviting Darren to join for dinner was a bad idea, but then again... Couldn’t leave the young prince starving, right? He had jumped on the free meal and judging from his looks, it had been a while since he had some proper food.
“Aren’t you a little bit young to be an assassin?” Regan asked, twirling the knife he took from Darren between his fingers.
Darren sighed. “I’m not an assassin.”
“What would you call your... Line of work then?”
“Redistributor?” Darren suggested, making JP snort. Regan disapprovingly clacked his tongue, but didn’t say anything further. After all, we had done some “redistributing” of our own in the past.
“So how old are you? Twenty?”
“I’m twenty-one!” Darren declared, puffing up his chest.
“Really? You look younger...” I answered, studying him carefully. He certainly didn’t look a hair over twenty. I racked my brains, trying to remember how old the prince was actually supposed to be.
“Okay, I’m almost twenty-one.”
“R-Really?” JP asked, doubt colouring his voice.
“Fine, I’ve just turned nineteen, happy now?”
Regan frowned his forehead. “My question stands. Why are you robbing people?”
“Got to eat somehow, don’t I?” Darren snapped, trying to grab his knife from Regan.
“Didn’t bring any riches from your treasury?” Regan scoffed, his disdain for the crown showing.
Darren scoffed just as hard. “Daddy doesn’t really fund my... “lifestyle”, if you know what I mean.”
Fair enough. I couldn’t imagine that King Damara was very happy with his son turning away from his throne and becoming a... “Redistributor”. But then again, I couldn’t imagine that my parents were very pleased with me straying across the country with my two mates and the twins. Which reminded me, Darren deserved a heads-up about that one.
“Hey, listen... We’ve got two other travel companions and they are...” I paused, trying to find the right word to describe my friends.
“D-Different?” JP suggested.
“Special,” Regan chipped in.
“Eccentric?” I tried, making Darren shake his head.
“I know what that means... That means batshit crazy,” he muttered.
“Welllll... I’d disagree, but there’s really no use.”
Our new companion let out a deep sigh and ran his hand over his face. “Dear heavens, what have I gotten myself into...” he muttered under his breath as he patted his cheeks, like he couldn’t believe he was actually joining us for dinner. I could imagine that his life as a assa... Redistributor was rather lonely.
Maybe he should find himself his own group of friends. Or.... No, don’t think those kind of things, Danny. Don’t even go there.
Chapter Nine - Aspen
“This is cosy.” Darren snorted at the sight of our abandoned barn. I shrugged and rolled my eyes. Surprisingly enough, I didn’t really care where we slept, even though I grew up in a mansion. Moving from deserted town to deserted town, crashing into desolated buildings and pitching tents, it didn’t matter. Not when I had JP and Regan to keep me warm at night.
“Behave,” Regan growled at Darren, making him snicker.
“Yes, dad.”
I locked eyes with JP and we let out a simultaneous sigh. This was going to be interesting.
The heavy door creaked as we entered the barn. Darren rushed inside and as he did, tripped over our alarm wire, setting off the loud clanging of the cans. With a shriek, he almost fell on the ground, but regained his footing.
“Who do we have here?” I heard Ash hiss, her small blade pressed against Darren’s neck.
“It’s j-just us,” JP spoke, dumping his firewood next to the hearth and bending down to fix the trip wire Darren set off.
“Darren’s got clumsy feet,” Regan added, shaking his head in disapproval, clearly disappointed that he wasn’t able to avoid our trap. Aspen appeared from the other room, looking at the scene in front of them.
“What’s going on?” Aspen asked, looking from Darren to Ash to us in confusion.
Ash ran her hand through her dark curls and pointed at Darren. “Who’s the new guy?”
I placed my hand on Ash’s arm and tried to push it down. “Darren is...” I paused. How could I explain this?
“Prince Darius Laruel. But apparently, he now goes by “Darren”,” Regan added helpfully, slamming the heavy door shut.
“This kid?” Ash asked, squinting her eyes and tightening her grip. It didn’t look like she believed that in the slightest.
“Yes, he’s the one.”
Ashleigh carefully studied my expression, as always picking up on things I’d rather she didn’t pick up on. “The one. Is that why you brought him along, Danny?” she grinned, winking at me suggestively. I groaned. This was why she was my best friend. She could read me like a book. It was like a freaking magic skill.
I brushed off her comment and added: “He also tried to assa...”
“Ahum!” Darren loudly coughed, shooting me a sharp look.
“Redistribute us.”
“What does that even mean?” Ash indecorously asked, frowning at me and mouthing “What’s going on?”
I shrugged, not even entirely sure what was going on. “We’ve invited him over for dinner?”
She pulled up her nose. “For real? On Aspen’s cook day? Are you trying to kill the poor boy?”
“Oi!” Aspen called out, but I could tell from his expression that he didn’t really care. He knew he was a shit cook. All he really cared about was shoveling food in his mouth. Making it? Not so much.
“Anyway, this is Darren. Darren, these are our friends, Aspen and Ashleigh. Beware, they love to bicker.”
“Do not,” both of them protested, glaring at each other.
“Don’t steal my words!” Aspen exclaimed, making Ash huff up.
“I said it first!”
“Did not!”
“Did too!”
“Guys! This is not the time? And Ash, let Darren go, please? You’re suffocating him.”
Ash sheepishly grinned as she released Darren from her chokehold, sheathing her blade in one of her hidden pockets. “Oops, sorry, Darren. I got a bit carried away. Hi, I’m Ash, “ she waved, making Darren nod.
Aspen slapped Darren on the back and shook his hand. “Good to meet you, Daisy! Ooooh, pretty dagger. Where did you get this one?” he quipped, suddenly holding a shiny blade in front of his face.
“Oi! That’s mine,” Darren yelled, trying to snatch it back from Aspen.
“Pretty,” he admired the lemmet, twirling it around in one hand. Regan grabbed it from Aspen’s greedy hands and threw it back at Darren. “It’s not a toy and don’t pickpocket people,” he threatened, his voice dark and serious. But Aspen didn’t care. He never got intimidated by Regan.
“Yes, yes, I remember... No playing with knives...” he mumbled, looking disappointed. Aspen loved shiny blades and knives.
“Don’t touch my dagger. You never touch another man’s dagger...” Darren frowned, conjuring a handful of shuriken stars from nowhere. “But I have throwing stars? Can we play with those?” he asked, catching Aspen’s attention.
“Ooooh, those are nice. So sharp!” he exclaimed excitedly, inspecting the sharp edges of Darren’s projectiles.
“A-Are those two strangely a-alike?” JP muttered in my ear. Unconsciously, I nodded. Glad I wasn’t the only one who thought that. I squinted my eyes as I studied Darren and Aspen. They did look very similar.
“Wh
at are you smiling about?” Ash loudly asked, grinning as she watched me jump up.
“Nothing!” I denied, my cheeks flushing red. My best friend gave me a knowing smile and smirked. “Sure, whatever you say, Dans.”
“Regan, we can play with the throwing stars, can’t we?” Aspen happily asked, already drawing a bull’s eye on the opposing wall. Darren was neatly placing all his projectiles on the floor, making two piles.
“Yes. But I’m joining. Got to keep an eye on you two,” Regan hummed, pretending to be the responsible one, but I just knew he wanted to play with the stars too.
Ash and I looked at each other, shook our heads and smiled.
“Boys will be boys,” she grinned as we left the men to their new game. She slung her arm over my shoulder and pulled me closer. “Soooo... A new guy, huh? Two guys not enough for you, Danny?” she whispered in my ear, nudging towards Darren. I felt my cheeks heat up at her insinuation.
“Don’t be ridiculous, he’s too young. I just figured it was nice to have him over for dinner,” I hissed back, making her chuckle.
“Whatever you say, Dans, whatever you say,” my best friend sang, making me chuckle. How we even managed to have healthy friendships in these times was beyond me.
Well... Semi-healthy. I was living in the abandoned ruins of a barn with my two boyfriends, my love-obsessed best friend and her crazy twin. And we just added someone who was trying to kill us to the team.
Ehh, good enough. It beat living on the streets, stealing food and begging for money. Which I had no doubt I’d be doing if I didn’t have friends. Well, they were more like family, anyway. The only family I had left.
Chapter Ten - The Past
“You haven’t told us why you ran away from home,” I asked Darren again, stirring my brownish looking stew. Why did we let Aspen cook again?
Our dinner guest suspiciously eyed a slimy looking carrot and politely nipped from his spoon. “Neither have you,” he countered, subtly pushing his plate away.
I awkwardly chuckled. “It’s a long story.”
Darren ran his hand through his hair. “I guess I have some time,” he said, sounding all nonchalant and casual, but I could tell he was enjoying our company. Especially Aspen. Those two got along like two peas in a pod.
I pushed my own plate away as I tried to find a good starting point to this whole mess. “Okay... So, you might have noticed that there is... A war going on.”
Darren nodded. “Yes?”
“Well... It’s more of a slaughter than a war. Nobody was prepared for an attack of the Lowetts and they are just burning town after town.”
“I did wonder why none of the Wolf clans have banded together to protect their towns,” Darren admitted, staring curiously at us. “I guess the fact that the two of you are here on the run explains why.”
“Do you know of an incident from years ago? When the Lowetts attacked the Ardelean family and completely obliterated them?”
“Vaguely... I heard the town went up in smoke and that it ended the Ardelean lineage.”
“It didn’t. The two kids got away and have been hiding ever since. But I found them.”
Darren straightened his back, looking at me curiously. Interesting that after all his time away, he still seemed to care about the politics of it all. “You did?”
“Yes. They are sitting right next to you. Aspen and Ashleigh Ardelean. Nice to meet you,” Aspen grinned, shaking Darren’s baffled hand. He stared at the twins and then back at Regan and me.
“So does this mean...”
I grinned and nodded. “Yes. With you here, we represent the four noble lines of this county. And yes, we’re squatting in an abandoned building eating Aspen’s murky stew. Ironic, isn’t it?”
Darren looked hesitantly at all of us. “Am I being punked?”
“Wish you were,” Regan muttered, mopping up the last of his plate with a piece of old bread.
“If you’re all here, who is in charge of your houses? Your treasures? Your lands, stock, people?”
We all exchanged awkward glances and for a moment, nobody spoke. None of our pasts were particularly pleasant.
“Our town burned with everyone in it. Including our parents... All there is to left from Ardelean is our title and us,” Ash spoke, her voice quivering. She wasn’t coping with their past as well as Aspen did. Or maybe Aspen was just better at hiding how broken he really was.
“Not sure what mine are doing,” Regan added, the familiar little crease appearing on his forehead whenever he talked about his parents.
“We heard they made it out alive and Regan’s family has got property up in the mountains. We guess they’re out there hiding until the war is over?”
Darren tilted his head. “Why aren’t they fighting back?”
“Because they’re selfish,” my mate growled, his lip curled up in disdain. I reached out to him and squeezed his hand. I knew how much he hated his relationship with his parents and it pained me to see him so disappointed in them. But I understood why. From what I had heard about them, they were awful. They only cared about riches. I had no doubt they were living in their mansion with a fully stocked pantry as they sat on all the gold and wealth they had collected over the centuries. Regan was nothing like them. He was noble and courageous and kind. I knew he cared for people, even if he didn’t know how to show that affection. A side effect of growing up with cold parents, I guessed. When we met, even a hug was foreign to him. It helped that he knew Aspen and Ash from their childhood, but it took a while before he showed me his gentler side. And even longer for him and JP to become friends and shed their jealousy. But here we were. Years later. Both JP and Regan hadn’t left my side and I couldn’t me happier with having them both in my life. They were my everything.
I intertwined my fingers with Regan and nudged my wolf to go comfort his. I felt him growing upset just at the mere thought of his parents. Not that I blamed him. He told me all about their controlling and manipulative ways.
“They won’t spend a dime to stop this war. Not if it doesn’t benefit them somehow,” I clarified, shuddering at the thought of them being my in-laws. I was almost glad that Regan ran away from home long before the war started so I didn’t need to meet them.
Darren nodded and I could see him count out our stories. “So what about you, Danny D’Ors? What’s the... How did they call you... Oh right, “the delicate rose” of House D’Ors doing out here?” he grinned, turning me bright red. I always hated that nickname. It made me sound helpless and spoiled. To be fair, that was how my parents tried to raise me.
“When I was little, I had a best friend named Chesca. I’m not sure where she came from, but one day, she was just... There. My parents let her live in our house as a playmate for me.”
Darren scratched his head. “How is that relevant to the war?”
“It all ties together, I swear. A while back, Chesca died... Well... It was my fault she did. And... How to put it,” I trailed off, thinking about how to make sense off the whole resurrecting vendetta thing. “She came back to life... And now she’s trying to kill me?”
“Aha. Sure,” Darren nodded, like it was the most common thing in the world. But then again, in some parts of the world, it was? Supposedly, there was a whole race who was able to resurrect. They lived down in the south, close to the Wild Seas, but I had never been there or met anyone from there. Apart from Chesca. But even so, she was a mystery to me. She possessed powers that I hadn’t seen or heard anyone do. Not even in the myths and legends.
“Well... Funny thing happened when she came back to life. She... Changed? She became harsh and vengeful. I mean, I understand why. I did let her down and it cost her one of her lives. But it was like her whole memory changed about our time together.” I turned to JP, Aspen, and Ash. “You knew her too. It wasn’t just my imagination, was it? Her personality... Her emotions... They became skewed. She was a different person before her death.”
Ash nodded. “Yes, she was. She used to be... M
uch more playful?”
“She had a beautiful smile,” Aspen added, recalling our childhood. Chesca had been particularly close with Aspen. There was even a certain point in time that I wondered if something had been growing between them.
“And she was l-less of a c-crazy bitch,” JP stuttered, making us all laugh out loud. He was definitely right. Chesca used to be a sweet and humble girl and we all loved her.
“At first, we didn’t even know she had come back to life. But after a while, these strange incidents started to happen. I kept finding red roses everywhere and things started disappearing. I thought I was going mad.”
“You are quite untidy,” Ash smiled, pointing at a stray sock of mine lying not far away from her.
“Yes, so I just assumed I was a bit off my rockers. But then one day, Chesca appeared in front of me. I was so happy, I tried to hug her, but she wouldn’t have any of it. She spouted all kinds of nonsense about me needing to repent for my sins and that I had to pay for what I’d done. She almost drowned me that day.” I shivered as I touched my windpipe. The memory of the icy water in my lungs a harsh reminder of how fickle life could be.
“Luckily, JP found her in time,” Aspen added to the story, patting my lover and his friend on the back.
“Ever since that day, she has been trying to kill me. Or trying to get me to kill her. I’m not even sure anymore what she wants. That went on for a long time, right guys?”
Ash nodded as she brushed away her dark curls. “It was exhausting, always having to watch your back. It doesn’t help that she can turn invisible and can literally pop up anywhere,” she sighed and I noticed she poured what was left of her stew in Aspen’s bowl. Luckily, he didn’t notice.
Darren twirled his spoon between his fingers. “So what does any of that got to do with the war?”
“Chesca somehow managed to convince the Lowetts to rekindle their vendetta on the Ardelean Clan. She told them that Aspen and Ash were still alive and so...”