With Blades and Flames: Awakening

by David Csontos

  “We would like a passage to the city! Can you take us?” asked Agaroth.

  “That depends whether I will end up in pieces!” he replied. His face was home to a long moustache but no beard. His clothes were rugged and you could see that his carriage had vegetables in it. The traveller quickly realised that and used it to his advantage.

  “I am sure they don’t pay much to a farmer and not this time of the year! Even if the prices have become higher from the weather you will still go to sleep being hungry! Let me pay you!”

  “I am not interested in money! Tell me, why do you want to go to Farendine?”

  “To resupply you dumb dog!” shouted Burdõlfrom which no-one was impressed but accepted it.“Can we just not stand in the rain while you give birth to an egg?!” Impressively, the man was no longer as suspicious but rather curious about what three very different men did in the middle of the woods.

  “I will allow you, upon one condition! You will sit in the back and I want my money as soon as you get on”No wasting any more time, Agaroth told the two of them to get up while he talks to the man. Tired of pretty much everything, they didn’t argue but quickly got up below the skin tarp and laid down taking deep breaths. Arkain threw down his coat onto the hard wood and looked around. Behind him were bags of potatoes, carrots, and dried meat. Cooked and dried stripes of fat that covered the whole of two bags. They smelled rather appetizing but Arkain didn’t want to steal. While he was thinking about that, the carriage started moving and before they knew it, the four of them were rolling across the land. Faster than ever before, all of them were happy of their luck. When the boy stood up to see where Agaroth is, he could see that he was sitting next to the driver, talking quietly. The road was leading further and further forward with the two strong horses pulling the world through night and day. The sky above showed endless waves of blue from which one could easily fall asleep and so they did. Arkain quickly fell asleep and did not wake up for a long time.

  The wheels strongly turned forward through dirt and stone as the two people in the front talked. They were quiet, so nothing could be heard.“Are you sure you don’t want me to pay you? You helped us”

  “No, I am a human being too unlike you. Even though I do not make much, I don’t need any money. Spend it on clothes and warmth instead of paying for something that was for free”

  “I guess I do not blend in as much as I though. When?”

  “As soon as I saw you and don’t worry. You blend in quite well except your friends. Is he who I think it is?”

  “You ask a lot of questions given that you are a farmer, but I guess there is no denying the obvious. Will it make a difference if I say‘no’?”

  “No”

  The talk was rather mysterious with both sides attacking and defending. Agaroth did not wanted to reveal everything about their own identities, but there was not much to do. Even for a farmer, this man’s mind was fast. This made him suspicious.

  “Where did you come from?” he asked.

  “From probably everywhere”replied the old man“I am not a farmer however mighty it would sound. I am a trader. I buy things then sell them for the right price”

  “What do you buy?”

  “Everything! Although, later I have found quite a bit of food on the road, form broken down carriages. It must be wolves. Savage and treacherous! Wonder how you have escape! One would think that you would be plain bones!”

  “We must have been lucky”This wasn’t good news. Agaroth was worried why this didn’t happen to them too and if there were wolves nearby than they should have been caught. It must have been because of the little smell they have given off.

  “Unfortunately I have also managed to meet with these wolves. I have successfully fought them off with my‘special’trading tools. Let me tell you. I have not seen anything like them. Their bodies are big and their teeth are sharp. Be careful”

  Chapter 16: City of Thieves

  It was still raining. After two days of travel it still rained, but this time, they did not get wet. Their heads were safely below a waterproof leather tarp. The problem was that there was a great mist in the morning that covered their vision completely. It was hard to see and they could only rely on their hearing.“We are close! I can see it already!”the man shouted and pointed towards clouds of smoke. A tower stretched towards the sky and big gates stood in the front. Both bashed down and thrown to the side. Inside the walls were houses that were all connected to each other.“Well, this is it”he said suddenly and stopped. Everyone got off and walked up to the man who told them to wait before they go.“There yago! You can have this! I have plenty!” he said and threw a bag towards the dwarf, who was as sleepy as anyone could. Burdõlkneeled down and opened it, to see that the same type of dried meat was in it, which could be seen from the back of the carriage.“I have plenty and you don’t. Don’t argue, just take” he said and turned the carriage around ready to go the other way.

  “Wait! But we don’t know your name! Who can we thank this?!” yelled Burdõl, amazed from the amount of food.

  “Tudós Kocsisis my name!” he said and his cart disappeared in the morning mist.

  “You can carry that” told Agaroth to Burdõlwho, nearly dying from the pain, started carrying the heavy bag, on the way picking some of the contents to decrease his hunger. Arkain wasn’t any different at all, to help the dwarf and make his hunger slowly disappear; he also started to do the same. It felt like they haven’t eaten in a while and made every bite the more delicious. The main gates were left unguarded, and there was no-one to talk to whether they were allowed in. It was quiet but not deserted. People were walking all over the place and most of them seemed to be in rugs. Some were carrying burned wood and some followed them. Everything looked fine until they took their first step in. As soon as their nose got close, it nearly broke off, from the revolting smell of men. The city stank with nauseating smells that came from sewers, and flooded houses. People were sitting outside on the street, looking down.“We need to get to an inn. There, we can find a room and put our stuff down” said Agaroth and started looking around. They followed their way into the city, deeper into what looked like a labyrinth of cascading houses and once, they were further inside, nothing else could be seen, except the sky. Even that was sickening from the clouds of smoke it stored. One would think that they would have been blown away by the wind or cleared up by the rain but that wasn’t truth. The streets were wet but the air was still thick. The people inside weren’t any better too. The ones that walked would often bump into the new visitors and throw swear words at them. Once, there was a group of children, walking through the street and nearly stealing everything from the people around. Nearly, because Agaroth quickly sensed this and told Arkain and Burdõl to go the other way. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case. They could not turn around because there was another group of them, doing the same from the other side of the street. There was nothing else to do, but to keep walking. Arkain and Burdõl managed to completely be ignored by the crowd unlike Agaroth who needed to catch a child’s hand before it reached into his back pocket. It is also worthy to note, that Agaroth was wearing a bag which could have been the reason this happened, after a few minutes of further walking and searching Burdõlnoticed a wooden sign, hanging from the side of a building. It was rotten and barely readable. Its side was covered in wood planks and the door was wide and had an iron handle. The building was tall, so it could store the spare rooms above, perfect for the three of them. The three of them entered and got welcomed by darkness, candles and unfriendly faces. There were tables, scattered around the wide room, with three people using each. On the front was a bar, with the innkeeper standing behind it. He was dusting a large iron cup, while he shined his teeth towards the visitors.“Welcome! Welcome! Welcome to the Rusted Pie!”he said sarcastically, raising everyone’s attention towards them. The three of them walked up to the bartender and sat down onto the chairs around.“We need rooms” started Agaroth.

  “I
need money” replied the bartender, hastily, starving for hard coins.

  “We have money, here is the first bunch for today and you will get twice as much tomorrow” aforesaid Agaroth, knowing that the price he will pay is still less than what he had to pay in the last inn. These lands are poor and have lost complete sense of arguing with money. Everyone just tries to make as much as they can. Even their souls have a price. The bartender was a similar man and accepted the offer. He told them where their rooms are located and told them to go upstairs. Each of them got a separate room with separate bedsheets and a small cupboard. All the rooms were empty except from a wood frame and a thin sheet on top of it. Never the less, it meant shelter and a safe, if not, good night sleep. The three of them packed down their belongings but kept their swords nearby. Burdõl had split the bag up into three different stacks for all of them. When they have finished eating, Agaroth told them to barricade their doors, keep their weapons nearby because he is away, to get some water and supplies. He has also left some money with each of them for drinks or food if they were to get too hungry but warned Burdõl not to leave Arkain alone outside. He has also left a leather flask for the two of them, full of clean and fresh water. For Arkain, there was no point of going outside. He barricaded the old door and lay back onto the bed. He drank and ate almost all of his supplies and went to sleep shortly. The rain was still pouring, knocking on the window. The boy’s last thoughts were about the same rain, before they have left that village; the cry of the girl and the haunting scream of the beast.

  It was all dark, all dark and blind to anyone’s eye.“Arkain!” Came the scream for far away, but this time, it died instantly. Two screams and it was all quiet. Nothing could be heard, except rain, cold rain, smashing against cold stone. There were bodies, bodies everywhere. Blood was flowing down from his hands and his claws were inside the boy’s shirt. Skin was hanging from each of his fingers and the victim’s face turned to a shock. It blinked twice then stayed silent. A lightning had struck one of the trees in the background and created fire. The fire continued to spread until it was in a circle around the wolf. Then, the bodies stood up, their eyes white and their skins ripping, all of them pointed at the wolf. None of them had any expressions, just blank faces that showed no sign of pain. Suddenly, one of them stepped forward and grabbed a dagger out of the darkness. It raised its hands and made its way towards the wolf. Then, it started running with the wolf knowing its oncoming doom. Still, the wolf did the same and jumped onto the man. The dagger did pierce him, but he also managed to rip out the other’s throat. It was all silent for a moment. He looked around, showed his teeth and started ravaging the others. It was all quiet. Only the rain was pounding, faster and faster. As his claws have submerged into the skin and blood spilled everywhere it was all quiet. Only the rain was pounding as fast as his heartbeat. It was all quiet.

  A thunder has struck behind the glass window, close to where Arkain was sleeping. Well, not anymore. It was loud and created a shrieking sound as it travelled across the sky with great speed and has struck into a house. Soon after came the sound of rumbling, like a mighty beast being woken up. Everything shook and the house nearly fell down, in which Arkain was. He jumped up, grabbed his sword and looked out the window. He opened it and glanced his eyes towards a great fire, which was ravaging the houses. The light roof quickly caught fire and sustained it. Great flames that Arkain has only seen once before were now spreading light water on a rainy day. This statement was not really correct though. It was still raining, the wind was blowing and storm had reached the people. Shouts could be heard, coming from the burning wood. A group of men had run across the street below the boy and headed towards danger. All of them carried a bucket of water and tried to balance it, so no water can escape. At that moment, a building had collapsed and fell onto another. It was total chaos that looked like it would not stop until someone does something about it. The longer the boy listened the more cries could be heard. I have to do something about it! Without hesitating much, he grabbed his clothes and sword, pushed the barricade out of the way and ran out. Inside, it was all quiet, like nothing was wrong, every step of his generated a loud creak that could have woken up anyone, but that didn’t matter. People were in trouble and that is all he cared about. He sprinted downstairs and saw the bartender, sitting and drinking some sort of ale from the back of his eyes once he bashed the door down so he could get outside. While he was leaving he could hear a distant laugh from the pub, quiet and sad but also poisonous. It was still heavily raining outside creating masses of puddles on the stone road. I have to hurry! Arkain followed the cries as best he could, ran down streets that he thought would lead him to his goal. His coat was swinging from side to side as his legs took bigger steps towards the burning building. There were at least three buildings on fire but only from one of them came the high pitched cries. There were people all around, trying to decrease the fire that now had suffocated the door, they tried to enter but could not because their skin would start to melt as soon as it touched the hot flames.“She is in there! Help! Someone help me!”came the cry of a young woman. Without thinking twice, Arkain sprinted towards the door. The flames were violently calling him.“Come! Come and see if you can survive!” but he ignored it. People were looking at him, shouting that it is madness but once he was a few steps away from the door, he leaped inside. His head turned rapidly to try and determine where the sound was coming from. Slowly, his clothes have caught fire and started burning his skin. He looked to the left and looked to the right. Suddenly, a cry could be heard from upstairs where a half burned staircase led. He jumped, leaped and ran. He climbed, fought and pulled himself, right up to where he wanted to be. There was a door to the left which he quickly destroyed and stepped inside. The room hosted a bed in the middle and a few cupboards on the sides. In front of the bedwas a girl, crying and scared. Arkain ran up to her, grabbed her up and started walking out. His coat was around the girl, protecting her from fire. Once he stepped outside the room, there wasn’t a staircase anymore. It burned away and now there was nothing but space left. He looked around again to see if there is another way outside. Inside the girl’s room was a window, leading across to another house. It was also on fire, but that was the only option he had. His legs started picking up speed and his hands held the girl tightly. He leaped across the blank space that was under him and landed on the other side. The people from outside were shouting“There he is! He got her!” Then ran towards the other house to try and extinguish the flames there. Meanwhile, Arkain stood up and started running downstairs, toppling from the wooden planks that were falling down under his steps. He ran down the stairs but when he stepped on the third step, his feet got stuck and he fell down with the girl. While falling, all he could care about is making the fall better by him touching the ground first. He span in the air and fell on his back but there was no time to stop. He continued on, down and towards a door which was locked from the inside. As fast as possible, his side was now against it, his hands trying to open it. The metal had quickly fallen down and he started opening it. Unfortunately, it didn’t open. He tried harder and harder. Started bashing and fighting. One, two, three! He counted as the flames got closer and closer. This was it. If this last try did not work both of them will die. Arkain had gathered all of his strength took a deep breath and ran towards the door. He started picking up speed and when he was about to touch the wood, he sprinted even more. It was first the upper part that fell, then the bottom. His body had flung across the entrance out onto the rain. The men had started pulling him further and further away from the house. Once they were far enough he stood up with the girl in his hand.“He saved her!”shouted one of them and started cheering followed by the others. The mother, still on the ground, started crying and held her hand out towards the little girl, who was quietly crying. Arkain picked her up and carried her towards the mother.“Thank you! Thank you!” screamed the woman once her girl got handed over. Arkain turned around to see the houses still burning, b
ut this time not as much. The rain had started to finish the men’s job and created steam clouds above. The people that saw they could do nothing more about it, came running towards the boy, all thanking him for his services and mesmerized by how he did what he did.“Who are you?”asked one of the men.“Arkain”answered the boy, tired and exhausted. He was dizzy and in pain but it did not matter. He saved that girl and that is all he could think about. When he mentioned his name everyone stopped breathing for a second. Everyone around him continued looking at him with awe.“He is the one!”yelled one of them and stood back with some of the others following his example. The ones that did had kneeled down before him but got stood up by the others. Barely any of them believed that this boy would be the one and only and walked away with a few“thanks”. The ones that did stayed behind and started shaking his hand.