‘Let go of me!’ she yelled as the man continued his attack, but instead he lifted her up and swung her towards the attacker.
‘Legs up!’ she saw his plan and quickly kicked out which took the attacker by surprise and launched him down the hallway. Fenrir let her down as they took on the others together, using each other in some strange battle dance in the narrow hallways, Fenrir would grab her and pull her away just as she was about to be struck then throw her back adding more force to her attacks. She felt in tune with him even if they never spoke a word other than shouts and grunts of the fight. It was left to the last man who quickly pulled out a small dagger, a knife in such an enclosed space she knew was very dangerous. ‘Move!’ Fenrir pulled her away again as he went to take on the man himself, he was quicker, stronger but most importantly, he didn’t care if he was hurt, just another scar for the collection.
‘Ye bastard!’ Barmic yelled at the end of the hallway. ‘Get the fuck oot before ye end up in the pit!’ in his hands he held a hatchet, he gripped it tight enough to show that he was serious. The battered man corrected his posture and spat a small amount of blood on the floor before shoving his way past Fenrir. He took one glance at Adonia before he passed her, it was then Fenrir quickly grabbed her wrist again and pulled her away, but it was still too late, the dagger he held licked deeply against her arm causing blood to instantly leak though. Barmic had given his warning and attacked while the man was turned to Adonia, it was no surprise to those who knew him, mess with Barmic and his tavern, the axe will soon follow. Adonia hissed as she looked at her bleeding arm, the blood staining the sleeve of her dress, she pulled away from Fenrir’s grasp and tore the sleeve clean off to inspect the wound. Deep and sore but nothing that would kill her. She used the sleeve to apply pressure while she slid down the wall to sit on the floor.
‘Ye alright Addie?’
‘N-never mind me…’ she pointed to the door. ‘The girl. Is the girl alright?’ Barmic and several of the girls behind followed him to the room to investigate. It was nothing new, but something he despised, the girls trusted Barmic to keep them safe, he felt as if he let her down.
‘T-they were already in the room.’ She sniffed. ‘I’d never agree to that!’
‘A ken lass A ken…Take the rest of the week off, heal up fae a time lass.’
‘…But I need to work Barmic…’ she started to weep.
‘Aye, behind the bar, noo come on, get yerself cleaned up.’ The other girls helped their sister to her own room while Adonia took another look at her wound and gave another hiss.
‘Why help me?’ she asked without even looking at Fenrir.
‘I wasn’t originally here to help you, I heard the screams, then the next thing I know you fall into me.’ She glared slightly but tried to concentrate on her arm.
‘Thanks, I guess.’ She hissed and forced herself to stand and walk away back to her room. He gave a sigh and leaned back against the wall, his head tapped against the wall and his eyes closed.
‘There’s a secret exit in the forest northeast of the castle.’ She paused slightly and turned to him, finally he told her his secret. ‘Escape tunnel.’
‘Escape tunnels…Of course, do you know exactly where?’
‘I do.’ He pushed himself off the wall and went to walk past but paused as he came beside her. ‘But you’ll have to find it yourself.’
‘For Divines’ sake Fenrir!’ she yelled as he continued to walk on and ignored her yells of annoyance.
As the evening came Adonia returned to her comforting clothes with the addition of a bandage on her injured arm. She sat in the empty tavern alongside Arthur who continued to innocently ask her questions about Greymire and Half-Blood, until he suddenly and innocently brought up a new subject.
‘You speak elvish, don’t you?’
‘Who told you that?’ she smiled as she took a sip of her drink.
‘Fenrir.’
‘…He didn’t sound so happy about it when I spoke.’
‘It’s because we’re elves and we don’t know how to speak our own language…I don’t know about Fen but…It’s kind of embarrassing, I know more dwarfish than I do elven.’
‘I can teach you.’ The innocent boy’s eyes beamed with excitement as he leaned toward her for a lesson in basics. But before she could even speak several armed men entered the tavern, but there was no warning bell, these were not Griffiths’ soldiers.
‘Inn keep we require your finest room!’ a soldier announced as he stood inhumanly straight, puffing his chest forward which took Barmic by surprise.
‘A dinnae have any suites, all rooms got a bed.’ The soldier winched slightly before a woman entered the inn.
‘They don’t have much m’lady, but we have to stay here, can’t risk the walk to the castle especially at night.’
‘Ugh it will have to do. But know my husband will hear about this.’ Adonia recognised the woman’s voice but held back slightly as she looked over her shoulder just to make sure.
‘Whit brings ye here?’ Barmic said as he searched for his keys.
‘Official business with Lord Griffiths.’ The soldier addressed. ‘But a wheel on our carriage broke and we do not have the tools nor time to fix it, the meeting will have to wait until tomorrow.’
‘Pretty dangerous fae nobles around ‘ere.’
‘Just show me my room.’
‘Ila?’ Adonia couldn’t hold her tongue anymore as she stood up from her chair. The woman sneered at first but her aging eyes warmed to the sight of Adonia.
‘Adonia? My dear beloved is that really you? You’re alive?’ Adonia ran to the woman she saw as family. Her sharp beauty never faded over the years, her skin still perfect porcelain, her lips a blood red, only a few strands of silver danced through her black hair adding maturity to her aged beauty.
‘…I-it’s you.’ Adonia gasped as she held her tightly. Ila Dukan returned the embrace and squeezed her tightly, wrapping her in the fur cloak that covered her entire body.
‘Adonia, I thought we lost you! What happened? How did you survive?’
‘G-Greymire saved me, so much has happened.’ Adonia wept as she clenched her friend tightly, pressing her face hard into her chest like an infant to a mother.
‘Fear not my sweet, my husband will be called, and we’ll go far from this dreadful place.’ her words started to echo as Adonia looked closer at her chest and a glint of silver shimmered in her welling eyes. It was a coin made into a fragile necklace, a coin that bore the Royal Phoenix of Alexander and the Hawk of Reckson. It flashed and burned in her mind; she remembered the sweet voice of Vale when he gave her that very gift. Adonia touched her own chest where it would have sat, she remembered she took it off that night, she placed it by her bedside but in the panic, it was left behind. It was the same necklace.
‘Where did you get that?’ Adonia’s weeping soon turned cold as she gently pinched the coin in her fingertips.
‘Oh this? Lord Dukan gave it to me dear, these are very, very rare.’ Adonia shuddered as she stood back from her, horrified she shook her head.
‘Vale gave that to me…All those years ago.’
‘Nonsense Adonia, these are extremely rare, my husband specially made it into a necklace for me.’
‘You knew who killed my family?!’ she yelled out with tears in her eyes.
‘Adonia you’re not making any sense, come now it is only a small trinket.’
‘Then why are you even here?!’ Ila backed off to her soldiers which slowly began to guard their lady. ‘And I hear talk of slavery? Tell me Ila, tell me that too isn’t true!’
‘I could never forget that voice.’ the entire tavern looked up to the walkway where they saw Fenrir leaning against the wooden railing, looking down at them.
‘You!? You’ve been here all this time?!’
‘And I thought such a prize such as myself would have been searched for.’ without even hesitating Fenrir rolled himself from the railing and landed down into the tavern.
‘My husband had all of Reckson searched a thousand times just for you! He’ll be here for you, if you don’t come with me.’
‘M’Lady we can’t go anywhere tonight.’
‘Forget Griffiths! This elf is worth more gold than all of your lives put together, take him!’ reluctantly the guards pushed forward which barely fazed the elf, he could easily handle a handful of guards.
‘A won’t let ye take him bitch!’ Barmic growled as he stood in front of Fenrir.
‘Silence dwarf before I have his place burned to the ground. I was hoping you’d come peacefully, the same with you Adonia.’ before Lady Dukan could even say another word, to their surprise Adonia launched herself into her, she clenched the jewels around her neck and began to violently punch and slap her in the face. With the sudden outburst the guards sprang into action and with their crossbows the arrows began to fly, Fenrir quickly grabbed Arthur around the waist and pulled him behind a table. Barmic hid too, the flying arrows kept everyone at bay, but the commotion caught the attention of the rest of the villagers who felt they had to intervene with such an attack. The guards tried to pull Adonia away, but she was so deeply locked in a trance of hatred, nothing fazed her.
‘You helped kill them!’ Adonia screamed as she continued to throw hits and pulled at the necklace around her neck, Lady Dukan violently scratched Adonia’s face which made her release her grip and broke the thread in her hand so she quickly used this opportunity to run away.
‘The slave is here! I don’t care what my husband says kill him! Kill them all!’ she screamed out into the streets with blood running down her face. The entire tavern erupted anarchy as men began to charge in from their homes to assist in the fight, Adonia burst through the door and took chase. Just as she was ready to attack, Fenrir had caught up with her using his natural given speed to his advantage. He launched himself into her, kicking her in the back.
‘She’s mine to kill!’ Adonia yelled out before Fenrir had a chance to strike. She pushed him to the side which made him push her back harder, Fenrir gave her an angry stare which Adonia did the same but they both looked down at the fallen Dukan woman quickly before she could escape.
‘Tell me everything you know before I gut you right here!’ Adonia yelled as she pointed her sword at her.
‘I came to speak to Griffiths… Our family had important arrangements.’
‘I don’t care about that! Tell me about my family! Why you?! Why you of all people allowed it to happen?’ Lady Dukan panted slightly as she tried to crawl away.
‘…I admire your upbringing Adonia, I truly did, but it is weak and impractical, you are supposed to be royalty, people who lead. You can’t lead on kindness, people take advantage of that…You needed to be strong, show that you are capable. Your family was too innocent to rule this country, my family was worth a fortune when slavery was legal, thanks to the Hardgraves our fortunes were cut in half, except for this one standing right next to you. He made us more money than you could ever imagine.’ Fenrir sneered at her, he gripped his sword tightly, ready to kill at any moment.
‘You admit to slavery?’ Adonia snarled as she took a step forward. ‘G-Griffiths was late on his payments, we sent him a lot of good girls.’ She gave a smile as she could see his anger growing. ‘Children are hard to come by, you should have seen this one Adonia…So powerful, so bloodthirsty.’ Adonia gave a quick glance at Fenrir and could feel the hatred radiating from him. ‘I heard your mother was something to behold, just as feral.’ She smirked. ‘Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, but perhaps…We went a bit too far when we killed that little whore.’ in an instant Fenrir launched his sword in her throat, he plunged so deeply his sword dug into the earth, Lady Dukan scrambled as she could feel her very life fading away, and the last thing she saw was the fury in his piercing green eyes.
‘What you think you’re doing!?’ she yelled as she shoved Fenrir again. ‘She was mine to kill!’
‘You’re not the only victim here! That bitch deserved to die by my hands!’ Fenrir returned the shove which made her push him, he copied the action until they were interlocked in a brawl once again.
‘They’re at it again!’ Arthur panicked as he saw the two now locked in each other’s grasp, rolling in the dirt, punching, hitting almost like siblings.
‘Ye ken whit, let them fight it oot.’ Barmic said as he watched the pair.
‘What?! But what if it turns into what happened last time?’
‘Then call me, A’ll be cleaning up that shite heap of an inn.’ Barmic walked off while the pair wrestled on the ground, Arthur looked back at them nervously before following his father. As they were interlocked Adonia’s strength just suddenly depleted as she collapsed into Fenrir, she pressed her head hard against his chest, still thumping him with her fist but each blow grew weaker and weaker as she cried. He didn’t even move, in his own way he just let her cry against him until she pushed herself away and continued to weep to herself. They sat on the floor together for a brief moment, Adonia sniffed slightly and held herself while Fenrir bought his knee close to his chest. He sat there a moment and gave a sigh before he stood to his feet he turned and looked down at Adonia who continued to sniff and weep.
‘Get up.’ he sighed as he gently pressed his foot against her back, nudging her slightly. But she remained on the floor. ‘If this was a real fight, you’d be dead by now.’ he said as he nudged her again with his boot.
Adonia looked over her shoulder up at him slightly, her glare was not hateful but saddened at what she had learnt about someone she held so dear.
‘They were in on it…They knew all along.’ She sniffed which made him look away. ‘Is there anyone in this forsaken world I can trust?’ Fenrir gave a keep, slow sigh, unable to respond to her until she looked at him with watery eyes. ‘…They kept you as a slave.’ Fenrir remained silent as he crossed his arms and looked down at her. ‘What…What did they do to you?’
‘They did enough.’ he said as he walked back toward the body and put one boot on her chest then pulled the sword out from her throat.
‘They must have done something.’ she said as she stood up and approached him. ‘They must have done something to make you how you are now.’
‘Firstly, you don’t know anything about being a slave.’ he approached her, bloodied sword in hand but she stood her ground. ‘Secondly…I wasn’t the only one they did things to, they had people killed, those servants they have around they aren’t paid servants they’re other slaves who gave up on life.’ he went to walk away.
‘But then why are you so different? Why did she say you made them so much money? Was it the Strages?’ Fenrir stopped dead in his tracks and turned to her.
‘Who told you about that?’
‘Barmic said it was a guess from the way you look and the way you fight, if you’re angry don’t take it out on him, take it out on me.’ She said angrily, readying herself for another fight but Fenrir only sighed.
‘That man can read anyone like an open book…’ he sighed. ‘I was the Dukan’s family pet, their fighting dog that killed countless people for gold, I was starved, tortured to fight.’ He looked away slightly but as he went to look at her again, they were interrupted by a sudden call.
‘Ye two! Over ‘ere.’ they both turned to the call of Barmic who stood at the open door of the inn, they both silently walked to him, hopefully now with some small understanding of each other. ‘Right, it’s pretty obvious tae a blind man that shite went doon tonight, n A ain’t holdin’ any of ye responsible, Fen ye n Arthur are like sons tae me n Addie they didne even ken ye were ‘ere. But ken this ye two, if ye live ‘ere A cannae have ye scrappin’ every time ye clock each other, so the pair of ye grow a pair n get used tae each other.’
The pair both glanced at each other bitterly, this was the first time they had actually attempted talking to each other without attacking each other, accepting some form of tolerance. ‘Naw mere trying tae kill each other alright?’ they looked at
each other briefly, Barmic expected them to give a respectful handshake or anything but no, they simply glared at each other for a brief moment then back at Barmic. ‘Right.’ he sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. ‘Lot a deed bodies ‘ere, we’re gonnae have tae burn ‘em, Addie would ye mind helping oot? Normally A wouldnae ask a lady tae dae such dirty work.’
‘No, I don’t mind.’ she replied quickly. ‘I’ve seen my share of the dead.’
The people of the town all banded together as they piled up the bodies far outside of the town ready to burn. Arthur attempted to drag a body of a man who was much larger than himself but barely had the strength.
‘Let me.’ Fenrir grunted as he managed to pull up the body with one arm up to his shoulder while he dragged another by the foot. ‘You shouldn’t even be doing this anyway Arthur, you’re just a boy…No boy should have to see this.’
‘You did.’ he replied almost irritated which made Fenrir give a quick gaze which made Arthur remember his place. ‘S-sorry Fen.’
‘Don’t worry about it.’ he said as he carried the bodies to the pile.
‘Does that mean were in danger now? You killed Lord Dukan’s wife.’
‘He’ll notice her missing within the next couple of days, then most likely send in reinforcements.’
Bitter Wars- Ashes Page 6