by David Angelo
Fin feebly tried to get up, but he felt like his body was being held down by an unseen force. The shortness of breath made him light-headed and weak, and the world seemed to spin around him like the inside of a tornado. Fin was helpless as he watched the Cullidon force his lips onto Scarlet’s face, with no one to help her. The patrons stood by and watched like the useless idiots they were. It was probably not the first time they’d sat idle while someone of their kind got molested.
Eventually, Fin found the strength to roll over on his stomach in an attempt to get to his feet. But it felt like someone had put a yoke on his back, preventing him from standing up past his knees. Meanwhile, Cato’s head jolted back. A chunk of his bottom lip was missing, and blood was spilling down the front of his chin. While he clasped his wound, Scarlet reached with her freed hand and dug her claws deep into Cato’s groin.
“I’ll die before I let you have your way with me,” Scarlet gasped, spitting out a piece of lip.
“So you like it rough, do you?” Cato asked, grabbing Scarlet’s wrist and running his tongue down the side of her arm. “Good, I love it when they put up a fight. It makes it all the more interesting—”
The invisible yoke broke away. Fin launched himself like an eagle toward Cato, letting out a primal scream of rage as he charged. He pounced, knocking him off Scarlet, and proceeded to hammer Cato’s face in a barrage of punches. Cato tried to put up his hands, but Fin knocked them out of the way and continued his unrelenting assault. The Cullidon’s head bounced off the floor with every punch, blood squirted from his nose, and bloody teeth flew out of his mouth with each hit.
Fin paused and looked down into his victim’s face, one hand held up in a balled fist, waiting to land another hit. Cato’s face was pockmarked with bruises and cuts, and blood trickled out of his nose, mouth, and eyes.
“Say another word,” Fin growled. “I dare you, Horseface. Say another word!”
But the only sound Cato made was a wet, bloody hiss. Cato closed his bloodshot eyes, and Fin felt the chest compress underneath him, the broken body slipping into unconsciousness.
4
FIN LOWERED HIS FIST and let out a sigh of relief, observing the battered body of his attacker in a state of awe. Fin was not new to brawls, having gotten himself in a few fistfights when he was younger. But never had he dreamed that he would ever fight a Cullidon, let alone win in a test of dukes. Of course, Fin was not immune to temptations to strike back at a spiteful Cullidon, something that all Faranchies wanted to do when they were pushed beyond their limits. But Fin had always been taught to submit, to let his antagonists have their way and not give in to such feelings of rage. The way Fin had launched himself at his antagonist with such unrelenting vigor went against everything he had been told, and the level of rage Fin felt in that brief moment was beyond anything he had experienced before.
Fin got up and turned his attention to Scarlet, who was sitting against the side of a booth, her knees tucked under her chin and her eyes fixed on the motionless Cato. Fin knelt down beside Scarlet and put his hand on her shoulder.
“Scarlet,” Fin asked, “are…are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Scarlet replied, nodding. “I’m…” Scarlet’s eyes began to tear up. Before Fin could try to comfort her, Scarlet sprang forward, wrapped her arms around Fin’s neck, and began to weep.
“It’s okay,” Fin said, wrapping his arms around Scarlet and stroking her dorsal spines. “It’s all over. Don’t cry…” Fin held Scarlet in his arms for what seemed like an eternity on the floor of the bar. It was not long before he, too, felt tears well up in his eyes. Fin looked up from where he sat and saw the bar’s patrons looking at him and Scarlet like a crowd of expressionless dummies. Rage began to siphon back into Fin’s heart as he surveyed all the able-bodied Faranchies who could have helped him if they wanted.
“You’re all a bunch of gutless pussies!” Fin scolded. “For Elder’s sake, would you really sit here and watch her get manhandled like that? I hope you all rot—”
“Don’t blame them, Fin,” Scarlet said, wiping away the last tears from her eyes. “I’m fine, and that’s all that matters.”
Fin nodded. It was pointless trying to rake the bar patrons over the coals. “We’re both fine, thanks to you,” Fin said. “If you hadn’t intervened, I’d be dead by now.”
“That means we’re even,” Scarlet said with a slight smile, then turned her attention to Cato. “What are we going to do about him?”
“I doubt he’ll remember anything when he comes to,” Fin said, getting up and walking over to where the Cullidon lay and nudging him with his foot.
“He’s out cold,” Fin said, getting down on one knee. He slapped Cato’s cheek a few times, trying to get a response, but there was no sign of life. It was then that Fin realized that Cato was not breathing. Puzzled, he put his ear to his chest and listened for a heartbeat but could not hear a thing. Panic set in as he felt for a pulse.
“Fin, you’re doing it wrong,” Scarlet said, taking a seat next to Fin and grabbing Cato’s wrist. She ran her thumb across Cato’s largest vein, trying to find some feedback from the heart. But Fin could tell from the growing look of fear on her face that she could not find a pulse either.
“Fin,” Scarlet said worriedly, “he’s not knocked out. He’s dead.”
Everyone in the bar let out a simultaneous gasp. Fin got up and bit down on his fingernails, his panic-stricken eyes looking down at the Cullidon’s corpse.
“My ass is fried,” Fin said to himself. Fin had only wanted to hurt Cato, possibly scar him really good, but not kill him. He could almost feel the rough rope of a noose tightening around his neck, the platform giving way under his feet, and the sudden, painful snap that would follow.
“What on the Elder’s green land is going on here?” Alto asked.
Fin’s heart dropped to the soles of his feet, and a cold chill ran down the length of his tail. He knew that Alto would not want to risk the lives of the group home residents by harboring a murderer. Fin would be kicked out on the street, where he would be forced to beg until he croaked. Fin slowly turned to face Alto and attempted to explain the circumstance in the best way he could manage.
“Um, Alto. I can, um, explain. You see, this Cullidon. He was kind of, um, how do I say it, um. He was getting kind of nasty, um. You know what I mean. He said some things, and I…I kind of struck back. And then he, I mean, yeah, he tried to rape Scarlet, and, um, I…I, um…”
“You killed him, didn’t you?” Alto asked.
“Yeah…” Fin said. “It was an accident, Alto, honest. I was only trying to give him a piece of my mind, and I got out of hand. If you want me to pack my bags and leave—”
“Wait,” Alto said. “You told me he tried to rape Scarlet, didn’t you?”
“Yes…” Fin said. “Does that make a difference?”
“Did he try to rape this pretty lady here?” Alto asked the patrons, who all nodded in agreement. Turning back to Fin, Alto replied, “To answer your question, Fin, damn straight it does! I just spent the whole day grieving the loss of a friend who died trying to save someone he loved from being sexually assaulted. At this point, I’d rather let someone cut my tail off and feed it to me than let you suffer the same fate. Now let’s get some shovels and bury him in the back, and no one will ever know that a crime was committed.”
Fin was speechless. He had never heard Alto, the most law-abiding Faranchie he had ever met, act so casually over something so serious. Fin and Scarlet just stared at him, their mouths open, trying to figure out something to say, but they only managed to look like a pair of freshly caught salmon. Alto turned to address his customers.
“None of you saw anything,” Alto said. “And if I ever learn that one of you spilled the story to the authorities, I’ll put the fear of the Elder into you. Now, scram! The bar’s closed. Go home, or wherever you came from.” He turned to Fin and Scarlet.
“All right, troopers,” Alto said. “Help me carry this bru
te into the back.”
Fin and Scarlet grabbed Cato’s body by the arms, while Alto picked him up by his ankles. They carried him out the rear of the pub and into the yard out back. It was now a giant mud puddle thanks to the rain, and there were patches of slushy snow left over from the mix. The snow that had fallen the day before had melted into the ground. It was cold but not freezing, and the soil beneath them was soft enough to break with a shovel. Moonlight reflected off the deep pools of water in the saturated earth. The sounds of the town had subsided, but Fin could still hear the faint melody of flute music playing in the distance. The rain was no longer pouring as heavily as before and was reduced to a barely noticeable drizzle.
The body fell with a splat on the wet ground. Alto retrieved three shovels from a nearby work shed, and the three began to dig a grave.
“So you’re not going to kick me out?” Fin asked after a brief hesitation.
“Me, kick you out?” Alto replied. “Nah, you bring me most of my business.”
“But I just killed a Cullidon,” Fin said. “If they find out, they’ll hang me and arrest you for harboring a fugitive.”
“Not if we dig the hole deep enough,” Alto said.
“But Alto,” Fin protested, “I murdered someone in a fit of rage. I—”
“Fin,” Alto said, pausing his digging, “I might be an Elder-fearing man, but I’m not a fool. There’s a fine line between murder and self-defense, and while you almost crossed it, you didn’t cross it today. If you’d sat on your ass and done nothing in Scarlet’s time of need, Elder knows what would’ve happened. Now, I’m sure you two would like to go to bed sometime tonight, so let’s get this brute buried before sunrise.”
They continued digging, and it was a while before anyone restarted the conversation.
“You know,” Scarlet said, “before the fight broke out, this Cullidon here addressed himself as Dorval’s executioner.”
“Did he?” Alto said. “In that case—” Alto spat on Cato’s corpse. “That’s for Dorval’s mate, his daughter, and all the people in his life you robbed him from, you shithead!”
Alto took a breath and shook his head. “Sorry about that,” Alto said, calming down. “As you can tell, I’m still a little on edge from this afternoon. Dorval was one of my childhood friends. I even had a brief relationship with his sister, which ended rather badly. It wasn’t Dorval’s fault, of course; he never had any issue with me dating his sister or me potentially being the father of her children. Speaking of which, how is that little ‘moving out’ fund coming along?”
“Um…” Fin said. “It’s coming.”
“Not very well,” Scarlet added.
“Babe, please.”
“Fin, I have to tell the truth,” Scarlet replied. Turning to Alto, she continued, “It’s not coming along very well. Fin has only been able to raise about half of the funds we need for the trip, and we’re nowhere near reaching our goals. At this pace we won’t be moving until next fall.”
“Scarlet’s already offered to pitch in,” Fin said, “and I reluctantly obliged. But she’s right when she says that we’re missing our mark by a long shot. Still, with her added funds, we might be out of here by next summer.”
“How’d you like to get out sooner?” Alto asked.
Fin looked up in attention.
“I’ve been thinking,” Alto said. “You’ve been building this fund for a while now, but you’re only about halfway through, right? I also have two new boarders, both a little younger than you, who are interested in taking over your positions after you two leave. Now, if you train them as apprentices, teach them everything there is to know about your line of work, they can replace you, and I might be kind enough to provide you with the funds you need. How’s that sound?”
“Gee,” Fin said. “That sounds great, but—”
“We’ll do it,” Scarlet said.
“But I’ve never taught anyone before in my life,” Fin said, “and I don’t want to take money away from you, Alto.”
“First of all, Fin,” Alto said, “if you can do a job well, you can teach it to someone. Second, the two apprentices I’m giving you are not stupid, and I guarantee that they’ll listen to everything you tell them. And third, I may be about as broke as that damn pump over there, but I can afford to even out your balance. When everything is said and done, you and Scarlet can start a life together, and I’ll have two new employees to take your spots.”
“Fin, this is the best shot we have,” Scarlet said. She placed a hand on Fin’s shoulder and squeezed.
Fin thought for a moment. On the one hand, the last thing he wanted was to be a burden to someone who gave him a roof over his head and food on his plate. But Fin also wanted to move on, make a life for himself beyond the walls of the pub, and perhaps start a family with the dragon he loved more than anyone or anything. In the end, the choice was obvious.
“Okay, I’ll do it,” Fin said.
“Great,” Alto replied. “I’ll introduce you two to your apprentices tomorrow. In the meantime, I think this hole is almost deep enough…”
Across the street from the pub sat an old inn called Taylor’s Rest, which served the needs of travelers, barterers, and thieves who used Notnedo as a rest stop on their ventures. Tonight, most of the rooms were vacant, save for a loft room that faced the pub, occupied by an out-of-town couple. From the window, looking out from under a blanket of thatch, a black-and-white Faranchie who, coincidentally, called himself Black-Tooth looked out at the bar.
“I know what I saw,” Black-Tooth said. “Everything happened the way Rocklier said it would, down to the last detail.”
“But did you see the mark?” his mate, Kaw-Ki, asked. She lay on the bed behind him, obscured by the shadow of night. “If you didn’t see it, then you could’ve just been a witness to another random bar fight in another decaying ghetto, for all we know.”
“Believe me,” Black-Tooth said, turning away from the window to face her. “It was like it looked up and stared me in the eye. I saw every detail: the wings, the tail, the eyes. It looked just like the mark that was described in the Prophet’s Song. But I don’t think he sees the same thing that I saw. He seemed unnerved when I took an interest in it.”
“Then he probably doesn’t know a damn thing, does he?”
Black-Tooth paused and looked back out the window.
“He’s lying in bed right now,” he said, “unaware that his whole world is about to be turned upside down.”
The bed creaked as Kaw-Ki got up and took her place next to him by the window.
“Well, what do we do, then?” she asked.
“We need to reassemble our old team,” Black-Tooth said. “Do you have any idea where the other five are currently?”
“The last I checked, they were in various towns and villages within a twenty-mile radius from here. It’ll take a day or two for them all to regroup at our current location.”
“We’re not regrouping here,” Black-Tooth said. “It’ll cause too much of a commotion among the locals. I’d rather we regroup in the dead oak, at our old base camp and training grounds. The team members all know where it is, and it’s close enough to here that we can keep tabs on our target without causing too much suspicion about ourselves or our motives.”
“I hope you’re not wrong about this,” Kaw-Ki said.
“My love,” Black-Tooth replied, “as the Elder is my witness, the person who has eluded us for most of our adult lives is here, in our midst, and the day of our reckoning is upon us.”
“But I need more than just your word for me to believe it,” Kaw-Ki said.
“You will, Kaw-Ki. Trust me. A year from now, everyone on Edon will know this boy’s name.”
5
THREE WEEKS HAD PASSED since the fight in the dining room, and everything had seemingly returned to normal. One sunny afternoon Fin was sitting at the desk in his upstairs bedroom, jotting down an entry in a journal log Alto had instructed him to keep. Fin had added an entry t
o the journal twice a day, every day, following his introduction to his replacement. His replacement’s name was Cathwise, a Faranchie boy who was about fourteen years of age and who had previously worked in the pub’s storage room. At first glance, Fin was unsure what to think of his replacement. Before working with him side by side, Fin had always regarded Cathwise as a bit of a recluse who, despite having lived in the home two months, had hardly gotten to know anybody and never attempted to socialize with the other residents. Fin worried that Cathwise’s lack of social skills would make his bartender training difficult, since it was a job that chewed up and spat out the meek and shy. But to Fin’s amazement, Cathwise proved to be a natural at bartending and interacted so well with customers that he soon became a favorite among the townsfolk.
The result of Cathwise’s quick learning of the ropes was that Fin barely needed to coach him, and there was very little to write about in the notes he left for Alto. Today’s note read almost identically to all the others Fin had written:
Cathwise did well today during the afternoon shift. He shortchanged one customer, but this was mostly because he got the drink’s price confused with a different one. Other than that Cathwise was fine. He even managed to strike up a conversation with an old farmer who had come in for a quick drink. I really think he’s ready for the night shift—
Fin froze and pondered his next words. He had attempted to convince Alto to let Cathwise take the night shift before. But despite his efforts, Alto wanted to wait until he believed Cathwise was ready. Fin knew that Cathwise did not need to wait any longer, and if given the opportunity, Cathwise could run the entire night shift without any coaching. Cathwise himself said that he desired to work later than usual, but Alto remained steadfast in his decision. Looking at the note for a second time, Fin felt it was pestering for him to ask Alto again for something he knew would receive a no. Fin struck out the last line of his journal.