Past the wooden door, Grady is sitting on one of the beds and his scarf is pulled over his head like a hood. As I grow closer, he turns his back toward me and I can hear the soft sniffling coming from him. Lowering myself on to the bed, I lay the bow beside of me and place a hand on his back. He doesn’t look up to me at first, probably afraid that I was his father or someone else. When he does look up to me, his eyes are have a pink tint and they gloss over in the light. There is no signs of tears on his cheeks, but I they don’t need to be there for me to know he is genuinely upset by this.
Without a second thought, I pull him into a tight hug and hold him close to me. The lad flinches at first by the sudden embrace, but soon lowers his posture and relaxes in my hold. In the embrace, his shoulders begin to shake and I feel his hand tighten around my bear skin cloak. The next moment, I push him away just for a second. When he raises off my body, I take off my pelt and drape it over his shoulders, then with careful movement, I pull him back into my hug. The pelt seems to have given him an extra layer of relief and his shaking shoulders subside to just silent crying.
“He doesn’t care,” the lad whispers out after a little while of me holding him and waiting for him to talk first. He was the one that needed to calm down and have his space, so I stayed silent until he was ready. “He has never cared about what I want, only that I become the next big thief in Jerensi-a.” His hand moves his scarf up to rub under his eyes and over his large nose. “I don’t want to be that, Michael. I would much rather go off and adventure with you.”
I give a soft sigh as my hand rubs up and down his spine, hoping to provide some extra comfort in this moment. “I would much rather you come with me too. We need you, Grady. The Divines gave you that vision for a reason and we need to keep moving.”
“I have tried to run away many times. I just thought this time, since I was with you, I would get farther than before,” he raises up and pulls the pelt around his shoulders and buries his face in it.
“How many times have you tried to run away?” I straighten my spine and watch him with a careful eye. He is upset right now, and when people are this upset, especially with their parents, they tend to do strange and crazy acts. I don’t want him to hurt himself, I couldn’t live with myself if he did that.
He sighs and starts to count on his fingers, raising them up and pushing the bear skin along with them. “Eight times,” he answers after counting, “This was my eighth attempt, and no matter how many times, whether it is eight or eighty, he will keep finding me and bringing me back!” Now the sorrow has been replaced with anger, as he slams his fist down into the bed.
How someone could do this to their only child is beyond me. I understand McDrago probably only wants what is best for his son, but forcing him into something he doesn’t like is not okay. How many times does the lad have to run away before that message gets spent through his thick shaggy skull? “I think we should try to see reason with him, at least one time, and then if he doesn’t listen, I make this promise now,” I turn him to face me and I look deep into his forest green eyes. “Grady Hemonia, I make a solemn vow, here and now, that no matter what comes our way, I will protect you. You are under my care now, and no harm will come to you.”
The lad’s eyes threaten to break forth tears again. But before they can spill over, he throws his arms around my shoulders and starts thanking me. He repeats it again and again. He is laughing as well as crying, and still somehow finding a way to thank me. I can only smile, chuckle and pat his back, letting him have his moment. “No need to thank me, Grady. I care for you.” I push him away, which is a lot harder than it should be considering how scrawny he is. Once we are both up right again, he lets out a sigh and that usual stupid grin rest on his face. “I have a surprise for you.” He gives me a look of confusion and tilts his head to the side like a puppy. I reach behind me, and pull his bow to the front of me.
He lets out an audible gasp and his eyes widen, delicate fingers run over the wood of the bow in my hands. “But…but how is this possible? He threw it into the fire. It should be incinerated.”
“I told you, there is a reason the Divines brought us together. I pulled it out of the fire with my bare hands, and look,” I lay the bow in his lap to show my unscathed hands. “Perfect as usual.”
He takes my hands into his own and rubs his calloused thumb over my skin. That smile only grows and extends from one side to the other, “That’s bloody amazing!”
I pull my hands away from his and give a shrug and chuckle, “I guess, but then again crazy and amazing things have happened to us in the last week, and do you remember our agreement?” He looks back up to me, a look of quizzical nature repaints his expression, but it soon goes back to normal when realization strikes in his eyes.
“You said that if I helped you within the week, you would let me stay with you and tell me your backstory,” he says as if he has perfect memory on the day I made that promise.
I nod to him and pat his shoulder, “Sure did. And I think you have more than enough but proved yourself countless times. You distracted that spider and gave me enough time to escape. You were the one that gave the final blow to Wheharla. I can only imagine what you are going to do to Zideka when we kick his sorry ass.”
The lad laughs and shakes his head, fingers still tracing over the unburnt bow on his lap. He takes a deep breath and then a quick exhale. His fingers move from the bow and to the hem of my cloak. He takes it off and puts it back around my shoulders. After that, he places his bow on his back, its rightful spot in the world. Then he stands up and moves in front of me, hand extended waiting for my own to take it. “Ready to go, boy?”
With no hesitation, I clap my hand into his and let him pull me up from the straw bed. “Ready, boy.”
We leave the rotunda room and head back into the tavern. This time, his posture is different. His shoulders are pushed back, chest puffed out and chin clenched tight and raised in the air. He looks so confident, a look that I haven’t seen on him before. It suits him, makes him look even more deadly than he already can be. Across the murky pool, Ryneld looks up when the door creaks open. He taps Kehtia’s shoulder and she too looks over. Both stand up and make their way back toward us, but Grady doesn’t hesitate, he approaches his father with his new found and unwavering confidence. Unwavering that is until his father stood up to address him.
The boy’s back hunches and his shoulders creep up to shield himself. I was going to tell Kahetia and Ryneld what happened in there, but seeing him falter changes my plan. With haste, I run up beside of him and lay a silent and gentle hand. That is apparently all the push he needs to straighten back up and glare up at his father. The air is heavy and everyone is silent. No one is drinking and there is no merriment to be heard in the stone cold room. McDrago opens his mouth to speak but Grady stops him, “I will not be the thief you want me to be. Nuutan has plans for me and those plans are to go with Michael wherever he goes.”
McDrago’s face is stern for a moment but then he lets out a sigh, with a smile that reads that he can actually be a caring father. “You didn’t let me talk,” he gives a soft chuckle and lays one of his monstrous hands on the boys shoulder, almost making the lad fall under the weight. “I was going to say, it is clear to me now that the Divines have something in store for you. You are not the intended champion of Sipawn but more likely the champion of Nuutan.” I move my hand as the man pulls his son by the shoulders to face him. “I’m not happy by this news, nor am I happy that you are still using that woman weapon. You should be using swords and daggers like real mean.” Grady groans and that cuts the man off of his tangent before it goes any farther. “I digress. Go with these people Grady and bring glory to the Hemonia namesake. Don’t do it for me, but do it for your mother.” He raises a thumb to stroke the cheek of his son before pulling him into a hug. Grady is almost engulfed by the man who is twice his size. Small arms wrap around the larger figure before the two let go of each other.
Grady pulls away from his dad and moves to stand next to the three of us waiting for him. “Let’s go, guys.” Seeing him smile again, fills me with a joy unknown to me before. With smiles of our own, each of us takes our turn to pat his back and ruffle his hair as we leave the thieves den behind us, heading out once again toward our destination.
“Wait!” His father calls out to us before we open the door. His voice is urgent but not in a harsh tone as if he is going to scold Grady, more of a tone that begs a question. We all turn around, Grady first and then we each follow one by one. McDrago approaches us with a large smile and opens his arm to motion toward the tavern. “Stay with us. Have a few drinks, and then spend the night. We will resupply you with anything we need. Raylin is the best blacksmith in town,” He says pointing over to a man at the bar. He raises his mug of mead to us, takes a sip and then turns back around to finish his drink. His black hair and incoming beard gives off a feel that he is just a young man, probably younger than Grady and myself. “Please, we insist you stay for the trouble we have caused you.”
We? The other thieves didn’t do anything, it was only him. He was the one giving all the problems. He had someone kidnap Grady from us, burned his bow and then all but tried to force him to stay. I have a mind to tell this guy off. That we don’t need his help after all that he has done. But before I can say anything to decline his peace offering, Grady pipes up. “I think that would work great.”
“You do?” My head jerks to face him with an eyebrow raised. I would expect that if anyone was the most upset it would be Grady, yet here he is accepting the offer without hesitation.
“Yeah, he is offering to stock us up on whatever we need. I am almost out of arrows and we need a bit more food right?” Grady turns to face me and motions toward his empty quiver and my bag. I push the bag around my waist, not wanting to admit he is right even though he knows he is. We were scraping by for food when we left the forest. I didn’t account for the two extra mouths plus a horse to feed. Fort Everico isn’t too far away, but you can never be too sure about what will stop you in Jerensi-a. First, an Aaxeic and now a band of thieves kidnapping my friend. Anything else want to try and stop us? Thankfully, I don’t receive an answer to my question right then, but I do give a sigh and nod.
“You’re right, boy. We do need to stock up, plus we don’t have a lot of gold left,” I reach down to grab my coin purse and thank all Divines above that it is still there under my belt and still the same weight as before. One hundred and thirty-five gold rounds isn’t very much when a decent room can run a person at last fifty for a single, let alone trying to buy rooms for all four of us, and on top of that weapons in the morning. “Can Raylin sharpen weapons as well?”
McDrago nods and moves toward the tavern, giving the lad a rough pat on the back, almost making him choke on his mead. “He can do anything you want with your sword!” I do my best to keep my mind out of the sewer but I hear Grady give a soft snicker at the unintended joke. “So, I take it that is a yes that you are staying the night?”
I take a sharp breath and turn to my teammates. After our time in the forest, I make sure to get everyone’s opinion before we go charging into something unknown. Each of them gives me a nod, Grady’s being the most animated. With their approval, I turn back to McDrago and nod, “We will stay.”
The bar erupts into cheers as they move to welcome us in, giving each of us another round of mead, again Grady declines the offer. Now that we know we are safe, we separate into our two teams, Ryneld with Kahetia and myself with Grady. The two Amalians go right for the bar, and start guzzling down pints and pints of alcohol. As time passes, the thieves start drinking contest to see who can drink the most, and each time, Kahetia is the undefeated champion. This kitty is no milk drinker. She can hold her alcohol no problem. Grady and I stand back watching her go, while Ryneld cheers her on in the final battle against the last thief. After defeating three members, the other members started taking bets on how far she could go. Ryneld put all of his personal rounds, only twenty-two rounds on her being able to take out every member. He was the only one to bet this, so if she wins, this dog is going to be rolling his way to the bank.
It’s down to the final pint of mead and both look like they are about to throw up. It’s about time Kahetia is getting sick, he has drank almost a whole barrel of this stuff by herself. She tips the cup up and guzzles the whole mug down in one go, slamming the pint on the table, licking her lips with a grin as the crowd roars with amazement. The man on the other side seems nervous, as he should be. He glances down at his full mug, licks his lips and takes a deep breath. He raises it up and starts to drink. The more he drinks, the more he tips his head back to take it in. His head goes back a little too far and the man falls out of the chair, spilling his mead on to the floor. A glorious victory for Kahetia! Ryneld jumps with joy and runs up to pick the cat girl up and spin her around in the air. That probably wasn’t the best idea, considering she turns a sickly green after the first spin. He sits her back down and pats her head with his paw. She goes over to sit down as he moves to collect all of his earnings, leaving the competition with a whooping two hundred and eight-seven gold rounds.
“Care to share some of that reward?” I ask raising my pint of mead toward him with a snarky chuckle.
“Win your own bet,” he laughs, before walking over to make sure Kahetia is okay.
Grady and I both laugh at the dog’s response. It wasn’t a rude comment, just in a playful snarky tone that we know all too well after our week of travelling together. Ryneld can be sassy when he wants to be, but for the most part he is very logical and only makes calls that he knows for a fact that are correct. If I had known that sooner, I would have listened to him when he said we should travel around Mount Sovran and down the coast line. But hindsight is perfect vision. Unlike my own. I can’t see any detail now that the two Amalians have moved away from us. They merely look like colored blobs right now sitting at a table. This is why I use a sword. Swords allow me to get up close and personal with my target. My foe can’t escape when I am only a few feet in front of them. My strength and skill outmatches theirs in a close combat range. Give me a bow and arrow, well I couldn’t hit the broad side of a building. Not that my aim isn’t good, I used to throw knives when Haywood first found me. I still was able to keep that trick for the most part, learning how to curve the blade at the right angle to hit my blurry target. That’s technique, though. It’s muscle memory that has been built up over years of practice and I don’t need to see clearly to do that anymore. With a bow and arrow, that’s different. I need a clear shot of the target to get a good clean kill. Can’t see, can’t kill. The basics of combat. So, until there is some spell to fix my eyes, I will stick to my sword. Haven’t been able to meet a person yet to beat me.
Years of learning how to fight on my own, without the help of others, has built up some strong walls of resentment toward outside help. If Haywood and I were walking and something attacked us, he would often try to tell me how to fight. He would try to give guidance on when to swing my sword and which direction. I didn’t need any of that, in fact, it pissed me off whenever he did that. I felt as if he didn’t trust in my abilities as a warrior. That was when I first learned to rely on myself and no one else. After all, a few months after that first attack, he sent me out on my own. There was no guidance then. Everything I did, I did on my own.
Grady breaks me from my thoughts when he shakes my shoulders. “Hey, I think we should get some sleep if we want to head out early tomorrow.”
I look over to him and nod. Sitting my mug down, I walk up to Raylin and lay my sword in front of him. He says he could sharpen the edges and clean off the dried blood no problem. Before we each head off into the rotunda room, where the beds are, I thank him and give Raylin a twenty gold round tip for just agreeing to do the service alone. I wouldn’t want to give my skills out freely, so I don’t expect anyone else to do the same.
Ryneld leads the now severely drunk Kahetia into the rotunda and lays her down on the cot. I don’t know if it’s a Felidal trait, but she seems very flirty when drunk. Her paws hold on to Ryneld’s hood when he tries to pull away to let her lay in her own bed. The poor guy almost falls on top of her when she won’t let go of him. Her purrs are loud enough that I can hear them before the two even come into a clear sight. Grady and I can’t help but laugh at the sight, but Ryneld doesn’t find it funny. Poor dog has a blush on his tan cheeks that’s about as red as the blood of a fallen enemy. Somehow he pries her claws off of his cloak and she curls up on the bed, like a kitten sleeping by a fire.
He huffs and turns to us, with a cool composure like he thought he had the whole ordeal under control. He straightens his cloak and gives us a nod and smirk, “Women, huh? Can’t keep their hands off me.” Before we have time to respond, he lays in the bed next to hers.
Grady looks over to me, obviously trying to stifle an exuberant laugh. I don’t care to hold mine back, I laugh heartedly and pat my knee in the process. That was just too hilarious to not laugh at. Hearing me laugh, Grady lets out a few chuckles as we walk over to the next to beds in the row. “Boy, you are terrible with women,” I say to Ryneld while he adjusts himself on the bed, pulling the covers over his body.
“Shut up, I’d like to see you try and handle a drunk and purring Felidal. Bet you would do worse than I just did,” he says with a huff, turning to look at us rather than the sleeping Kahetia. Grady lays down on the cot next to Ryneld and me in the cot next to Grady.
“Oh hush it and just get some sleep,” I laugh, moving to take off my boots, bear pelt, and vest. Laying them on the ground next to me, but I make sure to keep them a good distance from the sewer water not too far from us. Ryneld snorts air out of his nose, rolls away from us and seems to fall asleep within the next minute. With a smirk on my face, I lay down and pull the fur covers over my form. My eyes glance over to Grady when his bed creaks, a sign that he was laying down as well. His scarf, boots, and vest lay in between our two cots, in the same manner, I had laid my things. Things fall silent in the stone room. And just as I am about to fall asleep.
“Michael?”
I groan, rolling over to face the lad next to me. “What, Grady?”
He is already on his side, looking at me with shimmering eyes. He looks like he is about to cry again. “I want to thank you, again.”
“You thanked me about thirty times during the moment, there is no need to thank me again,” I chuckle and start to roll back over on to my back, but his words stop me.
“No, I mean thank you for not giving up on me.”
I stop mid-roll and turn back, my face contorts into confusion but also sympathy for the lad. The confusion leaves my face, figuring I must have been the only person to actually give him a chance of freedom, of escape, and of opportunity. His father and the band wouldn’t have given him any of that if he had stayed here any longer. If we hadn’t met, who knows what would have happened to Grady right now? Would he even still be alive? People do stupid things when they are hurting that seem rational at the moment, but later on could only lead to regret and pain. “I made a promise to you, and I am not one to break a promise.”
The man across from me gives a soft and gentle smile, one tear leaving his eye and falling down his face and into his pillow. “Thank you, Michael.” He rolls over on to his back and closes his eyes, letting sleep take him.
I roll over on to my back as well and stare at the ceiling above me. My mind wanders through the memories of this eventful week. A week isn’t that long of a time, but being around a person for the entire seven days will allow you to get to know them pretty well. Each one shared their backstories, and just being near each other allowed us to learn how the other acts in certain circumstances. Ryneld can get sarcastic and resentful when someone questions his ability in decision making. Kahetia is mostly silent and tends to stick beside of either Grady or Ryneld when she actually talks, it consists wisdom and peace keeping.
Grady, well, this lad is a character if I ever met one. He is so full of life and energy. Always optimistic and surprisingly wise beyond what his age should allow him to be. He is a man who will stand by your side no matter what and tries to talk people through their problems, not caring about the size or the importance. He is a true friend to people, to animals and to anyone who is willing to give him a chance in life. Sure, he can be loud, hyper, and overly optimistic. But those things are what makes him Grady. They are what makes him an amazing person to be around and to fight alongside. If I had to have any one fighting by my side, I would want it to be Grady, he knows how to handle himself and to help others in the process.
I turn my head and catch a glimpse of the lad sleeping peacefully in his bed. This adventure will be over soon, but I hope they keep beside of me and traveling across Jerensi-a with me. They are worth more than any hired men or guards. They are true warriors, strong, proud and compassionate toward their friends. A fighters best friend and companion.
