Chapter 4 - Bloody Mess
The time was close to midnight; the Hivers were all gathered around the kitchen area. Everyone seemed to exist in a state of deep contemplation. Well, everyone other than Hermes, whose face was emblazed by a hopeful smile as he was filling and hauling the group's four sacks of rations and clothes, leaving them close to the door for quick and easy retrieval later on.
Nearby, leaned against the kitchen table, Liline's face was one of evident discomfort as she nervously fiddled with her thumbs.
¨You okay Lily? Sour moods beget negative results, don't you think?¨ Adel asked tentatively with a voice of soft kindness.
The girl looked at him askance with an attempted smile, but directed her eyes back at floor before answering; ¨I just feel so useless Adel, you two are going to be out there risking your lives, even Hermie is useful…I'm just a burden.¨ Liline's voice had started breaking; she balled her hands into fists, neglecting to look at Adel; ¨if anything were to happen to you two…¨
Adel frowned as he eyed the blue girl thoughtfully, then after a moment of contemplation, placed his hand on her slumped shoulder; ¨Look at me Liline.¨
The girl stayed silent and still for a moment, pushing her threatened tears back until she found the confidence to look at her friend's face…She saw the brown-haired boy standing proudly, puffing his chest out in some attempt at comedy she assumed; painted on his handsome face a confident smirk.
¨Do I look like I'm worried, Liline? Let me inform you, you are looking at the finest thief Scorburg has ever had the honor of witnessing! And Damien, well, he's not too bad himself you know…¨ Adel chuckled.
Liline's mouth instinctively curled into a half-smile; ¨thanks, Adel…¨ She muttered with hints of amusement in her gentle voice, though she could also not hide the lingering doubt and shame, wherefore she found herself meekly turning away from him once more.
¨So uh, anyway. Our strategy would remain misinformed without the kindness of your implement. And those depictions of failure you hold on to? They're just silly dreams you know.¨ Adel said somewhat meekly with a hint of doubt in his voice—though that did not seem to indicate a lacking belief in the verity of his meaning.
A slight chuckle could be heard from the direction of the bedroom door.
¨There you go again with that poet talk, you know I think that half the time no one even knows what you are trying to convey…¨ Damien drawled with a sigh as he stretched his shoulders, then as if forgetting about his prior comment began heading towards the door; ¨let's get moving guys.¨
¨I agree with Damien, give your head a wobble.¨ Hermes laughed heartily as he frolicked towards the black-haired boy.
¨I'd give that to yours if only there'd be less space for your brain to smack around up there.¨ Adel fired back in embarrassed indignation, as he himself also followed suit towards the outside; followed closely behind by Liline.
¨Those two are a pair of idiots. It was beautifully said, Adel, and I appreciate it deeply.¨ Liline said silently, her voice already sounding much clearer and more confident than before; Adel smiled widely to himself.
…The streets were bustling with drunken chaos; the alleyways on the other hand were empty and silent, and there one could meet the Hivers skulking if by chance they went for a piss or the like. Currently the group was moving past the main street with all its degeneracy on sonic display. Cold air roamed around them as they waded through the muddy ground, and the moons shone with beauty above.
¨I'm guessing I don't need to tell you this. But if you find yourself in a situation where you're about to be spotted and have the opportunity between fight or flight…Choose bloody murder.¨ Damien bluntly stated suddenly.
¨Choose murder huh…¨ Adel chuckled; ¨I like it. I'm glad we see eye to eye on this.¨ Adel said, noticing the worry seeping through Liline's expression; ¨don't worry Lily. It won't come to that, I bestow my word.¨ Lily nodded hesitantly in response.
A few hundred meters more, and the group found themselves hiding behind a pair of houses across the street from the wall. Waiting for their cue, which was the wall's guard passing through as he should have every six minutes or so.
However, five minutes passed and then ten. Discomposingly, no guard was spotted.
¨Tsk, what the hell?.¨ Adel muttered.
Damien glanced at his group, overcome by a fear of the unknown; ¨We should abort.¨
Hermes groaned; ¨Piss off Damien!¨
¨Hermes is right. We should take this chance to strike as the defensive party evidently finds themselves in a discombobulated state.¨ Adel said silently while staring at Damien's back with meaningful eyes.
Damien opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. He turned his narrowed gaze towards the Hivers behind, scoping their expressions and finding only conviction. After a short pause and a glance at the ground below, the boy nodded; ¨alright. Let's go.¨
The three youngsters left the muddy alley behind and moved across the street inconspicuously. Hermes leaned his back against the approximately three and a half meters tall wall.
¨You first.¨ Damien whispered to Adel, referring to the advantage in height that the brown-haired boy had on him.
Adel planted his feet on top of Hermes' palms and placed his hands on his shoulders, as he with the help of the giant lifted himself standing on the latter's shoulders. The height he gained was just enough for his eyes to peer slightly over the wall on tiptoes.
He scanned left and right, repeated that motion once more; then whispered; ¨clear.¨
Damien watched as Adel pulled himself up and disappeared into the unseen; wherefore he also approached Hermes and climbed on top his shoulders.
Grabbing the ledge above, the boy performed a feat of some strength and managed to pull himself up atop the wall.
Landing on the flat surface of dark stone, Adel smirked as he casually neglected the nearby stairs and casually dropped down the full height into the grass below; Damien followed suit.
The duo scuttled through the some twenty meters of grass and past a large, lush tree, arriving at the back-door leading into the castle.
Damien and Adel both simultaneously reached into their pockets, both pulling out lockpicks. Whereas Adel was the first to stick his in, as he began fiddling with the lock.
It took only about thirty seconds for a click to be heard, and the door was pushed quietly open by Adel. He made his way inside as Damien followed closely behind—shutting the door silently behind him.
¨Left or right?¨ Damien asked with a whisper; whereas Adel was already making his way towards the right; ¨who cares?¨ he muttered.
Smiling at his friend's bluntness, Damien began his journey across the gray passage.
Damien's path's left side faced the outside and therefore had no rooms to speak of, whereas the sparsely-spaced doors to his right all looked too uninteresting to open for now at least.
However, as he traversed some seven meters ahead and reached the end of the corridor, he took the bend leading right, placing him in another long corridor that frankly looked much more promising.
Holy shit…What beauty.
The boy saw a menagerie of colours absent from a nature plagued by permafrost, and even though it was terribly dark; he could still somewhat tell that the walls were adorned by magnificence.
Stepping in disbelief across the soft velvet-carpet, Damien scanned the doors on his way, leaving a few in the back of his mind for potential plundering during the eventual return-trip.
The majority of his attention was however placed on the visible and frankly hope-inducing double-door ahead—towards which he headed with pertinacious and simply childlike optimism.
Now that particular door was located at the near end of the hall; being the penultimate door on the right before another curve that would have placed him at the front of the castle. However, unfortunately the boy's plan had not unraveled as he had hoped, and by the time his feet were planted halfway through the corridor: he observed an appearance of fragments of fragile light like a candle, amplifying on the floor beyond.
In his mind this light could only mean one thing, and as its illumination swiftly conquered more area: the boy panicked; fuck.
Jumping with urgency towards the nearest door a few steps away on his left, Damien proficiently narrowed that slab of wood open and slid through; consequently closing it with minimal sound.
Finding himself with a slamming heart facing the door, the boy cupped his hand and stuck it against the reddish-brown wood, his hand becoming a makeshift tube; of which his ear quickly blocked the airflow opposite the wood itself.
Listening through, he heard the faint resemblance of footsteps moving slowly towards him. Then, the boy thought that he heard a conversation between at least two people; and although initially he could not tell a word from another: he soon did…
¨I know, I know. But man, it's just a kid you know? I mean…What the hell?¨
¨Sure, I get what you mean. But come on now, if we don't do it, then someone else will. The thing is that her fate is sealed, there is no way around it.¨
¨Yeah but...Okay, fine. But I bet you I'm not going to be the one to do it. If the king and princess must die, then I'll kill the king instead. Except I can't! Anyway, I just can't wrap my head around murdering an innocent little girl.¨
¨Well you're just sentimental then. It's politics Mark, just politics. And regardless…¨ The man suddenly closed his stream of words and lowered his voice before proceeding with a noticeable decrease in volume a few seconds later; ¨shut your mouth for a while okay, you know damn well who sleeps on this stretch.¨
Damien removed his hand from the door, and diverted his head pensively towards the floor, finding himself deep in thought.
A revolution? Treachery? Why bloody now?.. But I guess it now makes sense why there was no guard on the wall; they were preparing…However, to kill the princess as well? Surely the culprit must then be that infamous steward…Well whatever the case, this town is fucking doomed regardless.
Damien placed his circle-forming index and thumb against the bottom of his chin, and slowly lifted his head while his contemplations seemed to conclude.
¨Uwaagh!¨ the boy let out a primal yelp—what the fuck???
Opposite, he saw a ghastly looking black-haired girl with the moonlight against her back; and a knife held threateningly between her two delicate palms.
Now, such a reaction was frankly unavoidable given his illusion of solitude, and by all accounts under normal circumstances he should have been embarrassed, which only became more clear as he observed the terrified look on the girl's stubby face.
However, any notions of embarrassment had been usurped by concern; and as he ignored the odd girl for a moment, listening for any sounds coming from outside…To his terror, he heard only absolute and utter silence—which was a clear harbinger of conflict in his mind.
Sliding against the wall next to the doubtless soon opening door, Damien's eyes expressed the arrival of grim tides as his other hand cupped the wood-carved, spike-like dagger on his hip; while the other's index leaned against his lips.
The girl kept staring intently at Damien, her eyes still showing signs of confusion, but no longer wide as plates. Then after a few seconds of that, she nodded; simultaneously hiding her own dagger somewhere within the contorts of her sheets.
Damien's breaths were calm and steady, his eyes held firm and pensive contact with the girl's face who instead by now had her eyes glued on the door.
Ten or so seconds passed like that, until eventually, the door could be heard slowly creaking open.
Damien held his wooden dagger over his head, glueing his back tightly against the wall.
¨Oh, I am sorry. Did I alarm you? I only fell from my bed due to a terrifying nightmare.¨ The girl spoke her lies like some expert stage-actor towards the door and whoever it was the invader of her privacy. Of that Damien had no clue however, for if he did the culprit would have already found themselves twisting on the floor with a hand desperately clutching at their neck.
¨Oh? We're just checking in due to the strange sound. Sorry about this my lady.¨ Said the previously hesitant guard; making Damien sigh internally in relief…However, unfortunately it would not be so easy it seemed; since as he could already hear the door being closed, it was suddenly slammed open, and another voice could be heard.
¨Quit the bullshit. Let's just get this over with.¨ The other person said arrogantly.
Holding his dagger right next to the door, Damien observed a tall guard passing through the doorway with quick steps, drawing his sword, his eyes on the girl. The boy quickly struck down at his neck with his makeshift-dagger. Just then the unknown man must have spotted Damien from the corner of his eye as he turned swiftly with eyes of shock. But by now it was already too late for any life-saving reactions—Damien's wooden spike had after all already visited the depths of his neck as well as his carotid artery.
The man drew his sword as a violent spray of blood rained upon the black-haired boy. Damien immediately charged the persistent dead-man-walking once more, grabbed his sword hand to control it, and wrestled him onto the ground, slamming his needle once more into the depths of the latter's flesh as they struggled desperately; seeing from the corner of his eye as the parallel foe encroached through the door with a sword in hand.
A vertical strike was imminent, and the boy had to dodge…
Managing to roll away just in time, the unscathed guard's blade slammed with great strength into his friend's chest—piercing through his gambeson and digging into flesh some three centimeters deep.
Realizing the opportunity of the guard's slightly-stuck sword, and the consequent shock that must have followed the realization of his circumstances, Damien agilely hoisted himself up; and like some blasted curse: charged the remaining guard without hesitation.
The evidently skillful guard managed to disarm the charging boy with the pommel of his sword. However, there was something unrelenting about the black-haired boy's conviction, and he charged like some maniac regardless of any obstacles placed in his way.
¨Wh- Fucking animal!¨ The guard squealed; feeling himself being grabbed center-mass by some dwarf-like creature in possession of great forward-momentum.
Slammed against the wall of the corridor, the guard hit his head hard against the wall as the two of them slid against it onto the floor. The man tried his best to resist and attempted to grab the mounting boy's head in retribution…
However, Damien with the aid of his bestial state pushed through in total deniance of any offensive measures placed against him, and seemingly through sheer willpower he overpowered the guard, leaving the latters attempts at countermeasures as memories of futility. Taking a hold of the guards hands and holding them down behind his head, the boy slammed his forehead against the opposing human being's skull, and with the first impact the guard's eyes had already grown wide with animalistic, desperate struggle and near hopeless fear…However, Damien would have not seen any of this as he immediately struck him again life before, then again, and again, and again, and again; ending his relentless rampage only once the unfortunate guard's skull was utterly caved in, and his own was red and aching.
The boy lay there on top of his victim in a frozen state, his dark-green eyes staring emptily through the dying guard…Within his mind he revisited every second of his gruesome death, and the terrible sounds his body had made as it was brutalized and left destroyed.
He had never killed anyone before. And it quite shocked him, though not so much the blood and gore, nor the realization of ended human lives. In fact, it had been easy for him to cut their strings short; not in the slightest did he in the heat of that brief battle meet any doubts or hesitation, nor did he feel bad then, and for that matter, neither did he feel bad at this moment; not for the slain guards at least—perhaps for his soul though?
There was also another reason for his still state; he was listening…By all reason, one could have assumed that by now the corridor would have been rushed by a guard or two, and Damien knew this as well. Therefore it was quite strange that such circumstances hadn't occurred by now. Furthermore, Damien did not hear anything either; which made him think. What was going on? Were the gangs involved? Was that why the castle was empty? And if so: how long would it remain that way? Realization struck the boy, as he swiftly raised to his feet and pulled the scrap-skulled guard into the room behind him; by now he had also registered the terrified breathing from the girl prior.
As he looked and saw, strangely that girl was still sitting there, staring at Damien in a frozen state; her dagger, though not currently at her throat, had found itself back into her hands, and Damien saw that she was bleeding quite a bit from her neck.
The boy sighed as he made his way towards the fancy drawer at the end of the room opposite her bed; ¨stop hurting yourself and help me out. Grab anything valuable as quickly as you can.¨ Damien said calmly as his eyes scanned the outside air through the window adjacent.
The black-haired girl shifted slightly, her mouth didn't seem to know whether it wished to open or close, and her eyes frantically jumped between the three other humans.
Damien searched through the drawers quickly, finding a few necklaces seemingly silver, as well as an emerald broach; the boy was finally hit with the headache no-doubt resulting from his prior skull-bashing.
Picking up the nicer looking sword from the ground and sheathing it on his belt, the boy realized that his promised five minutes was quickly coming to a close; Damien coursed back towards the door as he nonchalantly skipped over the blood and bodies on the ground below. Then as he stood at the door, he glanced once more towards the black-haired girl, who unfortunately still seemed utterly dazed and confused.
¨You can stay here and die if you want. Up to you really, but I suggest you follow¨ the boy stated calmly as he made his way outside with a sack full of treasure and a sharp new sword on his hip.
On his way through the corridor, he glanced a couple times behind him; soon reaching all the way back across the blood-stained velvet carpet, and the bend at the end…There he looked back once more, this time electing to remain still in wait however—if only for a moment more.
His eyebrows tensed as he nervously traded the image of his mind between two starkly different corridors. Damien had told himself that he would wait there for ten seconds at the most, but that quickly turned to thirty, and eventually after close to an entire minute of waiting; he gave up on that evident idiot from before and began jogging towards the outside…However, that is also when he heard a loud slam, and the subsequent swiftly approaching light footsteps.
Realizing who it must be, Damien stalled for her at the door…
A moment later, seeing the girl running towards him in some thin white nightgown and barefoot to boot, he could not help but consider the great burden she would become, and what cursed luck he had by stumbling into her room by chance…But even with that said and although he did possess the ability of being cold even cruel, he was still ultimately a morally-upright person as far as Scorburgians went at least, and the truth was, that had he left her there helpless—he would have felt utterly terrible about it.
¨Follow me. Oh, and do try to stay quiet.¨ Damien said, leading the way through the grass and towards the sturdy wall's corner-stairwell.
The girl still gave no answer, but she seemed calmer in general—she did furthermore keep pace with the boy as they ran up the wall; where Damien peered over the edge and looked around as if searching for something; his eyes eventually landing on Hermes' big head peering nervously at the wall from the opposing alleyway.
¨I'm going to need you to drop down now.¨ Damien somewhat nervously instructed with a side-eyed glance. And to his surprise, the girl quickly climbed over the ledge, lowering herself as far as she could with the help of her soft-looking pale porcelain hands, and thereupon dropped herself forthwith down on the street below, landing with surprising ease.
Damien handily mimicked the girl's prior actions. Then upon his agile landing tapped her wrist slightly and waved her to follow…