‘Do you only think about drinking?’ Those words shadowed him as he walked around in his room. His hands clenched in anger, but a bit of shame always remained. Shaking his head as if trying to scare it away, he looked to the window. He had been sober for three days, for Gods’ Gifts! He deserved a breather. The four silver coins in his pouch rattled as he left the chair.

‘I won’t drink that much, only half a coin.’ He reassured himself. Nonetheless, a better part of himself grabbed two silver coins and launched them on the bed. Letting out a snort, he thought ‘Am I a kid that needs outside control?’. He wanted to grab those coins. How could he not trust himself? This would be the day in which he would break the circle!

He had advanced a step towards the bed without realising, having to stop his left hand from recovering the coins. ‘If I am breaking the circle I won’t need them either!’ Not giving his fledgling bravery enough time to be defeated, he bolted out of the room. On his way out, he didn’t see the pup sleeping with an open door. The sounds of the door closing were enough to wake it up from its restless sleep.

His journey was as swift as it was troubling. Now in front of Mercenary’s Pit, a small voice tried to make him turn around, despite the nightmares and discomfort. Despite the deep longing. His body screamed it out, demanding, begging, fearing for death. He needed this, and trying to refute it was suicidal, it screamed. The little flame was soon extinguished.

Thug entered the tavern.

….

“Urgh!” Thug awoke from his slumber. The sun proceeded to viciously attack his dry and tired eyes, causing him to shield them with his arms. Fighting, and tripping, to get up, he tried to remember last night. A different kind of headache, one who was way sweeter, caused his hand to rush with utmost panic towards his pouch. ‘Empty… Break the circle my ass. I thank thee, Eclair, for giving me the wisdom to know myself.’

Rubbing his eyes and scoffing in self contempt, he looked up again, disbelief racking up. ‘It is noon already?! Cursed be my bloodline!’. He rushed back to his house. It had been a while since he had woken up in such a rush.

Knocking on his own door, he tried to open it, only for it to be blocked by something that quickly moved out of the way, letting him enter.

“...Good morning!” Welcomed Hare, her cheeks a bit red and her eyes lowering.

“Everything fine?” Thug raised an eyebrow, still thinking slowly.

“Yes, yes! It’s only that…city’s are scary at night.” Hare answered, getting smaller with every word in Thug’s eyes. Her hand moved by itself.

‘I dug myself to a new low, huh. Leaving a kid that’s hunted by humans alone, at night, in a city full of humans. Real smooth on my part.’. He couldn’t resist the urge and lightly patted her head, touching the grim and dirt of her messy hair. Another grimace. ‘I didn’t even let her clean herself.’

“They sure are. Can you hold out for a few minutes more? I need to get something.”

“I am not a…!” Hare started to mutter an angry retort before realising she had lightly grabbed the cloth of his pants. “Yes…”

Thug picked one of the silver coins he had remaining and left the house as quickly as he had come in.

…….

Having brought lunch and a simple bathtub with all of its necessities, he started to explain how it worked. ‘Only half a silver coin left, that should last for, at least, a week of food.’ “Well, you can see this as a river. Fill this thing with water from this stone here.” Thug raised the blueish moon’s stone, embedded with a spell to create water. “And once it is done you heat it with the red one.”

“How do they work?” Hare’s tail started to thrash around.

“Well, you say ‘Water’... Nethers!” As he said the word, water gushed out of the stone, drenching him. “Stop!” Thug almost threw to the wall the somewhat expensive tool before stopping. After coughing a bit, he added, water dripping from his clothes, “It should drain no mana from you. Remember, the water disappears after a while, so you can be careless. You can drench the whole room if you want. But the dirt and grime will stay, so clean the tub after.”

Seeing Hare’s efforts to not laugh, joy evident in her tail’s movements together with her shining eyes, he added. “For the red one go with the ‘Heat’ word. Stop.” The red stone started to slightly tremble before stopping.

“And why do these work that way?” Curiosity flared again.

“If you want to learn about it, this city has a small library. I do not know more about magic stones.”

“We should go then!”

“First clean yourself.” Thug paused. “How’s your wound?”

“What wound?” Hare tilted her head, raising it back once she remembered. “Ah, that one!” She puffed her chest out. “Dragons heal fast!”

“That’s reassuring.” Thug smiled, trying to hide the shame of having forgotten about it. “I will be doing some laundry, so you can be slow.”

…….

“Remember, keep it low.”

Hare nodded as Thug entered first in the library. While Hare darted, instructions forgotten, to the shelves filled to the brim with books, he walked towards the counter, where the librarian was already rising up.

“How’s your day go…” Started Thug with a smile.

Cutting him off, “Get that drag out of here.”

“What?” Thug mockingly checked his civilian clothes. “They cost me a petty coin! I will have a talk with th…”

“You know what I meant. I will call the guards.” A sideways glare towards the other people in the establishment confirmed their uncomfortableness. Whispers and pointing fingers were nailing Hare, who was too busy checking books to realise.

Thug let his business smile banish and lazily rested his elbows on the counter as he let its back push against it. “Then we will have a nice chat. There’s no law against lizard kin in noble institutions.”

Losing her composure, she raised her voice. “There’s also no law that stops me from not wanting them here!”

“There are in fact. If anything, I am weirdly knowledgeable about laws surrounding the institutions managed by the nobility.” The corners of his lips raised up. “I applaud your decision. Call those guards, see what they say.” Thug throwed that comment with a wave of his hand. It was just a bluff for, if anything, the guards would casually ‘forget’ the law and just kick the two of them out.

A long pause. “You have five minutes, pick whatever you want. I won’t budge anymore.”

Thug nodded and his smile returned. “Glad we understand each other.”

Walking towards Hare, he whispered, throwing a dangerous gaze to the onlookers to remind them of their business, “Pick the ones you want to read most. The library has lended them to you.”

“How many can I pick?” She whispered, trying to keep her tail in check.

“As much as you can carry.”

“The ones about magic too?”

Thug simply nodded.

After a mad quest for knowledge, Hare finally picked ten books ranging from medicine to architecture. The nasty smell from the people around her did little to deter her as she walked out of the store. What did deter her was the weight of the heavy books, making her trip and almost fall.

Thug took her load and walked her towards the house.

……..

“More work open, Timor?” Back in the Mercenary’s Pit, having left Hare engrossed in her reading, Thug asked.

“Nothing. You are out of luck. Maybe next week?” Timor shrugged.

“I see. How’s the back?”

“Do not throw me again and it will be fantastic.”

“Got it.”

Timor raised an eyebrow as he kept cleaning the counter, “Not even an apology?”

“We both know I would do it again. Don’t feel like lying to your face.”

Timor sighed, knowing he was stepping where he shouldn’t for the, he has lost count of the amount of times. “I am going to say this to you, as a stranger now. Try to lay off the drink if you are planning to guard that child. I would rather have you not do something that you would regret immensely.”

That stopped Thug. He hadn’t thought about that. ‘For how long can I care for it?’

“And you are already ignoring what I say.”

“Because you don’t know how it feels.” An edge returning to his voice.

“I live doing this, Thug! If anyone knows how alcoholism works it’s me!” Timor raised his voice. Looking to the sides, not that the mostly empty chairs cared, he returned to cleaning as he lowered his voice. “I have seen people like you by the dozens, and that’s why I can say this to you, Thug. You are near a damn real cursed problem. Keep this up more and you won’t stop. It will kill you.”

“Again with your preaching? Do not let me stop you from a good night’s sleep.” Retorted Thug, already losing interest and rising from the stool.

“I keep it up because, against your insufferable nature, my decency and common sense, I have come to like you. Maybe friend is too much a word to describe you, but I would rather not serve you the drinks that kill you.”

“Then I will go to another tavern.” Said Thug. “I have made my peace already, Timor.”

An edge came to Timor. “Has that lass made it too?”

The stool fell to the ground with a thunderous noise, which echoed in the almost empty building.

“There’s your answer. You can protect her, sure. But you spend every second day’s half out cold. And I fret the day your thirst gets you to sell h…”

“Not. A word. More.”

Timor raised his hands in the air and droppet the issue. “Your choices, not mine. I also think that my fears are unfounded, but I am old and cynical. I just fear you are walking too damn near the abyss, and you tend to trip a lot after all.”

Thug simply shook his head and left.

“At least he ordered water today.” Said out loud. His eyes fell on the table the Inquisitor used to hoard. ‘Empty since yesterday, huh. Am I becoming too paranoid or too smart for my own good?’

….

Thug grabbed his cup of water with a sweaty hand. It had been a rough five days. ‘Who would have thought that making a dragon happy would only take a couple of books and a few walks in a forest.’ He tried to focus his gaze into an open book, located on top of the only table of the house, in the living room. The words started to run around the page, fueling his irritation. Inching forward, his hand failed him and dropped the cup, causing the water to drench his shoes and a bit of the ground.

Not being able to control himself, he punched the table, breaking it in half and causing the book to drop.

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“Great going, idiot.”

“Shut up!” Thug turned to his right, from where the voice had sprung, and snapped. Nothing was there, as usual. ‘Sober, well, mostly, for five days…This is Nether.’. His unfocused gaze turned to the table, a few completely black spiders were darting around. “Cursed be my bloodline.” ‘Even if it had been cheap, it had been thirty copper coins t…’

That last word lit a fire in his mind. Money. That’s what he needed. If he had money he could go to drink. Thug looked back to his room, where their last twelve copper coins remained. ‘That would get me two drinks.’ He got up in a hurry, nausea causing him to gulp vomit down, but he had forgotten the weakness of his knees and fell onto the table. Not minding the pain, he rushed towards the door of his room, his coordination fighting against the fog in his mind in its desperation to operate the knob. His heart hammered in his chest, begging for solace. Begging for a drink.

“Everything alright?” That voice stopped his movements. After a few seconds, his gaze turned to her.

Hara jumped and backed two steps, not that he realised. His eyes glared at her horns. At her tail. At her skin. A dark stray thought crossed his mind. She had agreed to pay him after all. They were invaluable materials, worth their weight in gold. It wouldn’t hurt. He would cut them out quickly. It was for her. He was doing all of this for her. He needed the money to feed her. No. He had run out of money because of her. It was her fault. It was her problem. She was the one who had done this to him.

His heavy step caused Hare to pale. ‘It had promised me coin. This dragon here has been cheaping its end of the bargain. I am fighting against myself and what was it doing? Living the dream, in my house, with my things, while I am dying. While I am rooting away!’ His fever helped to further ignite his aggression, akin to a cornered animal.

Another step defroze Hare and she started to speak, his tail hitting both sides of the door frame. The sound of blood gushing into his head overpowered her noise. The permanent headache he had made everything worse. ‘It is a demon! It distracts me from the day and leaves me to root on the nights! What I needed, what I need is booze, not playing house with a monster in a forest!’ His hands shook as he raised them. Her horns, now golden in colour, were the only thing in his field of vision.

Thug saw how her three tails stopped moving with his next step, rising threateningly in the air. Hare crouched, trying to talk as the same time that she hissed.

“Skin it for coin!”

“Jump into your room. You have a bottle there.”

“If you do not sate your thirst you are going to die.”

Thug punched the wall behind him, splattering it with the blood of his injured hand. His eyes followed several shadows converging onto the now unmoving Hare, fueling his delusions. His next step was the last, as Hare breathed a cone of ice that he was unable to dodge in his state. Being hit by a full blast on his chest, even if a bit to the right as it was the zone closer to Hare, he was propelled towards the wall, hitting his head on it and covering him in ice.

As he fell onto the ground the ice creaked and broke, revealing damaged clothes and burnt skin. Pain flaring up, his left hand, as his dominant arm was out of commission, rushed to the pockets of his tunic. Every breath he took a laborious effort of agony, as his almost frozen chest fought to remain still. Still, he managed to drink a healing potion before his heart stopped for good. Knowing he had to be swift as its effects would diminish quickly, he used his left hand to anchor himself onto the wall, getting out of the ground and stumbled towards the room where the bathtub was.

Once inside, he grabbed the red stone, “He-at” He managed to say as he hugged it to his chest. Hypothermia setting in, he trembled in cold as the potion worked, slowly mending his skin and muscles, but unable to completely work out the hurt bone of his right shoulder. After what felt like eternity, the pain subsided and the cold was replaced by the warmth of the stone.

His headache having disappeared, only the exhaustion of his uneven and incomplete sleep remained, finally tipping the battle over and making him fall asleep.

…..

The rising sun prodded at his eyelids, causing him to roll over and onto the rock. The sudden spike of pain was enough to put him in a sitting position, cursing the rock. These precious seconds of ignorance were his small consolation, for he soon remembered why he was sleeping on the ground. Refusing the feeble excuse of going back to sleep, he got off the floor and left the bathtub room. Once he entered the living room, he noticed a letter on the floor that had been slipped from under the door.

He soon crushed it into a paper ball that was thrown in anger. “Have you thought about that vacation you talked about? They say the beach is great for kids.”

“Timor, you bastard.” Thug muttered. ‘I owe you one.’

Walking with his normal pace, he knocked on Hare’s room. There was little response other than the sound of bed sheets.

“You up?” Asked Thug.

“Ye-yes!” A tone full of relief answered him as the dragon opened the door.

“Great.” Thug didn’t wait and strolled into his bedroom. Kicking abandoned cups and bottles with each step, he grabbed his main pouch and a dagger. Handing them to her, he ordered, “Go to the forest. Wait for a few hours and, if not, look at the map in the pouch. Go north, always north.”

“Wha…”

“Now.” Closing the door in her face, he opened it a moment later, fully dressed in his armour. He rushed out of the house, almost pushing her out. Now outside, he ended with, “Leave through the eastern gate.”

“Could you…”

“Now!” A cold and angered word.

Hare backed a step and nodded. Her reticences suffering the attack of the happenings of yesterday, she soon disappeared from sight inside the morning traffic. Thug hastened his hood and travelled to Mercenary’s Pit, unusually closed.

He tried the door. ‘Open? They sure are fast. Do they have onlookers? And, who are following me? My father’s goons? That bastard wouldn’t care enough to clean me up…No matter. Gain time.’. Breathing in, he entered.

An armoured knight returned his gaze, still adapting to the dark interior. Timor, behind the counter, lightly sighed.

“Closed the nether hole? Are you giving up on your job already, old man?” Thug started to probe at the situation. Words were cheap after all, and a good way to gauge the enemy. His eyes started to scan the knight.

“Are you Isaac of the Rosekeepers?” Interjected the knight.

‘Full silver plate armour…enchanted? That greatsword is at least. Heavy, will be impossible to block. Taking a hit is also a no. And he has experience.’ Thug mockingly looked around and, after a while, pointed at himself. “You talking about me, steel man?”

The knight’s silence carried a threat, not that Thug minded.

“No lord!” He let out a laugh, hiding his insights behind it. He already knew what this was about. ‘So my father grew a pair, huh.’ “I am Thug without a surname. And, you are…?”

“Captain of the Dragon Hunters.” The knight rose up from the stool menacingly. Thug’s first thoughts crashed and burned. The knight hadn’t come for him but for the dragon. “I believe you have something to come clear off. And I can pay handsomely for it.”

“Nah. You see, thugs like me shouldn’t come clear. Too much hidden dirt and all that.” Thug smirked, sneakily guiding his hands to the handles of his weapons as if he was just tugging at his greaves.

The knight slowly walked until it was in front of him, not enjoying his mocking actitude. “Name your price to hand the dragon over and stop borin...”

Before the knight could finish her sentence, two pommels, one from a dagger and the other from a shortsword, impacted the beaver of the helmet, the part that defended the jaw. The recoil caused the knight’s head to reel backwards and gave Thug another strike opportunity, using the pommels to attack the side of her head this time. However, Thug had underestimated the protection the armour gave her, allowing her to shrug the attack and headbut him in the face, breaking his nose.

Backing a few steps, Thug realised his mistake as a fist followed him, knocking him to the ground and tearing a piece of skin from his left cheek. His back hitting the ground, Thug lost for half a second his bearings, being only able to watch as the knight unsheathed her greatsword and struck the ground above his right shoulder, breaking it until it bit his shoulder, but just enough as to not cause lasting damage.

“A criminal, playing the hero?” Cold words rained from Ires. “Your infamy is well known in the north, didn’t you know?. You were disinherited for sexually abusing the maids of your Household, being a drunkard and a worthless son, weren’t you? And, not content with that, you murdered a healer. Your bloodline is the only thing that has kept you alive, not that I care.” She inched downwards, letting Thug see her hate filled blue eyes inside her helmet. “I won’t give you a second chance, trash. The drag…”

Thug, using the window her monologue had given him, crashed one of his glass dust filled utensils in her face after closing his eyes. Her pained screams guiding his hand, a third pommel strike was enough to topple the knight to the left and free himself.

“I won’t forget this treachery, you damn bastard.” Screamed Thug to Timor as he ran towards the door. Not three steps in his run, two shadows revealed themselves as they descended the tavern stairs with readied crossbows. Thug parried one bolt, his flank feeling the impact of the second, and rushed out of the building. Getting out of the doorframe, he ran towards the western gate.

After a few moments, both the two shadows and the knight followed him. His gaze inspected their speed too much and three other bolts rushed towards him from the rooftops around him. Now two he stopped, one hitting a leg and proving the failure of the first as an overwork of his armour, this one tearing flesh and puncturing bone. Turning the corner of the road he was in, he grabbed a nearby burning oil lamp from one of the stalls of the main road. The chaos around him grew as people panicked from the fight’s sounds. ‘Every second counts. Give her time, as an apology if at least.’. Checking his pockets, he cursed. He had had no money to rearm himself. His leg screamed in pain, it wouldn’t hold out much longer. He was out of tricks. Or he was, for his hand hit a very familiar bottle.

The silver knight was the fastest in her pursuit, rushing out of the corner only to get hit in the face by his bottle of Fire and Stone. The liquid splashing along her upper body, her speed slowed as she tried, and succeeded, to locate Thug, now armed with no weapons. Half a second later, she was hit by the lamp, which promptly ignited all of the high degree beverage in a raging flame, temporarily blinding her as her armour fought to soothe the fires. A scream to her right as Thug lunged against one of her mercenaries caused her to slash towards that area, causing another scream of her mercenary as she missed her target.

“Bastard!” She screamed as her now unimpeded vision catched a retreating Thug, trying his best to catch up with the retreating crowd that tried to gain distance from them. ‘And now he is trying to use the peasants as shields!’. She raised her right hand. “Another one!” At her words another volley was shot from above. Nevertheless, its precision was lacking thanks to worry and only managed to get one bolt near enough, which was parried.

The mercenary at her left tried to rush in, but her rage caused her to push him back with his left hand. “He is mine.” Said as she stalked towards him, grabbing her greatsword with her two hands.

Thug turned towards her, realising that the guards were in it if the commotion had still called not one. His injured leg would also cause him to fail in his retreat, so there was also that. “You still up for more, steel man?” His words spoke with difficulty, he raised his shortsword and dagger in their usual position.

Ires simply rushed in with a downward strike, which cracked the ground as Thug dodged it by a hair margin and answered with a pommel strike with his dagger. Not minding the worthless blow, Ires retorted with a kick to his midsection, hit that struck true as Thug’s leg failed him in his dodge and caused him to retreat unsteadily after the crack of a bone resounded. She unstuck his sword from the floor and followed him post haste, using the inertia of both her run and the pull of her sword to carry out an upwards strike. Thug parried with his shortsword only to eat the true attack, a headbut onto his injured nose.

The follower, a pommel strike, didn’t shy either, striking into his jaw. This one was somewhat ineffective as Thug used the headbut to rell backwards and lessen the impact. His backtracking was even helped by it, fueling his roll.

The knight didn’t let him gain any terrain and lunged with a thrust, stabbing the cloak of the crouched criminal. Thug smirked and, with practice ease, jumped forwards, letting his cloak envelop the knight and hinder her movements. Still, Thug could only get in one impact in the back of her head, for Ires tore apart the cloak apart with her right hand and quickly jabbed at him with her left arm, striking his flank. A turn around transformed into a cleave motion, returning Thug to a crouching position to avoid being separated in two.

His lower position, however, was a prime target for a kick on the chest, sending him rolling to the left and crashing into a stall. But he had had enough strength left to hold onto his weapons.

Ires couldn’t stop her scoffing. “Do you only know petty tricks? You have not fought yet.”

“What can I say, I am a man of my name.” Smirked Thug. ‘Talking is also good. I need time.’

Not adding anything more, Ires returned her right hand to her weapon and redid her feetwork.

“Nah. I am out of fire.” Thug raised his left hand in surrender, dropping the right one lower, not needing to make up a pained expression. “I am too much of a night person to keep moving this much under the sun.”

Ires lowered her sword, returning to only grabbing it with her right hand. “Do you surrender then?”

A dagger throw to the slit of her helmet was her answer, one she quickly parried. What she didn’t parry was the second dagger, following the first one closely and aiming at the gap in her shoulder armour. Still, the aim was a bit off, a consequence of his arm injury, and lacked the perfect aim necessary to stab through the chainmail underneath. Ires, surprised, rotated a bit to shield her right arm, moving the sword to a worse position and letting Thug dash forward and, using his shortsword to hold her weapon away, tried to stab her face, forcing her to try to headbut him in a panic to disarm him of his dagger. That movement played into Thug’s hands, for his dagger could have never managed to slip in the crevice of her helmet, and used it to try and stab her in the back of her neck, only to be stopped by more chainmail. ‘Damned shitty armour! And why is he so damn strong!’

That little grappling game ended with Thug’s resounding defeat as he was kicked in the wounded leg and punched, returning him to the stall, now disarmed. Her sword followed him, stabbing him in the other leg.

“Hah, end of the wall, huh?” He spat some blood. His chest hurted like Nethers, so he at least knew he had some broken ribs. Lucky him, none had perforated the lungs.

“The dragon. Where is it?”

“Dragon this, dragon that. My man, I am starting to think you only want me for the dragon. Is our comradery fake?”

She twisted the blade, causing him to scream in pain.

“I am still asking.”

“I can see that.” Thug managed to mutter out. Defiant to the last, he smirked.

That smirk was the last straw. ‘I am just going to search the city. Enough time has been lost and any more of this festival will make the governor chew us out.’ She unearthed the sword from his leg, another pained scream, and raised it into the air, leaving her chest open to a breath attack from Hare, who was waiting, invisible, in the alley near the stall. Her vision completely cut off from the ice, she wildly swung her blade, hitting the stall and causing its roof to crash on the ground. Once her armour dissipated the ice, her gaze revealed an area devoid of her targets, only a badly damaged stall.

“They ran away to the western gate! Chase them!” Not to be outdone by her mercenaries, she spearheaded the run by following the alley. The mercenaries dropped from the rooftops and ran to the western gate.

From underneath the broken stall, Thug, made invisible by Hare’s spell, whispered, “I told you to go to the forest.”

“I just came back.” Retorted Hare, doubting if she had made the right choice as she hugged Thug, sharing her spell with him.

Thug sighed. “We will talk later. Once they leave we leg it to the eastern gate…Thanks for the save.”

The grateful smell, devoid of any evil sensations, reassured Hare. ‘So it was medicine after all.’ Wrongly concluded.

………..