Danny made sure to pack his things before they left to free Esmerelda that night. His fingers ached after having to play encore after encore for the raving merchants. Turns out music was a luxury sorely missed for the upper crust here. Not that Danny would tell them all he played were sailors songs available at any nearby seedy tavern. He’d lose his new clientele like that.
Not that it would matter after tonight, Danny figured. He pushed his hood down lower in the vain hope that it might prevent any passerby from recognizing them. Then, Danny shot a glance at Alric and realized it was futile. Alric didn’t bother with crouching down low or rolling his feet as they discussed. His brother was fueled entirely by righteous indignation, every fiber of his being projecting that hogwash his sister filled him with. Danny wasn’t very different at the moment either, his mind kept flashing back to that frightened little boy huddled in the corner. He would be motherless, potentially without any family left.
Danny clenched his fist, letting the anger wisp away through his right hand. His left tapped Alric on the shoulder, “Are we really going to just let this go? That bastard Baydock put a woman to death for a new wing of his mansion!” Danny felt his hand shaking in rage.
Alric paused in his march for the virtue of the world, coming to an abrupt halt in front of Danny. He let a breath of frustrated air escape his nostrils like a great pair of bellows, his body sinking as tension seemed to escape him. “Look Danny I don’t know,” Alric pleaded, “This whole thing seems crazy to me. How could something so insane be going on only a day from Northrend? I just know we need to make sure Esmerelda stays safe, Then we can worry about getting rid of Mayor Baydock.”
They’d already discussed this numerous times in the room and Danny knew it was the sensible solution, but blast it he wanted to knock a tooth out of that knobhead. Alric was giving him a strange look, clearly worried about Danny who was supposed to be the voice of reason. Yeah, why was he even being this idiotic about it? Clearly spending this much time with Alric was starting to rub off on him. They should just go with the logical solution and then contact Bruno’s dad or something to deal with the rest. Having reigned his anger in, Danny nodded once to Alric and set off through the dark halls of the estate. The more time they spent out here, the more chance they risked of guards finding them.
It was nerve-racking to say the least, Danny holding his breath around every corner as he and Alric attempted their escape with something more closely resembling stealth. There was one close call with a guard post near the entrance, but luckily Baydock’s hiring practices weren’t up to snuff and the goon was sound asleep. Together the pair stepped out into the night, moonlight reflecting off the cobbled square casting the stage for tonight’s grand play in an ethereal silver that was both incredibly vivid and impossible to see in. Two lone wanderers saving a damsel in distress from a corrupt mayor framing her for a crime she didn’t commit. Danny felt like they just stepped into one of Alric’s damn stories. Wait, that's a thought. Maybe he could sell the rights to this in Baymuth, or at least make one blasted good song.
Contemplating a potential new revenue stream, Danny felt his mind briefly preoccupied before Alric’s gasp jolted him back to reality. Eyes still adjusting to the dim lighting, he turned his gaze at the shivering woman weekly struggling against her straps. Lords above, she looked retched with her hair in disarray and bruises lining her body. The odor wafting off Esmerelda was pungent, hinting at Ernest being able to sell his entire back catalog. A day of rotting fruit carcass in the sun was indescribable in its densely packed complexities rushing into Danny’s nostrils, though Danny figured he did just describe it. Esmerelda’s spirit was so completely beaten down that she didn’t even bother to raise her head when they approached, opting instead for a dull, lifeless stare at the silver cobble.
She looked the spitting image of her son. Danny took the opportunity to approach her closer, "Ma'am?" he asked hesitantly.
She glanced at them for an instant that stretched towards eternity. Those eyes had seen far, far too much of humanity for a lifetime. "Oh, so it's you lads? Here to abuse the heretic late at night? Maybe you're going to do things the guards wouldn't let you during the day. Well, that would certainly explain the whole 'polite' pile of crap you were spouting this morning."
Esmeralda sighed, closed her eyes, and resigned herself to her fate, “Well, best be getting on with it.”
Oh Lords, what exactly did this woman think they were here for? Danny felt a sickening disgust cloud his mind, halting his steps. Alric seemed none too encumbered by the implied deviant acts, silently grabbing at the chains that held Esmerelda’s arms aloft. Wedging the peen of his hammer into a chain link, Alric gave it an impressive show of strength that snapped the iron like rotted wood. Doubt in her new world view was evident on Esmerelda’s face, and Danny felt a burst of satisfaction he had to suppress or else he’d be the tool smiling like a madman at a newly freed woman. They’d be back at square one then.
Alric as always was oblivious to the inner complexities of this tenuous interaction, “We better get going if we’re meant to outrun that prick Baydock,” he quickly unraveled the chains and was scanning the silent town for presumably an exit route. Alric probably figured there was some army around the corner waiting for them. Knowing their blasted luck there probably was.
"You have to help me!" Esmeralda cried out suddenly, her mind finally realizing they were friend, not foe, "We have to act now. If we don't strike at Mayor Baydock tonight, then he'll scamper off the moment he finds me missing."
Lords above, Fury couldn’t hold a candle to a woman scorned, not seconds free and she was already plotting revenge. Danny’s shirt was damp against his back in fear of some forgotten girl from Northrend tearing him down a peg. He needed to calm her down, sure Baydock might escape but it's better than losing their lives. However, before Danny could get everyone's priorities straightened up a dramatic shout echoed behind him.
“Stop in the name of the high court! You are interfering with the trial of a heretic. Any further action will be taken as a display of guilt and be met with force!” The captain of the guard called out in a rather stiff, official-sounding voice. Though Danny thought it all very well-rehearsed considering the undisguised excitement in the man’s smug smile that made it clear he wanted them to try something.
“I knew you two were trouble the moment you showed up claiming to be of the Ironforge clan. Everyone knows Alric Ironforge wouldn’t be able to leave the city, the Demoness of Northrend wouldn’t allow it!” Mayor Baydock chipped in, feeling the rather pathetic need to make himself known at this moment. Danny had to admit the man's logic was sound if not up to date with the latest gossip. How long did it take for news to travel here, it was only a day’s travel after all.
Circling Mayor Baydock was his entourage of enforcers, or rather town guards. Each was going for the goonish street thug that was on the rage in big cities, arms crossed and muscles bulging even through their thick gambesons. In total there stood three of them ready to beat them to a pulp on command. The captain of the guard stood unique among them with his kettle hat having been painted crimson red in some elaborate fiery pattern that appeared to be paisley but Danny was too preoccupied to get a clear look at it. Not that he needed more than a glance to know how bad of an idea that was. Danny had sat through enough of Alric’s lectures to know advertising your domain or signifying your leadership in a battle was a great way to welcome a blade to the face. The knobhead deserved it though. His wispy mustache would look accidental on his upper lip if not for the baby-smooth arrogance on the rest of his face. He was a short bloke standing only up to Danny’s nose and Danny himself was probably half a head below average for kids his age.
Blast it! Now was not the time for begrudging his fate as the runt of the family. Danny was supposed to be desperately thinking about what he remembered for fire elevated. They were dangerous, but that was obvious. What was it Ms. Ruler said? Wind was agile, while earth was strong, Water flowed smoothly, and fire was quickly gone. That’s it! Fire elevated burned every ounce of energy in their body to explode forward with better strength and speed at the cost of their endurance. So long as they waited out the captain he’d be weakened from the exertion and easy to take care of. However, the other guards remained unknown variables. Well, Danny could probably handle them, Alric would have to be stuck evading the captain.
It only took a moment for Danny to make his plan, but apparently, that was enough for Alric to make his own. Breaking the staredown between him and Baydock, Alric decided now was the time to bring out his inner showman. What is it about fights that makes everyone an actor? “We’re here standing up against your plans, Baydock! How could you kill a poor innocent woman just to build a new wing of your house? Scum like you deserve every ounce of Lord Fury’s vengeance,” Alric’s intense anger was being drawn out of him with a cold mind honed like a blade from all his training. Danny had to force himself to not gawk at his friend’s grandstanding, Alric deciding his soapbox of all injustice in the world was more important than his life.
No Alric was better than that, he already learned the hard way from Balin not to monologue before a fight. Danny figured that he was something, maybe a stalling tactic for them to get away? Alric wasn’t giving any covert eye movements that Danny would suspect in this kind of situation, he was focused fully on the men before them who were beginning to shift in anticipation. Danny really wished they worked out some sort of hand signals or even a contingency plan before jumping into this. They’d have to remember to go through things thoroughly in the future if Danny wasn’t run through right now.
Mayor Baydock didn’t have the same self-control for Alric’s antics as Danny, “What in the high court are you on about?” he cried at Alric, “You’re the ones who are here to bail out your heretical friend so all three of you can live to undermine the high court another day!”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Wait a minute, that didn’t sound quite right…
“What do you have to hide, Baydock? We found your floor plans! You already paid off your goons, what’s the point in pretending that this sham trial has any basis! You’re the one that should be put on trial for corruption!” Alric had already locked up his brain and given the keys to his mouth.
Baydock didn’t seem to be angry or perturbed at their accusation. If anything he was confused, his eyes clouding over in a lost look as his head cocked ever so slightly to the side. Baydock opened his mouth to explain himself but was lost in the sudden clash of metal. Danny’s head darted towards the source, as his body instinctively took a step back. Danny felt his mind was whirling, his untrained body having to force control back over his eyelids as they were busy flinching.
When Danny finally finished blinking, things had kicked off without him. Esmerelda, of all people, was fighting the captain. The chains that were once holding her now held his long, iron blade in place. She was trying to fight a transformative elevated with those rusty things, Danny has truly seen the impossible. Alric was the first to react to everyone’s stunned surveillance, charging towards one of the unlucky saps that were brought along with Mayor Baydock, a stout man with jowls quivering in surprise as his sword caught in his sheath.
It took one blow to end him, a sickening crunch of bone meeting steel was all that was on Danny’s mind at that moment. The man’s face just had this sense of wrongness, a portion of his skull was caved in underneath his right ear, making him look more like a broken tree caught up in a storm than a man. His sword at least granted the man’s last will and testament by sliding out of his scabbard and clattering on the cobbles.
Alric didn’t even look twice at the first man he probably ever killed, while Danny just kept staring. His eyes already glazed ever, his expression forever locked into a slack shock. Danny heard shouting in the background but couldn’t keep his frozen mind from the dead man’s gaze, piercing straight towards the farthest reaches of his soul.
“Danny!” Alric shouted, causing Danny to turn around at the last moment only to be greeted with the gleaming head of an axe. Luckily, Danny managed to not make minced meat of himself this early on in the battle with his enhanced reflexes. Though those elevated reflexes only went so far as to provide him with a backwards tumble on the ground fueled by panic and terror. Searing hot pain dug itself into his right shoulder as an uncomfortable snap made his arm buckle behind him, causing him to lie beside that still piercing gaze. A man who could’ve just as easily been a kindly old uncle at one of the stalls along Throughwoode Lane loomed over him, blood dripping down the bit of the axe. He seemed so apologetic at that moment, the pity dripping out along with the fiery specks.
The only thing that gave Danny any reassurance was the icy cold iron that his only decent hand was resting on. Making sure to maintain eye contact, Danny’s hand gingerly grasped at the sword under his palm, quickly feeling its razor-sharp edge. This would have to be a gamble. The man lifted his ax with an executioner's sense of finality
Danny quickly rolled to his side, ignoring the scream of pain that bubbled up within his throat and grasped the sword by the hilt and stabbed skywards. The iron drove itself home, burying deep within the man’s gut, scraping against bone as his expression warped to match the shock of his compatriot. He opened his mouth to speak but a wheezing gurgle of blood escaped, blood seemed to pour out of him to paint the world in a portrait of red; Danny’s clothes stained themselves a vibrant crimson hue. The man collapsed onto Danny as his body began to shudder in mock disbelief at its own demise. Danny suddenly frantic at the dying man crushing him, threw him off with the feeble strength his body could muster.
The cool air filling his lungs was heavenly to Danny, and his body nearly went slack with relief. Until the tiny part of Danny’s brain that was still functioning reminded him of what happened last time he wasn’t aware of surroundings. With the greatest care Danny could muster, he craned his neck to examine his still bleeding shoulder. Well, it was bleeding less now, a small trickle compared to the previously throbbing creek. Danny couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or worrying.
Next was the others, Danny scanned the plaza and found Esmerelda, the supposed barmaid, choking the captain of the guard to death with her chains. Each arm dangled awkwardly with snaking bruises wrapping around them like pythons. Danny sighed, clearly she was lying and they were fooled by her circumstances, the only question was how much was real and why lie in the first place?
Alric was fairing better than Danny could’ve hoped, dancing back in forth in that deadly clash of arms against the mayor. The man was clearly not someone with a combat-related essence, but he wasn’t without any merit in battle. Tempering oneself in search of an essence ability is an arduous process with countless pratfalls that meant any who succeeded had great mettle. Baydock’s years of experience were on display as he was barely managing to avoid the aggressive blows of Alric’s tiny smithing hammer. Danny was breathless in how easily Alric was able to wield that minuscule hammer against an opponent with a true blade, though maybe that was due to the blood loss.
Alric looked to be putting Baydock on the backfoot, forcing him to keep putting up a guard at the last moment. Occasionally the mayor would manage to get a thrust in that Alric had to contort his domineering frame to avoid, with every rivulet of blood running down his body speaking of how close to death Alric was. Their stalemate continued, Danny tried to remove his shirt and staunch the wound but it was of little use. Just as the darkness at the edge of his vision loomed, that stalemate was broken.
A chain wrapped itself around Baydock’s throat; air quickly moving above fighting in his list of priorities. Alric was as wild and fierce as a storm at sea with the sudden opportunity. His hammer crashed straight into the mayor's porky visage. Danny couldn’t bring himself to feel remorse at the gruesome result. Danny couldn’t bring himself to feel anything at all.
Esmeralda let the former mayor’s corpse fall to the blood-soaked cobbles with air coming to her as easily as it was to Baydock in his final moments.
“I’m grateful for your help. Surprised elder Viktor got my message so quickly, thought you two were too suspicious to just be travelers. Fat bastard should’ve just accepted our offer when we initially came forward. Could’ve avoided this whole heresy mess, to begin with,” Esmeralda worked herself up into a fury at the remembrance of her punishment. So angry in fact, she grasped one of the dropped torches sputtering their embers away on the cobbles amid the fight and tossed it into an unshuttered window. The house caught fire like tinder to a spark.
Proud of her achievements, Esmeralda’s figure stood gazing upon her handiwork as the house sprouted tufts of flames before clarity returned to her all at once. Patting down on her person she finally revealed a small clay tablet that was painted blue with beige triangles around the edge and only a single wave marking in the center.
She presented it proudly to Alric until she realized how horrified his gaze was, to which she sighed to herself. “You’re not a part of the sect, are you? Shame about that thought you were cute too. Well, no matter I’ll just have to have you follow your little friend and get out of this worthless town.”
A flick of her chains towards Alric signaled the start of yet another bout of fighting that night. Except, this time Alric was on the backfoot. Probably had something to do with his entire sense of justice being upended, Danny figured, though he himself was questioning his own sanity and the truth at the moment.
Danny realized now wasn’t quite the time for moral quandaries when his friend was facing off with a woman who reaped lives like wheat. Stumbling to his feet and using the iron blade for support, Danny made a series of controlled falls and wobbles towards the chaos, arriving just in time to stick the pointy end of his walking stick straight through Esmerelda’s gut. There was no tragedy, no tension. Just simply a woman dying like those lying around her.
However, there was shock on Alric’s face at his brother’s sudden resurrection. He quickly rushed towards where Danny collapsed after losing his only means of balance, worry plain in his gaze, “Danny… what happened to you? Are you okay? Come on, speak to me mate,”
Danny wasn’t quite sure of that himself at the moment, he just knew they needed to get away, everything else was a quagmire in the haze of blood loss. He tried to grasp at the last few frantic thoughts on his mind but they kept eluding his grasp, “Hey Alric… quickly… we need to get out of here. Bodies... look bad,”
Alric said something but it wasn’t coming through the fog, but he did start to lift Danny causing yet more alarm bells to go off. “Wait!” he shouted at least what Danny hoped was a shout the jostling of his body stopped anyway. It was urgent they do something before leaving, Wait, what was he doing again?
“Alric grab my stuff!” Danny exhaled in a single breath before the words escaped him again. It seemed to do the trick as he was back down on the well-worn stone, with clarity suddenly returning to him in a moment as the glimmering of blood-soaked iron catching on the moon grabbed his eye.
That blade saved his and Alric’s life tonight and Danny had a disgusting feeling that he’d need it again. Inelegantly, he dragged his body over with whatever feeble strength he had left, smearing himself over her corpse to retrieve it. It was there he noticed that strange clay tablet peeking out of her neckline. Pocketing that, Danny attempted to stand for their escape only to almost instantly fall to the ground.
A reassuring weight saved Danny, causing him to think about how insignificant that schoolyard scrap with Bruno seems now. However, as Lady Fate wills it, the brothers found themselves escaping yet another fight arm in arm as darkness took him.