With the string that Eilae produced from under her dress (Shaden didn’t ask why she carried around a string with her), the two beastmen were tied up with their hands behind their backs. The younger one, who was shaking nervously all over, was almost on the verge of tears while the older teen beastman was staring daggers at Shaden’s group.
Shaden would have turned them straight over to the authorities if the two didn’t look so worn down. They looked as if they hadn’t eaten for days, and dark circles persisted under their eyes. There was a putrid smell around them, something a wild animal would have possessed.
“Are you certain about this?” his tutor had asked. “This could become bothersome.”
“They don’t look fine,” he had said. “It wouldn’t hurt to hear them out.”
So now they were in an alley, the two beastmen sitting down on the floor while Shaden stood over them with keen eyes. Lytha had her arms crossed, observing what Shaden would do in the situation. For her, it was better to see what decisions Shaden would make rather than she directed him herself.
Eilae was holding onto the string that the beastmen were tied to. She looked like she knew how to use it properly.
Shaden looked down at the dirty figures. “So, give me a valid reason why we shouldn’t turn you in considering that you tried to rob us.”
The older beastmen glared at him, but the bottom of his lips shook a little. “You’re that kid who used magic.”
“So, are you going to tell us?”
The beastman licked his dry lips and swallowed. “You see my brother? Do you know why he’s missing an ear? The bastard elves did it, just because we stole some bread.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have stolen in the first place.”
“We were starving. Hell, what do you want me to say? You actually gonna let us go?”
Shaden looked over at the younger beastmen, whose head was drooping towards the floor like he had already given up.
“You’re a human,” growled the beastman teen. “You wouldn’t understand what we’ve been through.”
“What happens if we turn you in?”
The beastman’s eyes narrowed, and his fangs stuck out warningly. “Beat us,” spat the teen. “Skin us, throw us into the icy river. Kill us. No one cares about a bunch of mutts.”
He said the last word with snarl, and something vibrated within his throat—like an animal.
“You can’t trust those elves,” he continued, his eyes sharp in the dark. “They treat us like animals. Entertainment. Garbage.”
A frown formed on Shaden’s face, and he looked at his tutor for assistance.
“Are elves racist?” he asked. “Is their government really that discriminating?”
“Not according to my experience,” stated Lytha. “The government seems to treat their criminals accordingly.”
“What would you know!” half-shouted the beastman, but his voice died down after taking Lytha’s icy stare. “Bunch of clueless humans,” he whispered.
“So, there’s no valid reason for us to not turn you in,” said Shaden.
“You won’t listen anyway,” he muttered.
His brother let out a small cough, but it sounded sickly. The weather was cold, and even though the beastmen had fur growing on their skin, their torn cloaks were much too thin.
Shaden sighed. “We can take them to jail,” he said.
〄 〄 〄
The younger beastman was crying the whole way. At first, it started with a few sniffs, but as they neared the area of the city where there were more people, tears began to pour out from his eyes. His whimpers grew in volume, and by the time they saw some guards walking by a few blocks away, he was sobbing like he was being taken to an executioner’s block.
His brother had a depressed look on his face, and the dark circles under his eyes seemed to grow in depth with time. Like his brother, his hands were trembling, but to a lesser degree. The teen beastman’s hands were gripped tightly, and the whites of his knuckles shone brightly under the winter sun.
Shaden was troubled. Now he was the one who felt like a criminal. He paused in the middle of the street and turned towards his companions.
“Do they give basic aid to criminals here?” he whispered, glancing at the tied beastmen. “Look at them. They look wretched. The younger guy looks like he’s going to faint. Actually, how do they even treat criminals?”
Lytha gave him a shrug while Eilae looked at him blankly.
“I wasn’t taught about the law of elven countries,” Eilae said, “but they will likely be jailed for a period of time.”
“And medical aid? Food?”
She shook her head. “I’m sorry. I’m not sure.”
Shaden looked at the beastmen once more, who were now frozen in place. But the older beastmen’s eyes were keenly darting all over the area. Shaden had also spotted the beastmen whisper something to his brother from time to time. He couldn’t hear what they said, but their twitching ears gave them away.
He sighed deeply, and the mist from his breath swept over his vision. What was he supposed to do? Just hand them over despite their condition? These were criminals, but the worst they had done was petty theft.
Probably.
Besides, the younger beastman didn’t even look twelve. Was he overthinking it? Was it better to just hand them over?
“Aunt Lytha, what do you think we should do? It’s already becoming dark.”
The streetlights had flickered on by then, illuminating the streets in a faint, yellow glow. The air was becoming colder.
“Let’s see…”
Lytha walked over to the still beastman and placed her hands on her hips, staring at them straight in the eyes. They both flinched a little.
“This is your last chance. Either tell us a good reason why you don’t want to go to jail or be arrested. We are tired, and my patience is running dry.”
The older beastman gulped while the younger one closed his eyes shut.
“Okay, okay…”
His eyes darted to the sides, checking for any signs of elves. Finding none, he took in a deep breath.
“You’re humans, so I’ll tell you. We came in here illegally. Understand? If we get caught, we’ll be shipped somewhere.”
“Ah!”
Shaden’s attention turned towards Eilae, who had let out a small gasp of realization.
“What is it?”
“I recall that criminals who don’t have the funds to pay for their crimes have to repay their debts with manual labor,” she said, looking at the beastmen. The older beastman’s eyes drooped down, and he nodded weakly. Eilae’s eyes scanned over their bodies. “They look thin. It is likely that the older one will be separated from the younger as the younger one is not suited for work.”
“Yes, that’s right!” exclaimed the older beastman. “We can’t afford to be arrested. We’re short on time and money. We can’t lose what we have right now. We’ve come so close.”
The younger beastman nodded furiously while wiping the tears and snot off of his face. A new look of hope bloomed on his face, and his sagging ears rose a little.
“We…need money,” he squeaked. “We n-need money for m-medicine. We…”
The boy’s voice was blocked by another stream of tears that began to emerge from his eyes.
“Our m-mom is sick,” he said quietly. “We need m-money.”
Shaden exchanged uncomfortable looks with his tutor and Eilae. They both looked pretty relaxed about the situation, which unnerved him slightly, and he raised his head and looked into the sky.
“I think we can talk for a little more,” he stated.
〄 〄 〄
“This—is so good!”
“Mmmhffmmm!”
The two beastmen stuffed the food into their mouths with their hands as fast as they could, gulping down their food with frequent swigs of water. The younger beastman especially had a voracious glint in his eyes; to him, all that existed in the world seemed to be the food laid out in front of him. The older beastman was constantly letting out sighs and grunts of satisfaction, appreciating the food for what it was. They seemed like completely different people, full of life and enthusiastic.
Shaden watched as the beastmen continued to fill their stomachs. He had never seen anyone eat so quickly before. In fact, he had never seen anyone who had been starving to the point where their cheeks were clinging tightly onto their skull. Watching them made him feel happy in a small way, and he felt like he had done something good. Something that actually helped someone for the first time.
Lytha had left with Eilae to find a place to stay at and was going to return soon. On the meantime, Shaden had his eyes on the two. They didn’t show any signs of escaping though. The food was too precious to them to abandon.
The older beastman swallowed a mouthful and cleansed his mouth with a cup of water.
“I knew there was something different about you,” he said, reaching for another piece of bread. His hands were dirty with grease and bits of food. “There’s this smell around you. A good smell. Something that tells me that you’re trusted.”
“If you’re ready, could you tell me about your situation?” asked Shaden.
The beastman eyed him for a few seconds after biting into his meal. “You’re awfully smart-talking for a kid. What happens if I try to escape?”
“You know I can use magic.”
The beastman’s jaws paused a little then resumed their motion. “We won’t escape. You gave us food.”
“So. Why were you stealing from people?”
“It’s a long story.”
After licking his fingers to clean them, the beastman leaned back on his chair. His brother was still busy eating.
“We didn’t want to come here, you know. We wanted to go to the capital. But things happened, and now we’re stuck here.”
He let out a deep sigh. “Everything requires money. It’s ridiculous. Stupid. Everything we had was stolen from us. Why can’t we steal? They’re the ones who picked a fight with us.”
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
“I’m pretty sure—”
“I know, I know. But there’s no other way, is there?”
“…go on.”
“I’m Ronar, by the way. That’s my brother Prem. He’s just a kid. He doesn’t deserve this. Look, if you ever decide to hand us over, at least spare my brother. I dragged him into this.”
“How old are you guys anyway?”
“Hm? I’m fifteen, and Prem’s eleven.”
Ronar looked expectantly at Shaden, who stared back with a clueless expression.
“…aren’t you gonna say your name?”
“Oh. Yeah. I’m Shaden, eight years old.”
“Eight? And you have this much money?”
“I—guess I do.”
It was Lytha’s money, but she had given it to him, so it was technically his now.
The beastman shook his head. “I knew you people would be loaded. Wait. Don’t give me that look. I’m stopping now, okay?”
“Uh-huh.”
Ronar’s face still looked painfully thin, but the color had returned to his skin. The black around his face seemed to have gotten lighter. It was a completely different impression compared to yesterday when he had glared at Shaden with lots of anger. He looked like a normal person.
The teen put his hands together. “We come from up north. There was a sickness going around our village, and our mother became ill. I don’t know what it was, but—”
He took out a small pouch from inside his ragged coat and laid it on the table.
“Her tooth. Apparently, magicians can know what sicknesses are on the body.”
The pouch was quickly returned to the inside of his coat. “Don’t worry,” he said, “it’s properly covered.”
“Her…tooth.”
“It fell out.”
“Alright. So, what happened?”
Ronar nodded. “Our father was the first to leave to find a cure. But even after weeks, he didn’t return. Our mother grew thinner by the day, and we had to do something. So we snuck out of the village and ran south. We heard that magic could do miracles, and so maybe, just maybe we could find someone who could help us.”
His fist tightened. “And we found out that no one wants to. No one wants to help a bunch of beasts.”
A snarl formed on the teen’s lips, and he glared at the table. “We brought some goods with us. Precious stones that we had collected, some mana crystals that we had. We used half of it for the boat ride on the Hyla River, but we were lucky. A kin told us he would take us straight to the capital. And he did. He said it was our best chance of finding something that could help us. He warned us that it wouldn’t be so easy.”
“So we arrived at the capital. It’s a place like this, but instead of being in the middle of the Hyla River, it kinda surrounds it. It was amazing.”
He sighed. “The problems started there. We couldn’t even go through the gates. We needed some kind of certificate, and to make one, we needed money. They wouldn’t accept our goods. Said they only dealt with money. Then an elf approached us, saying that he could trade our items for gold.”
“We were tricked. He took the goods and left. We couldn’t even sniff him out because he had entered the city. I was stupid. I should have taken care of our things better, but I just handed them over like an idiot.”
Ronar’s nails dug into the table. “We tried to go back home. I knew I had made a mistake. But the kin who had brought us here was gone, and to get a boat, we had to have money. Do you know that all elves are rich? They’re always dressed in nice clothes, and their skin looks so pretty. They wouldn’t care that much if they lost something small. So I began to borrow coins from them.”
“By borrow, you mean stealing.”
“What, we had no choice.”
“How did you end up here?”
“That’s where I’m getting at. One day, we were borrowing, and we finally got enough to get a pass into the city. But they were waiting for us. The moment we showed ourselves to the gates, the guards ran after us. So without thinking, we jumped on a boat. We were lucky that the captain was a human. He was eager to let us ride after seeing the money we had with us.”
“But the greedy bastard didn’t tell us where he was going. We couldn’t jump off the boat, and when we disembarked, we were here.”
He spread out his arms slightly and weakly. “Hey, they didn’t need a pass here to enter. An open city of trade is what they called it. Full of opportunities.”
“You shouldn’t have stolen. Why didn’t you get a job?”
“Are you stupid? Do you know how much it would cost to find someone who could use healing magic? Yes, I did get a job at some restaurant. Nice kin, I’d say. But the pay was too low. It’s much more profitable to just steal.”
“Uh-huh. And now, you’re caught.”
“I am.”
“What happened to your money?”
“Well…I had this one opportunity to make it big, so I spent it all on that, and…I messed up.”
“You gambled it away. The money you stole. And you didn’t even have enough to buy food for yourself and your brother.”
“Kid, life isn’t easy,” growled the teen in a low voice. “I know I made bad choices, but I had no other……choice.”
Ronar slowed down mid-sentence after his brother gave him a short glance. Rather, Prem had given Shaden something he had thought of as a menacing glare, but it seemed to affect his brother more than Shaden himself. Ronar’s eyes swept over his brother’s frail body, and a sad frown crept up on his face.
“I’m stupid,” he muttered. “Sorry, Prem,” he said while petting his brother on the head. The young boy continued to chew, though slower than before.
“Thanks for the food,” he finally said after a moment of silence. “Honestly……I’m lost. It’s been, what, three months, four since we left our village. Maybe five. Six, maybe. I don’t know. My mother might be dead. I don’t know where my father is. What am I supposed to do? After I won, we would have had enough to go back, but now we got nothing again.”
“…mother won’t be dead, right?” said Prem in a small voice.
“……I don’t know.” His brother replied. “If only if we had some money…we could find out.”
He gave Shaden a hopeful glance.
“Are you serious?” Shaden said.
“Then what else do you suggest? There’s literally—nothing we can do.”
Shaden crossed his arms and furrowed his eyebrows. “You could work?”
“We don’t have the time. Do we look like we’re fit for work? All we want…is to go back home.”
“Sounds like a great idea,” said Lytha, suddenly appearing beside them. Ronar almost jumped up from his seat, to which Shaden held in a chuckle. He had gotten used to it, but her stealth was always surprising.
“Aunt! You’re back.”
“Yes, and you look like you’ve talked something out. So, what’s the story here?”
Shaden quickly explained the situation to Lytha, who listened with an unchanging expression. At the end of it, she shrugged and looked at the two beastmen.
“Shaden, if you want to help them, you can. Trust your emotions. Do what you want. This trip is all about learning, so its better for you to have more experiences.”
“You mean we’re going to go up all the way north?”
“It depends on the situation. They can travel with us to the capital. If they behave, who knows; maybe they may even find someone to help them.”
She eyed the teenager, who flinched slightly at her gaze.
“So, Shaden. What do you want to do?” she asked.
Shaden scratched his cheek. When he had been traveling with his aunt to train, she had done all of the decision making. Honestly, he was more comfortable when she had made the decisions in their travels. The amount of freedom he was currently getting was great, but he was unsure of himself. A part of him was uneasy of his aunt; he could seldom know what she was thinking. Those dark eyes of hers were difficult to read.
“Take caution in everything,” he said, looking at Lytha.
She nodded. “All the time. Always watch your back.”
“We can bring them,” he decided, “but there’s something I need to confirm first. Ronar and Prem, right?”
Ronar nodded with a hopeful look. “You’re really helping us? For real?”
“Only if what you said so far is true,” said Shaden. “The tooth of your mother. Could I hold onto it for a day?”
“That’s a bit—”
“It’s the only way I’ll know if what you said was true. It’s your choice. This, or go to jail. By the way, if I find out that all of your stories were lies, you’re going to jail.”
“It’s all true,” he said, reaching into his pocket. He took a look at it and tossed the small pouch to Shaden, who caught it with one hand. “Now what?”
Shaden took out two small silver coins from his pocket and placed them on the table in front of the beastmen. “This will give you enough food for the two of you for ten days. Aunt, when are we leaving?”
“On the fifteenth. Four days from now.”
“I see. Then Ronar, meet us here four days from now. Do you know how to tell time?”
The beastman shook his head. “But the stores always open at eight.”
“Then at eight, meet us here. Aunt Lytha, is that okay?”
After receiving her nod, Shaden got off of his chair.
“Well, it’s pretty late now. I need to go to sleep. See you in four days, you two.”
Ronar’s broke his gaze off of the shiny silver coins before him.
“Wha—yes, yep, okay. Sounds good. You’re really giving this to us?”
“It’s for food. Take a look at yourselves. Anyways, goodbye.”
Shaden and his tutor left the shop, leaving a pair of speechless, amazed beastmen who couldn’t believe their luck.
〄 〄 〄
“What will you do if it turns out to be a lie?” questioned Lytha.
Shaden breathed in deeply and exhaled. “Then…they won’t have a chance anymore. It’s not like we can go after them. They’ll ruin themselves on their own.”
“It looks that way.”
They walked side by side in the cold night, their feet lightly treading on the floor.
“I never knew you were a generous giver,” Lytha said, placing her hand on Shaden’s head. It was a gentle touch. “A silver coin is five days for us, not beggars. Two large copper coins would have sufficed.”
“Did I do something wrong?”
“No, no. I’m sure you were aware of the fact.”
“I wanted them to eat without restraint. And this.”
He took out the pouch he had received. “This seemed precious to them. I gave them something that would ease them a little.”
“You’re very considerate.”
“I……this is nothing.”
“No, Shaden. You have your father’s heart.”
“I thought you disliked my dad.”
“I used to. But now, I think that what he did was suitable for the family.”
“What do you mean?”
“It means he produced a good son.”
“Oh……thanks,” Shaden replied meekly.
“Haha, shy, aren’t you?”
Without a warning, Lytha lifted Shaden off the ground and hugged him tightly between her arms.
“Au-aunt, I’m cho-choking—”
His face was being pressed against something that made him feel comfortable in a very uncomfortable way.
“My bad.”
Her hold on him loosened, and Shaden slid down to the ground. He was a little bewildered. It wasn’t that he disliked it, but it happened so suddenly.
“Sorry. You reminded me of your father too much.”
“I thought you—never mind."
They continued to walk just like before until Lytha threw out a question.
“So, Shaden. How are you planning to tell if they lied or not?”
“About that. I know someone who might be able to tell.”
〄 〄 〄
“Welcome—oh. You’ve returned very soon.”
Yillia, Merina’s apprentice or assistant, greeted Shaden when he stepped into the room with a small smile. “What brings you here again?” he asked. He seemed to be wiping off the counter with a piece of cloth. Shaden glanced around the room.
“I have a request to make. Is Merina not here today?”
“He is feeling unwell,” Yillia stated. “He is at home today.”
“I—I hope he gets well soon,” Shaden said. The old elf had looked very frail. How old was he anyway?
“I wish it too. So? What is your request?”
“I hope you aren’t too busy.”
Shaden approached the elf and placed the small pouch with the tooth inside on top of the counter. His head barely stuck out the top, so he had to get on his toes to get a good view.
“Could you read this for me? Just to around…half a year ago.”
“A reading. Shaden, was it?”
Shaden nodded, and the elf put down his cloth to the side.
“We are very busy at the moment. You must make a reservation if you want an item to be read. The price, details, and specific traces of mana—we need to take all of it into account.”
“Oh.”
“But—Master told me to be kind to those who have done him a favor.”
The elf motioned to the small pouch. “May I take a look?” he said.
“Yes, of course.”
There was a sliding sound, and Yillia reached into the counter and took out a pair of silk gloves. After equipping them, he gently held up the pouch and opened it with two fingers. Carefully, he hung it upside down over his hand, and a small item that was covered in a sort of paper-like material fell upon his palm.
“I will remove the wrapping.”
After seeing Shaden’s approval, the elf precisely uncovered the item with his nimble fingers. Inside, just like Ronar had said, there was a small, yellowish tooth, sharper than that of a human’s.
“A tooth!” remarked the elf in surprise. “We haven’t had those in many years.”
“Would you be able to read it?” asked Shaden. “It doesn’t have to be precise.”
“Definitely. Detached body parts are much simpler to read than items. They have plenty of mana within them to analyze you see. I could do it right now. Would you prefer that?”
Shaden nodded his head quickly. “That’s the best thing I could hear.”
“Then, please. Come this way.”
The elf beckoned to Shaden to follow him to the back room. After crossing under the counter, Shaden entered the large room with various scrolls and items laid about on many tables. It looked tidier than yesterday.
The elf fetched a scroll from one of the baskets at the side of the room and unrolled it on an empty table. After fastening the corners so it wouldn’t curl, he placed the tooth on top of the scroll, right at the center of the magic circle of the scroll.
“Come. Have a seat,” Yillia said.
Shaden climbed up on the chair next to the elf and leaned his small body against the table.
“I will begin right away.”
Yillia, silk gloves intact, spread both his palms above the item and the scroll. He closed his eyes, and Shaden felt mana begin to wrap around his hands. The magic circle began to light up in a gentle bluish hue, and the light enveloped the item.
The elf opened his eyes, which were glowing slightly. It was a delicate atmosphere, like watching a weaver embroider a dress with precise strokes. While not clearly visible, Shaden thought he spotted threads of mana come out of the scroll and probe the tooth, controlled by the elf’s fingers like a marionette.
“Hmm…”
Yillia’s forehead contracted slightly, and his lips pressed together in a thoughtful manner.
“This is a beastman’s tooth. Am I correct?”
“Yes.”
“And…hmm…how disturbing…”
The elf continued to analyze the item. But the longer he used his magic, the worse his expression became. Finally, he let go of his spell, and the light around the item died down. Yillia then took off his gloves and sat down on his chair. His eyes turned to Shaden.
“As a customer, I will not ask you where you obtained this. But this seems like something serious.”
“That’s why I came here.”
“Really?”
There was a hint of disbelief in the elf’s voice, but he went on.
“This is the tooth of a female beastman. It was pulled out by the possessor herself and was passed onto what I read as a boy. Possibly her child, seeing the similarity in mana.”
“You are absolutely right.”
“What comes after is relatively meaningless. The boy carried it around close to his body until it fell into your hands. The sickness—the disease that caused this is what worries me.”
“Do you know what it is?”
“It felt very similar to Blood Fever. Do you know what that is?”
Shaden shook his head.
“It was a very common and deadly disease around a century ago. But a cure was found. Now, it is regarded as a mild disease.”
The elf pointed to the tooth. “I haven’t seen Blood Fever progress this far in a long time. Usually, people are immune to it. But it makes sense as the tooth has come from up north. Very north. People are not too sanitary there.”
“So it’s curable?”
“Absolutely. Simply visit the local medicine store and ask for the cure.”
Yillia put on his silk gloves once more and began to pack the tooth into the pouch again. “Was that sufficient?”
“That was more than I could ask for.”
“I’m glad I was of help,” said the elf with a smile.
After handing the pouch back to Shaden, Yillia escorted him out of the store. He was very surprised when Shaden suddenly produced a fist-sized mana crystal on his hand and offered it to him. Yillia eventually accepted the item upon Shaden’s insistence, and he watched the young boy go with a new sense of wonder.
“A hundred and thirty-two years, and I still see new things everyday…” he muttered, staring at the mana crystal in his hand. “I should go on a trip soon.”
He returned to the store and closed the door behind him.