“If that’s your choice, fine. But you get to tell her.”

“Marie –”

“If there is any amount of good in you, you will tell her what we’ve decided.”

Vorn sighed, as he ran a hand through his long, white hair.

He leaned on the desk shoved against the far wall of the office. In the flickering candlelight, the lines across his dark, narrow face aged him beyond his years. His face twisted into a frown, one that betrayed years of hardships, and a silent tolerance towards it all. Absentmindedly, his fingers traveled to his neck, and lingered on the pendant that was fastened to his thin choker.

Across from him, Marie stood with her arms crossed, her face tight. His wife’s light brown hair had fallen out its cord and into a tangled mess that lay past her shoulders. Her white tunic and brown apron was flecked with blood, and the hem of her dress was torn in spots. Tears slid down her roundish face, over her pale cheeks; she refused to meet Vorn’s gaze.

“I’m sorry.” Vorn said. “I just…can’t think of any other way to keep her safe. If it weren’t for Jurden and Ned…you’d both be dead, and I’d be dragged back to hell in chains. I’ve brought trouble to this home and –”

Marie whipped her head towards Vorn.

“If this is your fault then you should be the one leaving!” she snarled.

Vorn flinched. Marie sucked in a breath, and squeezed her eyes shut.

“If that is what you wish,” Vorn said quietly, “I will not hesitate to leave.”

“No…” she said quietly. “I didn’t mean that, sorry. I just,” Marie ran a hand through her hair. “I just wish…”

Vorn rose and slowly made his way towards the door. At the threshold, he laid a hand on Marie’s shoulder.

“I wish there was another way too.” He whispered. “I truly don’t believe there is one.”

Marie choked on a sob and nodded. After a moment, Vorn opened the door and stepped into the main room of the inn.

At the center of the Blue Wyrm Inn stood a wall, three feet thick, that extended up into the ceiling. Inside the wall sat bottles of ale and beer of all varieties and prices, each bottle a different color; everyday, sunlight would pour through the windows of the inn and reflect off the bottles, sending shimmering blue lights across the bar, like light off a dragon’s scales. Thick U-shaped bars stood on either side of the wall, both with numerous bar stools upheaved and broken in front them.

Beyond the bar were numerous tables, laid out strategically along the wooden floor. In the aisles between the tables, bodies laid sprawled out on the floorboards. Blood pooled under them, dying the already stained floor a dark red. All the bodies possessed dark leather armor, with various daggers and short swords strapped to them; each had obsidian skin, some dark enough to be blue, with others a faint purple, the same color as Vorn’s.

No two bodies possessed the same wounds. Some had their throats slashed open, others had gashes across their legs – exactly three had their heads caved in, denying the victims any chance of proper identification.

To his far left, splayed against the wall next to the stairs, lay the body of a human man. Split clean in half from navel to neck, he lay in his own lake of blood.

Vorn sighed again. A right mess his wife’s tavern. Stained and destroyed.

A man stood among the corpses. Hands on hips, he surveyed the room with a gaze that had seen worse. Blood stained the front of his leather vest and tunic, though if it were his blood, Vorn could not tell. The light brown hair on top his head lay slick from sweat, and a large gash traveled from the side of his head down to his cheek. The man’s face was stained with blood, yet he did not seem to care. Instead, a faint look of annoyance was etched across his face.

He stroked his goatee and glanced at Vorn.

“I can have ‘em out of here pretty fast, though where we’re gonna dump ‘em, I don’t know. Maybe I can get Max and the rest of ‘is little troop to help.”

“You okay Jurden?” Vorn asked, as he picked his way over the corpses. His boot left dark prints where blood refused to pool. “That’s a nasty cut you’ve got.”

“Ah, had worse, done worse.” Jurden waved him away. “You and Marie figure out what yer doing with little Serena?”

Vorn shot a hard look at him. “Yes, but that was a private conversation.”

“Oh sure, sure, but when yer yelling as loud as Ludvig to Strom when ‘e blows the wrong fucking thing up, you don’t even ‘ave to try.”

“Didn’t realize we were that loud.”

“Oh sure. Sorry to ‘ear that the missus blames ya for it.”

“She doesn’t,” Vorn said, as he thought back to Marie’s words. “she’s just – scared. About everything.”

“Can’t blame ya. Dunno ‘ow much it’d ‘elp but if I can do anything, ya let me know.”

“Of course. Thank you Jurden, I mean it. Not every day when you can hire you people for free.”

Jurden grinned warmly, exposing sharp teeth.

“Nah, I ain’t working for free. Dunno what yer talking about.”

“Or course,” Vorn said, a faint smile upon his lips. “Do you know where Ned took Serena?”

“”e took ‘er upstairs, to ‘er room. Don’t think she saw any a this mess.” He gestured towards the graveyard around them. “Good thing too, probably screw ‘er up for life. All due respect.”

Vorn nodded and turned on his heel. He made his way towards and up the stairs, barely casting a glance at the mutilated carcass.

Halfway up, hurried footsteps sounded behind him. Vorn turned, a remark on his lips, only to realize that it was his wife behind him.

“She needs both of us. I can’t sit and cry in the office.” She said. Vorn nodded and together they climbed the stairs.

The hallway at the top extended roughly ten feet, with their and Serena’s room at the very end. Halfway down, it opened into another, longer hallway, with multiple doors every odd foot, to house the plethora of patrons that the inn hosted daily.

Vorn wondered how many were oblivious to the carnage downstairs.

They stopped in front of Serena’s door. After some hesitation, Vorn raised his hand to knock, only for Marie to barge into the room. He frowned, and followed her in.

The room was bare, with only an old wooden dresser pressed against the wall nearest to the door, and a desk on the opposite side wall. A small, dark blue carpet covered the floorboards, and in the corner of the room, a small iron heater poured out ample heat.

At the window, facing out onto the dark city landscape, stood an older looking man. His ornate blue and white robes were stained red, with his right hand particularly dripping with blood. Across from him, on a messy bed shoved against the wall, sat Serena.

Vorn and Marie’s daughter was barely eight years old, and she appeared a smaller version of her mother. She barely came up to Marie’s hip, and wore the same clothes as she did when Marie worked; a brown tunic tucked into a long brown dress, with a stained white apron over it. Blue eyes rubbed raw, she sat curled up on the center of her bed, knees tucked under her chin, her brown, wavy hair strewn about her face.

Her gaze shot to them as Vorn and Marie walked in, and she jumped off the bed.

Vorn smiled. He would never get tired of his daughter’s overly large and pointed ears and her gangling legs. She’d grow into them. Serena would be as beautiful as her mother when she was older.

If only he could watch her grow.

Serena stumbled as she ran to her parents. She wringed her hands, and opened her mouth, flashing the numerous gaps in her teeth before she shut it again. When she was emotional, Serena would forget that she was mute.

A faint feeling of worry filled the back of Vorn’s mind.

He pushed it aside. He knew it was Serena’s worry, but he never did understand how they could feel that as though it were their own.

Marie dropped to her knees, and grabbed Serena in a hug, tight enough to surprise her. Serena wrapped her small arms around her mother and dug her face into her shoulder. Tears stung in the corners of Vorn’s eyes as he walked away from the two, and towards the man at the window.

“You’ve still got blood on you.” Vorn said, as he gestured to the man’s robes and hands. The man’s eyes widened as he glanced down.

“Bahamut’s Teeth, I didn’t notice,” he said, waving his hands slightly, “hopefully Serena wasn’t disturbed by it.” As he spoke, the stained blood slowly shrunk, until both his hands and robes were spotless.

“I think she’s fine Ned. More worried about us than what you look like.”

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“So it seems.” Ned said, as he scratched the side of his long beard.

Not for the first time did Vorn marvel at Ned’s immaculate features, some he’d only seen chiseled on marble statues. He appeared close to sixty, though Vorn knew he was thousands of years older, and possessed a full head of slicked-back black hair, and an equally dark beard. His face displayed no wrinkles or blemishes, save for a faint scar that was etched from his left eye down to his cheek.

“I see you made a decision.” Ned said, pulling Vorn from his thoughts. He turned his head and saw his wife, tears down her face, whispering to Serena. Her eyes were wide, her body still with rapt attention.

Vorn sighed.

“Yes. I was supposed to tell her, but I guess Marie beat me to it.” Vorn turned back to Ned and rubbed the back of his neck. “If your offer is still open…we’d like to have Serena go with you. It’s…much safer that way.”

Ned laid a hand on Vorn’s shoulder. They had known one another for less than three months yet Ned acted as though it were years.

“The offer is always open. I am…honored beyond belief that you trust me with her safety.”

“Well,” Vorn smiled, “you and she are… probably closer than I ever will be with her. I don’t think Serena will be in any danger if she’s with an old dragon like you.”

“She would not, but I most certainly will.” Ned smiled back. “Bron is going to kill me when I bring her home. Well…he’ll try to.” He dropped his hand and bowed his head for a moment before he met Vorn’s gaze again. “You will more than likely not see her again for some time. The Starspires are quite the distance from Mirabar, and it has been getting harder for me to come out all this way. That being said, I swear upon Bahamut’s name that I will ensure she walks down the right path. Serena will grow into a woman that you and Marie will be proud of, you have my word.”

“Thank you, Ned.” Vorn said quietly, his chest tight. “You…don’t know how much that means to us.” Ned nodded, a sad look in his eyes.

Vorn turned to Marie and Serena, and opened his mouth to speak, only for Serena to run from her mother to her bed. She reached atop her pillow, and grabbed a dull blue blanket, only a little larger than a dish towel.

Serena stood for a moment, her back towards Vorn and Ned, and stared at the blanket. Her small body shuddered, and she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. She turned, stumbled back to Marie, and pressed the worn blanket into her mother’s hands.

A sob tore through Marie.

“Not your woobie Serena,” She said through her sobs, “you need this, I can’t –” Serena shook her head as her own tears fell. She pushed it into her mother’s chest and threw her arms around her. Marie’s sobbing grew louder, and she pulled Serena into another hug. The two clutched each other, both sobbing into one another’s shoulders.

“She’s a good kid.” Ned said quietly.

Vorn turned his head towards the window, jaw tight, and remained silent.

...

A full moon shone the way down the path that led outside of Mirabar. The five of them had left the Inn and made their way to a small tunnel in the side of the mountain that Mirabar sat on. Hidden by trees and overgrown shrubs, the opening gave way to a vast clearing, one that opened directly to the sky.

Trees around the edge of the clearing swayed in a gentle breeze, and the humming of bugs filled air. Vorn had never heard so many in one place.

He, Jurden, and Ned had prowled about the clearing, until they settled on a spot a few feet from the center. They stood facing each other, as Ned drew a circle into the dirt with the tip of his boot.

Behind them, Marie fussed with Serena, who was bundled tightly in one of Vorn’s cloaks, too large for her. Strapped across her shoulder was a worn-out messenger bag, filled to the brim with clothes, toys, and keepsakes.

“You got it all figured out ‘uh?” Jurden said, gesturing at Ned as he finished the circle. “Pretty good spot to pop! in and walk to Mirabar, with none the wiser ‘uh?”

“Yes, and I’d prefer you keep it that way mercenary.” Ned snarled.

Jurden smiled.

“I’m feeling a little ‘ostility coming from you Mr. Ned. All the way from the ole inn too. Don’t like my job? Can’t see why.”

“I don’t trust those who can be bought. Your kind has wronged my people for far too long.”

“Oh, so yer gonna take out years of pent up frustrations with me, ‘uh?”

“Vhaeraun’s Mask!” Vorn yelled. “Since the damned Inn you’ve been bickering! You’ll never see one another again after this.”

Ned looked away, embarrassment etched across his face. Jurden’s grin remained.

“You’re lucky to even be here Jurden,” Vorn continued, “Ned didn’t want you coming at all.”

“O, of course not.” Jurden said. “I just wanted to see ‘ow old Ned ‘ere gets in and out of town. Professional curiosity.”

Ned glared at Jurden. Vorn blew out a puff of air.

“Sorry to disappoint you Jurden, but you’ll won’t learn much. Ned hasn’t even told me how he does it.” He glanced at Ned, a small smile on his lips.

“Call it trade secrets. I’m sure you both have some.” Ned replied. Jurden laughed.

“Nah, can’t say I do!”

“Of course not.” Ned looked at Vorn. “Vorn…this’ll take me a moment. I can…take longer if you need me to.”

Vorn nodded. He stood still for a moment, before he turned and walked slowly towards his wife and daughter.

Marie kneeled in front Serena, and anxiously adjusted the strap across Serena’s chest. Satisfied, she stood up, pulled a cord out her pocket, and turned Serena around so that she faced Vorn; she began tying Serena’s hair into a low ponytail, in the same style as her own.

“You remember what I said,” Marie began, “be good for Ned and Bron. Ned is doing a lot for us, even if he says he doesn’t mind, so be polite please. Show good manners, don’t eat all his food – pretend as if all the rules here apply over there, okay?” Finished with Serena’s hair, she placed her hands on her shoulders.

Marie smiled at Vorn, though her eyes remained glassy.

Serena stared at him, her eyes half shut, irritated from crying. She clutched the strap tight, as though she was afraid to let go.

Vorn’s chest tightened as he kneeled to her level. Serena’s eyes flicked about him, her grip tightening around the strap.

His choker felt warm against his throat.

“I’m…not going to lie to you Serena. I’ve failed you as your father.” Vorn said. Serena’s eyes grew wide, a look of confusion across her face. “I know you don’t believe me, and…I appreciate that. But I have done nothing to earn your respect. How many years have I been absent? And barely six months after…after I show up, you and your mother are almost killed by my pursuers. I’ve called danger upon you more times than I can count, and I can never forgive myself for that.” Serena eyes grew glassy, and she broke his gaze. “I know this is…a lot to take in but it’s the truth. You’ll be safer with Ned, I trust him with my life and well…you two seem to have a better relationship than I do. Maybe he can…” Vorn trailed off. Serena’s tiny frame shuddered silently.

Vorn looked up at his wife; she squeezed Serena’s shoulders but remained silent, a sad look painted across her face.

His throat grew hot.

He had no experience being a father. Vorn had no right to be a father. And yet he sat and tried to reason with his only child why she needed to leave. He spoke to her like he would anyone else, believing she would understand once she saw reason.

What a fool he was.

Vorn Lash stared at his daughter and cursed himself that nothing sprung to mind that he could use to calm Serena down. To tell her that everything would be okay. To reassure her that he still loved her, despite everything. That she’d grow up into a woman he’d be proud of.

He stiffened; the moon pendant against his throat burned, as though to melt through his skin. Confused, he brushed his fingers against it.

And paused.

He reached behind his neck and unclasped the choker. The pain about his throat vanished.

With slow, gentle hands, Vorn reached over and tied it snug around his daughter’s throat. Serena looked up at him, then looked downwards at his hands.

“Every…every member of our house – your house, wore these pendants,” Vorn said, as he adjusted the choker. “to show to those around us who we are. Eight arrows for every road in life, and the moon in front, where those roads will always lead. A Lash is coiled, ready to strike at a moment’s notice. They’re strong, powerful enough to subdue any in their way. But…above all else, a Lash is brave, able to face the challenges of life without flinching. You need to be brave Serena, braver than me, your mother, and every Lash that came before you.”

He placed a hand over Serena’s heart.

“Be my brave girl for me. Face life without flinching. So that someday soon, we can see each other again. Can…” Vorn sucked in a shuddering breath and smiled. “can you promise me that?”

Serena stared at him. She brushed careful fingers over the moon that lay against her throat.

She nodded, then burst into tears. She crashed into Vorn and threw her arms around his neck. Stunned, he pulled her tight against him, and held her as she sobbed silently into his chest.

“We’ll be here when you get back. We’re not going anywhere, I promise.” He kissed the top of her head, and let his own tears finally fall. Marie covered her mouth and turned away, eyes shut, her own tears rolling down her face.

Vorn Lash held his daughter until she could cry no more. A bright light flashed behind him, and he knew it was time.

Gently, he pushed Serena away. Her face was red, her hair a mess. Despite his tears, Vorn smirked at her. “Made a mess of your hair again, never could figure it out, huh?” Serena smiled weakly.

Vorn stood up, took Serena’s small hand into his own. They turned back to towards Ned.

Jurden stood some paces in front of Ned, his eyes narrowed, and watched as Ned waved his hands in small, intricate movements. A glowing purple circle, emanating from the dirt, burned into existence around the elegant looking man.

Marie went to Serena’s other side and took her hand. Serena looked from her mother, and to her father, before she sucked in a shuddering breath. She marched forward and lead her parents to the circle with a determined march.

She stopped at the circle’s edge and turned her head towards Jurden. He smiled and ruffled her hair, giving her the appearance of having just woken up.

“’ay, learn some magic and blow shit up for me. I’ll make sure Strom does the same for ya.” Serena nodded seriously, before she turned back to the circle.

Before either of them could react, Serena let go of her parents’ hands, stepped forwards and next to Ned. She grabbed the side of his robe and nodded to him. He nodded back, before he addressed Vorn and Marie.

“I’ll keep her safe,” Ned said, his eyes glistened in the moonlight, “you have my word.”

He flourished his hands outward. The circle brightened in color, and a hum filled Vorn’s ears.

Serena, tears still in her eyes, waved at her parents.

And was gone.

Vorn, Marie, and Jurden stared at the circle burned into the grass, smoke twirling from tiny purple fires. Jurden jumped forward and stamped them out with a quick foot.

He turned back, a comment upon his lips. It died in his throat.

Vorn clung to Marie and sobbed into her shoulder. Marie ran a hand through his hair, and despite her own sobs, pulled him close.

Jurden, embarrassed for the first time in his life, turned away. He looked up at the sky, his own eyes beginning to sting.

A solitary cloud rolled in front of the moon and plunged the clearing into darkness.