Missteps V.2

Chapter 28 – The Urge to Protect

Carric was used to spending the night in a variety of places; be it the floor, a hammock, bedroll, hard ground, soft ground, wet ground, or in a tree, he'd learned over the years how to sleep in pretty much any position or situation.

Except for that night. That night, he didn't get any sleep.

During the welcome party he'd hit it off pretty good with one of the Lirathan guards, good enough for them to sneak away and seclude themselves in the first empty room they'd come across. Things were just getting good when the klaxons had started.

By the time the two of them had reached the foyer, there was already a stream of people blocking the way out. At the first mention of 'orcs' from the panicked crowd, Carric had torn a longsword out of suit of armor's hands. He'd been forced to wait for the throng of people to slow enough for him to slip out. By the time he'd made it out, Kerri and Koe were on the wall. Xayoe flagged him down, and instructed him to carry Maron's lifeless body into the palace. That part was easy.

The hard part came after, while he and Koe stood in the courtyard and compared notes on the battled. Out of the corner of his eye he'd watched as Kerri had stumbled out the large double doors. Her eyes were glassy, and a hand was clenched around her skirt as the other one groped around in front of her. He wasn't fast enough to catch her as her unconscious form tumbled heavily down the stairs. He quickly swept her up, and carried her out the main gates. Shomma went from curled around his neck to wrap around Kerri's. It didn't take long for Elaine to join him as he trekked away from the Palace.

"Where are you taking her? There are rooms in the palace we can take her." Elaine argued as she tried to get a look at Kerri.

Carric's jaw clenched. "Away from here." He tightened his grip on the unconscious woman. His tone left no room for argument, and Elaine didn't push it as she followed him back to the campsite.

When they got back to camp, they discovered that in light of recent events, another guild Master had taken the liberty of buying out a nearby inn for the guild's use. Elaine grabbed their gear from the trunk and the trio headed towards the inn.

The innkeeper, an old gnome woman, directed Carric upstairs with a shaky hand. Their other hand was clenched around a small hand axe. Next to her stood a man Carric recognized as being from the guild. Every time someone walked into the inn, the woman would look at the man and wait for a tiny nod before she directed them upstairs. In addition, the man would make a small tick mark on a piece of parchment.

Carric took the stairs two at time. He'd moved Kerri from his arms, to being slung over his shoulder instead. The weight of her was similar to a deer, and he found it easier to move with her like that. He moved quickly down the small hallway as he scanned the layout of each room he passed, not bothering with any of the single beds. Halfway down he found an empty room with two twin beds. He put Kerri down on one of them as Elaine bustled in and shut the door.

Outside, other members of the entertainment guild made their way down the hall looking for open rooms. Gossip of that night's events, and shouts of relief at being reunited with friends were a welcome distraction. Outside the klaxons still clanged with regularity. The smell of smoke started to hang in the air, prompting many inside the inn to drown the smell out with incense or other perfumes. Carric would have preferred the smoke. He moved one of the beds so that it blocked the door.

To Elaine's relief, Kerri's tumble hadn't done any severe damage, mostly just bumps and bruises. She healed the injuries as she found them as she and Carric undressed Kerri. While beautiful, the dress proved to be more of a hindrance at the moment. While they cared for their still unconscious friend, the two of them exchanged notes on their nights.

It was Carric who discovered the mark on Kerri's back as he'd wiped off her back with a wet rag. "Did you know about this?" He scrubbed harder and the heavy makeup came off slowly and uncovered more.

Elaine nodded. "She thought she was hiding it from me, but I've caught glimpses of it."

The ranger tilted his head to the side and squinted. "Looks like a bad tattoo." He quickly wiped off the rest of the makeup and set down his rag. He stood up. "I'll keep watch outside the door, make sure the two of you aren't disturbed. I want to be on the road by noon tomorrow."

The cleric yawned. "Tomorrow? Don't you think we should wait a day or two? Maron just died, and the city was attacked by orcs."

Carric sighed. He looked over and saw Shomma curled around Kerri's head, right where he wanted her. "If we delay any longer we're going to be late meeting the others. Besides, it's not like they're going to hold Maron's funeral here in Silverbank." He grabbed his pack and longsword, and left the room. Outside, he sat with his back to the door, with the sword across his lap. He stifled a yawn and rubbed at his face. Why the hell was he tired? All he'd done was get interrupted trying to get lucky, and then miss all the fighting. From what Koe had said, Elaine and Kerri had been the big heroes of the night. Too bad the night hadn't ended on a high note.

His mind flashed back to Kerri's stumbling form. He wasn't a stranger to grief. Growing up in an orphanage on the poorer side of town, and living through an orc attack, he'd seen enough of it to know that it hit people differently. Some people just immediately shut down, while others compartmentalized. Some wanted or needed to be surrounded by their remaining loved ones, while others just wanted to be alone. Some didn't want to know anything about how it'd happened, while others wanted to know every detail.

With him, it'd come in stages. By the time he'd learned of his brother's death, it'd already been a couple of months. The knowledge that he'd lived his own life for two months, and hadn't known instinctively that his brother was dead was what had hit him the hardest. For two months his brother had just been a stiff some drunkard had found in an alleyway. If it hadn't been for the letter addressed to Carric found on his person, Heian might never have been identified.

The letter wasn't even a large clue. It was just one of those 'Hey I'm not dead' letters. Heian had sent dozens of them to Carric over the past year he'd been traveling. The two of them had been the only family they'd had left, and back then it'd felt like Heian clung to that connection more so than Carric. Carric had only written back a few times, but it never seemed like Heian got any of them. The letter carried the same message as always. No luck on finding their parents, but he'd found a new lead. None of Heian's leads seemed to go anywhere.

Carric shook his head, getting his mind out of the past and into the present. To give himself something to do, he took his whetstone out of his bag and went to work on his sword. Throughout the night people shuffled past Carric. He recognized all of them as belonging to the entertainer's guild, with some still wearing their costumes from that night's performances. Everyone had the same kind of harried expression on their faces, and every room in that small inn got packed to capacity, except for the one behind Carric.

The only person to approach him was Xayoe. "Have you seen Kerri, I need to speak with her." Judging by her tone and the pointed way she was stared at the doorway, she knew exactly where Kerri was.

"Last I saw, she was running out of the palace." Carric took a long swipe along the edge of his blade with the whetstone. He didn't look up.

Xayoe reached up and rubbed her temples. "Let me through, it's been a very tiring night and I need sleep."

"I'm sure a guild master such as yourself can find a bed somewhere else easily enough." He ran a finger over the blade.

"What's wrong with the room you're guarding?"

"Full." Carric could feel the strength of the glare that bored into him.

Finally the master bard sighed. "Can I assume that Elaine is also in there?" Carric didn't answer. Xayoe gave out an exasperated groan. "What did the two of them do to inspire such loyalty from you?"

"They didn't do anything." Carric finally looked up. He saw that her elaborate dress was torn in multiple places, and she had a streak of black along one of her cheeks. "It's pretty late, and judging by those bags under your eyes, you need your beauty rest." For a moment it looked like Xayoe was considering making Carric move, but instead she huffed and headed off down the hallway. She disappeared into a room, and the door slammed shut behind her.

It was true, Elaine and Kerri hadn't done anything. Nothing but be themselves.

In the years following Heian's death and the orc attack, Carric did everything in his power not to get close to people. He'd lost a lot of friends, and he wasn't proud to admit it, but he'd come close to joining them. Grief is powerful, especially when it hits you from all sides and you're surrounded by it day in and day out.

The only way he could climb out of that hole was distance. So, he took to the woods. For weeks he didn't encounter anything but animals. Being out in nature, he was able to think, to scream, yell, and put his emotions into something constructive. He built a one-room cabin out and for an entire year he holed up there.

When he finally emerged and headed back into Osthom, he found that he couldn't bring himself to form any meaningful attachments. Somehow he ended up in a relationship with an old friend of his, a woman. He screwed that up pretty good when he crawled into bed with the next person he found attractive, this time a male. His girlfriend dumped him the next day, and he wasn't even mad about it. The only good thing to come out of it, was him finding that he preferred the company of men over women. That might have the first time he'd had a trouble with keeping to a monogamous relationship, but it wasn't the last. After a couple more broken relationships, he swore off monogamy altogether and found comfort in one-night stands. Physical closeness was much easier to achieve when you didn't allow emotions or hang-ups to interfere.

And that was how he lived his life. During the spring and summer months he'd ferry groups of people through the woods, and during the winter he'd volunteer with Osthom's town guard. In between all of it, he slept with anyone and everyone who'd have him.

Then, a bit over two years ago now, Jazale entered his life.

Winter had just touched down in Osthom. Carric entered the guardhouse, on his way to meet the Commander and sign up like normal. As he was walking by, he overheard a conversation some of the guards were having. They'd picked up a wannabe pickpocket that afternoon, and when the guards confronted her she'd bit one of them. The part that really made Carric stop and listen (as opposed to just laughing), was when the guards had questioned the girl on why she was in Osthom, she said she was looking for Heian and Carric. Just the mention of his name caused Carric to immediately change direction and head down towards the jail cells. He'd worked with enough of the guards at that point that no one stopped him.

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There was only one cell occupied. Inside was a young, skinny, tan-skinned, black haired girl. She had slightly-pointed ears just barely peeking out from under her hair. As Carric drew closer to the cell, she looked up, and as her short hair moved out of the way, he could see the bruise that formed on her eye. Carric figured it was probably in retaliation for the bite.

"I'm afraid I don't entertain requests, if that's what you're looking for." She tried to smile sweetly, but ended up grimacing as she disturbed the bruise.

He narrowed his eyes. "I heard that you were looking for Heian and Carric, why?"

She shrugged. "I'm their sister."

Carric frowned. "Those two don't have a sister. It's just the two of them."

"Ah, let me clarify, half-sister." She reached up and stretched her arms over her head. "We share the same dad. You know them?"

"I don't believe you." Carric surveyed the girl in front of him, trying to match any part of her to the man he barely remembered. He'd only been three when their parents had dumped them at the orphanage.

She rolled her eyes. "I don't care if you believe me or not. Just go and find Heian and ask him. He found me when I was kid, told me that when I was older I should come to Osthom and look him and Carric up. He said that just because our father didn't know what being part of a family was like, was no excuse that I shouldn't." The fire in her eyes as she said those words, and the words themselves are what convinced Carric. He'd heard Heian say those words over and over again, while they grew up, and in his letters.

"Heian found dad?" The words were almost a whisper as they came out of Carric's mouth.

The girl looked up at Carric quizzically for a moment, and then it's like a light bulb went off in her head.

"Yeah. We were living in a small village just outside Winter Horn at the time. I'd just turned nine." She stood up and approached the bars. "Heian showed up one day, asking if an Erdan Moonwhisper lived there. The two of them had a pretty intense argument when I introduced them."

Carric felt his jaw drop. "Erdan was taking care of you?"

The girl scoffed and crossed her arms. "No. We lived with my aunt and her family, from my mother's side. My mother died shortly after I was born, and my aunt was the only reason good old dad stuck around. He fancied her and she indulged him so he wouldn't abandon me. Heian stuck around for a few days, spent most of the time with me. After he left, dad packed up in the middle of the night and disappeared. Haven't seen or heard from him since."

He nodded, that sounded more like the man he'd heard about. "What brought you here? Just to see Heian?"

She shrugged. "I didn't have anywhere else. Orcs raided our village and my family was killed a couple of months ago. You two are the only family I've got left."

"Actually, I'm all you've got. Heian died ten years ago, probably shortly after he left you." As she processed the news, Carric walked over and took the cell door keys off the hook on the wall. He unlocked it and walked in.

"Carric, nice to finally meet you." He offered a hand down to her. She accepted it.

"Jazale."

After that, Jazale settled down in Osthom. Carric trained her up and got her a job working in the town guard. Working with her, and having someone who knew Heian like he did, even if only for a short time, helped him take that last step in moving past his grief. For the first time in years, he connected with someone emotionally, not physically. Granted she was the only one, at least until he'd met Kerri and Elaine.

From the moment he met the two of them, he felt the same kind of connection with them like he did with Jazale. All three of them were strong, independent women who could handle themselves in any situation. They'd all been shaped by their circumstances into taking on more in life than was fair, at least in his eyes. He didn't pity them, he just wished the world wasn't like that. With all three of them, Carric felt an urge to protect them. To shield them from the dangers of the world, and to just let them enjoy life. He'd spent ten years numbing out the rest of the world, but spending time with all of them allowed him to remember how joyous and fun life could be, without sex. As much as Carric wanted to protect them, he also wanted to experience life with them.

Without even meaning to, Carric had adopted Elaine and Kerri as his younger sisters, not that he'd tell them that.

Just before dawn, when the air in the inn was still, and the only thing stirring was Carric, a hooded figure stealthily entered through a backdoor and made their way upstairs.

Exhaustion had caught up with Carric, and he was on the verge of sleep, when the hairs on the back of his neck bristled. Cracking open an eye, he saw the hooded figure standing above him.

"What do you want?" Carric was too tired to be shocked or surprised. There was a smell that clung to him, a smell that Carric knew well. Elaine carried a bottle of the oil around, and only used it for Church rituals, and she'd only performed one ritual that night.

The figure pulled down their hood and crouched down.

"Aren't you supposed to be dead?" Carric's eyebrows screwed up in confusion.

The not-dead prince gave a wry grin. "To everyone else, yeah. Only a select group know I'm not."

"Is Kerri in that group?"

Maron nodded. "Xayoe told her earlier tonight."

"If you're supposed to be dead, what are you doing here?" Carric reached over and grabbed his waterskin, quickly slapping some of the liquid onto his tired face.

He pointed at the room behind the ranger. "I need to talk to Kerri, explain the situation to her. She wasn't in the palace, so I figured she had to be here with rest of the guild."

"Situation being that you're leaving?" The half-elf asked.

Maron didn't answer.

"It doesn't take a genius to guess that you're needing to skip town." Carric yawned. "I'm not letting you talk to her, just to tell her that you're leaving again. She's been through enough tonight, and I'm not going to let you add to her baggage."

The prince's eyes narrowed as he leaned in closer. "If I just leave without saying anything to her, isn't that worse?"

Carric considered Maron's words for a moment. "Why not come with us? We're leaving town tomorrow, well today. Come with us and you'll have all the time in the world to talk to her."

Maron looked to be on the verge of accepting the offer, but he sighed and hung his head. "I can't, I've got a mission in the Nydag Empire. A mission that I've put off for far too long."

Carric leaned forward, to make sure that Maron didn't miss a word. "Well, until you're mission is done, stay away from Kerri. I won't let you hold her back like some dog on a leash. Let her experience what life is like without you. Then, if you come back later, she can decide whether or not she wants you."

He nodded firmly. "As long as I'm alive, I'll always come back."

"Those are just empty words until you back them up." Carric leaned back. "You'd better get going, now's about the time people start waking up."

Maron stood up. His eyes lingered on the door.

"Oh, one more thing." Carric yawned again. "What's the cover story for your missing body? Kind of hard to fake a death without a body."

"Xayoe said she'd take care of it." Maron reached up and pulled his hood back up. "I'm trusting you to keep her safe."

The ranger waved him off. "That was already the plan. Good travels."

Just as stealthily as he'd arrived, Maron left.

Contrary to what he'd told Maron, it was still another two hours before anyone on the floor began to rouse. Carric was asleep when the door behind him began to move.

"Carric, move your butt!" Elaine called through the door as she tried to shove it open.

"Elaine, he's probably asleep." Kerri's voice filtered through. To Carric's ears, she sounded tired, but he was happy she was awake.

"Then he needs to wake up and come sleep in a bed." The cleric growled as she put all her weight into moving the door. Carric cracked a grin and sat for another minute. Finally, the door was open enough for her to poke her head through and glare down at the half-elf. "Will you move already?"

"How can I when you keep shoving me?" He asked nonchalantly up at her. She huffed and went back into the room. Grinning, Carric picked himself up, grabbed his gear, and went into the room.

Kerri sat on the edge of the bed, brushing her hair, with Shomma asleep on the pillow next to her. "Good morning, sleep well?"

"Nope, people kept parading past me all night." He dropped his gear on the floor with a thud, walked over, and collapsed face first onto the second bed. He turned his head to address the two of them. "We're leaving town at noon. You two are in charge of getting everything ready. When I wake up, we're gone."

"We can't just leave, what about the fallout from last night? What about Maron?" Elaine asked. Carric's eyes were already closed, but he could imagine the pitying look she must have sent Kerri.

"Maron's alive. He left town last night." He mumbled. Elaine's shocked gasp was almost covered up by Kerri's.

"How do you know that?" The bed frame creaked as Kerri sat beside Carric.

"He stopped by last night to say good-bye. You were dead to the world and I wouldn't let him wake you up. He would have stayed longer, but he said he has some job to do in Nydag." Carric yawned loudly and buried his face in the pillow.

"Maron can't be dead, because I gave him Last Rites." Elaine's tone suggested she was very angry. "Kerri, tell me I didn't waste my very expensive oil on another of your cons?"

"First off, it wasn't my con." Kerri defended. Carric fell asleep as the bard tried to explain the events of last night to the very annoyed cleric.

Carric came to consciousness not as peacefully as he would have liked.

"Wake up!" A rough voice roared in his ear. The half-elf jolted awake and sat upright, narrowly colliding with the lumbering figure above him.

"What the hell is going on?" Carric blinked drowsily as the scene in front of him came into focus. Besides the guard, he assumed it was a guard seeing as how the man wore a guard's uniform, there were two more dressed like him, who flanked Elaine. Elaine did not seem happy as she angrily watched the uniformed men rifle through her and Kerri's packs. In her hands was a balled up cloak that was squirming as she kept a tight hand around it. The guard in front of Carric didn't answer as he reached down for Carric's pack and quiver.

Carric shot his leg out in front of his pack. "Again, what the hell are you doing?" He now sat on the edge of the bed, his gaze focused on the brown-haired guard. Carric noticed that all the guards were armed with longswords sheathed at their waists.

The guard scowled. "Looking for evidence that you and your companions colluded with the orcs that attacked last night."

Carric couldn't contain his howl of laughter. "Why do you think we 'colluded' with those creatures?"

"We fought against them when they attacked the party." Elaine argued, her tone sharp.

The main guard crossed their arms. "You two and your companion disappeared right after the attack, and remained unseen for the rest of the night. You were summoned for questioning this morning and didn't show. It was then assumed that you were in hiding due to your guilt."

"Then we didn't do a very good job at it." Carric rubbed his temples as he stood up. "We didn't disappear, we headed towards the entertainer's guild campsite, where we'd left our shit. We gathered our shit, and came here with the rest of the guild. We've been holed up this room all night and never received your blasted summons." Elaine nodded in agreement.

"Truth or not, both of you will need to come down to Headquarters House for questioning." The guard looked around. "Where'd the other female go?"

Elaine's mouth pursed into a single line. "Shopping. She left a couple of hours ago."

A black head poked out of the cloth ball, revealing a very unhappy weasel. Shomma's thin body wriggled out, and before Elaine could stop her, she'd launched herself at the closest guard. There was a metallic screech as Shomma's claws scratched the guard's helm. His panicked scream mixed with one of pain as Shomma bit down on an exposed piece of neck. The guard reached up to try to pry the creature of himself, and managed to grab her around the middle in his gloved hand.

"Let her go!" Carric took a step forward, but the guard in front of him blocked his way. "She's only reacting to the situation." He pleaded as Shomma squeaked in pain. Elaine was just as distressed, but she was blocked by a guard.

"This fucking rat drew blood." The wounded guard snarled as examined the blood on his glove.

"She's a weasel, and she's only a baby." Carric was worried now. The guard's grip on Shomma was very, very tight. He could see grimaces of pain on Shomma's features. "You're hurting her."

"Good." The guard squeezed a little tighter.

"That's enough. There's no need to be cruel." The leader of the trio finally said as he stepped towards his underling. Snatching the cloak out of Elaine's hands, the leader once again trapped Shomma inside of it. He tied the top and tossed it lightly to Carric. "Leave her in there for the time being. Now, gather up your belongings and come with us for questioning."

Grimly, Carric and Elaine did as they were told. Crouched over his pack, Carric opened a hole in the bag and peeked in on Shomma. Though he wasn't as well-versed with magic like Ander, Lia, Elaine, or Kerri, he did have his own tricks. He gazed into the eyes of the weasel. There was a small spark in her eyes and instantly the two of them were connected through a tenuous string of magic. Carric could feel Shomma's fear and pain through the magic bond, and he sent a wave of soothing thoughts towards her.

Are you alright? Are you hurt? Carric asked through the bond.

Scared. Bad men. Shomma's voice shook. Carric reached in and petted her head.

You were brave. I'm proud. The fear lessened, but didn't disappear.

Hold me? The image of Shomma cuddled up in Carric's arms came through, and he smiled.

Not right now. Bad men still here. Stay in the bag for safety. Stay with Elaine. Carric closed the bag and placed it inside his pack. He secured the top of the pack, then reached for his quiver. In one movement he pulled out a quarterstaff, stood up, and ran at the guard who'd hurt his small charge.

The two-handed swing hit the guard's metal coated body and slid off. Before he could get a second swing in, Carric was tackled to the ground and manacled.

"Seriously? What did you think was going to happen?" The leader guard growled in Carric's ear as he hauled the half-elf to his feet. Carric didn't answer. Before anything else could be said, he was escorted out of the room.