The child hugged himself for warmth in front of a cold fireplace and wished he had the courage to start a fire, but he didn’t even dare to move unless his parents gave him leave.

Even now he could hear them.

They were close. Always close. Waiting for him to do something bad so they could punish him. The only way for him to be safe was to be as still as possible. If he didn’t move, he couldn’t be bad.

Good. I’m good. I’ll be good, the child thought.

All he had to do was be good and do as he was told, and he wouldn’t be punished.

“Lionheart?!”

The child looked up when he heard the unfamiliar voice. The first movement he had dared to make of his own volition in days. He could hear footsteps. Not the clumsy stomps of dead things but the light and firm movements of a fighter.

How… did he know how a fighter walked?

He was just a kid. A kid who couldn’t do anything right.

“Lionheart?! Can you hear me?!”

The child gulped and tried to speak but his voice was so hoarse he could only whisper.

“… whose there?”

The footsteps broke into a run, and he saw a shadow under the doorframe before it was pushed open, and a woman walked inside.

She was small. No bigger than him but unmistakably a woman grown. Her chestnut brown hair was so long and wild that it reached her waist. She had a kind face, and large eyes that were full of quiet strength. Something about her features, paws covered in fine fur, and the flexible tail made him think of a mouse. In her paws she carried a spear.

Why… did the woman look so familiar?

He could swear he had met her once. In a dream. A dream where she had been old with a wrinkled face and hair fine and white as spiderweb. Only her eyes remained the same even when they weren’t surrounded by a patchwork of lines.

And… in that dream… he had been a man. Strong and brave. Like a lion.

The woman kneeled in front of him and smiled.

“Hello, Lionheart.”

The child reeled away from the kind smile.

“… you shouldn’t be here.”

The woman nodded.

“You’re right. Neither of us should be here.” The woman said and offered him her paw: “Why don’t we leave this place together? No one should stay in a place like this.”

The child almost took her paw but then pulled away.

“… no… they’ll get mad.”

The small woman’s smile grew deeper and even more comforting.

“Let them. I will keep you safe.”

The woman’s paw was so soft and warm when she touched his shoulder. The first piece of warmth he had felt in days.

“People who actually care about you are waiting for you to come home. Like Sal.” The woman said.

“… Sal?”

That name… it quickened something in him. There was a locked door in his soul that was calling to him. Demanding to be opened.

“Yes. He would have come himself, but he knew that I was better suited for the job.” The woman said.

The child squeezed his head. It felt like… his skull was full of worms. Feasting on his brain… his memories… on who he was…

“… Sal… I think I did something bad…”

“If you did, he has forgiven you.” The woman said and offered her paw again: “Now, what do you say?”

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Before he could answer, he heard… skittering. Like some huge insect was running down the hallway driven by anger. The doors blew open when his parents rushed in. The child screamed and tried to hide under the floorboards.

“No! I’m good! I swear! Please! Don’t hurt me!”

In last desperate attempt to warm each other up, his parents had clung to each other so tightly, they could no longer pull apart. The dead had transformed into a hideous creature with four arms and legs and far too many eyes and mouths. They hissed, slobbered, and wheezed while their many eyes burned with anger.

“How dare you intrude here?! How dare you harass our son?! How dare you try and make him leave?!”

The woman’s eyes flashed, and the kind face became a war mask. She stood up and pointed her spear at them.

“Not one more step, monster.” The woman said.

“Monster?! You dare to talk to us like that in front of our child?!”

The child watched from between his fingers as his parents came running at the woman and tried to crush her with their superior size. The child could almost see it. The woman with the kind eyes being stomped down. Broken and killed. Left to rot in front of him as a reminder what happened when you were bad.

But the woman wasn’t crushed.

The muscles in her arms were hard as steel but flexible as a whip when her spear shot forward, and his parents screamed. They screamed and cursed.

“Cassio! For once in your life make yourself useful and kill her!” His parents roared.

“Don’t listen to them.” The woman said.

The child wasn’t sure how he knew it but… it would have been wiser for her to move around. Use her speed to her advantage and chip away at her enemy to tire them out. That would give her a chance to land a killing blow but instead she stood her ground and didn’t budge. But why? Was it because…?

Because…

Because… it would have meant… giving a clear path for his parents to get to him. The woman… she was risking her life and putting herself to a disadvantage to keep him safe.

“Remember who you are, Lionheart. Remember who your true enemy is. Remember what he did to you. You’re a lord of Garuccia. Are you really going to let these vermin order you around?” The woman said.

The child fell silent and watched as the small woman held back the monster with skill that you would need a lifetime to hone. It reminded him… of another small woman with a spear, facing down another monster. He had seen it with his own eyes. A small woman… a goblin girl… whose skills and courage he had doubted… jumping in the back of a skin-changer bear and stabbing it in the eye.

… the goblin…

… the little goblin…

Little…

Little Ant…

Little Ant who had been sent to ask for help from… Sal. His friend.

Who the undead parasite had forced him to turn against!

“You.” Cassio growled like an angry lion.

He could feel himself grow. His muscles filling out. He felt… like he was becoming himself again. He hadn’t been a child in a long time. He was viscount Cassio de Rossi. The Lionheart. A lord of Garuccia.

He stood up and stepped past Old Badger who didn’t look so old inside the labyrinth of his mind. He glared at the monster Pietro had used to torment him. To make him feel small and helpless. That bastard had used his parents against him! He had defiled their memory to control him!

“Thank you for your help, Old Badger.” Cassio said and cracked his knuckles: “I will take it from here.”

Old Badger smiled and took a step back.

“As you wish, lord viscount.”

The monstrous patchwork of two people dropped all pretenses of humanity and let out a screech. Then it attacked him. It had the limbs and teeth of two people and all the spite and malice that a vampire could fill it with.

But that did not matter.

Cassio had been tutored in wrestling and boxing since he had been old enough to stand. Later, he had picked up savate and jiujitsu and discovered that after mastering one martial art, it was easy to learn the principles of others. There was only so many ways you could throw a punch or do a kick. Human limbs could only bend in so many ways. Or dislocated.

This creature had so many arms and legs for him to grab. So many bones for him to break.

So that’s what he did.

When the monster came at him, it might as well have offered itself to him on a silver platter. He started by dislocating one of its elbows. From there it was simple to take the fight to the ground where he could do real damage. He grabbed and broke everything he could reach before mounting the monster and made sure to have a good look at its features. Its hideous visage.

Then he started punching its face in.

Over the years he had sharpened his fists on heavier and harder punching bags, using thinner and thinner gloves until he boxed barehanded, and his knuckles could dent trees. One monster was no match to him. Not when he wasn’t afraid.

Go to hell, Cassio thought.

After one more punch, the hardest he had ever thrown, his enemy was vanquished, and Cassio stood up. He turned to look at his savior.

“Old Badger.”

Old Badger smiled at him.

“Good to have you back, lord Lionheart.” Old Badger said.

When Cassio looked Old Badger in the eyes and saw what she had been in her prime, he could understand why a fox god would carry a torch for her for all those years and come running when she called for him.

“Where is Sal? Is he…?”

“Alive and well. If mildly annoyed with you. You will see him soon.”

“Good. That is good.” Cassio said and looked around the dusty room he had been trapped in for too long: “How do we get out of here?”

“By opening our eyes. Lord Lionheart, it is time to wake up.” Old Badger said and slapped her paws together.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Cassio woke up with a jolt in his room and for the first time in days his mind was clear. Little Ant was helping Old Badger on her feet, but she only had eyes for Cassio. The girl was practically beaming. For a moment Little Ant forgot herself and ran to hug him. Cassio sat surprised in her embrace but then put his hand on her shoulder.

“Thank you.” Cassio said.

After Little Ant had let go, he stood up and looked at the two goblins. Old Badger seemed like she was in pain and was rubbing her chest, but she still looked proud of her work.

“Thank you both but… this is a debt I cannot repay with mere thanks.”

The door creaked open, and Cassio saw his head maid Francesca peek in… and behind her… the vampire’s daughter.

“My lord… is it over?” Francesca said.

Cassio looked at the vampire’s daughter… and he clenched his fist so hard, his knuckles cracked. There was a roaring building inside him. Demanding the immediate satisfaction of revenge.

“It will be soon.” Cassio said and started walking towards the vampire’s daughter while rolling up his sleeves: “You set me up. You brought that monster into my home.”

Francesca stepped between him and the vampire’s familiar.

“My lord…”

“Step aside. That’s an order. No one humiliates me like this and lives.” Cassio said.

Francesca stared at him horrified and then spread her legs… like she was taking a fighting stance.

“I won’t. My lord you need to calm down and…”

Cassio pushed Francesca aside and loomed over Elysa. He could already hear bones breaking and the vampire’s daughter crying for…

“Cassio.” Old Badger said.

The authority in the grandmother goblin’s voice was enough to halt him. He looked at Old Badger over his shoulder… and the disappointment in her face knocked the breath out of him.

“She is every bit as much a victim as you.” Old Badger said.

“She also saved Emilia.” Francesca said.

Cassio glared at Elysa, and he could see his reflection in her dark eyes. She was afraid of him and… in her eyes he looked like some mad animal. A Screaming Beast. Little better than Pietro. Just another brute who thought his power put him above others. Even Little Ant was looking at him like he was a stranger. He had lost control and if Old Badger hadn’t been there… he might have… he…

What have I become, Cassio thought.

When he could think clearly… when he couldn’t hide behind his rage, he saw himself as he was.

He had almost unleashed his ire on a woman half his size. What kind of a man did that? No man. You didn’t do that and still call yourself a man. Just a Screaming Beast. He couldn’t bear look at Elysa or Little Ant who had trusted him just seconds go. Francesca had stood up and was pulling Elysa away and looking at him with thinly veiled disdain.

Cassio looked at his scarred knuckles before letting his hand fall to his side.

“Old Badger, do you have a plan?” Cassio asked.

The old goblin nodded.

“Sal is safe.” Old Badger said and looked at Elysa: “So is your brother. They are taking your mother away from your father. For now… we need to get out anyone we can. We’ll come back for the rest as soon as possible.”

“Then I’ll stay behind.” Elysa said.

Cassio, Francesca, Old Badger, and Little Ant looked at her shocked.

“… what?” Little Ant said.

“I’m the only one who can keep the ghouls at bay. If I go… they will eat everyone who gets left behind.”

Old Badger was quiet for a moment. Then she walked over to Elysa and kissed her hand.

“You’re a brave woman and we will be back for you as soon as we can. Blessing of the Quiet upon you.”