- Unknown -
The day they executed my brother was the day they sentenced themselves to death.
“What do we do with him?” Asked a bald and well built man with winding tattoos across his body. Barn was his name. Too much brawn, not enough brains.
He refers to our captive, a man we took to send a message.
“We’ll burn him,” I say. “Slowly.”
“Please!” The man begins to grovel. “Please I’m begging you. I’ll do anything you ask.” There are tears in his eyes.
I smirk. “Oh? Is that so?” I snap my fingers at Barn and he hands over a sheet of paper and an ink pen. “Then could you sign this for me?” I ask.
“Thank you,” the man repeats over and over as he crawls forward while I slide the sheet and ink pen through the metal bars of his cell.
He reads over what’s written on the paper. Just a few words. But he bursts into tears at the sight. The terms of a contract.
“No no no no no,” he groans. “Don’t do this. Please! PLEASE!” He screams.
My eyes harden. “Sign.”
“Maybe we’ll let you live,” perks up a skinny boy with glasses and a mop of curly dark hair. My cousin, Castor. He speaks with indifference.
“He would be the first,” Barn responds.
I laugh.
“I can give you money! Women! What about information? You guys want trade secrets? Scandalous activities?Anything!” He starts to hyperventilate.
I summon a plume of flame and rocket it into his groveling legs. He lets out an agonized scream as the skin on his legs melts and boils, if but for a moment.
“Sign,” I say. “It is no longer a request.” As if it ever was.
The sweat dripping down his face causes him to blink repeatedly through gasps of air.
He looks into my eyes with terror and the realization of his fate dons on him.
He takes the pen in hand and scratches a signature along the bottom line.
“You are now in control of the entirety of my assets,” he says in disgust as he chucks the pen at Barn.
In one final act of defiance, as if to salvage the last of his dignity, he spits at my feet.
“Why would a sinner spit on the devil himself?” I ask, a devious grin on my face.
I reach in and grab the paper from between the bars as the man scoots back, his outburst of confidence gone with the wind.
I hand the scroll to Castor, who locks it away in a satchel he caries at his waist.
I reach out my hand, palm forwards towards the man and watch as his eyes widen and a raging blaze of blue fire engulfs his entire cell.
His screams are cut short by the kiss of death and the stench of burnt flesh fills the room. It’s a smell I’ve gotten used to. I almost enjoy it.
“What do we do with the rest of them?” Barn asks, motioning towards the lines of cells occupying the rest of our prisoners. Ones busted along with the now burnt man. I have no respect for these people.
”Burn them all,” I order. Barn nods and gestures to the men behind him, and they spread out to cover a cell each.
I walk down the dank corridor as Castor falls in tow, and we pass the cells filled with terrified and whimpering men. The only other sound the drip of water into a pool that collects at the step of the staircase exit. We begin our ascent as the men start to scream and burn at my order. We step out into the open of a dimly lit room, through a string double door which is unlatched with a nod to the doorman, and out into the glimmering moonlight.
Castor laughs.
“What’s so funny?” I ask. The screams of the men still echoing through the prison.
“I never realized how perfect of a title ‘The Prince of Ash’ is for you.”
I smile and throw my arm around his shoulder. “I’d prefer ’The Devil’ or something along those lines, but I guess you’re right.”
We walk off to find a tavern, exiting the prison with the goodbye of the last shout of burning men.
The devil and his demon leaving a stone hell of their own creation.
———————————————————
- Cassius -
“You just missed her,” stated the whizzled hag standing in front of the Wisewoman’s shop.
“What? Are you kidding me…” I groan. The sun is starting to set and the crickets from the surrounding forest grow louder. We had to walk like half a mile through the forest to some outer area of the town filled with shacks and crazy old people.
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It only took us this long because Kathryn stopped and helped a lost child find her parents. I didn’t even notice the crying kid originally. She’s very observant.
“She’ll be back by around noon tomorrow if you kids want to come back then.”
”Thank you so much,” Kathryn replies politely as we turn to depart back along the forested path.
“Be warned!” The hag shouts. “It’s a full moon tonight. That’s when the crazies come out!” She then scampers off with a witchly cackle.
“Seems like the crazies are already out,” I say with a smirk.
Kathryn playfully punches me in the shoulder. “Don’t say that. She was nice!” She says with a slight smile.
I laugh softly. “What do we do now? Walk all the way back?”
Two miles is really nothing for me personally. I ran track and cross country during school. It is a boring walk though.
“We could get something to eat?” Kathryn suggests, and my stomach grumbles in agreement.
We walk back into town and decide to stop at one of the local taverns. The inside is brightly lit and filled with customers. We are seated at a small table and a waitress approaches us to ask for drink preference.
“It’s crazy similar to restaurants back home,” I say after we asked for waters.
“I know right? It’s almost like one of those themed restaurants. Like Big Boy or Mary’s Diner?” Kathryn responds. “Depending on the place though you’ll have to pick up your own drinks and food from the counter.”
“Interesting,” I reply.
The door to the establishment swings open. More customers. This place is gonna start to overcrowd pretty soon.
Over the cacophony of the restaurant I can just make out the end of the newcomers conversation.
“…elieve you almost beat us here! We started walking like an hour earlier.”
A young man, likely not much older than Kathryn and myself steps into the room, a gangly younger fellow in tow. They’re accompanied by a large buff dude with tattoos everywhere. I can instantly tell the big guy is some type of gangster.
The room goes completely silent.
Kathryn turns around to face them.
The guy around our age, who appears to be the leader speaks up. “What’s the problem? Keep on doing your thing,” he says to the room. “We’re all friends, eh?”
The conversation awkwardly picks back up, and a waiter brings the small but imposing group over to a table near us. The young man is dressed in all black, with dark eyes and onyx hair. A scar runs across his left eye and down his cheek. He’s roguishly handsome. Maybe a noble?
He surveys the room as he walks by with a calculating gaze. He eyes land on mine for a moment, and then flicker to Kathryn. He stares a bit too long for my comfort.
”Have you seen him before?” I turn to ask Kathryn.
”Never. Maybe he’s the lord or something of this town? Or a criminal?”
“I was thinking something similar,” I reply.
After the waitress seats the odd group she walks over and tells us our drinks are ready for pickup. I glance over at a counter to two clay cups set on a wooden tray.
“I’ll be right back to take your order,” she says and scampers off, likely to avoid being so close to the newcomers.
“I’ll get it,” I say. I stand up and weave my way through the rounded tables and over to the counter where several other drink and food platters are laid out.
”It’d be really easy to just take someone else’s platter,” I think to myself.
I grab the drinks and turn around to see the man in black sitting in my seat. Kathryn sits awkwardly in her chair, listening to whatever the dude is saying.
The hell? Sneaky bastard waited for me to get up.
I weave my way back through tables but the buff tattoo guy from before moves to block my way. I was so tunnel-visioned I didn’t even notice him approach.
I stand several inches taller than him, but he’s got me beat in weight.
“Get the fuck outta my way,” I say angrily. The hell is his problem?
“Find somewhere else to sit, kid.” The man glares threateningly. He pushes me back with his right hand. The tattoos on his face don’t reach the top of his shiny bald head.
I drop the drink plate and the cups shatter against the floor. The dark eyed man looks over.
I shove baldy, hard, and despite his weight advantage he stumbles back several feet and nearly falls, unprepared for the sudden assault.
“The hell is your problem?” I ask.
“We’re just talking,” the dark eyed guy says. “No need to get so upset.”
The skinny kid with glasses laughs egotistically from his chair beside the dark eyed man.
Kathryn looks exceedingly uncomfortable. The way they both leer at her, the skinny glasses kid especially, irks me.
”Kathryn let’s leave,” I state.
She stands up and prepares to walk my way but Glasses grabs her arm.
“Don’t leave so soon,” he says as he pulls her back towards him. She glances at me with wide and fearful eyes.
A fire ignites inside of me. Just like that, instant inferno rage.
I approach the table, a blanket expression on my face and my only thought is that I’m about to beat the shit out of this kid.
Baldy moves to intercept me again, this time his legs are positioned in a fighters stance, but his arms aren’t raised. He’s expecting another push, like the average bar fighter would go for.
But before he can even open him mouth I swing a lightning fast right hook right into his jaw and he goes out like a light.
My dad had me in martial arts since I was like three.
I turn my gaze over to the table, but realize the dark eyed man has grabbed Glasses’ arm and he’d released Kathryn. She runs over to me.
”Never touch a woman without her consent, you hear? Violence against women is only justified when they’re guilty. If she wants to leave she can leave.” He says sternly. The kids face turns sour.
”Whatever,” he says and yanks his arm away.
“Are you okay?” I ask Kathryn, but the kid didn’t grab her with too much force to begin with.
She nods. “Let’s get out of here,” she says in a soft voice. “I think these guys are powerful.”
We turn to depart, but Dark Eyes speaks up.
“Hold on,” he says. “You hit my friend. And you took the pretty girl.” His voice is silvery, and snake-like. “I have an image to uphold. I can’t let everyone watch me be outdone like this.”
The crowd had remained silent this entire time, watching with held breath as if witnessing the buildup of volcano.
“Just keep walking,” Kathryn says. We approach the door, but as she reaches to push through, a wall of ice shoots up from the ground nearly severing her hand.
“I didn’t say you could leave,” the man says, his voice growing serious.
I move Kathryn behind me, and Dark Eyes winds his way through the tables and stands far enough away as to not look up at me. A calculated tactic to avoid looking inferior.
”Do you know who I am?” He asks. “Because if you did this whole situation would get much more interesting.”
Baldy clambers up from his unconscious stupor with a moan and a grunt, and begins to dazedly approach the confrontation. The dark eyed man holds his hand out, and baldy stops in his tracks.
“I have no clue who the fuck you are, nor do I care.”
His eyes light up. “Wonderful, wonderful. You seem like a pretty strong guy. How about this; you and me, one on one. I win, I save my reputation and I get to talk to the pretty girl,” he winks at Kathryn. “If you win, I’ll tell you who I am and I’ll let you leave. Deal?”
”You don’t have much of a choice,” perks up Glasses from his seat at the table.
”Shut up, Castor,” Dark Eyes orders.
“Fine,” I say. Kathryn’s hold on the back of my shirt tightens.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” she says.
”Don’t worry, I won’t let anything bad happen to her,” says Dark Eyes.
”I’ll be fine,” I say to Kathryn. “Besides, we don’t have much of an option,” and she reluctantly releases her grip on my shirt.
My shirt. Ah shit. These are new clothes. I take off the shirt and toss it at Kathryn.
”Hold on to this for me, please.” Her eyes widen slightly. I try to smile at her reassuringly.
I turn back towards Dark Eyes. “Your move,” I say.
“All of you, in the kitchen.” He orders, and the customers collectively stand up and scramble towards the kitchen door behind the counter. There’s probably a back door, but I doubt he’d let us out.
“Now,” he says with a catlike smile, “let’s begin, shall we?”