Colleen’s body was silent. The absence permeated through the world around.
“Mom!” Daniel ran towards the corpse that was his mother. He rushed around his uncle, stumbling along the way. He wrapped his mother in his arms. “Mommy!” His tears fell down as words came tumbling out. He didn’t even know what he was saying. All he could hear was the sound of his mother’s skull being cracked. He wanted his words to reach her. He didn’t care how loud he had to scream. If there was a chance she was alive, he would wake her up.
Gram didn’t move to stop his nephew. He just watched in silence. His eyes were dry.
“You need to move. We need to move.” Daniel didn’t know how many times he said those words. Saliva, tears, and snot rolled down his face. But there was nothing that could stop them. They were a flood that nothing and no one could stop. “Mom, I don’t care if you hit me, but you need to move. Get up. Get up, and I’ll be the perfect student. The Black Tortoise technique, I’ll perfect it. Just please wake up.
Her body just lay there, as though it were mocking him.
Was this the world Daniel’s father talked about?
Time flew by. Noon became dusk. And dusk became midnight.
In the wasteland, the nights were cold. It was said that unless you lived through them before, you would be frozen to the bone. The cold was only supported by howling winds, the kind that made one wonder if monsters lived in the wastelands. No one knew for sure as dead men tell no tales.
There was no moon that night. There was no light in the darkness except the stars.
Daniel didn’t remember falling asleep, but when he opened his eyes, he found that his uncle had a shovel with him. He didn’t know where his uncle even got it. But a large hole was now in the ground.
“Mom?” Daniel looked around. He didn’t see his mother anywhere. “Mom?”
“Daniel,” Gram was standing in front of the hole, his shovel rested over his shoulders. He motioned for Daniel to come to him. He didn’t turn around, he only motioned for his nephew to come.
Without thinking, Daniel walked over to the hole. He had no idea what was even in there. Why was there a hole? It just didn’t make sense.
Crunch. Crunch. He remembered the sound as his feet touched the ground. Each step had a crisp sound that filled the silence. Each sound tried to fill the space in his mind of where his mother’s head being cracked was already. The two mixed together, the cracks and crunch.
Daniel looked up at his uncle. He didn’t dare look in the hole. He didn’t want to. His mind wouldn’t admit it, but he knew what was down there.
Gram could already see what his nephew was doing. “Look down.”
Daniel continued to look at his uncle.
Gram pointed his finger downward. “I said look down.”
Every fiber of Daniel’s being made him look up. It wasn’t that he wanted to disobey his uncle, it was that the world below was just not there. It just couldn’t exist. He continued to look up at his uncle.
Crack.
A sharp pain was in Daniel’s chest. He didn’t know what happened. There was something broken inside him. It caused him to lurch forward. He bent down. The moment he did, his uncle grabbed his head and forced him to look down.
He saw what was in the hole. It was his mom. She was laying on her side, curled. Next to her was Spencer. The two of them were right next to each other. Memories of when they two of them were in bed, just staring at each other filled Daniel’s mind.
Fwoosh! While he was busy looking at them, he didn’t realize a match a fallen on them. Oil had drenched their two bodies before, otherwise they wouldn’t have started to burn so easily. Now that oil was burning their remains. The two of them didn’t move. They looked so peaceful. But Daniel wanted them to move. They needed to get out of there.
“Mom! Dad!”
“Daniel,” Gram said. “This is the reality of the world. I’m sure your father taught you that doing good deeds will lead to good things happening to you. But look at your parents now. I know your father was a good man. And my sister had her troubles, but she was a good person in her heart. So then what have their good deeds done for them to deserve this? How can this world be good when it leaves others in such a state? In this world people will die. It is kill or be killed. Do you understand me? You either live to be the strongest or die like everyone else.”
“Bad uncle,” Daniel began to strike at his uncle. He didn’t use the skills his father taught him. He couldn’t remember them. He was just flailing. The pain in his chest was swelling. It writhed around inside him. But that didn’t matter to him. He didn’t know how to stop it, but hitting his uncle, helped to numb the pain.
Gram did nothing to stop his nephew from hitting him. “It is better you see this now, because this is what the world is like. The world won’t care if you are good or evil. If you are weak, others will bully you. If you are strong, others will want to fight you. Of the two, it is better to eat as a king than be a corpse in a ditch.”
Tears were flowing from Daniel’s eyes. He didn’t care about that. Who wanted to live in this stupid world anyway? Daniel looked down at his parents. He wanted to go down. He wanted to be there for his parents. To find a way to wake them up. But there was something in his mind that kept him from doing so. A primal part, the one that wanted to live.
“My sister asked me to take care of you. But know this, I’m not a nurturer. I won’t tell you pretty lies about this world. If you want to survive this world, you’ll need to understand the philosophy of this world. If you can’t handle it, take this.”
Gram held out a dagger to Daniel. It looked like the ones that he had used to stab the Lone Rider Gang. It was pristine. And even in the darkness, it still found a way to glisten.
“I don’t want it,” Daniel knocked the dagger from his uncle’s hand and it went into the fire.
“That was your escape from this world. Now that you knocked it away, you must live for your mother. For your father.”
Daniel kept hitting his uncle. He sighed and let his nephew hit him.
After some time, Gram had enough of his nephew, so he slammed his hand onto Daniel’s neck. Daniel went down. His face burying into the sand.
Gram looked down at his nephew. He let out a sigh. “What am I going to do with you?”
When Daniel woke up, he found that the hole was gone. It was now flat ground all around. Where was he? Where was his uncle? Where was the hole his parents were in.
He was out in the wasteland, he knew that for sure. But Daniel hadn’t traveled too far from home, he had no clue where he was. All around, all he could see were mounds of sand. There were no distinguishing feature from one mound to another.
“You’re finally up.”
Daniel turned to see his uncle standing behind him. Strapped to his back was one of the motorcycles the Lone Rider Gang had. Why was his uncle carrying it?
“Uncle Gram, where are we?”
Gram cringed. “First of all, don’t call me uncle. From now on, just call me sifu. And second, this is the middle of the wasteland. You were tired, so I let you sleep.” He pointed up ahead. “Roughly twenty miles that way is the village of Black Stone.”
“What about our- my home?”
“Burnt it.”
“Burnt it?” Daniel was shocked. He remembered the house as it was. He couldn’t imagine seeing it burn down.
“If the Lone Rider Gang were to know that their members were killed by someone, they would naturally look for who did it. Better to have them think that your family and their members killed each other than chase after us. I even placed some of the Lone Riders inside the house for good measure.”
Daniel looked around. He knew the way his father traveled to get to the nearest village. He looked the way they had come. “How long will we be gone?”
“Stupid boy, do you think you can ever go back? Your father and mother was the only one who knew where your little house was. Naturally if someone were to live there now, do you think the Lone Rider Gang wouldn’t kill that person to find out information on your family?”
“But-”
“No. Don’t start with me.”
Daniel cried.
Gram rolled his eyes. He grabbed onto Daniel and dragged him along. In the heat, and with sand sinking their footsteps, they needed to go at a leisurely pace.
It was only after some time that Daniel stopped crying.
“Un- sifu, why is it my mother doesn’t talk about you?” Up until the day before, Daniel had no idea he had an uncle. Actually, he didn’t know his mom had a family outside of their own. He didn’t even know where babies came from. He assumed that she just fell from the sky.
“Was there a reason she needed to talk about me?”
Daniel thought about it. Now that his uncle mentioned it, he guessed there never really was a time when his mother could bring him up.
“Do I have any other aunts and uncles?”
“Your mother and I were the only siblings. However, we had seven cousins. All of us are scattered around and it is unlikely that you’ll meet them.”
“What about a grandma and grandpa? Are they alive?”
“No.” Gram breathed a heavy sigh. He figured he would be doing that a lot until Daniel grew up. “Look, Daniel, we nine cousins are the last living relatives of the Rui manor that I know of. Your mother is dead, and now there are only eight of us. But never mention Rui manor to anyone, got it.”
Daniel nodded. Even still, he wondered about those others.
“Sifu, you were able to use my dad’s skill, I thought only mom and dad knew it.”
Gram chuckled. “Your father taught me the skill a long time ago.”
“But I thought it wasn’t supposed to be taught to anyone outside my family.”
“I threatened to kill your mother if he didn’t teach me.” Gram sounded so casual about it. It shocked Daniel how calm his voice was.
Daniel punched his uncle. “You really are a bad uncle.” As soon as Daniel’s fist made contact, a shockwave struck back at him.
Gram laughed. “Do you think I would kill your mother?”
“Yes.” Daniel’s voice was flat and serious.
Gram’s laughter faded. His face became solemn. “Yes.” He coughed. “Well, I only killed her to end her suffering. Do you think I just kill people because I feel like it?”
Daniel thought about it. And in all honesty, he didn’t know. He had seen his uncle kill those Lone Rider Gang members, but would he really just kill anyone, he didn’t know.
“Sifu, have you ever killed anyone before?”
“Of course, Daniel.” A thought occurred to him. “You haven’t left your house have you?”
Daniel shook his head.
“Actually, how old are you? Do you know?”
Daniel shrugged.
Gram nodded. As far as he knew, most people in the wastelands kept track of that sort of thing. A majority of them died before they even became an adult. And besides, it wasn’t like there was anything special that would happen at a certain age, so it was practically useless to even do it.
Still, Gram could guess. “Based on other children your height, I would assume you’re maybe five or six years old.”
“Five or six?” Daniel tried to remember if his parents ever said anything about his age.
“Yes, in ancient times, a child who could speak like you would be considered fairly well spoken. However, in this day and age, you are roughly about average.”
“Why would people in ancient times not be able to talk like this? Were they dumb?”
“In a sense, but that is not something that the likes of you needs to worry about right now. Tell me, has your father begun to teach you his Shaw family skill?”
Daniel nodded. “He said that I’ve only mastered a tenth of the basics.”
“Show me.”
“Sifu, watch. This is my Roving Cloud Skill.” Daniel leapt three feet into the air.
“This is my Long Fist Skill.” Daniel shoved his hand into the ground, producing small holes in the ground before he landed. A small explosive sound could be heard right before impact.
Gram watched as his nephew performed the skills his father taught him. “How long have you been studying for?”
Daniel thought about it. “I think father said about a year.”
“One year? Perhaps it is because you are only a child- Never mind. As your uncle, I will help you in your training. What about techniques?”
“Mom taught me Black Tortoise technique a few days ago.”
Gram snorted. “Of course she would. Huh?” Gram looked down, Daniel was in tears again.
Slap.
Gram struck Daniel on the cheek. “Quit your crying. Are you going to do that every time you think about your parents? If you are, I might as well leave you for the wolves to come and eat.”
“Wolves?” Daniel had never seen a wolf before. But his father had told him that they liked to eat little boys who misbehaved.
“Yes. We’re closer to civilization. The wolves around cities are much more dangerous than the lone wandering wolves. These wolves have been mutated to have two mouths and two stomachs. It is said that their appetite is insatiable. And they can swallow children about your age whole. They’re so fast that you won’t even have time to react before you’re in their stomach.”
Daniel’s felt a knot in his stomach. Were wolves watching him right now? He looked around. All he saw was sand. But what color were the wolves’ fur? Did they blend in with the sand?
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Don’t fall behind.”
Daniel looked ahead, his uncle was already some distance away.
In a matter of moments, Daniel hastened to his uncle.
“Sifu, what are the other villages like?”
“Different. There are over a thousand different villages all over the wastelands. Do you think they are all like each other? Stupid child.”
After that, Daniel didn’t say anything. The two of them walked on in silence.
In order to maintain their cover, Gram had suggested that they walk like normal people. Naturally, if they were to run all the way there, and someone saw, they would naturally draw attention to themselves.
But walking as a normal person took a few days for them to get there. And because Daniel was still a child, Gram didn’t push his nephew to walk too far at any given time, Shaw family skill or not.
And soon enough they found the village in sight. All around the town was a wooden fence that went about three feet high. The place was a small town with less than fifty people in it. Most of the buildings were made out of wood. Save one, none of the buildings went higher than two stories. The only one that went up to four stories was a large bell tower at the center of town that seemed to be made of brick and mortar that had bee painted white. With bell tower in sight, Daniel’s eyes began to shine as curiosity got the best of him. Daniel marveled it from afar as he continued walking. He couldn’t wait to reach the village.
As he did, he felt a large hand grab him by the collar. He coughed from the pull.
He looked at his uncle as his hand went for his throat. “What was that for?”
Gram pointed to the large motorcycle on his back. “Do you think that we can just walk in there with this strapped to my back?”
Daniel looked at the motorcycle. He didn’t see anything wrong with it. Were motorcycles taboo in certain areas?
“If anyone sees this motorcycle, they will know where it came from. In this world, you need to be cautious. Even if you are strong, you are still one man. Thus, if you do something wrong, you need to be able to hide the evidence.”
Daniel nodded. “I understand, sifu.” Even if his uncle could fight a hundred people, what if a hundred and one appeared? Or two hundred? Would his uncle still be able to keep Daniel safe let alone himself? The fight from a few days before came back to Daniel. But he remembered to keep his emotions in check this time.
“You better,” Gram said. “If you are unable to do this, then I’ll drag you out into the wasteland to fend for yourself.”
Gram took the motorcycle off his shoulders and placed it onto the ground. It let out a small sound as the heavy material fell to the ground.
“Daniel, come here.” Gram motioned for his nephew to come closer.
Daniel went over.
“I’m assuming your parents never taught you about motorcycles or any kind of machine.”
Daniel shook his head.
“I suspected as much. In the end, it doesn’t really matter. You’re stuck with me now.” Gram pointed to a small object. It had six sides to it. “Take a look at this.”
“This is a screw, it keeps parts connected. But it is also simple enough to undo. This is because this is a very complex piece of equipment. If a part breaks, people would need to be able to open it up and fix it.” As he was speaking Gram’s hand was reaching for something inside his pocket. “In order for us to get the part out of here, we’ll need this.” He held up an object that was strangely shaped at the top. He believed his father called it a hexagon. “This is a wrench, it’ll allow us to unscrew the- well the screw so we can disassemble the parts.”
Gram took the wrench and demonstrated. He took a few seconds to unscrew the metal object. It was oddly shaped with many holes within it.
“This stator should fetch a good price.”
“Sifu, why do we need that?”
“Oh this,” Gram turned the object in his hand. He showed it to Daniel. “It’s because we need a place to stay, so unless you know a place where we can stay for free, we need money. Most places have a place where people can shop and sell parts. So we’ll sell this for a place to stay.”
“But why not sell the whole bike?” Daniel remembered what his uncle said. He placed his hand over his mouth.
“Are you insane?” Gram lifted the motorcycle to show Daniel the pipe on the back of it. It was an image of a flaming skull. “That’s the symbol of the Lone Rider Gang. If they see that, they’ll know that this is their bike. Besides, individual parts are harder to track than finding the whole thing.”
Daniel looked at the symbol. He etched that symbol into his memory. He was also glad his uncle didn’t remember about his threat.
Gram then began to bury the motorcycle. “If we continue on, we’ll need a way to make money. Motorcycles and cars have many parts that can be sold. If you see one that someone leaves behind, take it. Sold whole would be better, but if it belongs to a sect or gang, make sure to sell individual parts.”
After burying the part, the two of them strode into town.
The village wasn’t large. A person could walk from one end of the two to the other in ten minutes. Daniel looked at the different signs all around. He marveled at each of them. His father had just started teaching him how to read, so he tried to sound out each of the words.
It only took all of half a minute before his uncle hit him. “Cut that out. You look like an idiot.”
Daniel shut up.
They walked around for a bit before Gram headed into one of the stores. The sign out front said it was a pawn shop.
The inside of the store looked like a mess. There were items that were placed around the shop. A backless bookcase was in the middle of the room with multiple different items. Daniel knew a few of the things. A basket, a pair of scissors, a book that had its back torched. But there were things he had no clue what they were. There were wooden figurines that had strings attached to them. There was a part that Daniel recognized as being part of a motorcycle. The metal pipe that spewed out the smoke.
Gram ignored his nephew’s gawking and went up to the front desk. There was a bell up front with a handle on it. He rung it.
A few seconds later, a man in his middle ages walked to the front of the room. He was a muscular man with a shaven head. Over his torso was a leather vest with nothing underneath.
“Welcome to Blue Angel pawn shop. What are you in for? I got various odds and ends. Looking for some old technology. Something for your kid?”
Despite his muscular physique, the man had a rather friendly tone of voice.
“My student is only taking a look around. We happened to stumble on this.” Gram held out the stator. “I found this wandering about. Thought it could fetch for a nice price.”
The man’s eyes flickered with interest. But his face went back to how it was before in an instant. “Eight gold pieces.”
“Eight?” Gram laughed. “What do you take me for, a fool? See how it’s been crafted. See how well it is maintained. Take a look.” He left it on the desk for the man to pick up.
The man sighed. He grabbed some glasses beside him. The glasses were strange, extending outward. Daniel had heard his father mention those before. It helped people unlock their keen eye, his father would say.
“It’s been maintained alright, but not that well.”
“Fine. Twenty.” Gram said.
“Twenty, I could by an entire engine for twenty. Ten.” The man leaned in closer, daring Gram to make another bid.
Gram slammed his hand down on the desk. It wasn’t hard, but sure made a loud bang that startled Daniel. “Oh yes, an engine that will only last a year. Fifteen.”
“Better a year than just a piece. Twelve gold pieces, final offer.”
Gram backed up. “Twelve pieces will do.”
The man nodded. He turned his back to them. On his back, Daniel saw the image of a flaming skull. Its mouth was wide open. It was as though it were laughing at him. It taunted him.
This was fate wasn’t it? He had just lost his family to the Lone Rider Gang. And now there was another one right in front of him. Daniel clenched his fist. He was ready to lunge at the man at any moment, but Gram held out his hand.
“Name?” The man asked. He didn’t even turn to look at them.
“Balmung,” Gram said.
Daniel looked at his uncle. He only saw his uncle place his finger to his lips and shake his head.
The man scribbled his notes, not having the faintest clue what the two of them were doing behind his back. After writing things down, he tore a piece of paper from the ledger and handed it to Gram. “This is for you.”
On the piece of paper was written Gram’s fake name and how much he was being paid. “This all just a formality in case you want to exchange the part back. Or if the coins are part of an investigation. In which case, I’ll replace it.”
Gram nodded. “Are you part of the Lone Rider Gang?”
The man smiled. “So you’ve heard of us. Yes. While traveling, I happened to have joined them. While I don’t agree with their philosophy of wandering around, my sifu is a member of the gang. He taught me all that I know and am quite thankful for him.”
Gram nodded.
The man then pulled out a box from under the counter. He placed it on the desk and opened it. He meticulously counted out the twelve coins and stacked them before nudging it towards Gram.
Gram took each coin, one by one, counting them himself and making sure that each one of them at least felt like it had the heft of gold.
“Is there anything else I can help you with?”
“My student and I looking for a place to stay and a map of the area.”
The man pointed over to his left and out. “Across the street is the general merchandise store. Sal can hook you up with a map no problem. As for a place to stay, you can head down that way. Margret can get you set up with a room or two on the cheap. Meals ain’t great, but you didn’t hear that from me.”
“Then we’ll be taking our leave then.”
“Don’t be strangers now.”
After they left, Daniel asked. “Why didn’t you kill him?” He kept his voice low. Any other person would have found it hard to hear. But even if someone did hear him, they would have wondered why a six year old was asking why someone wasn’t dead.
“Do you think I can just kill anyone I want?” Gram asked. “Even if I could, why would I antagonize the Lone Rider Gang? Can you beat them, because I sure can’t.”
Daniel didn’t have anything to say to his uncle.
Gram sighed. “In many sects, there are bound to be people who are heroes and villains. Sometimes there are heroic people who don’t know that they are working for villains. And sometimes there are villains who hide their true intentions from their heroic masters.”
Daniel still didn’t talk to his uncle. They merely walked to the general store.
Getting the map didn’t take too long. The owner of the store was an older gentleman who wore suspenders and a tricorner hat. He looked like how his father described a prospector. But the man didn’t have a pickaxe. He was nice, a little crazy, but nice.
Finally, the two of them made it to an inn at the edge of town. It was the second to last building near the edge of town. It was a two story building that didn’t look too much different than the other buildings in the area. The only distinguishing feature was the white sign out front that proclaimed this place as Rattle Snake Saloon.
Gram entered.
He took a look around. There weren’t too many people there during the day. A single drunkard who was at a table. His face was face down with a beer bottle in one hand and his eyes shut. On another table were two women who were talking amongst themselves.
Quite a few of areas were clearly dusty. And some of the place had spider webs.
Gram looked at the place in disgust.
Over at the bar was a slightly portly woman. She wore a white blouse and a black corset that did its job well enough, but wasn’t too effective. Her rosy cheeks made her look as though she had been out in the wastelands herself. Her blond hair went down in curls. On her blouse, she wore a name tag that said Margret.
“What can I do for ya?” She asked. She gave them a rather toothy smile.
“One room. Two beds.” Gram said as he walked up to the bar. “And something to eat.”
“Rooms are three golds a night,” she said. “Checkout is at noon.”
Gram slammed down the gold pieces.
The sound of gold coming down in such a harsh manner seemed to offend her. As soon as they did, her smile was gone. She reached under the bar and handed him a black slate that had words written on it. “Here’s the menu. I’ll get your room key.”
“Just get me whatever this can cover with as little change as possible.” He placed another gold coin down on the bar with a rattle.
“One Pork Plate,” she yelled towards a swinging door that lead to a room Daniel couldn’t see.
“And the eggs!” Someone yelled from the other side.
“Scrambled.” Gram said.
“Scrambled!” Margret yelled back. She then left as she headed to the other end. Daniel could see there was a wall that had hooks. Those hooks had keys hanging from them.
“You better be ready,” Gram said. “We’ll be sharing the plate.”
Margret came back with the key. “Once you head up. It’ll be the last door on your left.”
Gram nodded. “And can I get an extra plate for the kid.”
Margret eyed Daniel. He saw something in her eyes. He didn’t know what it was. Maybe it was pity. “Sure.”
She took out a plate and fork from under the counter and handed it to Gram. After that, she went on her way doing whatever it was she was doing before.
Once she was gone, Gram turned to Daniel. “Take this.” He handed him a small sack. It was a leather sack that didn’t look that large. It was roughly as large as Daniel’s fist.
“From today onward, you’ll only be given a small portion on what we make.” He leaned in close so no one could hear. “That’s three gold coins in there. That’ll be how much you’ll have for the week. If you spend all of it at once, then you won’t get any more until the next week. If you start to starve, then you starve. However, if you are able to make any money, it’s yours to keep. I also have a dagger in there for you. You chose to live, so that dagger is for if you’re in danger only, got it.”
Daniel nodded.
He didn’t have a clue about money. So what did three gold even mean, he didn’t know. But what did Daniel have - money. What could it buy? Who knew? Would he over spend or under spend? He decided he would just watch his uncle and see.
“Additionally, it’d be better if we are seen together as little as possible. Once we get our food, scram.” He tossed the key he had gotten to Daniel.
Daniel fumbled a bit as he tried to grab it, but he caught it right before it hit the ground.
A few minutes later, the food came out. It was decent sized plate with three pieces of sausage, eggs, and some bread.”
“Is it safe to eat?” Daniel asked.
Gram laughed. “Did your father tell you that food in the wasteland is poisoned?”
Daniel nodded.
“Well he was right, however there are people who are skilled in detecting radiation. They carefully raise animals with the food provided by the Pure Land Sect, ensuring that the animals won’t have any radiation.”
As he spoke. Gram cut the portions he had in half and placed it on Daniel’s plate.
Daniel nodded. He wanted to taste this for himself. He had eggs before, but he wondered if it would be different here than the ones he tried back home. He took a bite. Not bad.
“But people can always be wrong,” Gram said with a smile.
Daniel looked down at his eggs. Was it just him or did they look a little green?
Gram grunted. “You’ll need to eat eventually. Between taking chances with starvation or radiation, I’d take my chances with radiation.” Gram began to dig into his food.
Daniel took his plate and head off, remembering his uncle’s words.
He took a seat near the two women. The two of them didn’t seem to notice him as they were so entranced in their conversation.
From what Daniel heard, they didn’t really seem to do much but talk. Most of what they talked about were things that Spencer would have frowned upon. Much of it were things that seemed personal to people. And a few times, they would speak of something originally as speculation, but then they would treat it as fact.
Then the conversation changed.
“Did you hear, the Western Fiend was in town?” One of the women said. Her voice was shrill. Her face was long and it reminded Daniel of a description he heard about a horse.
Now that his uncle was brought up, he started to pay attention. It seemed this woman knew more about his uncle than he did at the moment.
“The Western Fiend?” The other woman, a dumpy woman with rather sun baked skin said in utter shock. She then leaned in close. “Who’s that?”
“Don’t tell me you don’t know the Western Fiend!”
Daniel turned to take a look at his uncle.
Gram was no longer alone at the bar. A short woman with a fleshy face and a corset was sitting next to his uncle. Both she and his uncle had empty glasses in front of them. Both of them looked like they were in their own little world talking to each other.
Daniel turned his attention back to the women.
“The Western Fiend is a villain among villains. It is said that when he was a teenager, he slaughtered his entire family at Rui Manor.”
“Rui Manor, I’ve never heard of it.”
Rui? Daniel frowned. Wasn’t that his mom’s family? So his uncle killed his family? Clearly it wasn’t everyone if his mother was alive.
“I’m not surprised, my husband is a traveling judge. He’d naturally hear of some of the many criminals in the world. So I hear things from his travel.” The woman’s voice was too haughty. Daniel wanted to stop listening, but he couldn’t.
The other woman snorted. “All my husband is- is a general merchant store owner. How can my husband compare to your’s?”
The horse face woman let out laugh that fused with a snort. It seemed she liked this woman because of the flattery she gave her. Horse faced woman continued. “It is said that the Rui family was rather snobbish, believing themselves to be better than everyone else. They then passed this on to their children. Naturally all of them believed themselves to be better than everyone else, or so I hear.”
“Well, if that is how their parents were, naturally they would have to be the same way, or else they’re bad children.”
Daniel wanted to yell at the women. While his mother was harsh, he would never say that she felt that she was better than everyone else. Besides, what if a person had a villain for a parent or guardian, did that mean that the person needed to be a villain too or else they would be a bad child? Where was the logic in that?
He had to hold himself back. Revealing who his mother was might make the women suspicious of the man he came in with.
Daniel took another look at where his uncle had been. He was being led up the stairs by the woman he was with earlier. She had grabbed him by his shirt and she dragged him along with a smile on her face.
He wondered what his uncle was doing. But he couldn’t be bothered with that. His uncle was an adult, he could do what he wanted. Besides, it wasn’t like his uncle would tell him anything. He thought it would be better to listen to what these women knew about him.
“One day, one of their descendants, Gram Rui got into an argument with his parents. And in a fit of rage, he killed them. And in order to maintain order within the family, his family tried to kill him. But instead, he ended up killing them all.”
“What!” The other woman screamed. She looked around. It was the first time that she noticed Daniel. But he was facing the other way, and he was a child, so she didn’t think much of it. As for the drunk and Margret, neither of them seemed to be paying too much attention to them, thus she let out a sigh of relief. She leaned in close to the other woman. “How did he manage to do that?”
“No one knows. Some say that he was taught gun fu from a wandering expert. Others say that he poisoned his family beforehand to try and steal the family’s fortune. Others say that it was instigated by the Scarlet Grove Sect because they feared Rui Manor’s martial techniques.”
Daniel snickered at that. While he had never been to the Scarlet Grove Sect, what could his mother’s family have that would cause the Scarlet Grove Sect to be afraid? They were a top tier organization. They were the largest organization and the most powerful. What did they have to fear?
The other woman seemed to think the same thing. “Why would the Scarlet Grove Sect do that? Can the Rui manor really be that powerful?”
Horse woman shook her head. “I don’t know. I wasn’t there. But there were rumors that Rui manor was gathering an army, one that could rival Scarlet Grove. Others said that they stole something from an expert and in retaliation, that expert taught Gram Rui and brainwashed him to kill his family.”
“My word,” the other woman said in such an exasperated tone that Daniel was sure the horse face woman would have known she was faking. If she did, the horse face woman didn’t say anything. “He must have become traumatized because of it.”
“Maybe, but think of how strong he would be now,” the woman’s words trailed off at the end. “Can you imagine what having a husband like him would mean?”
“No, what does it mean?”
“Think. If he’s so dangerous, no one would say a word against what you do. And if he really is so simple minded that he can be brainwashed, then it would be even easier to get him to do whatever I want.” The women began to laugh uncontrollably.
Daniel let out a slight chuckle. Knowing his uncle, it didn’t seem likely.
The women then changed topics. They began to ask themselves what if they married different husbands or what if they were born in a different town or village.
Daniel got bored of listening and brought his plate back to the front. Margret was there. She smiled when she saw Daniel.
“How did you find everything?” She took the plate.
“Great,” Daniel said. Margret left first, feeling satisfied with Daniel’s answer. He then left and headed up the stairs. Daniel went to his room. The place was a fairly basic room with a large dresser, a desk near a window, and a bed in the middle of the room.
Daniel took a seat at the desk. The window was open. He looked through it, but he wasn’t really looking at anything in particular. His mind was wondering elsewhere. He wondered how much of what the women said was true. He wondered if his uncle really was the monster they said he was. If he was, then what did Colleen condemn her son to?