Blood-Forged

Piercing Gale led the way into the town with Night Lover bringing up the rear. I kept glancing back at Night Lover to make sure he was still behind us. He dragged his feet with his arms crossed and his head lowered.

Piercing Gale put an arm around my shoulders, pulling me a few inches down to match his height, “he won’t run... If he was going to run he would’ve done so before we entered this town, you saw how scared he was.”

“Let go of me,” I hissed, trying to wiggle out from under his arm.

He just grabbed my arm and held me tighter against himself. “I’m not done talking,” he turned his head halfway to me to give me a mocking smile.“ With his black hair short and messy and a smile like that on his lips, he almost didn’t look like Eun... almost. “Besides,” he continued, looking ahead again, “I don’t think it would be so bad if he ran away. He clearly doesn’t work for the Demon Lord and doesn’t want to.”

“How can you be so sure, “ I huffed.

“Because I’ve spent the last few days talking with the guy.” Suddenly, Piercing Gale stopped and I was forced to stop alongside him. He turned to face me completely. Ves’hil’n - I - was taller but Eun - Piercing Gale - had broader shoulders. With his arm around my shoulders, holding me down at his level, I felt small. Our faces were too close together, our noses almost touching, our breaths mingling. His eyes were hard and challenging; that was another way he was different to Eun, his expression could change so much so quickly. Eun had always been stony-faced and stern, at least outside of the bedroom... “Why are you so combative and close-minded? You seem to think of yourself as Ves’hil’n but you act nothing like him.”

Piercing Gale let me go and took a step back but it caught me off guard and I didn’t straighten back up to my full height before he spoke his next words, letting him talk down to me, “no, scratch that. You act like only the worst parts of Ves’hil’n.”

Before I could formulate a response, Death-Bringer cleared her throat and said, “I hate to interrupt but... the townspeople are hiding.”

I straightened up and looked around. Sure enough, though we were walking down what should have been the main road through the center of town, it was completely deserted.

“It’s the middle of the day, there should be people milling about, children playing, but it’s dead quiet.”

I glanced around. Sure enough, I didn’t see or hear any humans, “It’s a ghost town... Did the demon kill them all?” I furrowed my brow.

“No,” Night Lover shook his head, pointing at a few of the houses, “I saw movement behind some of the shuttered windows... and there is smoke coming out of that chimney.”

“Seems so.” Piercing Gale answered me as if he hadn’t just noticed the situation at the same time as me.

“If the people are hiding will an inn even let us in?” Night Lover let out a sigh that was annoyingly close to a whine.

Piercing Gale shrugged and started walking again, “only one way to find out.”

It wasn’t too much longer until we found an inn. Piercing Gale pushed on the doors and, surprisingly, they opened easily. As we stepped in, a young woman with a long, messy braid popped her head up from behind the counter, “Welcome! How can I help you?”

Piercing Gale, at the front, opened his mouth to answer, but Night Lover pushed his way past him, taking quick steps to the counter. He leaned over the counter and grabbed one of the girl’s hands in both of his. He brought his hand up to near his face, knit his brows together, and did what he did best, whine.

“A bath please. We’ve been walking for days. We smell so bad that people have been hiding from us in their homes.”

The young woman giggled into her free hand, “No one is hiding and especially not from you, everyone is just inside preparing for tonight’s festival.”

I looked over at Piercing Gale just in time to meet his eyes as his face twitched into a contemplative frown.

“What kinda festival? Maybe we’ll check it out.”

“It’s to pray to the gods and spirits for protection. Tonight’s events are rather stuffy and traditional but there’ll be a celebration tomorrow! Also if out of towners want to use the bathhouse they must pay for a room.”

Night Lover smiled at the girl and let go of her hand, “No problem, we planned on staying the night anyways.”

As Night Lover began to haggle the price of 4 rooms with the girl, I suddenly remembered money existed. I leaned towards Death-Bringer, “do we have money?”

Death-Bringer nodded.

“How?” I whispered.

“Piercing Gale said he was sealed with a bunch of fancy stuff and he sold it all.”

Night Lover came back towards us, throwing each of us a key, saying, “you owe me.”

I stared down at the key, “shouldn’t we try to find the demon first?”

“An hour or two isn’t going to change anything. And I’m not taking another step until I’ve bathed. “Without waiting around, Night Lover walked off in the direction of the baths.

None of us followed. Without thinking, I turned to look at Piercing Gale for a decision, internally cursing at my body for betraying me. Piercing Gale stared down at the floor until he noticed mine and Death-Bringer’s eyes on him. He looked up, chewing his bottom lip, and said, “this festival feels a little suspicious... we should try to find out more...”

Death-Bringer, who hadn’t undermined him once so far, even on a thing as petty as how to catch and roast a rabbit for dinner, actually shook her head, “you’re not wrong... but neither is Night Lover. A nice, long, relaxing soak will do us good.”

Almost as surprising as Death-Bringer disagreeing was how quickly Piercing Gale yielded. Soon the two were walking to the baths, leaving me behind. Even the girl behind the counter was gone. I didn’t really want to sit around wasting time but I had no idea where to begin on my own so, reluctantly, I walked towards the baths.

Just as I was about to step over the threshold of the men’s bath, Piercing Gale came stumbling out. He tripped over his own feet, crashing into me. His hands gripped on tight to the front of my clothes and his head dropped onto my shoulder.

“Run,” he groaned, collapsing weightlessly against me.