Prologue + Chapter One
over 3 years ago
– Wed, Oct 21, 2020 at 08:27:52 AM
Prologue
The Second Prince of Astye
Prince Reille had successfully made it through a very long day of pretending to smile. His cheeks ached from the action, as if brought on by the fact that it wasn’t a genuine expression. He hated these stupid parties, filled with people he didn’t know and didn’t care to meet. It was almost as torturous as the actual battles he had fought in.
Still, that was over now. He had survived.
It was dark as he strolled the tall hallways of the palace towards the kitchens, his hands clasped behind his back to hide the fact they were sweating. He had planned to speak with his older brother, the Crown Prince, privately after all the celebrations were over. Despite his kindness, and his poor health, meeting with Prince Kieran always put Rei on edge, he was the future King after all. It was intimidating sometimes.
Rei gave a simple nod to the guards as he slipped into the kitchen; most of the staff had gone to bed, but a few were preparing things for breakfast in the morning. A lot of guests had come to celebrate Kieran’s engagement, meaning the kitchens were more busy than usual. Rei recognized one of the younger cooks as a boy he had pulled into a closet at a party some time ago and then lost interest in. He decided to slip into the wine cellar himself instead of asking for help, in order to avoid an awkward interaction. He was already nervous enough without the added stress.
The cellar was damp and dim, but the Prince quickly found and lit a candle to help him see. He ventured deeper into the room with bottles stacked floor to ceiling, clearly arranged in some order that he couldn’t recognize. Rei simply grabbed the first bottle of champagne he could find and reach without a stool. People used champagne to celebrate, right? It would work for his purposes.
He managed to steal two glasses without being caught before slipping out of the kitchen as quietly as he had arrived. Rei walked down the halls with the bottle in one hand and the glasses clinking together in the other. He hoped his sweaty hands wouldn’t cause him to drop them, if he stained the carpet he would get in trouble again.
After crossing the entire length of the palace and heading up two flights of stairs, he arrived in front of his brother’s room. A guard stood tall, blocking him from the door, as one stood outside each room of the royal family.
“Hey.” Rei greeted simply, not in the mood for formalities after the day he just had, “I need to see him.”
“His Royal Highness, Prince Kieran, has asked to not be disturbed.” The guard recited to him in a monotone voice.
Rei grit his teeth in response, annoyance creeping into his tone, “I’m sure that does not apply to me. Remember? Your Prince?”
“I’m sorry Your Highness. I’m just following orders.”
“Ugh.” Rei would pinch the bridge of his nose if his hands weren’t full. He didn’t have time for this. He pushed past the guard to knock on the door with his elbow. “Kieran! Let me in! I’m not some aristocrat trying to make a trade deal with you past bedtime!”
He heard a chuckle from inside the door, and soon the door creaked open. The Crown Prince was in sleep clothes and a robe, a stark contrast to Rei, who was still in his overly-formal party uniform. Kieran glanced at the bottle with a smile before addressing the guard, “Thank you for trying, Tristan, but I’ll allow my dear brother to bother me since he brought a bribe.”
The guard gave a small bow in response. Rei scoffed at him as he passed by, letting the door shut behind him. He would have locked it, but his hands were full, so he decided to risk being interrupted.
The room was overly warm, the source of which was the extravagant fireplace that also acted as the main light source. Kieran had clearly been working on something at his desk, but now sat down in one of the arm chairs by the fire, wrapping a blanket around his shoulders.
“The doctors say I’m not supposed to drink with my medication, you know.” Kieran mused, staring at the bottle.
Rei held it up with a smirk, “Oh, I know. That’s what makes it fun.” He pushed aside some of Kieran’s papers to make space on the desk.
“Rei-”
“Shh!” Rei cut him off as he set the glasses down on the table, filling them with the champagne after a struggle to open it, “It’s wrong to celebrate without getting a little tipsy.”
“Father would-”
“He’s not here.” Rei rolled his eyes, taking the glasses and pressing one into Kieran’s hand, “Come on, live a little!” Just drink it. Please- just drink it.
“I’m clearly trying to live, as I just almost died.” Kieran set the glass down on the small table beside him. Kieran’s illness had gotten worse over the years, but it finally seemed to be clearing up. The engagement party had acted as a secret ‘thank the gods the Crown Prince isn’t bedridden anymore’ party as well. Kieran had only had one coughing fit instead of his usual four or five.
Rei swallowed hard, his sweaty fingers slipping on his own glass, “Well if you won’t toast to your own engagement…. What if… we toast to The Brothers? You can’t resist that.”
Kieran laughed softly, “Noo, my weakness.”
Rei smirked and pulled Kieran from his chair to have them stand in the glow of the fire. He raised his glass high, “To Mahir! God of Justice and Loyalty.”
With a begrudging smile, Kieran continued the toast and picked his glass up from the table, “To Sahir, God of Wisdom and Honesty.”
“Brothers united on land and in the Heavens.” Rei had to stop himself from cringing at his own words. His brother didn’t notice his expression.
“May our bond never burn.” Kieran laughed softly at finishing the verses, raising the glass to clink against Rei’s before pressing it to his lips. Finally.
“Yeah…” Rei stared down at his own glass before shutting his eyes, “Never.”
Chapter One: The Flower Shop
Rei
“Fuck.”
Rei woke up feeling nauseous; he hated that dream. Well, it was more of a memory than a dream, but it still had a habit of plaguing him while he slept. He quickly tried to push it out of his mind, annoyed that his precious few hours of sleep now left a guilty fog in his head. That past life at the castle was a long time ago now.
Rei was tired. His arms hurt from being restrained behind his back for a whole night. He had tried his best to slip out of them, to cut them on something, but had given up within the span of an hour. He had spent the rest of the night attempting to sleep on the ground, the stone floor of the warehouse was jarring compared to the warm bed he had gotten used to.
There was nothing to do but wait. So he slept, and he sat around, and he attempted to escape the back room he was stuck in again and again. Eventually the light of dawn began to creep through the windows. He was excited at the prospect, knowing that it meant Scarlet was on their way back to let him go. This was all just some kind of joke, there was no way Scarlet was actually this mad at him.
His stomach growled, it had been more than a day since he had last eaten, too nervous to do so before the job. His binder felt too tight after being tied up in it for the entire night; it only added to his amount of back pain from sleeping on the floor.
As if on cue, Scarlet swung open the door to the backroom of the warehouse. Rei scrambled to sit up, struggling to do so with both his hands and feet bound, but that didn’t stop him from complaining.
“Gods, Scarlet. I almost thought you had forgotten about me. Did you bring any food?”
Scarlet raised an eyebrow, seemingly amused before laughing in their usual dramatic tone, “Raven, Raven, Raven. It’s like you don’t even understand the amount of trouble you’re in.”
Scarlet was tall, and lanky, especially compared to the rest of the extremely muscular men that formed their group of lackeys, dubbed by Scarlet as ‘The Red Torment’. Rei also stuck out in the group for easily being the smallest, but he had always used that to his advantage, sneaking in through tight windows in order to case a place before they hit it. Scarlet’s hair was dyed a vivid red, a hint of darkness at the root revealing the true color. The red leather jacket they wore was unmistakably theirs, every part of their look was perfectly cultivated. Rei always considered them a bit too flashy for their own good, they were thieves for gods sake.
Scarlet knelt down, becoming almost eye-level with Rei. The gang leader affectionately thumbed at Rei’s cheek, as they had many times before. Rei relaxed at the touch, thinking that Scarlet had finally come to their senses, that things would go back to normal.
The pain of the slap surprised Rei. The pain of his head hitting the stone floor as he lost his balance surprised him even more. He tasted the blood on the inside of his cheek. Furious, he quickly sat up again, glaring at the apathetic Scarlet.
“What the fuck was that? You lock me up in this place overnight and come slap me in the morning? Where do you get off?” Rei fumed, “This shit isn’t funny or hot.”
Scarlet pressed a hand to their own cheek with a sigh, shaking their head, “You just don’t get it, Raven. You disobeyed me.You know full well what the punishment for that is.”
Rei frowned, eyes widening as the realization finally started to sink in, “You- you can’t be serious. I’ve seen Forrest disobey you countless times! Topaz too!” He was worried for real now, and tugged at his restraints with renewed energy.
Scarlet continued to look bored, “Yes, yes. Correct. But their mistakes never let a witness get away.” The gang leader’s eyes were cold, meeting Rei’s wide lavender ones, “She saw all of us, Raven. No doubt we’ll all have wanted posters up in town any day now. We’ll have to relocate our entire operation, all because of you.” Scarlet got up from their crouching position to stare down at their captive, “And you haven’t even apologized.”
“She was a little girl, Scarlet! No way was she any older than like, twelve!” Rei looked up at them, neck craning, “You know that I used to be a knight- my vows- I couldn’t just wack her over the head like any other time!”
Scarlet delivered a swift kick to Rei’s side in an effort to shut him up, and it worked. Rei curled around the wound, hissing in pain. He had seen Scarlet’s bad side countless times before, but the full brunt of it had never been directed at himself. Scarlet grabbed Rei by his tangled clump of hair and yanked him back into a sitting position, the man yelped in response.
“The knights tossed you out, Raven. You pledged your loyalty to me, remember?” They hissed, red strands of hair covering their damaged eye, the blind spot they tried to hide. “I’ve been keeping you alive for more a year now, and this is how you repay me?”
“Scarlet, please.” Rei pleaded, tilting his head so the grip on his hair wasn’t as intense, but it still hurt. Usually, he would be into this. “T-there has to be some way that I can make it up to you.”
Scarlet let go of his hair with a laugh. It was a genuine one, not the false one they used when they put on a show. “Oh, you’ll make it up to me alright.” They straightened up to pull a piece of paper out of their back pocket. It was wrinkled and worn from being outside in the weather, but it was unmistakable as a wanted poster. “I found this when I was looking to see if ours were already on the board.”
Rei gulped.
Scarlet grinned wide at his reaction, then straightened out the page before reading it aloud, “Wanted: Alive. Second Prince Reille Arsen DeRovia Akelli.” Scarlet rolled their eyes, “You royals and your long names. So stupid.” They resumed reading, “Crimes are high treason and evading the crown. Reward- 25,000 gold.” They rolled the paper back up, “Only 25,000, seems pretty small for a banished prince. I mean, I had heard that you were never well-liked at the castle, but that about proves it.”
Rei’s stomach sank with every word, he worried it would tear itself from his body. He laughed nervously, “M-me? A prince? That’s ridiculous.”
“Don’t try to bullshit me, Raven.” Scarlet scowled, “That sword you had when we found you in the woods, what did it have engraved into it?”
Rei hesitated, “The royal-”
“The royal crest!” Scarlet finished for him, “The sigil of Astye! A symbol of knights carrying the weight of their country with them.” They twirled a lock of red hair between their fingers, “That’s why we got such a good price for it, remember? The blacksmith said such a curious thing to me once you’d left.” Rei gulped, “He said it was specially forged, different from other knight swords, even different from the swords the royal guards use. I didn’t really care at the time, I only cared about what he paid me for it, but I see now that it was pretty damning evidence. A sword specially forged for a Royal.” Scarlet’s eyes glared down at him, “Don’t lie to me, Prince Reille.”
Rei was quiet, caught in his lie. Tied up. Hungry. Sleep deprived. He avoided Scarlet’s intimidating gaze, “All right. You caught me. It’s all true.” He wrestled with the restraints behind his back again, there had to be some way out of this. Running away was what he did best. “So what’s the plan then? To sell me back to my father?”
“Exactly.” Scarlet smiled sweetly, unsheathing their dagger from where it was strapped to their thigh, “The poster says ‘Alive’ but doesn’t say ‘With all ten fingers.’” They laughed shallowly at seeing the look on Rei’s face, “I’m kidding. Mostly. I would like to beat you up some more.”
Rei did his best to sit up on his knees, trying to work towards Scarlet’s unattainable standing height. He managed a smile, “After all we’ve been through? Why not make our last night together... Sweeter?” His voice dripped with a forced sultry-ness that was unconvincing, but Scarlet still seemed amused at the prospect.
“Are you seriously trying this right now?” They asked flatly.
“Maybe.” Rei paused, “Is it working?”
“A little bit.” Scarlet snorted a laugh, “I’ve always found you so amusing, Raven. Such a shame you had to be so incompetent at your job.”
“There are a few things I’m not incompetent at.” Rei scooted to lean against Scarlet’s leg, pressing his cheek to Scarlet’s thigh coyly, “Blowjobs, for example.”
Scarlet laughed again. Rei was secretly relieved, was this actually working? Scarlet threaded a hand through Rei’s dark curly hair affectionately, like they used to do. Their other hand still held the dagger, and they gently placed it against Rei’s throat, “Any funny business and I will end you, understand?”
Rei swallowed hard and nodded eagerly once the blade was safely away from his neck, “Of course, Boss.” He said submissively, biting his lip. He couldn’t believe it. He must be an even better lay than he thought he was.
Scarlet moved to cut at the restraints with two swift movements. Rei immediately pulled his hands in front of him to rub at his sore wrists, stretching out his shoulders from their achy position. His ankles were also unbound and he managed to unsteadily get to his feet.
Scarlet sheathed their knife and tugged at the red bandana around Rei’s neck to pull him close, the symbol that marked him as a member of the gang.
Rei submitted to being pulled, his heart pounding. His chance to escape would be soon. Rei tugged at the waistband of Scarlet’s pants playfully, making their hips meet. Rei’s hand grabbed Scarlet’s side, the side their bad eye was on. He slid it down along the hem of their pants teasingly, closer to the knife holster….
Scarlet grabbed his wrist, “What did I say?”
Rei gave a cheeky grin, nervous, “Worth a shot, right?” And swung a right hook.
Everything happened fast. His fist connected with Scarlet’s cheek and pain exploded through his knuckles. He had always been horrible at punching without hurting himself, but it still sent Scarlet reeling back. Rei bolted out the door of the back room to enter the greater part of the warehouse. He spotted the rest of Scarlet’s men playing poker on a wooden crate as he rushed by, into the maze of stored goods. Scarlet’s voice yelled behind him, “What the hell are you doing?! Chase him!”
He just ran, as best as he could with his empty stomach and his binder that kept his breathing shallow. He was high off the ego boost of his stupid plan actually working as he spotted the doors to the outside and barreled his way onto the open street.
They had moved a town away from the botched robbery but Rei had spent the wagon ride tied up in the back, he wasn’t sure exactly where they ended up. He quickly realized the town was settled on the bank of a small river. This had to be…. Lerica then? That was his best guess.
Rei could hear the footsteps behind him and decided to bolt straight into the heart of town. He had never been here before, he had barely even been East of Brewn before. These small towns were nothing like the Capital, and were way easier to get lost in. He ran for the streets he saw were the most crowded, weaving between people going to work and horse-drawn wagons piled with goods. He prayed to Mahir that he could lose the group pursuing him, they were all dumb brutes anyway. ‘Raven’ had always been the designated runner.
He attracted stares as he ran. He knew he looked guilty. If he kept this up it wouldn’t be long before someone called the militia. Rei turned around a corner and abruptly stopped running, choosing a fast walk instead, hoping that if he played it cool he would stand out less. It worked for the most part, and Rei started scanning for somewhere to hide. Somewhere, anywhere. They could follow him into shops but maybe he could find one that was closed-
A small two-story store sat between a bakery and a ceramics shop. The wood paneling was aging but clearly a lot of care went into keeping it together. The sign that swung on a hook attached to the facade read “Alstroemeria Flower Shop” in white calligraphy. The windows inside showed row after row of plants and flowers, Rei was forced to pause at their beauty. A sign on the other side of the front door proclaimed “Closed for Lunch 12-1” in a crude crayon, clearly written by a child. Rei squinted.
He tried the handle, it was unlocked.
He was fully prepared to break in if it hadn’t been open, his lockpicking tools had left an impression on his ass from a night of sitting on them. Still, he was relieved he didn’t have to, and pushed inside and quickly shut the door behind him.
The bell over the door rang loudly to announce his arrival to the empty shop, making Rei flinch. He crouched down under the door, hoping Scarlet’s men hadn’t seen him come through here. As Rei pressed himself against the wood under the glass, he looked around for an escape route in case he heard people approach.
The flower shop was lined around the walls with tables and plant boxes, holding flowers of all colors. Potted plants along the floor, various ferns and small bushes on shelves. Two other aisles in the center led back to a register and sliding double doors to the back room. To the right, stairs that lead to a second level were roped off, Rei assumed they probably went to bedrooms.
Rei froze when the doors to the back room slid open. A man appeared, even taller than Scarlet (quite a feat) but with wider shoulders and more toned muscles that Rei noticed even through his apron. The man’s name tag on his apron was unreadable, but he looked slightly irritated at Rei from across the room.
“Excuse me sir, did you read the sign? We’re closed until….” The man’s green eyes seemed to widen in some form of recognition as he came closer.
Rei panicked, fearing being recognized from his wanted poster again, he quickly scrambled to his feet, ready to bolt out the door again. Suddenly, a gloved hand was on his shoulder, preventing escape.
The man had grabbed a garden spade to use as a weapon, lifting it above his head as he prepared to strike. His firm grip locked Rei- an intruder- in place.
Rei shut his eyes and lifted his hands to cover his head. As if the act would do any good in protecting him, “Whoa! Hold on! I’m sorry I broke in but you don’t need to stab me!”
There was a clattering sound as the spade hit the floor. Rei dared to open his eyes to find that he had been released.
The tall red haired man seemed a little shaken, looking from where he had dropped his weapon back up to Rei. The man studied Rei’s face before taking a step back, apologetically raising his hands, “I’m so sorry. I thought you were… someone else.”
“Sweet Mahir.” Rei pressed a hand to his pounding heart, only to catch a glimpse of red bandannas through the window of the door. He swore, looking back at the man and the doors on the other side of the room, “Listen I- I’m just gonna sneak out the back door. Sorry I scared you but I think we’re even now, right?” Rei started to move past him but was stopped by a hand lightly grabbing his wrist.
The man looked sympathetic, with all traces of the earlier fear having vanished, “Wait- don’t go. I’m sorry for- yeah. Are you in trouble? Can I help?”
Rei was shocked at the show of compassion, and almost didn’t believe it. But he wanted to believe, and he was running out of time, so he answered, “I-I’m being chased. Not by the militia.” He clarified quickly, “Please, if I could just hide out here until they’re gone, I can find some way to make it up to you.” He pleaded, assuming that Scarlet’s men had seen him through the window like Rei had seen them. He wouldn’t have time to find a new hiding spot.
Rei could read his name tag now, it spelled ‘Waldon’ in neat handwriting.
Waldon calmly nodded, and gestured for Rei to follow behind the counter and into the backroom, which turned out to be a kitchen and small dining area. Rei followed, balling his trembling hands into fists. His right knuckles still ached from the punch he threw at Scarlet. Waldon motioned for Rei to sit in a chair at the table, “You can wait here, I can handle anyone that shows up. Okay?”
Rei sat down, looking up at the tall man skeptically. “Are you… sure?”
The front door bell rang again, signaling another person’s entrance. Rei winced at the sound and moved to get up, fearing getting caught or getting this stranger in trouble. Waldon gently made him sit down again by pressing on his shoulder, Rei complied.
“I can handle this, I promise.” Waldon smiled and exchanged his apron for a simple black coat, which he slipped on, and seemed to adjust something underneath it. He hung the apron on a hook by the sliding door before entering the shop area again. He slid the door shut behind him. A second later, Rei was out of the chair and pressing his ear to the door to overhear what was happening.
“Excuse me gentlemen.” Waldon spoke flatly, “The sign says that we’re closed until one. Now if this is a flower emergency maybe we can work something out-”
The sound of a shattering pot made Rei jump, he couldn’t help but nudge the sliding door open a crack to see what was happening. Two of Scarlet’s biggest brutes, Forrest and Topaz, stood talking to Waldon, who was staring down at the pot Topaz had just thrown to the floor. Both were marked by red bandannas around their upper arms.
Forrest leaned against one of the display tables, dangerously close to knocking another pot off the side, “We’re looking for a little guy with a red bandanna and an undercut. Real pretty. Lilac eyes. Someone said he came in here.”
Rei could only see Waldon’s back from his current hiding place, watching as the man combed his fingers through his dark red ponytail. He seemed more concerned about the pot than his own safety.
“Ah- yes- well-” Waldon stammered, prepared to lunge for the potted plant if Forrest knocked it off, “He did come in here, only for a moment. Went right out the back window. I’m sure if you go around in the alley you’ll be able to find him.” He laughed, “In the meantime, could I interest you two in some sunflowers? They’re about to go out of season.”
Forrest frowned, not finding Waldon’s sales pitch amusing. He glanced back at Topaz for a moment before focusing his attention on the sliding back doors. Rei pulled away from the crack he had created, pressing himself on the wall, out of sight.
Dammit, he had totally been spotted.
Forrest’s voice was low as he spoke, “Why don’t you let us take a quick look in the back, Mister Florist?” It was more of a statement than an earnest question.
Rei held his breath.
Footsteps came closer, then stopped.
Waldon’s voice announced, “The back area is for employees only, sir. I think I have to ask you to leave.” His voice then became lower, harder to hear, no matter how much Rei stained to make out the words.
Rei blinked in surprise and couldn't resist looking through the crack again. Waldon had opened the right side of his coat, clearly showing Forrest and Topaz something, and their faces twisted with shock and confusion. Waldon continued to speak words that Rei couldn’t hear, until the borderline terrified gang members nodded in agreement and scurried back out the front door.
The bell rang as they exited, Rei thought it sounded like victory.
Waldon exhaled and visibly relaxed, tucking his coat closed again. He waited for the two brutes to disappear from the glass windows before turning around and seeing Rei spying through the door. Waldon snorted through his nose, “You can come out now.”
Rei slid the door all the way open and approached Waldon curiously, the whole exchange was a question in his mind. Why was this stranger helping him? What the hell had he shown and said to Forrest and Topaz to make them run away? Rei clearly eyed Waldon’s coat, wondering what he was concealing.
Waldon noticed and laughed timidly, “How much did you see?”
“Enough to be confused.” Rei crossed his arms.
Waldon nodded understandingly and pulled back the left side of his coat, revealing a revolver neatly contained in its holster. It was shiny and silver, unmistakable. Waldon smiled, “Don’t worry, I have a license and everything.”
Rei’s brow furrowed, “Wow, that must’ve shocked them.” But he had never seen Forrest run away from a gun like that before, there had to be something more, “What did you say? You were speaking so soft I couldn’t hear.”
Waldon tilted his head, as if he didn’t know what Rei was talking about, “Oh, that? Just a friendly threat about getting the militia involved. Said I could give a pretty good description to a sketch artist.” He laughed as though this was an everyday event, “That should buy you some time, right?”
Rei still had a tinge of unease in his stomach. There was a lie that he couldn’t put his finger on. This was why he had never excelled in politics back at the castle, he could never read people’s expressions as well as his older sister. He cursed himself, but nodded genuinely to Waldon’s question, “Yes, it should. I really appreciate you sticking your neck out for me. I think that makes up for almost getting stabbed.” His eyes drifted over to the broken pot on the floor, dirt spilling out around green leaves and tangled roots. “I’m sorry about your plant, let me help you clean it up.”
Waldon was quick to retrieve a dustpan and a broom, while Rei knelt down beside the pot and began picking up the terracotta pieces by hand. Waldon joined him on the floor, offering a trash bin, “It’s no big deal, really. I just have to re-pot it.” He hummed, “Am I allowed to ask how you got mixed up with those two in the first place?”
Rei dumped the shattered pieces into the trash, sighing dramatically, “It’s a long story. I really shouldn’t stick around here, I don’t want to put you in more danger.”
Waldon carefully picked out a new pot from under the table, setting it on the ground before gently lifting the plant into it. “You should probably wait a little longer, I’m sure they’ll be waiting around here for a while.” He gave Rei the dustpan to hold, brushing the remaining dirt into it, “But I can promise you, they won’t come back here.”
Rei tilted his head, not believing that, “How can you be so sure?” He bit his lip at the thought of Scarlet showing up to torment this man- at Scarlet taking joy in ripping the place up- falling back into Scarlet’s hands- returning to the Capital-
The look of dread on his face must have been obvious, because Waldon put a comforting hand on his shoulder, “It’s just something I know, okay?” He looked Rei up and down, his gaze catching on the yellow bruises starting to form on his face from the morning’s events, “When was the last time you ate?”
Rei pressed a hand to his stomach, as if being reminded that it had been a while was the only reason he felt hungry. With the adrenaline finally dying down, he felt weaker than ever. “About a day ago.” Rei admitted sheepishly.
Waldon dumped the dirt from the dustpan into the pot and presented it to Rei, “Tah-dah! Good as new.” Rei smiled and reached to place it back on the display table. Waldon rose to his feet and offered Rei a hand up, “Have lunch with me, tell me your story, then you can be on your way. I at least owe you a sandwich for um, attacking you. That sound alright?”
Rei stared at the hand for a moment. It reminded him of when he met Scarlet when he was most in need, at his weakest. He was doing it again, relying on people too much. But Waldon seemed… different. He took the hand offered to him and stood, firmly shaking it.
“That sounds like a deal.”
Scarlet
Deeming the warehouse too uncomfortable for their liking, Scarlet moved their base of operations further into the dock area of town. Andros strode alongside them as the pair looked for a bar to waste time in. The redhead rubbed at their sore cheek, still in shock that Raven had actually punched him.
“Does it hurt?” Andros asked.
“Yes.” Scarlet sneered, pulling their hand away from the red skin, “Of course it hurts.”
Andros seemed amused at being snapped at, immune to it by now. Scarlet either liked that about him, or found it annoying, depending on their mood. Andros adjusted the red bandanna around his arm before pushing into whatever bar was closest, “Alright, you need a drink. And fast.”
“I’m so glad someone understands me.” Scarlet sighed dramatically, following him in.
~~*~*~*~~
It was an hour before their men started to come back to them. Scarlet was smugly nursing a beer, preparing a nice scolding for Raven in their head about the futility of running. It would be nice to rub it in before they had to get back on the road again, the Capital was a couple days ride away. However, as each man entered the bar empty handed, Scarlet’s smile started to slip more and more.
Finally, Forrest and Topaz pushed their way into the bar. The gang had claimed a round table at the back of the empty bar, it was still too early for even the regulars to show up. Scarlet noted the way the two men avoided eye contact with them, clearly empty handed.
“Well?” Scarlet frowned as Forrest took a seat.
Topaz remained standing, shaking his head. Forrest also seemed hesitant to speak.
Scarlet wanted to scream, this level of incompetence was unacceptable. They rubbed at their cheek again, the spot was still sore, “You two were the ones that followed him for the longest, you had to see something.”
“We found him.” Forrest swallowed hard as he answered.
Scarlet’s eyebrow twitched, “You found him?”
“In a flower shop. Across town.” Forrest continued cautiously.
“Then why, dear Forrest, is he not in front of me right now?” They asked through gritted teeth.
“We tried.” Topaz frowned, crossing his arms defensively, “There was this guy- the owner- he’s protecting Raven.”
“And what the fuck does that mean, exactly?” They were struggling to keep their tone level, not wanting the barkeep to pay too much attention to them.
Topaz glanced down at Forrest before continuing, “He’s- I dunno. He’s one of those Fox guys you told us about, the ones that we don’t wanna get on the bad side of.”
“He had a gun too.” Forrest added.
Topaz nodded at Forrest in confirmation, “He said Raven was under his protection, or something. ‘Said that if we come after him again, he won’t let us off with just a warning.”
With a groan, Scarlet leaned back in their chair to stare up at the ceiling. Of course. Of course this would happen. What was a Fox doing in a stupid town like this? Scarlet had assumed they mostly stuck to the big cities. Still, they knew the validity of such a threat. Raven would be untouchable… for now.
The members of The Red Torment barely breathed as they waited for what their leader had to say. Only Andros dared to break the silence as Scarlet remained quiet.
“Boss.” He started, “Maybe we should just leave him. It sounds like too much trouble, and we probably attracted some attention with our running around.”
“Absolutely not.” Scarlet sat back up, glaring daggers at such a traitorous suggestion, “Have you all forgotten that our beloved Raven is worth twenty-five thousand gold pieces?” They lowered their voice for the last part, emphasizing it, “Is that amount not worth fighting for?”
There was some muttering from the group as they considered it. It was a lot of money, more than they had ever managed to steal before. Scarlet was relieved when the decision started to sway in favor of staying, though Andros still looked unhappy with the idea.
“Listen.” Scarlet put an arm around Andros’s shoulder affectionately, “We all know how annoying Raven was at first-” the men chuckled at the memory, “All we need to do is wait for him to get on that guy’s nerves and bail. That shouldn’t take that long. We’ll be out of here in no time.” With renewed confidence, Scarlet raised their mug to the center of the table. “Agreed?”
The glasses clinked together as the men joined the cheers before drinks were brought to mouths. Scarlet sipped their own beer, feeling satisfied with their plan.
Raven would be theirs again soon. No matter how long they had to wait.
