by Brian Nyaude
7
“Wake up Rid it’s time to head out,” Dashe said waking me up violently.
I got hit by a ray of sunlight and closed my eyes while covering them with my left hand. Nowadays my dreams seemed to be nothing more than flashbacks from my dark past. No matter how strong I became and how much I tried to forget, the same dreams kept coming back to haunt me. But this particular dream was one I truly dreaded the most because it marked the day my world collapsed all together. Still, why did the past keep haunting me for so long? In my dreams I relived every single horrible event like it was happening right in front of me again? Was this part of my penance? If only I could go back through time. I would fix it and make it right again.
“Were you having a nightmare?” Ogana asked packing his clothes into the sack. “You were calling out to your father and mother in your dream.”
I didn’t want to answer that question. It felt uncomfortable for me to reply to it. My clothes were wet, it seemed every time I had this nightmare I always woke up covered in sweat. The dream was like a reminder, a scar that would never go away until the truth was revealed and my name cleared. Coincidentally, that was all I could remember prior to me collapsing from anxiety and stress. The only thing I remember after that was waking up in a desert near an Oasis with nothing, but the clothes I was wearing and my sword. They had cleaned all the dried blood off, but I dared not to ever use that weapon again. I discarded it in the next town and got a brand new one.
“Let’s take the less traveled road,” Ogana said pointing to a small dusty road traveled only by foot.
It was hidden among trees barely visible to the normal eyes. The trees in these woods echoed with sad memories even I couldn’t comprehend. Everything within me told me to stay away, but since Ogana was a trustworthy companion, I felt obligated to follow his lead.
“Why?” Dashe said looking towards a dusty old road. “There is only one good road to Okaya and this is it.”
He was pointing in the more obvious road traveled by most people to Okaya. I was caught up in a crossroad as they wanted me to decide which road to take because they were clearly at a standoff. Ogana knew this road well and was familiar with the surroundings while Dashe did make a point. Traveling in commonly used roads was a lot safer than using unmarked roads. I mean who knew what creatures hid on that small road? I hated such critical choices, they all looked good although I had to choose one. Time was off the essence and I was quickly wasting valuable time. Every second I wasted meant certain doom for my friends. Ogana and Dashe were looking at me eagerly waiting for my answer.
“Any day now,” Dashe said tapping his fingers impatiently “I hope you can decide sometime this century.”
Okay I was wrong. Dashe was still a bunion and it looked like this was going to be one long trip and hopefully a short friendship.
“We’ll let fate decide,” I said taking out a coin and tossing it into the air.
It fell into my hand and I closed it with the other hand. They chose sides each and Ogana won that round. He didn’t stop bragging about his skills with luck all the way. It made me wish I had let Dashe win in the first place. But then again maybe not. It might have turned out a lot worse than I imagined. In less than an hour, we were now seeing the outskirts of a city. For some unknown reason it was getting colder and windy.
“This is Saza,” Ogana said. “It is the city in the outskirt of Okaya. It’s a perfect place to get information.”
Information! I was confused, just how big was Okaya to have a city in the outskirts? The small road led us to an open pathway. I could feel another strong presence surrounding us. It wasn’t just one, but a whole bunch of them. There was some sort of bar or inn just two hundred meters ahead of us. The bar was made from brick with a wood layout on the top. It looked rather small from the outside, but there was more to it than I perceived. Ogana started to smile menacingly, and we backed away from him.
“I smell perfume,” he said and ran off ahead. “Ladies I’m back.”
On no!
“Please tell me he is not a pervert,” I said silently.
Now I knew why he wanted us to take this road. How had he ever found this place? That was truly one mystery I doubted I would ever solve.
“You sure know how to pick them,” Dashe spoke sarcastically.
I found it hardly amusing although he had a point. First it was thieves, followed by an Iyenkan and then a tree giant. All my friends were nothing, but bad influences. It seemed to be a curse of mine. As we followed behind him I noticed something strange. The ground looked like it had been dug up, there was something hidden beneath the ground. I just couldn’t tell what it was, but I knew it was bad.
“I don’t like this place,” Dashe commented drawing out his sword.
For once I agreed with him, there was something not right about this little place. Maybe going this way had been a bad idea after all.
“Come on in guys the booze is good,” Ogana yelled poking his head from the bar.
My eyes were blind to what was inside. The walls were very thick and hard. It also felt as if something vile was blocking my eyes from seeing through. Going from what I felt, there were about twenty people inside and a few of them seemed very strong.
“Are you going inside?” I asked Dashe quietly.
He didn’t answer as he was already walking inside. I honestly didn’t hear him move or when he left. Dashe was considerably fast that much was for sure. I also went inside moments after Dashe had gone in. It seemed this place was really bigger than what it appeared to be. Was this some sort of magic or illusion? In the left middle corner, Ogana was sitting with some ladies laughing out loudly like there was no tomorrow. Dashe had sat on one of the tables and he was drinking a barrel of booze. The place was filled with mostly ladies; they were the waiters serving customers all over the bar. The customers were mostly older males who seemed to take a liking to the booze and the ladies. The air smelled of scented candles and the light inside was a bit dim. I sat down next to Dashe in the table observing the place, the energy generating inside was a lot stronger than what I had felt outside.
“Try some,” Dashe said handing me a cup full of booze. “It’s really good.”
I refused his offer; my vow to never ever drink would remain unchanged as long as I was still breathing. Ever since that fateful night that changed my world, I had made a promise to never ever touch booze again no matter how bad I wanted to drink some. It looked good and smelled nice, but I had to resist drinking. Although, it was difficult for me to see Dashe drink his heart out. My lips quivered to get some even a taste, but my mind said no. The truth is I had been a heavy alcoholic in Rogue. There was no party with booze I had ever missed out. My father used to scold me about that but I never listened. My addiction to alcohol came easy to me as taking a breath of fresh air.
“Can I get you something?” one of the waiters said.
Whoa!
She was really stunning and she reminded me of Daphne so much. Her appearance down to her figure bore a striking resemblance to her. I couldn’t think what to say when she asked me again. “What’s wrong with you?” Dashe laughed out loudly. “You never saw a woman before?”
That was really embarrassing and not true. In that moment, all my memories of Daphne seemed to flood back to me like a sea.
“Okay,” she said feeling awkward. “I will come back later. Just let me know when you are ready.”
I watched walk her away for a second wishing I had said something to her. Dashe laughed as he finished the barrel and ordered another one. Thanks to her distraction, I had overcome the craving for booze I was feeling. If she hadn’t been there at that moment I would have taken the cup of booze Dashe had offered me within a heartbeat. Looking around, I would say the same thing for all these women, they were all pretty. Now I saw why Ogana had been so determined to come this way. What could he possibly be after in a place like this? Shortly afterwards he asked us for some money.
At first we were both reluctant, but we gave in after seeing how little choices we had.
He called it “information money aka bribe money.”
But all he seemed to do was spend it buying drinks for him and the ladies. I don’t know what we were doing in a place like this when Okaya was so close to us. The sun was still shining bright in the morning and yet this place was so cold like the winter. No one except me seemed to feel the cold and I don’t know why that was. I remembered, Ken had given me a cotton cloak and I still had it in my sack. I quickly took it out and wore it. It was warm and comforting. Everyone stopped as if they saw a ghost. They were all looking at me shocked.
“Yeah I know,” I said myself. “This cloak is extremely comforting and breathtaking.”
Actually it was the opposite, they all burst out laughing and it was loud and annoying. I highly doubted that they were laughing from jealousy.
“Where did you get that cloak?” Dashe said laughing his tears out.
If he laughed any higher his lungs would explode.
“It seemed Ken pulled a fast prank on you,” he finished and took another gulp of the booze.
I was offended by their laughter and thankfully I managed to keep my anger in check. Quietly I got up and headed for the bathroom. The laughter kept going on, but I ignored it. I had never felt such humiliation before. On my way to the bathroom I took off the cloak and packed back into my sack. I felt cold again, but I would have to hold out until I leave this place. Suddenly, something caught my attention completely. It was an open dim door with a glowing object inside. I stopped in my tracks and peered through the opening. My arm was tingling and glowing brightly the same color. Odd indeed!
No one seemed to be in the room so I snuck in quietly and closed the door behind me. It looked like a storage room or sort. So many weapons and objects I hardly knew. I felt no other presence inside with me meaning I could relax and moved around easily. The glowing object was behind some junk I had never seen before. Just what was this room anyway? It felt creepy and gloomy, everything inside resonated with unknown energy. Slowly, but surely I walked until I came close to the glowing object. I removed some of the junk in the way to have a better look at the glowing object. I must admit I was a bit scared of what I might find, but at the same time I was curious. What could it be? I was thinking to myself as I reached in and took the glowing object into my hands. It split into two objects before my eyes. The light was so bright I could hardly make out the objects. One for each of my hand, before I could even see what they were, the objects sunk into my flesh just like with the gauntlet. Okay this was getting old pretty fast. Why couldn’t I just take stuff without them getting into my skin? All of a sudden I heard a scream coming from one of the rooms. I ran out of the room quickly to see what was going on. There were some strange men in the place. They wore armor and didn’t look friendly. Dashe and Ogana were too drunk to know what was going on as they just tumbled all over the place. Their eyes turned towards me without warning.
“You there!” one of them said pointing to me. “Come with us right now.”
How they found me was truly a mystery as I had been hiding and masking my presence under a table. Rats, I had been found out so I got up sensing no reason to remain hidden anymore. My presence was stirring up some commotion among the waiters and customers. I had to somehow lure these dangerous men outside without involving any of them.
“What is going on?” Dashe said after he puked all over the floor.
He shortly lost consciousness afterwards. Ogana was watching what was going quietly as he stumbled all over the place. He was too drunk to walk towards me and aid me as he kept tumbling down on the floor. My heart was racing fast. I looked closely at them looking for any opening I could use to flee like a coward I was.
“What do I do now? I can’t beat these guys at all. They all appear strong.”
I was backing away slowly and yet they didn’t move an inch. They were confident in their skills and I wasn’t in mine. At this rate they were going to capture me for sure. It was either fight or go with them and I didn’t like any of those choices.
“What’s going on here?” a woman said coming out of the shadows.
At that very moment I think I fell in love. She was beautiful like a diamond in the rough, like an Oasis in the desert. Oh, what am I thinking?
“Why are you trash bothering my customers?” she asked clinching her fist, standing gently like a silent shadow. “If you are not buying anything in here then get out.”
I liked the way she spoke, though it was rude, to me it was like an angel’s voice.
“Come on focus,” I slapped myself to concentrate on the current situation.
The men barely moved nor blinked. None of them made unnecessary movements in their position. Such arrogance was admirable in my eyes. One of them suddenly stepped forward. His armor was different from the rest. Instead of being silver like the others it was gold. He chuckled and then said, “you know we can’t do that Suzanne, orders are orders after all. Besides you know what would happen to this place if you went against Katarina Fox.”
Katarina! So she knew where I was already? These men must have been her minions or soldiers. But how did she find me so soon? Who could have told her? We had taken this road to avoid her or anyone for that matter and yet it wasn’t enough.
The woman laughed out loud and then said “get out now! I don’t care about your orders. If you start any trouble I will beat you to a bloody pulp.”
For some reason she reminded me of Daphne, their attitude and style of dressing were the same. There was a long silence after that, the tension in the room was high. I could feel their blood lust rise along with their intent to kill. The soldier in the golden armor moved first, he vanished into the wind in astounding speed to attack her straight up. I could barely see his movements and I doubted the lady did. She was in the same position the whole time as I dashed to help her. But it seemed my help was not needed after all. Somehow she easily evaded his first attack and went on the offense within that second. She punched him and he flew backwards breaking the wall behind him with his body. The other soldiers attacked too and that’s when the other waiters joined in the fight. They made short work of the armored men and within seconds they were glowing blue and strangely vanishing into the wind.
Amazing! I was surprised with what I saw. These women were truly strong. It seemed to me that I was the damsel in distress and they were the knights in shiny armor that had saved me. I was so mad at myself for letting others help me. I had the power to defeat them and yet I had been too scared to act in the first place. The woman one of the men had called “Suzanne” walked right to me.
“Are you here to cause trouble?” she asked grabbing my collar with her right hand. Her strength was incredible. I felt it as she swept me off my feet.
“You smell good,” I said, I don’t know why I said it.
She blushed red and threw me in wall behind her, she looked back and I heard her mumble, “Just another fool.”
The pain felt good like torturous sting of a ray bee. I wanted her throw me again against another wall in the back of my mind. Although I doubted she would do it upon my request. Seeing as my travel companions were out cold, I got up and sat on my back filled with questions I had no answer to. How had she found me? Was she coming for me next? What will I do? Until Ogana and Dashe had sobered up, I was going to wait and think of my next move.
