“Errand boy?” he repeated, briefly glancing at his back. The wings remained absent.
“You work for the bard,” she said. “Everyone knows. You are with him for Senor Luca’s performances with wings. They talk about you.”
Kaleo gave her a slightly stunned expression but smirked, folding his arms. “Care to help then?”
She scoffed. “Sure, for a sixer.”
It was his turn to scoff. The money in Mahala was strangely shaped, not round like in Esbeth or paper like in the Empire. Each piece had increasing edges depending on its worth. The one she wanted, had six edges and was known as a sixer to the locals. The one he’d given to the boy that helped him find the courier had one edge, making it the only round coin in the set. She was asking a lot for a simple favor.
“Fine,” Kaleo finally relented, pulling the coin from a pouch tucked in the band of his trousers.
She grinned, acting as translator for the courier. The letter was for Mama Zuri with another tucked into the folded parchment to be sent to Navid. He wanted them to know he was safe, wanted Navid and the girls to know about Aeron.
“Sending a letter to your old master?” the girl said, looking at the parchment. “Or mistress?”
“What? No!” Kaleo said, frowning. The girl giggled, shaking her head. “Why… why would you think that anyway?”
She shrugged again. “You are sending it to Grolly. You are good with music, but not good enough to be part of the guild. But… you are pretty so…”
She left it at that, Kaleo gaping at her assumption of him. Pretty? Really? He very nearly shifted on the spot to be less pretty and vowed to use his ability more often when going out. Pretty…
It took several minutes of translation and another sixer for the girl with amber eyes for the letter to be sent. That alone cost him more than he cared to admit. The deed was done, however, some of his guilt assuaged in that simple act.
“Thank you,” he said when the transaction was complete.
“Sure,” she shrugged, pocketing her coins. He smirked. The girl was lovely beneath the dirt on her face. She had an ethereal appearance that was intoxicating, making him look away with a rush of heat rising into his face.
“You know, I’ll give you another sixer tomorrow if you show me around the city,” he said while looking at his toes. He needed to learn, to adapt. He was not a prince anymore. Reven had neither the time nor inclination to show him around because the bard had other needs to attend to. That’s what he had an urchin for, or so he’d said that morning.
“Two more,” the girl countered.
“One and I’ll buy lunch,” Kaleo retorted in rapid fire. She twisted her lips in thought but agreed. Food, he knew, was a very powerful motivator to a young thief with a dirty face.
“Tomorrow then, errand boy. Bring your wings,” she said snatching the second coin with a wink. She tucked it into the front of her tight pants, and turned to leave.
“Kaleo,” he said. She turned and gave him a questioning look. “My name. It’s Kaleo.”
She smiled. “Lara! See you tomorrow, Kaleo!”
***
Fire consumed every hall, every room, every body that he passed. Reven choked on the acrid smoke, blinded by it as he stumbled toward safety. Except, there was no safety. He’d run from the forest; from the monsters that hunted him. Pain radiated up from his leg, but he could not focus long enough to see why. He pushed forward, he had to, because the monsters were still chasing him. They growled and snarled, hissed and barked at him to remind him of the horrors that awaited him. So, he ran until colliding with a door, slamming it shut behind him.
His chest heaved, back leaning hard against the wooden door. It would not hold back the beasts for long. The room he was in was dark but oddly crowded. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dimmer light. There were tall tables and stools, a window that let in too much moonlight and still forms all over the floor. He focused on the forms rather than surrounding furnishings. When he did, he gagged.
Bodies littered the floor, twisted and mangled. Their faces stared at him, an accusation held in their lifeless eyes. He did not know them, despite feeling an affinity for them. A centaur and three tirsai children - a boy and two girls - a man with lavender eyes, and…
“No… Azrus, please, no,” he breathed out, crawling over to the other form on the floor. He lifted the boy carefully, his body broken, wings torn to shreds. His heart pounded, knowing that the boy shouldn’t have been there. He shook the boy, feeling the lifeless limbs move and the head rise with hateful accusation.
“This is your fault,” the boy croaked, neck twisted at an unnatural angle...
“No!”
Reven caught movement to his left as he sat up screaming. Sweat covered him from top to bottom, chest rising and falling so fast that he barely drew breath. He shook violently and felt the need to wretch but swallowed it down. Kaleo and Serai watched him from the small table inside the inn’s apartment. It was a small, terribly intimate space with a single room, iron stove, table, and a hammock strung across the common area for Kaleo to sleep on. Reven stared at his small little world and the people he held so dear then focused hard on Kaleo. How had the child come to worm his way into the bard’s heart so quickly? Why?
You know why, Beloved.
“Shut up,” Reven growled, shoving himself off the tiny sofa upon which he slept. It was more like a set of broken wicker chairs lashed together with pillows atop it to hide the ugliness of its construction, but it served its purpose well.
