Peter Marlow
Huh, it's cold… I wandered from alley to alley searching for scraps, my small legs turning blue from the cold. Just a bit more, I haven't found enough for everyone just yet. Just a bit more. My breathing - heavy, every breath filling my lungs with cold air. The pavement felt so cold beneath my bare feet, the cold winter wind piercing my flimsy rags.
I entered one of the alleys next to an inn. Usually, about this time, you can find spoiled or old ingredients thrown out by the innkeeper. I heard a loud noise, then hid by one of the boxes near the alley entrance. Did they notice me coming? Damn it! If I can't scavenge from here, that will make survival far more difficult. Why do they care? It's trash to them anyway. I poked my head out a bit to see four men beating and kicking a lying man.
"Damn it! After all this work, the fucker only had a few messily copper coins?!" One of the men shouted.
"We should just kill him for wasting our time." Said the other.
"Huh… It's fine, you win some, you lose some." The first man said. Then he turned to the man lying on the ground, kicked him in the stomach and said. "If you tell anyone about this, this little beating will be nothing compared to what you'll experience. Got it?"
The lying man didn't answer. Is he unconscious?
Finally the men left, laughing and insulting their prey. I hid trying to avoid them noticing. When they left, I carefully approached the lying man. He was wearing a white mourning mask, a shabby black long coat, far too thin for the weather, black pants and an of-white shirt. It seems that he's in a similar predicament as me.
"H-hey mister, are you okay?" I asked. No answer. I looked around and found a short stick. Took in my hand and poked the man a few times. He moved a bit, then yawned and asked whether it was already morning. Poor man was probably beaten to the state of amnesia…
"It's actually around four in the afternoon, sir." I hesitated. "Do you need any help?"
"Ah, help, that would be nice. Lead me to the nearest tavern. I Can't believe that it's already four and I'm still sober." He stood up, showing no sign of injury. This surprised me. When the man in the mourning mask saw my inaction he said. "Look, kid, if you do a good job in leading me I'll give you some gold, what do you say about that?"
Gold? This man, this man that looks to be homeless and that was just robbed is talking about giving me gold? He must have received quite the few blows on the head. I was speechless, wondering whether or not I should lead him to the local doctor instead of a tavern.
"C'mon, kid, be so nice and lead the way. My patience is wearing thin." The man started tapping his foot on the ground impatiently. Finally, he sighed, the ring on his index finger shone brightly and a golden coin appeared in his hand. He tossed the coin to me and said. "Is this enough for starters?" I was stunned for a second, then started nodding in agreement. "God, I hate kids… Greedy bastards won't do anything for free." He said with a disappointed tone. "Well, what are you waiting for? Get going, you brat."
"Ah, yes, of course, sir." He has a dimensional ring? Only high ranking nobles have items like that, is he that rich?
I took him to the most upscale tavern that I knew of. When we entered, the man looked around and nodded in satisfaction. "This will do." He sat at an empty table, I stood to the side just observing.
The smell of incredibly looking food made my mouth water. I saw whole baked pigs, braised beef, ribs, pies and so much more. I wonder, when was the last time I ate something like this? Probably before my father passed on.
A tavern girl approached us and with a cheery voice asked what we would be having today.
The man with a mourning mask said. "I'll start with a small barrel of dragon tears liquor, a whole roasted pig and meat pies of every kind." He turned at me. "Hey. kid, what will you be having?"
"M-me? I don't have the money for this kind of place so…"
"It's fine, I'm buying, so pick whatever you want."
"Really? In that case, I want a chicken and peas pie!"
"What will you be drinking? Is ale okay?" The man asked.
"I'm 12…" I answered.
"Whoa, kid, I know that I said you can have whatever, but making me pay for something that has been aged for 12 years is a bit much, don't you think?"
"No, I mean that I am only 12 years old, so I shouldn't be drinking. My mom says that you have to be an adult to drink or else you'll ruin your life."
"Pfs… Your mom doesn't know jack shit. I started drinking at seventeen and my life's been shit far before that time, so don't worry about it." He turned to the tavern girl and said. "Just add a kid sized fruit ale to the order and that will be all." She took the order and quickly scurried away.
It didn't take long for the food to hit the table. I couldn't believe my luck, I finally could eat meat, real meat. I carefully sunk my spoon into my pie and lifted the succulent piece of chicken from it, put it into my mouth and started slowly chewing, enjoying the flavour. It was heaven. I left the ale untouched.
The man, on the other hand, ate like a beast, ripping the meat from the bones and swallowing, barely chewing. He would occasionally choke on his food and start drinking his liquor like it was water. Moreover, he poured something from a small glass bottle with a skull on it into every cup of liquor he had. I really couldn't get the read on him. How could such a man have such a valuable artifact with him.
I decided to ask. "Hey, mister, what are you? Where did you get the dimensional ring from? What is in that bottle with a skull on it?"
He swallowed. "Me? Would you believe me if I said that I was a God?"
"No."
"Fair enough. You'd have to be stupid to believe something like that with no proof. The ring was acquired by killing some bigshot from the Bladeheart family ( for the life of me, I can't remember his name ) and, as for the bottle, have you ever heard of 'Three step death'? Well, it's some poison or something."
"You killed someone from a noble family? Not only that, but from one of the most influential noble families in the country? A-are you stupid or are you insane?"
"Good thing for me that that family mysteriously ceased to exist around a month ago, so what can they do to me now?"
"Well, that aside, the 'Three step death' is a famous poison around the world. It is said that a drop of it is enough to kill an army. Not only that, but those that ingest it suffer excruciating pain and are able to, at most, take three steps before dying. That's where it gets its name from, And you are saying that you drink it like this?"
"Yeah, the merchant that sold it to me said something similar and I was curious to try it out for myself. Dying a painful death was something that intrigued me at that moment, but unfortunately, after downing the whole bottle, I stayed standing." He took another swig of his liquor laced with poison, then continued. "The silver lining was that this poison made me feel drunk and I quite enjoyed that since normal alcohol has no effect on me. So since then, I was finally able to drown my misery at the bottom of the bottle. Pretty sweet, huh?"
"You… Wanted to kill yourself? Why?" I suddenly started feeling sorry for the stranger.
He sighed. "Shit happened."
"I see."
"Let's change the subject, kid. Why are you walking around in the middle of winter wearing basically nothing?"
"Well… I have to find food for my younger sister and sick mother, so I search for scraps in what others throw out. We're too poor to get any clothing or food, so I have no other choice."
"Why don't you just steal like the others around here? It seems much easter."
"I can't, stealing is wrong, at least that's what my father used to say."
"Pussy."
"I'm not scared, it's just wrong!"
"What's so wrong in doing whatever you can in order to survive, kid?"
"It's dishonorable! My dad always taught me to be an honorable man!"
"And where is your dad right now, huh? What good are his teachings now that you are suffering like this? Just look at you, all skin and bones and wearing rags. Is all of this really worth your honor? And your dad, what the hell is the bastard doing while his family is suffering, huh?"
"He's… He's dead." I started crying.
"I guess this is how far honor gets you in this world." The man showed no remorse, no sympathy, I felt so stupid for feeling sorry for him earlier.
"It wasn't his fault! It was that damned count Leswin! He killed my dad!"
"Oh? This is getting interesting, do tell more."
"Why? You'll just laugh at me again."
"Let's make a deal, if the story is fun, I'll help you and your family, I'll heal your mom and give you enough gold to live comfortably for the rest of your lives. I'll even help you take revenge, but there's something that I want in return. Are you interested?"
"You… Will you really help us? Fine, whatever it is that you want, I'll give it to you, just help us and help me take revenge!"
The man took a sip from his cup. "I should probably warn you, revenge will not change anything. You might now feel like revenge is the only thing worth living for and that after getting it you will feel liberated, but you will only feel empty inside. You will try to fill the emptiness with anything you can - more revenge, alcohol, women, senseless violence, nothing will replace the yearning for revenge, the undying rage and hatred that kept you alive for all that time. Eventually, you'll just give up on everything."
He took another sip. "Then again, you won't have to worry about any of that if our deal actually goes off, because for my services, I'll be taking your life."