The sun shined hotly on the back of Robin's neck as he drove a pitchfork into the soil. It felt heavy in his hands and the ground appeared to get harder each time he stabbed it with the tool. He felt as if this was his thousandth time doing this. "Whew!" he exclaimed, standing up straight and wiping his forehead with his sleeve. "Damn, this shit's tiring."
Robin looked around and nodding with satisfaction at the field, he thought "I should be done for today." Suddenly he felt a pang of sadness. "I...think I'm done forever." He turned to look at Alex. He was leaning on his shovel and staring into the sky, completely absorbed in his own thoughts. Robin sighed. He knew Alex had the same thing on his mind: "This journey was coming to an end."
* * *
A couple weeks had gone by since the five had seen the brawling in Lemara. Since that incident, life had been pretty normal for the five. Or at least what was now considered normal by them. Early this morning though, Herm, had come back from town really excited and had announced that the town mage would be coming to Lemara either by tomorrow or the day after at most. The five had been ecstatic about it for a few fluttering moments, but suddenly it dawned on every one of them what that meant; they were gonna leave the Ferms and Decimandria forever.
On one hand their means of returning home was almost here. On the other, it meant saying goodbye to the people they had called family and the place they'd called home for so many weeks. Even though this was always the plan, it felt very sudden to all of them. Even the Ferms had felt the blow but they were tactful enough to hide it.
When she'd heard about the news, Eve had started dreading the moment when it would be time. She was sad that she'd have to leave all that she had bonded with these past few months, but she had also started becoming increasingly apprehensive about returning home. Eve shuddered when she thought about all the bombardment of questions the five would face. What she'd face. Would anyone even believe their story? How had her family been all this time? How would they react when they came back? How would her mother react? How would her father react? Zoe? ...Val...? How was he? How had he felt when he had found out the five had disappeared? Would...would he be angry? No...nothing of this had been the five's fault. But still...had he been upset? Had he given into even more girls?
All these disorderly thoughts wildly rotated in her mind and she felt distracted, confused, and scared. She tried to hide it with an effort but it turned out to be easier than she thought. Everyone else was absorbed in their own minds too.
"Hey, that's quite enough!" said Felicia from beside her. Eve snapped out and suddenly realized that she had been pouring sugar in a jar that was overflowing. "Oh, sorry!" she said, stopping. "I...got lost in my thoughts. I'll clean this up." Felicia looked at Eve as if she was seeing her for the first time. "Are you ok?" she asked her sister. Eve looked up. "Yeah...yeah, I'm fine. Are you?" Felicia slowly nodded and observed as Eve started scraping the sugar off the table. Felicia knew Eve was an emotional girl. But this emotional? Had she gotten attached to Decimandria this much?
"Anyway, so you remember how, right? Bake for 3 hours and then remove." said Liana from behind them. Lis nodded. "Just in case though, Eve wrote all the 'recipes' on some paper." Saying so, Liana brought out a bunch of parchments out from under the table and slammed them on the surface. "We...er...we know you'd have no way of contacting us if you were confused about something so we...er...we tried to write down everything; even some notes on what to do if something was to go wrong. We also wrote dow-"
Lis stopped her, placing both her hands on Liana's arms. "I'll be fine, sweetheart. Don't worry." she said gently.
"I...I..." stammered Liana. Lis broke eye contact and looked at the ground. "Maybe after you're gone I'll end this bakery business." Felicia and Eve came over, shocked. "No, Mrs. Fegg. Don't do that!" said Eve. "I've seen how much you enjoy this. We've all seen it. Don't ju-"
Lis smiled at her. "I can't do what you can. All three of you are magicians in the kitchen. I can never match that." she paused for a second. "Even outside the kitchen all of you are wonderful. You three were like my dau-" she stopped herself and looked up at the three girls. "You showed me how it would've been if I'd had three wonderful, beautiful daughters."
Eve saw Lis's eyes filling with tears, and suddenly, before she could control it, she was crying. She grabbed Lis and hugged her tightly. She wanted to say something. To say how she felt. But words escaped her so she just held on hoping that her feelings would somehow get to Lis. And perhaps they did, because she kissed her on the head as a tear rolled out of her eyes. Felicia and Liana too couldn't help it anymore, and they too joined in clinging on to Lis. "You were like a mother, Mrs. Fegg." whispered Felicia. "I'll...miss you so...so much."
* * *
"I guess I totally skipped out on teaching you boys how to hunt, huh?" asked Herm. Robin and Alex had finished their field work and had gone back to the house looking for Herm. The blacksmith had decided to have a farewell dinner for the five, and as such had gone to hunt for rabbits while the two boys had been working. He'd been lucky today and had caught three large hares. He was in the process of skinning them on a tree stump usually used to chop firewood when the two had found him.
Robin surveyed Herm's bloodied hands and the two skinless carcasses that lay on the side. "No. No I guess you didn't." Alex slapped his back. "Don't tell me you're squeamish!" Robin shook his head. "Not at all. But I'd still wanna skip out on the skinning if I could."
Herm laughed his booming laugh. "Yeah, that's what Lis says. That's why I have to hunt and skin them before she will even lay a hand on them." As he ripped off the rabbit's hide, he sighed. "I'm getting too old for this shit." Alex laughed. "You shouldn't have done it then. I can work a knife now. After you'd hunted them, should've told me to skin them."
The blacksmith grinned at his apprentice. "You boys already do so much. You shouldn't even have worked the field today. But you two insisted. I'd have been damned if I'd had you two skinning rabbits for your farewell dinner." Robin shook his head. "No, it's you who does too much, old man. These past few months have been so easy on us because you took us in."
Herm got up and started rinsing his hands in a small wooden bucked. "We've been over this a thousand times. Alex saved my life. Even after that, you all have carried your weight around the house. You've more than helped us at every turn." He laughed half cynically. "You two were better sons than-" He stopped and let out a sight. His hand were blood free now and he straightened up and turned to Alex and Robin. "All of you have been like sons and daughters to me. The house...will be awfully quiet when you're gone..." he trailed off.
Alex was silent for a few moments. He allowed himself to sink in that pit of sadness for a second. "Why was he feeling so sad anyway? When had be become so sensitive?" He snapped himself out of it. Walking over to the silent blacksmith, he placed a hand on his shoulder. He was as tall as his teacher. "Then let's make the most noise we can while we still have time." he smiled. Herm looked up and grinned his boyish grin which then turned into his booming laugh.
* * *
Lis had really gone to work on the dinner. And the girls, upon insisting a lot, had also been allowed to help her. They prepared the meal with gusto. Deep down, it was like a final hurrah for them. A final dish all of them would make together. And the passion had shown.
When they finally placed the different dishes in the hall, they positively glowed with some otherworldly aura. The men stared as the dishes kept rolling out of the kitchen and onto the small wooden table in the hall.
Robin tried to touch the bowl with some roasted rabbit meat in it, and Liana slapped his hand. "No!" she said as if talking to a child. Robin played along and pretended to pout till Eve, as she placed the last bowl on the table tried to kick his shins and he jumped back. "Missed!" he said winking at her. Smiling slightly, she just shook her head in reply.
Soon Herm, Lis, Alex, Felicia, Liana, Eve, and Robin were seated in the hall. It was a mess; everyone was sitting on whatever they could find and hall looked like it would burst any second. But none of them cared. They'd lit extra candles today and the hall had a very warm and homely yellow glow to it. "Before we dig in, I'd like to say a little prayer." announced Herm, solemnly. Robin, who was sitting on a barrel with a wooden bowl in his hand, ready to pounce, looked a bit heartbroken, but nodded with the others.
Herm joined his hands together, his fingers overlapping each other, and bowed his head. "Great Jub, we thank you for blessing this household with happiness. We thank you for blessing us with health. We thank you for all the food you've provided for us. We thank you for the joy you've bestowed upon this house. And most of all, we thank you for bringing us all together for this moment. It is not always that you bless us with your presence, but when you do, you make us forget all the pain and give us eternal bliss. May all the people here be forever blessed by you and may they find joy in their hearts in times of darkness and despair. Amen."
"Amen" repeated everyone. Alex vaguely remembered something about Jub being the God of festivities, celebration, and joy in Decimandria, but he wasn't sure. Herm looked up and grinned. "Dig in!" he said, grabbing two pieces of meat at once. Soon the house was ablaze with laughter and cheer. The five told stories of each other to the Ferms and the Ferms listened in shock and amazement at all the misadventures they'd had over the years. Herm talked about his past and all the stuff he got up to as a young recruit. Everyone was roaring with laughter as the cold, night wind outside pounded against the window unable to get in.
* * *
Everybody was being loud. Too loud. Nobody heard the footsteps of a hooded figure coming up the path. Nobody noticed the figure pause for a second as if surprised by the excessive revelry. Nobody saw the figure peer in through the windows and survey the group inside.
The dark figure then went to the front door and paused for a second. It clenched its fists. Was it in anger? Or was it in glee for what was about to come? Perhaps a bit of both. Taking a deep breath, the figure kicked the door open. The girls jumped at the sudden sound and the boys leaped to their feet. The cold air rushed in and put out the candles that they'd lit plunging the room in semi-darkness. Only a few lanterns were left shining.
Herm immediately grabbed the sword he'd kept leaning against the fireplace. His long training as a Royal Guard and the fact that he lived in a place far from civilization had drilled into him to never be parted with his weapon for long. Especially at night. Alex drew the hunting knife he'd gotten into the habit of carrying around his waist and moved a bit so that he half covered the girls.
The figure just stood there surveying the gathering. The dark combined with the fact that it had its hood up made it impossible to make out its face. "What business do you have here?" asked Alex. The figure didn't respond.
"If you're a weary traveler looking for food and shelter, you'll find plenty of it which you are welcome to." said Herm. "But" and he fiercely unsheathed his sword. "If you're looking for trouble, you'll find plenty of that too."
The figure tilted its head a bit as if surveying just Herm now. Then suddenly it drew its head back and started laughing. It was a cold, mirthless howl that felt like it resonated for miles. The laugh sent a cold shiver down Herm's and Lis' spine. Could it be....?
Just as suddenly as it had started laughing, the figure stopped. "Always so threatening!" mocked the figure. The voice was icy, but Alex sensed some deep seated hatred in it. "Always so demanding!" continued the figure in the same mocking tone as it walked through the doorway. "Yet...always so...so fucking kind!"
Herm didn't respond. "Weren't you?" asked the figure walking further into the house. "Weren't you!" Herm still didn't react. Suddenly, feeling an anger, the figure threw back its hood and almost screamed. "Answer me, Father!"
A low murmur went through the five as they heard the last word. "Father?" Alex scrutinized the man in front of him now. The figure didn't look much older than himself; in fact, he looked remarkably similar to Herm except he didn't have his heavy build or the boyish twinkle in his eyes. Instead, cold, dead eyes looked on the blacksmith burning with hatred. "What?" asked the man. "Surprised to see me alive, Father?" Herm just coldly stared back at the man, his expression unreadable.
"Sem?" murmured Lis, weakly. The figure snapped his gaze on the woman. "Mother!" he exclaimed in sarcastic joy. "Your son is home." For the first time, Herm moved. He slowly walked over to the man and stopped three feet from him. His gaze cold, he studied the figure before him. "We have no son." he said coldly. None of the five had ever heard Herm take that tone before. It wasn't loud, but there was no charm or joy in it. It was flat and emotionless.
"Oh, that's right." said the man, softly. "You have new favorites now." He looked up at the five, staring at them with a glint in his eyes that uneased Alex. "This is what you do? This is what you do after you abandoned me?" asked the figure, anger slowly boiling up inside him.
"Abandoned!" exclaimed Herm, his voice rising too. "I abandoned you!?"
"Yes!"
Herm felt anger rising in him. He didn't know from where, but it kept rising. "You ran! You ran after you murdered Jarc...in cold-blood!"
"You're talking like I wanted to kill one of your old army buddies!" shouted Sem. "I didn't have a choice!"
"You didn't have a choice...you didn't have a choice!" asked Herm, angrily.
"They'd have killed me if I hadn't paid them back!"
"You got into that debt! You got into gambling!" exploded Herm. "And when you begged me for the coin to repay that, I gave it to you! And what did you do? What did you do!? You gambled it all away again!"
"I was a child!" retorted Sem. "I came to you again. I begged you to help me this one last time. And what did you do? You told me to make the money back on my own!"
"Yes! I did!" said Herm. "But if I had known...if I had known..."
"It was the only way." said Sem, suddenly softly.
"Only way!?" asked Herm, incredulously. "You listened to your little friends' advice! You listened to those scum's advice and decided to rob the alchemist just to make the coin quickly!" The figure didn't respond. "You used the fact that he knew you to have him open his door for you. You asked 'Uncle Jarc' for 'help' that night! You used my name to get into my friend's house! And then what? You thought he'd let you and your friends just rob him!"
"Yes!" shouted Sem. "That's all he had to do! But no! He tried to fight us! You'd taught me how to swing a sword. The old man didn't stand a chance! Before I knew it he was on the floor."
Herm stood silent for a moment, almost shaking with anger. "You mean you killed him in cold blood? And for what? For what!? To repay your gambling debts!?"
"They'd have killed me if I didn't pay them back...They'd have killed me..." said Sem, lowering his voice.
"And so you kill someone else!? You kill my friend!?" asked Herm. "And then what? You ran! You ran from town after you'd seen what you'd done instead of surrendering."
"They'd have hung me!" said Sem, his tone betraying a slight tone of appeal.
Herm continued as if he hadn't heard him. "And after that? After that you got a taste for killing, didn't you?" Sem blinked. "Yeah, that's right!" said Herm. "I heard about a young sword joining a gang of slit-throats. I heard how he was the most brutal among them. I heard how he was such an expert at swinging swords! I heard how many people he'd killed!"
Both of the men fell silent. A deadly quiet hung over the hall for a few seconds. "I don't care what you've become, Sem. You're no son of mine. You're just another murderer." said Herm, his tone suddenly low. The figure looked at the blacksmith. "I'm willing to bet there's still a good bounty over your head in town even now." said Herm. "Better get the fuck out of my house before I change my mind and decide to claim it."
Sem's eyes, which had been betraying emotions, suddenly went cold again. "So, this is how you treat your own son when you see him four years later? Turn him in for some money?" he asked coldly. "You're no son of mine" repeated Herm, his voice even more cold. "And it's not about the money. It...never was about the money." he paused for a second then continued. "But you failed to see that."
Sem sneered. "You've lost it old man. But I'm not here for you, I'm here for them. And I'm not alone. There'll be more coming...and they're gonna take them away." He looked up thirstily at the girls. Herm closed the distance between them. "You're not touching any of them." he said, his voice threatening. Sem studied the blacksmith's face with amusement. Then suddenly something snapped inside him and he felt rage. He punched Herm right in the chest. The blacksmith didn't even get a chance to respond Sem was that fast, and he flew back five feet, barely able to keep his balance.
Everybody stared. This...was not natural. Herm gasped for air and looked up at his son. "You've...changed." Sem smiled maliciously. "I've grown in my exile, Father." He said and bared his teeth. Alex felt a chill go down his spine. Something had changed. Sem's teeth weren't normal anymore. Instead they were two inch shards that looked like they could bite through metal. The man stood there for a second, his teeth bared and then opened his mouth. Subconsciously, Eve expected his mouth to stop opening, but it didn't. There was a sickening crack as it sounded like Sem's jaw bones broke and he kept opening his mouth till half of his neck was hanging down. A long tongue twisted about like a snake tasting its environment. As Eve stared in horror, she saw that he had teeth even inside his neck. She felt such terror that it froze her. She just stood there, unable to move or scream.
"What...what are you?" asked Herm, his face betraying the amount of horror he felt.
"I've become what you always made out me to be, Father." said Sem with a slight lisp in his voice now. "A monster."
And all of a sudden, the monster moved. With an unnatural speed he covered the distance between them and pounced on Herm. All the blacksmith could do in response was to raise his sword free hand in an instinctive defense, and Sem immediately bit down on it. Herm felt searing pain shoot through his body as he felt the monster's teeth go completely through his arm and come on on the other end. He screamed with pain, and Sem lifted him up with his jaw and tossed him across the room like a ragdoll.
"Herm!" screamed Lis, hysterically. Blood dripping down his mouth, Sem turned towards the source of the noise and even with that broken jaw, his smile was visible. "Nooo!" screamed Alex and ran at the monster, but it was too quick. All Alex got in return was a backhanded hit on his face so hard, that it threw him to the other side of the hall crashing through a wooden table.
"Mother!" said Sem with the same lisp. "It's time to pay!" He started walking slowly towards his mother. Eve wanted to do something but she felt totally helpless. The other two girls stood there similarly frozen. Lis backed up a few steps till she hit the wall, and helplessly stood there bracing while the monster made its purposeful, slow walk towards her.
Sem was feeling ecstatic. It was a thrill he'd never experienced before but had always longed for. He was gonna enjoy these moments. He saw the terror on the woman's face backed up against the wall as he walked towards her and he felt pure glee. Then...suddenly...pain?
Excruciating pain shot up throughout his body, and he panicked for a second unable to pinpoint the location. He looked down, and there was something sticking out of his chest. Sharp and pointy...? Realization came in buckets and he realized it was a sword...his father's sword.
Even as he looked, suddenly the sword disappeared as he felt even more pain at the removal. Furious he turned to look at who had stabbed him in the back, and there stood Robin staring at him defiantly. Sem felt his wounds start to heal, and his anger increased with each passing moment. This boy had ruined his moment of bliss.
Robin raised the sword to swing again, but Sem, irritably, hit the sword with such a force it flew out of his hands and fell somewhere with a loud clang.
"I was gonna save you for later." said Sem, angrily. "But now you've pissed me off." And he kicked Robin across the abdomen sending him flying. As he took a step toward the collapsed boy, there was a loud shuffling sound of footsteps from his side and Herm body slammed him, pushing him up against a wall.
"Run!" screamed Herm to the others. "Run! I'll hold him off." It looked like his left hand was barely hanging on to his body, but he still kept that arm pinned against Sem. "Run!" he screamed again.
Rage boiled up inside Sem again. "You old piece of shit!" he screamed in anger, and bit down on the side of Herm's neck. The blacksmith screamed with pain as Sem tasted blood. But he was too angry to care about that. Lifting his victim up in his jaws, he threw him across the hall again. Lis, who was almost at the door saw this. "Herm!!" she screamed, and immediately backtracked to rush to her husband.
In a rush of rage, Sem ran to her and slammed her against the wall. His rage was uncontrollable now. He'd waited years for this moment and now the anger he felt surprised even himself. With one hand he lifted his mother up with her neck and looked into her terror filled eyes. However...somewhere he also saw...sadness? Was...was she sad for him? He felt even more rage when he thought about that and he suddenly didn't want to look into her eyes anymore. Screaming, he squeezed down on her neck till he heard the satisfying snap of bone cracking. Her eyes rolled in her sockets as he let go of the body; she was dead before she hit the ground.
Alex saw this unfold. Just getting up from his knock out, he saw and heard Sem snap Lis's neck. "Noo!!!" he screamed in rage. He grabbed his knife and rushed at him. Just as Sem turned around, Alex reached him and stabbed him in the chest. The monster screamed with pain, but Alex didn't stop. He removed the knife and stabbed him again...and again, and again, and again. He was too angry to see what was going on. All he knew is that he wanted this monster dead.
Suddenly, Alex felt arms around him. He felt the arms lift him in the air like he was a sack and he was slammed on the floor by Sem with such force that dust from the floorboards flew out. He writhed for a second, trying to breath in the air that was knocked out of him.
The monster got on top of him and pressed a heavy hand against his chest preventing him from getting up. Alex saw his long tongue lick the wounds across his chest, and Sem took a deep breath. "That actually hurt." he said, almost as if it was a compliment. "You're gonna lose your head for it." he continued matter-of-factly.
Alex felt the hilt of his knife at his side at the very tips of his fingers. He desperately stretched his hand as far as he could to reach it and just as Sem opened his mouth wide, revealing the sharp jagged teeth inside, Alex reached the hilt, grabbed the knife and brought the it down inside the open mouth, stabbing Sem in the lower jaw.
The monster rolled off Alex howling with pain. Alex jumped to his feet and looked at the writhing monster on its knees. There was the point of the knife sticking out from inside his mouth. Sem was trying frantically to remove the knife and end the pain but he couldn't seem to reach it. Alex knew he had only seconds, and as he looked around for a weapon, he heard someone shout his name.
"Alex!" shouted Robin from across the room. Alex spun around and saw Robin tossing him Herm's sword. He saw it flying through the air as if in slow motion, and he stretched out his hand for the hilt. He felt it in his palms, and he closed his fist around it. He turned to face the monster who, to Alex's panic, had finally found the hilt of the knife and was closing his hands around it.
With all his might, Alex swung the sword through the air and brought it down on the monster's neck. There was a stomach-turning sound as the sword hit its target and cut through the muscle and bones. But it wasn't hard enough. The sword got stuck about three-quarters of the way through the neck and Sem stared back at him, confused.
Desperately, Alex tried to remove the sword and there was an even more nauseating sound as the blade tired to pass through broken bones and tissue. But it was stuck. No matter how hard he pulled the sword, it wouldn't budge. For a millisecond, Alex looked up at Sem and saw him still staring at him in confusion. And as they both stared at each other, Alex saw Sem's eyes roll in their sockets. The monster swayed slightly, and then started falling backwards. Alex let go of the hilt, and the body hit the floor with a loud thud.
Suddenly, everything fell silent. Not a single sound was there in the world. Before Alex could even process what had happened, something on the monster's wrist caught his attention. It was bright purple gem...and it was glowing. Brighter and brighter until it abruptly burst. Thick purple liquid oozed out and started engulfing the dead monster's body. In just a few seconds it covered the body entirely, and it began to dissolve.
Alex just stared dumbfoundedly as the body and liquid started disappearing in front of his eyes. Within seconds nothing was left. The sword fell to the floor with a loud clang. Not a single trace of the creature that had decimated them remained...