The capital was still reeling from the witchery night that had engulfed them in turmoil and destruction. It's fear were far over from being f felt and forgotten,despite that two of the witches were nothing more than a pile of ashes.
Glaring into the unpredictable sky,their eyes gleamed hopeful that it was to be the last of the witches they had seen for a lifetime,unknowningly and conceited to them that far worse was yet to come.
Yet not all hearts were as strong as the indestructible stones, for them to bear such loses incurred or the strength like that of an iron bell that had plummeted down on a cottage with no cracks visible on it. In despair, some wallowed in tears, while others refused to come terms with the destruction of their properties.
"What are we going to do, husband?!" asked the merchants wife, looking at their torn down cottage. It was now but just a heap of rubble,the once pride of the lower echelon. Her husband was beyond consolable, losing it perhaps,unable to bear it or accept what laid before his eyes. His pride was now but a distant memory of its past glory. They were the prosperous merchants, whose lives now seemed darkened by unmistakable stench of hopelessness.
"I-i don't know. Where do I start? Where do we start from?!" Eekiel,the merchant,yelled out, crying and crouching on the ground where his cottage once stood. His fellow neighbours glared gleefully at them for their misfortune.
"They deserve it!" sneered a bald man, wearing raggedly and his rib bones were showing.
"It's unfortunate for them but they had it coming sooner than later!" another man with crooked teeth replied. Now a group of beggars and traders had gathered around him. Watching and gladdening in his misery.
"Even though he's unscrupulous merchant,we shouldn't merry gleefully in his misfortune!"a young man pleaded.But they were not about to hear anything of such. To take pity on him. Now a large crowed had swelled around the distraught merchant, with many of them being those whom he had thrown into the jaws of poverty by destroying their little trade of work or swindling them of their meagre coin with inflated food prices. Staring at him wallow in desolation,they were the one's finally having the last laugh. It gladdened their callous hearts, for a mighty than a horse scoundrel like him to fall down from grace and lick the distasteful taste of misery and despair.
"Shut up!" roared a scrawny elderly man, holding a walking stick,"you say that we should take pity on this swindler,he destroyed my family,my family business just to fill his gluttonous wallet. Don't dare stand up for him,or you will have it with us!" The young man was now seen as an enemy,he knew the crowd was getting hostile and easily agitated,with what had happened to them, with the anger bottled up deep inside of them, it sought somewhere or someone to pour their frustration on. Their fiery eyes burnt him to submission, as he slowly made himself scarce to the safety of his unscathed bread stall.
The merchant,grovelling on his knees,with his wife beside him, watched his crumbled cottage, and his past enemies rally up against him. They sought his blood but not even his tears could save him from their pent up anger as they charged forward not to kill but to plunder of little that had been spared after the aftermath. The elderly too weren't to be left behind, fighting for the little that they could find with the more young men. With tensions still running high, confrontation between plunderers was to be expected. And two of them were surprisingly a young man and a gnarly old man. Here,to plunder, was the mostly likely place a young man and an old man could meet at equal footing. Without showing of the demanded sentimental respect to the elderly.
"These is mine,old man!" a short young man barked, snatching a golden jewelry from the old man's hands. Though the old man was not letting him have it.
"I saw it first. Go and search for yours, stupid boy!" snarled an old man back, wrinkled like a gizzard and also dressed raggedly. In strength,the young man was winning but the old man was surprisingly putting up a decent fight on his part. The jewelry was worth one hundred silver aldiaria coin, enough to purchase food that could last a household of five for almost two full rainy seasons and with spare to save.
It was worth any tooth,with a bloody one flying out of the old man's mouth. He now had less to chew his beans with. But his family,his only family, was his ageing hound. His wife had deserted him decades ago when his business came down crumbling on the weight of the rising food prices and a greedy merchant's unscrupulous dealings.
He couldn't not afford to buy the goods with the coins that he had,as well as the merchants refusal to let him buy on credit. His life since then was never the same,she taking his children due to his inability to fend for his family. That was forty years ago,now an old man with grey hair and teeth as few as his coins in his pocket. The struggling for him was never over. He had seen heaven and hell in his lifetime and he was not about to accept to be dragged down to that hell again, when heaven was within his grasp and sight.
In a jolt,with his head full of blood and his eyes teary,he swung one jab at the young man connecting straight onto his chin with the little drop of strength he had left , knocking him out cold .After having won the duel,he fell down on the ground,panting as he wiped off the blood smeared forehead with the back of his palm.
"Whew.. I did it!" he gloated, panting heavily, watching the unconscious young man lay cold. The merchant family stared on in despair as their home got plundered bare. Struck with disbelief,the old man collapsed ,and dying instantly. No one bothered to rush to his aid, with his wife kneeling and weeping beside her dead husband's corpse.
Wandering stray hounds barked louder, scavenging here and there for anything edible,as cats kept the chase with hordes of destructive rats to devour and make them their own plaything.
On the other side of the capital, horse drawn wagons filled with rubble, creaking under the heavy load,carried them off to the outskirts of the capital to dispose it. Everyone was busy piling up the debris and salvaging anything of worth, and around the corner,a tavern laid in ruin. It was completely burnt to ashes, with nothing remotely to suggest there was anything to salvage,not even a bottle of liquor.
The owner of the tavern sat on the opposite side of his property-in a dreadful state-with bandages
- stained with blood-wrapped around his shoulders and head, hopeless of where to begin. His livelihood was gone and poverty was now beckoning nearby,knocking on his loosened door.
"Where do i begin,god?" he asked,in murmurs,to himself. Maybe he was losing it,after all he had escaped from the witches mouth by a whisker and now here he was, returning to find nothing waiting for him. He was soaking in tears. Everything he had worked hard for those many gruesome years now seemed like a tale to him. His struggles and sacrifices were all for nothing. The humiliation,his dignity as a man were just but ashes now.
"Tell me!" he yelled, terrifying the passing commoners,"where shall i start! Am getting past my years. I have no strength left to start over. No children,no wife and no parents whom I can call upon when i am hungry or when i need a roof over my head." His cries were a mere racket, the crys of a wounded beast that were not be listened too, with no one willing to stop and take ,at least ,pity on him. They too had their own fair share of problems to be concerned with a strangers lamentations. He grovelled on his burned down tavern's ashes, reeling from the harsh thrashing reality that was before his very eyes.
Hush footsteps closed nearer to him, wreathed in despair, a gentle hand touched his wary head. With his face full of mucus and tears,he labouringly lifted his head high and there she was, Alyce,standing infront of him. Her smile was gentle and she wore a black frock with a white shawl covering her hair.
"Aha! Alyce!" muttered the owner, astonished. He couldn't believe his eyes,with Alyce helping him get up on his feet. A big smile adorned him, tears and mucus slipped right through it. "Alyce! You are still alive?!" asked her boss, bursting out in joyous tears. Alyce was filled with sadness of what had become of her employer.
But she knew all to well the reason for his dire state,it was rather near. It was behind her,his pride and joy. In ruin and not to mention his near face with death wasn't something anyone could easily forget about. Alyce,on first glance ,saw his stained bandages, as she wished to ask him how he was fairing. But those painful memories were still fresh in his mind. She saw fit to restrain herself from reopening them,for his sake. They needed time to heal,the scabs to dry and peel themselves off then, she would at one time ask him how he had overcome the witches from that dreadful day.
"Yes boss. I'm still alive," replied Alyce, dipping her hand into her pocket and fishing out a squared small cloth. Gracefully,she wipped her bosses face, gently and tenderly. Soon as she had finished,she sat ladylike next to him recounting of how the events had occured, after he had been flown away by the familars, and how she had been saved from the consuming flames. He keenly listened to her,it was a good distraction from the heap of destruction that laid before him... or so he thought.
"Oh,i see. That's how you were saved. That's nice to hear,at least something good happened Alyce!"responded her boss,now gazing into his own despair. Her recount was not a sweet remedy for his broken ticker,that she knew.
"Boss!" Alyce called.
" You should probably stop with the boss calling , Alyce. How can I be your boss without the tavern? Just call me by my name. Call me Kolsack Hayy," Kolsack Hayy implied.
" Don't say that, you're still my boss. You helped me when i came to the capital for the first time, gave me work,a place to sleep and more importantly a friend to tell my worries too. You were the only one kind enough to have taken pity on me,in these whole capital,"replied Alyce vehemently," I won't abandon you in your moment of despair. That would make me no different than them!"
" You don't have to prove anything to me Alyce,you are still young and full of life, dragging along with me will only be a burdensome misery,"Kolsack Hayy insisted," please, Alyce, forget about me and these place. I'm certain your future will be prosperous." Alyce was angry. She didn't want to be thought of as a leech. How could she leave the only person who helped her when no one dared to! She wasn't like others who leeched off their friends and families and soon deserted them in their hour of need and despair.
No! That's not what her parents had brought her to be. This man, seated next to her,was more than good to her in comparison with her own blood kinfolks. Hadn't they looked away from them since their parents demise? How many times had they slept hungry due to their selfishness?Or how they had persisted on taking away their parents small farm that they had inherited. They weren't related,but his ticker was much more empathetic compared to theirs.
"Don't think low of me. I would not be able to live with myself if i abandoned you,now or in the future. You better keep that in mind,"Alyce answered.
" But where do you expect us to start from? All the coin i had on me were spent into buying all the liquors that were in the tavern,to the very last silver coin,"asked Kolsack Hayy. Despite that, Alyce had a good fortune down her cleavage, reeling out a bag full of silver coins, hidden from any prying eyes. It was shockingly a fat coin bag.
"You see these bag,boss. It's full of three hundred silver aldiaria coin. Enough to rebuild the another tavern and restock the shelves,"Alyce answered. Kolsack Hayy gasped, believing not what he was seeing or hearing. It might have been a dream, a sweet dream ,but his burnt tavern infront of him pushed out any notion of him being sound asleep.
"But-but, how did you get these much coin?" asked Kolsack Hayy,now fully awake and surprised.
"You remember the man whom i told you rescued me?"asked Alyce. Kolsack Hayy tried to remember him,but at the time Alyce was narrating to him of how she had been saved, Kolsack Hayy was not with her, at least in mind
"Yes i do remember him!" replied Kolsack Hayy, lying.
"Last night he had a bag on him full of coins . He was generous enough to give it to me,burdened with worry of my well-being to the fact that the tavern was already burned to the ground, insisting that i should take and use it to restart the trade once more,"Alyce explained.
"Is that so? Thank heavens. But Alyce,it's your coins,you should start your own trade,"implored Kolsack Hayy, heaveing a sigh of relief.
" I just want to put the coins back into the tavern. Nothing more,how about these if you accept then we reconstruct the tavern,"insisted Alyce.
" What do you propose?"asked Kolsack Hayy.
"If we co-owned the tavern,with the coins as my investment,how does that sound?"asked Alyce. Kolsack Hayy now stood up abruptly, Alyce following suit while he dusted himself off the dirt from his trousers and coat. Then he brimmed with tears and nodded to her proposal.
"I can't turn down your proposal Alyce, after all there is not much that I can do alone. I humbly accept your proposal,partner,"answered Kolsack Hayy, with Alyce embracing him in joy.
" Thank you for not turning it down," said Alyce. She stealthy sneaked the bag back in her cleavage,now that many eyes were watching them.
"It wouldn't be an easy task, you know! It will sap the life out of us before it's ready to be reopened again,"retaliated Kolsack Hayy. It was now mid day with the sun scorching down on his sweaty forehead to glistening.
"I already knew that, even though it will take time and energy,we have to see it through,for both our sakes," agreed Alyce,with her hands resting on her waist.
" The tavern shall need a new name what do you propose we name it after it's done,"asked Kolsack Hayy.
" Name?!"asked Alyce, astounded.
" Yes. Even a tavern needs a name after all. Without a name,its just but a void place. With no soul or a beating heart. Everything needs a name,"replied Kolsack Hayy, emotionally.
" A name? what about the previous one?" asked Alyce. She was like a little girl,naive to know that even objects needed a name to exist. For without a name,you are void. Nothingness,an abyss of voidness.
"I named it when i was the sole owner but the tavern it's now but ashes. You are now my partner and so we need to come up with a name together for the journey we are about to embark. A name that resonate with the tribulation we have faced and the future we are journeying to,"explained Kolsack Hayy.
" If it's so ,what about the Phoenix?" asked Alyce, suggestively.
"Phoenix? Why such a name?" asked Kolsack Hayy, inquisitively. The myths were there of the phoenix,tales that had been told since ancient times. Of a mythical bird that rose up from it's ashes to regaining its past self. No matter how many times it died and turned to ashes,it always rose back to life. Alyce smiled and responded.
"It's a bird. A bird that resurects from its own ash no matter how many times it dies." Kolsack Hayy interest was peaked, accepting the name without any qualms.
"That's a good name, fitting perfectly with the situation at hand,"he agreed. In his moment of happiness,his starving stomach grumbled, shaming him. Alyce was lively after hearing it, she too was getting hungry by the minute. It was noon and they needed food as a solid foundation to kick start their work;of bringing the phoenix back to life from its ashes.
"Hey partner!" Alyce called,"how about we grab something to eat before we start the task ahead of us?" Kolsack Hayy grinned, for he had not eaten since escaping from the gobs of the Witches. He was truly famished beyond words.
"That would be great. But i have no coin on me!" replied Kolsack Hayy.
"Don't be a silly. We are partners after all,aren't we? How about these time, the meal be on me, how's that?"she asked," and next time you will be the one to buy."
"I can't argue with that, shall we ?" Kolsack Hayy replied, showing her the way to a bakery nearby. In the skies, the heavenly scavengers flew across the capital, also hungry for the dead corpses that laid bare in the open.
In the outskirt of capital, there they found their next meal, a body of dead child lying at a nearby river,as they tore right into her.
The child,a young girl, corpse had been mutilated and a broken clay pot lay scattered next to her. Her gashed blood flowed into the flowing river, with the hordes of vultures continuing to devour every last bit of flesh on her bones.
And far away from the disheartening hell, to the heavenly royal palace, outside of the royal courtyard ,loud clanging of swords erupted thunderously, filling it to the brim. There was a fight ensuing between the prince and Vladd. The prince, dripping in sweat and panting heavily, grunted under the heavy training of his now master ,with his hands swollen and numb from gripping onto his sword hilt since dawn without breaking for respite or a goblet of water.
In rage, he charged forward swinging his heavy sword aimlessly against Vladds blade. He was at the end of his wits, with his back pressed againist the wall known as Vladd. The Captain of Squad Two , Captain Hahn Bludd, watched from a distance ,seated on a pine curved seat, gulping down his liquor,with two young maidens keeping him company, basking under a radiant sun.