I got back home. The sun was setting behind the mountains in the west. I could faintly see the lights of the city. I looked back to my fence. The ashes were gone, no where to be found. It probably blew away in the wind like it always does.
I got inside and went to the place where I left the deer. I put down the bag and opened it. Four fishes were inside.
"Not a lot, but it'll do for a couple days. Or maybe I'll sell them. I'm not sure but-" I talked to myself. I tried to ignore what's at hand, but I couldn't. How did it come to this.
I thought about it for a second. Was it the woman? The old woman I held hostage? Does he think I'm a monster that needs to be stopped? What is going on inside his head? I was defending myself!
"Dannazione." I whispered under my breath.
I cleared my thoughts. I suddenly realized how quiet it was. There was no noise. I looked outside to see nothing but darkness. It was night. So much time had passed, how long was I all caught up in my thoughts?
I went to my room and got undressed. I folded my clothes and put them into the basket, and I got in bed. The silence was loud, I could even hear as much as a single drop of water. Time passes slowly as I lay awake, unable to sleep. This isn't a common occurrence. I just have a lot on my mind.
Suddenly I started laughing at myself. "Sono un tale fottuto idiota." I said in between breaths. "It was lying!"
I was so sure the Phoenix was lying. My brother would never even think about doing such a thing. He's never even killed an animal before! How could he kill me? With my new-found hope, I closed my eyes and drifted to sleep.
When I woke up, it was morning. The sun hadn't risen above the trees. Everything is back to normal. I got back up and made my bed. I got dressed, cleaned my teeth, and then my clothes. I got my horse back out and prepared my carriage. I needed to go back to the city. I grabbed the deer and threw in into the carriage, and then harnessed my horse. As soon as that was all done, I headed out.
There were a couple things I needed to do at the city today. I wanted my deer skinned and eviscerated, and I wanted to find a book at the library. I don't do a lot of reading, but this was important.
Once I got to the city, and I payed the entrance tax I went straight to my friends place. He was the guy that guts and skins animals. Today I'd have him do both. I usually like to gut the animal as soon as it died, but I hadn't this time and it went into rigor mortis. It's kind of difficult to gut an animal when it tenses up, so I have him do it instead.
I brought the buck inside and as usual, he was sitting on a cushioned chair chair behind a desk. He got up and yelled my name in delight. "Lance!"
"Antonio!" I said. "I got somethin' for ya!"
"Oh? I can see that!"
Antonio walked through a door on the left side of the room. I followed behind him. Once I got through, there was a big table in the back, and pelts of animals hanging on one side of the room.
"Go ahead and set it down over there." He said.
"You tell me that every time I come here." I replied. He didn't care though.
Antonio prepared a rope, and tied it to the ceiling. He got a bucket and put it directly under the rope. Then he grabbed the deer at tied the rope around its neck, and on one of its legs. Ge grabbed a giant knife and cut carefully down the belly of the deer, starting from the chin all the way down to the tail. He removed what was not needed, intestines, lungs, stuff like that. But then he removed the heart, kidneys, and liver, and placed them on a metal tray. He then went back and let all the blood drain for a while. He then made cuts on a couple places of the deer, and carefully peeled the pelt off.
He gave hung it on a hook and looked back at me. "Alright, I'm gonna salt this, come back in a few days and it should be ready." He said, to which I nodded. This is the usual procedure, so by now I'm used to it. "Now how about the edible organs? You gonna take them?"
"Nah." I said. "Not this time."
"Alright, see ya next time"
I walked out and got back on my carriage. I immediately started for the library. Once I got there, I went inside. It was big, huge in fact. So many books can be found here, but I was looking for something specific. I walked over to a certain section and looked around. I picked out a book. "Mythical Creatures & Cryptids." The title read. I flipped through the chapters. There was many. Fairies, Mermaids, Dragons, anything relating to mythical creatures could be found in this book. I finally came to a certain page. The chapter's title was "The Phoenix."
The chapter wasn't long, but it had quite a lot to say about Phoenixes. It reads: "Phoenixes are said to have originated in Middle-Eastern mythology. They are said to be mischievous, and often not very serious. They tend to toy with humans and even other animals, specifically predators. They can turn to ashes, and they are constantly on fire. They can even adjust the heat of their flames at any time. They do not feed off of animals, in fact, it is unknown what they feed on, if they even eat at all."
I kept reading, but no where did it mention the ability to see someone's future. So it was lying after all! He gave a long exhale.
I left that city happy that day.