" I was wondering where and when did I lose you?, Peony. " The words reached Thomas's ears, and he followed a fuming Edward. The rambles of the birds became louder, and the sounds of more animals and Birds became audible.
Edward reached for the parrot's cage and grabbed the handle, looking at the other animals locked inside their cages.
"There are a handful amount of them here. I mean I can see, 4-5 more birds, 3 cats and 2 dogs. He even has a snake in there."
The shop's entrance was more expansive than average ones, displaying every animal to the customers, the skin of animals hung above the cages covering the glass windows.
Without looking at the shop, Edward began to break the cage's door forcefully, but Thomas stopped him and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I understand this bird was stolen from you, Edward, but remember the rules. You do not get that bird until you pay for it or else...."
Thomas moved his mouth close to Edward's ears, whispering now,
"Look at the guard on the nearby tower in the east. His gun is ready to shoot at you any second. If you don't want to die here, repurchase your precious friend's freedom."
Edward steals the glance at the east gate and meets the guard's eye, and the gun is pointed right at him and Thomas. He calms down and enters the shop through the open door.
"I want to buy this damn bird and want to meet the ow-"
Edward had already started speaking before he entered the shop and stopped when he found the reception empty. A glass case containing shelves of guns and bullets stood at the reception.
"Nobody's here? The shop's open."
The shop's aroma and decor filled the environment with a different allure. Still, the reception was empty, and there was no person to greet and meet any customers.
Edward and Thomas look around the shop, trying to find the owner, and Edward does not let go of his bird's cage.
"Help!!!"
"!!!!"
A voice of pure desperation reaches into Edward's and Thomas's ears, and it comes from behind a black door at the back end of the shop.
"What the hell is going on here?!"
Edward keeps the cage on the glass case and runs towards the door, and Thomas follows behind him.
"Ahhh!!"
"You damn woman!! Want to run away?!"
A noise of cries and shouts of rage and anger both cry simultaneously behind the door as Edward barges at the door and, with a single kick, breaks the door into two.
"What in the world? "
With his eyes, he witnesses the horror: a dark room with a single table, two people and a scene that leaves Edward growing in a new emotion seeing his old mate who once sailed alongside him.
A woman crying with her hands wound around her body covered in blood, bleeding from her marks throughout her body, half naked, only a tiny piece of torn silk covered her body as she cried for mercy.
He stands in front of her, a man with anger and a drunk expression on his face. He holds a leather belt in his hand; he takes a single look at Edward and looks at the woman again.
"You damn whore! You got other men going for me and suck at me for money and your hunger?! Want to run away for his place?! All you want is more money and men!"
His neck's nerves tightened as he screamed at the trembling woman, who, with tears in her eyes, looked at Edward, her eyes screaming for help.
"You've changed Prince. You are not what I saw."
With these words, Edward's anger finally explodes in his rage. Within a scene of less than 30 seconds, a person Edward once cared for was nothing less than an insect who needed to be crushed.
"What did you-"
Edward cuts Prince's words as he kicks in his right arm, disarming from his belt. He punches him in the face, knocking Prince off his feet in his eyes. Edward slides and kicks him on the head, launching his head into the table.
Edward picks up Prince's lifeless body off the ground, and he begins to punch his face, once... twice... thrice, and he keeps on going.
"Please stop!"
Edward finally regains his thought as he looks toward the voice; it is the woman.
"Please don't hurt him anymore. It is not his fault..."
With tears brimming through her eyes and her hands shaking, she pleaded to Edward to stop attacking Prince.
"Why would you-"
Edward finished his sentence, but before that, guards rushed into the room, immediately surrounding Edward and Prince with their guns lined up.
"Drop that man and surrender unconditionally, or we will be forced to shoot. I say it again-"
Edward looks at Prince's face and then at the woman's face; unable to understand the woman's feelings from her earlier words, he lets go of Prince and raises both hands in the air.
The guards immediately cover the woman in a cloth and take her medical attention, and the same is done for the Prince while Edward is handcuffed by one of the guards.
"Let go of him. He is with me."
Thomas appears behind the crowd of guards, ordering them to let go of Edward. The guards do, and free Edward walks towards Thomas, who is standing outside the shop.
Edward picks up the birdcage and throws a pouch filled with gold coins onto the glass case, and he confronts Thomas the moment he leaves the shops.
"Where the hell have you been?"
"Making sure you don't get shot by the guards for beating up a shopowner. Don't get me wrong, you were trying to help that woman, but the guards would shoot you on the spot if they hurt a shopowner for personal reasons."
"Rules over humanity..."
There was a lot more Edward wanted to say, but he swallowed his words as he saw the woman and Prince being taken for medical treatment.
Edward takes a look at the bloody body of Prince as he is carried. Edward notices something-
"!!"
- something that brings about a whole new fear inside Edward. Something which would destroy the entire future of the 5 kingdoms.
"I need another look inside, and I need you to get me in a meeting with that woman. It needs to be private, arrange a meeting with Prince if you can."
"We are already running out of time? We have time only until mourning, we have to leave before that. Prince won't be waking up for 2 days from the way you have assaulted him, and that woman looks hopeless."
"The woman looked okay. We will talk to her within an hour or two. So, get to the medical team and tell them to make all necessary procedures within due time."
"You know what you are asking for?"
"Make it Happen, Thomas. You are with me because I expect you are able to do something worth my time, or do you want me to do all the work while you drink and babble after rules and other crap."
Edward's harsh and uncontrolled words surprised Thomas. Seeing this immediate change in his demeanour and words, he had no retort come to his mind.
Edward moved his back towards Thomas and moved into the shop once again. The shop was now empty, but Edward began searching because he knew something was hiding within the walls, which was much worse than an assassin.
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