.
.
.
"Well, this place is a mess. I hope you'll make it up to me, Danny." Dörk laughs sarcastically. Deep down, he thinks he should have sold the house long ago. He already had his own home, 'The Wonders Store' , the place was quiet, although in his book, quiet was generally boring but occasionally welcome.
"Have you run out of insurance?" replied the lieutenant, continuing their bantering mood.
"I think so...six years ago. I don't know exactly. I know I don't have it!" Now Dörk laughs. "Well, it doesn't look that bad." he knocks one of his old books on the floor.
"Eh... the fireplace and..." the lieutenant points at the ceiling. The ceiling and wall were busted, making it clear that the roof needed an upgrade.
Dörk frowned. "You know what? I don't give a rat's ass about this place." He ignores the damage and turns back to the sergeant. Right now, Kason was securing the body. Chains and thick steel handcuffs were all they had, but it hardly looked like the monster was going to do anything soon. The guards had secured her like a mummy from top to bottom, barely leaving room for anything else.
But it all looked very rough. The vampire, a being between life and death, was literally momentarily sandwiched between the two. "Nyx did a number on her." Kason said. "She's so dry she can't even move. Talking about smoked bacon." He remarks. True, Nyx's technique was helpful but no one was arguing that it wasn't skittish.
"How do you suggest we get rid of the corpse?" the lieutenant looked to Cleo, but asking Dörk. "Wait for the sun?"
"If you want to wait, yes." Dörk leaned down next to the vampire and axamined the beast for a moment. Her skin was grayed and the black veins with dark spots came out ....was this a slight sign of necrosis? Undead monsters are immune to it. Maybe she can't possibly heal herself right now, so she's preceding more and more towards a genuine corpse? "We can throw her in the river. It helps to destroy her."
Dörk stands up. "And where is our special bait?"
A few men enter the room with a stretcher. "In the kitchen." replies the sergeant. "We'll get it ready for transportation. We're waiting for the order to leave, sir." Kason summarized.
"Take it easy Kason, you have done well." says the lieutenant before following his friend. They both stop in the doorway but Dörk gestures to the lieutenant to wait. His friend steps inside. "Pretty nice moves, but kinda a lousy fighter." Dörk said. Yeah...he's all that existing charisma, causing and getting himself into trouble.
Nyx was sitting at the table by the window. One of Dörk's ornamental pots was placed over a white tablecloth. Also left on the table was a holder for a small candle, now lit. At Dörk's snide comment, Nyx just shrugged. The old man walked inside the room and sat at the opposite end of the table.
In his hand, Nyx had a crinkled paper which he passed to Dörk. "Is it done?" the man read over in his head. "The guards move the body and we are ready make it for the river." Dörk adds. "If you want you can assist... sending your lover off to the next world."
Nyx just denies the invitation with a shrug. He now writes on another piece of paper. "Yeah, yeah... I'll talk it over with the guys now. We're all tired, so I don't think it'll be a problem."
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Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding.
"Now, now... One second, please." George answers frowning, woken at this ungodly hour. The thought of someone coming to his inn... Definitely just some punk with a hooker. I hate it when they come around here like that, but...a penny was a penny.
Pulling the curtain aside, he was shocked to see a mob of men in blue. And of all the people present, Nyx first. The stone woman waved to his old host. "Hello girl." George says, smiling and happy that Nyx was okay. "Nice to see you in one piece." He leans across the desk. "What's up?" Nodding to the people talking amongst themselves in the back.
"Miss Nyx said this was a cozy place to spend the night." Jerry said. This time, Dörk wasn't around to yell at him for any reason that might have gotten him rail up. And so the young man had the initiative to speak first for all his friends.
Wanting to say the gesture warmed George's heart was too small. "Sure, sure! How many are you guys? How long are you staying?" George said excitedly, going to catalog the band of wizards. Nyx just stepped aside and walk in the dining room and sat down on one of the benches.
"Oh this is so cool." Nyx hears George rushing through the door. "Sweetie! Quick! Where were the rest of the bedsheets?"
I think he's just now waking Silvia. "Inside the chest in the closet? What for?" she asks half asleep. In the little while they've been whispering to each other, Silvia flies out of the next room into her chair and past the counter. "Oh my god! You're ok!" she celebrates at the sight of me and reaches out and grabs my hands. "I was worried ,God, I hope they took good care of you."
I just wave my hand at her. Yeah, locked in a room the size of a footlocker...it was awful. But it was better to spare Silvia the details. "What's with all these people?" she asked, changing the subject. She was happy, at least now in the middle of the night she didn't wake up for nothing.
I just point a thumb at myself, hoping it will be enough. A few seconds later, I offer Silvia a paper. "They stay till tomorrow night." she reads from the paper.
"Really?! That's fantastic." she smiles. But her expression turns mean. "Hehe... money..." Silvia grins sinisterly, now rubbing her hands. "Darling!" she yells after George. The man was still upstairs, finishing tidying the rooms, but he manages to hear us, well hear her. "In a minute!"
In a little time, George turns the corner into the parlor. "What? What?" he says through his gasps.
"We need food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! Nyx dear says the boys are staying till Saturday night. We must go now! We need eggs, milk... Oh, I've got to start baking some bread!" Silvia goes on and on. "Or shall we buy some? Oh but there'll be nothing by morning..."
"Where you want me to go at this hour?" asks George, somewhat stressed himself, not wishing to miss an easy chance to make money. "Wait...I know...Mr. Petruzh! He lives out of town and sells food before daybreak to stores in market. I'm headed over right now." George walks up to the back door. "But we have just enough flour and eggs for dough if you want. You'd better make pitas. It'll be faster."
-------------------------------------------------------
" Drop her."
At his command, the guards lowered the stretcher into the water, letting the vampire's natural weakness put her out of her anguish. Her body slowly started to dissolve, but there was no scream, no movement, no nothing. Cleo was just falling apart as if made of sand and dust, slowly her bones were the only trace left.
Close by, Dörk and the lieutenant watched it unfold as they should. "Ugly way to die." sighed the wizard. "Hide the bones once you're done. Not that he could revive, but better no one else have them." he takes a puff . "Well, I guess it's time to turn in." He drops the cigarette stub and steps on it, hesitant to ignite anything.
The lieutenant still hasn't moved from where he's standing, still watching his men, still smoking his cigarette. "How long are you staying? " he flicks over the cigarette. "It's a long way to border city Oght." he asks, still pessimistic about the transport means at his disposal. "You won't make it."
At this, Dörk shrugs. "You always doubt me, and I always manage to prove the opposite!" he chuckles. "My companions and I will just teleport over there." he waves his hand without worry. "All this adventuring is tiring but in the end I know nothing else, Danny. It's my way of life."
"Only when you're not sitting in a chair behind your shop counter." murmured the lieutenant sulkily.
"Well uh...I need my place too... I'm a little old myself! Hehe..." laughs and smirks to his old buddy. "Just stay safe. Okay?" Dörk offers a little concern.
"You idiot, I should tell you that." the lieutenant remarks in irritation. Before continuing the conversation, he takes one last puff before snuffing out his cigarette. "What's going on down south? Is it bad?"
Dörk whines. " All too much pointless if you ask me. But heard of something interesting taking place. " he pauses, making a little suspense in the air. "Heard the army has a bunch of heroes. I want to see for myself."
At that, the lieutenant was curious and amazed. "Sounds bad. I mean a multitude of 'heroes' popping up all at once? In the same homeland? What about in the country's neighbors?"
Dörk panted rubbing his neck. " Maybe, I'm don't know. I don't know much about Okel. But I do know we already have one here." Dörk points over his shoulder to the city.
"That lad you keep yelling at?"
Dörk is shocked. "Hell no. That girl, Nyx! Come on man, I couldn't have made it any clearer." Dörk says, lighting another cigarette in a huff. "Listen to him, fucking Jerry's a hero." he murmurs through his teeth.
"Ah...still checking out everyone who crosses your path, huh?"
He just takes another puff. "Always."
"You take her with you?"
"I want to."
"You're being irresponsible, lugging a girl with no real experience onto the battlefield. Hell, I was pretty sure she'd be casualty to tonight events. She got lucky."
"But she didn't. Danny, there hasn't been a recorded blessing in 60 years. No heavenly healers, no oracles. God, not even holy priestesses. But look! Now they're back here. And she has to be out there."
The lieutenant took a deep breath. "You do you, Dörk. But this will make you responsible for her. Don't mess it up man."