𝙌𝙐𝙀𝙀𝙉 𝙊𝙁 𝙁𝙄𝙍𝙔 & 𝙁𝙐𝙍𝙔 - 𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡

CHAPTER THREE

He knew he was an idiot. Knew he was playing a game that could have him dead within the hour, in a horrible fashion to be sure. Yet, Kai Saros ran with the swift diligence of a fleeing thief, that of which he was. The only thing that ran rampant through his mind as he raced through the dockside markets of Desrin was to ensure he outran the pissed off members of his crew that pursued him and make sure he lost them for good.
His lungs burned something fierce as he ran, the grip on the pouch of money he'd snatched but minutes ago firmly grasped in his hand, growing tighter with every bewildered look of a milling small-folk or merchant he passed.
The initial escape from the deck of the ship had been easy enough, but once the enraged howling of the captain came barreling through his quarter's door, Kai set off with angry knife-bearing pirates on his tail.
Getting caught by a city guard as he ran, for the obvious nature of his escape from pursuers, would land him a night in a cell with the coin he'd made off with confiscated and he no richer than before. Getting caught by Figner and his posse, though, was a far worse outcome to a lack of funds that he would avoid at all costs. With knowledge of the cruel and unusual retribution the seafaring captain bestowed upon those who wronged him, Kai wasn't keen on being caught.
Not after watching the last person that had wronged Captain Figner be slowly dismembered on the deck of Hell's Wroth, albeit alive as the captain's victims always were while they screamed in agony. The sound of the ravenous sharks fighting over whatever morsel of flesh or limb was tossed overboard still haunted Kai, along with the agonized screams of whoever was unlucky enough to have fallen into the likes of Finger's crew in the first place. A shiver of sharks were never too far behind the ship at any given time, always waiting and eager to receive their next meal.
Despite the risk Kai had run by stealing the coin pouch from Figner's personal quarters aboard Hell's Wroth, he didn't regret it. Not when it meant he could change his little sister's life, the only real reason he did anything worth a damn. With as much as he had managed to snatch, knowing the precise amount after having seen the greedy captain count each coin by hand, Kai knew he could get Lillian as far as the next kingdom and still have enough to comfortably start fresh with a new life.
He wanted to get her out of Aketna, away from the life they fought everyday to survive in. Too many wounds still lingered for him in the kingdom, lingered where Kai was reminded that, as hard as he tried, he couldn't give Lillian what she deserved, which was everything.
The wounds his rough life had brought him were deep enough that the young man didn't want to have anything to do with the place of his birth. He'd take her as far as the Fae continent of Lorterran to the west if it meant she wouldn't suffer at the cruelness that was other human beings.
To hell with Desrin, he'd decided long ago. To hell with Aketna.
Truthfully, the coins he'd snatched had all been gold, likely the reason for Figner's more than usual outrage over the theft. Freshly minted and distributed to the public in particular, the profile of Aramis II Ardithian gracing one side while the other brandished the mask and gaping maw of a fierce dragon's profile, the reigning family's sigil. The dragons that often graced the skies above Desrin, a site that Kai would often take Lillian to the rooftop of whatever building they were currently inhabiting to witness. Watching her point and exclaim in awe at their giant wings and majestic and equally spine-chilling cries was often enough to push him on. Doing anything and everything he could to help Lillian experience joy with what little they had in life gave him enough to wake up every morning in pursuit of a better life.
As he ran, Kai's lungs began to demand relief, the reality of his lack of exercise over the last six weeks at sea sinking in quickly. He needed to find a way to ditch– fast. Otherwise he would soon face the fate of slow dismemberment and hungry sharks.
Ahead, a particularly large group of milling small-folk seemed to be his best bet at shaking off his pursuers, as the posse on his heels were not relenting. Lest they receive the same punishment intended for their captain's offenders.
Forcing his way between the sea of bodies and being met with angry exclamations and hisses of annoyance, Kai was forced to shove anyone in his way. Men, women, children, his hands and arms met whoever was unlucky enough to be on his path. The longer he made his way through, more distance was put between him and his assailants.
He'd known the men on the crew were particularly slow, mentally and physically, but he hadn't expected a crowd of people would be enough to lose them. He had anticipated to at least vault up a wall to the roofs above, but they were making it too easy for him.
The curses from Figner's men slowly becoming more distant as they were lost in the crowd was a relief to the young man as he eventually found his way out, albeit after a few more sneers from the small-folk, leaving him headed toward an alley that would lead home.
Some small part of him pitied their impending demise to their captain's blade and the sharks, but they were pirates, afterall.
Passing by another small group of commoners exchanging gossip, the news he heard them speak of greatly surprised him, a tinge of sorrow washing over him.
King Aramis was dead.
Some part of him felt grief stricken, but he would never feel it so deeply as he did when they'd lost their mother.
By what cause did the king parish, he wasn't sure, but the funeral had just occurred before he'd returned to shore it seemed. The death of an Ardithian was rare given their magic-driven lifespans, something he never expected to see in his lifetime. Not considering how long they tended to live.
Entering through the main entrance of The Siren's Song could be equally interesting as it was alarming for a normal person in search of what the establishment had to offer, but for Kai, the slew of naked women and intoxicated patrons of the brothel were as normal to him as breathing. He'd attributed it to the nature of the classless places he'd been forced to seek shelter in for Lillian, but his efforts did not come without reward.
In exchange for shelter and meals, Kai was tasked with the responsibility of dispatching the problematic patrons for the ladies of the house. Someone did not pay, or perhaps was irate for being denied a service from a girl, the list of reasons he'd thrown merchants and nobles alike onto the street had not been short. With most of them not even the slightest bit trained in self defense, it was easy work for Kai.
His years learning to fight against visiting mercenaries and the occasional city guard had paid off.
Lillian's sudden sickness had driven him to find more work outside of his duties of defending the brothel women, as treatments from the healers were not cheap and he'd been forced to ask the girls to help take care of her while he was out on sea. The entire reason he'd taken up the position among Figner's crew six weeks ago, why he still gripped the pouch of new coins as if his life depended on it. A quick snatch from a passing hand was never too far, landing many with missing funds or valuables.
There was a healer nearby hailing from one of the southern continents, a well known woman among the poorer districts of Desrin. He wished to enlist her services for Lillian, but they were not cheap. The coin he had now would suffice in the treatment, the debt owed to the ladies of the house, and their one way trip out of Desrin Bay aboard a ship bound anywhere but there.
Wandering down the private hall that led to the mistress' quarters, where she'd given Kai and Lillian a special room, he was met by Mistress Rosalin herself just outside the door.
The mistress met him at the threshold, her long brown hair cascading down over her breasts. She was garbed in a pretty summer dress of aqua, its edges trimmed in silver. She was young for a brothel owner, but Kai had not pressed too hard into hearing her backstory. Behind her, two of the mistress' girls fed Lillian a bowl of soup, one gingerly dabbing her forehead with a wet cloth.
"We were going to send word for you, but we weren't sure you'd be ashore," Rosalin murmured gently while crossing her arms, likely noticing the gaping look on his face. Down the hall, sounds of pleasure could be heard. He met her gaze, her sky blue eyes gentle and seemingly filled with sympathy.
"I thought she was getting better," he uttered as quietly as he could as to not let the alarm lacing his tone reach Lillian where she lay in bed. He lifted the pouch into view, the coins jingling. "I have more than enough coin to call for the healer. Can you send word? Here—"
As he was beginning to pull the strings at the opening of the pouch of gold, Rosalin's hands rested on his. He looked up to see her shaking her head slightly, her expression somber. "She has grown worse by the hour, Kai," Rosalin murmured with care. "I'm afraid she will not see the morning. You should be with her."
"Was a healer not called?" He said, his tone accusatory.
Rosalin frowned. "We did call a healer, one that we could afford. Many of the skilled ones are far too expensive for the likes of us. She said she is too consumed by the sickness for treatment to make a difference. We tried our best, Kai. I am sorry."
Hands dropping to his sides, his heart sinking, he looks to where Lillian lies in the bed. The mistress's girls still nurse her as her shallow breathing is labored and her eyes remain closed.
Entering the room, the girls notice Kai and move aside to allow him space before he drops down to Lillian's level, all sense of confidence he'd held entering the brothel disappeared. The mistress and her girls quietly leave the room and close the door behind them, giving Kai his space to grasp the reality he was forced to face.
"Hey Tiger-lily," he greets his little sister softly, his hand reaching to gently brush aside her sweat-soaked pale golden curls. The name was hard enough to say considering she was a husk of wily little girl that had earned the loving title, one that could have any dull moment filled with laughter and love. She'd been a lively child six weeks before, when he'd readied himself to leave and take up the unruly position among Figner's crew, Lilly fighting off a weak cough as she waved goodbye at the entrance of the brothel but grinning ear to ear as the girls of the house took her inside to play.
Now, she could hardly draw a breath. 
Lillian's warm brown eyes managed to flutter open at the familiarity of his voice, yet that seemed to be almost too much for her. The same eyes his mother had. Her pale curls were stuck along her face, her skin pale and clammy. Kai's heart lurched in his throat the longer he looked upon the ravaging sickness that had consumed her. The only person he had anything to live for, his reason for carrying on everyday.
"Kai," she could hardly utter, her little voice husky and dry.
"I'm gonna call the healer, alright?" He dabbed the damp cloth on her forehead. "I'm gonna make everything better, and tomorrow, we're going to go on the roof and watch the dragons fly. Just like you love."
The tiniest tug at the corner of her lips made the tears finally begin to form in his eyes. She was quickly fading and Kai knew he could do nothing about it, not even if he actually called the healer and she began her work. Lillian deserved the world, to grow up and live whatever version of happiness was hers. Yet, she would die here, in a borrowed bed inside a brothel, the time he could have used stopping the sickness from worsening spent on the sea commiting crimes at the behest of a pirate captain, unaware of just how far gone his little light would be upon his return.
He couldn't let her lay here, lay here and die in the house of sin they'd most recently called home. She couldn't die without seeing the sky one last time. She deserved more than that, but it was all he could do in the time they had left.
Pulling away the woolen blanket that had lied over her small frame, Kai gently pulled Lillian into his arms and against his chest. Her body was on fire against his as he got to his feet, like a warm river stone under the heat of a summer day. As he made his way out of the room and down the hall, maneuvering past the moaning patrons and naked women carrying on in their carnal pleasure, Kai scowled at the thought of it all being something Lillian should have never been forced to live among, until he found the stairwell that led to the roof.
He prayed to Nehn as he climbed the steps, even throwing his emotions toward his children, the Luxir, praying with all of his soul they were there to hear his cry. If Lillian was going to die tonight, she would do so under the colors of the sunset and dragons if they were lucky enough.
They found the early spring air to be balmy and the waning evening sky filled with a gradient of blush colors. Looking toward the mountain rage to his right, to the east, Kai felt the slightest sliver of relief to see there in fact was a dragon gracing the skies. Lazily and slow over Desrin. Even as his world was crashing down around him, he would ensure he would stay strong for Lillian in her final moments.
Finding a spot to lower them against the walled balcony to face the mountains, Kai laid Lillian's back against his chest so that she might view the entire sky while he leaned against the wall to support them. He was breaking inside as he held her, internally screaming in pain and fear, knowing he needed to cherish what moments they had for soon enough she would become a memory just as their mother now was. Despite the overwhelming urge to sob, he would remain strong for her as he always had.
Once they were comfortable and Lilly's little head lay just below his chin, he pointed toward the sky, toward the dragon flying against its rosy colors just above the mountain's peaks.
"Look, Lilly," he uttered, his voice finally cracking. By Nenh, his eyes burned, his throat throbbing. "Look, a dragon is flying tonight for you. See?"
With what must have been the last of her strength, Lilly managed to raise her arm slightly, as if to reach out to the dragon to touch it. Kai shattered further inside at the thought that she would never meet a dragon, the one thing she'd wanted more than anything in the world. Something on the long list of things he had promised they'd do. Something that would remain on the long list of things he would never be able to do for her.
"It's the green one, see," he repeated in more of a blubber once her arm had dropped on her lap, his tears now becoming known. Amidst the quiet weeping that was beginning to consume him as he gripped Lillian, he noticed that it was not the giant black dragon and the lavender one that usually flew together. No, it was the green dragon by itself, the shimmer of the setting sun reflecting off of its brilliantly emerald scales. It would seem it flew in grief with its rider, for Kai recalled that King Aramis had just died a few days before he'd returned to shore.
He remained on that roof throughout the evening with his little sister until she eventually faded off into a slumber watching the dragon, never to wake again.