The TwiceBorn

So Late, So Soon

“Throw them out there with the rest,” He said. He glanced at Alora, his sad eyes unreadable.  “All I have is bread and mutton but I can sear it in the fire.  I’ll send your coin up when it arrives.”

Darius drummed his fingers impatiently on the heavy scarred wood of the bar as he watched Lauren grab the arm of a passing barmaid and send her up the stairs.  He avoided looking at The Twiceborn.  His restless eyes moved over the drunken revelers.

Garbage. Nothing but garbage.  Once this was all said and done, maybe he could find a way to burn Lauren out.  He used up a lot of favors lately but there still had to be a marker he could call in from somewhere.  Burn the bastard out then rebuild because the tavern turned good coin, Lochedge couldn’t be completely without a tavern, he would need…

“I’ll find out, you know.” The Twiceborn’s silken whisper skittered across his senses like a spider.  He jumped and bit back a scream.

“Find out what?”  He choked.  He felt suddenly light-headed as he turned to face her and had to grab on to the bar for support.

“Why the Hynti are here and why you need me for a Sin-Eater,” Alora smoothly replied.  “Why your whole town stinks of fear and why everything is out of control.  I think I know…”

She left the statement unfinished and simply smiled.  And in that smile he saw all the stories he’d been told as a child coming home to rest. There was something dark and ancient that breathed and pulsed below her surface and studied him through her eyes. 

“The coin I paid you does not make you our champion,” He stammered.  He forced himself to look away from her eyes.  “What’s done is done, regardless of your pressing need to know of what does not concern you.”

The Twiceborn gave a sharp laugh.  One hand casually reached out and pulled the blond girl closer to her.

“I’ve never fancied myself as anyone’s champion.  Want my opinion?”

“No.”

She continued on, ignoring him.

“I think…you somehow rolled the dice with Abigor and he favored you but nothing is free now, is it?” 

Darius felt a little green around the edges.  The heavy warm air of the tavern, the smell of all the spilled ale and unwashed bodies...it closed in around him. He could taste vomit in the back of his throat.  He swallowed thickly and glared at The Twiceborn.

“So now…the time has come to pay for whatever it is you received and you’re looking for a way out.  And I’ll tell you right now that I’m not it.”

“Yet you came.  We have a deal.”  Darius replied as he wiped a shaky hand across his sweating forehead. 

The Twiceborn laughed again.  The sound reminded him of broken glass.

“Yes, we have a deal.”  She agreed, “And I’ll honor it as much as I honor anything else.  You’ll pay far more than just those coins before we’re done.”

Darius was saved from responding as the barmaid descended,carrying a mop and a bucket of rust-colored water.

“It’s as clean as it gets.”  She pronounced.

Lauren nodded and reached below the bar.  He pulled out an iron key and casually tossed it to Darius.  Darius caught it in spite of his quaking hand and held it out to The Twiceborn.

“When can I expect the Hynti to cease?” 

He harbored the wild hope that if the Hynti staggered away he could restore some type of order.  He needed it.  He was too tired and worn to worry about the deeper consequences of everything.  He just needed to be in control of something again, no matter how tenuous that control might be.

The Twiceborn took the key from his shaking hand.

“It’s the first thing I’ll attend to but…”

“But what?”  His anger and fear had settled a bit but he could still feel it humming along merrily beneath the cover of his skin.  Still, he managed to sound somewhat courteous.  And he mustered up enough courage to raise his head and look in her eyes as he asked.

Her eyes. 

The sounds of the tavern faded away.

 In her eyes he saw the flat shine of nothingness.  The empty black that lay between the stars, deep and infinite.  Yet there was a flash of something there, if he’d of blinked he’d of missed it.  An all-knowing intelligence, a flash of silver on dark waters.

“But…mark my words, Darius,’ She continued softly.  “If anything happens to Islinn while I’m gone…Lochedge will cease to exist.  Do we understand each other on this?”

Darius opened his mouth to reply but was unable to make a sound.  All he could do was nod.