Ciro spent the rest of the day training. This is where he thrived. This is where he could go and forget about everything else that was troubling him. However, training now was something that felt different. The hours he spent still didn't feel like enough. If he didn't get as much time in, he wouldn't be the leader everyone needed to be on the field when they faced the enemy.
The sun started to set on the courtyard and Ciro soon found himself alone. This was the sign that it was time to rest and recuperate before tomorrow. He unwrapped his hands and saw how bruised, cut, and bloodied they were. Ciro let out a sigh at the site of his hands. The last time his hands looked like this was the last war.
He cleaned up the training area before heading in to get himself cleaned up and take Noah down to Ifera. A servant was waiting for him though with a letter as he entered back into the castle.
"What's this?" Ciro took the letter and the servant left without a word. "Okay." He shook the odd behavior from his mind as he opened the letter. It the clearly quickly written and slightly challenging to read.
Meet us in the great hall for dinner.
-Gabriel
Ciro looked up from the letter. The servant hadn't made it out of site yet. "Hey, you!" The servant stopped and turned. "Tell Gabriel to meet us at The Dragon's Den in an hour." He nodded and disappeared around the corner. Ciro headed in the opposite direction with a bit more pep in his step.
~~~*~~~
The tavern was busy, but most were this time of the day. Gabriel and Theo had made it first and were waiting out front for the rest to show up. They both joked about how Noah and Ciro were quite alike. Somehow, they beat the others and they were now fifteen minutes late. Gabriel was leaning up on the side of the tavern laughing at something Theo had said when they were approached by a young girl.
She was dressed in a soft green dress and her hair was still in a quickly placed bun. She looked to be getting finished with work for the day. Gabriel caught note of the woman approaching but it was too late to disappear from view.
"I noticed you were kind of off by yourself." The woman gave a soft smile. One that Gabriel didn't reciprocate. "Would you like to have a drink with me? I'm waiting on some friends."
Gabriel glanced at Theo who was glaring at the girl. Gabriel successfully suppressed a laugh, as he shifted his attention back. "Um... I'm waiting on some people that'll be here pretty soon." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously.
"Yeah, we're good." Theo chimed in. Gabriel tilted his head slightly to see Theo standing there, arms folded clearly annoyed.
The girl brushed off Theo like he was a passing thought. Completely ignoring him. "Well, we could wait together?" The woman said in high hopes. Theo walked behind her and started protesting against it. As much as Gabriel hated this whole situation, the idea of this getting under Theo's skin was quite humorous and entertaining.
Gabriel also didn't have the heart he once had to tell her no. He sighed gave one last glance around and nodded. "Alright. Lead the way in." She gave a bright smile and grabbed his hand. He turned back and winked at Theo who gave him a nice little gesture but he wouldn't follow them in.
She led them through the crowd and up to a second-story table. A waitress came to start their drinks off then two were left alone.
"So what's your name?" The woman asked.
"Gabriel."
"That's a nice name. I'm Lydia." She answered.
Gabriel nodded keeping his head on a swivel as they were on a balcony and he could see down to the entrance.
Lydia didn't seem to notice Gabriel's lack of interest. "So what do you do? I'm a seamstress a few blocks away. I don't usually go out but some of the girls I work with were excited. I think it's because of all the volunteers flocking in."
"Oh um..."
"You volunteering too then? I mean I'm only guessing. I know almost everyone here in the city and now all these new faces." She went on and on. Truthfully Gabriel wished she would just shut up but maybe she was nervous or something.
"Not exactly," Gabriel answered. Lydia tilted her head a bit in confusion.
"Not exactly what?"
"I'm not here as a volunteer," Gabriel deadpanned.
"So you're some sort of high-ranking official then?" She asked. Lydia leaned forward her eyes wide in anticipation.
"Sure. We'll go with that" Gabriel quickly answered.
Lydia didn't seem to be taken aback by the vague answer as she continued on about the new faces coming into town. Gabriel wasn't much for the conversation though. He really couldn't care about the ever-growing city.
"It must be scary, right? Fighting in war."
"I haven't fought in a long time." Yeah like a few centuries. Gabriel thought to himself.
Lydia looked a bit shocked when he said that. "You were just a kid when you fought last!" She exclaimed. Gabriel mentally slapped himself but kept his cool.
He looked at her without expression. "War doesn't care how old you are. It takes what it wants and leaves destruction in its wake."
Lydia sat there in silence watching her drink. Gabriel couldn't really figure out what she was thinking. So he turned his attention back to watching the door and still no one.
"I knew many of the boys here in town were signing up but I wouldn't have ever thought they would let kids fight." She looked as if she was going to start crying.
Gabriel sighed. "Count your blessings then. You've been lucky to not see what war is like or does to a soul." He watched Lydia as she processed everything.
Her eyes went wide again. "Are they children fighting "
"An able body means more hands for battle," Gabriel answered. He could see how heartbroken this girl was becoming.
Lydia sunk down in her seat. She didn't say much more. Gabriel watched her intently as she blankly stared into her drink. He could see her sadness lay over her like a blanket.
"Is this king so bad that innocent people have to die?" It was barely a whisper.
"Who?" Gabriel was caught off guard by the sudden shift of topics.
"The King that seemingly started all this." This girl clearly lived under a rock if she didn't know who Erebus was, but Gabriel entertained the idea.
Gabriel gave her a sympathetic look. "I've seen what this man has done firsthand. If anything, we're trying to prevent as many innocent people from dying."
"But the only way that happens is letting innocent lives die in the name of peace?" Lydia looked heartbroken
"Maybe we could talk about something else?" Gabriel was trying to talk about anything else to lift this poor girl's spirit.
Lydia shifted in her seat and sat straight. She gave a small nod and took a sip of her drink. "You know there's been some strange rumors about this king." Well, it wasn't much of a subject change.
Gabriel looked directly at Lydia. He narrowed his eyes just slightly. "What rumors?"
"So apparently there are rumors that this king is into some pretty dark magic." So maybe not completely under a rock. Maybe a cave. "Some were saying he was raising an army from the dead and had a legion of demons ready."
This was new.
Gabriel sat back in the booth while Lydia went to people watch. If this was true, then they were in deeper shit than previously thought. Gabriel had to keep his cool though. "Those sound pretty out there don't you think?"
Lydia finished taking a sip of her drink. "Oh, I know. I think all these rumors were just made up to scare people."
Gabriel nodded in agreement. He knew though. He knew that these rumors were in fact true in some way. The dread of this washed over him, but he couldn't leave now. He glanced at the door again and saw the three guys finally enter. He waved at them and Ciro saw him and waved back. They started making their way through the sea of people. Gabriel looked over at Lydia who was watching him with a curious look.
"My brother and friends just arrived," Gabriel explained.
Lydia's face fell just a bit. "Oh... well it was nice meeting you, Gabriel." She gave a small pause. "Maybe we can do this again?"
"Well..."
"Who do we have here?" Thank God for Ciro.
Lydia blushed a bit at the cheeky smile Ciro sent her way." It's Lydia."
"Wel,l it's nice to meet you, Lydia," Ciro said winking at her.
Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Y'all want to find a booth?"
Noah and Theo nodded and left to search for somewhere to sit.
"Let's go," Gabriel whispered to Ciro.
"Hey, Gabriel." Lydia reached out and grabbed his arm. He turned around waiting for her to continue. "I enjoyed talking with you. Maybe we could do this again? We could get some lunch. I know this bakery that has the most delicious pastries."
Gabriel gently removed her hand and faced her giving her his full attention. "You seem like a very nice girl, Lydia." She gave a small smile. "But I think you should find someone who will be here when the war calms down." He could see the hurt in Lydia's eyes. He didn't want to hurt her, but he swore off any relationships a long time ago. He was already breaking this rule with Noah and Theo. There was no way in hell he would pull another into this.
He heard Ciro apologize to the poor girl then run to catch up. Ciro gave him a pretty stern look but didn't say a word. He knew what this was about and even though he didn't agree with it, it wasn't his choice. They found where the boys were sitting and joined them. Theo was glaring daggers at Gabriel.
"Are you okay, Theo," Gabriel asked. He no longer was trying to hide his smile
"Are we just going to ignore what all that was about back there?" Noah interjected. Gabriel gave him a warning look and Noah raised his hands up in surrender.
"Yeah. You going to tell these two how you left me outside for this girl." Theo didn't pull away from the staring contest he and Gabriel were now in. However, the other two busted out laughing. Gabriel's smile turned into a smirk and he narrowed his eyes. He backed down from a stare down nor did he lose.
The laughter died down and Ciro noticed that neither was budging. To speed things along, he thought food would end this stupid battle. "Alright. Well, I say we order some food and get down to why we're here." Ciro spoke up looking around at the table. Gabriel leaned back in his seat cool as a cucumber waiting for Theo to break. The table ended silent and tension filled the air between them.
Theo sighed as his eyes started to burn and surrendered. Gabriel sat there with a victorious grin.
"If you two are done, I'd like some food," Noah said.
~~~*~~~
Food was ordered and eaten. Small conversations between the four were here and there. Noah told them about his training but kept out the important information of having his butt handed to him. Ciro though was glad to add in the missing details. He brushed off the glares from Noah as he exchanged laughter with the other two. Theo jumped out of his seat to tell them what they had seen. He shared everything he could remember but kept the most important for Gabriel.
"So it really does exist?" Ciro leaned forward and asked in an almost whisper.
Gabriel nodded.
"Wow." Ciro took a swig of his drink. "I knew Lorcán had recordings of past events but I thought the library was just rumors."
"That would've been better than you kicking my ass." Noah side-eyed Ciro.
Theo smiled. "It was like nothing we've ever seen."
Ciro raised his eyebrows as if a light bulb went off. "So did you find anything that could help?"
Both Theo and Gabriel exchanged looks from across the table smiling brightly. Gabriel turned to an antsy-looking Ciro now. "We found exactly what spell was used along with a complete recording of what happened that night in the castle."
A wave of emotions flooded through Ciro. Not one emotion could be pinpointed. It was as if a cold case finally had its happy ending. Gabriel thought Ciro may start crying.
"What spell was it?"
Gabriel and Theo dove in. For the rest of the night, each took turns bouncing the conversation off one another of the information. Ciro was full of questions that turned into theories from the table. Soon enough all four were coming up with outrageous theories of how he managed the spell or how they could steal the power back.
Through the laughter of the outrageous theories, there was hope woven in.