Ascent of the Unwanted (The Chronicle of Unfortunate Heroes Book 1) (4 page)

The instant Erik stepped into the tavern he craned his neck around to see if he could spot the legendary Cavaliers. Two men sat in the corner table with large tankards of ale in their hands. They would have stood out among the throng of the usual customers even if they did not wear the gold cloaks and brilliant red over shirts of the Cavaliers. A large monstrosity of a man with long brown hair and a clean-shaven face held a mug dwarfed by an oversized fist which he held precociously. He talked with a great deal of animation to his companion and each time he appeared to make a point brown fluid would spill as he jabbed it into the empty air. Remarkably, not a single drop fell onto the attire of the two men. The other man listened but kept his eyes on the area around him, soaking in every detail. His black curly hair would swing with each bob of his head but it always appeared each curl wanted to place itself to frame his face in the most appealing way. Grooming his small goatee with a well-manicured hand his eyes came around to look at Erik.

With an inconspicuous nod he nudged his giant friend and exchanged a few words. With this, the full attention of the two men fell on Erik. He did not like this. He felt trapped in this large room. He needed to run. He must have done something wrong to have people such as these pay attention to him. Both men smiled at Erik. The large man gave him a wink, lifted his mug in a toast, and started to laugh. Erik smiled and, with a nervous wave, bolted toward the backrooms.

Gracie blocked the way into the hall. A few years older than Erik she had begun working and living in the tavern last summer. Erik always felt awkward looking down into her face. His eyes never seemed to want to stay where they should and he always seemed to have a good view down her bodice. She noticed and, instead of admonishing his actions, she would put him into situations that would further embarrass him.

Gracie once asked if he would mind holding a chair stable so she could reach the top shelf of the pantry in the kitchen. Not thinking he could reach the top shelf with ease he obliged and steadied her chair. Gracie’s accidents always happened at the most inconvenient times, so of course she lost her balance. Erik moved to catch her but the additional weight jarred him. Grabbing her, they both spun to the floor. Gracie, now below Erik, had her legs wrapped around Erik’s waist and her skirts bunched uncomfortably between them. Erik’s face was planted right in the valley of her breasts. When Erik managed to recover enough to pull his head out of his cozy resting place, he saw his mother looking straight at him with a look of absolute fury. She surprised him when he did not receive the tongue thrashing he expected but Gracie did not say a word to him for the good part of a month.

“Where you off to in such a hurry, big guy?” she asked. Snapping his attention to the present Erik fought to maintain his composure. He could feel the heat trying to crawl up his neck while he cleared his throat.

“I am just going back to see if mother needs anything before I go down for the night.” Erik replied.

“Aw, what a good boy you are. You know she’s a big girl and can take care of herself for a little while longer. Besides I think she is still with her date. I thought you could do some things for me while I take a little break.” She said with a coy smile, thrusting out her bosom.

The heat he had been fighting off from his neck burst through and raced into his face. Looking at the Cavaliers didn’t help. Both men still looked at him and the giant burst out laughing. They could see this game and enjoyed the entertainment.

“Uh, no thanks, Gracie.” Erik said. His mother harped on him about the dangers of living and working in such an atmosphere. While she did what she had to do she did not approve, like, or condone what the establishment did. She tried her best to shield Erik from the more unsavory episodes. What she could not shield from him she made sure he understood such actions were not the life she wanted for him. Erik tried his best to keep his mother’s approval. This situation led to an abundance of knowledge but a complete lack of experience with the more adult aspects of the tavern’s business. Right now, however, Erik had to get away from the two men who gave him an inordinate amount of attention.

Why did he feel so oafish? Erik dealt with customers before but never legendary, deadly and ferocious customers. He ran down the long hallway and came to the room he and his mother shared. He turned the knob at the same time he flung himself into the door. Everything went wrong. Instead of dashing into the safety of the room, his hand slipped on the locked door and he ran full force into it with a resounding thud. All the air rushed out of his lungs as he collapsed to the ground. With great effort Erik got to his feet and fiddled around in his pockets for the key.

“Mom? You in there?” he croaked out as best he could. He did not want to walk in at an awkward moment as had happened before.

No answer came. He worked the key into the lock making as much noise as possible. He jiggled the loose handle a few times for good measure and slowly opened the door. The lamp’s fire still burned and the window had been opened but the blood paralyzed Erik. The odor filled his nose at the same time his eyes took in the scene. Blood covered everything. The ceiling dripped in places, and little streams of blood ran down the walls into large thick clotting pools on the floor. His mother lay on her bed, swimming in a crimson pond. The gash in her belly allowed her entrails to spread below her waist and onto the floor. A necklace of irregularly spaced, large, purple bruises ran around her neck. Her pale blue face accentuated her large purple lips. Erik would never forget his mother’s eyes. Her lifeless eyes still had terror trapped inside, like a prisoner in a glass box begging for freedom.

Erik screamed. A high-piercing sound escaped his throat and the sound echoed in his ears. After what seemed like eons he could make out Malgar’s large round body rumbling down the hallway, followed by others.

“What’s the matter, boy?” Malgar shouted as he shook Erik trying to bring him out of the chaotic vortex of his mind.

Erik pointed into the room, his hands trembling. The door had closed to a crack. Malgar let Erik go and pushed the door open to reveal the gory scene. With Malgar’s large hands gone Erik turned around and retched all over himself.

*****

The wood supporting his mother’s lifeless body crackled and popped as the fire consumed it. Many people called her names, most of them not good; whore and wench highlighted the milder terms. Erik preferred, Maria and Mom. She had worked hard at being the best mother she thought she could be. He wished he had been able to tell her how happy he made her.

The townsfolk thought the funeral exceeded the lowly woman’s station. Erik knew there should have been much more. She worked her entire life for his benefit alone. She had made much more difficult decisions on a daily basis for him than most of the
proper
people in town would make in a lifetime. Erik knew his existence put her in danger but she never blamed him for it. She had always told him about the blessing she received when she had him.

Erik stood next to Malgar, watching his mother’s remains turn to ash. Whoever had taken care of her body after Erik had found her had done a remarkable job. She lay as radiant today as the last morning Erik spent with her. Only once, and briefly, did Erik ponder how much this skill must have cost.

“Do you want to stay until the embers die?” Malgar asked with a sigh.

Time passed without an answer. The knot in his throat would not allow an answer. Erik could no longer look at the fire burning in front of him. His eyes turned toward the blue sky for whatever comfort it would give. The sky opened to nothing, an emptiness which matched his heart. Erik turned away and started walking down the hill toward the city.

“What do you want done with her ashes?” Malgar asked as he hurried to catch up.

“I don’t know. What’s customary?” Erik said, his voice returning to him.

“Well, some people prefer to keep them.”

Erik stopped walking and pondered. “No. That would just keep the hurt with me, not her.”

Malgar nodded. “I think you’re right. I always thought it was kind of a morbid thing to do myself but I guess it helps some people.” Malgar shifted his weight a few times and rubbed his chin. He would start a word only to cut it off mid-syllable with a look of frustration. With a look of surrender he said, “You know, some people go to a place their loved one liked or a place that had a special meaning in their lives together and cast the ashes across them.”

Erik thought of all the places he remembered going to with his mother. He liked the idea better.

“Mom liked the trees.” Erik saw Malgar’s face brighten when he broke the silence. “Every once in a while, when times were not so tough and the sky was blue, like today, she would take me to the woods outside the west gate of the city. I always thought it was an awful long walk. She would take me out there and we would have lunch under a tree right next to a clearing. Sometimes she would sing, even though she knew she wasn’t good at it. I am going to miss that. Her singing always gave me some comfort. You know it is not all that much of a walk, now that I think about it.”

Erik turned around to watch the black smoke rise into the sky. Erik tried to imagine his mother’s spirit lifting upward with the billows. He saw the smoke rise to the empty sky but there was nothing he could use to fool himself into feeling better. The tears came again and he could not stop them. Malgar held out his hands and Erik fell into the cavity of his embrace. His arms wrapped around him strong and tight.

“I tried to warn her,” Malgar said in a choking voice. “I told her any man who would pay that much for a woman was looking for trouble. They figure anybody who might care would look the other way.” Malgar paused trying to compose himself. “She reassured me, and told me this may be the last time she would have to do this, and everything would be all right. I shouldn’t have listened but the money got to me, too.”

For the first time in Erik’s life he sensed pain in Malgar’s voice. Always a rock in the direst of times, the man looked beaten. Erik realized how much his mother had meant to him, not as a serving maid, but also as a friend. He and Malgar stood there holding each other for a long time crying into each other’s shoulders.

“I have something for you, boy.” Malgar let go of the embrace looking around as if to say ‘This hug never happened.’ He led Erik into town and into the tavern now filled with many horrible memories. Malgar walked into the back to his personal room and came back with two pouches, one in either hand. He gave the larger pouch to Erik first. “This is your money now, Erik. There are eight gold, sixteen silver pieces, and a smattering of copper. The gold came from your mother’s last night of work. There were ten pieces but I had to use two to get the funeral I thought she deserved.”

Erik opened the pouch and stared inside. More money sparkled at him in one bag than Erik had seen in his entire life. He tied the pouch closed and moved it to the side of the table to see the other pouch Malgar still held.

“Your mother received this as payment the first night she…well, you know. She wanted to save it for your wedding day. You could sell it and maybe get out of this hell hole with your beautiful new bride.” He handed Erik the smaller pouch.

Erik worked the small tie strings loose and shook the contents into his hand. A small cloth-wrapped bundle fell into his open palm. He laid the tiny package on the table and began to open it gingerly. In the middle of a fold in the cloth lay a cut, marble-sized ruby. Erik could not believe it. He gently removed the stone from the cloth and peered at it. It would have been priceless except for the one flaw. Starting at the top center of the gem and running down one side a black scraggly line marred the beauty of the stone. The imperfection prevented the light from refracting through, drawing further attention to the corundum’s deformity.

“I tried to tell her it wasn’t worth much. She insisted on keeping it anyway. I only had to wonder why for a few weeks until her tummy started show your impending arrival.” Malgar said looking off into the distance.

Erik stared amazed at his sudden wealth. It had come at too high a cost and the look of it all sickened him.

“I know what you are thinking but this is good money. That is enough to start a life worth living, if used wisely. Your mother would have wanted it this way. It is what her whole life was about. Use it.”

Erik thought about it. He had always imagined a simple life for himself. A place where he could build a future and get his mother away from the life she had. Now he could only think of one thing he wanted and this money would go a long way to achieve his goals. Malgar and his mother had yearned for a quiet life for Erik, away from this miserable place.

Erik, however, wanted revenge.

“It’s just like I told the guy. You want me to show you how to put a smile on a woman’s face, just need to listen to me.”

The whore just wouldn’t shut up. Uriss already got what he wanted from her, but still she screeched out worthless spill like a cat in heat. The creep on the horse paid him too much for him to put up with this. Who would have thought traveling through a small town like Olumar would drop a deal like this? What was it the guy said? Head up the road, and make a right at the fork. The path lead to the house of the local blacksmith. Anything there was his along with the handsome amount of gold he was already given. All he had to do was take care of any complications, and clean the site up if anything looked askew. Uris didn’t care for the man, but it’s not like he would pass up any opportunity for getting ahead. 

“So anyway, I told the man. Do you know what I told him? I told him he needed to-.” Uriss’s hand smashed into the woman’s throat. He squeezed, feeling her flesh crunch beneath his grip. She squirmed. They all squirmed. Even if he let go now, her windpipe was crushed to the point where she would not survive. He forced his hand to squeeze harder just to make sure. It was a merciful death now.

He pulled his trousers up and headed out the door of the work shed.  Copper whores weren’t much to look at, but they did not care where they got the job done. He wasn’t much to look at either, so it’s not like he was slumming.

Where was he? In the alley behind some two bit inn, he supposed. It’s not like the local authorities would care about the strumpet, but getting out of town would be best all things considered.

He walked out into the main street and stopped, the smile couldn’t be contained. “What are you supposed to be?”

The old midget rode the brute of a dog like a horse.  The little clown’s legs dangled down the pooch’s side like sausages in a butcher’s windows.

“I am simply trying to get to a room to get some sleep, you buffoon.” The dwarf snapped.

“Who you calling a buffoon?” Uriss cocked his hand back getting ready to put the little fella down for the night. A courtesy if you will.

The little man’s hands waved in the air. “Why are you coming out of that alley?”

“I just killed a wench, and need to get out of town without being seen. Good thing I got another job.” Why had he said that? Now the dwarf needed to die as well. A killing spree would get the law on him fast as crisp bacon into a fat boy’s tummy. Odd, Uriss wanted to move, but he stood pat.

“Well, I guess we can’t help the wench, and I don’t need to perk the ears of any authorities on me. Is there going to be any more killing at the job you’re going to?” The little man said, his dog panting a noxious cloud of breath around him.

“I dunno. There could be. I am supposed to clean an area of anything that could lead curious minds to ask questions.” Again, why is he answering this little munchkin of a creep?

The midget’s hands waved again, this time more intricately. “You don’t want to kill anyone at that site. If anyone there is alive, you will figure out a way to take of the problem without any one dying. Is that clear?”

“Uh….sure.” He didn’t really feel like killing anymore tonight anyways.

Uriss turned and left the curious little man on the big dog. What a strange conversation. He got to his wagon and headed down to the fork in the road, and took it up to the local smithy’s residence. Pulling to the side, he fell asleep. No use getting there in the middle of the night. He needed to be able to see whatever he needed to clean up.

He pulled into the clearing when the sun broke through the trees. Whoever did this mess was thorough. The embers still burned on the frames of the residence and the smithy. What had that bastard meant by anything here would be his? There was nothing left but ash and ruin. He prodded his horse to make a round of the clearing just in case, his wagon creaking behind.

What was this? A bonnie little lass, dead on the ground with a paper clutched in her hand. Uriss presumed her father and brother were the two swinging from the tree. He pulled the paper from the girls hand and read the decree. Well, that pretty much took care of everything didn’t it.

Uriss spiked the parchment onto the trunk of the tree where the poor fools hung, and inspected the little waif. Not dead after all, but whoever did this damn near killed her.

No killing for him today either, besides now he could make even more of a profit with this little poppet. Uriss slung her into the back of his wagon and rode back out to the road.