Devil Ash Disarray (Devil Ash Saga Book 3) (23 page)

Chapter Sixteen: Back in the Game

As the flames rose into the sky the next morning, Aralia and Uverstarr arrived at their meeting point for the day. According to the large clock hanging from a nearby pole, the duo were ten minutes early. Their teammates were nowhere in sight yet. Aralia had a flashback panic attack remembering the abysmal state Ash was in when he left the game the other day. She feared his condition hadn’t improved yet.

Uverstarr yawned and rubbed his eyes for the hundredth time that morning. He wasn’t used to getting up before the artificial sun. The fact that he stayed up all night playing Devil’s Duel with the other orphanage boys didn’t help either. He’d never been popular among the other children, so it was a welcomed change for him. For once in his short life, he finally felt accepted among his peers. Ever since he acquired those cards, everyone wanted to be his friend. He never knew being the center of attention could be so tiring.

While waiting for their teammates, the pair couldn’t help but observe the sights and sounds happening around them. The Kingdom sprung to life much earlier now that the weather was nice. The South Hell streets were alive with all sorts of traffic. Royal Guards strolled along their patrol routes, wandering through the chaotic commute just trying to look intimidating. Most merchants had their carts and mobile shops parked on the street and open for business. Their inventories had never been so extravagant, diverse, or highly priced before.

The sound of their stomachs growling was a distraction, one that both of them continued to ignore. They were quite used to ignoring those sounds already. As they stood about on the street corner, Aralia became aware of a conversation going on directly behind her. Two older women were talking. One of them sounded depressed.

“There there,” said one of the women. “It isn’t like him to leave you alone for the night. He probably just had something incredibly important to do and lost track of time. He’ll turn up sometime today, I’m sure of it.”

The other woman responded, her voice on the edge of tears. “
It’s just not like him. I don’t know why he would do this. Do you think it’s another woman
?”

“Impossible!” the comforting woman replied. “He was your mate for life. I know what would cheer you up. Let’s go pay a visit to his work. He’s probably still there.”

“
But I’ve already checked his work
,” the woman replied. She made some sounds that Aralia identified with, and without turning around Aralia could tell the woman was crying. It was enough to take her mind off Ash’s health.

The grieving woman and her friend moved down the street as Aralia spotted Ash, Shiva, and Aura heading her way. Any sadness she felt over the woman’s plight faded away, replaced by sheer joy that Ash looked to be happy and in good health. She thought about his hands, covered in his own blood, and a few tears of her own nearly fell. Ash approached her with a sheepish smile, one hand running through the hair on the back of his head.

“Sorry about yesterday,” said Ash. He looked to both Uverstarr and Aralia. “I don’t know what happened to me back there.”

Aralia waved it off with a concerned smile. “Don’t worry about that,” she told him. “I’m just glad you’re feeling better.”

“Thanks,” Ash said, feeling ten times better at once. He was also embarrassed by all the extra affection from Aralia. Not since his third grade girlfriend back on Earth had Ash received so much attention from a girl. Not that he wasn’t
enjoying
a little female interaction for once.

“How you doing, shortstack?” Aura said to Uverstarr. “You look tired.”

“
Bite me
,
turd breath
,” Uverstarr replied, holding up his middle finger.

“
You rude little shi
-”

Before utter could utter a curse, Aralia slapped Uverstarr on the back of his head. The boy cried out in a mixture of surprise and pain.

“
Apologize
!” she commanded the boy, to which he begrudgingly muttered a nearly inaudible ‘sorry’ to Aura.

The group started walking. They had a little time to kill, so they meandered about talking as they went.

“We ran Ash through the point of today’s game, but how about you two? Do you need to hear the explanation too?” Shiva asked.

“I’m good,” Aralia replied. “How about you, Uverstarr?”

The boy scoffed, his arms crossed. “It’s a simple relay course around the Kingdom,” he said. “All we have to do is go through the hoops and trade off the baton. Even a
moron
could figure it out.”

“Yeah, well, if you’re so smart, why don’t you tell me what order we should run it in?” Shiva said, not backing down from a confrontation with the much younger boy.

“The pervy bro should start us out, since he looks like he’s the fastest. He can go all-out and deliver it to Ral, who is also freaky fast. She’ll hand it off to Prin-sis over there, the
fattest
of the group, so she might be slower. But that doesn’t matter because Prin-sis will hand the baton to me, your trump card once again. We’ll make sick-o bro run the last leg, since we’ll most likely be
way
ahead of the competition and it won’t matter how crappy he does. Well, am I right or what?”

Shiva grinded her teeth, struggling to control her building rage. She managed to get out “
That sounds good
” before she had to stop. Any other words would only be curses.

Their walk took them past a row of food vendors selling all varieties of delicious smelling baked goods. The sound of Aralia and Uverstarr’s stomachs were heard roaring. When Ash heard their tummies acting like monsters he offered to buy the pair breakfast. Aralia almost turned him down out of sheer politeness, but Uverstarr was quick to respond with major enthusiasm.

“
Heck yeah you can buy us breakfast, bro-yo
!”

That’s how the group came to be standing idly by, waiting for Ash as he stood in line at the baker’s cart. It took a while, so Aura busied himself by checking out all the ladies in their latest, less-modest attire. Shiva found herself a sturdy wall and did some wall push-ups to pass the time. Uverstarr and Aralia were ahead of Ash in the line, waiting to get close enough to see the menu and decide what they wanted.

That’s when they heard the shouting. Everyone on the street turned to see the cause. A man appeared from around the corner of the block, shouting at the top of his lungs.

“
Please
!
Help me please
!
Someone
!
Anyone
!”

Shouting wasn’t all he was doing. The frantic man stopped people in their tracks, grabbing their shoulders and staring them straight in the eyes. He was really causing a scene, moving from one terrified pedestrian to the next.

“
Have you seen my wife Maria
?
I left her alone in the yard for just a moment and now she’s missing
!
Please, has anyone seen my Maria
?
Please, someone… I need help
!”

The frantic man made his way over to where Ash waited. Everyone in line tried their absolute hardest not to look at the man. Ash, who’d been watching the guy the whole time, could only shake his head as the man repeated his story to him.

Eventually two Royal Guards made their way to the man. They said they received some complaints and told him he was disturbing the peace. The frantic man looked relieved to see them though and immediately laid into the officers with his loud cries of desperation.

“
Please
,
Royal Guards, you have to help me
!
You have to come to my house right away, my wife Maria is missing
!”

The man broke down sobbing finally as the Royal Guards attempted to restrain him. He was getting a little too handsy and they must have felt threatened. They started to carry the man away, a sobbing screaming mess bellowing about his lost wife, when Uverstarr and Aralia finally made it to the counter. The whole scene with the frantic man had been a little unsettling for a lot of people, Ash included. He was still thinking about it when the baker working the booth greeted them pleasantly, snapping Ash out of it.

“What would you two like?” the baker asked.

“I want a cocoa scone, yo!” Uverstarr said.

“And I’ll have the snookerberry biscuit with extra sprinkles and a large coffee,” said Aralia.

“One cocoa scone, one snookerberry biscuit, extra sprinkles, and an extra large coffee coming up!” the baker said as he scrambled to collect the items from his booth. “That’ll be fifteen skorch, please,” he added, returning with their order. “Just in time, too. You got the last cocoa scone,” he said handing the flaky treat to Uverstarr with a pleasant smile.

Ash fished in his pocket for the cash and handed it to Aralia. They paid, and everyone moved on happier and less hungry. Their destination, the starting point of the relay, was finally in sight. A staffer with a megaphone stood on a raised platform, directing the contestants among the crowd.

“If you’re competing in today’s relay course, you’ll need to sign in at the booth behind me!” the staffer said, his voice amplified. “We have course maps and information about where to get the best views of the course for any spectators as well.”

“Guess we should sign in and figure out when we’re up,” Shiva said. Without consulting her team she started heading for the sign-in booth. Ash, Aura, and Aralia stayed put. Uverstarr surprised everyone by following Shiva.

“You’re going with her?” Aralia asked.

“I want a map, yo,” he replied with a shrug. And then he was gone, swallowed in the crowd.

Aura turned to Ash. “Finally, a little break from my two
least
-favorite people.”

The boys recognized a familiar face moving towards them. “
I stand corrected
,” Aura muttered under his breath as the man approached.

“Hey Ash!” he said, a look of surprise and then of relief adorned his face. “Glad to see you’re looking much better today!” Bora gripped Ash’s hand in a tight handshake and slapped him on the shoulder. “I still owe you drinks!”

Ash greeted his chum while Aura stared daggers at the man he considered his replacement. Aralia found his jealousy cute, until Ash and Bora’s blossoming friendship began to make her feel a little jealous too.

“Are you guys entering the relay today?” Ash asked.

“Yep! We’re all signed up and good to go. We just have to wait and see what timeslot we get. I hope we get the chance to compete against you guys again!”

“
Yeah, me too
,” said Aura, sarcastically.

“I love hoop courses,” Bora went on, ignoring Aura’s jabs. “I got a chance to do one for charity last year in North Hell.”

Aura groaned loudly.

Bora continued, unfazed. “Afterwards we all went out for drinks at
The Thirsty Demon
. You ever been to
The Thirsty Demon
?”

Ash shook his head no.

“You’ve
got
to go, they have the
best
blazin’ wings in all of Hell! That settles it; I’m taking you there. Invite your whole team.”

Aura groaned again. Even Aralia found herself sneering as Ash happily corresponded with their enemy. Sensing his teammates disapproval, Ash tried to include them in the conversation the best he could.

“Could you go?” Ash asked Aralia. “Or do you have to ask Kurdis first?”

“Who’s Kurdis?” Bora asked curiously.

“The owner of the orphanage,” Ash replied.

“You live at the orphanage?” Bora asked the girl. “I’ve always felt like volunteering there. Please, ask Mr. Kurdis if he could ever use a helping hand from me.”

Aura groaned again, his loudest yet. Aralia picked up on his mood, and though she smiled and nodded encouragingly to Bora’s face, as soon as the man’s attention was back on Ash she locked eyes with Aura and mouthed the words “
no way
”.

That made Aura feel a little better.

“Well, I’d better be off,” Bora announced. “On top of running in the relay, I’m also helping out with the
Wounded Royal Guard Veterans
program. Catch you later!”

Bora sped off, waving politely with a big, genuine smile spread across his face. Aura rolled his eyes and grunted, and Ash thought he heard a rude phrase uttered by his friend, one he would not repeat.