It Comes for Those Who Don't Run Part 16

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Aennin's day of drinking with Katim and Landah was a fateful one in that it seemed to start a tradition. From that point on, Aennin would be compelled to sit down at the bar for a round of flux whiskey whenever there was no work for him to do. This soon became a nearly weekly occurrence with mixed results. Even on the worst days, it was hard to complain because he was paid for his time and didn't need to do much besides stay conscious-- which was immediately paid into his family's debt. As he considered this during a particularly raucous occasion two months later, he thought to ask how much he and his sister still owed them.

Katim shrugged moodily. The flux wine had not been strong with him that day. "I don't carry the damned bill around with me! I only see on it pay days when I'm striking your month's pay from it."

Aennin frowned and slapped his glass on the table, which Landah quickly refilled. "I feel like I should know this information! Where do you keep the bill?"

Katim took a deep gulp straight from the bottle. "Gods damn! Why do we still drink this stuff? I'm not going to get it right now and you're not going into my office. If you want to know, ask your sister. She pesters me about it every month, so I can't imagine anyone more likely to remember your debt than her."

"It's about time for her shift," Landah slurred lazily. "You could-- you should go ask her now and check.. check on her. See if she's gonna be here."

"She'd better be," Katim growled before smashing the bottle behind the bar. "I'm not paying her to leave us high and dry in the week before Tey Bola ul Handeen. There are going to be hundreds of people pouring in! I might have to stick an apron to you two and put you both to work as well!"

"This one'd look good in the serving uniform," Landah said as he threw an arm around Aennin and pulled him in. "Imagine how much we could make with a red-haired version of Kana!"

Aennin ducked under Landah's arm and shot him a venemous glare while Katim said, "Those legs are for running, not for showing, you idiot!" Turning to Aennin, he added, "You seem to be doing better than this drunken lech right now. Maybe you could put those legs to work right now and get your sister. The first wave of celebrants will start pouring in any minute!"

"All I'm saying is if we're going to pay him to get drunk here, he may as well be making us money!" Landah protested. 

Whatever was said after that, Aennin didn't wait to hear. He darted out of the bar before Landah could start sizing him up for a skirt and jogged home as quickly as his drink-addled body could carry him. He took a shortcut he had discovered over months of repeating this route in order to avoid any nosy guards. He stumbled into the house to find Kana sitting on his mother's old armchair with a stony expression on her face.

"Have fun?" she said waspishly.

"Another day, another handful of gold," Aennin said weakly as he fell into the sofa.

"I'm not sure being drinking buddies with our mom's killer is what I'd call work," Kana hissed with hardly concealed contempt.

"Nor is getting your ass pinched by his customers," Aennin said a little hotly. "But we do what we must to get him off our case. How much do we still owe, anyway?"

"Nine hundred and fifty seven promises as of yesterday," Kana said with her face contorted in anger. "How much are you getting paid to drink with Katim and Landah?"

"Five a day," Aennin replied with a sigh. "Half what I make for each delivery. Fair, considering I don't actually do any work when I'm there."

"I wouldn't socialize with those two for ten times that much!" Kana snapped.

"It's not like I have a choice! We agreed that we'd do whatever they want until they wipe our debt," Aennin shot back. "Don't judge me for having a few drinks! I'm lucky they don't make me shuffle around the pub, serving drinks in the same uniform you wear! And considering what I just went through, I do mean that literally! Talk about something they couldn't pay me to do!"

"Yes, it's humiliating, but how do you think that makes me feel?" Kana shouted as she jumped out of the chair. "I'm angry every damned day! And I use that to motivate me to actually pay this damn debt and put this behind me! How are you supposed to do that if you become friends with these monsters?

"I'M NOT THEIR FRIEND!" Aennin roared, kicking the sofa over in a rage as he jumped to his feet as well. "I'm not getting close to Katim because I admire him, I'm doing it because I want him DEAD!"

Kana let out a gasp of shock. "You're not... planning to kill him, are you?"

Realizing his mistake, he shook his head. "No! I just--"

"I need to go to work," Kana said as she grabbed her apron from the coat rack and hurried to the door. "Whatever you're doing, forget about it! We never talked about this!"

Kana slammed the door in her haste to get away, leaving Aennin alone to contemplate what had just happened. Of course he wasn't going to kill Katim, he was waiting for Maula to do it! She wanted him to learn something from his employer, but the fact that Katim still drew breath meant he still had yet to learn it. He began to wonder if he was wasting his time by spending it in the way he had and what it would take to see his tormentor dead.

It Comes For Those Who Don't Run Part 15

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It charges you from the around the next corner...

Aennin stumbled into work that afternoon a little slowly, still groggy from the effects of his mother's bogwine. It didn't take long for Landah and Katim to notice that he wasn't his usual self. The latter grasped him roughly by the collar and looked him deeply in the eyes. After a moment of searching, he shoved him roughly onto a barstool and vaulted over the bar.

"You're lucky I don't have anything for you to do right now," Katim growled as he slammed three glasses down on the bar. "Landah, is Remiel taken care of?"

Landah sat down on the stool next to Aennin with a nod. "Yeah, he's not going to be giving us any more trouble for a while."

"How long's a while?" Katim asked as he withdrew a bottle of amber-colored liquor from behind the bar.

Landah glanced at Aennin, who had put his head down on the bar. "Are you sure you want to talk about this in front of the kid?"

Katim rolled his eyes and chuckled. "He doesn't look like much of a kid to me anymore. I'm not even sure he's taking any of this in."

Landah nudged Aennin, who grumbled incomprehensibly in response. With raised eyebrows, he responded. "You have a point. Well, by a while, I mean at least a week. Maybe longer depending on how much attention he gets from the healers."

Aennin was scared to hear what he was hearing, but under the drink's influence, he felt a desire to relax and found it easy to follow it. On the plus side, Katim didn't seem to be interested in punishing his ill-chosen decision to walk into the pub while drunk. On the contrary, he felt himself jumping as Katim shoved one of the glasses at him. He took the glass in hand and stared at it. The liquid within had a very strong scent that seemed to inflame his brain with a single whiff.

"Drink," Katim commanded casually. "If you want to get sloshed, you're going to do it right instead of slowly drowning yourself with that piss your parents used to drink."

"What is it?" Aennin asked blearily.

"It's called flux whiskey," Katim said as he poured a glass each for himself. "It's only made in Heron, but it's legal to buy and sell here as long as it passes through the hands of a Restan or Galean trader first."

Landah frowned as he took his drink. "You're cruel, Katim. You know this shit always fucks me up!"

Katim laughed and took a joyous gulp of his own whiskey. "Suck it up! You know full well the strength of every glass is basically random! You'll feel like a fool for complaining if you don't even get a buzz!"

Aennin raised his eyebrows while continuing to examine his glass. "How can it be random?"

"They say the Heronites have to brew their whiskey in the wilderness to skirt the law," Landah explained, then took a gulp from his own glass. "If they don't keep it hidden enough, nymphs get into the stills and--"

"Piss in them!" Katim exclaimed with a chuckle.

Aennin had just taken his first sip when he heard this last part. As a result, he ended up spraying the bar with the fluid that he had in his mouth. Katim and Landah laughed while the former tossed a rag at him.

"Clean that shit up and finish your drink," the boss said cheerfully.

"How can you drink this if--"

"He was joking!" Landah said with some difficulty thanks to the laughter. "Nobody really knows what the nymphs do to the whiskey, but whatever it does makes it completely different from any other liquor. Part of the fun is seeing how it affects you from glass to glass. Drink it slowly, just in case, though."

Katim nodded in agreement. "You really will want to pace yourself. I was going to give you the day off before you decided to show up with a buzz. Now it's your responsibility to keep me amused and passing out won't get you out of it."

So, Aennin cleaned up the mess he had made over the bar with the rag he had been supplied with and continued to make conversation with the other elves. At the end of the day, he had been relieved to discover that he had gotten some of the lighter servings of the strange liquor. Even with the flux whiskey combined with the effects of Anera's bogwine, Aennin was still able to leave under his own power while Katim had passed out and Landah was left complaining that he couldn't even catch a buzz.

The walk back to the apartment was slowed down both by intoxication and a flurry of thoughts. Spending the day socializing with Katim was among the last things he ever expected to come out of this day, but it felt right. Morrin's dying wish to see this thug dead would only come to pass if Aennin could get closer to him. This alone would have made everything he experienced that day worth it, but he couldn't say he didn't enjoy himself nonetheless.

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It Comes for Those Who Don't Run Part 14

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You turn back and try to lose it down another path...

Aennin awoke with relief to dead silence in his room. This not only meant that the voice which haunted him had ceased to speak, but that he had woken up before Kana got home. He glanced at his bedside clock and found that it was less than an hour before dawn. Since leaving school, he did not usually wake up this early but, then again, he did not usually turn in as early as he did. As it turned out, drowning out the girl who spoke directly to his mind made him a motivated sleeper. With a yawn, he shrugged out of the clothes he had been wearing since the day before and began to prepare for the day. This time, he would be ready early so he could have a few minutes alone with his sister before she could pester him with the urgency of Katim's daily summons.

He didn't feel much like cooking, so he simply pulled a canister of mixed nuts and a bowl from the cupboard and pantry respectively and poured him a lead helping. With his bowl full of what would have to pass for that morning's breakfast in hand, he walked over to the dining table, where he found the cup he had drunk from the morning before. He picked up the cup and took it back to rinse it in the sink. But as he pumped the water, he suddenly realized that wasn't what he wanted to drink. He shook the cup dry and set it on the counter before slipping into the living room. There, he began to rummage through everything trying to find something better. He finally found what he was looking for in a compartment hidden beneath Anera's favorite chair: a bottle of her favorite bogwine.

He returned to the kitchen to pour what remained inside the bottle into his cup. He then settled into the table with his nuts and drink. As he chewed on his first handful of nuts, he began to ponder the pungent odor coming from his cup. It nearly nauseated him, but he was curious enough to try it anyway. After he had finished chewing, he gulped the food down with the wine-- and nearly spit it out.

"Well, that's enough of that, then," he muttered distastefully as he returned to the kitchen to replace the revolting drivel with some water.

As he stood up, however, he suddenly felt different. His limbs felt lighter and his head felt like it was floating. The sensation was subtle, but by the time he had reached the sink, he had already begun to rethink his plan. He understood then what made this drink so desirable to his mother. Even the ache that had followed him out of bed seemed to subside almost magically. Why waste such a miraculous elixir?

So, he finished the cup, then scrounged through more of his mother's things for more. She never seemed to run out, so it seemed unlikely that the bottle that was close to going empty was the only one around. Aennin's search seemed fruitless at first, for which he supposed he must blame Kana, but then his efforts led to their parents' bedroom. Neither of the siblings had walked into the master bedroom of the apartment since they lost their parents, but in this intoxicated daze, there was nothing to stop Aennin now.

He pushed open the door and gasped at the first glimpse of the room. The walls were etched with splatters of black paint and Anera's long-forgotten vanity seemed to have been replaced with a makeshift altar, on which a rotting goat's head rested. Aennin took this horrible sight in stride as his mission took precedence over this new mystery. Fortune favored Aennin at last when he rummaged through the closet and found another bottle hidden away in the pocket of a coat he hadn't seen his mother wear in years.

With another gulp of the disgusting, amazing drink put away, Aennin could once again turn his attention to the altar. Beneath the decaying skull was a card etched with his father's handwriting in only one word: Katim.

"Desperation can lead one to do things that would make them unrecognizable to their own family. How tragic that his gambit failed."

Aennin froze. Although the alcohol still held his nerves together, it could not contain the dread he felt at hearing that voice in his head once more. He was visited with a sudden urge to scrub his brain clean, but this impulse evoked laughter from her.

"You can't purify yourself by scouring what is already pure," the girl said in a playful tone.

"Who are you?" Aennin mumbled awkwardly.

"I'm the last goddess who heard your father's prayers," the girl said cryptically. "Alas, I don't receive many prayers--especially not from elves--but that is just one of many products of desperation."

Aennin's eyes widened with realization. He cursed his current state of intoxication, ashamed that a deity could see him in the act of something he was forbidden to do.

"I don't care what you do with your body," the goddess said with a trace of boredom in her voice. "Well, I might. That body could come in useful later."

"What do you want from me?" Aennin asked, unable to help himself from speaking despite being fully aware that it was unnecessary.

"Finally, the little elf asks!" the goddess chirped excitedly. "What I want is for you to take what I couldn't give to your father before he died."

Aennin's eyes wandered to the altar as his mind struggled to process what she was implying. He was talking to someone that elves in particular didn't pray to and the altar he had built to her held the name of his father's enemy.

 "My father actually prayed for you to kill Katim, didn't he? Lady Maula?"

"Right and right!" the goddess exclaimed. "Now he's dead but that doesn't mean I have to spare the vermin he wanted me to end. He went to a lot of trouble to earn my favor and he would want you to benefit from it."

"What did he do?"

"That doesn't matter and I highly doubt you want to know. Isn't knowing that he called out to me bad enough?"

Aennin shrugged and nodded. She had a point. He was tired of hearing worse and worse things about his father. Maula, the Goddess of Death, was the antithesis of Tanisian culture so even talking to her was a secret he planned to take to his grave. This thought incited a chuckle from the goddess.

"So, Katim is going to die? Just like that?"

"No, not just like that!" Maula snapped impatiently. "I'm sure you mortals love to view me as the type of person to just snap my fingers and make someone dead, but I'm not! For me to do this, there has to be a purpose!"

"I'm guessing my family's freedom isn't a good enough purpose," the boy mumbled in a disheartened tone that suddenly gave him pause. Did he seriously want Katim to die?

"Good guess!" Maula hissed. "No, Katim will die when I'm ready to kill him. Until then, I want you to stay close to him. The more you can learn from him, the more inclined I'll be to end his life."

Aennin tried to ask what the point of this command was, but she wouldn't respond. Finally, he shrugged and left the room with his bottle, which he hid in his room before returning to breakfast. He began to worry that this meant an end to his escape plan. If even a goddess wanted him near Katim, what right did he have to argue? He didn't know what would happen if he disobeyed Maula but, considering what she stood for, there was no sense in taking that risk. On the plus side, this could mean having the opportunity to watch Katim die.

But again, was Katim's death really what he wanted?

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It Comes For Those Who Don't Run Part 13

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One wrong turn and it has found you again...

Returning to work for Katim after being manipulated into helping him kill his father broke something in Aennin's resigned cooperation. He still kept his head down and did his job for the most part, but he found it harder and harder over the next week to hide his growing contempt for his boss. Katim couldn't have expected Aennin to remain ignorant of his father's fate forever, which might have been the reason for his patience with his push back. When Aennin shrugged off his attempts at conversation, he would smile. When Aennin said something snarky, he would dispense with his usual veiled threats and put him down with his wit. The more Aennin tried to distance himself from Katim, the closer they seemed to get, no matter how baldly he expressed his disdain.

With Katim's increased attention, Aennin began to worry that he would never see Nazan again. The warning of the boy's only friend that Katim's eyes were everywhere seemed to hold true especially in his case. They were even walking home together.

One day, eight days after Morrin's death, Katim had accompanied Aennin home from the pub after a long delivery that had taken him up to the surface, through the Elder district of Bluegold Way. He was tired, and not in the mood to be on his guard. But Katim had made an excuse of picking up Kana for her shift at the bar, so he couldn't excuse himself. As Aennin reached for the front door back home, though, Katim took him by the shoulders and pinned him to the wall.

"I think we need to have a quick chat," he whispered. "Invite me into your home."

That would certainly be a change of pace for the two of them, Aennin thought. He never wanted Katim in his home less than he did then, but there was nothing to be gained from resisting him now but further terror.

"Come in, then," Aennin replied sulkily. He shoved his way past Katim and opened the door. "Try not to trip over some part of my life you've broken on the way in."

"That's what I'm talking about," Katim moaned dramatically once he was past the threshold. "I just did you a huge favor, but I get the feeling you don't appreciate it."

Aennin closed the door with a scoff. "Please, explain to me how killing my father was a favor to me."

"How would letting him live have been?" Katim retorted with a smirk. "You and I both know that Morrin was a piece of trash. All I did was prevent you from dragging you down with him."

"Is that what you think you did?" Aennin wrinkled his nose. "He already pulled that off when you came into our lives!"

Katim chuckled and nodded in good nature. "You got me there. But things can always be so much worse, like they would have been if the fat bastard had followed through on his plan to collect you and your sister and flee the city without squaring his debt to me."

Had they really been that close to escaping their debtor? Aennin gave away this thought with a gulp. His father had spent his final moments plotting his and Kana's rescue and he himself had been involved in squashing that hope.

"Let's be clear, kid," Katim growled, a faint trace of his usual danger glinting in his expression. "Morrin's plan would never have worked. The people he tried to pay off to help you escape work for me and the guards who watch the city gates are on my payroll. And I do mean for every shift. No one that I have a personal interest in can leave this city without my knowledge."

He glanced toward the stairs and added. "Even if everything had gone exactly as Morrin had planned, all three of you would be dead somewhere on the road to Oasis right now."

Aennin lowered his eyes and sighed, knowing that what he was hearing was true immediately. It wasn't as if he had come to trust Katim, but he knew full well that this man's word was as strong as iron. Katim wasn't the sort of man who felt the need to lie often. He dissembled with the authorities who would occasionally call on him at the pub, sure, and he would intentionally omit any details he didn't want others to know, but nothing Katim has ever said to Aennin has proven to be untrue in the past.

"Hey!" Katim said in a more comforting tone. "There's no need for you to bring back the tortured routine! I was starting to get used to the new you!"

"Should I tell you the truth more often?" Aennin grumbled halfheartedly.

"It would help your position a lot more than this meek shit you first came to me with." Katim smirked and ruffled Aennin's hair, causing him to flinch.

"Gods! You're really terrified of me, aren't you?"

Aennin shook his head with barely restrained fury. "I don't like when people touch my hair."

Katim snickered. "If you say so! Keep up the new attitude at work, Aennin. I'll make you one of us yet and, when that day comes, you'll be making more money than you know what to do with!"

"The only money I want is to pay your damned debt so I never have to see your face again!" Aennin snarled, his anger nearing its peak. Who was this bastard to talk so casually, even positively, about murdering his father? Did he really think he and Aennin were ever going to be friends?

Katim didn't get a chance to return as Kana had chosen that moment to come downstairs. If the incredulous expression she aimed toward her sibling was any indication, she had overheard what Aennin had just said. He would have to explain later, but he had the feeling Katim would do the honors when she blanketed the boss with apologies on his behalf on their way to the pub.

"Ah, there you are!" Katim said cheerfully. "We've got a busy night at the pub, tonight? I hope you plan to bring some pep today!"

"As much as I can spare, sir," Kana said quietly once she was at the bottom of the steps. 

Katim sighed dramatically and shook his head. "That doesn't sound like much. Come on!"

So, Kana and Katim left the apartment and made for the now-familiar pub, leaving Aennin alone to find his way up to bed. He trudged up the stairs, feeling older somehow as he did so. Is this how his mother felt whenever she had to use the stairs? Perhaps this sensation had something to do with why she spent most of her time in that old chair. The boy shook off his fatigue as well as he could even as he pushed open his bedroom door. He may have been tired, but he was too young to feel that tired. 

When he finally put his head to his pillow, though, his thoughts were interrupted by a strange, melodic laugh that sounded like it was coming from a woman. Aennin was quickly able to rule out his sister's sudden return as the voice sounded higher, like the laugh of a teenage girl. He looked around and saw nothing but his shadow cast on a wall by his bedside lamp, a self-made contraption of metal and blue crystals that were formed in the shape of a clock. But still, he stood up to get a closer look. The shadow looked so unlike his own  at that moment. He didn't see the boy he was, but a much taller, bulkier man adorned in what appeared to be a horned helmet. 

"What vermin!" A girl's voice hissed, although no one was around. 

Aennin was startled by the sound, so much so that he dived back into the bed, seeking safety in the comfort of his blanket. The futile gesture only provoked another chuckle from the unseen presence.

"He's trying to change you in a way that suits me," she added in a whisper. "But he is so arrogant that he truly believes he's doing it purely for his own benefit! You should kill him, not only for what he's done to you, but his hubris!"

Aennin folded his pillow around his head, unable to believe what he was hearing. But nothing he did to muffle his hearing made the voice any less audible.

"I guess we'll talk later, then! Stay alive, boy," the girl said in a singsong voice. "You're not allowed to die by anyone's hand but mine!"

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It Comes for Those Who Don't Run Part 12

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It's voice echoes through the halls...

Aennin's trek to deliver the ticking parcel was a quick one, despite the fact that he had managed to get lost along the way. He felt a sense of urgency well up at this point and was tempted to run, but Katim's specific instructions not to suppressed that urge. He was now in Pewter Lane, a Worker caste neighborhood several levels beneath where he had come from. This was unusual in that he knew Katim rarely dealt with workers. Although he gleefully allowed them to patronize his bar and would sell his drugs to them there, this was the first time the boy had ever been bidden to make a delivery this far away. He had never been there before, a fact which contributed to his growing confusion, but he knew better than to ask for directions. Any work he did for Katim had to be on the wrong side of the law, and he knew the guards couldn't be trusted to help him.

What was more, he wasn't particularly interested in talking to the locals either, as workers tended to be among his most hated classmates back in school. While he did not particularly feel any disdain for their way of life, he had been on the wrong side of their ire on too many occasions. He supposed that he ought to let this hatred go since the fact that his parents were gone and what remained of his family had no business to call their own made him consider himself less attached to his own caste. But as he glanced at the faces of the people around him as he walked, he could sense that the workers knew he didn't belong there. Let them have their frontier pride and move along, he told himself bitterly.

Aennin glanced at the note that Katim had attached to his package to refer to its directions once more, but sighed as he found them less helpful than the last time he looked. Wherever he was now, he couldn't recognize any of the landmarks that his employer had described. He had been close to dumping the package and formulating an acceptable lie when he felt an icy hand close around his wrist. He looked up with a start to find himself face to face with a brunette woman he had recognized from the pub. The boy had only seen this person a handful of times and thus had never learned her name. But she regarded him with an expectant look all the same.

"Is that the package bound for Pewter Lane?" she asked sharply.

Aennin nodded slowly. "Where else would I be taking it? Do you think I'd choose to wander this tunnel-dweller street for the pleasant company?"

"Watch your mouth!" the woman hissed angrily. "This is my home you are talking about, and your slurs are not welcome here."

Aennin sighed and gave her an apologetic shrug, figuring it best not to provoke her further. "Sorry! I'm just frustrated because I've never been here before and I keep getting turned around."

"Well, you can stop wandering around so conspicuously and hand the package over," the woman responded coolly. "I will complete this delivery."

This was worded as an offer and delivered in the tone of a request, but Aennin could tell that it was neither, but a command. This visibly startled the boy, with whom Katim had made it clear that he was not to let go of any of his parcels until he reached the place to which they were bound for delivery.

"I've seen you around the pub, so you probably know full well that I can't do that," Aennin replied with a stoic expression that bravely concealed the unusual fear that he felt in this woman's presence. "I'll finish my job if you can just tell me where to go."

"You've run out of time!" The woman snapped impatiently. "If you don't give me that box now, you will almost certainly die."

The bluntness of her threat sapped the courage he had been so careful to maintain, but no matter how scary she was, he feared Katim more. "And who should I say has it when Katim asks?"

"You can tell him that Thea generously decided to help you out," the woman replied coldly. "Now give me the box and go back to Bronze Street where you belong!"

The force of this reiterated demand overruled what remained of the boy's resistance. He handed the box to Thea, taking some comfort in the notion that he could pass the responsibility for this seemingly important delivery to someone else Katim knew. Without a word, she turned on her heels and walked away briskly. With nothing else to do, Aennin made his way back up the steps to the familiarity of Bronze Street to complete the delivery that Landah had arranged instead. This was a more routine journey that was punctuated by an unexpected encounter with Nazan. The man had been skulking through the street outside Katim's in a hooded cloak. Before he could go back inside to report his qualified success, the man grabbed him roughly by the shoulders and pinned him to the outer wall of an ingot dealer's store.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" the man hissed in fury. "Do you know what you've just done?"

The boy shook his head wildly as he struggled to identify the man. After a moment, Nazan pulled off his hood and stared hard into his eyes. His head had been shaved and tattooed with a sickle pattern around his crown, giving him what looked like a black diadem, but his face was instantly recognizable.

"Nazan?" Aennin sputtered in confusion. "What are you doing here?"

The man sighed and released the boy before saying, "You were just in Pewter Lane, right?"

Aennin felt his skin go cold as he responded with a nod, then added, "I was delivering a package for Katim. He has me and Kana working for him since our mom died and father ran off!"

Nazan rubbed his temples wearily for several long moments. He seemed to be contemplating something, and months in Katim's company had taught him never to disturb such concentration. Finally, Nazan kicked the wall and hissed, "That fucking bastard!"

Aennin's eyes widened with alarm and he asked, "What?"

Nazan looked solemnly into Aennin's eyes. "Your father is dead. He was killed by an explosion."

This news should have shocked Aennin, but hearing of Morrin's death didn't feel the same as watching his mother die. Thinking back, he remembered the new type of weapon he had once read about. One that used the inner workings of a clock to combine petrified maulan skin and kerunite for a powerful explosion. This sort of bomb, known as a chaos buster, was used frequently in Resta although the maulan skin had become exceedingly rare in the many years that had passed since the Wave of Death. The boy clutched two fistfuls of his own hair as he thought back to the now-sinister memory of the ticking box.

"The thing he had me delivering sounded like a clock, but it could have been--"

"He used you!" Nazan snapped venomously. "And I thought I had plenty of reason to hate him before!"

"I can't keep doing this!" Aennin whimpered. "He's making me dismantle everything I cared about! You have to get us out of here!"

Nazan shook his head. "I want to help you, but I can't yet! Katim has eyes everywhere and if we're going to avoid them, we need to do this the right way!"

"When, then?" Aennin asked with a fearful expression.

"Just keep your head down and do your job," Nazan said quietly. "I'll come to you when I figure this out."

Aennin nodded shakily and watched as Nazan replaced his hood and disappeared into the crowd. For Aennin, the next thing to do was returning to work and pretending as if nothing had happened. He had never pictured himself having a harder time with that, however, a second difference between the deaths of his parents made itself apparent just then: he was partially responsible for Morrin's demise.

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It Comes For Those Who Don't Run, Part 11

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You have lost it for now, but beware...

Aennin wanted to talk to Kana about giving up the clock shop for good, but she wasn't home when Katim finally let him off for the night, but was serving drinks at the pub. This was the case every night that followed. This pattern was more than a coincidence, he was sure. After weeks of work for Katim, it became clear that their schedules were arranged so that neither of them were busy at the same time. Every day, Aennin ran around town, delivering packages for his new boss while nights were spent at home, worrying about what his sister was dealing with at the pub. Aennin was specifically forbidden from going to the pub at night because of his age, which Katim worried might be more of a problem when the place was busy, so he could never check on her. Whenever she came home from her shifts every morning, she would shrug off his questions and remind him that Katim was waiting before stumbling to bed.

This trend continued until Aennin stopped inquiring about her, figuring that she would say something if she were in trouble. As their work became routine, so did a new family dynamic in the apartment. Whole days would go by in which they didn't see each other at all, to the point that they began to feel less like siblings and more like two strangers living in the same home. As much as this saddened the boy, it wasn't as if he was lonely. Despite his emphatic desire to avoid becoming friendly with the criminals in Katim's employ, he ended up making friends with Landah. Whenever Katim was too busy to give Aennin anything to do, Landah would be the one to set him on his route. Aennin quickly began to prefer getting his assignments from him to interacting with Katim because of Landah's helpful attitude. One day, after a month in Katim's employ, Aennin felt bold enough to ask Landah why he was always so nice to him.

"I used to run packages for Katim before I got... promoted," the man said with a smile. "I just think you could benefit from my experience. If you can get a run done quickly, that helps the whole crew."

Aennin nodded in understanding. "When I first started here, I thought everyone here hated each other. But you really care about this group, don't you?"

Landah stood up from his favorite stool and leaned over the bar to fumble for something under the counter. From there, he withdrew a framed picture of a young boy standing on a pile of rubble, hugging another in tattered clothing. The larger of the two appeared to be weeping while the smaller had a face stricken with intense rage.

"This is a portrait Seliah took of me and Katim when we were just boys," he said as he handed the picture to Aennin for a closer look.

Aennin looked at the picture with interest. "What happened to you?"

Landah sighed and picked up his drink for another sip. Upon setting it down, he replied. "This is what the caste system has done to us. Do you know what happens to a Mercantile family that goes completely broke?"

Aennin simply shook his head. He had plenty of reason to contemplate that question long before the man had asked, especially with his old fears of his father running their shop into the ground. But working for Katim had alleviated that concern. While he was still heavily paying for his father's mistakes, he was still paid enough to make sure that he and Kana would live comfortably.

Landah rolled his eyes and said, "Okay, well those of us who lose our family fortunes wind up relying on the kindness of others to survive. You have to be able to find a charitable stranger or starve to death. It's that simple."

Aennin frowned and handed the picture back. "That sounds terrible! I guess I'm lucky that I don't have to live like that."

Landah nodded as he continued to stare at the picture. "This portrait was made when Seliah found us, close to sfarving. Have you met her yet?"

Aennin shook his head.

"She's a sweet old lady. She took us into her household and tried to pass us off as Worker boys. But seeing how another caste lives was like a slap in the face to us. We went to a new school, where we actually felt like we belonged. It was a boring place, and the responsibilities they foisted on us were over the top."

"How so?"

"Everyone in the Worker Caste is expected to be both smart and strong. We were expected to grow up working hard building shit or clearing up the ruins while still being extensively trained in archaeology."

Landah paused and took another sip of his drink. "As you can probably imagine, there was a lot of stress in that school. It got to me and plenty of the friends we made. But Katim always seemed to take everything in stride. That was until one day, when he was 17. He just blew up in class one day and started ranting about the Caste system. How the merchants have no safety net when their businesses fail, how workers bust their asses day after day, and how the people of the Elder caste ignore everyone else."

Aennin frowned and mumbled. "My mother used to be Elder Caste. She wanted me to leave my caste and join them."

Landah looked at Aennin with a sympathetic expression and said, "Well, I couldn't disagree with that ideal more, but for what it's worth, I'm sorry you didn't get to make her proud."

Aennin went silent, afraid to say what was on my mind. Whose fault was that, anyway?

"Look, I really am sorry. If I was there when those guys went to your place, I would have tried to stop them from going so far."

"Who was there?" Aennin suddenly asked, his eyes suddenly piercing those of the older elf.

Landah shook his head and scoffed. "Come on, Aennin! You know I can't answer that question!"

Feeling bolder, Aennin replied. "Don't you think I deserve to know? I could have talked to them!"

"You really don't want to dig into that mess," Landah said as he put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Katim would rather you let that go and I think we both know what will happen if you don't."

Aennin sighed and began to stare at the counter, listening to the chatter of the pub's few morning patrons. Landah continued to stare at the portrait and neither of them said anything until Katim emerged from his office, moving in a hurry.

"Oh good, you're still here!" Katim said to Aennin with a grin on his face. "There's been a change of plans. Whatever Landah was about to have you do, forget about it."

Aennin looked up as if he had only just noticed the boss' presence. "What's up?"

Katim set a box on the bar between Aennin's outstretched arms. The boy picked it up and found it to be much heavier than usual.

"You're going to take this to the address that's written on the box, leave it by the door and come right back," the pub owner said cheerfully. "Now, the contents are a little too fragile for you to run with this one, but you don't need to waste time talking to anyone. Just drop it off and then you can complete the delivery."

"Or, he could just take both of them out at the same time. Mine was actually time sensitive," Landah said pointedly.

Katim glanced at the other man and his eyes narrowed when he saw the old picture. "Put that away!"

Landah sighed and stuffed the portrait back under the bar counter.

Katim then glanced to Aennin. "So is mine, but he has a point. Just deliver mine first, whatever you do."

Without leaving any other room to argue, Katim returned to office and Landah smiled weakly. "Well, if you do this one first, you can at least start running with this one once that's done."

Landah handed Aennin a brass mail tube like he was used to delivering. "Well, you'd better get going. If Katim's willing to keep one of his favorite customers waiting, that box must be important.

Aennin stuffed the tube in his satchel and picked up the box. "I'll try to be quick."

Landah turned away from Aennin and began to pour himself another drink as the boy left. Once he was outside, he put the box to his ear and rattled it gently. It sounded like a clock. Could he be delivering some of the last of his stock?

Next

It Comes For Those Who Don't Run Part 10

Back to the Beginning

Previous

It lurches closer...

When Aennin got back to his apartment, he was relieved to find that no one had yet discovered the tragedy which had recently happened there. Determinedly avoiding looking at his mother, he wrote a scribbled down a note of distress and loaded it into a tube, which he dropped into the mail chute behind the kitchen counter. He then went upstairs to wait until a city patrolman arrived in response to his message. 

When she arrived, Aennin spent the next hour recounting the events leading to his distress call. He decided that the best thing he could do was tell a version of the truth, but with some of the events reordered. He told her that he had spent the morning in Trinity Square before returning to find his mother dead on the floor. He worried that someone might have seen him entering his apartment earlier, but Landah had advised him on his way out of the pub that that anyone who had seen anything would know better than to contradict him. It wasn't in the interest of Landah or his boss to mislead him at this point, so he decided to trust Katim's reputation to smooth over the holes in his story.

By the time the patrolman left, satisfied with the details he had given her, Aennin was close to cracking. He hadn't looked at Anera once the whole time, but he was tempted to in that moment. As he weighed the pros and cons at taking even the slightest peek, Kana threw open the door and rushed into the room. Aennin could tell it was her when she let out a wailing sob. He supposed his experience with their mother's death was vastly different. He was still mostly numb with shock, but Kana had probably come here knowing full what she would find. He wasn't thrilled with the prospect of talking to her, but he knew he had to do so. 

When Aennin got downstairs, he found Kana sitting in Anera's favorite chair, her face flooded with tears. 

"Hey," he mumbled carefully. "I talked to the patrolman already. We're just waiting for someone to come and... pick her up."

"I'll wait with her," Kana responded through gritted teeth. "I don't start work until tonight, but he wants you back as soon as possible."

"If you need to talk--"

"Just go!" Kana snapped. "There's a reason you're not supposed to fuck with Katim. You don't want to keep him waiting."

"He gave me until nightfall," Aennin said with a hard stare. "Also, he killed our mother.

 He can damn well wait!"

Kana shook her head and sighed. "It's better if he doesn't. And none of that attitude when you get there! I don't want either of us to wind up like..."

Kana gestured sadly to Anera and squeezed out some fresh tears. Aennin shed a few of his own. But there was no time to cry. Kana had been very clear on the point that he should return to the pub with haste. So, he wiped his eyes and turned to leave. 

"I'm going to get us out of this," Aennin said while standing in front of the door. 

"The only way out is through."

Although Aennin had conceded the point that he should leave immediately, he didn't see the need to run this time. He trudged to Katim's in a moody silence, ignoring the murmurs of passerby who seemed to be commenting on the way he was carrying himself. Let them stare, he thought. He had only lost everything he thought he could lose. He faced an uncertain future which seemed to demand that he give up more. His morals, quite possibly. His freedom, certainly. All things considered, he was acting quite naturally.

When Aennin finally walked into the pub, he found Katim sitting at the bar next to Landah, joking and laughing about something. He managed to sidle up to them in silence and take the seat next to them. Katim jumped when he noticed and whooped gleefully.

"We should make you start wearing bells in here," he said while ruffling Aennin's hair. "How did it go?"

"They're never going to find out who killed her," Aennin replied stiffly.

"Even if they do, they won't do anything about it," Katim said with a roll of his eyes. "But if they find out you lied, you'll probably be in trouble. I hope for your sake that you're right."

Aennin didn't respond, and Katim would break the ensuing silence by saying, "Anyway, it's time to put you to work. We're going to start off with something nice and easy." He pulled a brass tube out of his pocket and set it down on the bar. "You are going to take this to Trinity Commerce down the street and deliver this to an employee there by the name of Anayel. You can look at it if you want, but if she doesn't get it, I think you understand that I will know."

Aennin took the tube in hand and nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Cut that 'sir' shit!" Katim said with a chuckle. "We're not fancy people here. Just get this document to Anayel. Hurry up!"

Aennin flitted out of the pub and onto the street. On his way to the pub, he had a thought. If Katim would explicitly give him his consent to read the document, then he probably expected him to. He slowed to a walk and twisted open the tube to pull out the paper within. He unfurled the document and read it with a knot in his stomach. He was holding a contract, signed by his father, that transferred ownership of Morrin and Son's Finest Clocks to Katim. If he delivered his message, the shop would be gone forever.

But there was no question as to what could be done. Not even he or Morrin would say the shop is worth his life now. With trembling hands, he replaced the contract in the tube, closed it, and sprinted for Trinity Commerce with the speed that Katim had so coveted. When he arrived and found Anayel, the man took the tube without a word and waved him off dismissively. It could have crushed him to see such a dismissive response to literally handing his dream over to a stranger, but after the day he had, he felt like nothing could possibly hurt him again.

Next

It Comes For Those Who Don't Run Part 9

Back to the Beginning

Previous

It Snarls at Your Back as You Flee...

Aennin sat quietly at the bar where he was left for the better part of an hour in tense silence. He was pestered a few times while he awaited word of his sister's fate by the sort of people who would frequent a seedy pub before lunch time. The first, a drunken worker with sunken eyes, merely seemed to be looking for a conversation. Unfortunately, Aennin could not focus on the stranger's lecture about unearthed art pieces no matter how hard he tried. The second was a wizened old man with a scraggly beard who mistook him for a girl. His irritation with this particular encounter was enough to allow him to forget his anxiety for a moment. This was a maddeningly frequent experience for him.

After telling this second stranger off, Aennin stared moodily into the bar counter. Moments later, another man, this one with a shaved head that reminded the boy of Nazan sat on the stool next to him. He wore a friendly smile as he caught Aennin's eye.

"I know this is your first time here, and I'm not even going to ask how old you are, but this isn't the best place to go scaring off long time customers."

So disarmed was he by the man's gentle tone, Aennin responded without thinking. "He needs to get his eyes checked."

The man chuckled and shook his head. "That may be true, but I don't think that's the reason he thought you were a woman. I wasn't completely sure you weren't myself until Goric decided to take a swing at you."

Aennin narrowed his eyes at the man and briefly considered a retort before swallowing it. He knew from many experiences at Bronze Academy that getting defensive about his feminine appearance never ended well for him. It only served to give people more of a reason to torture him for his looks, which he happened to otherwise appreciate. Sometimes he would look into a mirror and find that it would only take a minimal effort to make himself look like his mother from the neck up. He usually looked upon this idea with some interest but as he reflected it then while sitting beside a stranger in a bar for the first time in his life, he could only conjure an image of his mother dying. Could this be one of the men who helped to kill her?

The stranger continued. "Something tells me that people make the same mistake all the time."

Aennin nodded halfheartedly. "Not all the time, but more often than I care to admit."

"Well, either way, you're quite the looker," the man said with a wide smirk. "You should take it as a compliment. Goric likes to pretend he's a man of taste."

Aennin couldn't think of a response to this that wouldn't risk provoking the man. Thankfully, or perhaps dreadfully, he was spared this effort by the return of Katim, who was wearing a giddy expression.

"Landah, go to the back and check out the new hire," the pub owner said with a cold, smooth tone. "I want her ready in time for dinner.

The man who had been sitting beside Aennin clicked his tongue. "You got it, boss! Just give me a couple of minutes, will you?"

Katim slapped Landah in the back of his head. "Now, Landah! I need to have a few words with our new friend here. The new hire's worth tearing your eyes away from this one anyway. Go!"

Landah glanced to Aennin with a friendly expression as he stood up. As he walked away, he said, "In that case, I'm expecting a real beauty back there, Katim!"

Katim and Aennin watched the bald elf walk away until he disappeared behind the door. When he was gone, Katim vaulted over the bar and picked up a pair of mugs, which he began to fill with a light, amber-colored ale. Aennin shook his head when one of these mugs was placed in front of him, but Katim narrowed his eyes.

"I insist!" He said in a forceful, but not distinctly aggressive tone. "We've got a lot to talk about, Aennin."

Aennin reluctantly picked up his mug, his hand shaking as the sound of his own name in this monster's voice froze his veins. He took a sip of the ale, but didn't even taste it. Seeing the impatient look in the face of the man who'd served the drink, he took a deeper gulp and nearly gagged on the taste.

"Listen, kid. I was planning to give you the sweet sales pitch until I found out who you were from your sister," Katim said coolly. "Do you understand why I don't see the need to bother now?"

"My family still owes you money," Aennin said immediately, not wanting to waste any more time in conversation with this man than he needed to.

Katim nodded with approval to Aennin. "You are smarter than your father, at least. Now, your father has worked up a pretty sizable debt with me before he ducked his head and fled the city. I'm long past expecting him to pay me back now. Normally, I would threaten the lives of his family to get what I want out of him, but who knows where that piece of shit coward is now?"

Aennin gulped, once again at a loss for words. He hadn't heard that Morrin had fled the city, but he was far beyond surprise. He had never held the highest esteem for his father but, with everything he had learned about him lately, this sounded entirely feasible even coming from a thug like Katim.

Katim sighed heavily and continued. "Now, this isn't the sort of business I like to do, but I'm out a lot of money on this loan and I'm in a bind. So I'm going to have to threaten the lives of your worthless father's family to get the money from you, instead."

Aennin looked down and said, "Now that my father's gone, I can get you your money! With full control of the shop, I'll make a lot more money there anyway."

Katim clicked his tongue three times. "Fuck that old shop! You could sell the premises for a fifth of your debt right now and you'll make a lot more money working with me."

Aennin shook his head and murmured. "Look Katim, I love that shop, and I'd like for it to still be around once you have all the money you need from us."

Katim growled and slammed his palms on the bar. "Your father's payment plan would have had him paying me back over the next ten years. I was willing to accept this arrangement in good faith, but I'm finding it a little hard to trust the people who owe me these days. You can bury this a lot more quickly with what you can do with your legs than what you do with your hands."

"I see your point, but I'm not really interested in doing anything illegal or--"

"I don't give a fuck what you're interested in!" Katim snapped. "Your daddy isn't here to stop me from altering the terms of our contract, so I have a the new rule. You and your sister now have three years to pay off your family's debt. You'll never make it selling clocks, so you'd better be ready to do whatever I damn well tell you to do."

Aennin hung his head and nodded resignedly. As much as the thought of working directly for Katim sickened him, he knew he didn't have any choice. He thought back to the image of his mother dying on the floor, than pictured his face in the mirror, covered with blood and bruises just like hers. Perhaps if he cooperated, he could at least cut ties with this man sooner.

"The most important lesson anyone who works with me can learn is never to argue with me," Katim growled with a malevolent smirk. "I'm glad you decided to learn that before I had to hurt you. Now, here's what you're going to do. I want you to go home and get the Elders to clean up the mess we made in your apartment. When they ask you who you think was there, what will you tell them?"

"I don't know," Aennin mumbled.

Katim ruffled Aennin's hair and chuckled innocently. "You're on the right track, but you might want to work on a convincing lie. Make it good. Your sister's not going to be able to work off this debt on her own."

"I'll think of something," Aennin replied listlessly.

"You'd better. When everything's worked out, come back. If you're not back by nightfall, I'll be sending someone to get you. Now go."

Katim swaggered into the back room after shooing Aennin away. With a heavy sigh and a quickened pulse, Aennin left the bar, once again making for home.

Next

It Comes For Those Who Don't Run Part 8

Back to the Beginning

Previous

It Dares You to Flee

Aennin hadn't the faintest clue as to where he could find his sister. But, driven by the adrenal influences of grief and panic, he willed his feet to move without a plan anyway. Whenever his parents would complain about her, they would mention she liked to frequent the bars. But most of the citizens of Bronze Street were of the worker caste; any clever merchant would know that offering places to drink was among the wisest business decisions you could make around here. The number of local drinking establishments was a good thing for the many people looking to unwind from a long day of building or excavation, but an inconvenient factor for a boy who was looking for someone.

Without any solid leads, he choose to start with the one that was nearest, a tavern that was known as The Gilded Stalactite. He had once seen Kana stumbling out of this place after a long night and figured it was as good a place as any to start. But when he walked inside, he found the place empty. Across the room, a squat, rotund man pushing a broom looked up as the boy entered.

"We're closed!" the bartender barked as he continued to clean. "We don't open until dusk, but for you, I imagine we'll be closed for the next two years!"

"I'm sorry," Aennin replied numbly, unaware that his voice sounded different from usual. "I'm not a customer. I'm just looking for my sister."

The bartender scowled impatiently. "In that case, come back at dusk. We're closed!"

At any other time, Aennin might have left it at that, but he didn't have time for this. With a sense of boldness that felt foreign to him, he crossed the room in a few strides that felt as if they defied gravity. He grabbed the older man by his collar and pushed him against the wall. He thought of Katim as he uttered in a dangerous drawl.

"I guess I should have made myself clearer!" He thumped the bartender's shoulder violently for emphasis before adding. "I need to know where my sister is NOW! Her name's Kana and she's about my height with blonde hair. I know she likes to go here, and if you tell me this place is closed one more time, by the gods I will crush your balls!"

"I h-haven't seen her!" The bartender sputtered in a near panic. "I know who you're talking about, but if she's making the rounds at this hour, she could only be at Club Mason or Katim's!"

It had to be Club Mason, then, Aennin decided at that moment. After everything Kana had told him about Katim, she had to know better than to go to his establishment. He wasn't confident in this assumption, but Katim's was the last place he wanted to be in any case.

Aennin tightened his grip on the man's collar and growled, "Where's Club Mason?"

"It's in Trinity Square!" the fellow merchant gasped. "Please, let me go! I don't mean to..."

Aennin let go of the barkeeper before he could finish his sentence. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to hurt you."

Without waiting for a response, Aennin released his quarry and fled from the bar. Trinity Square was at least a twenty minute walk from where he was, and even that was too long for him. Once he was back on the street once more, he began to run yet again, desperate to save any second he could in his search. So, yet again, he zigzagged through passersby as fast as his legs would carry him. As he tore through Bronze Street, he felt almost no resistance on his legs at all. It was almost like gravity worked differently for him when he ran.

This feeling was like a high to Aennin, clouding his mind with a strange euphoria. He shouldn't feel this way, he tried to tell himself as he ran. He was paralyzed with fear just moments ago. He should still be worried for his father and especially his sister. But right now, with his speed pushed to its very limit, he could only feel a strong sense of invulnerability, which came crashing down when he finally collided with someone for the first time. He was close to Trinity Square when a woman walked into his path, causing both to be sent sprawling to floor.

Aennin pushed himself to his feet with a grunt, searching for someone to apologize to. What he found was his sister Kana, who had been knocked back several feet by his high-speed collision. Cursing to himself, he knelt urgently over the prone woman, willing her to stay conscious. She seemed to be okay, however, and was soon sitting up with a look of rage on her face. Upon seeing Aennin's face, however, her eyes widened and she jumped up as if she had never been harmed to give him a hug.

"Aennin! What are you doing here? I thought you were in Katim's!"

Aennin shook his head wildly. "No! I was looking for you, hoping not to find YOU there!"

Kana shook her head and sighed. "Fucking Katim! That asshole told me that you and father were both with him!"

Aennin's heart sunk as he realized that, if she thought he was in Katim's, that had to be where she was heading. Suddenly, Katim's voice kicked into his mind, reminding him of where he was told to find him.

"...just outside Trinity Square."

The boy looked toward the door of the nearest storefront, over which a sign with the word "Katim's" was hung. The door was wide open and Katim stood over its threshold, wearing a wolfish grin. 

"By the gods, that was amazing!" He hooted to Aennin with a look of exhilaration. "You really need to watch where you are going, kid!"

Kana clicked her tongue silently at the sound of Katim's voice. "Don't talk to him," she muttered.

Katim sauntered out of his bar with a grin. "Still, you weren't even showing me half of your speed earlier, were you? Where are you off to in such a hurry?"

"Forget about him," Kana said coldly. "We have business to discuss!"

Katim grabbed Kana by the chin and squeezed her face with a cruel glare. "Our business is on shaky ground already, darling. Why don't you do the smart thing and shut the fuck up?"

Kana squealed in fright as Katim tightened his grip on her face for emphasis. Upon letting her go, he turned back to Aennin. "I suspect that you're here because you've changed your mind about my offer. As you can see, I have a meeting to attend to, but you're welcome to relax in the lounge while I deal with this little problem with mine." Once again, he emphasized his point by glaring at Kana.

Aennin was caught between conflicting emotions right now. Fortunately for him, his fear at what had happened to his mother overpowered his anger at the way he was treating Kana now. He nodded mutely, causing the man to laugh.

"Still a little on the soft side, huh? Well, you've got nothing to worry about as long as you never cross me. For now, help yourself to anything from the bar. You can tell the bartender that whatever you order is on me."

Katim stepped aside and gestured for Aennin to go inside. He glanced at Kana, who nodded stiffly. With a leaden feel in his feet that contrasted the sensation of his recent run, Aennin trudged into the bar while looking back to Kana one last time. He wandered over to the bar as instructed, but didn't order anything. He merely sat there in silence, haunted by the reality that he'd be in as much danger as Kana was if Katim had any idea who he was. How was he going to get them out of this now?

Next

It Comes For Those Who Don't Run Part 7

Back to the Beginning

Previous

It lumbers toward you with a deliberate gait...

As Nazan had suggested, Aennin ran as fast as he could for home. Ignoring the confused and perturbed looks of passerby, he weaved through the crowds that had formed along the streets as the morning proceeded. He was terrified. Of Nazan, for Samiel, and for his family. His control over his life had begun to slip away from the moment he woke up that morning and he was only just then realizing it. How was he going to explain this to his parents? How was his father going to react to what Nazan had done? What were they going to do about Katim now that the shop's money was long gone?

Aennin was so distracted by this question that he cut around an elderly woman without looking around her. In his haste, he bumped into a stranger at top speed, but strangely found himself sprawling backward to the ground without having even managed to disturb his gait. Aennin looked up as the stranger's legs stopped moving to see an elf with a rough, lined face that was tinged with a two day-old stubble. His thick, silver hair hung down to his neck and his left ear appeared to have been cropped short. He glared expectantly at the Aennin, as if making an unspoken demand.

Aennin was at a loss for words. It was all he could manage to stutter, "S-sorry!"

The man nodded to him, momentarily satisfied. He held his hand out to help him up. "Shouldn't a kid your age be in school?"

"I was expelled!" Aennin yelped, unsure of why he was answering so honestly.

The man shocked him by replying with a grin. "I hope whatever you did was worth it."

Disarmed by the stranger's response, Aennin sighed. "I thought it was at the time, but now I'm not so sure."

The man raised his eyebrows, but then whispered. "If that's so, it's not too late to turn your irrevocable choice into a new opportunity."

Aennin's skin prickled as he whispered back, "What do you mean?"

The man smiled like so many elven merchants did when they were closing on a sale. "This is Bronze Street! There are plenty of opportunities for a kid with quick legs like yours and an abundance of free time to make some good coin!"

You can feel its breath...

Aennin shook his head and said, "I'm sorry! I can't! I need to go!"

Far from stopping him, the stranger smirked. "I won't stop you if you're not ready for the easy life. If you change your mind, you can find me at the bar just outside Trinity Square. Ask for Katim!"

Aennin managed to hold back a gasp and nodded awkwardly. "Thanks!"

The man chuckled again, this time at Aennin's unusual response. "Well, wherever you were off to in such a hurry, I suppose you'd better get going, huh?"

Without further hesitation, Aennin continued his sprint for home while thinking about how he was now running away from and towards something at the same time. He had never before seen Katim in person, and was surprised to find that he was so capable of being pleasant. He had pictured a darker, much uglier person when he listened to Katim smashing his clocks so furiously. If he weren't so terrified of the man, he might have even been tempted by his offer. He still knew better than to take his apparent kindness at face value, but the list of alternatives Aennin faced seemed thin at this point anyway.

Aennin would not stop running again until he approached his apartment. The muscles in his legs screamed in protest; it felt like he had been on his feet all day already. His whole body screamed for rest as he found the door. A nagging feeling in the back of his mind told him to take a break. Right then. Before he could even open the door, he should just stop. But why would he? He turned the handle and stumbled inside with a sigh.

The next step, he thought to himself, would be to fall onto something in the sitting room and try to tell his mother what happened. All things considered, their last conversation had been the most positive one they'd had in two years. Maybe she would still be sober and she could sort everything out like she had when he was a child. If nothing else, he felt the need to apologize to her for something.

It lets out a hungry snarl...

"Mother, I'm home!" he called out as he closed the door behind him.

He had expected her to respond with a drunken grumble, or even a reproachful remark about returning home so early from school. What he heard instead was a choking gasp and a cough. His blood ran cold as he rushed into the sitting room to figure out what he had just heard. With a pang, he found the source of the ominous noise sprawled across the floor.

Anera lied there, badly bloodied and swollen from the neck up. Her face was completely unrecognizable under the signs of a terrible beating. Blood trickled from a broken nose, leaving her to breath desperately through her engorged lips. As he looked upon this horrifying sight, Aennin could feel everything within him freezing. He knelt beside her and moaned with her pain for a few moments before his wits jolted his body back into motion.

"Please! Hold on! I'm going to get a healer! I'll be..."

He attempted to stand up again without finishing his sentence, but Anera had grabbed his shirt. She shook her head weakly and sputtered, "Find Kana!"

Aennin shook his head desperately. "No! You need help!"

"You can't help me now!" The woman managed to choke out, followed by a long wheeze. "Find Kana! And kill your... asshole father."

Aennin could not stop the tears from flowing his eyes. He knew what was coming next. He wanted to run away, but he was paralyzed. "Mother! Please don't!"

"Don't let her..." Anera had begun to say before trailing off.

Through the shock which gripped him in that moment, one word managed to bring him back to his senses. Kana! He body felt unnaturally heavy as he stood up and left to find his sister, forever unaware of what he wasn't supposed to allow her to do.

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It Comes for Those Who Don't Run Part 6

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It takes another...

Morrin did not return home that night, and Aennin wouldn't see him again until early the next morning. He had been sitting at the table, eating breakfast in anxious silence when his father crept through the door. Suddenly, worries about his immediate plans to plead with the headmaster of his school for forgiveness fell out of his mind and gave way to thoughts of confronting his father. But he never got a chance. As soon as Morrin saw Aennin looking at him, the man darted up the stairs and into his bedroom. When Aennin went up there to try the door, he found it locked. Coward!

With no response to his knocking, there was nothing for Aennin to do but ignore his father for now. He returned to the table to finish his breakfast while resuming his contemplation of his most immediate concern. He had to find a way to negotiate his way around what he had done the day before. Worse still, he was going to have to face Samiel and his cronies again. Why was he doing this again?

Aennin shook his head as he stood to leave. This was the time to take a lesson from his mother, a woman who had been so brave before his father whittled away her self-worth. He was a master manipulator who had wormed his way into people's heads and played them all for his own benefit. The failure of the shop was the last straw for not just Aennin, but the entire family. He had a lot to accomplish before he could break away from his father, and he couldn't afford to let the fact that it wasn't going to be easy stop him.

He stepped slowly past the threshold of the apartment with a mind filled with thoughts to numerous to control. With a momentary glance at the ceiling of the cavernous street, he tugged the door shut and began his trek. He had only been walking for a few moments before he found himself distracted by the familiar glow of the lampposts reflected by the polished bronze pillars spaced through the street. He had always loved the look of the street in the darkness of night and early morning. It was at these times that the lights were at their dimmest, lending the whole city a more pleasant atmosphere than they did during than in the middle of the day.

The boy shook his head vigorously in a vain attempt to get his mind back on track. Never mind the lights! Never mind his father! There was something more important in front of him. As he neared the school, he began to tremble with anticipation. But he had not even reached the front gate when something grabbed his shoulder from behind and whirled him around. Just then, he found himself staring into the blood-crazed eyes of Samiel, with his face contorted in what could only be a mixture of rage and glee. For once, he appeared to have been alone.

"I don't know what possessed you to come back here after what you did yesterday! Did trying to destroy a man's balls help you to finally develop a pair of your own?"

Aennin wriggled out of Samiel's grip and jumped back to put some space between them. "Look, I'm sorry about what I did. I was angry about something else that you got involved in without realizing it. Why don't we just try to..."

Aennin trailed off as Samiel approached him with a predatory gait. So, he clearly wasn't interested in talking. The boy backed away hurriedly, but with every step he took, the other moved more quickly. Soon, Aennin was fleeing and Samiel was giving chase through the academy courtyard. He couldn't pretend to be surprised by this turn of events, but Aennin cursed his luck at running into Samiel before he reached the headmaster. There was nothing to do now but seek refuge in the headmaster's office and plead his case without delay.

But something was wrong. Every time he dared to look back, he found Samiel a lot closer than he usually did in their chases. Even worse, he seemed to actually be gaining on him for once. He barely had time to register this before feeling the other boy's hand closing around his collar and yanking him to the ground. Within seconds, Samiel was straddling him, with hands squeezing his throat. Aennin struggled fruitlessly against the stronger elf and was moments away from blacking out when the weight was suddenly lifted. Aennin looked around blearily to find Samiel lying on the ground beside him and a familiar figure standing over them both.

"Nazan?"

The man reached down and grabbed Aennin's hand with a sigh. "What the hell are you doing here, kid? I thought I had you pegged as smarter than the vast majority of the people in this city!"

Aennin shook his head slowly, trying to recover well enough to make sense of what was going on. "What are you doing here?"

Nazan clicked his tongue and knelt over Samiel. "This was supposed to be my last chance to get back the money this kid stole from your father. The little fucker doesn't have it?"

Aennin rolled his eyes weakly. "What? Did you expect him to be walking around with it?"

Nazan stood up and turned toward Aennin with a glare. "You are going to have to make your mind about whether you want to be a smart ass or a complete moron. What are you doing back here? Do you want to die?"

Aennin went ghost white at the thought. "He's never done anything like this before. I must have really angered him, huh?"

Nazan shook his head and kicked Samiel, who remained deathly still. "No. From what I hear, you gave him some cause, but he tried to kill you for another reason."

Aennin looked down at the other boy for the first time, who didn't seem to be moving. "What happened to him?"

The man sighed heavily. "Listen, kid. I like you. You're sharp as hell, but you can be pretty damn naive too."

Aennin merely stared at him in silence, willing him to continue. Finally, Nazan answered. "I don't know why I couldn't see it before today, but this one shows all the signs of a silverdust addict. That must be how he spent your--"

He cut himself off with a gasp, but Aennin shook his head. "I know he and his friends robbed you. I overheard you and my father talking about it. That's why I kicked him yesterday."

Nazan chuckled and said, "Well, you are certainly brave to stand up for the family business in that way, but you couldn't have picked a worse time. I just pieced it together today that he's been getting drugs from Katim. I'd warn you to stay away from him now on, but I don't think he'll be getting up from this."

Aennin glanced at Samiel again and noticed for the first time that he wasn't breathing. "What did you do?"

Nazan scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Don't look at me! Anyone could have survived the blow I gave him. Blame the drugs for thinning his resistance to trauma."

Aennin looked up at the man with a look of shock. "How could you be so calm? You killed him!"

Nazan sighed and shook his head. "This is a violent world, Aennin. I'm not proud of snuffing him out, but I'm relieved that you're the one who gets to survive this."

Aennin shook his head and began to back away.

"Go home," Nazan said firmly. "This city isn't safe for you anymore. Keep your family close and be ready to leave if need be."

Aennin froze, suddenly wondering how he should reply.

"Get out of here!" the man shouted, this time a little angrily. "Honestly, you're going to meet a horrible end someday if you keep standing around like danger isn't a real thing to you!"

Something about Nazan's words seemed to click with Aennin, spurring his legs back into motion. Without taking even another second to argue, he fled home with fresh thoughts of the horror he had just witnessed in his head. That was the first time the boy had come face to face with death, but it was far from his last.

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