Capítulo 148: - The Shadow and the Candle Wick [pt.2]
The inside of the hut was similar in appearance to the outside, both in the rickety floor boards and the poorly made thatch roof, that seemed to have several leaks above the tall wooden beams. Small pots and buckets dotted the living room, or rather, what one would assure to be the living room, overflowing with clothes, books, desks, tables, and all sorts of things.
The house didn't look well taken care of, and Cain had a awing sense that the owner somehow preferred it this way. Near the small makeshift kitchen he could see a row of picture frames, some of them well drawn ink portraits and some were small bits of a child's drawing that had been framed.
Nothing here looked well made, and nothing here looked particularly sustainable, but Cain wasn't one to judge.
"So, what can I do for you?"
Val, who had just finished positioning Tommy on the opposite side of his twin Donny, stood up from her spot next to the couch, brushing her hands against her skirt.
"Sorry for the mess in here. If I had known I would be having an upper class guest like yourself, I would have prepared more."
She walked off towards the kitchen and bent down to pick up small scattered pieces of a vase that had shattered, no doubt the item that Cain had heard breaking from outside.
"I get the feeling that you prefer things this way."
Val chuckled, dumping the broken bits of vase into a small metal bucket filled with leaking water.
"What makes you say that? It looks like a hoarder's mess in here and the roof is leaking buckets of water. I wouldn't say anyone likes to live here."
She had her back turned to him, so Cain was able to see all the small smudges and dirt stains on her dress, a dress he recognized as being clean only nights before.
"But you do, and so I should ask the question then, why would I be here if not to visit you?"
Val took a minute to pause, her back still turned to him as her hair fell down from her shoulders tracing along her back. Then she scoffed, as if she found something in Cain's demeanor amusing.
"If you're here about the dance, then I'm sorry to tell you but I'm taken. That man Denis on the couch, the one whose nose you broke happens to be mine-"
"I didn't come for that."
"Pity. I've already rejected tens of dozens of men who wanted my hand all for that loathe you see on the couch. Sad to say that if you had asked me, I might have considered it."
Denis, who was listening in on this, groaned from his spot in a small leather chair, as if to argue against Val's words, only to receive a ladle to the head for annoying her.
"Shut it! I've heard enough of what you do around here Denis and I've told you before I don't need you protecting me."
Cain glanced between the two of them and smiled, finding their little lover's quarrel amusing, something entertaining to watch if he stuck around long enough.
"I take it that you're not well liked in this town then?"
He took off his hat and placed it on the counter that separated them, revealing his well defined features and chiseled jawline. But it was his red and crimson eyes that caused Val to lose her breath for a moment, infatuated and in awe of the sight.
"...no. Nor particularly."
She snapped out of the trance and returned to polishing a small wooden bowl that had been sitting in the sink, turning her back to Cain once again.
"It's one thing to say the slums are the lowest of the city. Well you could say that I'm the lowest of the low. No one here likes me very much except for those three buffoons you see on the couches. They seem to think they have to protect me from all the towns folk who hate me."
"Because of your father?"
It was a moment before Cain realized that the clattering sound he had just heard was the bowl falling from Val's hands to the floor. She stood motionless in that spot, rooted to the ground as she leaned against the kitchen counter away from him.
Behind him he could feel Denis shift in his seat, clearly ready to pounce if his suspicions were proved to be correct. But Cain only took a seat at the counter using one of the high stools nearby, and watched Val for her reaction.
"And…and how do you know my father?"
"Because I killed him."
He held nothing back, he wanted to see how she would react. Would she grab the knife in the sink and attack him with it out of anger, or would she break down and weep in tears of her own spilling in the small puddles of water at her feet. How would she act?
"...ha, good riddance."
But he didn't expect that.
"I take it then that you're not on good terms with your father?"
"Hell no. Everyone knows my father for who he is - the mad man who tried to experiment on people in the slums. He went missing several years ago and I have little care for where he is."
"But you ran away. He didn't leave you behind, he didn't abandon you. He took you with him and I think that's why you hate him."
Now she turned to him with a frown, the cloth she was using to polish the small wooden bowl was clenched tightly in her hands as if she was about to slap him with it. Cain eyed it like it was a child's toy.
"How did you know that?"
"Well, the same reason I know that your father was hiding as a small farmer about a two hour ride away. I also know he was the one who-"
"Who caused all this?"
She gestured around the house as if she was describing the city, a gesture that Cain watched with blank eyes and expression.
"Yeah, I know who my father is, thanks. And I'm sorry to tell you that if you've come here for revenge against him, trying to get at him through me, well I'm sorry, but I hate him just as much as you do."
"Because he turned your mother into a golem?"
Denis ws quick to react, immediately standing up from his chair as if he was about to attack Cain for the things he said, but with one word, Cain silenced him to his chair.
"Sit."
And he sat back down just as quickly as he had stood up, his eyes wide and struggling against the invisible bonds that held in in place to that chair.
Cain folded his fingers in on one another, his red eyes peering past his hands straight at Val's wide and shock filled eyes, eyes that no normal person would have. The eyes of a half golem.
"Ha…ha,ha,ha….so you really did kill him."
He tilted his head, surprised to find Val chuckling like the irony of the situation had finally made her snap, as she tightly gripped the cloth in her hands, wringing water out onto the floor.
"If you've already killed him then why are you here? You've got your revenge already, doesn't that suffice?"
"Oh, I'm not here for revenge. Personally I could have cared less about your father, he just happened to be standing in the way of an unanswered question."
"And what's that?"
Cain smiled, a smile that sent shivers down Val's spine as she eyed him curiously. She felt that she had seen those eyes before, that same smile watching her from the darkness that night when she danced merrily around the bonfire in the town square. It was a party then, and she had been lost in it, abide by the only rule of the celebration.
All are welcome.
"It's a question I've had ever since I left a small little town, now practically destroyed, but the question still remains. I need you to answer it."
"Hate to break it to you but my father wasn't one for sharing his little experiments with me. Sad to say that I can't help you."
"Oh, but you can. You see, that little girl that ran away from her evil little father, had a friend. A friend that was locked deep within his basement, a friend whom you hold dear to your heart even now."
Val watched him with wide eyes, and with every word he spoke her eyes widened even more, as the blood rushing through her body began to run cold.
"A friend you were quite close to, being a half golem yourself."
The room fell silent with his last words, all eyes traced back to Cain who sat silently watching Val with the same smile and with the same crimson red eyes that chased away the shadows.
"...who are you?"
Her words were shaken and vague, words that Val struggled to even speak.
"Someone who would like that file inside your desk. And someone who's willing to burn the house down to get it."
The eyes of a demon see all.
***
The Mess hall, which used to be the grand hall, had been made into a makeshift cafeteria, one that could serve all the starving refugees from the city that found their way here one after another, driven by their hungry and empty stomachs.
The place was meant to be a rationing station, one that could feed and serve those who had lost their homes, were poor,or had otherwise no way to feed themselves. But with food in the bellies of the hungry can also come joy. And so, the hall had quickly turned into a place where people could join with one another and laugh, have fun, eat good food and forget about their sad predicaments.
And sadly, Lia was in need of some of that joy.
She sat across from Rian and Becka who were in the middle of eating, and why she didn't want to ruin their meal, she needed someone that she could rant to about this. When she was finished, Rian sat silently for several minutes, thinking to himself.
"So we are on our own then?"
"No, Rian, I'm on my own. I'm not taking you with me."
His eyes turned to look at her and even with one missing arm, he still held the weight of his presence with just a glare.
"I'm not letting you do this alone, Lia. Lukali is my friend too and I think I have a right to go and at least try to save him."
She shook her head, and though she hated her mind for reminding her about it, the conversation with the Master flooded her thoughts.
"He was right when he told me I could die. And I'm going in there knowing that I probably will."
"Then why not take someone else, someone that can insure your safety?"
"Because I don't want them to die with me. Gods, Rian, your missing an arm, and I know that you of all people want Arnold to suffer for what he did to you…but I can't bring you."
She looked down at the table, her mind flooding with the pain that filled her heart every time she thought of this moment.
"I don't want to watch you die."
Rian took a deep breath and was silent for several minutes, his eyes watching her with careful but focused intent.
"So you think we will die?"
"...I know we will. I know that I will."
"Yet you're still going to do this?"
Lia took a deep breath, sighed, and turned her face to Rian's. He was watching her, he was scared for her, but despite knowing this, Lia wasn't afraid.
"Rage isn't something that settles easily in me, Rian. You've let go. It doesn't burn inside you like it does with me, and before you argue against me, I know that's true."
She stole a glance at Becka who silently looked and fiddled with her food, unable to look at Lia because of the guilt she still battered herself for.
"You have someone to seal that rage away."
Rain saw the glance between the two of them, and with one deep sigh, he felt his heart crack with pain. He could see the loneliness in Lia's eyes, the fear that chased her, the hate that consumed her, and the rage that would lead her to her death.
"No. No, what if we went to the soldiers? What if we asked them for help instead of the Master? Certainly some of them would be willing to fight - you said it yourself rage isn't something one can easily let go of."
Lia again shook her head though, crushing the hopes that had fueled Rian to speak.
"Even if the Master had said yes to my request, I would have said no. I've been lying to myself Rian, I kept believing that I could do something against Arnold, that I could stand toe to toe with him. But I can't…he's too strong."
Rian stared at her for several minutes, the silence that rounded them filled the hall, drowning out the sounds of laughing and cheering at the other tables. To Rian, it was as if the two of them were sitting in a dark and empty space, alone with only one another.
He could hear her fear, he could feel her hate, but was he powerful enough to stop her, could he hold her back?
In short, he knew the answer already, and it crushed him to his heart and core. His friend, someone who fought by his side, was about to walk to their own death, and he could do nothing.
"...so you're just going to walk to your death, and let him kill you?"
When she raised her head to face him, it was an expression that she wore - an expression that Rian would never soon forget. Tears threatening to flood down her face, her eyes filled with immense sadness within them, and even her lips quivered like she was going to break out and cry.
"You don't get it Rian…I don't want to die. But I can't live with myself if I just sit here and do nothing and abandon Lukali. I can't do that."
Her voice shook and cracked and broke, but it was the look she gave him that shattered his heart. He didn't see his friend any longer. No, he only saw a small little girl, crying to herself alone as if she had lost her mother.
He was going to lose his friend, and if he could do nothing - as if he could do anything, this would be the last he would ever see of her.
He said nothing, only taking the time to push away his tray of half eaten food and stand up, walking quickly out of the mess hall followed closely behind by Becka.
Lia sat there for several hours until night fell outside, yet the laughing and the cheering in the mess hall did not subside. The supply shipment had arrived and with it came a sense of security and hope, hope that these people would never soon forget.
But if one stood at Lia's table, if one turned even an ear towards her, past the cheering, past the laughing, past the jolly and merry voices that filled the room like a flood of warm fire light…
…they would hear the silent and meek sobs of a little girl.
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