Bang!
We didn't really had lots of friends, so a knock by that time sure bothered us.
We shared a who-could-that-be look before managing to agree perfectly well that we would go check it out. And from the looks of it, literally, Tara would go check it out.
The banging continued growing more loud and reckless.
"Kerik you're not expecting anyone, are you?" Tara finally asked, making use of her words and immediately walking straight to the door.
"I know I'm a lot of things, but I don't keep insane humans as friends."
Following Tara to the door I thought about who must have been desperately trying to break down our door.
Tara slowly reached for the door and opened it gently. Standing grumpily in front of us was a burly figured bald man. Glancing at him, I quickly observed an ornamented sewing of a black serpent on his chainmail amour. A knight you might say, but no ordinary one. He was a member of the keepers. The bald Knights. Even the women always were too. It was believed that they had to get all form of impurities so one can be pure and cleared from their sins. Like that made any of them less corrupt.
"Took you long enough!"he scolded, his cold eyes fixed on us.
Those bastards!
Tara tried to reply stammering through her words "s..s-so sorry sir -"
"Are you trying to talk back miss?" He questioned quickly, interrupting Tara.
Just as I was about to reply the lunatic, Tara grabbed my hands tight,then looked right into my eyes. No words was needed for me to understand what she meant. 'Don't talk.'
Silence filled the air as I was forced not to alter any word. The thought of that infuriated me even more.
"I didn't think so." He grunted.
His creepy eyes wandering the whole room as he advanced inside uninvited. There was nothing much for him to see anyway. Other than the old rug, faded pained wall, some pile of rubbish on the floor next to the huge table that carried some garbage loads and the small bed. But what was he looking for?
"A social gathering has been called for immediately." He continued, standing close to Tara. "I've heard of you and your sister, mostly that little one." He said pointing his creepy finger at me.
I couldn't take it anymore."Why are you personally telling us? Don't the town crier do their work anymore? Sir!"
He expression suddenly turned intense that for a moment I thought he would immediately reached for my delicate neck and strangled me to death. Then a spooky smile slowly worked across his ugly face, instantly turning into a roar of laughter.
Tara and I locked eyes again, but this time I saw fear in them. I had gotten us into trouble.
Tara began to babble as she tried pleading for forgiveness."I'm so sorry sir,please forgive us. My sister,she...it was a mistake sir." She was always like this whenever she became tensed. I had to apologize too. Even though we were the ones who deserved an apology from this moron.
"Sir, forgive me. I've made a terrible mistake." I tried to sound sincere but the mood just wasn't there. I could have sworn he saw me rolling my eyes.
Still looking amused, he finally managed to talk."Well then. You my friend." he continued leaning closer to me." Kerik isn't it?"
"Yes?"
"How would you like working for me as my personal servant?" He said smiling like a dummy.
"No sir, thank you. But I respectfully refuse." I tried for an apologetic smile to cover for the straight-from-the-shoulder refusal of his proposal.
He was still standing in front of me with a big smile of his face, grinning from ear to ear.
"Very well then. Till we meet again, Miss Kerik." He teasingly bowed before heading out.
Air of relief filled the room as we both sighted in chorus.
"That was intense. Do you know him?"
She raised a brow up as she tried to remember his face.
"I think so. He looked just like-" Her eyes opened wide just before she replied. "He's one of the elder members of the keepers. He was appointed of recent. He wasn't there those times I worked for them but I remember him during the last gathering we had last week. Lord Fenrel Derintwater."
Tara had worked for the keepers while grandma was still alive. When she died, she had to stop her work to be with me. We've lived through our obstacles together ever since then.
"Is that so? You really do know your people don't you, her royal highness?"
"Oh please, enough with the joke. This is serious. We need to be careful Kerik."
"Yes mother." I knew I shouldn't be teasing her right now, but I just couldn't help it.
"Fine! Sorry. Now let's go get something to eat, I'm starving already."
<><><><><>
Since nothing goes for nothing, to eat a decent meal nowadays you had to work for it. Literally work for it. Ever since we'd been sacked from Madam Agnes's bar, we'd been living a nearly hand-to-mouth life. Now we have to supply freshly baked bread round the whole town to earn us a day's meal. Old man Ayer has been very generous to us. He owned a small bakery where he sells good pastries, so we helped him sell them by distributing to people. The more we sold, the more commission we got. Along side with his only daughter Ragnila, we were popular enough considering that we just started working there. Ragnila has always been very shy, but secretly turned out to be a real talkative once we knew her.
After another hell of a day's work we finally waddled home. At least we still had a roof on our head.
"Finally, we made it through another day. I'm exhausted Tara."
"Likewise honey." She agreed leaning forward to open the door. As she fumbled for the keys I noticed the door was slightly opened. Following my gaze she noticed too. Why was the door ajar?
I felt my heart skipped a beat. Someone was inside, waiting for us.
We silently drew out the dagger from our pockets. You never know when you'll need them.
Slightly tiptoeing in, we walked closely observing everything in our way. The tiny bed from across the room was upside down with the walnut chairs in pieces. Scattered papers littered everywhere. My special cup smashed along with every other dishes, the table covered with linen completely destroyed. The whole room was entirely upside down. It has never happened before. Tara lowered her guard and pointed to the floor of left side in the room.
"A letter." She walked towards it bending down to pick up it up." It's an invitation."
"From bloody who!"
"The keepers. They're onto us Kerik."
"Kerik! Kerik!"I could hear a voice faintly crying out.That was strange. My name was being called."Kerik!" The voice became a little louder.It was just a dream. Nothing was"Here, follow me." The woman who was supposed to be my mother, lead us to a small room close to the kitchen. "We'll be safe in the pantry, my child." She smiled again, like she'd been doing since she appeared to us."Thank you ma'am." Bellamy quickly appreciated her rendered help, and looked at me for a reply too. "We thank you so much." He added after getting nothing but a blank expression on my face. "She's just been through a lot.""No worries. I'll leave you two to send off anything that might leave a trail on your hide out." Her lips curled into another smile, but was instantly replaced with a worried look. "I love you, so much." She whispered, then focused on Bellamy. "Please take care of her, and stay safe." Having said that, she t
Tell me if a person falls apart alone in the dark,does it make any sound? And let's say it does,is it as loud and devastating as a decaying broken heart when it's finally found? Or is the sound a soft strangulation hidden that we all miss the time behind words like 'I'm fine'?Nila had mention earlier that Tara's necklace just fell on the floor and she didn't wanted to return it yet because she was afraid of how I'd react."I found it, and I knew I should have rightfully returned it but.. I'm sorry Kerik. You just weren't in a stabilized form to have received it yet"Maybe she was right after all. Tara meant the whole world to me and she still does. My only motivation for living. Imagine if your most precious possession; your mother,father,sibling,best friend or even your dog disappeared in your presence,and you. You felt the most helpless to do
"WHAT!" My voice came out a little louder than I'd expected. "What the bloody hell do you want?""Where are we going next?" And with that statement, he provoked every nerve that filled me, and I could fill my eyes twitched in annoyance, like I could just face him and strangled every bit of essence left in his poor soul.Meat.You don't even have to ask. Judging from the name, nothing normal could have come out from it.You don't even have to ask. Judging from the name, nothing normal could have come out from it."But still-""But still-"
The tone in her voice alerted nothing but one sense. Danger. I had endangered the lives of others because of my foolish pride. I could have walked away politely, and save others. Tara. But leaving the devil to reign did not fully assure me that my family and friends would be saved."This is your last chance Kerik." She added, then paused. Waiting for me to fully accept to the proposal. My mind raced over a million things. What if I choose this option, and defeating the devil seems more impossible than I'd expect. Then I would never forgive myself. If only I could get more time, more days to puzzle over the prodigious decision. But even if I was opportune to that kind of indulgence, I feared my answer would still remain constant."Yes. That's what I choose. This is what feels best to me, so I've made up my mind." Her head lowered into a slow single nod. Then she came forward and handed me the amulet around her neck."Once you
"Kerik you're not expecting anyone, are you?" Tara finally asked, making use of her words and immediately walking straight to the door."I know I'm a lot of things, but I don't keep insane humans as friends."Following Tara to the door I thought about who must have been desperately trying to break down our door.Tara slowly reached for the door and opened it gently. Standing grumpily in front of us was a burly figured bald man. Glancing at him, I quickly observed an ornamented sewing of a black serpent on his chainmail amour. A knight you might say, but no ordinary one. He was a member of the keepers. The bald Knights. Even the women always were too. It was believed that they had to get all form of impurities so one can be pure and cleared from their sins. Like that made any of them less corrupt."Took you long enough!"he scolded, his cold eyes fixed on us.
Sir Ayer was dead. Dead! Nobody knew who killed him. No. Everyone pretended like they didn't know his killer. A logical thing to do,if you didn't want to become next. A coward. That was what everybody became. But I wasn't ready to turn into one. I might be sweet,nice and ready to abide to every rules and regulations, but the demon inside me was only sleeping. Not dead. 'Think about your life,is it worth foolishly loosing?' You might want to ask me that. Well is doesn't really feels like I was living. There's just the body,but no life in it.Charging grumpily to the gates of hell,well it wasn't scary at all. I felt no fear,on the contrary all that cluttered up in my lifeless body was this ravaging rage. This time the devil should be scared of me. A powerless,thoughtless, completely hopeless me.I thought there would be a somewhat change in mind as I got to the entrance,but no. Nothing."You there, open up!" If it's