A bird's call

A BIRD’S CALL

The bird's call. How could I ignore it? I heard it and I knew I meant something, but we were following the dog, because the dog could find his track… And suddenly I realized… That was Tim, and Tim was with him. So that was the right direction.

I'm now running, forgetting how to breath, to the place where I remember I hear that call minutes ago, panting and wishing I'm not arriving too late, that I won't loose the track again. Stupid, stupid, stupid shem! Why didn't you tell me? You knew I'd never let you go alone, did you? But I want to go with you! You promised you'd never leave me!! Why? Why? Why?

I realize I'm crying while I run… and a part of me is aware that the others are running behind me, but I don't care. I need to find his track again. The dwarf's dog follows me close, but it suddenly stops when I enter the forest, whines and runs back. I know why. I have also felt it. I can't really describe it, but… I somehow know this is not the forest anymore.

But again, this doesn't matter. This is the place. He's here, somewhere. This looks like the forest, but it feels different. Things look blurry. And there's sort of a pink glow everywhere. I walk through the strange trees which are not trees, and raise my ears open in an attempt to hear him, wherever he is. And I get the prize when I listen voices somewhere from my left.

I walk towards the place I heard the voices, and behind some trees, I see them. Kyle, with his falcon Tim on his shoulder… and a woman, a human woman. My heart jumps when I see him, but it shrinks when I see the woman. I don't know her… but I think I know who she is. You shem bitch, you don't surrender easily, do you? You haunted him in his dreams, and now you want to take him away from me. Why can't you just stay dead? He's mine now. You have no rights over him anymore. 

Ngoc Trinh's beautiful depiction of the encounter between Kyle and his lost love

"Stay away from her!" I shout at Kyle, running towards him. He turns and looks at me, slowly, and I stop shocked.

He's looking at me with his whole face. With his two eyes. Without scars.

The woman also turns and looks at me. She's pretty, dark haired, and has a beautiful smile. I can understand what he saw in her. But damn it, you bitch. You're dead. I'm alive. Now he's mine, do you understand? Mine!.

"Mari?" he says, with a puzzled look. "What are you doing here? I told you not to follow me!"

I don't pay attention, I just get in the middle, between him and her, and try to push him away, hysterical. "Don't listen to her! Don't look at her!!! She's going to take you with her!!"
Kyle takes me by the shoulders and smiles. "Hey, hey, be quiet… Don't worry, I know what I am doing. She would never hurt me".

I look at the girl and my heart aches. I bet being a ghost makes her even prettier. She smiles at me, sweetly. She doesn't say a word, but she nods approvingly as she moves her arm to stroke my hair, and then touch my cheek. Her hands are cold and wet, like fog, and I shiver. She smiles at Kyle a last time, and then she turns back and starts walking away, fading while she does so. Kyle tries to follow her.

"Kyle!" I shout, but she disappears and he stops, with his hand in the air, about to touch the place where she was to be seen the last time. I see Kyle's right half face bleeding again. As if his wound was fresh. He just raises his hand, touches the blood and looks at it on his fingers, absently. Then he walks towards me and stands in front of me, as if it was the first time he noticed I was there. I'm crying.

"Are you all right?", he says softly, taking my hand.

I nod, staring at his bleeding eye. I'm about to hug him and beg him to get out of here, when he turns back and gets focused into something at our left. I follow his gaze. A white, ghostly female figure walks away, turning from time to time as if waiting for Kyle to follow her.

For a moment I think it's Lindy again, but then I realize she has pointy ears. Kyle releases my hand and steps towards her, while Tim moves his wings nervously, trying to get released. The bird likes those ghost ladies as much as I do, it seems.

"Kyle, please!", I beg again. "Don't leave me here! Where are you going? Who is she?"
But he just pushes me away and continues walking. I try to stop him, but I just could have tried to stop a flood or a flying high dragon and get the same results. I grab his shirt's neck, and I just end with his scarf in my hands. He doesn't seem to care. He joins the ghostly elven lady and walks with her… and they disappear.

Things happen slow and fast at the same time. I swear I could have stopped him, because I saw him walking peacefully as if he was just strolling. But by the other side, I seem unable to reach him, even if I am running and shouting and trying to reach him with all my strength. When he disappears, I just keep looking at the trees like a stupid.

"He must be there. He can't have disappeared like that", I mumble, and I run through the trees hoping to find him at the other side.

But what I see there are four beasts, glowing as if they had fire in their skin. The beasts didn't see me, and if I'm careful I can walk past them silently. So I try. I'm good at it. And I'm sure Kyle is behind the beasts. I hold the scarf closer, like an amulet, and I walk carefully.

When I'm at the other side of the clear, though, I hear cries and fast paces behind me. I can even swear I heard Lauren's voice calling my name, ...and the beasts heard them too, because they move towards the sound… except one, which looks directly at me. "Damn it", I spit out, and I run, run, run, and get deeper in the forest, trying to get rid of it. Too late, the beast is fast, and the last thing I hear before feeling a sudden pain in my head and fall in darkness, is a bird call again… Tim's shriek, while the falcon falls over the beast's head, preventing it to run over me and finish what it has started.

I wake up at the inn, on my own bed. I don't seem to have any injuries, but Lauren, who has been by my side all this time, says they found me unconscious in the forest, and that it has taken me three days to wake up. Adrienne is also in the room, while I can see Håkan and George sticking their heads at the other side of the door, and even the newcomer dwarf, the one with the lazy dog, leans against the corridor wall with Tim on his arm and petting him with a caring look. The poor bird has a broken wing, and somebody has healed it carefully and in an expert way. I bet it was the dwarf, he seems to have a good hand to deal with animals.
"Is he back?", I ask, hopefully, even if I already know the answer. They shake their heads, ashamed as if it was their fault. I look down, to my hands over the bed sheets. Stubborn, stubborn, stubborn shem. I hope I didn't lose you too. Because if you leave me too, like my sister did, like everybody I care for in my life does… I'm not sure if I'll be able to overcome it. Not this time. Not if it is you.
Time passes. Lauren says I can get up and join them to have lunch together, but honestly, I'm not hungry. Even George's happy potatoes aren't appealing to me. I just want to go back to my room, and stay there, looking through the window, waiting for him to come back. He said he'd do, didn't he? "Don't follow me, just wait", said his note. I ripped the part which encouraged me to share a room with Adri while he was away. I didn't even like the idea, it would make me feel even worse. For once in my life, I want to be alone. If he's not by my side, I want no one near. I know it is unfair for our friends, they're worrying, and I see on Lauren's concerned eyes that she wants me to eat more, to be with them… to smile a bit. But I just can't. I just look through the window, holding his red scarf, with Tim perching by my side, following my gaze and hoping the return of his master the same way I do.
Finally my patience gets a reward, and Tim sees him before I do. His wing now allows him short flights, so he flies from my shoulder, and I see him greeting a lonely figure which approaches the inn. I wish I could fly like him, but since I can't, I get up and run downstairs, meeting a excited Lauren in the way, who was coming to tell me the news.
When I arrive to the inn's entrance, I see Kyle standing tall amongst all them - well, amongst all but Håkan -, rubbing his cheek and staring at Adri. I bet she has slapped him and I love her for that. When they see me coming, they back a bit and leave the way clear for me to run and glomp on him, crying and laughing at the same time, and punching his chest like punching a wall while I shout at him "Never, never, do this again to me, okey? Never!!!"
He just holds my wrists and smiles sadly while looking at me straight in the eyes. His face is the same again, no restored eye, no fresh wounds. I wonder if I dreamed that. He leans down and kisses my forehead, and I just get closer to him, and hug him, and cry of anger and happiness at the same time, while he mumbles a lame excuse.
"I had to do it, Mari. I'm so sorry… But now I know where Lirya is… or at least I have a clue… and I hope you'll forgive me and come with me to find her"
"Are you kidding?", I shout at him, between sobs, and he hugs me back and strokes my hair. "Of course I'm coming with you. I'm coming with you even to the loo, now, because I don't trust and I fear you'll do this stupid thing again". He giggles, but says nothing. "Where's she? Where do we have to go? I'm ready to go to the end of the world with you."
"Oh, you won't have to go that far", he chuckles. "Only to Orlais. To Val-Royeaux".

__________________________________________________ _________________
(Excerpt from Kyle’s old note)

The wheel of time continues spinning
I remember the old days, when I used to stumble
When my friends left me and everyone kept away from me
And only my mom was there to support me,
To help me find enough strength to return home.
I close my mind and go back to the old days
And mom is the one who fills them.

You were there to teach me how to walk
You cared for me, every single moment.

I regret not having given you anything for all your love
And thus I love you so.
Mom, walk with me, because the road is lonely.
You told me: "Your road will part in many ways,
and sometimes the path will be sad,
but don't let it release your rage.

If you stumble, just continue walking,
Raise your head and don't look back
Become a man, full of will,
Overcome all sorrow and keep walking
And even so, you still think I am a little child.

BONUS

Yep. This is what we do during our free rp sessions : :

I imagine other people doing serious stuff...we go shopping and cut the guys hair : P (BUT IT'S SO FUN!!! :dummy

The artists: *SoniaCarreras's Marilyn and my Lauren.
The victims: *Abadir's Håkan and ~ErasedCitizen2's George.

But they're so pretty now :la::la::la:


1. Håkan's haircut. Already depicted in *emedeme's deviation (link above) Nuff said.
4. One of my favourite moments during the "Kyle's run" improvised quest... A Rage Demon attacks Lauren, and Håkan runs to save her, rodeo style. The Rage Demon didn't see it coming...



Featuring :iconabadir:'s Håkan (back in the Circle tower after one of his "experiments") and :iconsoniacarreras:'s Marilyn.

Have I mentioned she loves frogs?

Well I've wanted to draw Kyle for some time now...and since today it's :icondoctorwho173:'s birthday!! :dummy:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRINH! :cake:

Meeeeh! I've always imagined Kyle as a handsome guy, but I can't unsee him in her own style or Sonia's, this pic took me longer than expected because I erased one line for every two new ones : :

Oh. Tim was a must :meow:

yeah...ah..he wears travel clothes and that cloak because it's a...winter and the group is travelling, not because I couldn't draw his arm. Not at all :cough:  

A reason to live

Back in the Merry Mabari, after facing my past again and realizing again there’s nothing left for me in Denerim. So many emotions in a single morning. I really need to have a bath to take all the slime out of my hair and clothes and relax.

But Kyle proposes an ale before doing anyting and I agree that it sounds also a good idea. The bath can wait.

So we sit in front of the bar and ask for beverages. I’m faithful to my usual ale. Kyle asks for wine. While we wait for them to be served, he looks at me.

“Weren’t you too harsh to that poor boy?”. He means the little thief who stole Haakan’s purse.

“We almost get killed by that thing in the pipe because of him. You can’t blame me if I was a bit upset!”

“You didn’t look like yourself”, he adds, sadly.

I agree, looking at my ale. I shouldn’t have returned to the alienage… so many bad memories… and facing again the fact that they will never accepted me there. Though climbing the Venhadhal was fun, specially seeing the faces of the Elder and the other elves when I made some of the branches fall.

“I felt ashamed of him, of myself… I wondered if I was like him when I was a kid… but I want to believe I wasn’t… If I got caught, I knew the game was over…”

“He had a sick relative”.

“And took his time to tell us. I don’t know. I look back and I know I was too cruel, but at that moment, I just wanted to jump to his throat.”

“You had been through too many things” he strokes my dirty, slimy hair. He knows I like it.

“Don’t blame yourself”.

I look at him a bit relieved.

“I don’t. Alienages are like that. But you couldn’t know it, could you?”.

He looks at his hand, now full of slime, thoughtful.

“I can. I grew up in an alienage myself”

I get so shocked to hear this that I can’t react.

“What?”

“You look cute with your mouth open”, he smiles.

For once it is me who blushes. He’s right, my jaw is down. I quickly close my mouth.

“You’re joking”

“You know me. I never joke”.

“But… in the alienage? Mallory isn’t even an elven name, is it?”

“No. I already told you I’m an orphan, like you. Lirya, the person who found me and took care of me, was an elven bard. She settled down in Highever’s alienage and raised me there. But my family name was embroidered in the blanket she found me with so she kept that name for me. If it is my real name at all”, he adds, hesitantily.

“At least she gave you one”, I sigh. “I can’t recall my family name”, I admit, sadly. “And nobody in the alienage wants to speak about what happened to my parents. Even Ser August used to change the subject when I asked him. When I found my mother’s locket amongst his belongings, he just took it back and said it was time to leave the alienage, but never gave us any explanations”.

“I’m sorry to hear that”.

“And didn’t you have problems, being a shem in the alienage?”
 
He smiles.

Kyle and Lirya, by Pham Ngoc Trinh

“A lot. I was quite a troubleseeker. But I tended to mess more with shems than with elves. And I was lucky to get the friendship of the younger of the Couslands, the family who rules there. He was like an older brother for me, and he helped me to get out of a lot of trouble. He also took an special interest into… educating me”.

 

Kyle Mallory and Ryan Cousland, by Pham Ngoc Trinh

 Oh. So that’s how he learnt his knightly, noble manners.

“And Lindy?” I ask without thinking.

“What about her?” he seems surprised by the question.

“Was she an elf too?”

He turns his attention to his cup of wine. I already regret having asked about her.

“No. She was human”, it’s his short, concise answer.

It figures. Sexy, tall and with breasts. But I don’t say that aloud.
He stays silent, looking at his beverage. You and your big mouth, Mari. Why did you have to remind him? Suddenly I feel the urge to kiss him, to take her out of his mind.

“Can I kiss you?” I ask him.

He raises his head as if I had pinched him
“What?”

“Can I kiss you?” I repeat. “If you don’t mind…”

He hesitates, but approaches his face to me, blushing as always. I take this gesture as a yes so I give him a soft kiss in the lips.

“First time you ask permission for that”, he says, while returning to his cup of wine. He’s right. But somehow it didn’t feel right to steal a kiss when his mind was so far away.

“I thought I should. You seemed to be thinking about her”.

“I was”.

“Sorry. It was my fault”, I admit.
I look at my beer myself. I’m not jealous. I can’t be, she’s been dead for more than ten years now. But my curiosity is too strong.

“Can I ask you something?”.

“What?”

“If she were still alive… if you had to choose between she and I… Who would you choose?”. He looks puzzled, so I add: “I know it is not fair… If she were alive we wouldn't have met, in first place… but I really need to know…”

He turns his attention to the empty cup again, toughtful. His green eye is shadowed and I regret having asked, but I had to spit it out. I wonder how did he look when his face was whole… before he lost his eye… He’s still handsome, but… A cruel thought crosses my mind: she has already stolen me a part of him…

“You don't have to reply if you don't want”, I say, seeing he’s taking his time. But it seems this is the line who encourages him to speak his thoughts aloud.

“Some weeks ago, in my dreams… I used to see her. In the Fade, with Nelson…”

“Nelson?”

“The mabari I got when I became an Ash Warrior. He's also dead.”

“Sorry”

“I had the feeling they were awaiting me. As if my hour were close.”
I feel a chill in my back. Maybe it was just a dream, but if we travel to the Fade when we are aslept…What if it is true that she’s there waiting for him? How can anyone fight against that?

“Do you want to know something?”, he continues, looking directly to me. “Before… before being with you… I sort of had accepted it… The idea of them greeting me when my hour arrived didn’t sound so terrible, so I was willing to face death to be by her side again”.

Nelson the Mabari And Lindy in The Fade as what Kyle had dream and meet them. Art by Pham Ngoc Trinh

 I feel tears coming to my eyes, along with confronted feelings. By one side, what he says touches me. I remember Alindra’s story and I can’t help to feel moved by such a romantic tragedy. By other side, I feel scared and heartbroken. The only idea of imagining him dead just tears my soul in pieces. I freeze.

“And…” I say, encouraging him to continue, to say something which makes me feel better.

“Then you kissed me… I mean, I already loved you… sort of… I wanted you to be happy, I loved your way to giggle, your smile, your determination…I also apreciated your company, and how you blushed when I called you “my lady”… But never thought we were meant to be together… or that you would be interested on me at all… And one day you said you were willing to leave everything behind, to start a new life, and you asked me if I wanted to be by your side… and you gave me a reason to continue living. A goal. Something… to continue ahead.”

This is starting to sound better, I think, while my heart beats a bit faster…

“And now I think that if she actually appeared again, and asked me to go with her, to wherever the dead ones go… I'd reject. I'd prefer to stay here, alive, with you, as long as we are meant to be together. I know it is not the answer you want… but is what I feel”.
It is enough for me, I think. Maybe it is not the stuff bards build legends about, but damn it, it is more than I expected. I feel much better now, even if I need to rub my eyes to make the tears go away. I realize he’s looking at me with interest.

“What are you looking at?”, I ask him.

“Why do you smile like that?”

“Like what?”

“You have a wicked smile in your face”.

A wicked smile. Maybe. My thoughts are a bit wicked now.
“Yes. Because now that I know it… if I ever see your Lindy trying to drag you away from me, I'll kick her pretty ghostly shem ass out of the Fade without any regret”.

 

Mari everyday outfit and the catfight. Art by me

He laughs quietly and messes my hair. I love hearing him laugh
“I don't doubt you would. Not at all. A catfight in the Fade… that must be a sight worth seeing”.

I laugh too. Maybe. Though I think I have already won that fight, that she won’t dare to appear in his dreams again. But I don’t say that aloud. Instead, I look at our empty jars and change the subject.

“I think it is time to take that bath and get rid of all the slime in my hair, before Haakan decides to cut it short and use it for his experiments”. I smile to him. “Shall we go?”
He blushes and shakes his head.

“I didn’t enter the pipe… I don’t need a bath. You can go alone”. He’s red all up to his ears, he surely is remembering our last bath some days ago… when I was still to dizzy to do all I had planned to do to him.

“Hey! You already bathed with me and you survived!”

“You were still convalescent. I agreed to help you. But now you are all right, you don’t need me”.

Stubborn, stubborn shem. I snort.
“Okey. I’ll go alone. But then don’t complain if I’m kidnapped by bandits on my way because you didn’t want to keep me company”.

“I would pity those bandits”, he replies.

Look at him. The one who says he never jokes. I’d kiss him again just to wipe that stupid smile out of his face, but I’m too furious to do that.

“You’re impossible”, I say while I get up and leave the tavern. But I can’t help to feel a wave of warmth and tenderness. He’s smiling again. I made him smile, to have a reason to live. I feel proud of it.

But I’m going to take my time with that bath. And after that, I’m going have a stroll to gather some elfroot for Haakan, to compensate him for having washed all his precious slime out of my hair and my clothes. So I will give Kyle time to worry and to wonder why am I so late, and maybe to consider seriously the idea that I may have been kidnapped by bandits, just because he was too coward to have a second bath with me....

A pint of ale

9:25, 23rd day of Guardian
They’ve been in the fade. I’ve felt it. But no special reaction. Damn it. I may be wrong. But I still need them. But they shouldn’t take so many risks. Marilyn is now weaker, I can feel it. Maybe it’s a good moment to take her mind. If she only abandoned that idea of messing with the others. Evelyn is quieter, but I don’t feel the power in her. Damn it, why did my seed split in two? Together they made the perfect offspring.
(Excerpt from Edanhor Blank’s journal, as found in Highever on 9:25, 14th day of Haring)
 

A PINT OF ALE

That's all I need.

I feel tired and a bit sick after all the experiences in the Fade yesterday. I still blame myself for what happened to Ser August and I didn't want to leave his side at all during the night, but Eve has almost forced me to get out of his room saying she'd watch him while I rested a bit myself. She says that with the black circles under my eyes and my red nose because of the mosquito sting, Mihitu will be scared to see me so I better do something to change it.

An ale will heal all my pains.

Shit! The problem is that I left the purse in the bedroom where Ser August is resting, so I can't pay for one. Now who can I cheat into inviting me to one? I look around the room. I'm not asking Mihitu, I don't want him to see me with this face… Mister Coughname-Tall-as-Hell? Nah, he's only nice when cats are involved.. and the tiny lady mage by his side would faint if I cough near her.

The newcomer dwarf, the one who is always eating olives, seems as broken as myself, and I can't see the pretty dwarfette, the one with beautiful clothes and a wealthy father. Suddenly I see the Knight on Shinning Armor. Ah, he surely is the perfect victim! He won't say no to a damsel in distress, even if my distress is just that I'm dying of thirst.

He's sitting alone in the bar, looking in the distance with his only bright eye. I remind myself I should learn how to make eyepatches as I sit by his side.

"An ale for your thoughts?" I say. I can't pay that ale, but I know he won't let a lady to invite him. Even if the "lady" is a dirty, sweaty elf rogue.

"My Lady! How nice to see you again!", he says, like coming back from a far away place.

"I'm sorry, I didn't notice you. I was… I was lost in my memories".

I feel all warm inside. I can't help it, I love when he calls me "lady".

"But you look sick!!!", he shouts, when his only eye focuses on me. "Shall I call the healer again?"

I smile, remembering our first meeting. I blushed so deeply when he greeted me calling me "My lady" that he thought I was sick, he rushed to get a healer, and finally the one who had to be healed was him... I don't know why, I found the complete misadventure cute and innocent and made me like this clumsy knight more than I would admit out loud. I wonder how he survived so long out there... 

Art by Aosuka

"I think a pint of ale will be the right medicine, my lord", I say, with my best smile. "If you care to invite me".

"You can have as many ales as you want while I am here, my Lady. I'll pay for them. But try not to get drunk!", he jokes.

Didn't I say he's a complete cutie? I almost feel sorry for taking advantage of it. Almost. 

"The only price you'll have to pay is to accept my company, if you allow me", he smiles again. "Only for talking!" he adds, a bit nervous. I giggle.

"I always enjoy a good conversation" I reply. It doesn't seem a high price to pay, if he buys me more than one ale. "Anything special you want to tell me?" 

"What do you want to talk about?".

I shrug. Of course, my curiosity is attracted to his lost eye, which he barely hides under his black hair, but it wouldn't be polite to ask about it, even for me. So I just shrug.
"I don't know... how did you end up in a place like this one, for example?"
He laughs. He has already drunk two glasses of wine, his only eye shines. I can't help but notice it is a beautiful shade of green. Like Mihitu's
"Like everybody did, I guess. I needed a place to spend the night, and this one was the closest".

I tilt my head. "Oh? But... you surely come from somewhere... and go somewhere too..."
He chuckles. "Ah, yes... Well... I come from Orlais...". His eye wanders around the tavern, if he looks for somebody, I can't tell for sure, but I think he's looking at the Orlesian tiny girl sitting in the table near. Maybe he arrived with them? I can't recall.
 

"Oh? But you don't seem Orlesian"

"No... I'm from Highever... but I've spent several years wandering... out of Ferelden"
His eye darkens for a while, and he swallows his third glass of wine. I look at my empty jar of ale, not sure about what to say. "I see. If you don't want to talk about it...". One pint of ale is more than enough, I guess. I finish it and prepare to leave, but he raises his hand and asks for another round. I freeze. All right. I can stay a bit longer.
"So... what was the reason to come, after all these years?"

He whispers a single word "Lindy…". His expression is now bitter, his eye seems lost somewhere behind the counter. His lips suddenly curve in a sad smile, and it is as if he was greeting somebody lost long, long ago...

I look at him, suddenly interested. A female name, maybe a lost love, more than probably, for the sad expression in his face.
"Who is she?"

"My... my love...". He sighs, and his only eye shows a glint of sadness.

"Lucky girl" I say, wishing somebody felt the same for me. "Is she waiting for you somewhere?".

"In the Fade, I guess...", his face dark.

"Oh!", I stammer... "Is... she... dead? I'm... I'm sorry"

"A petty noble... a rat... captured her one night...".

"All nobles are rats!", I hear the olive-eating dwarf screaming at us, while raising his ale jar. He must have overheard our conversation. The knight – Kyle – doesn't seem to mind. People around the dwarf cheer with him, as if he had told a funny joke. I can't tell.

I haven't met any nobles yet. Except when I tried to steal from them, and I can't blame them for not being kind to me when they found out.

"And you rushed to rescue her?" I ask, reaching for my second jar of ale. This is like hearing a fairy tale.

"Yes, blind of rage... " 

_____________

 

 Left to right: Kyle, Ivans(rival), Monty (ex-caiptain ash warrior, the one had accept Kyle after bloody night), Antoine Rieul

It was already night. Not the time everybody was sleeping, but definitely not the time to pay a visit to a noble man. Kyle stood up in front of the door of the house. Ivan had told him Lindy was there, after a group of hooded men dragged her away from him in the marketplace. How he knew, Kyle didn't know... he didn't want to know, because if his rival had had something to do with it... well, he'd make sure he would never do something like that again...

The house was a wealthy one, on a couple of hours distance of Denerim, the kind minor nobles which didn't live there used, owned, or rented, when they came to stay long times in the capital. Kyle didn't know who lived there, and he didn't care. He only knew Lindy, his sweet Lindy, was held captive there... and he would get her out, safe and sound, or he would die at the attempt.

Kyle tired to open the door, but of course, it was locked. He didn't think it twice, and started knocking, hard, loud, in all the rage of his sixteen years, so it would be heard in all the silent neighbourhood. "I know you're there!", he shouted, when nobody opened the door. "Release her!!! Get out, you coward, and face me if you're a man!!"

Some minutes later, in which Kyle had already started to kick the door, appart from knocking at it, suddenly a small window opened, and a mischievous face looked straight at him.

"Stop doing that! You're going to awake everybody! I'm going to call the guards!!"
"Release her!", Kyle shouted. "I know she's here!!"

The eyes narrowed, looking at him. "She? Which she?"

"You know who!!" he shouted, "Lindy!!! You captured her in the marketplace!!"

The thought that maybe the information Ivans had given him were wrong didn't even pass through his mind. Fortunatelly, the noble didn't want to play games. "The Nevarran beauty, huh?". He chuckled. "Quite a temper. She suggested her boyfriend would come for her... I take this is you?"

Kyle stepped back, all pride and poise, and said, sort of relieved. "Yes! She's my beloved, and I'm going to take her with me... or die in the attempt! Release her!" he repeated.
"Ah, you like challenges", the face said. "All right. I'm a fair man. Defeat me in a duel, and she'll go back to you... Die... and I keep her for my amusement, as I planned".

Kyle felt the blood coming to his head, but he tried to stay calm. "I accept. Open the door and face me".

The face chuckled. "I didn't see I were going to face you, personally".

Suddenly a group of men arrived from nowhere. They probably had got out through a back door or something, while Kyle was speaking to the noble. They jumped over him, three at a time, but Kyle was already one with rage, and the closer they got, the faster they died, until his army of a hundred men was defeated...

_____________

I look at him suspiciously. "Are you trying to tell me you faced me one hundred men alone?". I find that hard to believe.

He smirks, but the way he holds his glass, knuckles white from the strength, says he's not amused. "Fifty, one hundred.. who cares? His idea of a fair fight was way different from mine. It wasn't an easy fight, believe me. But I won. And I faced the coward again..."

"Nobles are all cowards", shouts the dwarf again, followed by a new chorus of cheers. I guess he's also a bit drunk. "And the next round of ales is on my behalf!"

The bartender serves us another couple of drinks. Great. My jar was already empty. I take a long sip and look back at him. He looks so serious I must admit that, at least he, believes what he's telling me. I put my fist under my chin and listen to him, bewitched.

_____________

 Kyle stood in front of the door again, armor covered in blood, corpses behind him. The small window was closed, and now nobody was peeking through it, but he didn't care. His rage ruled now, and he didn't need windows or keys. He ran against the door, like a living ram, and the door fell down like butter under his weight.

Kyle moved forward, the black of his silhouette outlined for a moment against the stark light outside. When he entered the dark corridor, though, nobody was there. If the nobleman was behind the door, he had already ran away, like the coward rat he was. He sniffed the air, like a beast, and walked determined until he reached a room, lit by some torches, where he stopped for a moment.

There she was, her blue eyes staring at him in a mix of reproach and hope. A couple of men were holding her, and she was struggling to release herself, but she was unharmed... and Kyle sighed with relief. It was his mistake, because a third man, one he didn't expect, came out from behind the door and jumped over him, wielding a dagger and slashing the right side of his face at the attempt.

Blind of pain, Kyle stepped back with a hand over the right side of his face. He tried to blink to focus his eyes and he realized the right one was a screen of red, while blood poured between his fingers. He couldn't hesitate, though, and held his sword in front of him trying to avoid being murdered while unable to see. But a female cry changed everything.

"Kyle! No!!". It was Lindy's voice. Kyle could see her blurry shape getting rid of the men who held her, rushing to help him. But the man who had wounded him also saw her, and was faster than Kyle. He forgot his foe, grabbed Lindy from behind and used her as a human shield for a moment, with his dagger, still dripping Kyle's blood, pointing at her throat.

The man laughed. "She's mine, and you're defeated. Surrender". Lindy struggled, but the dagger in her throat pressed and a ruby drop shone in her neck, making her stop for a while. "Don't listen to him!" she managed to shout.

Kyle wiped the blood of his right eye, blood and maybe something more, like water pouring from the eyesocket. He was unable to see anymore from that side, but he didn't care. The other eye started to focus and he could clearly see that despicable being holding the love of his life, the woman who owned his heart, and pouring her precious blood. No trade could be done. That bastard had to die.

"I won't surrender to you. Release her", he said, letting his arrogance speak in his behalf, somehow sure he didn't want Lindy dead either.

He was wrong.

The noble smiled… a grim, creepy smile, and slowly, clearly enjoying it, sank his dagger in the beautiful, white skin of Lindy and slashed from one side to the other. A choking sound, blood out of her mouth, and suddenly he threw her away, like a broken rag doll, making his only tool of trade useless to fullfill his madness.

Kyle saw her falling to his feet, saw the blood and her eyes, still trying to focus him, still trying to say what her broken throat couldn't express. A farewell, an I love you… an I will wait for you in the fade. All those were the last words Lindy told him through her sapphire eyes, but when he finally managed to kneel beside her, they already were looking away, unfocused, like crystal balls. "Avenge me", was the last word Kyle read in those blue pupils, and thus, he jumped forward, ready to grant her wish. Or to die in the attempt. Or both. Nothing else mattered, after all.

His sword fell down, and there was blood, but Kyle suddenly was held back by the arms of a group of men and the cry of an old friend. Ryan Cousland's voice tried to tranquilize him. "Kyle! What are you doing? Are you crazy?" He stopped, panting like a beast, and saw the bastard noble in front of him, holding his right arm with his left hand, while his dagger, the dagger which had killer Lindy, was on the floor, still hold by the right hand Kyle's sword had separated from the noble's arm. The guards who were holding Lindy minutes ago rushed to assist him, and dragged him away of the room while spitting his hate to Ryan. 




"Hold your mabari, young Cousland… his bite won't be unpunished"
Kyle shouted, and the sound which came from his chest was not human. Ryan knew he could not hold him for a long time, so he stood in front of his friend. "Let him go. They will execute you if you kill him. Let him go…"

Ryan had ran to help him, with a group of ash warriors he had befriended in the city, and their common friend Seth, after hearing from Ivans himself what had happened to Lindy. When they saw the corpses at the door of the manor, and knowing his young friend, he imagined what was going to happen and rushed into the manor.

But it was too late.

Kyle's beastly yelling finally turned into tears of rage. Ryan held his friend, his chosen brother, from his shoulders, while Seth kneeled beside Lindy, shook his head in sorrow and covered her face with a cloth. Then Ryan realized what had happened and rushed to take her in his arms, asking for a healer. But it was too late. And Kyle continued looking at the scene, shocked, not knowing how to react… and only one thought in his head.
"Revenge"….

_____________

He stops, as if re-living the story again had been too much. I fear for the glass in his hand, he holds it so tight I wonder how it is not broken yet. I feel guilty for having brought so terrible memories back.

He's not a storyteller. I've had to deduct the entire story from his short phrases and spare words. But somehow I can see it in my mind. The blood. The dead body. His despair, his impotence, his rage…

"I'm sorry", I whisper. He shakes his head, trying to take his dark thoughts again.

"I had to leave Ferelden after trying to kill him a second time… and failing again. I failed to her... and I did something terrible...…"
 
"And now you've come back, to avenge her", I venture. He nods.

"I've been wandering for twelve years. But now the time has come. She knows. She demands it…"

Twelve years, I shudder. And he still mourns her. I suddenly feel sad. Very sad. Or maybe it's all the ale I've drunk.. I think this is my fourth jar… I start to cry.

"Oh, no, my lady! Why do you cry?".

"At least your Lindy loved you… The boy I like isn't interested in me". I lean over his shoulder and cry even more.

"How can he not like a lady like you?", he says, suddenly being the one who comforts me.

"He thinks I am too young!!!" I sob. "But I'm not!!! I'm a fully grown adult, see?" I point to my chest. "But I can't help being an elf, that's why my breasts are so small". I cry again, and I hide my face between my arms over the dirty bar surface.

I just raise my head a bit and ask:

"Do you think he's gay?" 

"Shhh", he hushes, definitely uncomfortable. "You're a bit drunk".

"No, I'm not!" I shout.

Yes, I am.

Gosh. I feel pathetic. I am pathetic. And that makes me cry even more. Kyle just stares, not sure about what to do. Finally he says: "You'd better go back to your room and have some sleep, my lady. Do you need any assistance?".

My head is a bit clouded but I still can control my thoughts. Do I want Mihitu seeing this tall, handsome, kind and one eyed knight (who seems to be more or less HIS age) carrying me to my bedroom? Would he feel remotely jealous? Would it ring a bell?

I shake my head. No. It's too clear I am drunk. And I don't really want him to notice me in this state. So I make my best to control my limbs and thank the kind knight, my knight in shinning armor, by kissing his cheek.

"Thanks, Ser Kyle. No need for that. But when I feel better we'll talk again. And then I'll be the one who will invite you to an ale… But just one… next time"…
I get back to our room swearing that I will kill the bastard who is moving the steps while I climb them. But I don't fall a single time. Well, at least, until I reach the bed…