Bloody, Brawling Business CH10

 

Tiro crouched down next to Newton and reached out his hand towards him, but it was instantly slapped away. Newton stormed off down the hall and sat at a far away desk to watch Ghom’s induction from a distance. 

  Ghom seemed to be asking his own questions now, glancing over at Newton every now and again but retracting his gaze each time they locked eyes. The door to the hall opened and footsteps approached from behind Newton. No one acknowledged Korus who’d just entered the room, a different Korus from the one standing with Ghom, Tiro and Yara.

  Korus pulled out a chair and sat across from Newton who tried to avoid looking at him, but Korus’ attention was completely diverted from the induction taking place at the back of the room, since was staring directly at Newton. Newton looked away from him, but it just made him more uncomfortable as Korus kept staring regardless.

  “What’s the matter?” Korus asked.

  “What makes you think I'd tell you?” said Newton.

  “I did my part in asking, I didn’t do any worse of a job just because you failed to do yours.”

  “And you? What are you doing here?” Newton asked.

  “I just caught myself a break, thought I’d come see how you guys are going,” Said Korus. He put his arms on the desk and nestled his head on them. “Work’s been draining lately, and I’m not like these clones, who only have to run the place.” He half gestured to the Korus at the back of the room. “Making them takes so much energy. I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel for more Blood, but the work keeps piling on.”

  “Metaphysical blood, right?” asked Newton.

  “Yeah,” said Korus, turning his head a little and glancing up. “Got a little emotional did ya?” He’d likely noticed the wet smudges under Newton’s eyes. They were probably bloodshot as well. Newton hated crying because it made it obvious to everyone else how he was feeling.

  “I just feel like I've lost. Like there’s no way forward or back to anywhere I want to be.” Newton couldn’t believe he’d just let that spill. He guessed that it came out easier with Korus because they didn’t know each other, But he didn’t really know Tiro as well, and he’d never be so vulnerable with him, so what was the give?

  “Lost? And where is it you want to be?” Korus asked.

  “Back Scarlet’s house, my sister. She died recently.”

  Korus’ eyes widened for a moment and he sat up, tucking himself under the desk with his chair. “Oh my!”

  “And now that I’ve signed that contract. I’m not going to be able to go back.”

  “Surely you didn’t come here today thinking that was going to be the result of your induction.”

  “No, I had it in my head that I’d be allowed to leave, but why? Why! I’ll never be let go!” Newton’s voice echoed through the hall. Everyone went silent. 

  Korus turned around. “Don’t mind it. Get back to the induction.” He turned back to Newt. “The king of Bame is no Tyrant. My advice to you is to do your best to help Tiro finish his mission as quickly as possible. You’ll be allowed to go back to earth after that. I’ll make sure of it.”

  “And who are you to-”

  “I’m the admin of the town hall, the only reason it functions. My role is not light, and nor is my authority.”

  “Woah!” came a voice from the back of the hall. Ghom was gripping onto the hand and seething. It let go and shaking his hand, he jumped back. “Hot! Hot! Hot! Aaaggh!”

  Everyone was making their way back down the hall a few moments later as if nothing happened. 

  “Ready to go?” said Tiro. 

  “Yes,” said Newton stalely.

  “Work things over with Korus, did you?” Tiro asked.

  “I’m sure Newton will be splendid company from now going forth,” said Korus. 

  Newton pulled a fake smile across his cheeks, and followed the rest of the group to the door. 

  “Korus, hold on,” said Korus.

  The clone Korus stopped and Korus reached out to touch him. As soon as Korus’ palm touched the clone’s cheek, the clone melted into it, the whole body including its clothes being reabsorbed.

  “That feels much better,” said Korus. “I can take you guys from here. I suppose you still have business in the town hall, yes?”

  “Yep,” said Tiro. “Are you guys still holding Dave?”

  “To his dismay. Follow me,” said Korus as he took the lead and left the door.

Newton was surprised when Tiro apologised to him. It came out of nowhere while they were making their way through the town hall complex and just it worked to confuse Newton a little more. 

  “I’m sorry. I should’ve warned you about the heat. I didn’t think it’d be enough to make you cry. Maybe my memory of the pain has dulled and, so I thought it wouldn’t be an issue for you.”

  “I wasn’t crying because of the heat. I didn’t even notice it,” said Newton.

  Newton’s mind flashed to Ghom pulling away from the hand as if it had burned him. Was that what Tiro was referring to?

  “Huh,” said Tiro. “We'll, If what made you cry was enough to distract you from the heat, I apologise for that too.”

  Newton tried to drag the subject away from himself. “Dave is a generic name, and it comes from earth too. Is Dave from earth like you and me?”

  “That one’s a bit complicated with the whole whether Dave is from Earth or not,” said Tiro. “But Dave is short for Davilios if that eases your mind. It's definitely less generic.”

  Newton’s mind was not eased.

It had been around ten minutes since they’d left the induction hall where Yara had left them to go home. She’d asked Ghom if he wanted to go as well but he insisted on staying with Tiro and Newton. They were fairly deep into the complex when they got to their destination, what looked like a small cuboid building that would fit around one or two people. Korus was the first to enter, Tiro second, Ghom, then, after looking inside, Newt.

  His legs were devoured by shade as he made his way down the crooked stairwell with caution. Each step he took seemed to be a different depth than the previous. He held onto the wall until he got to the bottom where it opened up into a maze of torchlit corridors situated underneath the town hall.

  “Room three zero eight,” said Korus as they walked. He veered around a corner to the right into what looked like another endless corridor. They didn’t go too far, however, as they all stopped only a couple of doors down.

  Korus knocked. No one answered. There was a little panel on the floor which Korus pressed his foot into. It sunk into the ground and allowed the door to swing open. 

  The room had a small table close to the ground with a couple of lit candles on top. To one side there was a fireplace, blazing as if just stoked and in the far corner of the room was a blanket, rising and falling with consistent rhythm atop a bed of some sort of padding.

  Tiro went over to the bed and gently kicked the blankets. 

  “Dave,” he called out. “Davilios, I’ve brought you a visitor. Get up c’mon.”

  “I’m not taking a visitor in the middle of the night,” came a coarse, frail voice from under the sheet. “Go away.”

  “It’s mid afternoon,” said Tiro. “Besides, you’ll really want to meet him. Get up.” 

  Newton hadn’t the foggiest why Dave would want to meet him. Maybe it was because he was from Earth, but Newton was intrigued as to how this man was important in any way to him or Tiro.

  The man rose from his sheets, frizzy, grey hair streaking across his face and shoulders. He threw the blanket off of him and reached up to Tiro who helped him to his feet. 

  “Who is this visitor,” said Dave. He ran his fingers through his scalp, lifting the thin veil of hair off his face to look at Newton with his Yellow eyes, the same eyes Newton had only ever seen on a few familiar corpses.

  “This is Newton,” Tiro said, gesturing to him.

  Dave sighed. “And I even believed you for a moment. Who is this?”

  “Huh,” said Tiro. He looked at Newton. “Davilios is the one who tipped us off about your sister’s place. I thought he might know you.”

  “That was David,” said Davilios. “Speaking of whom, he wants to speak to you.” Davilios touched Tiro who disappeared instantly. “It’s urgent.” He moved over to Ghom and Korus, touching them as well. They both disappeared. Newton flinched, closing his eyes as Davilios approached. But the touch never came. 

  Davilios moved past him to the door and pressed on the panel underneath, shutting it.

  “What did you do to everyone?” Newton asked.

  “Sent them to Earth,” Davilios replied.

  “How can you do that? Is it your blood trait?”

  “No, no, I have no blood trait, funny enough. I have a doppelganger on earth, David. Our Blood is connected in a special way that leaks through the barrier of our two worlds.”

  “I’m from earth-”

  “I know,” said Davilios as he moved to the small table and sat on the floor, arm resting on its top. “Come sit. We’ll be talking for a while.”

  Newton followed along and sat opposite Davilios.

  “You’re Scarlet's brother.”

  “You knew her?”

  “Yes, she was very clever when it came to blood. She single handedly figured out how to make functional corpses from me and David which allowed transport between the worlds.”

  “So she’s definitely connected to Bame.”

  “I thought you’d know that by now. Tiro did end up finding the skull, yes?”

  “Yeah, he got it. So it was you who sent him right? It's your fault I’m in this mess.” Newton flicked his hand in frustration and accidentally blew one of the candles out.

  “Yes, and it was also me who helped Scarlet get the skull in the first place,” Davilios said calmly. “I let her into Bame to steal it.”

  “So she is the thief,” Newton said under his breath. “Did it mean anything to her?” he spoke up. “The skull,” he clarified.

  Davilios suddenly sprung to his feet and started looking around the room. “Notebook, where’s the notebook?” he said in english, panting. 

  “Why’re you suddenly talking in English?" Newton asked. “You’re out of breath. What’s wrong?”

  Dave’s eyes caught Newton. “Who’re you?”

  “Are you ok? Did you forget my name already?” Newton asked.

  “I’m not Davilios.” Not Davilios sat back down and held out his hand. “David, his doppelganger." 

  Newton shook his hand. 

  “Tell Davilios that Tiro’s getting heated,” said David. “And to let him come back through-” He suddenly switched to Kholorinal. “Let me talk to the boy without you sticking your!!- oh, I’m back.”

  “Davilios?” Newton inquired.

  “Yes, yes it’s me.”

  “Dave said-”

  “I know. I don’t care. If he forces his way back into my body, tell him to suck it up and wait. I don’t think we have much more time alone, he’s going to end up forcing them back through, so get your questions out.”

  “Ok, I need to know,” said Newton. Did the skull mean anything to Scarlet?”

  “I think the cause was more important to her than the skull, though she did seem to have a certain affection towards it, like it was a trophy of her victory.”

  “What cause? What was the point of stealing it?”

  “It is the skull of an ancient Blood wielder, someone with a connection strong enough to access their metaphysical Blood. His name is only known by the source.”

  “The king of Bame.”

  “Yes, his only brother.”

  “He was once a threat, powerful enough to take this world as his own. He would have if it wasn’t for the king. The king sealed him and encased the wielder in his own bones. He is not dead, but rather we are still at risk of his reanimation.”

  “So why take the skull?”

  “Because it was kept recklessly here in Bame, the whole skeleton within the confines of the town hall. The king has had too much trust in his evidently flawed security.” Davilios scoffed. “Authority, he thinks he has complete control over everyone.”

  “So you helped Scarlet steal the skull in order to separate it from the rest of the skeleton.”

  “Correct, and it was the right decision. The rest of the skeleton has been stolen, all in one night a couple of months ago. The skull is the only piece remaining in our hand. It must be protected and the rest of the skeleton must be retrieved.”

  David’s reentry was signaled by the sudden change in tone and use of English. “What is taking so long!?” 

  “Davilios told me to tell you he doesn’t care,” Newton said. “He said you need to suck it up and wait.” 

  David looked taken back. His expression changed just as suddenly as his voice did before. “That’ll show him,” Davilios said in Kholorinal. “I pretended to be him and angered Tiro even more. He should be on the run for quite some time.”

  Newton guided their conversation towards Scarlet. More and more, the gaps started to fill in; He now knew the body in Scarlet’s basement was indeed a corpse copy of David, He knew she, along with both Daves, helped refugees move out of Bame and start a life on earth. 

  Their conversation ended when Davilios had to let Tiro and the others back through. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Tiro’s threatening David, I don’t think he can handle it any longer.” 

  Moments later, Tiro, Ghom and Korus appeared, all touching Davilios. 

  “What’s going on?” Tiro demanded to know.

  “Nothing, we’ve just been talking,” said Newt.

  “I wanted to speak to my guest alone. It doesn’t concern you Tiro,” said Davilios. “What is it my other half wanted to tell you about?”

  “Not even he knew,” Tiro growled. 

  Davilios sighed. “I thought he’d at least be able to improvise.”

  “Wha-” Tiro started, but Davilios shushed him.

  “I’m not talking to you anymore,” he said.

  Tiro looked at Newton, then back at Davilios. “Fine! Come Newton, we’re going.”

  Newton did as he was told and Davilios called after him as he left. “And Newton, you can be open with Tiro. Right now he is your best bet. I wasn't bothered to have him ask all the questions. That’s why I sent him away.”

  Newton nodded. He knew now what he must do. He was going to help Tiro prevent the return of the evil blood wielder, and take the skull back home, where he’d keep it safe and honour Scarlet’s noble effort.

  “Oh,” Davilios continued. “But keep your mouth shut about those things that didn’t have to do with the current mission.