Cleo
I.S. 455
The Eighth Month, Day 26
A thief. We were being aided by a thief, and the Young Master didn't seem to care at all. Thankfully, Gremio seems to grasp the situation.
It is interesting how life can change so abruptly in a matter of minutes. One minute, you are sitting down to dinner – which, after our ordeal at Rockland, was very well deserved – and the next minute you're standing in shock as a close friend of the family is lying on the ground, soaked to the skin in his own blood and desperately clinging to whatever life he still had inside of him. It looked even worse than the beatings we saw a small boy suffer at the hands of some of the cruelest members of the Imperial Army stationed at Rockland. It is sad that all baskets contain some rotten apples inside them, but ours might just take the cake. Then again, the City-States of Jowston do nothing but make grabs for our land…and who knows what the armies of the southern and western lands are like?
The rest of the day turned out to be one of the worst in my 25 years in this life.
Imagine someone you care about deeply – and I know he cares for me, too, even though he acts like food is his only love – betrays you for a corrupt government. Imagine a severely wounded boy sacrificing himself to said government so that his friends could escape through the back door!
I wanted to scream and weep at the same time, and the pouring sky seemed to understand our situation as well. As unoriginal as it sounds, we ended up hiding out in the back of the inn, soaked to the bone and unsure of what could happen to make the situation even worse than it already was. It is a good thing I was wearing my breastplate and tight traveling armor – the last thing I would want is to be caught and brutally ravished by Imperial soldiers before being thrown in the dungeons (or worse – forced to perform hard labor at the Banner Mines). Stories of the atrocities committed by Jowston at Kalekka seven years ago – the mass murder of the men followed by the mass rape and murder of the women and children – could chill even the bones of the fiercest opponent of the City-State. And the Imperial Army was filled with those sorts as well – you know, the over-zealous, rage-filled men (and some women, too) who eat and breathe destruction for anyone considered an enemy of the Empire. Sometimes it seems like we – that is, Pahn, Gremio, the Young Master, Master Teo, and I – are the only members containing shreds of fairness and decency, especially in recent times.
The next few minutes were some of the angriest and most desperate moments of my life. While I am no pushover in the battle department, fighting soldiers in an inn would have no doubt alerted some of the guards upstairs as well as the ones stationed outside. For a moment I considered mentally preparing myself for what would be done to me if I was caught – and then the oddest-looking savior decided to make his presence known to our little party. I say odd because the man looked – and somewhat smelled – like he had not had a decent clean in days. He had dark, unruly hair and dark, mischievous eyes – so unlike Pahn – and clothes that looked more rumpled than the ones on the backs of some of the villagers residing in Kaku and Lorimar. But the gods always make sure to provide some goodness to everyone, and this man – was he older or younger than I? – had intelligence enough to distract the soldiers and drag us out of the inn, something I know Pahn wouldn't be capable of. No, he would just try to beat them to death with his fists…
Safely away from the inn, I wanted to thank him, but before I could utter a word he let it slip that he only saved us so that he could save himself from paying for his meal. His cocky tone and smile irritated me so much that I simply gave him a cold glare, which I presume he understood as he quickly bolted afterwards.
"Well, at least we were able to get out of that mess –"began Gremio.
"Yes, "I interrupted angrily, "but I hope next time we are helped by a person with more…noble intentions."