Chapter 4: Secrets Reveled
The Pink Dragon was no seedy den of ill repute. It was a place were everyday people gathered to eat, drink, and be merry. There was live musical entertainment that went with the dancing girls and places to bet on the games being played all over the tavern. Despite the jolly ambience of the Pink Dragon, it was dimly lit, loud and noisy to keep any activities of ill repute from being noticed. I silently thanked Marious for his choice of a meeting place as I fought back the warm flush of color in my cheeks.
I didn't expect the warm feeling that crept into my whole body at the sight of one man. It was a very uncomfortable feeling and more over, a bit frightening. I had seen guys before. I had trained with them and in my small group of friends back home I was thought of as "one of the guys". But in those few seconds it took for the tall, dark creature to walk across the room, I wanted to do nothing more than swoon like a girl.
The man was tall and lanky like a cat with long black hair, pale creamy skin and the deepest of emerald green eyes. I could have gotten completely lost in them had I stared any longer. I turned my head to look at something else, but caught a glimpse of my brother out of the corner of my eye. Xaedes was staring at the man with intent to kill. Marious had a sly smile on his face and addressed the man. "Dante! It is good to see you again."
"You invited me and I came. What do you want Old Man?" His tone was arrogant and cold, but none the less dreamy to my ears.
"To talk of great adventures." Marious kept his tone jovial. "Please. Sit. Have a drink with us." Xaedes was still staring daggers at Dante. I kept my eyes lowered to the table. I didn't dare look at Dante in the eyes. I might do something stupid, like blush…. Again.
"I suppose I can stay for a few moments." Dante sat to one side of Marious.
"Dante, you already know Xaedes." Marious nodded at Xaedes. The two looked at each other with a murderous gaze. "And over here we have George, Xaedes's younger brother." Marious pointed to me.
The world stopped revolving as I got lost in those damn green eyes again. I felt the warm blood creep back into my cheeks. The noisy room became muffled whispers and time seemed to slow to a crawl. All reason and thought just left me in that moment. I must have been smiling like a complete idiot because when I snapped out of my daze, I heard my high pitched and squeaky voice mutter "Hello."
Xaedes and Marious looked at me suspiciously. I coughed and tried to recover my composure. "The ale is a bit stronger than I expected." I lowered my voice and pushed my mug away.
It seemed to satisfy the suspicions of my brother and our older companion, but there was something that told me I didn't quite convince Dante. If he did suspect anything, he let go of the thought and replaced the suspicion with a sly smirk. He turned his gaze to Xaedes. "I didn't know you had a brother, Xaedes."
Xaedes had kept the murderous stare going for a while now, and he didn't show any signs of looking at Dante any other way. My brother kept his stoic silence.
Dante sighed and shook his head. "Still as talkative as ever I see. Is he as much of a pansy as you are?"
"Actually, he's more of a fop, like you. But I think he has the potential to grow out of it." Xaedes smirked.
Pansy? FOP? ME?! I didn't know who I needed to be angry at first. Any and all amorous feelings for the Pretty Boy were gone. My growing admiration for my brother halted in its tracks.
"I am sitting right here." I snarled. They had insulted me. I hadn't insulted them…Yet. I glared back at Xaedes and ignored Dante.
Marious chuckled. "Well, at least you aren't trying to kill each other."
That's still on the table as an option I thought. I muttered a few choice curses under my breath. I wanted to shout at both of them for being stupid and male and I realized I was having an internal temper tantrum. I took a deep breath and counted. Then I did it again for good measure. I finally started to think clearly. My anger had quelled the female responses to Dante. I latched on to that anger to keep me grounded in reality.
Dante smirked. "Give us some time. I am sure we'll try eventually."
Xaedes nodded in agreement. "We have a truce while we're in public."
I crossed my arms and leaned back in my chair a little. As far as I was concerned, if those two wanted to kill each other, FINE, less for me to have to do later. The bar maid brought food and more drinks. I distracted myself with eating. I didn't have anything I wanted to say. At least nothing I wanted to say that was polite or something you say at a dinner table.
"Save your petty quarrels for another time." Marious gave the boys a distinctive fatherly glare. "We have more important things to discuss."
Marious launched into his "Great Adventure to Defeat Evil" speech. I had circumvented the speech before by just telling the old man that I would go. I wish I had somehow skipped it this time as well. I continued to eat, but drank very little. It wasn't that the ale was to strong, I just didn't like the taste of it. Towards the end of the speech, Xaedes was staring off into space and Dante was still listening to Marious drone on about fighting evil. Or at least he seemed to be listening.
"All right Old Man, I get the idea." Dante sighed. "I am sure someone of my talents could add to keeping the rest of you alive. Besides, I grow weary of life at court." Dante hung his head for a moment. There was something in his voice that spoke volumes. It was what he didn't say that sparked my curiosity. I kept my eyes on my food and brushed my thoughts aside.
Dante took a deep breath and steadied himself. "I must inform my father, and make a few arrangements." Dante stood to leave.
"Good." Marious beamed. "We will meet tomorrow morning at the Warrior's Guild. There is one more person we need to meet. Then we can be off." The old man stood up and embraced Dante. Dante still looked a little upset, but I doubted it had anything to do with being hugged by Marious. I watched Dante leave the tavern and sighed.
Xaedes was fuming. He didn't say anything until Dante had left the tavern. "Why didn't you tell me that you were going to bring the Knight Boy?"
Marious gave Xaedes a wry smile. "Because if I had told you Dante was going to be joining in our adventures I honestly didn't think you would come."
"I would have come anyway. There isn't a doubt about that. If nothing else it would have been to have a chance to beat him senseless. I still owe him a good beating." Xaedes grumbled.
"Knight Boy? What did Dante do to you?" I asked. I don't think I should have, now that I think about it. Xaedes glared at me.
"Dante is the son of Lord Ml'kia. Ml'kia wasn't a lord when your father and I first met him. He was part of the original group. Ml'Kia is now the Lord Regent of this territory and has been since his return eighteen years ago. Dante has his father's arrogance, his mother's pride and a pretty big chip on his shoulder." Marious explained.
"We met when we were young. I didn't like him then, and I still don't like him. He's full of himself and thinks he's the best at everything he does." Xaedes goused.
"Kind of like you?" I snickered. Xaedes looked at me like he was going to kill me.
"Little brother, I am NOTHING like that FOP." Xaedes growled menacingly. His chair flew backwards as he stood and walked towards the dancing girls.
Marious sighed. "You seem to have touched a nerve, once again, George."
"It wasn't ment... I didn't..." I stammered. Then I felt like a complete heel.
"Ah well, I can't expect them to become best friends overnight. Nor can I expect you to understand." Marious shook his head.
"I can't understand if someone doesn't tell me." I looked at Marious in hopes that he would give me some more sage advice and another clue into understand my brother.
Marious sighed. "I doubt Dante or Xaedes will tell you, so I might as well let you in on the reason they seem to hate each other. Xaedes is a half elf, as is Dante. Xaedes's mother, Xilia, is a noble in the Elven court, but not high enough in the ranks to matter. Dante's mother, on the other hand, is related to the high Elven court of this region. When Ml'Kia announced his intention to marry the Lady Ioa, there was no objection from either the human or Elven courts.
"Those boys grew up together, but Dante was never ignored. Xaedes was. Xaedes's mother was resented for loving a human and Xaedes paid the price. Lady Ioa would flaunt her relationship with Ml'Kia at the Elven court and Dante grew up to believe he was better than Xaedes because of it. A few years ago, Xaedes and Dante were training together.
"Things got out of hand. Niether will say who started the fight or what it was about, but it was Xaedes that ended it by turning his back on Dante. Dante tried to strike while Xaedes's back was turned only to be stopped by Ml'Kia. Since then, neither has spoken a word to each other. This evening was their first encounter in years." Marious finished his story by taking a sip of his ale.
And the Gold Medal for tragic childhood goes to Xaedes! I felt like a total idiot for saying what I did. I sighed heavily. I had more reasons to hate Dante. I turned to see Xaedes in the arms a bar maid. Ok, so now wasn't the time to go talk to him and let him know that I cared. He looked like he was getting enough "caring" from someone else. I chuckled. "I guess I can be a little more understanding next time."
"As you should be. Now off to bed with you boy… We have training in the morning." Marious chuckled. I smiled and left the old man sitting at the table.
I walked out of the Pink Dragon and headed for the Inn. I wasn't expecting to be followed, but I felt him behind me. I was about half way to the Inn when I turned to see Dante leaning against a lamp post, staring at me. Them DAMN butterflies in my stomach started to flutter again. His green eyes bore into me and I got stuck looking like an idiot. I closed my eyes and reached for the anger I had let foolishly slip away. It had been the only thing keeping me grounded.
I took a deep breath and counted, focusing on the anger. I opened my eyes stared back at him. "Is there a reason you are following me?"
He started to walk closer. "What I said was true. I didn't know Xaedes had a younger brother."
I crossed my arms defensively. "Well it was a bit of a shock for me too. My father told me the adventure parts of his story, but left the part about having another child a secret until his death a week ago."
"I don't think you understand. I didn't know that Xaedes had a younger brother, because I was introduced to his younger sister." He gave me a mischievous smile. "Isn't that right… Lake?"