Chapter 5
Saul tossed and turned, as his nightmares seemed to come alive.
"What's wrong, Saul? Afraid of a little fun?"
"I don't know about you guys but I am feeling a little hot, if you catch my drift."
"You want to be a hero, Saul?"
"Coward… Coward! COWARD!"
Saul jumped out of bed and grabbed the dagger he hid under his pillow. He looked around the room and saw nothing. A chair on the left side of the bed that he put his clothes on and a table on the right side on were all that he saw. On the table, he found apples, bread, and cheese. The innkeeper must have come in earlier and brought it in for him. The window allowed the dawn sun to come through. Saul was sweating as if he just finished running a marathon. His breathing was rapid and his heart was racing. He heard the door open and prepared to throw his dagger at the door. Saul was surprised to find it was the innkeepers daughter, Alanna. She was his age, 5' 8", petite figure, black hair to her shoulders, and cute face. She saw the dagger about to fly and froze with a gasp. Saul put the dagger down when he realized who it was. He put his head in his hands and laid back down into bed.
"Is something the matter?" she asked in her light and soft voice. She continued into the room carrying a goblet of water and a towel. "You were sweating heavily and brought you these. You seemed troubled."
"Another dream…" Saul whispered. "Another horrible dream." Alanna walked over to the bed and handed Saul the towel. He took it, sat up, and wiped his face, arms, and chest. Alanna watched closely as he dried himself off. Alanna took the towel from him and gave him the water. He took it and drank it all in two swallows.
"What did you dream?" Alanna asked curiously.
"It's... It is nothing. Something that happened a long time ago." Saul answered. He could not tell her about that day. As far as she knew, he was a man she could trust. For her to know what he did would destroy any thought of a future they may have. Alanna took the goblet from him and placed it on the table next to him. She sat on the bed next to him brushed his hair with her hand.
"You know you can tell me anything , right?" Alanna explained.
Saul took her hand that brushed his hair and kissed it gently. She smiled at him and he smiled back.
"Thank you." Saul said. "Someday, I will tell you everything."
Alanna nodded, stood up, and headed for the door. Saul did not take his eyes off her as she walked away. She got to the door, looked back, and waved to him. He waved back and she left. That moment he spent with her calmed Saul down and helped him to forget about the dream.
The morning was cold and quiet. The room was the same. Saul finished eating the food while in bed. He slowly got out of bed and started putting on his clothes and boots. He put on his pants, socks and boots and shirt. He held his armor, sheath with sword, and small ankle sheath with dagger in his hands. Saul walked to the window and felt the cool breeze and sun come though and stroke his face. He walked to the window and stood there with his eyes closed. The cool breeze and the warm sun brought comfort to his fears and greatly helped in bringing him back to peace within himself.
Saul opened his eyes and looked outside and down to see people walking by. It looked uncharacteristically busy for this time of day. He saw people carrying baskets of food, children running loose, donkey-pulled carts, and a few town soldiers.
"Coward..."
Saul froze for a moment hearing this whisper in the wind. He wondered what it was. Was it his mind playing tricks or was it just the wind? Saul dismissed it as the nothing and began to turn to go back into his room.
"Coward..."
There it was again. Saul froze. It was unmistakable. He quickly looked out the windows to see who said it. This time, he saw the source. It was below him. A cloaked figure below his window.
"Coward..."
Again it spoke that ominous word that tormented Saul. It angered him to the point he took up his dagger. There was no doubt who spoke it, but who was it?
"Who are you?!" Saul yelled.
The figure took off its hood revealing its golden hair. It slowly looked up at Saul and grinned at him. Saul was utterly shocked at what he saw. How could it be the person he saw dead a year ago? The face was painted but it was without doubt the same woman.
"You..." Saul uttered.
"Me..." Callisto replied.
Saul closed his eyes and spoke to himself breathing rapidly again. "There is no one there. I'm just seeing things. There is nothing there." He then took a deep breath and opened his eyes. Much to his surprise, the woman he saw down on the street was now in his face with the same grin. She was nose to nose with him.
"Boo." Callisto whispered.
"What the..." Saul muttered to himself. His face was one of terror and shock. How could this be? She is supposed to be dead. He knew what he saw in front of him. Callisto continued to grin as Saul started backing up. He dropped his gear on the ground without knowing he did so. There was no doubt in his mind. A knock on his door startled him and he reacted by slowly walking backwards towards the door without removing his eyes from Callisto.
"Tell your friend Roland that death is coming for him next." Callisto ordered. "I hope he likes fire."
A black bird flying from behind Callisto towards Saul distracted him. He quickly turned out of the way and covered his head with his hands. It sounded like the bird was hovering over his head loudly squawking at him. Saul, scared beyond anything he had ever experienced, dropped to one knee. He closed his eyes and prayed that this bird would go away.
"Stop it!" Saul yelled. Saul clenched his teeth and hoped it worked. It did the trick. His room was silent. The bird was no longer there. He opened his eyes to see if it was really over. He stood up and looked around the room. It was empty. Callisto wasn't there. The bird was gone. It was as if nothing had happened. It was like he imagined the entire thing.
A hand on his shoulder startled him and he reacted by sending a mule kick back landing into the person's stomach. He turned and looked at his target but stopped and saw it was Roland on the ground holding his stomach.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Gravis shouted at Saul. "Calm down! It's us!" Gravis went to check on Roland who was still on the ground holding his stomach. "What is wrong with you?" Saul' breathing started to slow down into a normal rhythm.
"I saw her." Saul said in a trembling tone. "I saw Callisto."
"Excuse me?" Gravis asked while grinning in a confused tone. "You would please repeat that? It sounded like you said you saw Callisto."
"That's right." Saul said with no emotion. "She was right here."
Gravis grin turned into a frown as he picked Roland up off the ground. He finally began breathing again but it was still hard to. Roland looked at Gravis surprised. He then looked at Saul and shook his head.
"You.... You do realize that she is dead, right?" Roland asked as he slowly started to recover.
"I know what I saw!" Saul retorted. "I saw Callisto!"
"Enough already!" Gravis commanded. He moved into Saul' face and stared him right in his eyes.
"Where is she now? Huh? Where is she now?!" Saul looked around the room and saw that Gravis was right.
"I'll tell you where she is. She is dead, buried and rotting in the ground we put her in. Callisto. Is. Dead. I thought you got over that!"
"I know what I saw, Gravis." Saul said angrily. "She was right here."
Both of them looked at each other ready to defend their different versions of the truth. They both were ready to defend what believed true. Roland stood between both of them trying to push them apart.
"Come on you two, that's enough already." Roland said in a low and quiet tone. "We don't need this right now. Let's just get Darius and go. We have to pay our respects to Aaron, remember?"
Gravis and Saul paused for a moment and thought of Aaron. He died in the fight with Callisto. He was Gravis' younger brother and was a very vital part of their team. His loss was painful to all of them. Without words both agreed to back off.
"Come on, let's pack up." Roland out the door followed by Gravis. Saul followed behind Gravis when he realized his gear was still on the ground by the window. He went over to pick it up not worrying about anything. He started picking up his dagger and placed it in the sheath on his ankle. He looked and saw a crow sitting on his windowsill. It was there not a second ago. It started screeching as it watched Saul. Saul saw the crow and froze where he stood. It looked as if it was watching him. Saul walked over to it slowly, but flinched as it flapped its wings and flew out the window. Saul took a deep breath and continued to pick up his things. In his mind he knew that whatever he saw was too real to be a dream. He began thinking about what she said to him. Death was coming for Roland next. What did she mean by next? As he finally put on the last piece of his armor, he thought of Darius being left in the tavern. I light bulb went off in his head as he hurried to the door and ran to the other rooms looking for Gravis and Roland. They were waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs of the inn.
"By the gods...!" Saul yelled as he ran down the stairs. "Now!"
"We are going there right now. What's wrong with you?" Gravis asked confused to why Saul was running passed him and ran out the door.
"Let's just go." Roland replied. "He will be there before us, that's all." Gravis and Roland left the inn.
At the tavern, people looking inside trying to figure out what happened inside. Gravis and Roland saw the crowd and thought that Darius was probably fighting with someone. After drinking himself to sleep, Darius usually wakes up angry. Angry enough to fight someone who has done nothing to bother him. Gravis felt this was a situation like that but it was too quiet to be that. The tavern was silent as they walked through the crowd and looked inside. The smell was a familiar one to them. It was the smell of death. Roland thought Darius killed someone. This was not acceptable. The local magistrate was not too friendly to them and was waiting to find them breaking any laws. He walked over to them wearing a long robe and a round hat that looked like a bowl on top of his head. He looked to be in his late fifties, six feet tall, black hair and sideburns and a wooden staff in his right hand. Gravis and Roland stopped as they saw him come towards them.
"You always bring trouble, don't you?" the magistrate said in a stern and deep tone. Gravis and Roland simply grinned and played off his words. "Now it looks like trouble found you." The two didn't play off that statement as he walked away from them grinning. When he moved, they saw Saul standing in front of a chair and someone facing away from them sitting on it. He was tied and gagged. They walked from behind the chair and slowly walked to the other side where Saul was still frozen in fear. Gravis and Roland hoped that it was not what they feared the most. It was, for they saw Darius's cold dead eyes staring at the roof.
"By the gods," Roland uttered. "Darius. What happened to him?"
"Its sick," Saul said in a tone that showed disgust. "It's . . . Just sick." Saul moved quickly through the crowd and out the door.
"Who did this?" Gravis growled. He looked around the room for an answer of some kind. The people in the crowd looked at each other confused. "Someone had to see or hear something."
"It happened last night." The magistrate said. Everyone looked and listened to him as he sat at the bar eating fresh beef stew from the tavern owner. "After midnight to be precise. The tavern owner saw him sleeping on the table and chose to leave him alone as opposed to waking him up. He has a nasty habit of waking up fighting. This morning, the tavern owner woke up and came in to find your friend as you see him now. And it looks like they left their calling card. The bird-like shape on his chest. My guess it was a group of guys who were looking for a fight."
Gravis and Roland accepted this notion and walked over to the bar. They sat on both sides of the magistrate. He continued to enjoy his meal.
Saul was down on both hands and knees vomiting in front of the tavern. He wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt while people moved away from him in disgust. If they had only seen what he had seen, there was no doubt that people would understand. He found himself looking at his own vomit and remembering what Callisto told him earlier. The mark on Darius's chest was definitely a bird. Most likely a crow similar to the one he saw this morning. Was it coincidence or was Callisto actually still alive? These thoughts ran through his mind at the speed of a waterfall. He knew he had to warn Roland about the immediate danger he was in, but Roland felt that Callisto was dead. There was virtually no way that he would believe him. However, after seeing Darius, he may take anything as true. Saul looked up at the sky and watched as clouds passed in the light blue sky. The thought of Darius's body ruined the beauty he saw. He breathed heavily as his stomach started acting up again. He looked back down at the puddle of vomit and added more to it.
"He was probably attacked by two or three guys." Gravis said as he stood behind Saul. Both Gravis and Roland stood behind Saul as he continued to bring up his breakfast. "My guess is they were probably related to the last job."
"How would you know that?" Roland said in anger. "Do you know if he had any family? How did they know we killed him? I don't think its anyone linked to him!"
"Calm down." Gravis said in a low and controlled tone. "It was just a thought. I cannot think of anyone else."
"It was Callisto." Saul muttered.
Gravis and Roland looked down at Saul as he wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt and slowly began to stand.
"What?" Gravis asked. Saul continued.
"It was Callisto. She is not dead. She came to me this morning and told me that Roland was the next to die. Something about him and fire. Roland, I think you sho . . . "
"Hang on a second." Gravis interrupted. "For the last time, Callisto is dead. Dead! What part of that is giving you the most trouble?!" The crowd began to stare at them with curiosity. Roland noticed this and tried to intervene for the second time that morning.
"Settle down guys. Now is not the best time......" Roland pleaded.
"The part that cannot explain Darius was tied, tortured, carved up and made to suffer!" Saul yelled. "You see the marks on his chest? That is a bird. A crow to be exact. The same crow that came into my room this morning and tried to peck and claw my face off! It was with Callisto!"
Gravis shoved Saul and pointed at him forcing him to take a step back. "Shut up. Shut your mouth!"
"Don't push me, Gravis!" Saul quickly returned the favor forcing Gravis to take two steps back. The two then grabbed each other and started to roll on the ground fighting. Gravis threw a punch that landed in Saul' gut making him grunt in pain. Saul clenched his teeth, gave Gravis a headbutt that forced him to push off Saul and grab his nose. Saul and Gravis rolled in opposite directions and stood up drawing swords. They both put up their guard and circled looking for an opening to attack. The crowd began to grow around them as they slowly circled. The magistrate came out of the tavern to see what the commotion was about. Roland stepped in between the both of them.
"Alright already, that's enough!" Roland exclaimed. "Is this what Darius would have wanted?! Is this what Aaron would have wanted?!"
Both combatants paused from circling, but did not take their eyes off each other. The thought of Aaron and Darius went through their minds. Saul lowered his guard and put his sword away. Gravis did the same. He then wiped his nose and saw blood because of the headbutt.
"Saul, thanks for looking out for me," Roland said. "But I am certain that she is not the cause of this."
"Fine." Saul said as he turned away shaking his head in disgust. He walked through the crowd and headed back in the direction of the inn. "I quit!"
"Saul?" Roland said. He was heading for him when a hand held his shoulder. It was Gravis.
"Let him go." Gravis advised.
"But he. . ." Roland rebutted.
"Let him go. He needs to cool off." Gravis said in a calm voice. Some of the tavern keeper's friends brought Darius's body to Gravis on a stretcher and waited for Gravis to tell them what to do next. "Besides, we have to bury Darius."