Chapter cover: Koli Ayers sleeping on his bed in his messy room of his home.
...
The silence inside the bar was awkward. They were the only ones there. The bartender kept giving misgiving looks at them as they were just there, sitting down, not ordering any drinks nor food. He always opened his mouth, but then closed it shut once he caught Dual's piercing glare. Shaking his head, the bartender went back to clean the glass with a cloth, although it was clean a long time ago.
Despite the dim lighting, Dual can see clearly. The marble floor was dirty, the bottles of wine behind the bartender looked expensive, some of them dated back as far as 60 years. The music was trance music – an electronic. Fortunately, the volume was low. The dance floor was empty; its steps were changing from blue to green, then red before it went back to white.
Again, Dual caught the bartender's misgiving look with the reflection of a mirror in the corner. The bartender frowned at the duo. Finally, Dual decided to order a drink before the bartender could chase them out.
Without another word, the bartender walked towards them with a pen and a notepad in hand.
"Plain water please." Dual said. Catching Koli's tired eyes, Dual smiled before adding, "and some grapefruit juice."
The bartender wrote them down. "Is that all?"
"Yes." Dual said it firmly. With their orders taken, the bartender nodded with satisfaction and prepared their drinks, but left the pen on their table.
Feeling restless, Dual spun the pen with his fingers quickly to the point Koli could only see the blurs.
"So…" Dual began, trying to break the ice. "why are you a mercenary?"
The snow-white haired warrior blinked. "It's the best way to earn mesos for me. Especially with my skills."
"Oh. Since when did you start this line of work?" Dual tilted his head to the right. Koli cupped his chin, considering Dual's question.
"I am not sure…" Koli's eyes became glaze. "Maybe around eight, perhaps nine."
"Wow, that's…young."
Koli smiled sadly. "It is."
"That would be 460 mesos in total." The bartender interrupted them. He placed a glass of plain water at Dual's side while the grapefruit juice at Koli's. Dual dug out his wallet before pulling out a 500 meso note.
"Keep the change." The bartender blinked before smiling gratefully and bowed respectfully at Dual and left them.
"You are a kind person, aren't you?" Koli said, taking a sip of his grapefruit juice.
Dual chuckled. "Maybe. I don't know."
Koli's eyebrows were furrowed. "You don't know?"
Dual looked at Koli seriously. "I think I am twisted."
Koli raised his already thinned eyebrows. "We all are."
"It takes another hero to understand another…huh…" Dual muttered mostly to himself. Koli shrugged.
"Can we trust your employer?"
Immediately, Koli's expression darkened. "That depends on the situation."
The tone Koli used, made Dual consciously stopped himself from withdrawing his dagger. His tone was dark and murderous – a bad signal to Dual's fighting instinct. Dual took a deep breath.
He's not an enemy. Dual reminded himself.
"Such as?"
Koli's shoulders stiffen. His face looked as if he had tasted something extremely sour – definitely not the drink. He set down his empty cup and covered his eyes with his hand.
"He's a flirter. He seduces women – left, right and centre." Koli sulked. "Half the time, I think he did it to tease me because the next moment, they were chasing after me." He added as an afterthought. "After he disappears…"
Dual laughed and was silenced with Koli's murderous look. The blue eyes looked more like ice than the azure sky itself. Dual gulped; perhaps he had pushed a button.
"I guess we better get moving?" Dual grabbed his sweater while Koli clasped his necklace.
"You okay?" Dual asked once they were outside. Koli nodded at his question but, he was still sulking.
Koli mumbled under his breath – if Dual has to guess – unflattering things about his employer, Phantom.
...
...
Phantom had locked himself in the room after requesting his maids and butler not to bother him. He stared down at the papers, after requesting the Intelligence Deck to dig out any information about Lea. It was long and tedious but they finally did it – as expected.
By the time they finished, they had collapsed in their seats and snored. Phantom had switched off the lights before covering their sleeping backs with spare blankets.
Still lost in thoughts, Phantom shifted through the papers, pulling the lamplight closer to the reading materials.
From Koli's report, apparently Lea is the same age as Koli, fourteen. However, the Intelligence Deck has her age at 16 – which is false, especially after what the rapier user said…
Fourteen – what a coincidence, the same age as my niece? The rapier's user voice echoed the back of Phantom's mind.
Phantom was grim. There was another pair with the same age and Koli and Lea just reminded him of them. If he was right, they should be 16 by now. Neither less nor more than that and yet…they didn't age at all – even after thawing out of the humongous ice.
Could this be the side effect of the curse?
Phantom gritted his teeth in frustration. How he wished Freud is here right now. Too bad – Phantom sighed – his successor is still a child, and Phantom, the great thief, is forced to tutor him.
He leaned back and stared at the polished, wooden wall. Perhaps Lea will tell him what he needed to know.
Until then, he has to wait until Lea woke up. Phantom grinned – Lea won't be able to escape with his sweet airship 10,000 feet in the air. He let out a long yawn – well, he was tired. He glanced down at the papers and then at his beloved bed.
I need my beauty sleep. Work can wait.
Phantom gathered up the papers and clipped them together and switched off the lamplight. Then, he dragged his feet to the bed, not bothering to change out of his dirty clothes and kicked off his shoes before climbing onto his bed.
He closed his eyes and sleep grabbed him immediately.
For once in weeks, his sleep was dreamless.
XXX
"Master Phantom." A familiar voice said. "Evan is waiting."
Phantom opened an eye and gave his butler a curt nod. "I will be there in a few minutes. Tell him to wait in the dining room; he should have breakfast – more than he usually eats."
"What should we do about the other guest?" His butler asked. Phantom pondered about the problem before shrugging.
"Is she awake?" The butler shook his head. He adjusted his monocle as it had slipped off his eye.
"Marguerite is tending her injuries as she saw fit."
Phantom raised an eyebrow at that. Injuries?
"What kind of injuries?" When the butler didn't answer, Phantom has to plead. "Gaston, please."
Gaston looked worried then look up at the ceiling, avoiding his master's gaze. "Nothing like we ever saw before. There were traces of internal bleeding, her blood is clotting but soon after that, the closed wounds would open again." Then he made eye contact with Phantom. "It's puzzling."
"Puzzling indeed…" Phantom agreed. "How bad is it?"
"Only her left arm is affected – sir."
"Left arm?" Phantom was on his feet immediately. Is it a coincidence? Or fate?
Whatever the case, Phantom must see the damage himself.
"Sir?"
"Lead the way," Phantom said grimly, his amethyst eyes were dull. He knew that once he caught a reflection of himself. Too many worries, too many problems – too little time.
He bit the inside of his cheeks. Gaston finally stopped at one of the empty rooms. It was clean as the maids he has hired did their duty diligently. He can proudly boast about his maids – they deserve their pays.
Gaston then turned to face his master. "Prepare yourself." He warned before turning back and knocked the door twice.
"Come in." Marguerite's faint voice answered. Gaston stepped aside, allowing Phantom to slide the door open and step inside. The first thing that hit Phantom was the room was dark. His fingers began searching for the light switch.
"Didn't you on any lights Marguerite?"
Marguerite yelped. "Phantom, why-"
"Marguerite," Phantom was exasperated, one of the main reasons was Lea. Another – the twins, then Evan, the current Dragon Master.
Click. The light was switched on.
Phantom suddenly wished he had taken Gaston's warning seriously. Lea's left arm was pitch black, buckets of perspiration soaked the entire bed sheet with a mix of black blood. The bed sheet was in a need for change.
His eyes then went to the orange-haired maid beside Lea. She was pale but, her jaw was set and her eyes showed flames of determination.
Her headband has one of Phantom's trademark feathers of his hat – proving she was one of Lumiere's workers. Like all maids, she wore a maid uniform. Other than a few wet spots on her dress, she was fine.
She twisted the wet cloth dry before replacing the already dried cloth on Lea's forehead, muttering words of encouragement. Her spirit was admirable.
Lea whimpered in her sleep, her face was contorted with pain. On the wooden table was countless medicinal herbs, some were half-empty, others opened but not used. There was a jar of water and a glass of empty cup, but they were untouched. Phantom was reminded once again, Marguerite is an excellent herbalist.
"How long?" Phantom said. Marguerite dabbed a healing salve at the injured left arm.
"Since you locked yourself." She replied without taking her eyes off her job. "I will handle this." continued Marguerite confidently. "So shoo."
"If you need help, don't hesitate." Phantom reminded her. Marguerite's head snapped up with a frown on her face. She thought he doubted her abilities.
"Oh, shush. You're not a mother hen now are you? Besides, who is the one always tending your injuries? From minor cuts and bruises to broken bones?"
"You."
Marguerite closed the salve and grinned at Phantom.
"That's right; leave it to me, Marguerite – special class maid, herbalist."
Phantom felt one of his burdens being lifted. He gave her a grateful smile before leaving the nursing maid and her patient alone, with the lights on. All he could do is trust them.
...
...
Meanwhile, a certain tactician stared at a bloody picture. He clenched his free hand with frustration. This time, the picture showed a brick wall painted with the Roman numerals, XI, with the unfortunate victim's blood.
...
A/N: I put the triple dots before and after (except for A/N) line breaks for easier reading.
Nekomi: Yay! My favourtie Beta Reader is here again. Your advices are noted. It's still hard to improve in a very short amount of time though.