Chapter 38 - Y

What was that idiot thinking? I mean, sure, I was glad that he was out of that smelly, rodent infested hole in the ground, but coming back here of all places? This is the first place they would look!

"Uh… Hello? What are you all doing here?" the first guard asked. Well, it's not like we live in the castle.

"What's it look like, mate? We're 'avin' a booze-up, innit? Join us!" Syrenne staggered towards them. She rarely ever got that drunk since she was a raging alcoholic and had the tolerance to match, but they didn't know that. She was already only half dressed, which just made it all the more ridiculous to watch.

"Oh, uh… We're on duty," the second guard said, probably blushing under his helmet. "Thanks, though."

"Come on, man! Let's get out of here!" the first one whispered a bit too loudly.

Syrenne's arms fell to her sides. "Are you saying we ain't good enough to drink with?" she walked slowly towards them. "Aye?!"

"Go! Run! Run!" they stumbled over each other and out of the door. "She-devil!" they shouted, making Lowell laugh and almost blow our cover.

Syrenne snickered and crossed her arms. "All safe now, you two."

Zael stood up from behind the bar and apologised to Ariella and her dad before jumping back over the counter.

"So, what the hell's going on?" Lowell stopped laughing and looked over at Calista, who'd been hiding behind the staircase.

Dagran let out a long and loud sigh, which I agreed with, and crossed his arms. "It's like looking after a bunch of misbehaving kids," he shot a glare at Zael. "Didn't I tell you not to do anything stupid?" Does anyone actually listen to you, though?

Zael shrugged and was about to defend himself when Calista stepped forward. "I'm sorry," she interjected shyly. "I'm the one who got him out."

He sighed again and stood up, turning to face the rest of the group. "Well, we can't hide him here forever."

"Things are getting' hairy," Syrenne added. "Why don't we just leg it?" I agreed with her, too. I didn't much want to be here anymore either. We were all only here in the first place because Dagran and Zael wanted us to be. Those two would die on their own…

"The hell with that!" Dagran snapped, making all of us jump a bit. "People are finally giving us some recognition!" his face looked disgusted that running away was even an option. I wouldn't have been able to respond to that, but Syrenne didn't budge a bit.

"Well, yeah, but I'm getting proper fed up with the goons in that castle," she put her hands on her hips and curled her lip. "I mean, one minute they're falling all over themselves trying to get in Zael's pants, and the next they can't stand the sight of him! And they're all so damn stiff! It's just not me, Dagran," she dropped one hand to her side and cocked her head. Her expression was soft.

He sighed once more and crossed his arms again, leaning against the edge of the bar. "What do the rest of you think?" he looked at Lowell first.

Lowell shifted his weight between feet before leaning against the stair rail in a similar pose. "I don't mind. I could go either way, to be honest." I nodded in agreement. I wanted to get the hell out of here and never deal with half of the creepy shit we'd seen ever again, but on the other hand, staying wouldn't be so bad. I cared about the kids and the town and all. On the good days, Zael's face would light up, but he'd done more suffering here than what good it'd done him. At this point, the bad outweighed the good.

"I just can't leave now. Not like this," Zael also crossed his arms, showing his unwillingness to budge. Of course. I crossed my legs and watched them argue.

"Why not?!" Syrenne threw her arms out. "We can even take Calista with us! We can do whatever we want and be whoever we want without being told what's right and wrong!" As much as I didn't want to take Calista with us, maybe booking it wasn't such a bad idea.

Zael frowned, but didn't look away. "I have to find out who murdered General Asthar. I can't leave that be," he said firmly. "And I need to know what this power is, what the Outsider is. There's just too many unanswered questions," he looked down at his hand. The black markings were still strange to me, but they didn't look half bad. It was kind of sexy… My mind trailed off and I had to shake myself out of it.

"Exactly. That's what the General and I were trying to find out," Mirania agreed.

"So that's why you had your nose in the books all this time," I remembered the both of us being in the library most of the time, but being in two separate worlds. She'd been looking at old books and magic seals. I'd looked over her shoulder one day.

"Guess that puts us at a decision, doesn't it," Lowell glanced at Syrenne as if trying to tell her to just go with it.

She grunted. "Fine, I'll stay. But what clues do we have?"

"The real killer must be Jiral," Dagran stated bluntly. I raised my head to stare at him. How in the world did you come to that conclusion so quickly… "He's been consumed with envy towards Zael, and Asthar must have been in his way, too."

"Jiral, eh? Makes sense to me," Lowell agreed.

"You mind telling us how you're gonna prove that? You can't just jump to conclusions with nothing behind it," I had to be the skeptic. Everyone was hopping on the bandwagon, but… "Just because everyone hates him, doesn't mean he did it." Sure, I'd be easy to blame him, but did Jiral even have the guts to do it? Unless he hired someone?

Dagran nodded. "You're right. We need evidence. Concrete, indisputable evidence."

"How are we going to find that?" Mirania asked. "This is Jiral we're talking about." She has a point. What are you going to do, check his room?

"As obvious as this sounds, let's start in his room," Dagran suggested. God, you've got to be kidding me. "Zael, we've got to come up with a plan to sneak back into the castle."

I turned back around on my barstool and watched Ariella cook. "Can you believe these morons?" I rested my head on my hand.

"You look like you need a drink," she smiled sympathetically.

"If things keep going like this, I might actually start drinking more often. Maybe this is why Syrenne is such a boozer," I joked.

She looked relieved for a moment. "I was really worried we were going to have a brawl there," she put a hand to her heart. "Thank goodness. We've already been through too much for that." I nodded in agreement.

"You can say that again." I glanced behind me. It looked like they were just about ready to leave. "I'm turning in for the night, then," I got up from my stool.

"Take care. I'll see you in the morning," she smiled. I returned it and waved a quick goodnight.

On my way to the stairs, I tapped Zael on the shoulder, and whispered "be careful" only loud enough for him to hear. His eyes followed me until I was out of sight. Mirania was upstairs with her nose in a book again. "You dove right back into that, didn't you?"

She nodded. "I need to figure this out as quickly as I can, but I just need more time," she sounded stressed.

"Don't strain yourself too hard, alright?" She nodded and bit at her thumbnail. Calista was leaning over the balcony, staring at Zael with as much worry as I felt. Maybe she's not so bad…

"Oh, Yurick," she snapped out of her thoughts and caught my eye. "You startled me," she smiled. She always smiled. I think her positivity irritated me.

"You shouldn't zone out like that so easily. What if someone had pushed you or one of the drunks in here kidnapped you? You are a Lady after all," I said seriously, not at all thinking about pushing her over the balcony.

She giggled. "You're right. I should be more careful. Are you turning in for the night?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I can only tolerate so much before I'm completely warn out," I meant that I could only take so much idiocy, but I think she took it as stress or physical strain… though I guess it's the same thing, isn't it?

"Rest well, then," she said cheerfully. I nodded and waved it off before heading into our room.

It had been an excruciatingly long day... no, a long week. What I really wanted was for Zael to stop getting into trouble and to stay with me tonight, but that wasn't going to happen. That boy is hopeless.

"Yurick," I turned around quickly and was met by a pair of lips meeting my own. I wanted to melt, but as soon as I tried to hold him, he pulled away with, "I'll be back soon," and ran back out of the room as quickly as he'd entered.

"Be careful," I spoke softly to an empty room.