6 Outside the tavern

Cairo made sure to keep any details about himself that might startle anyone out of the big picture. He kept his introduction short and to the point. Quick and painless. Something he was very well known for.

\tEventually, another man stumbled himself into the tavern. He had golden blonde hair hanging right above his eyes like a princess in dismay. He was very clean-shaven, showing no blemishes or any sort of disproportion around his perfectly symmetrical face. His eyes were as blue as the sky, and his physique was as skinny as a toothbrush. He didn't seem like someone who came off as threatening, but the moment Cairo saw him, he could feel another unrecognizable knot turning in his stomach.

Kalvin wrapped his arm around the man's shoulder, smiling as bright as the sun. "Cairo, Mooks." He turned his head, "This is Leonidas. Leonidas, this is Cairo and Mooks. They'll be joining us on our journey across the Black Sea."

Leonidas barely managed to escape Kalvin's grip, but he bowed like a servant with the utmost respect. "It's a pleasure to meet the two of you. I hope we can work well with each other on this nightmarish trip."

"Leonidas here owns a ship that can travel across any waters, any sort of barriers, and any sort of obstacle that might stand in our way." Kalvin's tone was ecstatic as if he just witnessed a miracle of some sort. "And guess what? He's doing this for free! Only, on the contrary, we take him with us." Kalvin gave another chuckle, leaving Leonidas a little embarrassed by it.

"Rin!" Kalvin called out to Rina, "Whip up another plate will ya? We got a lot of mouths to feed in here!"

"Comin' right up!" She gave a salute-like gesture and headed over to the kitchen in the back.

…

The remainder of the morning was filled with cheerful laughs and momentary pieces of silence that followed after taking a bite. Cairo remained quiet for most of the encounter, while Mooks tried his best to adapt to everyone's sense of humor and personality. It wasn't easy, but he managed to refrain himself from crossing the line of taking a joke too far.

After breakfast was over, Kalvin invited Mooks and Cairo outdoors to ask them a few private questions he didn't want the others to hear. It was also a strategy to get Cairo talking, with slight hopes of finding out more about him.

They met in a secluded part of the woods where Cairo and Mooks usually spent their days wandering and observing. Trees surrounded most of the space, but the peak of a few houses remained in the clear distance behind them. The ground was sturdy like it's been deprived of any sort of grain or vegetation. However, that sweet smell of pine and maple gave a good enough distraction where everything else didn't matter.

Kalvin dropped the friendly expression he wore in the tavern, along with his innocent smirk. "I have nothing against you traveling with us, or being a part of our Guild. However, when you're with us, I'm afraid you must tell me a little more about yourself. For safety purposes."

"You first," Cairo answered, respectfully. "We're both men with secrets. Secrets that could lead to our demise. Isn't that right, Kalvin Pride."

Kalvin loosened the tension building in his knees, preparing himself for a possible fight he might not recover from. "I put my life on the line for these kids. Don't you dare speak like you know anything about me." His voice became deeper, angrier, and more frightening.

"If you get a hold of that Jewel," Cairo's voice remained as stale as a loaf of bread. "What is it you'll wish for?"

Kalvin exhaled a quick burst of air, catching the edge of his mouth curling upwards again. "I would wish the war never happened. What else-"

"Don't lie." Cairo cut him off.

Kalvin relaxed his posture again, but the tension in the air rose with every second that passed. It's as if one of them was about to outdraw the other, but neither wanted to initiate a fight. "I wouldn't make a wish. No wish can change what has already happened. One wish is only good for one thing. I'd need a bucketful of wishes to satisfy me."

"He's not lying," Mooks spoke to Cairo, but kept his gaze on Kalvin like a hawk.

"Now tell me," Kalvin stuck his finger towards Cairo's neck. "How did you get that scar?"

Cairo reached for his neck again, almost forgetting there was a scar there. The scar planted on his neck was the most important one to him, and perhaps the only one anyone could recognize. Nevertheless, he took another deep breath of the nature around him and cleared his throat. "I got it during my first attempt to escape from the Gulag. As you can see," He pulled back his cloak, "I didn't succeed."

"No…" Kalvin's voice became hollow, sounding like any life that remained was just stolen out of his throat. He began approaching Cairo, then he hugged him. Hugged him like he's been wanting to for a very long time. "You did. You did more than you could've imagined."

Cairo looked confused, but the longer Kalvin hugged him, the more he began to understand. "You were one of the wardens… One of the people I can never trust."

Kalvin let go, stepping back a few steps by the sudden onslaught of emotions. "I'm not asking you to give me your trust. I ask that you forgive me… Anything I've ever done to you-"

"Stop." Cairo cut him off. "Begging for forgiveness has proved nothing, nor will it ever prove anything. You did the right thing, Kalvin Pride. Embrace that feeling, that prideful memory of doing the right thing. Because you will never know the feeling of true regret. Regret that drives you to do unspeakable things."

Cairo turned around, heading back to the tavern with Mooks by his side.

Kalvin however, didn't move. He became lost in his thoughts, like a lonely soul searching for something it's never going to find. "Regret…" He whispered to himself, looking up at the clouds rolling by above him. "What did they do to you Cairo? What evil did they embark upon you?"

…

Night fell rather quickly that day. The sun barely seemed to shine at all, and the clouds only added more and more darkness throughout the day. The air felt heavy as if there was a feeling of pressure pushing down on everyone. It wasn't something everyone would notice so easily, but for the small few who had an extra sense in them, it didn't feel right.

Cairo found himself sitting alone by the bar in the deep hours of the night. Even Mooks was asleep in his room, meaning the owls and the darkness was fully awakened beyond the tavern doors.

There were very few lights left out on the tavern floor, as taking any customers at this hour would be fanatic and irrational.

Cairo sat like an old man without legs, staring at the candle placed in front of him. The tip of the flame flickered and spun in random directions, moving and twisting the shadows around it.

A sudden gasp broke Cairo from his concentration, and he turned to the stairs to see Rina looking more surprised than him.

"You scared the hell right out of me!" She startled, trying to calm her breath, "What are you doing being up this late?"

Cairo reverted his attention back to the flame, "Same as you. Can't sleep."

Rina gave a small chuckle, relieving her body of the fear it previously had. She then took a seat beside him, locking her gaze onto the flame reflecting from his eyes.

"You know," She said, silently. "I was there. Inside the outer walls of the Gulag."

Cairo's gaze quickly shifted onto Rina's, "There were no girls or women in the Gulag. How could you-"

"They made us watch."

Cairo's mouth opened to speak, but nothing came out. He was frozen. Frozen with nothing to say. So he turned back towards the flame, and watched as the wax melted down the sides of the candlestick.

"Us girls," Rina started. "They made us sweep the floors more times than I took steps during a single day. They made us watch from the floor above yours, they made us watch every single fight. Every death. Every beating." Rina wiped a droplet from her eye, trying her best to hide her feelings under a fake smile. "That's when I saw you. The first boy to refuse to fight. The first one to take the punishment."

Cairo's memory became more vivid in his head, but his face remained the same as always: Plain with no emotions. "Five days without food or water, and a proper beating from one of the wardens. That was my punishment."

It doesn't sound like much when saying, but going through a beating with no food or water for five days as a ten-year-old boy was basically hell itself. Even Cairo himself didn't know how he survived.

\t"Three years I refused to fight. The three years I regret the most out of anything else."

\tRina remained silent, thinking back on her days from the Gulag. Her mind wandered with loose questions she never received any answers too, and her heart felt trapped inside a never-ending realm of darkness. "Why do you regret it?"

\tCairo thought for a moment, "Because. That wasn't the only punishment. There was another. One they didn't tell you about it."

\tCairo sighed, keeping his face still and focused on the flame. "At first. I thought my friends had lost their lives inside the chambers of the Gulag. I thought they met unfortunate endings due to an unfair matchup… But no, it was far worse than that." He paused, gliding one of his fingers back and forth like a sailboat across the candle flame. "They spied on me. Found out who my dearest friends were. And killed them… Killed them like they were nothing but rabid dogs off their leash. It took me three years to find out the truth. And that's when I tried to escape." Cairo picked up the candle, bringing it close to his neck and revealing the scar protruding from the bottom of his chin all the way down to his collarbone.

\tTears started flowing down Rina's cheeks like a silent river. They were tears that needed comfort, redemption, and another soul to guide them on their path. They were peaceful in a way, but the longer Cairo kept his silence, the more she shared the pain burning inside Cairo's heart.

…

Outside the tavern, where no soul dared to walk the abandoned trails of the forest, Leonidas made sure there wasn't a single living creature alive that could hear him at this moment. He stopped beside a tree, giving one last look around him, and pulling out a small blue orb from the confinement of his ripped bag.

The orb wasn't bigger than a melon, being just outside the size of a coconut or a large snowball. It had a faint glow of navy blue circling inside it like clouds on a clear day. Leonidas chanted something under his breath, and the orb awakened to its true colors of white and grey.

"Hello?" Leonidas spoke to it, "Father, can you hear me?"

A muffled voice replied, but it was too staticky and disrupted to understand. "Hepgdf… Leoghsias… Hellifhs… Hello?" Finally, the voice became clear. "Leonidas? Can you hear me alright?" A man spoke with a low, tired voice. ��I hope you bring me good news."

"Oh, father!" Leonidas laughed, "You won't believe the faces I've seen today!"

"Do tell, boy."

Leonidas drew a malicious smile on his face, "It seems like we not only found escapees from the Gulag. But a warden who betrayed your majesty, and the boy with the scar who stole your most trusted aid."

Leonidas's father drew a grin on his face, beginning to cough and laugh as the hatred in his stomach burst open. "Very well done my boy... Bring them to me, dead or alive. Whichever you prefer. I wish to place their bodies on display as traitors to the kingdom, and traitors of the people."

"With pleasure, Your majesty."

The king shut the orb off, gesturing to the slave that held it up for him to take it out of his room. He then sat for a moment, looking at his throne like a masterpiece.

He sighed, grinning like a man who's about to have his wish come true. "Oh dear Cairo, how I wish you were here with me," He said to himself. "How I wish you were in my grasp once more." He stopped, looking at the carved wood holstered to his forearms. He remembered how he lost his hands in the first place, and that hatred inside him made him laugh even more.

"Cairo, Cairo, Cairo," He hummed, tapping one of his wooden fingers against the armrest of his throne. "What will you do now?..."