Side Stories 6, 7 & 8

Side Stories 6, 7 & 8

Lucus put the final line down on his latest picture. Stepping back to look at it with fresh eyes, he noticed that one of the buildings in the distance was slightly misshapen. He sat down and started fixing his mistake.

Ever since the tournament, Lucus had stopped attending his lessons. As his sister would say, ‘What can they do to you?’ The only reason he had even been trying was to impress his father. For all the good it had done him. It still made his blood boil when he thought about how he had been dressed down for winning.

He’d thought people only cared about the young lords who were skilled with swords. And that still seemed to be true. Except for Lucus, even if he spent all his time practicing and trying to impress, he would still be considered less. So why would he try to compete with the boys who were blessed to enjoy the things that gave a person worth? Instead, he would do what he enjoyed and draw. He would never have to bother with a sword again.

Lucus drew an angry, jagged line from one corner of the picture to the other. Then he ripped the picture in half and crumpled it up. Taking in a ragged breath, he tried to calm himself. He was fine. At least one person had been proud of him.

The thought brought him to his sister, the monster wearing the skin of a girl and, ironically, the only member of his family who had noticed his work. He just wished he knew what she was. The way she moved and smiled - it was close to the way a human would, but off just enough that he could tell it was wrong without knowing why. It reminded him of some of his earlier pictures of people.

And when she had snuck into his room - his locked room - covered in blood, he’d thought she was trying to murder him at first. But instead, she’d asked for his help. He didn’t believe for a second that the blood was the result of a dream, but she seemed so grateful for his help that he couldn’t force himself to push her. However, he had gotten her to promise to show him where she hid all the time. He was going to figure her out. And if she ate someone else, he would help her clean up the blood again. She was his sister, after all.

***

Sunrise glared at the doors to the warehouse, cheeks puffed with air. Where was she? She hadn’t come by in days! Had Rain forgotten about her? To make matters worse, she was at that shitstain's place. Sunrise was fine with him not admitting she was his daughter. She was also fine with him leaving her to the mercy of her mother. But trying to steal Rain was unforgivable.

Sunrise swore that the next time Rain came, she would be taking Sunrise with her. No matter what.

***

“The greatest lead we have is a black-haired child visiting their headquarters two nights ago.”

Henrik was glad to see that this information caught Commander Thea’s attention.

“My men haven’t been able to find any connection between the Merchant Killer and the Ash Grifters.”

“Well, that's something at least.”

Before Henrik could give the next part of his report, the door to the office burst open.

“How ya doin boss!”

Henrik groaned. She was back and as uncontrollable as ever. But when you were a powerful, unique classer, you could do whatever you wanted.

“Welcome back Sonja.” Commander Thea easily replied to the disrespectful Right Hand. “we’ll be needing your skills shortly.”

“Yeah, ya do! I had someone try to cast a skill on me through this guy on my way here.” Sonja said, holding up a dead uffter.

“Wait, someone is using animals to perform skills?”

“That's what I said, boss.”

“Then there’s a fifth black classer in the city.”

“Five black classers? Now, this could actually be fun.”

Henrik doubted that. for new novels