Make A Killing

Drunk Poet Society

Francis's point of view.

    I held the money tightly in my fist and wandered into the street. The Guard didn't have a car. Well, we did, but it was strictly for mission-use, so that we wouldn't be arrested or taken back to the Raven King's training while we were unarmed or distracted. I'd tried to convince Luna to let me save up for a cool kinda car, but when she tried to crunch the numbers, it never worked out. I've thought about stealing something. It wouldn't have to be one of those really fancy kinds--but I'd really like to own a Jeep or something. 

    I imagined driving to the market instead of walking. Our roads were mostly gravel or dirt since we were so out of the way; if we were closer to the market, or if we tried to live in a city, we'd be caught before we could even take a step outta the apartment. Trinket says they'll build me a car. I wonder if they know how to build a Jeep, too...?

    I huffed and made myself walk faster. Gotta find some garlic. The potato soup was waiting, and I couldn't let Trinket alone with it too long. They'd start adding artificial tomatoes or something awful. Trinket is real smart, but they weren't a good cook. They liked to try too many things, and most of the things were made in their lab. Besides, they got a hair in my chicken once. Not sure if I've forgiven them for that yet. Not that I told them they got a hair in it; I didn't want to make them feel all bad about it. 

    The market was quicker to get to if I went through the woods and then through the back door of a bar to avoid Raven King patrols along the edge of the town. I hated the Raven King patrols. They saw a big guy like me and started talking to me about my training with the Raven King. I don't care about the Raven King; I just wanted to make soup, and R. K. wouldn't let me. He said making soup was useless for a big guy like me. 

    The woods weren't as dense as I thought woods ought to be. No cool animals either, though I would bet Trinket could find something cool about the woods. Trinket was real smart, and they knew a lot about science. I don't know what they know about animals and the woods, but I knew without a shadow of a doubt that they'd know more than me. That's okay, though. I don't have to be smart; I'm good at other things, like soup.

    I liked Luna more. She let me make soup. Besides, R. K. was mean even in the few days that I'd been in his training. I don't think I'd make a very nice soldier. I don't like all of those people yelling at me like that. I don't like all their philosophy about feelings, either. They liked to tell us that anger is the only useful feeling, and I didn't like that. Making soup doesn't take any anger.

    ...I do think feelings make life hard sometimes, though. I look at Trinket and I think to myself, it would be a lot easier if I didn't have feelings for them. Still, I wouldn't trade my feelings.

    The bar was in sight. I stepped over a root and hid behind a tree while I scouted the area for soldiers real fast. I didn't see any, but that doesn't mean they weren't there. After a few minutes of waiting to make sure they were all gone, I stepped out from behind the tree and tip-toed up to the back door of the bar. 

    The bar was real old, which was why it had a back door that led to the woods. Buildings today aren't allowed to have a back door that goes to the woods. It's too dangerous, says the Raven King. He says that the woods were too dangerous to be so accessible, but I think if he'd ever been to the woods, he'd know they're not dangerous. There weren't any animals anyway to make the woods dangerous. Besides the Guard, I s'pose, but the Raven King didn't know that the Guard lived in a cottage in the woods. The Raven King hardly knew anything except for fighting.

    The back door to the bar was barely hanging onto its hinges. I pulled it open slowly, ignoring the loud creak. No one'd notice a creak in a bar like this one, it was so loud. My ears hurt sometimes from how loud it got. It was worse at night, though, and luckily the sun hadn't set yet. Otherwise, I'd have a really bad time.

    The door opened up to a dressing room for the servers of the bar. I peaked around with wide eyes. My heart was thumping in my chest. I finally stepped inside and closed the door behind me. Then I hurried out before someone could come in to change. 

    The bar was just full of big men like me, but these kind got mean if I got in their way. My plan was to just get out the door as fast as possible, but someone caught my eye. A lil guy standing up on a table, drunk to the point that he could hardly stand, but his speech was fine. I'd never seen that before. Usually their speech started getting real confusing once they got that drunk. 

    I shook my head and tried to continue to push my way to the door. The stench was horrible. Like sweat and beer and maybe a few things I shouldn't mention. All these big guys didn't care about smelling nice, and you could tell the moment you walked in. 

    The lil guy's table was right in the center of the room, and people were crowding my way to the door to listen to the guy. I huffed and paused. The lil guy seemed like a performer or something, because he was talking a whole lot on that table. I leaned in to hear what he was saying.

    "...And so, a final ode to the moon: 

    I shall love you past life and past death,

    Which shall surely happen soon!"

    I frowned, confused. That wasn't normal bar talk. It was something weird--the last couple verses of poetry, maybe. The lil guy raised his glass high in the air, and shouted, "To freedom and to the moon!"

    The bar was laughing, so the lil guy laughed too. I rubbed my arm awkwardly. I didn't think the bar men would be laughing with a poet. I may not be smart, but I was pretty sure they were laughing at him. 

    The lil guy stumbled then, and the crowd shouted and keeled over with laughter as he fell off his table. 

    The crowd dispersed, still laughing, but the lil guy was still on the floor. I glanced at the door of the bar and then back at the guy. I still had to get garlic...but I s'pose this was more important. I tilted my head and approached the guy. His energy had changed from charismatic (even if he was a bit dark) to something dreadful real fast. His brow was furrowed tightly; he was afraid of something. 

    I touched his shoulder. "Man, are you okay?"

    He looked at me with suspicion. He took in my muscular form and seemed to shrivel a bit. "Are you here to take me away? Ha, who knew they'd send someone like you to catch me? I wouldn't have thought they'd waste such a good soldier. I don't think it would take much of a soldier to return me to the King."

    I helped him to his feet, and he wobbly stepped away from his shattered drink. I pointed my finger at him. "I'm not a soldier, you hear me? Don't call me a soldier. I hate those guys. Are you a soldier?" I looked him over again. "You look about the age. You drop out too?"

    He narrowed his eyes. "You're telling me you'd let me leave this bar, if I wanted?"

    I shrugged. "I mean, it'd be kinda rude seeing as we're talking right now, but I wouldn't report you."

    "What if I wanted to run off into the woods? Would you let me?"

    I cracked a grin. "Why, I just came from the woods. Did you see me enter? Is that why you're acting all strange? The woods aren't nearly as strange as they say. I can't even find any interesting animals in 'em. I got a friend who could find some cool things, though."

    The guy rested his head on his fist as if he were pondering something important. He swayed a bit. "Where are you from?"

    "Not allowed to tell. If the wrong person hears, I could get caught. I don't wanna get returned to R.K."

    That answer somehow convinced him of something, and he grabbed my arm to lean on me. He led me out of the bar and into the street outside. I was glad to have a breath of fresh air, away from the horrible stench inside the bar. The sky was clear, and it helped remind me of my focus. 

    "Hey, I gotta buy some garlic," I told the lil guy. "You wanna come with me, or did you just have something private to say?"

    "I'd like to come with you, if that's okay. I'd like to get to know you, I think."

    So, he continued to lean on my arm. It took us quite a while to make it to the market, what with him swaying and getting off track like that. He was talking my ear off, too. He talked all about nonsense, like the moon and the planets and the woods and escape. I couldn't understand a word; he wasn't slurring, but the foundation of his words didn't make sense. 

    "The moon'll save me," he muttered after finishing another tangent. 

    Finally, I got sick of it. "The moon won't save anybody, man. We gotta save ourselves."

    He blinked at me. "I can't save myself. I'm not strong enough. My execution is tomorrow. Maybe the woods'll save me."

    "The woods are just trees. There aren't even any cool animals."

    He laughed darkly. "I feel like you're purposefully trying to crush the last hope I've got. You don't think I could hide in the woods? I've heard that sometimes, if you're quick, you can get far enough away that the soldiers won't catch you..."

    I sighed, "How're you gonna survive in the woods, anyway? Look, maybe you could do fine there, but I know a better place to stay if you'd feel okay about going home with me. Or not, and you can try the woods. Don't know how that'll work out, though."

    The cobblestone road opened up into a square market. I didn't have to stand on my tiptoes to see over everyone; I was tall enough, I just had to turn my head. The market was busy at this time of day. Everyone wanted things to make dinner, and no one wanted to deal with the number of soldiers that were out after the sun went down. I let a little boy run across my path before I continued determinedly toward the stand of all sorts of spices--the stand that had garlic. The lil guy stumbled when he tried to up his pace to keep up with me. 

    I sighed and paused to wait for him to catch back up. He grabbed my arm again. "Sorry. I wouldn't have been drinking so much if I'd have known I had a chance of surviving all of this. Sorry."

    "Who's after you, anyway? The Raven King?"

    He laughed bitterly. "Yeah, he doesn't like poets much. Poetry is about looking at the world around you and caring about it, or looking inside of yourself, and caring about what you find there. The Raven King does not like the idea of his soldiers learning to look at the world around them, or learning to process their emotions." He paused. "Although, considering that drinking was my solution in the end, I guess I didn't face my emotions with as much bravery or understanding as I should have. You'd have thought poetry would have taught me better. I guess not, huh."

    "He was after you for writing poetry?"

    "No, he was after me for teaching my peers how to write poetry. Not that they were good at it yet--but then, I guess I have a lot to perfect, too." He burped and veered to the right, and I gently pulled him back to the left so he wouldn't run into a cart.

    I finally approached the cart with the garlic. I picked up a couple of heads of garlic and dropped the bills that Luna had given me into the waiting palm of the stand keeper. She opened a drawer and pulled out some change. I collected it, and then I was off toward the bar again with the lil guy. 

    "Hey, what's your name, anyway?" he asked. 

    "Francis," I said.

    He nodded. "Mine's Everett. Now that you have garlic, are we going to the place that you said I could hide in?"

    "If you're still up for it. I've got potato soup on the stove. You could have some; I made extra, cause we have someone at home right now who's sick. I was put in charge of taking care of her."

    Everett looked into the distance with a soft glaze over his eyes, as if he were remembering something dear to him. "It's been a long time since I've had potato soup. I'm not a burden by staying with you, am I? What if you get caught quartering me? Do you have a family?"

    "Not one by blood, but by oath? Sure. We're real close and everything."

    The market funneled back into that street, and the street twisted back to the bar. Everett let me lead him along. Apparently he was no longer worried about getting killed or arrested; he didn't seem exactly suspicious of me anymore. I s'pose he didn't have much of a choice. He probably couldn't survive in the woods on his lonesome, and no one else was offering to help him.

    I held my breath against the stench of the bar, and again ignored bawdy jokes and sweaty men. Everett and I broke through the crowd and stumbled out the back door. The woods were quiet now, but the sun was turning the sky dark red, which was bad. More soldiers would be out after dark. 

    Everett and I picked up the pace. I hopped over a root, but had to wait for him to cautiously step over it without falling. I also had to be careful not to drop the garlic; I didn't like the idea of taking home dirty garlic. That wouldn't make any good soup.

    After a few awkward tumbles and scraped knees, Everett and I finally stepped onto the porch of the cottage. Everett took it in with wide eyes. "I didn't know it was legal to live in the woods."

    "It's not," I responded.

    He snorted. I knocked on the door and whispered the password quiet enough that Everett couldn't hear. That's what Luna always tells me--don't tell newcomers the password until we know they're safe. We can't let just anyone into our home like normal. Not everyone had good in their hearts.

    Gem opened the door and raised her eyes at Everett. "Who's that dude?"

    Everett held out his hand, but he was swaying, so Gem had a hard time grabbing it. "My name's Everett. I like your hair, it's very pretty."

    I pulled him inside. "Everett was gonna be executed tomorrow. He was at the bar waiting for a soldier to come get him. I offered to bring him here to wait it out."

    Trinket peaked their head out of the kitchen. "Did you bring garlic? I've been stirring the soup."

    I held it up proudly. "Yeah, I got garlic. Can you get some bowls, Trinket?"

    As we ate, Everett introduced himself to the group. I figured we'd have him re-introduce himself tomorrow when he wasn't so drunk. He'd probably be more himself then anyway. Still, everyone seemed to like the soup. When I finished eating, most of the others were already done. 

    Overall, I was optimistic about the future. So far, our rebellion hadn't actually been very successful. It was nice to be making some progress for one, and it was also nice to have someone new around. Yeah, I thought things were looking pretty good.