The Curse of Tyvem: The Voiceless

Decisions

        For once it was Lavender basically running to keep up down the dark narrow streets.  For someone who wanted to talk, he wasn't making it easy. She quickly side stepped a puddle of who only knows what, and promptly ran into a cart with her hip.  She could hardly see what was in front of her while Tyran traversed the alley with ease.  He clearly knew where he was going and everything that could possibly be in the way.  Suddenly he came to a stop and Lavender ran straight into him.

    "Wow, if you wanted to get up close and personal all you had to do was ask," he laughed it off.

    Lavender rubbed her chin since it bounced off his back and her cheeks burned with embarrassment. She was frustrated with the situation she found herself in.  An impossible decision really and here he was coming on to her like it was normal day of the week.  Like they weren't faced with the real possibility of being contracted to end an entire race.  She huffed and made it a point to close herself off to him.  Even though it was almost pitch black, she quickly assumed a cool exterior.  He would not be allowed to fluster her, she needed to keep her head to talk through this situation.

    "Where are we?  Where are we going?"

    "We are going someplace we can talk without any extra ears. This is obviously a sensitive subject and while most people agree that dragons leave a bad taste in the mouth, we can't just let anyone hear it. Half the people will think we're entirely mental, the other half will think we're soulless murders."

    "Aren't we though? I am seriously considering his offer and while I am not particularly warm or compassionate, this could have serious repercussions for everyone involved."

    "You're only human, well mostly human.  The fact you are thinking it over seriously and not jumping at this opportunity denotes some sense of morality."

    She looked a his face his expression seemed open, almost soft.  Her eyes adjusted to the low light of the alley and she realized they were standing just outside a door. He smiled at her and she felt that damn pull again.  So annoying.

    He motioned toward the door, "We should go inside and have a drink."

    She stepped in front of him and pulled it open.  They were greeted by the warm smell of bread and she could hear a fireplace crackling. They walked inside and she could take in all the unsavory faces who had all turned their attention to them.  Unfortunately for them, she had turned several of these men over to various lords, police, and rival gangs to make a quick buck.  There was clearly bad blood.

    "Tyran,  I think we should leave.  I understand this place ma be safe for you, but it is most certainly not for me," she whispered.  She glanced out the side of her eye up to his face.  He quickly assessed the situation and turned to her.

    "Lavender, we stay and talk or the offer is retracted all together."

    "You don't have that power!"

    "I most certainly do.  I am Lord Blackburn's second in command, what I say goes.  I played a part in bring you in to his consideration and I can most certainly stop it just as quickly.  I hate for you to be uncomfortable but it's this or nothing," he motioned into the tavern for her to pick a table and take a seat.

    She steeled herself and walked further into the lion's den. As she made her way over to an empty seat, someone stuck out their foot.  Her toe caught on the top of their boot and she almost went down.  Her hand flew out and caught herself on the side of a chair.  She took in the face and realized her was one of her first bounties, except this time he was missing an eye.

    "Not so strong right now are you girl," his breath smelled of death as he whispered into her ear while she was bent ," you caught me at a bad time, and while I couldn't fight you off then, I most certainly can take you now."

    Her mind flashed through what was about to occur and she readied herself for his swing.  He was going to swing with his left hand and all Hell was about to break loose. 

    He quickly stood up and swung his left hand to her face, she took a step back and his fist just barely missed her nose. Lavender grabbed his wrist in her right hand and punched him in the chest with her left. She then placed her left hand just inside his armpit and yelled, "I KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN!"

    Everyone was up and fighting now.  Chairs were thrown and broken over backs, people were smashing their tankards on other's heads, and one man charged at Tyran.  Lavender still had the grizzly man by the arm.  She quickly shifted all her weight down and threw him over her.  He landed on a table and started coughing.  Before she could recover, another man came behind her grabbed her.  He picked her up and started shaking her like a ragdoll. This was unexpected.

    Tyran quickly disposed of the man that had charged him earlier and was on his was to free Lavender when she threw her head back, hard.  The man quickly dropped her and brought his hands to his nose now gushing blood.  She started crawling away when a large woman grabbed her ankle. She gave a swift kick to her knee and a disgusting crack was heard over all the fighting. The woman went down hard, swearing and holding her dislocated limb.

    "We gotta get out of here now!" Tyran wordlessly nodded at her while fighting through the crowd.

    She was almost to the door when the man with one eye stepped in front of her.  This time he pulled out a knife. He started swinging at her haphazardly, just hoping to make contact and end her. She dodged and ducked to the best of her abilities, but he was a wild man raging before her and blocking the door. She felt a quick sting and hissed at the small cut on her thigh. A knife whirled past her head and buried itself deep in his chest.  She turned around to see Tyran smiling broadly.

    "I thought you wanted to go!?" He yelled above the fray.

    "Obviously," she rolled her eyes at him as he made his way over. Most of the fighting had died out and he was carefully stepping over the dead bodies to get to her.  They had been in this tavern for all of ten minutes and half of the patrons were dead or wounded and almost all the chairs and tables were destroyed. He sighed contently and opened the door back to the dark, stinking alley.

    "After you, m'lday," he bowed with a flourish and she stepped over the dead man before her to exit.

    He followed her outside and saw her standing there.  She was clearly frustrated and pinching the bridge of her nose. After an exasperate sigh ,"Okay Tyran, all this fighting doesn't make the decision any easier."

    "Fair enough. You got me there."

    "I just don't know what to do. I follow you to a tavern and I literally got stabbed, that doesn't bode well for a partnership!"

    "I saved your ass in there! I admit continuing with my original plan did not go quite as well as I had hoped, but I think we work well together. I wanted a nice quiet conversation, maybe some drinks but a lot of people hate you. Lucky for you, I don't hate. Didn't we have fun?"

    She shook her head in disbelief.  She couldn't believe he would take this proposition so lightly.

    "Listen lady,  Lord Blackburn has a point. That dragon is the last of his kind.  He's gonna die, and were gonna die.  Might as well make some money while were here and live a good life. No reason to drink piss from the gutter if you can avoid it."

    He had a point.

    "Okay Tyran,  I'll meet you at Lord Blackburn's and we'll slay the last dragon," saying that filled Lavender with a deep sense of dread but Tyran had a point and since when did she have a heart?