The Duel

The abandoned mill here, once utilized for hulling rice, wasn't exactly a deserted building the guild could sleep in.

It was a hint. Mills on the west shore would be ravaged by those so frantic they'd shatter past whatever bashers the mill owners employed. It was all trash and rejection, and Flynn was part of it.

When he got to the guild home, Flynn nodded to the lookout and slipped inside with no undertaking at stealth.

The guild was borrowed to children awaking to piss in the night, so no one would speculate he'd been out. If he attempted to crawl in, he'd simply attract attention to himself.

Perhaps that was what stealthy implied.

Lying down in his typical spot subsequent to the window, he slid between Toy girl and Nathan. It got cold here, but the floor was polished and there weren't numerous fragments. He shoved his buddy.

"Jay-Oh, you understand what stealthy means?"

But Nathan whirled off, snorting. Flynn nudged him also, but Nathan wouldn't move. Lengthy night, I guess.

Like all the guild rats, Flynn, Nathan, and Toy girl slumbered near each other for warmth. Usually, Toy girl earned the middle because she was small and got cold so easy, but tonight Nathan and Toy girl weren't lying close to each other.

Toy girl scampered close and fastened her arms around him, clasping tightly, and Flynn was glad for her warmth. Trouble nibbled at the back of his psyche like a rat, but he was extremely exhausted. He dozed.

The fantasy began when Flynn roused.

" Good morning," Rat asserted.

"How's my special little guttershite?" The elation on Rat's countenance confided Flynn that something was wrong. Chad and Harelip strutted on either side of Rat, practically spurting with enthusiasm.

Toy girl was gone. Nathan was gone. Marlian was nowhere to be seen. Winking against the sunlight surging through the guild home's torn roof, Flynn strutted and strived to acquaint himself.

The rest of the guild was gone, either working, scavenging, or simply agreeing that now would be a good time to be outside. So they'd discerned Rat come in.

Chad stood by the back door, and Harelip stood behind Rat in case Flynn flew for the front door or a window.

"Where were you the previous night?" Rat inquired.

"I had to piss."

"Long piss. You skipped the fun." When Rat uttered like that, completely flat, with no impact on his vocalist, Flynn felt a panic extremely intense to shiver out. Flynn anticipated turmoil. He'd discerned navigators massacred, had discerned prostitutes with fresh blemishes and had a friend die from a vendor's whipping.

Brutality sauntered the Lowdys clenching hands with poverty and irritation. But the defunct gaze in Rat's sights captioned him as more of an anomaly than Harelip. Harelip had been born without part of his lip. Rat had been born without a conscience.

" What did you do?" Flynn inquired.

"Chad?" Rat heaved his chin at the big.

Chad unlocked the door, mumbled, " Good boy," as if speaking to a dog and yanked something.

He pulled it inside, and Flynn saw that it was Nathan. Nathan's lips were swollen, both sights black and so large he could hardly glimpse through the gashes. He was missing teeth and he had rime blood on his countenance from where his fur had been pulled so hard his scalp oozed. He was wearing a dress.

Flynn felt hectic and frigid itches on his membrane, a surge of blood to his countenance. He couldn't display Rat deformity. He couldn't move. He swivelled so he wouldn't throw up.

Behind him, Nathan unleashes a slight wail. " Flynn, please. Flynn, don't whirl away from me. I didn't want—"

Rat punched him across the face. Nathan dropped to the ground and didn't move.

"Nathan's mine now," Rat asserted.

"He speculates he'll fight every night, and he will. For a while." Rat grinned.

"But I'll halt him. Time's on my side."

"I'll slay you. I swear it," Flynn let out.

" Oh, are you Master Smith's apprentice now?"

Rat smirked as Flynn shot Nathan a glance, feeling deluded. Nathan whirled his countenance to the floor, his shoulders trembling as he sobbed silently.

"Nathan informed us all about it, sometime between Chad and Davi, I guess. But I'm bewildered. If Master Smith apprenticed you, why are you here, Flynn? You attain back to slay me?"

Nathan's tears stilled and he swivelled, clasping at straws.

There was nothing to assert. "He wouldn't take me," Flynn conceded. Nathan slumped. "Everyone understands he doesn't accept apprentices, stupid," Rat indicated.

"So here's the agreement, Flynn. I don't infer what you've worked for him, but Marlian's authorized me not to touch you, and I won't.

But sooner or later, that'll be my guild."

"Sooner, I reckon," Chad mumbled.

He wriggled his eyebrows at Flynn.

"I have huge schemes for Black Dungeon, Flynn, and I won't allow you to get in my way," Rat asserted.

" What do you need from me?" Flynn's vocalist came out pale and reedy.

"I need you to be a hero. I need everyone who doesn't dare stand up to me themselves to gawk at you and start to hope. And then I will demolish everything you've accomplished. I will demolish everything you cherish. I will eradicate you so fully that no one will anywise withstand me again. So work out your best, work out your worst, work out nothing at all. I defeat no matter what. I often do."

Flynn didn't pay dues the following day. He wished Rat would whack him. Only once, and he'd be off the pedestal, he'd only be another guild rat. But Rat didn't whack him.

He'd simmered and swore, his sights smiling, and notified Flynn to fetch dual next time.

Of course, he brought nothing. He merely lengthened an empty hand, as if already beaten. It didn't matter. Rat boiled, indicted him of challenging him, and didn't plop a hand on him. And so it was, every dues day.

Gradually, Flynn moved back to work and began accumulating coppers to lay in Nathan's stack. The days were awful: Rat didn't allow Nathan to speak to Flynn, and after an extent, Flynn didn't suppose Nathan even wished to talk to him.

The Nathan he comprehended vanished by slow degrees. It didn't help when they halted making him chafe the robe.

The nights were terrible. Rat seized Nathan every night while the rest of the guild

deluded not to heed. Flynn and Toy girl nestled jointly and in the stillness punctuated by low sobbing thereafter, Flynn set on his posterior for lengthy hours, scheming intricate vengeance that he realized he'd never accomplish.

He reached to be courageous, condemning Rat to his countenance, challenging every decree the boy offered and endorsing anyone Rat thump. Rat swore back, but constantly with that minor smile in his sights. The littles and the losers in the gang commenced submitting to Flynn and peeking at him with adulatory sights.