Chapter 38: Marlin II

"Whoever said to dig two graves for revenge is either a fool or a wishful thinker. If one is to truly walk the path of vengeance they should dig hundreds or even thousands of them. Revenge is not a double edged sword, Revengeis a great fire. A fire that burns in a man's eyes and engulfs him in flame. A fire that burns everything it touches and all that behold it. Revenge is a flame that can turn the purest of souls as black death itself."

-The Dark Prince

Prince swung on the end of a giant gold chain, jumping from the burning Den of Wolves to an adjacent building.

Letting out a muted sigh, Jimi made a long rope from the chains, signaling for Prince to climb down them.

"What? Don't act like you don't talk! I heard you up there!" Prince commanded.

Jimi paused for a moment, blinking at Prince. For what felt like at least a minute there was a silence between them.

"What sense is their in hiding now…I know you can talk" Prince thought

After staring at him for quite some time, Jimi shrugged his shoulders and descended down the chain with Prince closely behind him.

When Prince had finally caught up with Meri and Marlin, there was a strange feeling he received from his friends. The two were sitting quietly with the bag of riches in their hand, unexplored, as if they hadn't just landed a fortune.

Meri gave Marlin a soncerned look and then stretch out a hand towards Prince.

"Prince…" Meri began

"No…. let me" Marlin interjected.

He walked up to Prince boldly and extended out his hand.

"We want to talk, but before that… just to be safe… give us your weapon" Marlin said

"Do you not trust me?" Prince said.

"If you were me would you trust you?" Marlin said

Letting our a sigh, Prince aquiesed relinquishing his sword to Malrin.

After placing the sword on the ground, Marlins facial expression completely changed turning into a fit of rage.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!" Marlin screamed at Prince. "What are we to you? Pawns on a chess board!"

"Do you think I would trust pawns with a purse that large?" Prince retorted

"You Bastard! Because of you I hurt innocent people! What the hell were you thinking?"

"Really? Which one of those men were innocent? Was it the one who cheated us on the table? The one who laughed at Jimi and disrespected him? Or the man who has defiled more women in France than periods have!"

"Save your self righteous bullshit!" Marlin screamed.HE grabbed Prince by the collar shoving him into a wall. "Who are you to decide who deserves to die! Are you god?"

"Marlin.." Prince said in a cold dark voice. As he groaned his eyes flashed red and his hair once again turned jet black. "I have allowed you to speak as you wished, and I have controlled myself a great deal, but If you do not let go of me right this second, I will have to play god for the second time tonight."

Marlin unhanded Prince, trembling. He had never felt so close to death as when Prince had looked at him with his beating red eyes.

"Why did you do this to us?" Marlin Pleaded "Why did you use us? Why not tell us what you were doing? Aren't we your friends?" Marlin asked

"There were two reasons" Prince said.

"The first is because I couldn't afford too.."

"What do you mean?"

"If I had told you everything beforehand its very likely you would have died."

"What!" Meri screamsd

"Meri, I if I told you Lindor was a beast monster, you may have gotten scared and ran away too early. If that had happened, Lindor would have come downstairs, and turned the Den into a bloodbath."

"Prince.. But still, shouldn't I have known my life was in danger?"

"Your life was in danger the second you stepped in there Meri, you and I both know that."

"What about me!" Marlin said

"Marlin, when you wielded that sword how many men were staring at you? If you had hesitated for even longer than a moment, you would have been killed on the spot."

"What about the innocent people!" Marlin said. "Had I known this was going to affect them I never would have come!"

"I understand" Prince said. "But those men were not innocent, we didnt do this to a school, we did this to a band of ruthless killers who by the way, even after being burnt half to death happily died for their master! If we hadn't killed them there, they would have tracked down and killed us later!"

"What about the women! And Musicians the Patrons!" Marlin demanded. "Did they deserve to die?"

"They didn't" Prince said.

"What do you mean?" Marlin said.

""I made a whole in the wall before I left the lower area" Prince said. "The only men who died were the ones anxiously searching for Lindor, anyone else escaped through the passage I made, if you don't believe me come back in a week, You'll see those same people occupying some other bar."

"I see," Marlin said "So you atleast did think ahead.

"I thought farther than you can even imagine!" Prince declared "Have you ever asked yourself how I even knew you could use that artefact?"

Marlin grew quiet, completely stunned by Princes remarks.

"How how did you know…" he asked

"It was the night you tried to knife me. I was holding onto the blade underneath my pillow ready to counterattack when I felt a strong heat coming from the blade, recalling from memory, I believe the man who betrayed me Richard said it was a fire blade, but if it didnt work, I had other ways to ignite the building that may or may not have worked."

Marlin couldn't believe his ears. From the very moment Prince had come into contact with him he had made his plan. It was almost maddening to them nk about. Just when exactly did Prince start manipulating him? When exactly did he start planning for this attack?

Marlin felt utterly defeated. He was simply not wise enough to figure Prince out. Dropping his head in defeat he pleaded with this man who had for seen all.

"Prince.." Marlin said "Just what are you trying to achieve? Why did youd drag us all into this? Who are you?" Marlin asked. "Your the Dark Prince, I know that know but what does that mean?" Marlin asked

"Marlin, hand me the bag" Prince asked

Marlin handed over the bag of treasures.

"Here we will split this pot 4 ways," Prince siad. "There should be at least 1000 pounds for each of you, do with it what you want."

"Oh My God! IS this real!" Meri said, gleefully going through her share. "We'll never have to work a single day again in our lives!"

jimi looked over his spoils with wonder, but then let out a sigh when he saw no trace of the fiddle.

"Don't worry Jimi" Prince said. "You gan buy a hundred fiddles with that money"

Jimi lifted up his hands showing Prince the chains that binded him.

" I see, well if they won't sell it to you the. I will by it for you! It's a promise!"

"What… are you going to do Prince?" Marlin said. "I expect your going to hire some mercenaries and start a revo-"

"No such thing>l" Prince said. "Tommorow, I go back to work for Sir Ivan."

"WHAT! With riches like these you could have your own plantation! Why would you go back?" Meri shouted

"Because," Prince said. "What I want can't be bought with riches, you all enjoy your shares, as for me, Ill be heading back."

Prince healed the sack of treasure over his back and proceeded to leave.

"Thats it?" Meri siad. "Your just going to leave us here? In the middle of France without even a goodbye?"

"I'm sorry," Prince said. "I'm not used to these things I'm used to never having the chance… Thank you all for involuntarily helping me, I hope our paths meet again, Meri be well, Jimi keep playing, and Marlin don't forget what I said."

"I can't forgive you for what you did" Marlin said "I'm going to take this money and give it to those in need, it's the least I can do to make up for what Iv done…"

"One day Marlin you will realize that whether you do good or not people will die. Do not blame yourself because in the end those same people will betray you and kill you saying those same words"

Meri Marlin and Jimi all looked at one another unsure of what to reply.

"Farewell" Prince said.

Prince walked away slowly disappearing over the horizon.

"Goodbye" Meri whispered to herself.

"No," Marlin said. "It can't be this way."

"What do you mean?"

"He can't be letting us off this easy! We know his identity! This must be some sort of tra-"

"I dont think so," Meri said. "He seemed sad when he said goodbye."

" Then he must be planning to track us down! He must be-"

"Marlin…." Meri said. "You can't keep doing this"

" Doing what!" Marlin said

"First it was with me and now with Prince, you need to stop obsessing over people"

"On...sessing?"

" I can see it in your eyes even in the way you think, it's not Prince manipulating you! Your trying to incorporate his thoughts into yours! Marlin, your Obsessed with him."

"Your right…" Marlin said. " I never thought this way before and yet…"

"And yet what?'

"I feel stronger, I feel better, I don't feel helpless like I was before! There is a reason for my Obsession!" Marlin said

"And what is that? To get in my pants!" Meri said

"No Meri…" Marlin said " For the first time in my life, I want to do something for myself! But I'm afraid… and I'm taking it out on him!"

"What are you afraid of?" Meri said

"I'm afraid of becoming a lonely man who no one trusts…. I'm afraid of becoming Prince…"

"Are you sure this is the path you want to walk?" Pedro asked " We can turn around now and live our days drinking wine and fucking whores! That would certainly be nice"

"No," Prince said. "We tried that life, and in the end we were betrayed by the wine we drank and the bar we drank it in… The only path we can walk now is paved in fire, and any bridges we've crossed we cannot return to."

"I remember when I first met you, you were hopeless, and now your eyes are even colder than mine," Pedro said.

"I feel it will be the same for Marlin," Prince said. "I believe there will come a time where he is even more ruthless than I am."