Chaos Lives in Everything - 36. Chapter 36

“King Yaldon sent me here to take you into custody,” Maeglin said, his hands clasped together. He leaned back against the sofa. “He wants you to stand trial.”

Skold scoffed. “For what? Surely he doesn’t think that I’m still involved with what’s going on?”

“I do not know Skold. All I know is the orders that he has given me. In three nights I must have you apprahended and in Roc City for trial.” Maeglin frowned. “I’m sorry that we could not meet again under better circumstances.”

“And so just like that you are going to arrest me and take me back to Berlin? What makes you think that I’m going to let you do that without putting up a fight?”

Maeglin grimaced. “I am hoping that it won’t come down to that. I am hoping that you will come with me willingly.

“Your king is mad,” Candestine said. She was glaring at Maeglin with an expression of strong contempt.

“Just a days ago he was your king as well.”

“That was before he exiled me. He’s done a lot worse to my brother. But your king is no longer a king. He is a coward. He sits up in that room smelling of shit and fear. He doesn’t even have the courage to stick his head out the fucking window and see what has become of the world.”

Skold glanced at his sister, startled. This was the first time that she had taken up for him. He turned back to Maeglin, gesturing at the coffee table where all of the information they had gathered from Aethyx still sat. “We have proof of who has really been orchestrating these attacks. It’s all right there. If you took them back to Yaldon surely this would change his mind and he would see who he should really be taking into custody.”

Again Maeglin frowned. “You know no matter what you give him it will nice suffice. It will not persuade me from turning away from the task that he has given me. Orders is orders.”

“If you plan on taking him before the king you’re going to have to deal with us as well,” Dom said, towering over Maeglin.

“If that is what it takes then that is what I will do,” Maeglin said.

Skold studied his father’s old friend heavily. “It’s a shame. All you have ever done is taken orders. My father’s orders, the king’s orders. Have you ever been capable of thinking for yourself?”

“I swore an oath to the king.” Maeglin’s voice sharpened. “It is not my fault that you broke yours. And your father was a good man. You shouldn’t speak of him so disgracefully.”

Skold laughed coldly. “Disgracefully? My father was a monster. What kind of father mutilates their own child? He took my cock and my balls. I will speak of him however I wish to speak of him. I do not want to fight with you, Maeglin. I have always been rather fond of you. It was you who taught me how to fight. When they brought his body back you stepped in his place and mentored me. And just as you fought under the orders of my father you fought under my own orders. I will not ignore the fact that we have shared some times together, most of them hard and cold and deadly. So I will make a deal with you. If I do not have the culprit apprahended two nights from now I will go with you to Berlin to stand trial. But not a minute sooner. If you cannot live with those terms then we have a big problem.”

Maeglin sighed, his head lowered, his brow furrowed in thought. When he lifted it he said, “I will give you until the sunrise after tomorrow. If you do not have your affairs settled here then I will take you with me. If that means I have to point the blade of my sword at you to get you to cooperate then so be it.”

Rebecca was dreaming peacefully when she felt Melanie shake her hard enough to frighten her. She lifted her head. They were sleeping in Dimitri’s bedroom which was across the hall from her parents’ room.

“What is it?” she hissed.

“Someone’s at the door.” Melanie sounded scared.

“Who in the hell would be at the door? It’s three o’clock in the morning.”

“Rebecca!” The voice was coming from directly outside of the house. The voice sounded jarringly familar but her sleep addled mind was trying to catch up with her. Instinct told her that something wasn’t right. She was hours outside of town and she could only think of two people who knew where she was: Skold and Dimitri. She half stumbled half dropped out of bed and scrabbled for her duffel bag. She yanked on the zipper back so hard that she yanked it off, slicing her finger on the teeth in the process. She pulled the keys out and pulled out the Glock she had packed with her just in case.

“You have a gun?” Melanie said, her voice cracked. “Why did you bring a gun?”

Rebecca glanced at her. Her eyes stung. She just now realized that Melanie had turned on the light. Though she knew there was no reason to feel guilty, guilt tugged at her heart anyway. Melanie looked small and vulnerable when she was afraid. Rebecca opened her mouth to speak. All she wanted to say was something like, I brought it just in case or It’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it, but the words didn’t come out. It was a cruel, nonchalant to say to your girlfriend who was just as scared as you were.

“Rebecca!” the voice screamed again. Someone was pounding on the door downstairs.

With a jolt she recognized the voice. Twig! What is he doing here? How did he even find me?

With the gun still in her hand, she hurried down the stairs with Melanie right behind her. She unlocked the door and stepped out into the cold. She shivered immediately as a malicous gust of wind sliced at her.

“Twig!”she yelled. Her voice echoed through the cold, dark night. She swallowed. Already her face and feet were numb. If I keep standing out here like an idiot I’m going to get a fever, she thought stupidly.

He came staggering around the side of the house. He clutched at his side and staggered drunkenly, gasping in pain. It wasn’t until he was standing directly in front of her that Rebecca saw the state of his face. The right half of it was covered in blood. The blood was coming from a deep gash on the right side of his forehead. His left eye was black and swollen shut. His hands was covered in blood.

“Oh my God, what happened to you?” That was just one of the many questions that were buzzing around inside of her head, but none of them were as relevant as this one.

“We have to get inside of the house, now.” The one eye that wasn’t completely sealed shut bulged out deliriously. “They’re coming.”

“Who?”

“Bajork. He and his goon somehow figured out that you and I know each other. They tortured me from information. They knew that I’ve been keeping tracks of your whereabouts through your cell phone. I was worried about you, Rebecca. They tortured me. I think my some of my ribs are broken. I’m sorry Rebecca, but I had no choice but to tell them where you were. They would have killed me if I hadn’t. As soon as I was sure that they were gone I drove here as fast as I could.”

He gestured at the beat up Gremlin sitting in the driveway and teetered to the left. Before he could fall to the ground Rebecca caught him. Melanie seemed to come to her senses and helped Rebecca get him out of the cold and into the house. Rebecca’s brain was still trying to process what Twig had just told her. Had he really driven three hours just to warn her. In his condition and in weather like this how was that even possible? What it was was dangerous and yet he had risked his life...She couldn’t help but feel her heart warm slightly at the thought. It was a sign that he still cared for her to some extent.

Grunting, Rebecca and Melanie dropped him as gently as they could onto the couch. His head lolled against the couch. With the dazed look on his face Rebecca could tell that he was struggling to stay concious.

“Melanie,” she said. “I need you to find me some bandages or something. Something that we can cover the wound with.”

Melanie nodded silently and went off to complete the task that Rebecca had given her.

“I’m going to go get some water and a rag and clean you up,” Rebecca said.

He grabbed her wrist, moving so fast that she almost fell back in surprise. His grip was surprisingly strong. His good eye was sharply aware and very wide. “No time. They’re coming.”

As if to emphasize the point the living room of the ranch house was suddenly flood with the bright head lights of a large vehicle. Rebecca ran over to the window and peeked through the blinds. A large tanker truck had pulled into the driveway. Two hulking figures climbed out. She recognized them immediately.

Bajork and Yorjk.

Fuck.

Melanie came back into the living room. In one hand she carried a box of bandages. Over her shoulder she toted a large double-barrel shot gun and in the other hand a box of shell. “Dimitri’s parents keep a shot gun under the bed in their room for just in case purposes,” Melanie explained “I guess they’ve seen too many horror movies.”

“Do you know how to use it?” Rebecca asked.

She nodded.

“Good. Because you’re going to have to.” Rebecca felt eerily calm. She’d known that the moment when she’d have to face Bajork would come. It was just now rather than later. She turned her attention back to the two orcs. They were strolling towards the house.

Melanie hande her the shot gun and Rebecca gave her the Glock. Rebecca opened the front door and leaned out, pointing the double barrels at Bajork’s head.

“That’s far enough, Bajork.” Her voice was strong and commanding. Hanging around Skold has done me some good, she thought proudly.

The two orcs stopped. The leader of the Orc Mafia laughed. “I see that you’ve started playing with guns.”

“Yeah and I’ve gotten pretty good at it too. So you just walk the other way and leave.”

“You know that’s not going to happen, stupid girl. You have a debt that you owe me. I gave you plenty of time to pay it. And now instead of taking your money I will take your head.”

To Melanie, Rebecca said, “Take Twig, get him out of here. Go.”

Melanie shook her head. “Nuh huh. I’m staying right here.”

Rebecca didn’t have the time to argue with her; she was in battle mode now. Back to Bajork she said, “You want my head, come and get it.”

Bajork turned to his right hand man and said, “Release the head hounds.”

The calmness, the confidence, that Rebecca was feeling was immediately extinguished. Did he just say hell hounds? She watched as Yorjk disappeared behind the truck and unlatched the door.

Hell hounds were a dog-like, demonic looking type of fae. Standing almost seven feet tall with fur the color of ash, they were hulking beasts. Their eyes were the color of molten lava. Smoke billowed from their nostrils. Their mouths were full of razor sharp teeth that would make tearing a human apart simple work. Yorjk came around the truck with three of them attached to steel chains. They yanked at the chains, snarling and growling, already sensing that there was prey near by.

Fuck me, she thought. She decided she didn’t want to stick around to watch the orcs sic the hell hounds on her. She kicked the door shut and locked it, praying that it would buy her a few seconds.

“Help me get Twig upstairs,” she said to Melanie.

With Twig sandwiched in between them, they half dragged him towards the stairs. He kept trying to help them by moving with his legs but Rebecca could tell that the simple act of doing so caused him great pain.

They were halfway up the stairs when the hell hounds burst through the front door in an explosion of wood and splinters.