Ch5: The Turn-Around

The Dance. The Gun. The Dream

He took her hand and smiled as a faint blush arose on her cheeks before she nodded and rose from her seat at the table. Darwin truly did not know what he was doing, merely acting on instinct, and as they walked hand in hand to the open space before the tables he started to wonder what he was doing… what his brother would think…
Darwin bowed before her, a small courtesy. The small band of musicians that had stood quietly in a corner until now started playing a slow tune, embedding the room in a fog of emotional tones. Rhonda looked troubled and as he took her in his arms, her head against his chest, she whispered.
“I can’t dance… Darwin, I have never done anything like it…”
He smiled and pushed her away far enough for her to see it, but close enough for his whispers to reach her.
“Just close your eyes and dance like nobody’s watching, I’ll be right here to help you.”
He took her hand, swung her around slowly, making her feet feel the music and soon she no longer closed her eyes for him, but looked him straight in the eyes while he led her all over the dance floor. Soon other joined them, yet they remained in their own world, and it was theirs to rule.

That night she left long after her father did, dancing, talking and laughing with the dark haired stranger, time passing without either of them noticing, yet soon the Mayor had had enough and shoved them both out with an angry face. At that part Darwin smiled and apologized to the older man, who only mumbled a response before shutting the doors behind them. They stood before each other for a few seconds, just smiling like fools before reality caught up with them.
“Yet again I must leave you for the dawn’s sweet light, my lady, though this time I won’t need to say goodnight from afar”
He smiled charmingly, took her hand, and gave it a light kiss, although the second the contact broke,   she took a chance and with a hand on his neck, she kissed him on the lips. It wasn’t a very deep kiss, but it was enough for him to gasp in surprise. As they reluctantly left each other’s lips, they smiled in surprise, both in shock. Rhonda was the first to recover and, when she did, she smiled teasingly and said.
“Now that’s a kiss my Darwin” Then turned around and walked towards her home.
Long after she had left, Darwin still stood there, smiling like a goof and when he finally turned around and began his walk to his camp he whispered the words to himself…
“My Darwin….”

She opened the door silently, and found her Father in kitchen, watching her in silence… judging her… yet he said nothing at all as she slowly walked up the stairs to her bed. She fell asleep with a gigantic smile on her face.
Tonight had been good.

The days that followed were like nothing Rhonda had ever experienced before. Darwin seemed to make all her worries disappear, just by being close, or by giving her a simple smile. Darius however avoided both his daughter and her new… friend as much as he possibly could. The meals were spent in silence, each on their side of the table, and the few words father and daughter spoke to each other were always about work.
Darwin was never mentioned.

Darius focused all his energy into his work, but the small repairs he did for his fellow farmers bored him. How could he go back to making hoes, and repairing horseshoes after his success with Vicis?
He needed more.
He needed to discover the mysteries of the runes… But how? He couldn’t simply imbue common farming tools with runes of unknown effect or he would end up making a scythe which harvest souls, and thereby making the next Grim Reaper  out of a common farmer…
The thought amused him.

Days passed and the thoughts did not leave his mind, Darius figured that it was better to trouble himself with thoughts of runes, weapons and mystery than thinking about what his daughter might be doing this instant. Something that his old mentor once had said arose from deep within his memory…. Yet, he could not quite recall what it had been; it was like remembering a forgotten dream… Something about the property of metal… or was it the capability of mankind? The line of thoughts was interrupted when the door to his smith opened and a man entered.  The blonde from the feast…
The brother of Rhonda’s….friend.
“Mr.… Caretto was it?” Of course it was, the name hadn’t been far from my mind since that night, Darius thought.
“Right you are, Mr. Jones! Pleasant little shop you have here, and a constant income of work, presume, you being the only smith around and all!” The boy laughed…. Well, boy might be the wrong term to use, Marwin being almost…. Five-and-twenty? Darius did not know.  The older man smiled, as he studied the younger before him, tall, fit, a charming smile, he could see why the girls gave him such longing looks, yet… there was something unsettling about him, Darius knew not what it was.
“The work is constant, and the pay brings food to my table. But hoes, and horseshoes can only take you that far, as I’m sure you can understand.”
“Bored, Mr. Jones?” The question was asked as a jape, but Darius answered truthfully as he shrugged.
“Vicis was the highlight of the past 10 years, but I’m the only one to blame, a quiet life is satisfying in itself.”
“The sword! Aye, I can see what you mean, a true masterpiece, if you don’t mind me saying! That actually brings me to the topic I came to see you for. I have a job for you.”
“A job?” He raised an eyebrow, waiting to see if this was a joke, yet Marwin only nodded in full sincerity. The younger man unfolded a yellowing parchment on the counter between the two of them and pointed at the advanced piece of machinery on it.
“I need you to make this.” He said it simply, but nothing of what Darius saw, was simple. This was no simple farmer’s tool.
This was a weapon.
“Do you know what you have here?” Darius asked, astounded by the sheer complexion of what he saw.
“The cure for your boredom, I reckon”
Marwin smiled.

The dawn broke and Darius was already up, waiting for the older brother Caretto to bring him what he had promised, and if it was anything of what he had said it would be, it’d be worth it. The materials needed for the work was nothing too rare, except for one vital part of it… it was a certain metal, a metal which not even his own Mentor had even seen... and Darius was only minutes away from exceeding him at that point. The ore was rare, so rare that there was none of it here, not even in this part of the world… maybe it didn’t even exist on this world…  People had different names for it everywhere… God Tears, dream-dust, Margerius… Entire tribes worshiped it as some gift from the gods, the Archmagi used the dust for their most advanced spells, and even the few remaining alchemists used it for their search of the Philosopher ’s Stone. But one thing was clear to everyone;
It was rare
So rare that only a handful of tools had been created from it throughout the legends…. And now, Marwin was bringing him an entire bar…

The blonde man let the cloth-covered bar drop on the counter, making Darius jump high… He hadn’t even noticed him entering…
“All set?” the younger asked.
Darius nodded and unfolded the Margerius bar and let a finger trace along the smooth red surface. A heat seemed to erupt from deep within its core, not enough to burn you, just enough to make you know it’s there.
“Consider it as payment aswell, whatever’s left after you’re done, is yours for the keeping”
“You can’t mean… “
The blonde man interrupted him.
“I do mean it. Honest pay for honest work.”
Marwin smiled, turned around and left.
Not for the first time since Marwin entered the shop, Darius felt uneasy about the task ahead…  He glanced at the bar before him…
An entire bar…

Rhonda spent the day in the smith, when all she wanted to do was leave. Her Father had let all the work that he had started to fall on her now… for the last three days she had basically run the shop… was this his petty punishment for spending her free time with Darwin? Father could be so stubborn at times… He didn’t even allow her to know what he was working on….
“Four turns on each… Three…. No, no, no… six pinches of dust… Three on each, yes…” Father muttered to himself, but she could wait no longer.
“I need to leave early… I… got a thing…” She said, interrupting his deep thinking.
He sighed, and turned around.
“It’s that boy again huh? The Caretto boy?” His tone was demeaning, and she could feel her blood boiling at the sound of it.
“Yes, and his name is Darwin, and he’s special to me…”
He chuckled, shook his head and gave her a sad look.
“Yeah, I’m sure you’re very… precious to him too…” He turned around, still chuckling.
“What’s that supposed to mean…?”
“Ever thought how many towns like this he’s passed through? How many ladies thought she was special to him? Haven’t thought of that have you? He’s a man, he’s leaving soon, and you’re a pretty girl, what do you think I mean?”
The words hit her like a slap, and she could feel tears burning behind her eyes. I will not cry, not in front of him.
“I can see now why Mother couldn’t live with you…”
She left before he could respond.

Marwin entered the shop and this time the older man heard it. He stood at the counter, cleaning the device from the sot… The darkened metal was elegant in its advanced simplicity. Darius hadn’t ever seen anything like it.
“Caretto, before I hand this over to you, you’re gonna tell me what the fuck I’ve created here and what it’s for….”
“You’ve crafted a gun.  What it’s for? Why shooting preys of course! What else?” The blonde man smiled, but Darius no longer fell for it… The smile never reached his eyes.
The blonde man let a single shell drop on the counter, as if to prove a well stated argument.
“Show me”

Ten meters away from them were six empty bottles. Marwin brought out eight shells from his pocket and loaded the newly crafted gun, cocked it and fired. Once, twice, thrice in a quick pace, before spinning, as if avoiding bullets, and mid-spin cocking it again, and firing another three shots. A single bottle remained when he was done.
“Five out of six, not bad Mr. Caretto.”
“Throw another bottle up in the air, Jones”
Without a word, Darius threw a seventh bottle high in the air. Waiting, the younger man aimed carefully and at the right moment fired.  Both the sixth and seventh bottle exploded in a rain of glass.
“I never leave a prey standing.”

The older Caretto left the shop without a second glance, holding his new toy in his hands. Marwin had named it there and then. Chas, after the magi’s word for Bringer, he said, and Darius couldn’t help but wonder what on earth he was bringing. As the door closed, Darius took the shell which Marwin had left on the counter and went deeper into the shop before removing the cloth from his secret project.
The twin of Chas; 
Sheth

The girl came to him in tears, red-eyed and with hair a mess; she was still the most beautiful woman Darwin had ever seen. When she finished telling him about her father and his cruel words, a rage had built up within the otherwise calm man. They were seated by the river, at the very same spot at which she had first seen him. It had become a safe haven for the two of them, where nobody else came, where they could just be themselves.

A big jumble of emotions stirred within Rhonda, it was all too much… How dared he judge her?! She was a woman grown and could take care of herself! It did not matter; she knew the true Darwin, and not the phantom which her Father believed in! Her Darwin was sweet, caring, and ever-smiling and nothing like the idiot that Father tried to convince her he was. She could barely see Darwin through the haze the tears had created, but she felt him, so close to her… and it almost made the thoughts of her Father go away…. Almost.

Time went by and soon she was smiling again, he had that effect on her, she just couldn’t hide her smile, no matter how hard of a day she had had. Though soon, the sun was setting and Rhonda knew that she had to return, no matter how idiotic her Father was. She rolled over and kissed him deeply, wanting the moment to last, yet the moment ran through their fingers and with a whimper, she rose and started to walk away.

From Marwin’s hiding spot, a little bit away, he saw every movement they made, and the second she rose, he started to doubt his brother. Had he forgotten, or was he simply on his way to refusing an order? He was just about to take matters into his own hands when Darwin called for her, and she, the sorry excuse for a vessel, turned around, smiling for her lover. The smile disappeared the second Darwin whispered in her ear. It was as if a light, a candle within her had been snuffed out.
She was there, but Rhonda was gone.

Darius stood in the doorway when he spotted Rhonda. She was walking slowly, arms hanging by her sides, and empty eyes. The stubborn girl won’t even say a word to me if I know her correctl, Darius thought as the empty eyed girl walked right past him and up to her room.
Stubborn girl….

When the black-haired hunter entered the camp, he noticed that he was awaited. His brother stood, leaning against the wooden post of his tent. The elder brother started to applaud slowly and ironic, as his little-brother entered the camp.
“Bravo, what a performance ladies and gents, truly amazing performance by Caretto the Younger!”
“I did what I had to do”
A grim facial expression had formed on the young man’s face as he saddled his horse.

The smith’s dreams were troublesome, which was odd because he never ever dreamt… He could never quite recall when he last dreamt, and this dream, he wouldn’t want to recall. He saw a plagued land beneath him, the fields were a sickly green, and the towns were rotten and the people dead… Yet they did not remain dead for long… Soon, dead men rose and wandered freely, spreading the plague wherever they went, until nothing else remained. The dream twisted, and he now saw a tower in the center of it all, and at the top, Rhonda was screaming, screaming in agony as her flesh ripped apart.
“Awake!”
The voice shuddered the entire dream, like the voice of a god commanding the mortals.
“Awake you son of a fool!”
Darius awoke at the sound of horses outside and panic erupted from a place deep within him, for no apparent reason. It was the dead of night, yet there seemed to be a distant glow outside… Darius quickly pulled himself out of the bed and quickly out of the door, but what met him was part of his darkest nightmare.

“Look who’ve come to see you off!”
The rider laughed, a deep, sadistic laugh of a mad man.
Marwin.
But he was not alone.
On the two horses, there were three. The smile of Marwin was twisted, but Darwin did not smile, he did not even look, bu the most hurtful image was the devilish smile of Rhonda, seated behind Darwin. Sheth was suddenly at hand, but Darius had no memory of pulling it. The shell was loaded and in sheer desperation, Darius shot.
Empty shell.
He shot again, and again, and again, yet the weapon gave him disappointing clicks as response, and no shot fired. Marwin laughed again, pulled Chas from his belt and shot a single shot. 

The last he knew was the image of Darwin and Marwin, riding away with his daughter. Marwin with Chas raised in his hand, and Darwin with the stolen Vicis, although it was shining blood red….