Tales of a Dead God

Chapter Twenty-Five: The Girl Named Lydia

Ciro spent the rest of the day training. This is where he thrived. This is where he could go and forget about everything else that was troubling him. However, training now was something that felt different. The hours he spent still didn't feel like enough. If he didn't get as much time in, he wouldn't be the leader everyone needed to be on the field when they faced the enemy.

The sun started to set on the courtyard and Ciro soon found himself alone. This was the sign that it was time to rest and recuperate before tomorrow. He unwrapped his hands and saw how bruised, cut, and bloodied they were. Ciro let out a sigh at the site of his hands. The last time his hands looked like this was the last war.

He cleaned up the training area before heading in to get himself cleaned up and take Noah down to Ifera. A servant was waiting for him though with a letter as he entered back into the castle.

"What's this?" Ciro took the letter and the servant left without a word. "Okay." He shook the odd behavior from his mind as he opened the letter. It the clearly quickly written and slightly challenging to read.

Meet us in the great hall for dinner.

-Gabriel

Ciro looked up from the letter. The servant hadn't made it out of site yet. "Hey, you!" The servant stopped and turned. "Tell Gabriel to meet us at The Dragon's Den in an hour." He nodded and disappeared around the corner. Ciro headed in the opposite direction with a bit more pep in his step.

~~~*~~~

The tavern was busy, but most were this time of the day. Gabriel and Theo had made it first and were waiting out front for the rest to show up. They both joked about how Noah and Ciro were quite alike. Somehow, they beat the others and they were now fifteen minutes late. Gabriel was leaning up on the side of the tavern laughing at something Theo had said when they were approached by a young girl.

She was dressed in a soft green dress and her hair was still in a quickly placed bun. She looked to be getting finished with work for the day. Gabriel caught note of the woman approaching but it was too late to disappear from view.

"I noticed you were kind of off by yourself." The woman gave a soft smile. One that Gabriel didn't reciprocate. "Would you like to have a drink with me? I'm waiting on some friends."

Gabriel glanced at Theo who was glaring at the girl. Gabriel successfully suppressed a laugh, as he shifted his attention back. "Um... I'm waiting on some people that'll be here pretty soon." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"Yeah, we're good." Theo chimed in. Gabriel tilted his head slightly to see Theo standing there, arms folded clearly annoyed.

The girl brushed off Theo like he was a passing thought. Completely ignoring him. "Well, we could wait together?" The woman said in high hopes. Theo walked behind her and started protesting against it. As much as Gabriel hated this whole situation, the idea of this getting under Theo's skin was quite humorous and entertaining.

Gabriel also didn't have the heart he once had to tell her no. He sighed, gave one last glance around and nodded. "Alright. Lead the way in." She gave a bright smile and grabbed his hand. He turned back and winked at Theo who gave him a nice little gesture but he wouldn't follow them in.

She led them through the crowd and up to a second-story table. A waitress came to start their drinks off then two were left alone.

"So what's your name?" The woman asked.

"Gabriel."

"That's a nice name. I'm Lydia." She answered.

Gabriel nodded, keeping his head on a swivel as they were on a balcony and he could see down to the entrance.