Bronze Embers

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

~Ines~

The night continued on. We had stopped playing the drinking game a while ago, it had fulfilled its job in breaking our ice.

"Wait wait wait." I put my hand up to stop him. "Say that again."

Perplexed, Quasi responded. "A as in abomination?"

"All the A words in the world and you pick abomination?" Our voices had gotten a bit loud, his face was red from wine, and I'm sure mine matched.

"Wait, hold on." Quasi stood up from his seat. He wobbled on his feet and I put my hand on his arm to steady him.

"You ok Buddy?" I snickered.

He waved a hand dismissively. "I'm fine! I feel s-s-super." He slurred. He straightened his posture and cleared his throat. "The ABC's master Frollo."

"Let's hear 'em then!" I clapped.

"A: Abomination, B: Blasphemy, C: Contrition, D: Damnation..."

"Boo! Damnation boo!" I teased.

He gave me a playful look. "Please save all comments for the end."

I laughed in response.

"E: eternal damnation, that one's tricky." He gave me a pointed look. "F is not for festival, it is for forgiveness. Master was not thrilled with that slip up." He whispered the last part to me. "G: godless, H: heathen, I: iniquity, J: Judas, K: karma, L: Lucifer, M: Monstrous, N: not...uh..not attractive.."

"Oh come on, that's a cop out."

Quasi waved at me dismissively. "O: oppressor, P: pestiferous. Q:questionable. R: righteous, S:sin. T: torment, U: unholy, V: vile, W: wicked, X: xenophobe, Y: yearn, and finally, Z: zeitgeist." He finished and bowed.

I clapped enthusiastically. "I don't know what half those words mean."

He burst into laughter. "Neither do I!"

We both cackled, and thanks to the wine, laughter came easily. "What was that?" I asked in between fits of laughter.

"That is how Frollo taught me the alphabet." He explained, still chuckling.

"That?!" My eyes widened in disbelief. "Could he have made it any darker?"

Quasi sat beside me once more. "I don't think so, everything was doom and gloom with that man." He sipped his glass.

We sat for a moment, nursing our wine glasses and giggling softly.

"Can I ask something kind of...personal?" Quasi broke the silence.

"May as well." I gestured around. "You are housing me after all."

"How did you get your...scarring?" He asked tentatively.

I glanced at his way. "It's not a very pretty story."

"You don't have to tell it, forget i said any-"

"No..no I'll tell you." I cut him off. It had been so long since I'd thought of that night.

"My mom was a gifted healer. She came from Denmark, she wanted to learn what other countries knew about healing. Bring it back to her village, you know." I paused as her face filled my memory. She and I looked so alike. She was a bit taller, and her eyes were brown, and she obviously hadn't had my scarring, but otherwise...I was her clone.

"We stayed too long at the wrong village, plague had ravaged it and well...tensions were high." I ran a hand through my hair. "My mother and I have very unusually colored hair for the area. My mom was also very pretty and her healing methods were considered strange to this village. It didn't take long for them to accuse her of witchcraft." Flashes of sneering faces lit up in my memory. "I begged her to leave, but she wanted to help them so badly. One night...they ambushed our campsite and they took us." I paused. "I was 12. Mom and I had to stand trial, we were found guilty of course. Me as well for looking identical to her, and for being witch spawn. They tied us to separate pyres, facing each other. My mother begged for them to release me but they doused me in liquor anyways. They lit me first." My throat closed as I remembered the roar of fire around me...and then the pain.