The Pirate And The Pariah (NaNoWriMo2017)

Chapter 13

"We should go back and save him." Kodyr walked in the direction they had come from, only for Ruby to quickly catch up to him and stop him.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" she said loudly, "First of all, we have no idea where they could have taken him, we don't even know if he's still alive. I'd say he isn't, but that is beside the point to you, obviously. Secondly, are you suicidal? You witnessed first hand how strong they actually are. Do you honestly believe we can actually fight them in the state we're in?"

"No, but I'm not just going to give up." 

She knocked him down before he could even get past her. "We're not giving up, you moron," she said, "We are going to find a way to beat those things while hopefully staying alive by finding this author of yours and we will avenge Brendon if he was so dear to you." 

Kodyr stood up and crossed his arms. "Consider what he has done for us," he told her, "He risked his own freedom to break us out of a heavily guarded dungeon, showed us a secret passage to the library and helped us get away from those guards. We owe it to him to at least go look for him." 

Ruby sighed and took a step towards him. "Maybe that is how you feel," she stated, "I know this might sound harsh and selfish, but I am not going to risk my life for someone I barely know, and quite frankly, don't care about. Go ahead, let these things take over the entire land just because you want to throw away your life like it's nothing so desperately." 

Kodyr tried to calm himself down. "You're right. It does sound harsh and selfish. But then again, that is just who you are. You care about no one but yourself and your happiness. I bet the only one you actually show the slightest bit of compassion to is your girlfriend because it's the only human in your life who brings you happiness. Considering the way you act around others, you probably don't even have any friends or people who would fight for you."  

Ruby watched as Kodyr walked away from her, debating whether she should stop him or not. If she did, good riddance. If she didn't, she wouldn't be able to kill him herself and she would most likely never find out how to beat the Shirettos. Instead of leaving him to die like she had thought of first, she ran after him and knocked him unconscious with the hilt of her sword. She dragged him all the way while she was walking towards the town again. "I'm afraid I can't allow you to go off and kill yourself. The only one who is allowed to kill you is me." 

When Kodyr opened his eyes, he realised he was no longer in the forest rather soon. He sat up and looked around, realising he was in a small room with one bed, brownish walls and dusty furniture. It didn't seem at all cosy and he already felt like he knew whose doing it was. 

"Good, you're awake. That means I won't have to drag your ass around any longer." He frowned, not surprised to see that it had been Ruby who said those words. She walked towards where he was laying on a bed. "I told the owner you were drunk, so I didn't have to explain to him you were planning on going on a suicide mission and I had to forcefully prevent you from doing that." 

"Why did you do that? I thought you wanted me dead?" 

She sighed and paced around the room. "Look, I don't like this any more than you do, but we need each other in order to stay alive. I need you to find this writer of yours while you need me to make sure you don't do anything extremely stupid." 

He stood up, looking at the door she was blocking longingly. He wanted to get away from her and do as he had told her he was going to do. "If I want to do something 'stupid', that is my own decision." 

She made sure he couldn't leave the room. "You claim you have full freedom to choose what you're going to do next, but you don't. I will not allow you to die before I am safe and living the rest of my life in peace with the woman I love." She pushed him back on the bed and added, "When you're in the afterlife, you can do however many dumb things you want to do." 

Kodyr wanted to protest, but he decided it was probably best not to in the end. After all, she was stubborn and would stop at nothing to prevent him from leaving town if it meant she would survive all of this. He nodded. "Have it your way, I'm not going to look for Brendon. I will just let you live with the guilt for the rest of your miserable life." 

She snorted, "Right, because he meant something to me. You said it yourself wonderfully. I don't care about anyone but myself, Hael, and my friends. And quite frankly, I wouldn't consider him one of those things." 

"Well then," Kodyr said, getting dressed in front of her, "Let's go look for the author of that book and save ourselves and the world along with it." He wasn't afraid to show off his bare stomach or any other body parts for that matter. 

"First remotely smart thing you have said in the last couple days," she stated before the two of them left the room and decided to stay downstairs in the inn to ask around about this man they were looking for. 

"There she is, the strong girl!" the owner said as soon as the two set foot in the bar. He poked Kodyr in the side, "While you were unconscious, your friend and the boys had a competition on who could carry you with the most ease. I never thought it would be her, you are quite heavy, you know?" 

He shot the smiling girl a glare and then turned to the man in front of him. He had a goatee and some teeth were missing. "I'm going to cut right to the chase," he started as he took the book out of the bag, "What do you know about the author of this work? He is said to still be alive and we need to find him before it's too late."

"Boy, that's a tough subject, are you sure you're sober? Usually, this is asked by drunkards, like you just a couple hours ago." 

He quickly turned to Ruby. "How long was I out?" 

She shrugged, "My guess would be about... five or six hours?" 

He closed his eyes and let out a sigh of frustation. For now, he decided to ignore the girl and the snickering men behind her and looked at the owner again. "Yes, I'm sober now. Maybe a little hungover, but I can think clearly again." 

The two of them were walking in broad daylight through the streets of the small town they were staying at. Honestly, Ruby hadn't paid attention to however it was called and had gone to the first - and cheapest - inn she could find to wait. "Was I really knocked out for so long?" 

She nodded, "I might have knocked you out for a second and a third time as soon as you started to wake up, but yes." 

"What?! Why would you do that if it would be less straining for you to just have me awake?" 

He looked at the smirking girl walking next to him. "You know what they say; better safe than sorry. Not to mention, I really wanted to be able to tell people you were drunk." 

At this point, the urge to punch her in the face was increasing rapidly. If she wouldn't stop humiliating him with every chance she got and being a smartass at all times, he was definitely going to do that. He tried to calm himself down by telling himself what would happen as soon as he handed her over to Commander Riggs. He would be praised and would achieve a higher status, and she would be judged for her crimes and quite possibly sentenced to death. For now, that was enough satisfaction for him. 

"I suggest you keep up, shorty," she mocked him when he was starting to lag behind. He quickly caught up and looked around. The streets were almost entirely empty, for a while the only persons they could see were tramps begging for money or food and children chasing cats and rats. 

At some point, they had finally spotted an adult man who, by the looks of it, was wealthy and knew a lot. He was exactly like the owner had described: a tall man dressed in black, with dark hair and dark eyes to match. "If it isn't my most faithful customer," he said when he noticed the two approaching him, "and the person she wants to kill. Interesting outcome, Ruby. I truly believed you were going to use the information I provided wisely." 

She nodded. "Well, the surprise about it is mutual. It's not at all what I intended." She then took a pouch with golden coins from Kodyr and threw it at the man, who caught it effortlessly. "Go ahead, ask him. He just got paid, he'll provide the information we need."

Kodyr wore a sceptic look as he took out the book, "How do you know?" 

She smirked, "How else do you think I learned who you were and where to find you? There was a good reason you were sent on that particular mission in Magda and it wasn't because of what you are." 

"What are you... Oh, come on!"