Chapter 21

“Quite a mess you created here.”

Frode’s sense of humor wasn’t for everybody, but I knew that already, and didn’t mind a bit. I knew that he was also trying to distract me when one of the waitresses was cleaning and sewing the wound in my left hand. It hurt, but I didn’t mind the pain, since I felt that I had deserved it and much more. On the other hand, it reminded me that I was still alive while those men weren’t. Somewhere there, hidden, was also the thought that that wound and coming scar would be a trophy. Something that would remind me of this very battle. The first one where I had been really able to use the warrior in me. The first of many ... I closed my eyes and forced that idea somewhere back where it belonged. I’d be happy if I would never be in a situation like this again.

“Yes, sorry about that. Next time I’ll try to be more careful.”

While saying that, I saluted him and took a sip of the smoky usquebae from the glass I had been holding in my right hand.

“Stay still, young man.”

“I’m sorry.”

The woman who had been patching me together let out a sigh of frustration and turned to face me.

“Stop being sorry for yourself, you fool, and celebrate. You fought them and won. You saved us, our customers and for sure those two young women up there.”

Suddenly something inside me was boiling over. I snorted and spoke to her with a soft voice.

“Easy for you to say. It isn’t you who will see those faces in your dreams in the future. For sure, you can also have somebody to comfort you during those nights while my female companion has so many issues of her own, that there’s no way she would be able to make me feel better. Yeah, I’m bitter and horny - and will probably stay that way for a long time.”

The woman kept on looking at me for some time.

“Is that all? Could you be still for a while and stop apologizing? That annoys me.”

I looked back at the woman, not really knowing what I should do or say. Then, suddenly a smile broke through to my face and I shook my head.

“I’m better now, thanks. I guess that I just needed a good kick on my ass.”

I raised my glass to her and took another sip before leaning back again and relaxing. However, the woman wasn’t done.

“That’s just a start, young man, just a start.”

I had been somewhat worried that getting rid of all those bodies would turn out to be a problem, but the people at the restaurant were much more knowledgeable about that particular issue than I was. Clothes would be burned in their oven, and no part of any body would be dumped into the River Aston. No, they had a contract with a few farmers. There was one piggery that gladly accepted more meat for their pigs. Of course I knew that pigs ate anything; but still, it hadn’t occurred to me to use them that way. I wasn’t sure if I would eat bacon here in Aston ever again.

“Everything dumped into the river tends to surface at some point, even swords. However, there are good markets outside Aston for good quality weaponry. Remember, we don’t want what happened to those people to come out. Silence is much more efficient.”

I nodded to the new, older woman whom I knew to be one of the family heads. I could understand that - as we hadn’t wanted to let certain Guardians know what had happened to their spies, or let the Trolls know what happened to their army. I was told that they had sent a messenger to Mrs. Hansen as soon as the situation was clear, and that Frode and I would stay here for the night. Well, considering how I was feeling, I would not have been eager to walk back home, anyhow. I closed my eyes and leaned back against the wall while Frode was talking with the restaurant people about how the cleaning process could be arranged.

“Why did you leave that one man alive? You know that we cannot let him go back to the Shinies.”

I forced myself to concentrate despite the exhaustion I was still feeling. In fact, I was already feeling better since I wasn’t really physically tired. I really wished that I would understand that magic thing better.

“I know. I was hoping that you could hide him or maybe use him on a ship or at some remote location. There will be a time when I’ll need some experienced people for my own business.”

“You are really serious with that idea of yours Elise told us about.”

“Yes, I am.”

“And you really trust him?”

I couldn’t help smiling a bit.

“I’m quite certain that he can be trusted.”

The woman nodded.

“Okay, we owe you at least that much, now. What about those thugs, then?”

Yes, what about them? What about Ylva and Liv and those two beefy guys?

“They were tricked to come here; and, without Ylva’s help, I probably would not have been able to survive the fight.” I wasn’t entirely sure about the last part. Maybe I could have made it, and there was some scary part inside me that would have liked to try.

“So you want us to save them, too?”

I shrugged tiredly and felt somewhat unsure about the situation since I really didn’t know how this family dealt with their problems. Even if they talked about a piggery they could just as well transfer those barrels to the ship and sail into the open sea. I didn’t know. I didn’t really want to know.

“Remember that neither Liv or those two men have any idea what happened after they were taken down. That Ylva there ... would you believe me if I say that you can trust her, too?”

That older woman wasn’t stupid, not at all. My problem was that I was mentally too exhausted to think of some clever way out of this. However, I met her gaze without hesitation when she looked at me. She looked at me for some time before turning to look at the room behind us. I had to admit that these people were efficient, since the bodies were already gone somewhere and some cleaner was being used on the floor. I wondered what she was thinking about all this: a young University student kills several Shinies who appear here without any warning. I tried to avoid thinking about that, myself.

“Okay - and you should get rid of those clothes, young man. I’m quite certain that they cannot be saved. We cannot really clean the floor until you have been cleaned, too.”

Only then I realized that my clothes were wet and sticky. Then there was the smell - the sweet, but metallic smell of blood. For a moment I thought that I was going to throw up again, but there wasn’t anything left in my stomach.

I used a few bowls of water and then I took the offered clean clothes. They weren’t new, but they were clean. They smelled clean. My head felt like it was full of something that wanted to come out - but at the same time I felt empty. I sat down on the floor and leaned back against the wall.