"Resurrecting the Scarlet Avenger, Ch. 1.3" by Jon Midget

Chapter 1, continued ...

I took the northern road and followed it away from the market. I hadn't decided whether to follow it out of town or not, but whatever I decided I already knew one stop I was going to make: the Ghundie's home. Tom was likely still at Alcon Hall, but I didn't want to talk to him again. I wanted to talk to his wife and to Kyle.

The northern road followed the creek, and the walk was shaded by the oaks and cottonwoods growing along the bank. There were more people out, most walking toward the market. Most looked away when they saw me. Nobody spoke. Only an older man, a town gardener, smiled as I passed by.

Just before it reached the Ghundie's home, at the edge of town, the road curved around a small vale. A group of kids ran and hid behind trees and bushes while a girl sat in a grassy thicket with her eyes closed. After a moment, she stood up, looked around, and ran off, trying to find her hiding friends. I smiled. I had once played the same games—with Kyle Ghundie, I bitterly remembered.

The two of us had been inseparable as children. Once, when we were both nine, we broke off a few planks from a neighbor's fence and carved them into swords. When we had finished, we ran to the vale, swinging our sticks at the host of demons and monsters conjured by our imaginations.

Alicia, Kyle's younger sister, had followed us. We tried hiding in a fox den beneath a fallen tree, but she still found us. Leaving her to catch up, Kyle and I ran down the road and into the forest just outside of town. Knowing she would follow, I hid behind a bush and Kyle waited for her to appear.

"Mom says we aren't supposed to play over here," Alicia said as soon as she saw her brother.

Kyle said nothing. Holding a finger to his lips, he looked around mysteriously.

"Mom says—"

"You'd best be careful," Kyle whispered. He spun and held his wooden sword to her throat. "Do you know what's out here?" he asked.

"Nothing. You're just pretending."

"I'm not pretending anything," Kyle said. He pointed to the northern mountains. "That's where the elves come from," he whispered. "And when they're on this side of town they start to feel their powers coming back."

"They don't have any powers."

"You should listen to what dad says more," Kyle said. "I've been out here with Martin before, and it's all true. He starts saying these weird words—elvish words—and then ..."

"What?" Alicia whispered.

I jumped out from behind the bush and Alicia screamed. I raised my hands, opened my eyes as wide as I could, and started whispering nonsense. "I feel my power growing," I said. I walked toward her, slowly, each step taking a few seconds to make. As I did, I spoke louder and louder, still saying nothing but gibberish. She tried to run, but Kyle held her. I reached out to touch her until, with a shriek, she wrenched out of Kyle's hands and ran back to into town.

Laughing and cheering, Kyle and I spun around, clacking our swords together until we suddenly faced each other. Kyle stared at me and backed away—as if he had looked into my eyes and seen a demon hiding deep inside.

"I gotta go," he said, and he ran out of the forest, along the same path as Alicia, before I could even respond.

Later that evening, after I had returned to the inn, my father kept looking at me. He usually had too much work to do to pay attention to me before he closed up, but every time I turned around that night I saw him watching me. He actually approached me once, while I cleaned off a table.

"Why don't you stay here tomorrow?" he asked me. "You can spend the day in the kitchen and help out the cooks."

"But me and Kyle were going to go hunt for salamanders at Cattail Bank," I said.

My father looked above and behind me for a moment before looking me in the eye again.

"I think Kyle has other things he has to do."

My father patted my shoulder and walked away. I turned around, trying to see what he had been looking at. Kyle's mother stood across the room, watching me. Her eyes were red, and the lamplight flickered off her wet cheeks. Her mouth opened once, as if to say something, but she turned away and left the inn without speaking a word.

I never played with Kyle again. I did sneak to his house once, a few weeks after my father had decided to keep me in the kitchen, but Kyle disappeared inside as soon as he saw me running up the road. Nobody answered when I knocked on the door.

Years later, after Tom Ghundie had been elected mayor of Alcon Valley, he stopped me as I was on my way to the market to buy a pail of soap.

"Martin," he said, running his hand up and down his black vest, "what do you think about the vest?"

"It's fine," I said. "You know, I'd rather not talk—"

"It's very fine," he cut me off. "Satin. My grandfather bought it in Calisapas—not that I expect you know where that is."

"I know where Calisapas is," I snapped back. "My father has actually been there a couple times."

"Of course," Tom said, his face suddenly becoming tight and his smile humorless. "The point is, you don't find clothes of this quality just anywhere. And even when you can find it, only a few care enough to keep it ... spotless. And if you look closely, you'll see that there are no spots on this vest. And I'm going to keep it that way."

"Congratulations," I said. "It looks like you know how to keep your clothes clean."

Tom grabbed me by the shirt and pulled me to closer, though not close enough to dirty his precious shirt. "I do know how to keep things clean," he said.

I remember being unable to move, to pull away. I wasn't really scared, but it wasn't really anger either. I don't know what it was, but I just stood there, motionless, glaring at the man until he smiled and shoved me away.

I shook my head, and the memories disappeared. My attention jolted back to what was in front of me. The Ghundie's home. I stood in the middle of the road, unable to step either toward it or away. My hands shook and I closed my eyes. I could feel my heartbeat in my neck and hands, and my chest suddenly burned. All I could hear were my rasping breaths. I don't know how long I stood there.

"Martin, let it be. You don't want to go in there."

I knew that voice. Even though I had not heard it in nearly ten years, I knew who I would see even before I opened my eyes. Alicia Ghundie. Her dark hair was pulled back; she held the reigns to a pack horse and wore dark grey pants and dark leather boots. Her brown eyes were raw, as if they had been rubbed in the ashes of the inn.

"I heard you were back," she said. "It didn't take a genius to figure out you would be stopping by here sooner or later."

"You heard I was ...?" I trailed off. Of course she knows I'm back. Everyone seems to know I'm back. "What's with the horse?" I finally asked.

She reached out and grabbed my hand. "Martin, you need to leave."

"Why is that the first thing everyone says to me?" I asked. I pointed at the horse. "Did you think it would help if you packed for me?"

"I'm coming with you," she said.

"I'm not exactly planning a picnic to Upland Falls," I said. "I was actually planning to stay at a nice inn on the west side of town—the Moonshined Coon, maybe you've heard of it?—but I've had to change my plans, and I don't have it all figured out, yet."

Her face was serious. "Martin, you haven't been here this past week. I have. Your father's inn may be the only building that's been burned down, but he's not the only one who's been killed, and yours is not the only life that has been torn apart. I'm leaving. You need to leave. So let's go together before my father finds either of us."

"I'm not leaving," I told her. "I came to talk to your moth—"

"My mother is dead," Alicia cut me off. "And Kyle is too. There aren't any answers left in that house, and there's nothing left for either of us here." She held out the reigns to the horse. "Please. Come with me."

"What happened?" I whispered.

Alicia looked away, her eyes wet. "Let's go," was all she said.

I stared at her silently. My whole body felt rigid, tensed up with rage but somehow also weak. I didn't want to give in—to just go along with what all those bastards in town wanted me to do. Leave. Get out. Never come back. And I hated to think that they would win.

But I also wondered if there was any reason for me to stay. I had moved out years ago, and my father was gone. All I really wanted was answers—and I didn't know what I would do when I got them anyway. At least if I left with Alicia there was the chance that she would eventually tell me what had happened. I hesitated but finally grabbed the reigns to the horse.

"What's the horse's name?" I asked.

"Shadowbrook."

I took a deep breath, and we walked out of town together, leading Shadowbrook behind us. This time, I turned around and looked back, but Alicia never did.