{"sf1_id":921436,"sf2_id":null,"title":"A Tale of Ashen Wings - Chapter 4: Get Back Here!","author":"Andre Valias","words":2139,"posted_at":"2015-10-13T22:48:00.000Z","tags":["Alcohol","Dark","Dragon","Dragonian","Elf","Fantasy","Inn","Medieval","Pickpocket","Rumours","kidnapping","tavern","thief"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/921436-a-tale-of-ashen-wings-chapter-4-get-back-here","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/921436","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=921436\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"\n\"Do\nyou think there will be a war with the Redcloaks?\" A\nvoice asked close-by.\n\"As\nif you're asking! You know how Nords are.\" Another voice\nresponded. \"They didn't call them the\nVengeance Wars for no reason!\" They added. \nAkalgan looked up slightly from his mug\nof sujamma for a moment. His hearing was keened at the mention of the Vengeance\nWars. Memories began to spark at the mere thought of Nords and Dragonians. The\nDark Elven patrons noticed his look and hurriedly hushed themselves upon\nrealising how rude they may seem in the presence of the mercenary. Akalgan\nrolled his eyes and cast his gaze across the inn. It was dimly-lit and\nrelatively empty, but that was not to describe it as small. Akalgan had\nexpected that once the day's work was over, dozens of patrons will be cramming\nthe inn and partying merrily to bard's tunes. It was Fredas, after all. \nEveryone had probably forgotten about\nthe events of that morning by now. Akalgan still thought about how defiant the\nNords were, and his thoughts came back to what the two patrons had been\ndiscussing. A war... A vengeance war... He wondered. His mind wandered back to\nhis memories, and what he thought of Nords. It was difficult for Akalgan to put\nhimself firmly in any place, mostly because he did not belong anywhere no\nmatter what. He closed his eyes and took another swig of the strong spirit,\nundiluted by anything else as he savoured the burning feeling in his throat\nthat most beverages rarely possessed.\nHe began to recollect what knowledge he\nhad of the Vengeance Wars. It was a controversial title to be bestowed upon the\nseries of conflicts between Arkathia and Skrijaheim. It is just as often\nattributed to the desire for vengeance that Nords had for the transgressions of\nYlath, the Dragon-God of Storms, as it was also attributed to the thirst for\nrevenge that Dragonians had in response to the slaying of Ylath by the\nnow-Divine Talos. For centuries, the Vengeance Wars outlasted any other war not\nin duration but through constant revival of old hatreds. Not even the War\nbeneath the Mountain involving Dwarves and Shadow Elves compared to the horrors\nof the Vengeance Wars. And yet, despite the comradery and unity found in the\ncoming of the 2nd Ending, there was still a resentment between\nDragonians and Nords, as well as the Dwarves of both Arkathia and Skrijaheim. \nAkalgan recalled numerous times on his\ntravels through Skrijaheim were he was found unwelcome in many Nordic\nsettlements. There were few people, with names he will remember in respect,\nwhom showed him a form of kindness or decency. But otherwise, Akalgan will\nalways recall looking down on Nords because of a single name: Lizard. As though\npuny Humes such as they thought they were greater than dragons because one of\ntheir own slew a Dragon-God. Moments like those insulted a deep sense of pride\nAkalgan held onto, even if he was an exile-- \nAt that moment, he thought no more on\nthe matter. Akalgan's hand tightened its grip on his mug and he took another\nswig of sujamma with raspy sigh. His eyes opened wide the moment he felt\nsomething; a filcher's hand pilfering his coinpurse. At that moment Akalgan\nturned right round to grab at the pickpocket, a Dark Elven boy who looked no\nolder than 17. He smiled and laughed in Akalgan's face as he deftly evaded the\narm thrown outwards to catch him, before sprinting towards the tavern door and\nheading out into the street. Akalgan's brow furrowed as he bared his teeth in\nanger. \n\"GET\nBACK HERE!\" He roared as he leapt from his seat and\nimmediately chased after the little runt. \nAkalgan burst into the streets with\npeople jumping back at his appearance, and he watched as the pickpocket took the\nnext turn up the street. Akalgan shook his head as he realized how much he was\nweighed down by his gear. He then looked upwards and had an idea. He stretched\nout his wings and then ran up the wall opposite him, with the people leaping\nout of his way in a panic. He beat his great wings as his feet left the wall,\nwhich gave him a boost up to the rooftops above. He climbed up quickly and ran\nswiftly over towards the street that the filcher turned into. After searching\nthe street, he found the filthy bugger running into a merchant and his cart, as\nhe stumbled over what appeared to be berry jars. Akalgan's eyes narrowed and he\nmade his way quickly across the rooftops, unhindered by people as his quarry\nwould be. \nNot once did the boy escape Akalgan's\neyes as he kept looking back behind him but never up. The little smirk that\nappeared on his face at the apparent belief that he had lost Akalgan infuriated\nthe Dragonian more as he leapt across the street from roof to roof. A few tiles\nslipped at his feet as Akalgan grunted and grasped at the roof, down they fell\nto the street below, surprising a few fortunate people who were only narrowly\nmissed by the falling tiles. Akalgan ignored the outcries as he watched his\nquarry once more, who realised he was still being chased and instead watched\nthe rooftops. \nAkalgan pushed himself up from the\nsloped roof and leapt from roof to roof once more to close in on his prey. The\nboy started to run and tried to escape, but made a wrong turn into a side\nalleyway which Akalgan basically had within his next leap. With a triumphant\nsmile, he jumped down from the rooftop and landed with a thud right in front of\nthe boy. The pickpocket's eyes widened as he slipped and tried to recover to\nrun in the other direction, but Akalgan was well within being able to snatch\nthe boy by the scruff of his neck. Within the spur of a moment, Akalgan had the\nlittle filcher by the collar and slammed him against the wall angrily. \n\"Okay!\nOkay! You got me!\" The Dark Elven boy cried out after he\nfelt the solid force against his back. \"I-I'll\ngive them back to you, just let me go!\" He pleaded as he held out the\nshining sovereigns he had stolen. Akalgan raised an eyebrow with disappointment\nas he took the sovereigns. He shook the boy by the collar and the boy cried out\nas he struggled against the Dragonian's firm and vice-like grip, but Akalgan\nwas not letting go so easily. \"Okay! I'm\nsorry! I'm sorry! I'll give the rest back, I swear!\" The boy cried as he\ntook a few more sovereigns from his vest pocket and held them out to Akalgan.\nThe Dragonian took them with only the barest look of thanks, before his eyes\nbecame as sharp as daggers.\n\"Give\nme a reason why I shouldn't just gut you right now.\" He\ndarkly whispered as he pocketed his liberated coins. The boy shook his head in\nfear.\n\"It's\nagainst the law here!\" He quickly uttered. \nAkalgan tilted his head and thought of\nsomething else, more humane yet more degrading.\n\"But\nI doubt anyone will bat an eye when I strip you down and tie you up to a\nrooftop.\" Akalgan thought aloud. The boy's eyes\nlooked into Akalgan's with a genuine fright.\n\"I'd\nrather you strip me down and tie me to a bed to d--\" He\npressed bit his lips to stop himself from finishing that sentence, but it was\nenough for Akalgan's eyes to relax and even put a slight smirk on his face. \n\"To\ndo with you as I please? Huh... Well.\" Akalgan finished for\nthe boy. He looked him down in that same instant, and beamed in approval of\nsuch a cute thing, now that the filthy smirk was rubbed off his face. \"That is a better idea than what I had in\nmind. After all, Akatosh knows I'll need something to relieve the stress and\nfinding someone to do that for me would be expensive in this city--\" He\nexplained. The boy grimaced and clawed harder at Akalgan's hand. The Dragonian\nrolled his eyes and jerked him up suddenly. \"--And I think you have to repay me one way or another.\" Akalgan\nfinished. \nThe Dark Elf shook his head\ndefiantly.  \n\"If\nyou think I'm going to go along with you--\" he began. But Akalgan\nwas not interested in what he had to say. He cut the boy short with a sudden\nblow to the head, only hard enough to knock him out. In that instant, the boy\nwas out like a light.\n\"I\ndon't think I was giving you a choice.\" Akalgan scoffed as he\nslung the boy over his shoulder. He turned towards the street, but then paused\nafter thinking about how odd he would look carrying the boy out of an alleyway\nin such a manner. He sighed and then knelt down for a moment. He moved the boy\nunder his wing and then onto his back. Akalgan wrapped the boy's arms around\nhis neck and held onto his legs, as if to be giving him a piggyback. Akalgan\nhobbled over slightly so the boy wouldn't fall back and smash his head. He then\ntook a deep breath over the look of himself and went out into the streets to\nreturn to his inn of residence. \nOn the way back, Akalgan only got a few\nlooks from passing citizens. A few of them were actually positive, to his\nsurprise. His stomach rolled over at the thought that some common folk thought\nthat this image of a Dragonian giving piggyback to a 'sleeping' Dark Elven boy\nwas... Cute. Akalgan shivered at the thought of somebody bothering to stop him\nand make that singular remark, and subsequently hurried to get back to the inn.\nPerhaps\nit would have been easier to just humiliate the boy publicly instead... He\nthought briefly.\nAkalgan slightly opened his door and\nthen carefully pushed it open with the boy still with him on piggyback. He was\nonly a little flustered with patrons and the publican giving him adoring looks\nover his seeming heartfelt action. The thought made Akalgan grunt and dropped\nthe boy suddenly on the bed. There and then he turned around and saw how\ninnocent the boy looked in his unconscious state, despite the obvious bruise\nAkalgan had given him. The Dragonian almost had second thoughts about what he\nintended to do. So instead he just re-imagined the filthy smirk back upon the\nboy's face. That made Akalgan more than happy to undo the boy's sack cloth\npants and slip them off along with his poorly-made leather vest. The conclusion\nthat the boy was just a street urchin made Akalgan feel a little more\njustified--Or in the least a little bit better, as he tied the boy's wrists to\nthe bed with rope from amongst the gear he kept in his room. \nOnce he was done, Akalgan took a step back,\nand looked upon the boy's face again. The devilish smile that made him angry\nbefore was now gone, and he was just as he really was the whole time; an\nunconscious Dark Elven boy, who was now naked on Akalgan's bed. But for the\nmost part unconscious. Akalgan then sighed. \n\"Still\nout like a light.\" He murmured. He then figured the boy\nwould not wake for another couple of hours at least. Akalgan then stepped\ntoward the window of his room and glanced to the sun in the sky. \"But it looks like there's plenty of light\nin the day. I might as well find a job to take on while I'm at it.\" He\nlooked back at the boy, or rather his bindings, and then back at the boy once\nAkalgan was sure he wouldn't slip away anytime soon. \"I'll be back for you later tonight. Sweet dreams, little knife-ears.\" He\nsoftly jeered, before he stepped out of his room and locked the door. \nAkalgan then whistled cheerfully as he\nstepped downstairs to the main area of the inn, where the innkeeper looked at\nhim.\n\"Did\nyou want to finish your drink?\" He asked as he\ngestured to Akalgan's abandoned mug, seemingly untouched since Akalgan had\ngiven chase to the little thief. The Dragonian spared it a glance, before\npicking up the mug and sculling the rest of its content. With a raspy yet\nsatisfied sigh, he put the mug down hard and then stepped out into the street.\nThe innkeeper stared out after the Dragonian in wonder, and then shrugged as he\ntook Akalgan's mug and started washing it. \"S'pose\nthe boy was a dear friend of his by the looks of it.\" He muttered to\nhimself, seemingly unaware of the boy being the thief from before.\n","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/921434-a-tale-of-ashen-wings-chapter-3-the-ursaren-captain.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/921437-a-tale-of-ashen-wings-chapter-5-grail-of-mercenaries.json"}