Chapter 7: Trouble

The air around the Thorinhil was stiff and Teus watched from afar the kingdom’s Beast Breakers. They began to go from person to person, leaning in to speak, seemingly asking them questions. But whatever they were being asked, their voices never reached Teus’ ears from where he was.

The answers seemed to come promptly and without much time being wasted, the crew was onto the next cluster of people. The citizens respectfully bowed their heads, almost trembling as they conversed with the breakers. For whatever reason it looked way more intense than a simple round of inquiries should ever be.

The people looked afraid.

Regardless of him being nervous and barely withstanding this overwhelming aura, he swallowed a lump down his throat and managed to take two steps forward.

“That guy…The captain in the front, he has to know how to use a dragon core! If I can just get him to show me the ropes I’m sure I’ll be able to use it! If I’m ever gonna find the King’s crest, I can’t let an opportunity like this slide!”

Before he took the third a firm hand yanked him back, gripping him by the scarf. He turned his head over his shoulder to see a worried shopkeeper not loosening his clutch.

“It’s not a good idea to go over there without being called, Teus. There’s something you should know about Beast Breakers from the kingdom.”

“Huh,” Teus half raised an eyebrow out of confusion. “What’s that?”

“Whenever they’re outside of the kingdom on a mission like this, they carry the authority of the king. If you don’t comply or answer carefully, you could easily die…”

Teus stared at the shopkeeper for a brief moment before nervously chuckling.

“Yeah right, you almost got me.”

“I’m being serious, you lunatic! Don’t go over there unless if you’ve got a death wish.”

“You’re just saying that because you don’t want me to get closer to finding the King’s Crest right?”

The shopkeeper leaned in and placed his index finger over his mouth, to signal Teus to be quiet. His next words were in a troubled whisper.

“Keep your voice down you fool! I’m not playing any games with you, if you’re not careful you could lose your life right now. They can kill you with no repercussions. Don’t go knocking on death’s door!”

Teus maintained his unconvinced composure. Holding an irritated tone in his voice.

“Stop lying to me, there’s no way I’d believe that.”

A calm, deep voice answered from behind Teus.

“What he’s saying is true.”

The shop went quiet as the town’s eyes shifted to where the Beast Breakers were now located, right in front of Teus.

Startled by the man, Teus fell on his behind as he faced the insurmountable warriors.

The captain got on one knee, tilted forward just a bit before giving him a controlled and gentle smile.

“But you have nothing to fear, so long as you comply.”

Teus' heart began to race as he caught more than a glimpse of the breakers in front of him. Most of their faces held intimidatingly neutral expressions. Except for one, the youngest of the group seemed to be staring daggers into his body. It was as if Teus could sense the bloodlust emanating from the child, it paralyzed him, yet he could not possibly figure out why he could have been angry.

“If looks could kill…”

The captain noticed his heavy breathing and wide eyed panic.

“Calm down.” He ordered.

He immediately straightened his body and regained composure. Once his countenance seemed satisfactory to the captain, his explanation began.

“We have been sent by the king to find the shapeshifting dragon Kuravana. In our last battle he managed to escape and we received word that he’s been sighted around this town. His method is transforming into people to gain their trust before devouring them. We believe that he’s been lingering around this town specifically because of this town’s river and he has a real appetite for fish. Have you seen anything unusual lately?”

“I…can’t say that I have.” Teus promptly replied.

The captain looked at the shopkeeper and the new hire intently.

“I haven’t seen anything, sir.” The shopkeeper answered.

“I-I also haven’t.” The new hire followed.

A couple of seconds went by that felt like ages to pass of the captain giving each citizen in the shop a stern gaze with narrow eyes, as if to inspect whether they were lying or not. When it appeared that he was satisfied a swift exhale exited his nose as he began to stand up.

He was done evaluating.

“Listen carefully, Kuravana is known to be active around nightfall, so that is when we will conduct our attack. Everyone is ordered to stay indoors at that time, for your own safety.”

The group simultaneously nodded their heads, heeding the warning. The shopkeeper and the new hire bowed their heads while Teus remained on the ground speechless, his lip slightly quivering.

“That’s everything, we’re done here.” The captain declared.

He then arose from his crouched position in front of Teus and straightened to the rest of his height. His cloak twirled in the wind behind him, trailing behind him like a billowing banner of authority. The breakers were about to depart, presumably to examine the rest of the town.

Until the captain felt a slight tug along his cape before he left.

His piercing eyes looked down to see, none other than Teus, barely holding on to the end of the cloak. The leader looked expectantly, as the words seemed to fall out of Teus’ mouth.

“Wait! There’s something I want to ask you…”

Everyone was unpleasantly surprised.

Masking his emotions, the captain didn’t allow any change in his expression except for the slight raising of his eyebrow.

The shopkeeper instinctively facepalmed his head. 

“Damn it, Teus!”

The new hire winced and the rest of the town began to shuffle away from the scene with their eyes glued to the act of defiance from Teus, all with hushed murmurings. The Beast Breaker member with the large spear had maintained a stoic, neutral expression. The dagger wielder began to chuckle softly to himself while the child of the group had become absolutely livid. His snarl became more obvious as his face almost became flush red out of fury. 

“I’m sorry if this comes across as rude but,” The boy took his trembling hands and placed them in his pocket before revealing the shimmering dragon core with the same faint glow that the captain had emanating from his scabbard. 

“Could you please tell me how to use a dragon core, just the basics will do.”

The town continued to look in shock and the captain’s face remained unphased, though it was unlikely that he was pleased. Teus continued.

“I figured you would know since you have a dragon core too, right?...See, i- it’s my dream to find the King’s Crest one day, so naturally I’d be fighting dragons soon too. I just thought if I didn’t ask now, I would never get this chance agai-”

A powerful blow was placed on Teus’ abdomen before he could finish his sentence. A foot was firmly plunged into his solar plexus before the force of the strike sent him flying across the dirt road. His dragon core dropped from his hand as he became airborne.

He bounced across the street like a skipping stone over the water before a nearby shop stopped his tumbling. Causing him to slam into the wooden frame before falling to the ground.

“...What…happened!?”

Lifting his eyes even, just barely he saw that the child of the group had his foot hoisted in the air and the dust was still settling around his body. The enraged breaker began to walk towards him.

A cough escaped Teus’ lips, followed by a struggled gasp as he desperately tried to gain his bearings. He faltered again after trying to maintain his gaze at the assaulter in front of him.

“What the hell is this!? I’ve never felt pain like this in my life!...I feel like I’m gonna pass out! What the hell was that for!?”

The sound of boots striking the ground got louder.

“It’s always lousy, no good, entitled, naive brats like you that think you have the right to question the elite with your bright-eyed, desperate dreams and blind view of the world. We are on a mission from the king to kill a dragon right now. And you think you’re so special that we would take the time to give tutoring lessons!? Your presumptuous insolence towards royalty is appalling! The captain said that we were done here, did he not!?”

The child’s eyes burned with fury as he glared at Teus.

A wave of nausea rippled throughout Teus’ body, the world did not stop spinning, he struggled to focus on the words of the imposing breaker before a flood of yesterday’s meal began to spew from his mouth, aggressively. 

The feet of the Beast Breaker reached close to Teus’ head again.

“...Your lack of respect has made me reach my limit.”

He raised his foot again. Teus braced himself for another strike, wincing before the blow moments before it occurred. The breaker connected his foot on top of Teus’ head and slammed it into the ground. Not removing it as he firmly held his face in the puddle of his own throw up.

Onlookers began to look away out of disgust. The townspeople quickly dispersed from the area, almost as if they feared of being next. The breaker continued to torture Teus a he continued.

“Dirty peasants like you should never speak unless spoken to! But it’s clear that you weren’t raised with any manners!”

A voice from the crowd shouted, catching the two children’s attention. The heads of the citizens pivoted like a swivel to watch the breaker twirling his black and red dagger add his opinion.

“You’re being unusually soft on a commoner, Raud. You’re not being anywhere near cruel enough if you want to send a message. I’d make him pay if he irritated me that much.”

The spearmen remained silent and the captain picked up Teus’ dragon core. Raud snapped his neck back at his comrade, whilst his foot was still planted on Teus’ head.

“What are you talking about ‘pay’? He has nothing of worth to his name!” His gaze quickly scouted Teus before his eyes stopped at a particular feature. “Except for this scarf I guess…But even this is filthy.”

The breaker nonchalantly stripped Teus of his scarf as he held it in his head with a disdained look, he almost recoiled out of disgust after holding so close. Whimpering noises left Teus’ body but it was unintelligible what he meant to say.

“Give…it back!”

The shopkeeper timidly teetered over the counter, raising his hand in protest, as he quickly attempted to leave his shop as sweat fell from his temple. 

“Wait, there’s no need to do that! Please, It’s not money but maybe I can give you armory from my shop for your trouble. That scarf is really important to Teus-”

The hand of the shopkeeper was swiftly grabbed by the spearmen, who did not need to do anything more than stern glare at him in order to silence him, reprimanding the fact he even involved himself in this affair.

“I- I’m sorry…” He took a couple steps backward before his hand was released and he swallowed his shame. He gave Teus a troubled look as he sat there, helpless.

“Oh? So this raggedy old thing actually means something to him? I guess I will take it as payment.”

Raud had a small, devilish grin on his face before removing his foot from Teus’ head and leaned into his face. He raised his face to eye level by pulling him by his hair and daringly stared into his eyes, dangling the scarf from just outside his reach.

“Consider this your penance, and let it be a reminder to not act out of line against royalty ever again!”