COLORS OF SIN CHAPTER 2
Rowan demonstrates how to use the tools. I take it and put it inside my pocket. After that, we finished our meal at the bar and head out back to Jack and Jill. I still can cope with recent information and everything that happened tonight... I mean, how could I believe that tonight would be the last night for me to ever see Rowan again. Really, this is quite surreal. I feel a bit saddened about the fact that I won’t have ears to listen to about my problems on the orphanage anymore, a brother that I can rely on and trust, a friend to do adventure together. Rowan has become a good friend, role model, and family member for me. On the other side, I’m happy to know that this wonderful guy finally getaway to leave Cordville, maybe forever.
We entered Jack and jill and found Jack was already waiting for us. Jack was standing behind the cashier, holding something like a parcel, probably the outfit that he prepared for Rowan. We approached him closer to see the parcel. It’s just what we thought, the outfit looks expensive and the fabrics are so comfortable and light. It looks like a uniform that many officials would wear.
“The size is just like what you asked. This is probably the best you can find in Houzz! Jill is the one who has bought it, cost him greatly. Actually, He gave me as a gift for our 7th anniversary.” Said Jack.
“Ah... is that so? Is it really okay for Me to have this?” Assure Rowan.
“Of course you can have this, I always fulfill my customer’s order. Utmost, I think I don’t need this anymore.” Said Jack, while handing out the suit to Rowan.
"I dunno why, but I kinda feel something off with this guy, called Jack. I don’t want to judge a person, and Rowan also talks about this guy in a positive light... yet in my eyes, Jack's eyes look quite “lifeless” sometimes".
”Okay, give me 5 minutes to try this suit. Where is the dressing room?” Ask Rowan.
“I don’t think you can try it here, since the dressing room is on renovation.... you might bring the suits back to Cordville and leave that thing you showed to me here on the table. If you checked inside the pockets, I put some good amount of money as a substitute for that thing.” Asking Jack in a slightly threatening tone.
Suddenly 5 tall men entered that store, occupied the space and the entrance door. One of them is as big as two people. One of the tall men has a snake tattoo on his chest. These men didn’t look like a customer, and I feel that we might be in a threatening situation. Rowan and I were looking at each other, back forwards to our surroundings and then to Jack again. We’re fast to read the moment.
“Come on, you’re supposedly isn’t someone like this... Jack! How about Jill? You have been put a lot of interest living in Houzz and dreaming to make this store bigger.” Yelled Rowan.
“I used to, but Jill has passed away yesterday... he has been sick since 3 months ago and he is finally free. I don’t have reason to stay anymore... this store will probably be taken over by one of Steins family members, ... perhaps one of Jill’s cunning older brothers. The ending is just too obvious, it's all about Time, till they kicked me out from this city and back to where I belong, that sick town Cordville."
I don’t want to do this either, but I don’t have a choice. I don’t want to go back to Cordville. So if I don’t have a place to stay in Houzz, why not let me go to a better place?” Explain Jack.
This revelation shocks Rowan, as he never thought that this situation could be happening. After all, he has known both Jack & Jill for years, and they've been a great teacher to him.
“Come on, Get back your senses now Jack! You still can live well without Jill.” Yelled Rowan.
“Just be obedient and surrender those things here, you will get both the expensive clothes and some bonus money, with that you will live proper for 2-3 months. You might be able to sell the clothes and get reserve funds” Persuade Jack.
My guts feeling is right this Time... it looks like Rowan and I are in trouble now. Rowan seems like he doesn’t want to give the golden pin to Jack. My guts feeling is right after all because Rowan takes out something on his sleeves and throws it in the middle of the room. The store suddenly filled up with gray thick smoke, while someone pulled my hand away in one direction. It's a ruckus. There is a sound of broken tables, glasses, and cracked wood.
"Over here!"
"Don't let them escape!"
"Grab one of them!"
One of Jack's men holds the expensive outfit from Rowan's hand.
"Don't you dare to put a cheap trick in front of...... Aaargh..!"
Rowan kicked one of Jack's man and he tried to make that man release the outfit by punching him several times. But it's all for naught, that huge man didn't even move an inch. The other guy even gets close to Rowan and tries to immobilize Rowan. Rowan hardly escaped, he is forced to throw away the outfit that he holds firmly in one of his hands. Rowan fights against three of Jack's people. I try to help Rowan with the fight.
"Brak!
"ZZREAAK!"
Meanwhile, one of Jack's men comes near me, trying to make me paralyzed. I tried my best to counter it, successfully managed the situation. Unfortunately, both Rowan and I have outnumbered as another guy come into the fight. Rowan and I knew that we must try to escape from there if we want to be alive. Rowan signaled me to go out first, so we both tried to use the smoke in our favor.
"BRAAAAK!"
"Kraak!"
When I finally can open widely both of my eyes and see through things, we're already outside in a dark alley. We're still running since there is a couple of men who chase us. My vision is still quite blurry, so I can't see some spectacle ahead of me and suddenly fell to the ground. Rowan helps me to stand again. I hurt a Lil bit of my ankle in that fall.
"Hurry! Catch my hand, we need to hide, there!" Rowan said.
I catch Rowan's hand, and he started to pull me up the wall, climbing upstairs and through gates. We're trying to escape the pursuit. I run until I feel the loss of breath, trying to match up to Rowan's speed with my hurting leg. Rowan steered us away from the crowd, as he tried not to bring any unnecessary attention from Houz's official and guards.
One of the pursuers shoots arrows targeted at us, destroying some guard rails beside us. Rowan counters it by throwing several flying knives to them, that they successfully evade. Several men that keep chasing us are quite skillful and like professional assassins, especially that one tall slim man with a snake tattoo. They can run fast and pass a lot of barriers effortlessly. Rowan often tried to hinder them, to make time for me to catch up on the phase.
I tried so hard to run ... so hard that it reminds me something about my past. My brain aches. A glimpse of what supposedly my old memory comes through. It seems I used to be on the run too when I was a kid. Yet, I don't know whether this memory is mine or could be someone else.
Rowan did a good job to hinder Jack's man.
Three remaining men keep chasing us behind. They're 1 tall slim man with a face cover and 2 big men with a dark shirt. These annoying men keep following them like parasites.
Now Rowan and Ilios are in a dock that has not operated anymore and has been abandoned by its owner for a long time ago. They're trying to hide in some gaps between the carriers.
"I should try to stop my breath, and not make any noise as much as I can," said myself in mind.
It's such a relief when finally the pursuers lose the track of us and no longer follow us anymore. We're waiting for couple of hours to make sure that no Jack's man is around us anymore before we are out from our hiding place.
"Well, what's now?"
"Dunno, everything happens so fast. Thankfully I still keep this pin saved in my pocket. Too bad that I need to throw away that outfit." said Rowan
"Damn that old geezer, he didn't want to let go till the end."
"How is your birthmark, Rowan? Is it getting reduced?" worry me.
"Nope, we're fighting bad guys there! And there is no official around to witness," said Rowan while showing his birthmark on his right forearm.
"Here, It's still 33. How about you?" said Rowan.
" Same as you, I think...." I showed the birthmark on my forehead to Rowan, holding my bang back.
"29! It's the same as when we just got here. We'll be fine, we still have more than enough days left" said Rowan to me.
The birthmark is reduced by 1 point every passing day. People replenish it by doing a good deed or just merely working in society. Although on average, people who live in Houzz could have many digits numbers than people who live in Cordville.
"Well, we're lucky enough to be able to escape from there. How could you not know about what happened to Jill?" Said me.
"I bet he didn't report Jill's death yet? We should try to leave Houzz as soon as possible. This place is Stein family's playground, and Jack as one of Stein family members.... at least for now.... will have a bit of power to order an arrest for us". advise Rowan.
We're walking across the street, blending with crowds, trying not to make any commotion while exiting the city. Rowan saw a guard is heading toward us from afar, so we turn over to a small alley and make a detour.
"Do you see that?" asked Rowan
"What?"
"The guards are asking pedestrians about something when showing a piece of paper. I bet they tried to catch fugitives.... well, it could be us," said Rowan.
We can't exist in the same place as our entrance, because they suddenly screening thoroughly all people who want to exit the city. It's like they're trying to find someone from the crowd. So Rowan suggests several options:
First, whether we wait till the situation cools down a bit and find our way out from the city in the next few days ... or we try another route that is often used by a smuggler. If we choose the second option, it might be a bit dangerous as we will encounter many criminals and Rowan even can't confirm whether the "hidden exit route" is real or not. Since he has never used that route and only have heard about it from some strangers talking in the guild. Yet, the first option is quite risky too. Time is crucial here, if we wait for longer, our situation might become worsen. We don't even prepare ourselves to stay here for days! With limited resources and coins, we're out of luck. Thus, we choose the second option as the best option that we could afford now.
We continue our escape route down into uninhabited territory. Rowan is checking over and over again our escape route from an outdated docket in his palm. It's pretty dark, and we're a bit exhausted as we've walked for about 2 hours in the circle without any rest.
"Ilios, we will pass a tavern over there. Why don't we rest for a bit?"
"Is it safe?"
"There could be a bunch of smugglers, and ... low-quality beer I believe. Concisely, it's moderately safe." joked Rowan.
" Who could refuse any kind of beer in this situation?" said myself.
"Great, we could even gather some information regarding our smuggler route."
We enter that small tavern, it reeks of alcohol and is quite noisy with laughter and chatter. There are couples of tables, mostly full with several punks, who are already drunk. At least, it isn't that creepy like what I've thought before. It's a bit wobbly and cramped, so we nudge with several people when walking into the counter. One guy even spilled his beer on my clothes. There are exactly two empty chairs at the counter.
"Unfamiliar face! Is there anything you need from me?" said one of the stall keeper.
"Yes, two bottles of beer, that isn't expensive," said Rowan.
" Here is your drink! Hmm... are you, newcomers, to this business?" asked that slim guy.
We don't know what kind of business that he is talking about, but we need to gather some information about the route that many smugglers use to bring several illegal merchandises inside and outside Houzz.
"Yes, and I think I'm a bit lost here. I haven't been able to memorize it. You know, it's pretty dark and every building here kinda looks the same." said Rowan.
"You guys are not the only one. Many green guys came to this tavern, looking dumb and getting scammed as a result." said the stall keeper.
" Whoaa... wait, bro, it won't be us. We are here for a business with someone," said Rowan.
"Who?" asked the guy
Rowan is pointing to a group of 4 people. One of them wears a very neat suit, his hair is long and tied up neatly forming a knot. His bread is trimmed around his square chin and he wears several gem rings on his fingers. His pale clean skin looks in contrast to the other punks, it makes 3 guys around him look like his subordinates or just his bodyguard. It seems Rowan has monitored every single person since he entered this small tavern and guessed which one could know about the route.
"Oooh... Mr. Sylvester. So it seems you bring something valuable?" asked the guy.
"Can't tell you. Mr. Sylvester isn't some small fry like other smugglers here, you know?" Rowan tried to get some info.
"Of course not, he is one of the best out there. Rumor said he even connected to one of Steins family members." said the guy.
"I have some business with him, and I need to win his heart tonight. I will give you some tips if you could give me some useful information that I could use to bargain with him." persuade Rowan.
"100 gilds, no less." replied the guy.
"It depends on the quality, so what is it?" asked Rowan.
.... after a long pause, the stall keeper finally opens his mouth.
"I heard he is looking for one girl who is in the run from Madeline. It will be a bonus point if you could give any information about it, moreover if you can bring back that girl." said the guy.
"What? A female? In here...?." Said me.
"How absurd it is, and you think I would believe that? Do you think I could fall with such a lie?" said Rowan furious.
"Really! It's real. Have you noticed that there is too much guard patrol on the street tonight?"
"Huh? Isn't it because of something else?" cut Ilios?
"What do you mean something else? Are there other fugitives in the run tonight? Tell me, I'm interested to hear it." wonder the guy.
Many bad people are after fugitives for the prize rewards. The information about any kind of existence could be traded, just like this.
"Nah, explain me more about this so I could believe you!" Rowan tried to change the topic back to the main point.
"Have you heard one rumor about the sighting of a female individual? It's real. I heard that it's one of Mr. Sylvester's valuable collections, which is on the run. He bought it 2 months ago from one slave trader with a high price that you couldn't even imagine." Continue the stall keeper.
"A slave female in Houzz? Not even a male slave.... for what?" said Rowan in disbelief.
"Rumor said that Mr. Sylvester is a bit twisted in his mind.... you know..... his preference is kinda ... what should I say... hmm... unique? Just try to seduce him, he won't even budge." tell that guy cautiously.
"So, where is my 100 gild?! argue him.
"Okay, here is yours. I will be looking for you if this nonsense is a lie," warn Rowan while giving his coins to the guy, which makes his lips wide open. Rowan comes forward to Ilios closely and speaks in low volumes.
"It seems we have a misunderstanding about our situation. We might be able to escape from other smaller gates tonight," whisper Rowan to me.
"Do you think so? There is no guarantee that the guard isn't looking for us too."
"Positive, currently the guard is busy looking for another person. Also, I think we should talk with that Sylvester guy, maybe offer him our service to find the girl, which is a lie, but we will figure our situation more after getting more information." persuades Rowan.
"Okay, let us go."
Rowan and I then moved from our chairs and went to Sylvester's table.
I tried to approach one of the guys that left Mr. Sylvester’s group. It seems, he is ordered to take drinks for them.
“Excuse me.... is he the highly infamous figure here, Mr. Sylvester?”
“Do you have any business with Mr. Sylvester?” Asked one of his bodyguards.
“My energy life (birthmark numbers) nearly gone, I heard Mr. Sylvester can hire people like me to do his business.”
“Not people like you....” while looking with dismissive eyes, “maybe him?”
The bald guy, point out Rowan.
“I’m interested.” Answer Rowan.
“Who the hell are you guys?” Asked the bald guy.
“We’re from Cordville. My name is Rowan and he is Ilios. Together, we tried to fix our lives with some high-paying job in Houzz.”
“Try finding another job, kiddo, you can’t handle how dangerous is working with Mr. Sylvester.”
“ I forgot to tell you, but I am a certified traveler, which makes danger is my daily meals.” Said Rowan while showing his guild ID.
“Huh!? Okay... So I assume you already know a bit about us?”
“We’re pretty good at hiding and delivering something.”
“What do you mean by that? We aren’t doing that anymore. Well, we are in shortage of beaters for some of Mr. Sylvester’s night...”
“We heard that there is one female on the run in Houzz and military guards are looking for her....” interrupt Rowan.
“...... So, Why is it matter? Said the bald with suspicious eyes.
“Mr. Sylvester is looking for her too, isn’t he?” Asked Ilios.
“Where do you get this news? ... Goddamn mouth, words sure travel fast here.”
When the bald guy got pretty annoyed, suddenly another Sylvester’s man shouted.
“Bard! Where are our drinks!” One of the guys yelled from afar.
“ Already there!” Reply Bard, aka the bald guy
“Move! I am busy. Just go to one of Mr. Sylvester’s clubs and send your applications there.” Tell Bard to Ilios and Rowan.
Rowan and I moved aside for another discussion after getting new information and leave Bard doing his errand.
“I don’t think continuing this “smuggler” route will be a good thing to us.” Convince Rowan.
“Couldn’t agree more... we don’t know exactly about this route and how to get more clue about it. Even by joining Sylvester’s crews, it might not give us the way as he told us that they didn’t do it anymore.”
“... and someone has warned me not to be related with nightclub business here.”
"I know." Rowan pauses a little and he looks burdened by something.
"I'm sorry because of me, you might celebrate your birthday on the run." Said Rowan. Suddenly I remember that in a few days, it is my birthday. I will become 16.
"Don't worry, I don't mind." Said me.
“Okay, let us go back to the main street and move out from another exit gate tonight, the sooner is better.” Suggest Rowan.
Rowan and I left that tavern right away. While they’re finally outside the tavern, just some steps away from the entrance door, I collide with one tall man. This man seems to collide with me purposely.
Bump!
There is a tattoo of a snake on this tall guy’s chest.
“Eh, I think I’ve seen this tattoo....” said myself in my mind.
“See you, again!” Said this slim tall guy.
I suddenly remember about it, it’s one of Jack’s pursuers, the one with face cover.
“Run! Rowan, he is Our pursuer.”
It happens so fast. In short, Rowan and I tried to escape the slim guy. He attacked me with his pocket knife, I evade it successfully. They moved away from the tavern to some empty street. Rowan hold up the pursuer’s hand and they were fighting each other. Accidentally, the knife stabbed the pursuer’s body and it bleeds a lot. The pursuer ends up dead, Rowan's hand is covered with blood.
“DAMN! What a bit of bad luck to bump him here.” Said Rowan in frustration.
“ It isn’t good, we should try to hide the body, it will be big trouble if any official saw it and try to figure who killed this man,” said me.
While Rowan tried to hide the dead body by moving it to the corner, someone in a black cloak witness it.
“This isn’t like what you think it is.... “ assure us.
The mysterious guy then runs away. I tried to catch him. The mysterious guy is pretty agile, Rowan has cornered him several times, yet he is successfully finding another way out from both me and Rowan’s pursue.
“Who is he?”
“ Probably one of Jack’s guys? Or it can be a passerby...whatever it is, we must catch him.” Rowan said.
“If the mysterious guy is one of Jack’s, he could be running away to ask for backup, if not, he could report us to an official as a murder case and it will blow up.”
Finally, Rowan catches up to him. Rowan pulls the mysterious guy’s cloak and slams him to the ground, immobilizing him.
“Please don’t revolt! I don’t want to hurt you.” Said Rowan.
The mysterious guy is still trying to rebel. I end up helping Rowan to hold him steady, when suddenly I felt a lean of fat in my palm, like a mountain of fat. The mysterious guy then screams in high pitched and slapped Ilios’s cheek.
“Pervert!”
The sounds look like teenage boys who haven’t got their puberty. At that moment, I realize that the mysterious guy isn’t a guy.... it could be the girl that people have been searching for all long. The rumored one, who Mr. Sylvester is looking for.
"You! Sylvester's girl!"
"What! So you are his errand boy?" Said the girl.
The girl bites into Rowan's hand, rebel, and finally escape from our restraints. She runs away so fast that it's hard for us to catch her back. We're running behind her.
"Do we need to catch her?" Ask Rowan.
"We need to split up, keep following her, I will take another route." Said Rowan regardless of his inquiry, solely because of my curiosity.
"Ok."
The girl turns to the left, running away into a bunch of people. I can see that she is trying to go hiding in the crowd, so I take a shortcut to the place where she is going. In no time, I am already ahead of her and she looks surprised to see me. I try to catch her hand, yet she avoids it.
"Wait! We aren't Sylvester's man."
"You can't fool me!"
"Believe me! We might be able to help you to run from here too." Persuade me.
We make a bit of commotion and it attracts some guards of Houzz. It sounds big problem for both of us, so somehow we're doing a truce and escaping together from there. When the guards arrive in the commotion, they can't find the culprit. Rowan is following us a few steps behind.
"We are the same as you, a runaway! We're trying to leave this place." I'm giving her an explanation while we're both running away.
"How do you know about me then?"
"Well, we heard from people in the tavern that he is looking for you."
"So, you're after the bounty money, huh?"
"No, just like what I've said, we're a runaway just like you! Do you see that dead man? He was one of our pursuers. We aren't trying to catch you, even more, we could help you!"
She is slowing down her footsteps and completely stops in the corner of a closed store where no one is around. She pushed me to the wall and threaten me with her pocket knife that she hides in her clothes. The tip of the knife cut a little on the skin of my neck. Rowan saw that and try to stop her but it's a bit late. She indeed gives us a whole of trouble with her petite and slim figure.
"I will kill you if you lie to me. And you, Stay further away from us!" Rowan moves back a few steps.
"No, I am not lying to you." Assure me. The girl pauses a bit and continues to talk.
"Then, how to leave this place?"
" We can use the smuggler route, there is no guard or official patrol there. We're planning to leave by tomorrow since it's already late." Inform me.
"Calm down... let me introduce myself and my friend. We aren't the bad guy that you think we are."
I can see that the tension on the girl's face is slowly fading.
" My name is Ilios, and he is Rowan. What is your name?"
"..... so you kill people who are after you?"
"It's by accident... we aren't planning to kill him, but it can't be helped... We're being trapped by an evil merchant. Here, look at my ID card." Said me while holding her my ID card.
"It's him or us." Interrupt Rowan.
The girl is turning her front side to Rowan and looking back at my eyes again.
"Well, I am not a saint either...... Eris... call me Eris." Said the girl. She loosens her grip and moves her knife a bit away from my neck.
"So, how could you end up in Houzz, Eris?" Ask me.
"It's a long story. One day when I was traveling with my friend, I accidentally met a bunch of slave merchants. Fortunately, my friend can escape, but I got caught." Said Eris.
"How could slave merchant sell slaves outside one district? And from what I've heard, slave merchants only make some heavyweight criminals a slave. They don't go around catch people and turn them into a slave." Ask Rowan.
"...l .... How can you doubt the words of a victim!? I am the victim here! That man named Sylvester is crazy obsessed with me. When he saw me at the slave auction, he paid me for 100.000 gilds. Thus, I end up in here." Said Eris.
"You are lying!" These words seem to shake Eris a bit.
" ... 100.000!? Absurd! Noone in Dallas district is willing to pay that much or even 10.000 gild for a weak unappealing female." continue Rowan.
"Unappealing?!" Said Eris, offended by Rowan's words.
" Just for your information, I'm one of the most attractive girls in Madrigal. It isn't my style to boast about myself but, unappealing is a word that has connotations far away to describe myself...." explain Eris.
It seems Rowan's words have touched Eris's sensitive pride. While Eris is furious to counter Rowan's blabbering, Rowan hints me to try to free myself from the girl's restraint. Due to her imprudence and Rowan's help, I manage to escape from her and move beside Rowan. Eris shows her defensive position again, with a tip of her knife is pointing in our direction.
"You trick me!" Said Eris.
"Wait... Wait! Let us talk and act like a civilian. After all, we're fugitives."
"There is no need for us to cross paths, you and we have separate issues to handle already, I will kindly give you information to smuggler route so you can go by yourself, and we can continue our journey." Said Rowan.
".... that will do...." Eris seems to hesitate about this conclusion but is left with no choice. The smuggler route sounds dangerous and I doubt a girl like Eris could handle it. It's like throwing a sheep into the wolf's den. Somehow, I don't know why but I feel I can't leave her alone and I want to help her. On another side, I know Rowan insists we use the front door as it's way safer. I rack my brain so hard and finally get a solution. I discuss the plan with Rowan, asking whether it's a feasible plan and the success probability.
"She might give us trouble. You know, we shouldn't interact with a female." Said Rowan.
"I understand, but leaving her alone with that limited source, means we're just letting her die! She looks like a nice person, just a bit lost... it's like what we have done when met a lost traveler... giving them a hand." Persuade me. Rowan is still hesitating about my request.
"Please.... just make this a present for my birthday tomorrow."
"..... alright, you win. But when something is wrong, we should ditch her right away." Said Rowan.
"Thank you."
I'm trying to inform Eris about my plan and offer her help. She is still nearby, focusing on a docket that Rowan has given to her, about the smuggler route. She is busy reading all the notes and seems confused. Her green eyes look so tired and her pale skin and clothes are covered with dirt. Her medium-length hair is unruly and messy. Yet, I can still see how pretty Eris was. Her eyes lines and nose are sharp, she is also fit. Her eyelashes are thick and long. As her appearance is so different from than typical male here, I am accidentally examining her too long.
"Do you still have any business with me?" Asked Eris.
I'm offering my help and telling her about the plan. She looks happy and accepts my plan right away, although tried to hide it. Now, her face doesn't look so troubled anymore.
"Ok, since it's already late, let's rest tonight. We will execute our plan tomorrow morning."
-----
We can barely sleep for more than 4 hours. The next morning, as Rowan wakes up the earliest, he has prepared several items that we need for our plan. He put all the bandages and big coats on top of the table. We use that bandages to cover up Eris's face and hide her figure. After all, she is too petite and curvy as a male. I help Eris to wrap the bandages, we looks a bit shy with each other. We are gonna use the ID CARD from the dead pursuer because Eris doesn't have one. Rowan asked me to get the ID of the pursuer when we tried to hide the body, so when someone found him, they will take time to identify the body. I don't think anyone has found it though, and it's a piece of good news for us.
After our preparations are complete, we don't take too much time to go to the east gate. It seemed that many merchants have been queuing to enter or exit Houzz this morning. When it is our turn, a guard is approaching us. Rowan gives him the 3 ID Cards, he checks them one by one. He looks in Eris's direction and orders her to show her face more clearly.
"Why are you all covered in bandages on your face and body?" Asked the officer.
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