The heroes collapse onto the grass on the edge of the park lake. Maldrek is the first to stand up again and dust off his robe before saying, "Right then, all we have left to do is attend the Ball, then head on home." Zilo pops up his head and remarks,
"Wait! I still have to go!? I thought we were done!"
May smugly smiles as she stands and says, "What's the matter, afraid of waltzing in with a noble woman on your arm?"
Cruxis begins to stand as well and says, "The three of us should see about getting dates as well, to blend in a bit better."
Maldrek looks to May and says, "Luckily May can just go with one of us." At that may looks to the two of them and begins to contemplate, "Would I rather go with a half-orc or a half-devil? Boy you really know how to spoil a girl."
Both men look a little bit insulted and May shrugs and says, "I guess Maldrek."
Cruxis glares and says, "Why him!?"
May points at him with her thumb and says, "He's a good father, plus he's got at least half a brain."
Cruxis sulks and Zilo pats him on the back and tells him, "Chin up buddy, don't forget you beat the Black Samurai, girls love heroes like that!" Cruxis stands back up straight and smiles to cover his pain. The three heroes say their goodbyes to Zilo, and return to the Umie residence while the bard questions his destination.
"I could do my rounds in the taverns," Zilo stumbles from fatigue as he walks out of the park and continues, "But that bed back at the Rai's has a really soft mattress... and man I could go for a quick nap."
He then freezes up remembering the determination of Ai, but his own exhaustion endures and eventually wins as he walks into the mansion and collapses onto the bed. Hours pass as the bard regains enough strength to make it through the day. As he wakes up and begins to get ready to go out into town to do his bard thing, he hears footsteps making their way down the hall.
He spots Ai who looks into the room and he is stunned still like a deer in torchlights. The girl gives quick nod and smile before she says, "Morning Zilo, good luck today." And... she begins to walk away. Zilo blinks as she walks off in silence.
Any wise man would just let this happen... But the bard darts out of the room and takes off after her and asks, "Ai, are you okay?" The girl looks shocked by the bard's question and she says, "Of course, what makes you ask?"
She looks to the bard and he just tilts his head and says, "You um... just seem off."
The girl smiles and gives a little bow before saying, "Well I rarely get to see you in the mornings, I just figure you were getting ready to go do some performances in town. I wouldn't want to keep you." And she just walks off. Zilo blinks a few more times, but eventually just shrugs and heads out into town.
He plays at the usual spots he had become expected to play at in the city over the last month before he returns to the Rai home and by instinct he sneaks into the window of his room but he stumbles as he enters when he hears,
"Welcome back" from Ai, sitting there near his mattress. The bard smashes into the ground and looks at her ready to fend her off, but she instead stands up, dusts herself off and smiles as she speaks. "Father thought a new mattress would be in order since you've slept on the old one for weeks, so I thought I'd ready it for you."
Zilo raises an eyebrow and asks, "And you intended to break it in or something like that right?" She giggles and responds, "You're funny Zilo, but no, after all it would be indecent for a noblewoman to do such things before being courted."
She gives a quick bow and exits the room while speaking, "I hope the mattress is comfy for you." Zilo watches her carefully as she leaves, the moment she is gone he obsessively examines the mattress to ensure it is not some sort of trick.
After he is done he talks aloud the strange way Ai is acting, "She hasn't made a single advance on me, I wonder what her deal is. She's caught me vulnerable enough times that I may as well have been served up on a plate. She must be up to something, probably waiting for me to lower my guard."
As he talks it through he feels the mattress which seems much softer and more comfortable. He succumbs eventually and falls asleep, waking up in the morning. He readies himself and makes his way to the door of his room, but gets a surprise as he opens it.
There stands Ai head hung and shaking. The bard speaks causally, "Morning Ai, did you nee-" he is cut off as the girl leaps forward and tackles Zilo to the ground and shuts the door with her leg. On the ground Zilo is stunned by this as the girl shakes and begins to speak with a tremble in her voice,
"I-I over heard you l-last night, s-s-so I guess I can tr-try to give you what you want." Her hand trembles as she presses it on Zilo's chest and works its way down to his belt, but the bard quickly grabs her hand and stops it. The girl opens her eyes that she had been forcing shut and the bard says,
"Please do not! Don't want that!" Zilo hefts the girl off of his body and stands, dusting himself off and says, "I would never force anyone to do something they don't want to do, and strangely you don't seem to want to do it." The bard speaks a silent thought "Like how I don't want to do it or Aria would kill me."
The girl takes a minute to think about Zilo's words and she smiles up at him and says, "You're a good man Zilo Realms." And with that last smile, one more genuine than the ones she flash him yesterday, the bard's doubts were cleared. This girl means him no harm.
For the rest of the week leading up to the ball Zilo spent a bit more time than he had before at the Rai residence now that Ai seemed to have changed her outlook a bit. Finally the last night had come as she dressed in a very elegant silk kimono and Zilo cleaned and styled his usual attire as he would to attend any formal event.
The lord and lady of the house wished them a lovely evening and after a few hours one of the guards approached the heads of the house with a look of fear in his eyes.
"Lord and Lady, it seems the grounds keeper has found... you'd both best come with me." The two lords followed the guard to the small lake in the courtyard and they see a waterlogged body laying on the edge of the water. It was bloated and discolored, making it hard to recognize, but after a few minutes of the lord talking with the guard about the body, the lady finished looking over the body and comes to a grim conclusion as she jumps back toward her husband.
The lord knelt to comfort her as she screams and turns to him with tears in her eyes before she speaks, "It's-it's Ai! Someone murdered my girl!"
No comments:
Post a Comment