Moltenbell

"The path has been redeemed. Soon, everything will make sense to you, boy. Keep moving forward."

Suddenly my eyes opened to the morning's warmth, and the smell of cool dew. Unsurprisingly, everybody but myself and Tulas were still asleep. 

"Are you alright, lad?"

"What?" I looked to Tulas as I realized my breath was heavy. I calmed it down. "I'm fine."

"A dream? Maybe a nightmare?"

"Not really." I exited my bed roll, rolled it up, and brought it to the wagon.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

I walked over to the ashen pile of wood that used to be our campfire, and began smothering it to dust with my boot. "It can mean whatever you think it means."

"How vague."

I walked to Dannas, who was still asleep, and lightly kicked his leg. "Get up and get ready. We have a long day ahead." I walked to Terin and lightly kicked him in his leg. "Wake up and get ready." I repeated this for everyone. As they were putting their stuff away, I attached my scabbard to my belt, placed my quiver on the seat, and ate a few pieces of jerky from the deer skin now hanging from the wagon.

"You're more hungry than usual."

I turned to Tulas who was tapping some burned bits out of his pipe, sitting on the wagon seat. "There's a good chance I'll need it for today."

"Makes sense to me."

Eventually, everybody was ready to go, so I pushed the wagon onto the road to begin the final stretch before us. We weren't moving very fast, so it took a good thirty minutes for us to get somewhat close to the town. Once we were, Dannas and Terin pushed with me. The closer we got, the more detail I could see. This town was walled like Therrin's End, but the walls here were made up of large vertical, shaved trunks cut to a point on the top. It looked far less effective than the architecture down south. The founder of Therrin's End did have stoneshaper in his name after all. Once we got close enough, we reached a sign that read, "Welcome to Moltenbell. You're now one step closer to the nine hels." Much less happy than Therrin's End too. Above the large wooden gate on either side stood two tall wooden towers linked by a bridge between them. There were five people up there: one in each tower and three on the bridge. All wore leather armour over their bodies but the one in the center on the bridge. His armor was similar to the others, but with many small, square, metal plates attached ontop. They all wore metal helmets shaped like a dome on top of their heads, covering no lower than their eyebrows. All had a quiver and sheath on their hips except for him; he just had a sheath. The four guards with quivers were aiming drawn arrows at us when we made it to the gates.

The metal-armoured one put his hands on the rails of the bridge and leaned forward. "Halt! State who you are, where you come from, and what your business is! Any sudden movements, and you'll find an arrow between your eyes!"

Dannas stepped forward. "We're Dannas, Ladon, and Tulas! Tulas is from . . ."

Tulas leaned into his ear. "Therrin's End."

"Therrin's End! Ladon and I come from the Midnight Rangers! We've come to deliver goods and supplies from . . ."

He leaned in again. "Therrin's End."

"Therrin's End!"

"Verywell!" He turned around. "Open the gates!"

Another voice repeated from the other side. "Open the gates!"

"He turned back around. "Welcome back to hel, Meg, Percy, Terin, and Holind!"

The gate split in two as it slowly opened inward. As soon as enough space was made, Dannas, Terin, and I started pushing the wagon. Once we were through, I saw the same metal-armoured guard walking down the wooden steps to my right that led to the towers.

"We've been waiting for your arrival. We are prepared to receive your wagon." He reached the bottom of the stairs. "Follow me."

He led us through the main street of the town. The road was relatively flat and dry, but I could imagine a rainy day would make it disgustingly muddy. All the houses and buildings looked old. The wood of some looked rotted and cracked, and the roofing on many looked in dire need of repairs.  Some of the buildings were slanted into the earth and bent. This town was worse off than I imagined it would be. If it wasn't for all the people leaving their homes to see us push the wagon through the street, I could've believed it was a ghost town, abandoned to ruin. Eventually, we took a left turn, and I saw four leather-armoured town guards. Three of them were males, two of average height and one taller. The taller one carried more muscle than the other two. The fourth was a woman. And unlike the other three, she didn't wear a helmet. She was average height and had short black hair slanted to the side, almost covering her narrow, sunken, normal, black left eye. Her right eye was shaped the same, but had a black pupil, silver iris, and black outline. Unlike the other three guards who had one sheath befitting the length of a shortsword, she had two dagger-lengthed sheaths on her hips. Her armour also seemed a little lighter than theirs.

Once we got close to them, the guard with us stopped, and so we followed suit. "They will take it from here. I must return back to the southern gate. Don't cause any trouble." He walked away.

  The woman stepped back just a little with her arms crossed.

The tall one stepped forward. "Alright here's the deal. We'll unload everything into the storehouse, and we'll distribute everything after so that you can get back to where you need to be. There is a dragon about after all."

  Dannas took a step forward. "Oh, that's alright. We can take care of it."

The guard stepped forward again, looking down at Dannas, probably trying to be intimidating. "WE will take care of it. You guys just sit back and relax."

Townspeople started grathering on the sides of the street.

Dannas took a shaky step back, so I replaced him. I placed my cloak-covered left hand on my messer's handle, looked the man right in the eyes. "We will distribute everything today. None of it needs to go into a store house."

"If you don't cooperate with us, kid, we will use force."

"You don't need to."

I saw the two men behind them resting their hands on their handles. The woman still kept her arms crossed. She was spending more time looking away from us, bored, like she wanted to be anywhere else.

His face started twitching. "We will if you keep making this difficult."

"The only one being difficult here is you. We will distribute everything to the people ourselves. No storehouse, no bullshit." I turned around and walked to the wagon.

The sound of three sheaths losing their swords brought my attention back around to the guards. We had the woman's attention now, but she still looked mostly disinterested.

The tall one took a step forward. "This is your last chance, kid, before this gets messy."

I pulled my messer out of its scabbard, undid my belt, and dropped it to the ground. "Uhuh." I rotated my messer so I'd be using the blunt edge rather than the sharp. "I knew this would happen."

He started laughing. "Look at this. The twat can't even hold a sword right." The other two males laughed with him. "What a fucking joke." He began walking toward me.

As soon as he got in range, he attacked me with a downward slash. Immediately, with my point facing downward, I deflected his sword to my left, stepping to my right. I then rotated my wrist sending my blade over my head and straight to his helmet, knocking him out and away before he could react.

I turned my head to the other guards.

"Shit!" The second of the male guards rushed in, with the third lagging behind by a few steps.

When he reached me, he sent a leftward slash my way. Using substantial force, I deflected his sword, reversing its momentum as I spun clockwise. As I was finishing the spin, I outreached my arm and hit him in the side of his head with the butt end of my messer. As soon as he began to fall, the next guard reached me, sending a downward slash my way. I let his blade slide down mine as I stepped closer. As his sword finished, I swung mine steeply upward, hitting him in the chin. The impact knocked him out, sent his helmet flying away as he fell on his back.

I looked to the final guard. Her completely disinterested expression was now in a half smile, full of confidence and intrigue.

She pulled her daggers out. "This just got interesting."

I entered a fool's guard facing her.

She entered a stance where her right dagger was outreached at her chin level and her left dagger was close to her chest. "Try not to die, kid."

We inched toward each other, waiting to see who'd act first. Once we were close enough for our blades to reach each other, she jerked forward just to move back as quickly, making me dodge backward away from an attack that never came.  She did it again. This time, I only slightly flinched. She did it for a third time. I didn't budge, but this time she lunged forward, sending her right dagger toward my chest. Just as I was about to block it, she pulled it back and sent her left dagger toward my chest. Just as her blade passed mine, I lifted my arm, sending hers upward just before I sent a rightward slash her way. She dodged it with ease while ensuring she would be out of my sword's range.

"Interesting. How much experience do you have, boy?"

"Little."

"Mostly training then?"

"Sure."

She rushed into my range and sent her left dagger my way. I deflected it, forcing her to turn away as I sent a blunt, down-left slash toward her head. She leaned back, making her head down to her chest parallel to my blade's angle. As soon as my messer passed her, she spun clockwise, sending her reverse-gripped right dagger my way. Her dagger wasn't in an optimal range for her, so I managed to dodge out of its way, just before I saw her momentum spin her faster, so she could lunge with her left dagger sooner. I narrowly dodged to the right. As soon as I gained some distance, she turned around and rushed me again. We kept trading like that for awhile. Everytime I'd get an opportunity to attack her, she'd just dodge out of my range. It was becoming clearer and clearer that despite my range advantage, somehow, it meant nothing against her. Eventually, I gained some distance from her. Using the small breather, I switched my grip to reverse, with the hope that it would make us have to get even closer, to make it harder for her to dodge. We walked in a circle, keeping our distance.

"Interesting choice. It's a smart idea. Risky, but smart."

I looked around and saw there was now a crowd of people watching from the sides of the street, and the windows of the surrounding houses. At least fifty people. I felt my skin begin to change, so I took a few deep breaths. I can't let anyone see it. Can't let anyone know. Once we finished a rotation, leaving us both in front of the wagon, me on its right, her on its left, we both rushed toward each other. Using my wrist, I sent my blade to her torso, I tapped her blade hard enough for an impact, but nothing else. Quickly, I sent my blade to her legs, tapping her blade just the same. Immediately, still using just my wrist, I sent my blade to her head, this time with a lot more force than the last two. She blocked just to get her ear hit by the flat side of her own dagger.

"Shit! You're stronger than you look." She held her ear for a second. "Better not ring forever, dick!"

She sent a thrust my way with her left dagger. I blocked it with my messer to see her sending her right dagger above her arm. Quickly, I rotated my wrist, bringing my blade upward as I grabbed its handle with my offhand and used the force to block that attack. I quickly changed my grip to forward and sent a rightward slash at her. She dodged backward, flipping from foot to hand several times before leaping into the air, backflipping with incredible speed as she sent a dagger flying my way. I barely dodged it, getting shallowly cut on my left cheek before it flew into the back of the wagon, all before she landed perfectly on her feet. She immediately started sprinting at me. Before I could do anything about it, scales started forming on my arms, legs, shoulders, sides, and up my neck. Fortunately, I never took my cloak off, though it probably wouldn't help much.

She stopped just before she could get too close. "So that's where your strength comes from. I always wanted to fight a demidragon; see how powerful they really are with my own eyes."

I heared people whispering and chatting; some even beginning to yell.

"Fuck." I took my cloak off and threw it toward the wagon. "I guess it doesn't matter now."

We both closed in. I sent a flurry of slashes from different angles her way. She blocked and deflected every last one of them. Eventually, she sent a piercing thrust my way with her left hand. I deflected it to my left, just for her to let go of it, immediately catching it with her right hand, and sending it to the right side of my torso. Before it could pierce me, I caught the blade with my left hand, leaving us both in an awkward position. Just as I loosened my bloody grip on her dagger, I switched to reverse grip to send my point at her. I let go of her blade, as she pulled away. Clenching my now bleeding and painful left hand, I began to get pissed. I rushed at her, sending another flurry her way. She proceeded to dodge and deflect it all again, though she seemed to be getting a little winded. At the end of the flurry, I intentionally left myself open to bait her. She took it, sending a quick thrust my way. I deflected it, then rapidly rotated my wrist to deflect it a second time with much more force, knocking her dagger out of her hand away to my left with the double deflect. Immediately, I sent a leftward slash her way. She ducked down, so I sent a thrust at her. Using her hands and legs, she pushed away from my attack.

She got up from her back while taking a few heavy breaths. "I gotta say, kid. You're annoyingly good." She lifted her fists up. "I bet I can still beat your ass."

I took a number of heavy breaths I didn't realize I needed. "We'll see." I paused for a moment to let my breath return to normal, then tossed my messer aside. Not fair to fight an unarmed person with a sword. I'll be able to finish the fight easier this way anyway.

"You know, I'm beginning to respect you, kid. What's your name?"

I lifted my fists up, blood running down the deformed grooves and valleys of my scarred, scaled left arm. "Ladon."

"Gin-me."

We stepped into eachother's range. I sent a jab toward her face. Using the back of her right arm, she nudged it off course while simultaneously hitting my right side with a left hook. Immediately after it hit, she punched me in the gut with her right fist just before sending another left hook to my head. My face turned with my torso while it was bending forward from the previous strike. Without hesitation, I turned back while sending a rightward hammer fist, which she dogged back from.

She loosely shook her left hand in the air. "Fuck, those scales are like punching stone."

I stayed silent, holding my gut for a moment before lifting my fists back up.

We closed in again. I sent a gut punch her way, then feinted it into a jab to her face. She didn't fall for it, and proceeded to dodge to my right, then punch me in the gut right before uppercutting my jaw with the same fist. Before I could lose my balance, quickly, she sent a powerful punch to the side of my head with her left fist. I turned and stumbled back into balance, then turned back around just to see her boots, inches from my chest, coming from her horizontal body. When she impacted, she knocked me off of my feet, as she turned during her own fall to catch herself. I fell on my back a meter or two away from where I stood just a second ago. After a couple seconds, I rolled partially onto my left arm so I could use it to push myself to a sit. I held my torso with my arm, grunting through the pain as I saw Gin-me running, dagger in hand, from where it was knocked away, to the wagon. Watching her while I slowly and painfully stood up, I saw her vault over the side of the wagon, then simultaneously step on top of the other side of it while leaning her chest to that knee to reach her second dagger. In what looked like an impossible feat of flexibility and athleticism, she pulled it out while leaping off of the wagon into the air, toward me. By the time I could brace for it, she was less than a meter away from me, in the air, holding two daggers, and I had nothing.

"Fuck."

I narrowly dodged her landing attack to my right. Instantly, she spun and sent a dagger swinging backward to me. I dodged back, just before dodging another dagger. Before I had a break, I had to dodge a dagger again, ducking, and weaving, and rotating around her to avoid every dagger as best as I could.

I dodged back from another one. "A little help would be nice, Dannas!" I looked to the wagon and didn't see him.

I saw a dagger from the corner of my eye, narrowly dodged it. She changed to reverse grip with the same dagger and sent its point my way. I pushed it out of the way.

"I could use some help!" I deflected a dagger with the back of my scaled arm. "Anytime!"

Gin-me gave me just enough room to step back. "Coward."

"You're the one who's fighting with weapons."

She smirked. "I respected you for your choice. Never said I'd do the same."

I looked around the area to find my sword. It was behind her, not far from where I was knocked over. Between the pain, the insult, and the lack of assistance, I was starting to get angry. Doubt I'll be able to get my sword back. Even if I could, I'll just be back to square one, except with less energy, and more pain. Dannas clearly isn't going to help. He's the coward here. I noticed the crowd was a strong mixture between yelling at her and yelling at me. Mostly at me. I guess they forgot what I was even fighting for. Is this even worth it? I looked at the wagon. Tulas, Meg, and her group were still standing by it. Doesn't matter if they hate me, or if it's worth it. I need to help them. Fuck it. She's gonna have to bleed me out to beat me.

I rushed into her space. She thrusted her right dagger at me. I dodged to her right side, and before she could send her left dagger to me, shoved her back just strong enough to ruin her angle. When she turned around, I closed in. She sent her left dagger to me. I pushed it to my left with my right hand, grabbed her arm by the bicep. I caught her right dagger below that with my bloody left hand, then threw it away with as much force as I could. She tried to escape my grip but I kept it too strong. I then punched her in the gut, hitting her hard. Getting whisped away by the rush, I let go of her arm to punch her in the side of her head. As my fist soared to her, I saw her face turn to distress with the air knocked out of her as her eyes turned to mine. I saw genuine fear behind them. Suddenly, I remembered my strength, opened up my fist, and shoved her by her head with the force instead. I watched as she flew onto her side, dropping her weapons, rolling until she stopped on her left side, holding her gut in the fetal position. I took heavy breaths as I watched her fight to gain any air while simultaneously fighting the urge to vomit, her voice barely choking through, unsuccessfully trying to express pain. Eventually, she coughed and gasped with tears in her eyes, but continued to stay as she was. Fuck. I went too far. Soras was right.

I recollected my belt and messer, scabbarded it, then walked toward her. I looked to the other guards to see two of them trying to pick up the tall one since he was still mostly out. I picked up Gin-me's daggers on my way to her. By the time I reached her, she was breathing consistently, but still didn't shift too much from her position, or say anything. I leaned down and outreached my hand to help her. She looked at it, and without any hesitation, furiously smacked it away. I placed her daggers on the ground next to her and walked away to the wagon. The two guards rushed away with the semiconscious taller one with his arms on their shoulders.

One of them screamed, "This isn't over!  Cornelius and Malkan will hear about this! Then you're dead!" They left Gin-me behind.

She slowly got up, sheathed her daggers, and slowly walked away, following their path, holding her gut. "Fucking assholes," she muttered under her breath.

I felt bad, but there wasn't anything I could do. My scales started receding.

I continued to stand there, in the middle of the road. I looked around and saw a small amount of people cheer, until the majority over-shouted with fury, yelling all sorts of hatred at me. Every word I heard, like monster, demon, traitor, deceiver, murderer, or baby killer, stayed unoriginal. Somehow, knowing humans that weren't like this made it worse. It wasn't long before stones and rotten foods were thrown at me. Most of them missed, but I guess they were too scared to actually attempt anything. I turned back around to the wagon. I noticed, from below, Dannas's legs crouched behind the wagon. I walked to the wagon. Halfway through, a rock hit the right side of my forehead, kocking my head to the side as I paused for a moment. I turned to my right to find the person. When I did, I saw one person shaking from fear. Suddenly everybody started shifting back a bit, as if they angered a predator that would kill them all. I continued walking. I reached Terin who was holding my cloak, right next to the wagon.

  I took it and put it on. "Thanks."

"No problem, man. You alright?"

I turned toward the group. "Anybody know how to bandage wounds?"

Holind stepped forward. "I-I do."

I pulled out the bandages Yara gave me. "I need some help with my hand if you could."

The screaming and berating continued. I paid no noticeable attention to it.

He moved up to me, and started pouring water on my hand to clean it. The crowd of people were beginning to move slightly closer.

He started bandaging my left hand. "How's your head?"

"It's fine. I'm only concerned for my hand. The rest will heal quickly."

"Alright."

The crowd moved closer, the wall of hate closing in, possibly preparing something dangerous.

Tulas walked away from the wagon, to the center of the road. "I'm getting fucking tired of this."

I watched him with awe, not knowing he contained anything but patience and dignity.

"What do you all think you're doing?! Did you all somehow suddenly forget what this kid was fighting for?! Did you forget what the guards were fighting against?! Did you forget what was in that wagon?! What it was even for?!  Did you forget your children, your wives, your sick, and your elderly?!

The crowd started quieting, some of them looking ashamed, but not many.

"I didn't. This kid, Ladon, fought those guards for you! To give the supplies and goods you've never gotten once, TO YOU!!" He paused for a moment to breathe. "Yes he's a demidragon, sure. Maybe he is a monster or a demon like you say. What if a monster was helping, asking for nothing in return! Would you take the help from the monster rather than suffer from the results of your mayor's choices; a mayor who is human?! If he is a monster, then that mayor is the greatest monster here! Even though the guards were trying to take away the medicine, and food, and blankets, and tools, and supplies you need, he still didn't kill them! That is not the restraint of a monster! Perhaps, maybe, just maybe, he isn't one. Perhaps he's the one willing to fight the real monster because he has the strength of one." He started breathing heavily to regain his spent breath.

The crowd was silent, most of them ashamed, several unable to figure out how they felt. I never spoke.

Tulas continued while Holind was finishing with my hand. "Now. The plan is this. We will distribute everything, from the wagon, to you people. From the beginning, we will prioritize the children, pregnant, sick, and elderly. Line up in a single file line if you have any of them. Try to bring them as proof if you can."

"What if we can't?!" shouted a random man.

"I was about to get to that. If you cannot bring them, we will send someone from Meg's group with you to confirm the truth. If said truth is confirmed, you will get what you need. I cannot promise that everyone will get something, but at the very least, the ones who need it the most, will. Now if you aren't in that category, I need you to tell this to the rest of the town. We need to get this done before more guards come, if we can. If they do come back, Ladon will fight them again. Is everything understood?"

"What if the wagon runs out?!"

"Then it runs out. That is why we have to prioritize who we are prioritizing. Any more questions?"

The crowd was silent.

"Good. Then let's begin. You all know what to do.