Brux lay on the mat inside the ring, his arms and legs spread. His red-brown eyes were glazed over while his mouth hung ajar. Gazi sighed and lowered his head slightly before pressing on his knees to stand back up.
"Grey chipo patterns," he looked down at Brux. "A Yera Gori. You're a disgrace to the legend of your extinct tribe."
He walked toward Zara, who was still unconscious. A person in the crowd opened the cage door as Gazi carried the girl outside. He gave a slight nod to the stranger. No one in the arena spoke. Only the sounds of drunken banter from outside the Rooster could be heard. The people split in two, opening a path for Gazi. Some gritted their teeth and glared, while most just stared in awe.
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The tavern fireplace crackled as Gazi's head appeared up the stairs, carrying Zara. Tanaka sat on a stool with Zipher beside him, asleep on the wooden table. Zipher snapped awake as soon as he heard the fireplace shift.
"Zara!" he screamed, seeing his sister unconscious in Gazi's arms.
Aldo cleared his throat and spat into a metal pot. He pointed his thick finger at Gazi. "Oy, yer meddlin' arse just cost me one thousand rubies."
Gazi did not pay him attention. He continued toward the door. "Let's go, Tanaka."
"Oy! Oy! I'm talking to you!" Aldo slammed his heavy hands on the counter.
Tanaka led Zipher out the door with Gazi following behind them. At the door, Gazi's feet stopped. He turned his head toward Aldo. The corners of his eyes sparked orange. Aldo gulped and withdrew his hands from the counter.
"O-oy, bud, I don' want no trouble with yer." He shrugged his hands in surrender.
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Tinaye was raking the yard, silently humming her favorite hymn.
Her head jolted up. The rake fell to the grass as she moved her hands to cover her mouth. Gazi walked in front, leading the two boys. Tinaye's eyes widened as tears fell. Her hands shook as she reached out for her daughter. Zara's eye was swollen shut. Spatters of blood still painted parts of her mouth and nose.
"My baby!" She ran over to them.
Gazi stopped as he approached her.
"What happened?!"
"She's fine, ma'am. My guess is she fainted from exhaustion."
Tinaye ran her hand along Zara's face. "I knew this would happen one day," she sobbed. Zipher went to hug his mother, hoping to comfort her.
Gazi carried Zara into their home. Once inside, he laid her on the bed made from stitched-together cloth.
"Thank you," Tinaye muttered to Gazi, her hand still covering her mouth as she looked at her child. "Lord knows what would have happened if you hadn't…" She broke down once more. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay, Tinaye."
"Haha." She faked a laugh. "Seems I owe you two once again."
"It's no problem, Tinaye," Tanaka said in the softest voice he could manage.
"Hey, Tanaka, let's give them a moment alone, shall we?"
"Sure."
Tanaka walked out of the room. Before he closed the curtain that divided the rooms, he turned back to look at Zara. He looked at the floor, then back at her with a new, hardened stare, and left.
"Where are we going, Gazi?"
"That Veina Tavern. I have a feeling we'll find what we need from that Aldo fellow."
"Oh, sure."
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"Oy, we're closed," the grumpy man yelled when he heard the bell on his door ring.
"I'm sure you can make time," Gazi responded.
Aldo turned around in the dimly lit tavern, a glass cup and cloth in his hands. "Hmm… oh, it's yer fellas," he said as he rubbed the glass.
"Glad you remember," Tanaka said as he sat on a stool.
"How could I forget the lads that cost me cash?"
"Crook!" Tanaka yelled.
"Crook? Hahaha! Oh, me poor old heart," Aldo mocked.
"Regrettably, we don't have time to play cat and mouse with you. I'm Gazi, and this is Tanaka. We—"
"I know who yer are. Folks talk, you know. And whatever yer deal is, the answer is no." He shrugged, placing the cup back.
"That's hardly how you run a business. I haven't even made an offer yet," Gazi said.
"Yeah." Aldo crossed his arms. "But yer got yer feet in the royals' arses, and I'm not looking for that attention, okay? So whatever money yer offering, shove it and leave."
Gazi chuckled lightly.
"I think there's been a misunderstanding here. I'm not offering cash."
He paused, letting the silence settle.
"I'm offering you safety… for you, for your tavern. I may not like your fight club, but I certainly respect it. Surely it's something you'd like to protect, right?" He smiled coldly.
"Oh yeah? And what do yer think yer'd be protecting me from?"
Gazi glanced at Tanaka—a signal they had practiced before. Tanaka's chipo patterns on his knuckles began to glow, and so did the ones on Gazi's arms.
"Take a guess," Tanaka said.
"Yer threatening me?"
Gazi shrugged. "Oh no, that's just barbaric. We're simply advising you to make the right choice."
Aldo stared at the two with a deadpan look as he slowly reached below the counter. A tense silence covered the room. Aldo's eyes wandered all over the walls of his establishment. He finally sighed.
"What do yer want?"
"Right answer," Tanaka quipped.
Gazi chuckled as they powered down, the room losing its luminescence. "You seem like the shady type. You know… the type well acquainted with the bastards of the village."
"Yeah? And if I am? What's it to yer?" He scratched his beard.
"We need someone to get something for us," Tanaka said.
"Look, kid, I may have an eyepatch, but I ain't no magician. I can't guess what this thing is."
"Blueprints of the Yera Shiri royal vault."
Aldo gasped. He stared at Gazi, then at Tanaka. Both were serious, arms crossed on their chests.
"Hwahahak! Hwahahak! So yer fellas are tellin' me… hehe… you came here to threaten me into tellin' yer where the key to every thief's heaven is?" Aldo burst into laughter. "You think I carry it in me pants or something? Hwahahak! Hwaha!"
He sighed as he tried to stop laughing and flicked a tear off his face. "Listen, boys. If me or any of me lads had those prints, I'd be a king. One of them seven nobles, even." He laughed.
"So you don't know where we might find them?"
"How would I know if there is nothing to find? Yer boys just wasted me time. Now, please, lads, leave."
"He's lying," Tanaka yelled, fists clenched.
Gazi stared Aldo down for a good minute or two.
"Let's go, Tanaka," he finally said as he pushed off the tavern counter to stand.
"Thank you for being… hospitable," Gazi finished.
"Bah, shove it up yours, why don't ya? Hwahahak." Aldo shook his head. "Royal vault. If only you knew," he muttered.
Tanaka squinted at the widely grinning Aldo as they left. The bell rang as the door closed behind them.
"Ugh, what now?" Tanaka groaned.
Gazi looked into the dark night sky. "We should go back and check on Zara. Maybe she's woken up."
"Yeah, I hope so."
They hadn't walked ten paces before Tanaka stopped midway. Gazi turned around to the boy. "Hmm? What's wrong, Prince?"
"Someone is following us."
Gazi looked around—high up above the thatched roofs and in the spaces behind them.
There was nothing but pavements, grass, and a man passed out here and there.
He raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"
"Positive," Tanaka responded.
Tanaka crouched down like a cat before launching himself into the air to get an aerial view. The wind blew his brown-tipped dreads upward as his eyes began to glow. He quickly scanned the area where they had been. There, disguised as a homeless man, a figure tilted his head, staring back at Tanaka with eyes glinting in the moonlight. Unintimidated. As Tanaka descended back down, the person did not run off. Instead, he approached them, emerging from the shadows that had concealed his presence.
"There," Tanaka pointed to the figure walking slowly toward them.
"You two are veeeery interesting."
He flicked off his hood in an exaggerated manner, revealing a young boy grinning ear to ear.
"Nice to meet ya. Hehe."