A man walk into a small carved house in a small community,
miles away from any another. He wore a long cloak ,as though he wanted to look anonymous, wearing a sly grin
tugging at on his mouth.
"Deros!"
"Hey it sure has been a while, old friend Come, have
a seat please."
"Oh, certainly, Master Cerise, " the cloaked man said, with a
bow.
"How long has it been, six years? I thought you'd never
come back" Cerise said.
"Yes Master. It's been six years," the grin starts to wipe falling
off of his face.
"Six years. I wonder what brings your clean sandals back to
within these, walls" Cerise spoke
"Where Is she?"
"Straight to the point, I see. I like that, nerves."
master cerise replied, then added. "I believe I taught you that ,"
The mysterious man, sighed and returned with, "Look
Master, I didn't come here to walk through memory lane, I have to return to city, soon." "Did you have to…?" cerise begins to ask.
"To what?" deros responds. "You have a knife hanging around
strapped to your knee, a sword, and a shield in that cloak."
"No, no, this is just for protection, It's nothing."
"From who?"Cerise asked. as the silence fell in the room.
"Are you saying, I'm here to hurt you? ,You know I can't, Im no match for you, " Deros, Cerise's old apprentice, said back.
"Hmm. I'm old, wrinkled, with white hair embodied covering all
over my head.Everything I've fought for are all old part of past
glory.But you, you just peaked in your youth
you are young, strong and well trained,by myself, I would never think that you're no match for me"
"i wouldn't want to hurt you, Cerise.You took me out of the gutters of
Vlad, when I was a child and had nothing, and made me who I am todayI have no reason to hurt..... "
"You don't, but perhaps, someone above you does," Cerise said, causing Deros's face to darken, like a the face of a child, who
got has been caught doing something wrong.
He quickly stood up with force, pushing back the chair with his
butt force and slammed both hands on the table. with force
"Look old man, don't make this hard. "I am not trying to hurt…."
"Then why are there soldiers outside?,You think I don't see them?,Honestly, I'm flattered, that you feel you have to bring more of you , just for me, but, I have to say I'm a little bit disappointed too."
Then Deros stood, abruptly and said."They are here on orders," then he added, "I did not…"
Cerise interrupted him saying, "Aren't you here on orders too ?"
Deros countered telling him, "You don't have to get hurt, just hand her over ."
"I am afraid, I can't do that." Cerise responded.
"Why?, Come on Cerise,"
"I can't ."
"You can," Deros returned.
"I can, but I won't " Cerise barked.
Deros sighed, "This is not the time to be stubborn,Who is she to you, even?"
"She's just like you," Cerise shot back.
"What is that supposed to mean ?"
" You are both from Vlad, the gutters." Cerise lashed back.
Silence emanated, as Deros looked conflicted and become angrier. He pushed the tea on the table away and
punched the wall. "Look man, I feel bad, I really do but I have to follow orders,It's why I am here," Deros spoke. "You weren't there to
watch over me..orders did, so please, hand….her…over,Now, Cerise, now!"
"Never!,Not to those people, She has done nothing wrong."
"That is not yours to decide," Deros replied,
"Whose is it then, yours?, theirs?,You kids know nothing, You have to stop, Deros, before the darkness swallows you, whole."
Deros yelled back, "What are you.., what are you saying or meaning by that, darkness ?,
We bring order to this world and orders brings peace,You call that
darkness?"
"Peace has to be a choice."Cerise retorted.
"No , no, no, no, that's where you've got it all wrong, Cerise,Peace is necessary,Kids die every cursed day, in its absence,I became an orphan because of its absence,so
did that girl, your hiding in there,Peace erases sorrow, therefore we must fight for it."
"Do you even hear yourself? Fight for it?,Doesn't that kill more kids, creating more orphans?How many people do you guys have to kill, in order to bring
that peace, and how many years has it been, his goal,Thousands of people have died and for what?, forced peace?"Cerise stated abruptly
"Is it a necessary sacrifice for the greater good" deros argued
" just like your parents?"
"Don't you dare bring my parents into this!"
"You don't know....You have no clue, do you?" cerise probed
"Know what?"
"Your parents died in the war, that he, your King, declared in the name of peace, twenty-seven years ago, and yet, he still talks about that same peace ,Villages have been burnt down, livelihoods taken in and destroyed, innocent lives brutally murdered if not right out sold into slavery. Hunger and famines came upon lands. Food was taken from their mouths, that war, requisitioned without asking, so please educate me about this peace you speak of," Deros seemed moved, but remained still, until he responded to the allegations.
"Lies"
"You know it's true" Cerise injected.
Deros spoke again, "for the last time Cerise, bring her out!,The order has no restrictions on use of force, and if I let the se soldiers in, they'll tear everything apart.so Please, listen to me and bring her out."
"I've fought battled more scarier, fought more skilled men than my student and other inexperienced boys," Cerise countered.
" Wow, so you're really doing this, huh?" asked Deros
"You knew I wouldn't give her up,"
"I know you're stupid, old man," Deros said as he drew his dragon handled two edged sword "Last chance, old man!" Cerise then drew his sword from under the table."Don't give threaten me or give me ultimatums,I taught you better than that.Come and take her!"
Deros kicked the table between them aside, and charged toward Cerise. Their swords clashed, as they both lunged with force. Then Cerise pushed him back. Deros charged again, swinging his sword, aiming for his mentor's head, but Cerise ducked. Immediately, Deros grabbed for his Cerise's head from underneath, swinging his knee towards it. Quickly, Cerise noticed, and blocked the knee with his other hand, pushing Deros back against the wall.
Deros lost his grip and chuckled, "Not bad for an old man," as he pointed his sword toward Cerise, charging again.
Their swords resumed their clashing, as but neither one, could best the other.
The men outside, grew growing impatient, and walked into the house.
"Stay back," Deros yelled to them, "this is my fight!"
"We understand that, but we don't have time for it this." said Orikus, one of the soldiers. "This is a quest to capture an escaped prisoner, not a family reunion or a petty squabble."
This seems more like a family feud," one of the other soldiers said, as the others, laughed.
"Can you guys just stand down, and let me finish?"Deros said.
"But we've been doing that for a while now, and it's really boring,Why can't you take on this old man?" Orikus said.
"This old man?"he pointed in Cerise's direction "was once a commander, "
They all laughed and mimicking Deros, a little.
"You're all are big morons." deros said
"What did you just call us?" one of the soldiers asked
"I said you're all morons,In Rome's history of morons, you are the biggest."
"How dare you insult us and Rome! " Orikus shouted, angrily.
Cerise was looking confused
"I didn't insult Rome, just the fools in Rome like you", Deros said.
Orikus then put down his cloak and drew out his sword "I'll have your head for that " he said.
"Is that supposed to scare me?" Deros bit back.
"You should be, Orikus is the strongest here amongst us, his only match is Orustus, his brother, which I don't see here " one of the soldiers said.
"Ohh I see," Deros said
"What are you doing, Deros" Cerise asked.
"Just relax and watch old man " Deros said as he rolled his sword around his hand. Orikus then, charged towards Deros, swinging his sword with strength.
Deros dodged every swing and drew out his shield, blocking the next swing. Then he pushed Orikus's sword back, hard, causing him to lose balance, as Deros followed with a swing of his sword to Orikus's wrist, removing it completely.
Orikus's wrist and sword dropped to the floor, blood rushing out in a spray.
Everyone looked shocked. Orikus held his hand as he screamed loudly, was then silenced by Deros with a sword through his neck.
"Now who is the strongest ?"Deros said.
Cerise was impressed and confused.
"Curse you Deros," one of the soldiers said as four of them rushed at him.
Cerise quickly threw a knife and hit one of them in the head. He then, rushed towards the another soldier, dodged a swing and sliced through his stomach leaving organs to spill out. The last two brandished their swords at Deros, but he quickly shifted to the side , dodging one of the swords and blocking the other with his shield. The maneuver left the first solider, off balance and he took the opportunity to kick him, towards the wall. This gave Deros space to push the second with his own shield. Following it with his sword, he smashed into the skull of his attacker, leaving the other man open, causing him to dive deros to the wall . That left his back exposed, giving Deros the clearance to pierce his sword into it. The final opponent that had kept back, while the other four attacked, ran out of the house, to escape.
Deros was about to run after him, but Cerise held him back and said "Let him go, son,"
"If that man gets back to central Rome, I will beg for death and won't find it" Deros replied.
Cerise quickly understood and let him go.
Deros was running towards the door, when they heard a slash, short screams and chokes. Then entered Liubastra, finding the girl Deros had come for, with the head of the solder who ran away, blood rushing out from the head, as she raised it up.
Deros was stunned.
Cerise had a proud smile on his face and so did she.
Several hours later, Deros was ready to head back to the city. Before he left, Deros and Cerise sat on the roof together. it was night time and the stars were shining, the northern lights lit up the sky in an array of colors. They'd been talking and drinking for hours.
"Just like old times, " Cerise said with a huge smile on his face.
"Just like old times," Deros replied just then, with remorse on his face.
"Remember the yard ?" cerise asked.
"How can I ever forget?,I remember like it was yesterday."
"I miss those times, less burden."
" I messed it up ,didn't I?" Deros asked.
"Well yeah, you definitely did, " they both chuckled.
"I thought I was doing the right thing, you know, " Deros said
"You may have, but for the wrong people and it's not your fault,I knew you wouldn't stay here forever,It's called growing up " Cerise replied,
"I hope I did the right thing this time" Deros added.
"No, you did the wrong thing, but for the right people this time,"
"It's ironic" deros claimed
"the right people are worth doing wrong for" cerise added
" And who are the right people, you and who else?,I don't even know her."
"My name is Liubastra,I have no surname, that I can remember," Liubastra said from behind.
" How long have you been standing there, listening?" Deros ruffed.
"Quite some.time, now" Liubastra replied. "How was it we didn't notice?" deros asked.
" I did, " said Cerise, adding, "She's been there for about 7 minutes."
"What a show off" Liubastra said
"Seven minutes,That is quite some time, and you listened to the whole discussion," Deros said as both cerise and liubastra laughed.
"uhhh...I wasn't trying to be funny," deros pressed.
Cerise spoke, "You know she's a war orphan, just like you, she had no choice"
"There's always a choice Cerise, and you taught me that,Have you gone soft, because she's a girl?, Life was the hard for us, but we never stole , but she…,She stole from the wrong people," Deros replied to Cerise.
"Well unlike her, I brought you up, had the chance to teach you everything I knew," Cerise said
"She's a thief cerise and that's all there's to it, I'll let her go this time, because of you but next time..."
"There will be no next time, I promise," Liubastra interrupted, following it with a bow.
"She really had no choice, none,You had it rough Deros, but don't shy away from the fact that other people had it much worse," said Cerise.
"You have no idea what I've been through Cerise," Deros snapped.
"That might be true , but I was part of it, so maybe I have a little," Cerise replied.
"I picked myself up from gutters of Vlad," the girl began. "I was eight years old, and was raped by multiple soldiers because I asked for food, I didn't get the food most times,One day in the dead of winter, I lured a soldier inside a tent and stabbed him, then I took his money, weapons, and food,I've been on the run since then, stealing from soldiers, has been my only way of survival.I have lost all of my memories, and the only thing I remember from my childhood is my mother's name, Liubastra,I don't even remember my own, so, I took her name and now it's just Liu,I didn't mean to steal from your boss, and I'm really sorry master Cerise has told me a lot about you and I think of you as a fine knight," said Liu.
"Liu huh?,Not a bad name ,and he wasn't my boss.He had it coming." With that Deros announced, "Well it's been a nice reunion, but I should be on my way now."
"Watch yourself out there," Cerise told him.
"I know that, old man ," Deros replied with chuckle.
"I hope I'll see you back soon," Liu added. "I hope I don't, look…it was really nice to meet you but we shouldn't meet again, for your sake," Deros said as he was coming down off of the roof. Deros then, climbed his horse and rode into the darkness. Liu sighed and asked "Is he always like that,"
"No, not quite like that,He's changed a little, but he is still himself. " Cerise answered. "Go Liu, get a horse,"
"What about you?" she asked.
"Don't worry about me I know how to survive out here, I've been doing it for decades, so don't argue."
"Thank you master Cerise," Liu responded.
"For?"
"Everything," Liu said with great sadness . Then she walked away.