Shadows Between Brothers

The next morning had come around a lot quicker than Arata had wanted it to. Leona woke him as the sun was rising, it was to be a long day and there was no time to sleep in. The road still held onto that smell when rain has finished falling onto the road, a pleasant one most certainly. They had reached the halfway point to the next town over “Nächste” and the hill beside them cascaded down to reveal the lower valley, beautiful greens blended with the yellows of the wheat and the glow of the sun, truly a sight to witness… of course, Arata missed it as his eyes wouldn’t stay open for longer than three seconds.

A little over an hour into their walk across they decided to take a break under the linden tree next to the road, sitting in the shade with a nice treat Leona had bought from the bar the night before. By now, Arata had woken up a little bit. He watched Leona plop down next to him and gleefully tuck into a sandwich, the red sauce spilling onto her cheek while she clumsily chewed. “Sure is peaceful out here…” Arata noted. He was expecting such an expedition to be marred by killer wolves and bandits, no such thing seemed to be around oddly.

“Hmm.” She mumbled as she tried to finish the bite. “It’s been a lot less dangerous since old man Drachen Geboren came by. He’s struggling now though, one of the thugs shot him with a crossbow! Hit him right in the knee! He’s thinking of retiring after this winter.”

“Drachen Geboren, eh? He good at shouting per chance?” Arata asked sarcastically

“Shouting?”

Arata chuckled to himself, “Nothing, don’t worry about it.”

The city had completely disappeared behind the hills and there was still no sign of this Nächste on the horizon. Being a kid that spent most of his days reading indoors and following it up with a career of sitting at a desk 24/7 didn’t exactly gift much endurance for cross country, in fact his legs had started hurting him as they were at the gate to leave Heimstadt. Suddenly he felt as though he was in over his head. Leona had already finished her sandwich while Arata had only mustered a couple of bites. The memory of him and Franz played in her mind as she looked at him. The tavern was a mess, broken stools lying on the ground and smashed glass flying through the air like silver dust. She’d never seen Franz like that, so angered he didn’t care for the cuts. She couldn’t even step in to stop them, it was like two wild beasts fighting for domination and all she could do was avert her eyes.

She didn’t want to see such a sight again, she wasn’t sure her heart could take it again, not now of all times. “Say, Reinhardt.” She muttered. “Do you really think bringing Franz back is a good idea?”

He was hesitant to answer. There was still this fight looming over them and without the knowledge of exactly what happened he couldn’t be certain. All he did know was what was truly in Franz’s heart. “If he loves the Princess, like you said I think he can get along with me long enough, right?”

For some reason she just didn’t look convinced at all.

Arata was getting frustrated, already they were at a disadvantage. “What?” He barked. “Regardless of what we fought about, if I was in love with Plotgerät, I’d work with the demon lord himself to get her back. Wouldn’t you?”

“I’m not saying that!” She shouted back. But instead of biting again she held her flagon tightly and her pained face lowered. “He fought so hard, all the way from being a servant to being a warrior, all of it because he loved her. But a servant couldn’t marry a Princess, at least that’s what he thought. Then, it all fell apart…”

Arata was confused as to what she was talking about, and he was going to try to get her back on topic but a scene flashed in his head. The alcoholic haze dissipated revealing the fight between Reinhardt and Franz. He didn’t even speak to Reinhardt, he just clocked him without a word, but as he was getting hit back tears filled his eyes. Reinhardt screamed out to him as he was leaving the bar in bruises, imploring him to tell him why… Franz never looked back…

“The day of the fight…” Leona continued. “Franz was to be given the title of hero, that’d only been given out to a select few in our kingdom. He had finally reached the top, he felt as though he could finally tell the Princess how he felt but… He overheard the Queen talking to her servants… Princess Plotgerät had been in love with some hero for years… he was heartbroken…”

The scene flashed by in Arata’s mind, the Queen giggling without knowing the pain beyond the walls. Now it made sense, why he left Heimstadt, why he was so bitter that night but…

“Why did he attack me then? It’s not like Rein… It’s not like I had a thing with the Princess” Arata asked, he knew that much from the information available to him.

“In the entire kingdom, there is only one with the title of Hero, Reinhardt. You tell me.”

*-*-*

Hours had flown by and the tension had not gone away. Town by town they checked, bar by bar and yet, no sign of the avid drinker. “Where’s next, Leona?” Arata asked, sitting on a wall near the last bar they checked. She looked at her map that was now filled with X’s over each town, each tavern. It was not looking good, the sun would be at its peak in another hour or so. In any normal circumstance she would have been fine with it, they’d have loads of time before it got to nightfall, but… tomorrow was the big day and they needed to be at Versteck early enough to plan at the least, and there was still no sign of Franz anywhere.

She sighed seeing the next town they approached, knowing that it was another hour to the one after this and likely the last one they could check. They passed the sign in as they stepped onto the streets, “Nirgends”, another small town with barely anyone around.

“Well, this looks promising…” Arata mocked. There must have been around three or four houses and a small pub in the centre but other than that it was forests and dirt roads. “I’ll check the pub” He explained. Leona didn’t respond so he turned to say it again, but her ears were pricked up, no way she didn’t hear him. “Look, if you’re angry with me…”

“Shh…” She whispered. He wanted to bite back until he heard what she had. Whimpering… something like that. It was coming from the bar, and Leona rushed in without Arata.

It was poorly lit, the patrons were few and preoccupied. Arata rushed in after her, his eyes drifting to the barkeep.

Franz the Drinker.

Crumpled onto the bar top, crying like a baby onto it with a half empty cup beside him. The men sat either side of him were bamboozled by him. He was mumbling, slurring his words and even the bartender was just watching in pure astonishment. Both Arata and Leona were baffled, they had found him but, the state he was in was unbelievable.

At some point his eyes opened enough to make out more than just simple colour and he saw them at the door. His head lifted slowly, in a way that made you worry it was about to fall off his shoulders. His cup lifted in the air. “Ayyyyy… it’s the team…” He proceeded to try and drink the last of his ale however it just poured onto his shirt, not that he really noticed. “What’s going on? What’s brought you guys here?” He asked with absolutely no difficulty and the duo one hundred percent understood him. Leona approached apprehensively, assuring Arata she would handle it. She put her hand on his and sat beside him. “Franz, it’s been a while, how are you?”

“It’s all good, Leo… I’ve got my booze, I got my friends… what… what more could I ask for?” He slurred. His eyes then wandered to the man still at the door as his arm waved to the bartender for another round. He was absolutely hammered and yet, he still saw the man he had left his kingdom for, the man he had attacked without warning. “Ayy… Rein…hardt… what’s good man?!” His greeting disrupted by gas. “What’s got the top dog o’ Heimstadt down to the boonies, eh?”

Arata prepared himself. It was lucky, he realised, Franz was drunk so even if he did have an outbreak at least he could just get away from the bar. All he needed now was to motivate the drunkard.

“Princess Plotgerät has been kidnapped.” He replied.

It didn’t really seem to hit the fallen knight, he just grabbed his new drink and swirled it around while the patrons gossiped in the back about the news. “Zat so?” He muttered.

Without hesitation Leona took a hold of his hand again, tighter this time. “We’re going to get her back, Franz. But we need your help! We’ll be storming the kidnappers base tomorrow so, how about you make this your last round? I’ll cover it for you.” She went to pay but Franz pulled her hand away. “Nah. I think I’ll have a couple more, wallow in self pity and crash out in the woods or something, I dunno…” He took another hefty drink.

“But, Franz, the Princess needs you.” Leona implored.

“Ain’t gotta be me, saving her she got a lover, he should save her.” His tone had completely shifted, he was no longer playful and happy. Rage was slowly building. But at this point Arata knew that if they tried to dance around the subject they would be there all night. He stood beside Franz who was still sitting, still sipping his ale. “Franz. I get you got your heartbroken but, this isn’t the time for it. Feeling sorry for yourself isn’t going to make you feel better.”

“Sure it is.” He responded. “Absence makes the heart founder… did I say that right? Ignorance is bliss and all that” He tried to take another drink but this time, Arata pulled away the drink. “There’s another guy. Are you really going to let that stop you? You’re a knight, Franz. Help us save her, and challenge the guy for her. When he sees you care more, she’ll have to listen to you, right?” His hand placed on Franz’s shoulder was most definitely not a good idea but unfortunately he didn’t realise it.

“Challenge him, huh?” Franz asked. Arata nodded away. “Zat’s a good idea!”

From standing to tasting the floor in a tenth of a second. Arata felt the sting only after he landed. Blood trickled down his cheek. Franz was stood over him, ale still in hand. “Then let’s get this started eh?”

“You backstabbing prick.”