Chapter Five: Ex-Servant/IQ Potion

 

 

Ex Servant/ IQ Potion

After a long hike down Mt. XnoSnow; the party reached the gates of XnoSnow Village, “So this is your hometown Matlus?” Sparks asked. “Yeah it is, home sweet home.” Matlus grins. Eldwin notices a poster hanging on the village gates, “Donkey Fights at the Steamy Station.” Eldwin reads. “What is Steamy Station?” Matlus scratches his head,

“We built a travel system called a railroad, this giant metal thing on wheels called a train travels on these metal rails from one village to another, SweptCreek wouldn’t sign the agreement to let us add rails and a station there, which is why you haven’t heard of it.”

Matlus leads Sparks and Eldwin to his house, a small cottage made of pine wood; the party enters the cottage and immediately a bulky Terrin man, with a shaved head, dressed in a blue Mage’s robe, rushed over to them and picked Matlus up, “Welcome home son!” Sparks smiles, “So this is your father?” Matlus’s father was darker skinned then Sparks and was twice his height, “Yes I’m Marvess, Matlus’s adoptive father.”

Marvess explains to Sparks and Eldwin that they found Matlus floating down the river, and that all the Water Mages of XnoSnow accepted him even though he was a different type of Mage, his father wasn’t very fond of the person he loved, but wished nothing but the best for his son.

As night fell the three decided to attend the Donkey Fights at Steamy Station, the crowd was roaring and huge, as the party walked into the station Sparks saw a familiar face, “Justes?!” he called to a light-skinned Terrin man who was probably twenty-one years of age, he was dressed in a black and white ring leader’s outfit and holding a whip that looked furry. “Sparks McKlean is that you?”

The two ran towards each other as if they hadn’t seen each other in centuries, it was a slow-motion run until they got too close, Justes cracked his whip and grabbed Sparks by the legs and slammed him into a nearby pillar on the station platform, “How dare you come around me after what you did, you played with my heart b*****d!”

 Eldwin and Matlus got some popcorn and pulled up some chairs as they watched as Sparks continued to be slammed into almost every pillar in the station. “I just love slap-shtick, don’t you Eldwin?” chucked Matlus. Eldwin knew he owed it to Sparks to help so he stood up and walked over to Justes, “Excuse me but could you please leave Lord Sparks alone?” Justes turned around and laughed, “So you call him that just like I use to, did he lie with you yet?” Eldwin scowled, “Our relationship is strictly business professional.” Justes laughed again and slapped Eldwin, “You dumb hoe!” Justes spat in Eldwin’s face.

Eldwin felt his anger building up, he stood up and grasped one of the station pillars, he pulled it right out and swung it like a bat and struck Justes, he flew into the air and crashed into the ceiling, Eldwin then leaped into the air, grabbing Justes from the ceiling he threw him down to the ground and then body slammed him, “Die you b*****d!” Eldwin yelled.

Matlus walked over to Sparks, “Hey buddy are you okay?” Sparks glared up at Matlus, “Yes Matlus, I’m peachy f*****g keen.”  Matlus picks up Sparks’s sword and runs towards Justes, Matlus tries to stab him but Eldwin deflects the blade, “This is my battle Matlus, Sparks is my Lord for another year, I will protect him at all cost.” Justes begins to cough up blood, “Come on man get off me, and you’re crushing my chest.”

Eldwin gets up and walks out of the station, he is followed by Matlus, “Eldwin wait?!” Eldwin turns around, “What are you going to fight me too?” Matlus crosses his arms, “I didn’t know you had superhuman strength, I have something for you though.” Matlus pulls out a small beaker filled with blue liquid, “This is a mini IQ boost, it will make you averagely smart and increase your common sense.” Eldwin snatches the beaker and chugs the concoction, he feels himself getting smarter, “Thank you so much Matlus, I’m glad that you joined us, I really want to see you reunite with your lover.” Matlus smiles, “His name is Rollo Avus.”

Inside the station Sparks and Justes talked for a bit about the past and finally came to an agreement, Justes would join the party and help them by using his whip to combat and do whatever else he could and when Eldwin was released from his servitude the next year, Justes would take his place.

The Party regrouped and everyone agreed to let Justes join the group, they watched the donkey fights led by Justes and then returned home to Matlus’s house, in the morning Marvess gave his son four tickets for the Steam Train named the “Explorer”, Sparks had told Marvess about his uncle Zoru who made special family weapons and knew his uncle had one that could unleash his true power, Marvess was touched that Sparks was helping search for Rollo and bought the tickets for the party.

The Party reaches the Explorer’s Platform in Steamy Station and they await the train’s arrival, after an hour smoke began to appear over the horizon, and the train chugged into the station and came to a screeching halt, the party entered the train and they were each placed two in a cabin, Matlus and Justes in one and Sparks and Eldwin in another.

Matlus looked out the window and saw his father looking at him from the platform, he noticed tears forming in his father’s eyes, he was unaware that his father was crying not because of his son departing again, but because he found two friends that truly care about him and want to help him.

Eldwin looked at his sleeping Lord, he looked out the window as the train rode off, for a faint second who could of sworn he saw a hooded figure watching him in the refection of the window, but when he turned around there was nobody there.

Matlus and Justes sat in the dining car and talked about themselves and their lives as gay men, Justes was more into sex then Matlus was, Matlus and Rollo never did anything, he was waiting until they at least got engaged.

In the caboose someone sings, “Click Clack, Stab Stabbed, kill the foolish riders, kill the foolish riders, click clack.” They sip on a glass of steaming hot tea and it simply drips from their robe and onto the floor as if they couldn’t digest it and had no organs.