The Birthday

The Forth Chapter of "Cloudburst"

The Birthday

It was raining. And when I say ‘It was raining’ I don’t mean that I felt like s**t again, what I mean is that it was raining. After my chat with Rowan it never stopped raining in that sense. What I mean is that the clouds had started to pour down and I was soaked to the bone. On the bright side though, was the fact that the rain had given me a much-needed bath before my trip into town.

Rowan came outside with breakfast, acting as if nothing had happened, as if nothing had changed the night before. I was on edge that day, whenever he was around at least, I couldn’t comprehend how he could act the same. My whole world had come crumbling down around me, and yet… it was like he didn’t care. Or maybe he just didn’t think I was important anymore.

The birds weren’t singing as they had been the day before, and the sun was barely shining. The sounds of nature were long gone, and animals could not be seen roaming throughout the fields. Than again, maybe it was just me, maybe I just couldn’t see or hear them, or maybe I just didn’t want to.

“Why so quiet for Danny?” Lettuce asked as we climbed into Rowan’s carriage, it was quite similar to the caravans, only without a full roof, and a great deal larger. “Had a long night did you?”

“Yes” I said, looking over at Rowan “you could say that”

I knew how terrible this day was going to be, and how irritating everyone would be during it. I would be gone by this time the next day though, so I decided that I could bear through it. They were practically family after all.

“First order of business when we arrive lads?” Rowan asked, glancing back from where he was driving.

“The brewery of course!” Lettuce, Griff and the others, even Peter, yelled back.

 The brewery, it was always good fun despite the fact that I didn’t drink, everyone sung songs and danced on the tables. That was until one of our lads started a fight, then it got extremely violent, I didn’t like that. Wait no, I did. However, the fights always ended with everyone shaking hands and smiling with broken teeth as they walked away. Yes, the brewery, good fun.

“And then to the wonderful women!” Lettuce screamed at the top of his lungs.

One of the lads, Ian I think it was, sighed loudly and leered at him.

“I think you’ve had your fair share of… ‘wonderful women’” Ian said “it’s a wonder that your c**k doesn’t just fall off”

The entire carriage howled like a pack of wolves with laughter, I even joined in.

“Oh har har har, laugh it up” Lettuce fixed his gaze on Ian “if I recall correctly, last time you took more women than I did, and you” he turned his gaze to… Miles, yes that was his name “you burst into my room last night and took my girl, so don’t you go laughing”

“Dear god…” I said, glancing at Lettuce and the others “it would seem like I’ve been missing out on all the fun”

“Oh yes, considerably” Griff replied “but I say, tonight, Lettuce have fun”

I wasn’t exaggerating when I had called his jokes terrible, they were absolutely dreadful.

“You really shouldn’t speak Griff” came Peter from beside me “and by that I mean ever”

“He’s right Griff, and I mean, it’s Peter” Lettuce said “he only ever speaks when he has something important to say”

I stopped paying attention to the conversation at some point after that when Lettuce started to talk about various women’s’ breasts. It wasn’t necessarily a topic I didn’t enjoy, I just didn’t enjoy it in the slightest.

“Danny” Peter nudged me in the side “you leaving tomorrow?” he said quietly, he wasn’t being quiet so that he couldn’t be heard, he just always spoke quietly.

“Yes” I said, turning to look the giant man directly in the eye “I plan on leaving either tonight, or at the break of dawn tomorrow”

“I see” he mumbled patting his knee lightly “and you do not plan on ever returning?”

I shook my head very slowly, feeling something akin to shame as I did so.

“I doubt that I’ll ever be seeing any of you ever again” I spoke quietly so that only he could hear “I don’t plan on returning here”

It was Peter’s turn to shake his head now.

“Where do you plan on going Danny?”

I thought for a moment, I didn’t really mind telling Peter where I was going, I wouldn’t tell him exactly why though.

“Firstly I need to fulfil a promise I made to an old friend on the road” I said hoarsely, suppressing my tears “and then I move on to Hollowdell, I have business there”

I could see from the look on his face, that Peter had many questions he wanted to ask me. He didn’t say anything though, he was good like that, he never tried to poke his nose in other people’s business.

After my conversation with Peter had finished I poked my head out of the side of the carriage to take in the city. We were close now, but moments from arriving, and the wooden palisade reflected the morning sunlight casting a veil of yellow over the city. The palisade wasn’t very practical; it was only really there to look nice. Men were constantly at work varnishing and sanding the wood to make sure it all looked brilliant, it kind of did I guess.

Upon our departure from the carriage Rowan flipped to one of the young stable boys a golden coin, before we headed into the city. The streets were bustling with busy people going about their everyday lives, totally oblivious to the world outside their small wooden walls. In Hollowdell, a civil war would soon be waged and would tear the place apart, here though the worst things people faced were being a little hungry for one night. Everyone was so oblivious.

“Here we go,” mumbled Peter beside me.

“What?” I replied sharply, he pointed at a large door down the end of the street we were on.

It was wooden and incredibly ornate for the door to a brewery; yellowish roots that weren’t quite gold were carved along its length in intricate patterns. Above the door hung a large swinging sign that depicted three golden crowns in a pyramid and read: “The Three Kings Brewery”. The place had been started by three self-proclaimed “kings” many years a go, and as far as breweries went, it wasn’t completely awful.

There was a gruff looking man at the day watching us as we walked towards The Three Kings. He was rather short for a guard, although he was quite stocky, if push came to shove though, I doubted that he would be a problem. Even despite the fact that I was unarmed. We carried on inside without any interruption from the man, I don’t quite know why it surprised me.

The place was poorly lit, and an amber glow resonated from the multiple fireplaces around the room. Men, who were presumably taking a break from working, sat along tables drinking and sharing stories and laughing. There were a few women around the place, although that included those serving drinks whom, Lettuce had once told me, were mutually agreed to be off-limits. The other women though, the ones who were not off-limits, often caused petty squabbles between men that escalated into fistfights. Just like at the New Year’s Festivals.

As soon as we sat down beers seemingly appeared out of thin air on the table in front of us, and we all started to drink.

“So I hear that a civil war’s about to start up in Hollowdell” Lettuce said, starting the conversation as he always did “that Symonds boy is out to take down his own father”

“Yes, I did hear about that” Rowan replied, looking at me across the table “it would be best if everyone was to completely avoid the area, or at least until the fighting has stopped”

His comment was quite blatantly directed at me, it was aggravating how condescending the old farmer could be. I glowered at him for quite some time before replying to his obvious challenge.

“I have to disagree with you there old man” I replied, slowly clenching my hand into a fist under the table “someone ought to go and put down this Symonds, he needs to be taught a lesson”

Rowan squinted his eyes, I knew it was because he was angry or something along those lines, but it looked more like how one would squint when blinded by the sun. He opened his mouth to speak but Peter butted in before he had the chance “Let’s get another round of beers shall we!”

“A splendid idea Peter!” Lettuce yelled “and I might go and chat to that lass over there” he pointed at a young woman standing by herself at a table “she’s been eying me since we got here and she looks a little lonely methinks, I might go and brighten up her day” he finished, winking as he got up to leave.

I had already seen the woman he referred to with another man, and I had also seen that man with a group of burly looking men. We had been here for only a short time and Lettuce was already about to get us into a fight. I sighed, hopefully a fight would lighten my mood, and Rowan’s.

“Where abouts is this Hollowdell anyway?” asked Ian, completely oblivious as to why Peter had attempted to end that conversation.

“From memory it’s further to the east” Griff answered “somewhere between here and Tallenbere”

Tallenbere. That was my first home, memories of the place danced in the corner of my mind just out of reach.

“Do you really plan on going there Danny?” Peter whispered beside me.

“Yes” I replied sharply “like I said, I have business there”

He didn’t question me any more after that, in fact it seemed like everyone was completely ignoring me after that.

“Lettuce is about to get us into a spot of trouble” Griff said, pointing at a group of men watching Lettuce “should someone go and…”

“I have a better idea!” interrupted Ian, “my pay from this week says that it’s the largest of those men who throws the first punch”

“You’re an idiot Ian” Griff smacked him over the back of the head lightly, “my money’s on Lettuce starting the fight”

Rowan grinned wolfishly and dropped a handful of coins on the table. “The short one, he looks like he has a temper”

I nudged Peter in the side “the man with a scar on his face, he was with her when we came in”

The giant looked at me for a moment and then nodded. Reaching into his pocket he retrieved a small pouch of coins and dropped it onto Rowan’s pile. “The scarred man” he said just loud enough for everyone to hear.

Once all bets had been placed everyone went quiet, so that we could watch the fight unfold. It was a group of about a dozen men who were watching Lettuce, and another dozen friends of theirs would be scattered about the place. He leaned nonchalantly against a table while leaning in close to her face, quite obviously flirting with the young girl. Surprisingly enough though, no one made a move towards him until after about half an hour of us watching.

Eventually about six of the dozen men who had been standing in a group moved over to where Lettuce and the girl were. The large man, the short man and the scarred man were all there. This would have made things far more interesting for Ian, Griff and Rowan, I already knew what was going to happen though.

The men and Lettuce started to talk, they looked rather angry, whereas he smiled at them. His smile was a terrible sign, whenever Lettuce smiled s**t happened, and it always hurt. The short man gave Lettuce a shove and I could practically feel Rowan’s excitement wash over me. Next, after Lettuce pushed the man back, and just as I had predicted, the scarred man punched Lettuce.

He crashed to the ground loudly, breaking part of the table as he did so and grunting loudly. He was used to being punched though, and startled the men by bouncing straight up and onto his feet. I almost laughed, I would not have been able to count the amount of times that I had seen Lettuce punched in the face if I had wanted to. However, the amount of times I had seen it happen because of a girl, numbered fifty now.

Peter and the others rose to their feet, lightning quick, and ran to Lettuce’s aid. While they did so, I flipped onto the table, lifting the stool I had been sitting on as I did so and launched it at the scarred man. It was a poor shot, the chair missed by about a meter and instead smashed into the face of the short man, sending him to the floor.

This startled the scarred man, and he yelled something out to his friends around the room, some of whom converged on me. Arms fastened around my legs and waist and yanked me down from the table. I covered my head as a rain of fists fell against me, and lashed out with my legs which I felt make contact many times.

I rolled onto my stomach and kicked off the floor as hard as I possibly could. This pushed off my many assailants and sent me flying into the air to land on my feet. Then I could feel something other than the rain, it was a feeling. That same feeling I had gotten when I had been in a fight at a New Year’s Festival before leaving the farm.

There were three men approaching me, probably the men who had been holding me down a moment a go I thought. I reached back and felt for a stool which I could use as a weapon, it was only fair, after all I was outnumbered. Finding one, I whipped my hands forward and ripped two of the legs from the stool. Wielding them as if they were two swords I leapt forward and cracked two of the men over the head, rendering them unconscious.

The remaining man drew a small throwing knife and lobbed it at me. I didn’t even have to move. The hilt of the small weapon collided with my ribs, causing for me only the briefest of pains and making me take a step backwards.

As I recoiled the man charged, screaming and swinging his fists like he was some kind of wild animal. I simply ducked and flourished one of the stool legs upwards and into his groin, potential preventing him from having any children. After dealing with the three men I dropped the legs of the chair and looked about the room to see how my friends were doing.

The fight had already been won. Peter sat on top of the scarred man drinking a beer while his friends moaned and crawled about on the floor. Lettuce was once again with the girl, and was continuing to flirt with her. I could hear Rowan apologising to one of the owner’s and offering him a purse of money as compensation. The man rejected it and laughed, slapping Rowan on the back and offering him a beer. Now that the fight was over, it started to rain again.

We left soon after that, at Lettuce’ request, to go and have some fun with the ‘wonderful women’. This was the one activity I would not be partaking in today, I just wasn’t in the mood. Back before I had left I had enjoyed visiting the whorehouses, it had been new to me then, and new was always exciting when you were young.

It was a very old and very large building, it took up a large part of the street that it was on. This was due to the fact that Farmer’s never really had time for romance or love, this fact made prostitutes extremely popular and very successful. Almost every room in the establishment was a bedroom, save for a few very strange rooms which I knew Lettuce had been into before. The things that went on in there stretched the limits of one’s imagination, and one’s purse for that matter.

Lettuce, Ian, Peter, Griff, Rowan and the others all the other farmers went inside. I did not. Instead I sat outside and waited for them to finish their business. I could no longer stand to be with a woman, not after what had happened in the past. After about an hour I found myself sitting alone in an alleyway. The sun had started to set. It was raining. And I was crying.

I felt an arm around my shoulders and looked to see Rowan’s face, he smiled weakly, attempting to clear the bad air that had been lingering between us all day.

“Ready to tell me the whole story yet Danny?” Rowan said, taking a seat beside me in the darkness.

I nodded my response. “Where do I start?” I asked, feeling the rain drip down on my face.

“With Symonds, with the only thing you have left to tell me” Rowan looked into my eyes, I could feel him looking into my soul. I knew that he could see just how broken it was. Just how broken I was. “just tell me what it was that Symonds took from you”

I nodded once again. I didn’t exactly want to talk to anyone about it, but I knew I had to, and I knew that I could trust Rowan. “He took her away from me” I managed to say, suppressing a wail of rage, sorrow, and guilt. “She made me forget old man, she made me forget about everything, made me forget about my father, made me forget about home, and made me forget about the rain” I said, smiling despite my tears “she made me feel whole again, and then Symonds…” I stopped, unable to continue.

Rowan gripped my shoulder, he was trying to make me feel better, but I wasn’t sure that anything could.

 “That comes later Danny” Rowan said cheerfully “first tell me, what was she like?”

My smile grew even wider as I thought more and more about Katherine.  

“She was the most beautiful woman you’ve ever laid eyes upon in your life, she really was old man”

Reviews

[Alleyway Rover]

Overall: Right off the bat, this font made it almost unreadable. I’m not sure what you were trying to accomplish with this font, I didn’t see any change in tone or POV, but from my perspective, it hampered understanding instead of helping.

I feel like your original plot has stalled out somewhat. We’ve been stuck at this same spot for several chapters and here I almost get the feeling that you’re injecting new plot points into the narrative to spur an otherwise sluggish storyline along. Unfortunately it’s causing more confusion then anything else. For one, we first start hearing about a civil war in some city that’s hasn’t come up until now and some girl from his past that is suddenly important.

Meanwhile I can’t even remember what his original mission was. I know he’s out for revenge on somebody… but I don’t remember why. It wasn’t because of a girl, I don’t think… it had something to do with his father…

Bottom line, the plot isn’t going anywhere right now. Danny should be out trying to accomplish his goal, whatever that is. He’s got to be moving the story forward. Bar fights and prostitutes are all well and good, but they don’t help Danny accomplish his goals.

Additional Notes:

‘It was raining. And when I say ‘It was raining’ I don’t mean that I felt like s**t again, what I mean is that it was raining. After my chat with Rowan it never stopped raining in that sense. What I mean is that the clouds had started to pour down and I was soaked to the bone.”

I don’t know that I would differentiate the ‘rain’ like this. I think the reader can kind of dig that theres a kind of symbol at work.

‘It wasn’t necessarily a topic I didn’t enjoy, I just didn’t enjoy it in the slightest.”

Not sure what you are trying to say here. It reads completely contradictory.

‘Men were constantly at work varnishing and sanding the wood to make sure it all looked brilliant, it kind of did I guess.”

There’s a different tone in Danny’s voice this chapter I hear repeated. Where he declares his opinion about something and immediately recants it. I really don’t know why or if it was intentional, but it strikes me as odd.

“The hilt of the small weapon collided with my ribs, causing for me only the briefest of pains and making me take a step backwards.”

I think you mean the handle of the knife here. I can’t visualize how the hilt would hit him without the whole knife going through him… also throwing knives don’t usually have hilts.

[Walczak]

tbh i thought i had changed the font to normal