Flashback Partners in crime

[Raeyn]

Raeyn age: 19
Liard age: 22

63rd Fall 510
Okomo Estates

Lhavit was a city that never slept. The Okomo Estates however was a place that slept a little too much for your Raeyn’s liking. A silent serenity enveloped the emerald grasslands as far as the eye could see. The hustle and bustle of the other peaks was a world away. Thus shortly after the midnight break came to it’s conclusion, beneath the gaze of Leth, Raeyn snuck out to find adventure in the arms of his beloved. Little did he know that the night would hold more than just adventure in stock for him.

And what a beautiful night it was. Crisp black air filled his lungs. Above him a canopy of starlight accompanied Leth’s glowing crescent across the sky. A gentle gale combed the long, hillside grasses, waved though people’s gardens and settled in tree branches where it caressed sweet blooms that would turn to fruit in the fall. A part of the landscape, was Raeyn. A red haired boy of Inarta blood, dressed in simple but fine attire with a bow in his hand, a quiver full of arrows on his back. He ascended the familiar rocky path, hoping over stoned on his way to a familiar cottage.

Past an iron gate, lined on both sides by an unkempt hedge, solid oakwood door welcomed him. The sound of crickets in the distance marked Raeyn’s arrival. Along with a soft knock, the sounds merged into the night and disappeared out of earshot, carried on the wind. Upon the misty peaks all seemed so deceitfully peaceful.

An illusion, is all it was.

From beyond the oak wood door came a cry and a sound of something smashing. It cut though the tranquility of Leth’s domain. Not loud enough to awaken the neighbours but loud enough to reach the ears of the Inarta on the other side who was instantly halted by worry. A fist froze before he could even attempt a second knock.

[Raeyn]

Raeyn’s mind raced with all the terrible possibilities that could be lurking just ahead of him. More voices reached his ears soon enough. One barely distinguishable to be that of Liard, muffled in panic. The other, an unfamiliar male voice. It didn’t take much to figure out that a confrontation awaited him, should Raeyn choose to enter. And for a moment, just for a moment, he considered turning on his heel and leave that which did not concern him. But that was just a moment. A moment which passed soon enough, replaced by a choice he'd soon come to regret.

Raeyn’s shaken hand rested on the iron handle. It was as if the door opened itself with no necessity of pressure. Something dark beckoned him inside. And how dearly he had found himself disappointed that the front door indeed wasn’t locked from the inside.

Timidly he stepped into the darkness of the cottage, leaving the door ajar behind him enough for a single moonlit ray to light his step. A stench of alcohol filled his nostrils about as soon as he entered. To say Raeyn had found himself growing quickly regretful of his curiosity was an understatement. But none the less curiosity and a profound worry for his dearest carried him inside in spite of all his senses screaming at the Inarta to turn back. One step was a step too many, however. Beyond the front door was the point of no return.

The boy’s eyes dilated, growing used to the dim dark. And what they saw sent a surge of dread and adrenaline though his veins simultaneously.

There was no door between him and the voices now. From where he stood Raeyn heard the drunken hollering of a man out of his whit on booze, screaming into the face of a struggling boy whom he had pinned by the neck to the wall, grasping for air in desperation.

“Rae, leave. Now!” Screamed the boy before a heavy punch to the jaw, that would soon enough leave an angry purple bruise, left him slumped against the wall. So pitiful he looked. So powerless at the mercy of a man twice his size. Bloody teeth. Arms clenching his stomach. A long tear in his shirt. Clearly Liard was hurt but the horror in his eyes wasn’t that for his own sake, but fearing the drunk assailant would soon enough torn around to see Raeyn standing there, frozen in place by fear.

The man was Liard’s father. Only once had Raeyn seen him and from the get go he knew there was something wrong with the man. Gaunt face and dead behind the eyes, the balding bastard had about as much propriety in his manner as he had teeth. That being, not very much. A beer gut hanged over his belt. Even at their first meeting the man stunk of alcohol. In spite of the man showing very little interest in his own son, even back then, never in a million years would Raeyn have dared to dream up such an assault on the boy. But there he was. Watching it unfold before his very eyes.

[Raeyn]

Raeyn’s mind spun. He was a sheltered boy. Such violence had never ever befell his eyes. Having come from a family that cared for what others thought of it, he lacked a madman uncle or an alcoholic cousin.

If he had known this was the reality Liard lived in, he’d have done something., anything, to help. Perhaps he could have talked his father into letting the boy stay with them and Mara. Perhaps they could have saved up for a place of their own and stole the mixed blood away from a man who abused him. But Liard had never said a word. Too proud, was he. Too used to it to bother looking for an alternative. And Raeyn never asked questions he didn't want to know the answers to…

As if held in place, frozen into some invisible icicles, Raeyn watched as Liard struggled to his feet only to be knocked off again by the alcoholic’s boot. Droplets of blood from his lips spilled onto the floor. His father said something, mumbled nonsense that was barely coherent to his own son, never mind to Raeyn. He said something about within he had never had him, about Liard being nothing but bad luck. Though slurs and curses, words became entangled in a drunken tongue.

“Fuck you, old man.” Replied Liard, venom seeping from split lips. Words broken up by fits of coughing. But no matter how much the man pounded on him he wouldn’t go down fighting. Once more he struggled to his feet, catching a breath as his father stumbled backwards though an alcoholic haze. This time it was Liard who took a swing. Knuckled bloody from the impact beneath which the man’s nose cracked god’s only knew which time over.

Satisfied that he momentarily incapacitated the man with a hit alone he bolted towards Raeyn and grasped the Inarta boy by the shoulders, shaking him violently as it attempting to shake out his fear. “What the hell are you doing, standing there. Get the patch out..” He screamed in Raeyn’s face. “Leave!”

“What in the world is going on?” Were the only words Raeyn could muster. Though every bone in his body screamed at him to listen, it was a loyalty in him that forbid him from doing so. A devout care for the boy he promised his heart to. No. How could he leave in such a desperate moment?

There was such urgency to Liard that Raeyn hadn’t even seen during their many hunts together. A real fear behind bruised eyes. “Please. I can handle him. I don’t need to be worrying about you, kid.”