Bloodsoaked: A Memory to Last

Bloodsoaked: A Memory to Last



'We see the world in the image that we most desire. Few, if any, can picture reality with an unbiased perspective. We are all saints, we are all sinners, and we are our own demons.'





The day began just as any other day. The sun rose beneath a blanket of clouds on the horizon, casting a haze across the sea-port city of Quin. The vendors began their early shuffle across the haphazard streets of the city, quickly setting up shop at their stalls and carts. A cool breeze carried the sweet tang of freshly baked bread, and the sizzling aroma of meat. Ships of all sizes sailed in and out of the harbor mouth.



Waves crashed into the stone platform ten feet beneath Tius' feet. He hung over the railing to watch the foamed water spray up against the stonework. He would jerk back really quick to keep the spray from hitting his eyes- he learned the hardway that the water doesn't feel good when it hits your eyes. A light drizzle had started not to long ago that soaked through to his skin. He was a little cold, but he knew his mother would be out to get him any minute and they would go back to their apartment and sit by the stove and get warm.



" Little boy, why do you stand in the rain?"  The woman's voice startled him. Tius jerked from the railing as fast as he could- he was told to never do that, but it was just too much fun. The lady was wearing a light blue hooded cloak that only covered her hair. She carried a basket with a blanket wrapped around it, Tius guessed so that it would keep whatever was inside from getting too wet. She had a nice smile, full of warmth, and her eyes were a lovely color of green. Tius smiled back and then looked back at the harbor.



Several massive ships headed for the harbor mouth. Tius' uncle had told him once that those ships were called caravels. They were used by rich merchants that brought goods from the northern lands to here in Quin. His uncle also explained that only some of the stuff brought over from the seas would be sold here in the Quin markets, but that most of the stuff would travel by other, smaller ships called a cog. Those ships would travel upriver into the kingdom proper to drop off their loads, and pick some more stuff up and travel back so that the caravel could go back across the seas and sale that stuff there. Tius' uncle, Odi, knew a lot about ships, he was what he called a private entrepenuer and he would often buy stuff and have it shipped upriver.



" Oh, my mummy said for me to stay right here, and not to move. So I am watching the big ships." He told her as he pointed across the harbor to the biggest ship he could see. It had three masts that held massive canvas sails. Scores of figures could be seen scurring across the desks of the ship. Tius had watched that ship when it first pulled anchor. It was a beautiful caravel with black and red paint across the haul. He had waved to the captain, who waved back at him.



" But why would she tell you to stand in the rain?" The lady was still looking at him when she asked, her smile having faded, Tius could see that she was a little confused.



" Well, it wasn't raining when she told me to stand here." He told her as he turned to look up at her beautiful face again. He couldn't help but blush. He wasn't much for girls yet, but he knew beauty when he saw it.



" Why don't you come and stand with me under that porch over there." She pointed to the building nearest to them where a small over hang jutted out just under the second story windows. Wicker barrels were pushed up against the wall, and a stack of crates that looked as if they had held fish were stacked just in front of them. She offered her free hand to Tius.



" I don't know, I don't want mummy to get mad at me for not staying where she told me to." Tius looked around to see if his mother had come out of the building she went into earlier, afraid that she would be mad because he was talking to a stranger. He thought it would be nice to get out of the rain, but he just didn't want his mother upset at him.



" I think she wouldn't mind." The lady insisted, she smiled at Tius the way his mother smiled at him when she thought something he did was funny.



" Well, alright. If you think she would be okay with it." He shrugged, and took her hand. They quickly crossed the cobbled street as the rain began falling harder. The lady adjusted the basket on her right arm, and shook off the rain from her shoulders. Tius smiled, it reminded him of one of the street dogs that lived in the alley behind his apartment building, and it made him laugh. She adjusted her hood so that the front part of her hair stood out. She had marvellously blonde hair that looked like she had had pulled into a bun. 



" You know you are a very good little boy to listen to your mum so well." She patted Tius on the back. He smiled up at her, glad to be given the compliment. He really did try to make his mother happy with him because he knew that life was hard sometimes, and if life was hard that meant he had to be good so that when it was just him and his mother they could have an easy time together.



" If I do what mummy says, I can get a treat. I usually get a candy stick, or a sweet roll- I love sweet rolls. Have you ever had one?" He could almost smell the sweet roll now. Though, he was afraid his mother would be upset with him because he left the spot she told him to stay at and that would mean he couldn't have a treat on the way home. The lady giggled which made Tius giggle too.



" Of course, they are my favorite. Actually, I have a few sweet rolls with me- I just came back from the market. You can have one if you want one." She reached into her basket and pulled out a fist sized roll smothered in a creamy honey sauce. Tius saw other things in there like a brown parcel that was a little wet, he thought it was some sort of meat, and a bunch of different type of vegetables.



" Oh! That would be great! But, my mummy says I should not take things from strangers." He told her in disappointment. He really wanted that sweet roll.



" It's okay, it's only a sweet roll for a sweet little boy." He couldn't believe it. He reached for the treat and took it from the lady. He began devouring the roll in large bites. Its honey-butter cream filled his mouth with delicious promise.



" You are a very nice lady- what is your name?" He asked her around a full mouth.



" Lidia, and yours?" She responded as she wiped her hand clean from the sticky cream, she was watching the big ship that Tius had pointed out earlier.



" My name is Tius." He told her.



" How old are you?"



" I am nine years old. Mummy says that my next name day I will stop being a little boy and be a little man. I can't wait, mummy always gets me a gift. Last year, she got me a little wooden dagger- mummy says that it could save my life one day. Though, I don't know how to use it to do that." Tius quickly swallowed his mouthful, and answered Lidia. He pulled out the wooden dagger his mother had given to him his last name day and showed it her.



" Wow! That is really neat Tius." Lidia took the dagger from Tius, and examined the fine detail of the carving. The dagger was close to eleven inches long, the blade portion consisting of six and half inches. It was masterfully painted, the blade was coated with a silver-gloss, lending it a shine when caught just right under a light, the hilt was painted to mimick a black leather cord that spiralled up towards the short crossguard- which was painted a dull bronze. She gave the toy back to Tius who quickly stuffed it through a belt loop on his trousers.



" I know, mummy always knows what to get me." Tius was proud of his toy, always taking it with him no matter where he went. He would often imagine he was fighting bandits, wielding his dagger with the grace of a prince.



" Well, she is your mum, and mums know just what their little boys want. Where are you from Tius?"



" Oh, mummy and I live in Yonder Way in the Soft Quarter." Tius told her as he pointed toward where they lived. Yonder Way was tavern owned by his uncle, Odi, that had a few rooms in the floors above that he rented out. Their room wasn't very big, but it had a fireplace, and a stove, and he and his mother slept in comfortable beds by the window.



" Really? That is on the other side of the city." Lidia seemed surprised.



" Yeah, mummy is visiting a friend over here. She lets me come most of the time because there isn't anybody to watch me. Like I need to be watched, but it is okay. I like going with mummy cause she always goes to really neat places like here in the Waterfront, or up on the Serene Hill. Mummy has a lot of friends." He waved a hand in the direction his mother had walked towards when she told him to stay by the railing.



" So it seems. Where is your mummy now?" She asked carefully as she gazed where Tius had indicated. She was no longer amused, but Tius did not catch that.



" Just over there in that building, she is visiting a good friend of hers, Mr. Redsail. He is a ship-builder. He built that ship just over there." Tius pointed to a two mast ship at a dock nearest the building. 



" Oh, I see. Here Tius, have another sweet roll. I will be right back okay?" Lidia handed him another sweet roll, and picked up her basket.



" Okay, Ms. Lidia. I will be right here. Thank-you for the sweet rolls!" Tius watched Lidia as she stepped back into the pouring rain, and shuffled down the street to the building he had watched his mother go into earlier.





It was well past noon when Tius began getting frustrated from having to wait so long. His mother never spent so much time with her friends. He began to think she had forgot about him. A few people had come and gone from the building his mother and Ms. Lidia had gone into, but none of those people were either of them. He didn't know what Mr. Redsail looked like, so he didn't know if he had left or not either.



The rain had not let up since Ms. Lidia had left him beneath the porch, but Tius ran to the railing anyway. He saw an odd looking ship his uncle had never told him about. It was built to sit low in the water with many oars sweeping to keep it moving. It was painted an odd color of blue, and there was four men, two on each end of the ship, that wore really thick fur cloaks. They looked nothing like he had ever seen. Tall, and very big- most either had black hair or dark red hair. They looked grisly even from Tius' distant vantage point.



A faint scream echoed across the Waterfront, and Tius jerked around to the building his mother had gone into. Though it was only a scream he could recognize her voice, and he ran to the build.

The door was hard to open, it was very heavy, but he managed to open it enough to squeeze into through. A set of stairs just at the right of the door ran down into a basement. He could voices coming from down there.



Tius unsheathed his wooden dagger, and quietly descended down the steps. If his mother was in trouble, he would save her. At the bottom of the stairs, Tius turned down a hallway to his right and stepped into the open basement room. The frame of a ship rested on big wooden blocks on a ramp in the middle of the room. The glow of a lantern projected shadows of three figures on the ceiling. Tius snuck around the front of the ship frame.



His mother was naked, laying on a fur mat on the floor. A man lay beside her, naked, and blood pouring from a cut on his neck. He wasn't yet dead, but even Tius could see that his life was fading, and fast. Another woman was holding onto the man's arm, keeping him from grabbing his neck. He recognized the blue cloak the woman was wearing, it was Ms. Lidia. Tius' mother had scrambled to the corner of the mat, her back pushed up against the wall. Lidia cocked her head to look at her. She raised her other arm, she held a knife that had blood dripping from it. Tius jumped from the shadow of the haul



" Mummy!" He yelled as he charged Lidia. He slipped in some water and fell just at the edge of the mat, bruising his knees. He tried to get up but the shock of pain was too much. Lidia reached back with the arm she had been using to hold down Mr. Redsail and back handed Tius across the face. He felt her ring rip across his left cheek bone and over his lip to his chin. Tius was throw backwards from the force of the hit, his toy dagger skittering across the dirt floor and dropping down the ramp that the ship was on. Blood immediately began to gush from the cut on his face, it collected in his mouth and he almost choked on it before he could spit it out.



" No, Tius, run, go, get out of here!" He heard his mother say as he tried to regain his feet. Tears began to stream down his face. Lidia seemed so nice, why was she doing this to his mother? Why had she killed Mr. Redsail?



" But-" Tius tried to say, but it came out as a gurgle. It hurt to move his mouth in any way.



"GO!" His mother screamed as Lidia wrestled her to the mat. His mother struggled as much as possible, but Lidia was stronger. Tius pushed himself up and started to run up the stairs as Lidia raised her knife. As he exited the building, he could hear the gurgling screams of his mother below. He didn't stop running until he was home.







Tius stood in the same spot he had so long ago, the day his mother was murdered. He watched the waves crash into the stonework below, he listened to the cries of seagalls, and felt the chill of the wind and the soaking cold of the rain. A lone, single mast ship made for the harbor mouth, and a single figure could be seen stand at the helm. He knew it was her, and he would follow her no matter where she went- he would have his vengence.