CHAPTER 14

“Hey, little you. How have you been? Where is your friend?” Tydeus said to Sakoh's sparrow as he massaged its neck while the bird stood on his shoulders.

“There he is”, Rakeh said as he sipped some wine from his cup.

Sakoh came into the bar towards Tydeus and Rakeh's table with a bag in his hands. He pulled out a chair and sat with them.

“So what's the update?” Tydeus asked Sakoh who looked tired and sweaty.

*BANG!*

Sakoh dropped the small bag of money he went to collect on the table and said,

“This is all I got, their village head said they would pay up our balance by the end of the month”.

“Damn it!!!” Rakeh shouted out of nowhere.

“I told you those people aren't going to pay us well, they don't have our price. Now we don't have our money complete after all the stress we went through last night”, Rakeh protested to Tydeus.

“Oops! Just take it easy man. We are going to get another good job”, Tydeus tried to calm Rakeh down.

Sakoh grabbed a cup from the table and tried to fill it with wine from Tydeus's jar, but his attention was caught by the other person sitting beside Tydeus.

“Aaannd who is this?” Sakoh asked Tydeus curiously.

“Oh?! I forgot! This is Arti..tis..”

“Artecus! Artecus! That's my name”, Artecus jumped in to help Tydeus.

“Yes, my bad. Sorry, I forgot your name so quickly. Sakoh, meet Artecus.”

“Artecus, meet Sakoh and Rakeh. I'm Tydeus” Tydeus introduced himself and his friends to their new friend, Artecus.

“Oh, Artecus, okay, and who are you, Artecus?” Sakoh asked as he sipped some wine from his cup.

“Artecus will be working with us now. He will be our informant”, Tydeus said as he held Artecus' shoulders.

“Informant? Why the heck do we need an informant?” Sakoh said, almost spilling out his wine from his mouth.

“He said we are going to be needing him to make our jobs faster”, Rakeh answered Sakoh as he picked up a piece of meat from his bowl to eat.

“Really? So Artecus, do you know the kind of job we do?” Sakoh faced Artecus and questioned him.

“Yeah, you are hitmen or mercenaries. Isn't it?” Artecus replied to Sakoh sharply with certainty written all over his face.

“Is that what you told him?” Sakoh asked Tydeus quickly.

“You should tell your man what he is about to get into for real, bro”, Rakeh said to Tydeus with a fake smile.

“Am I not correct Tydeus? Are you all not hitmen?” Artecus asked as he turned to Tydeus for clarity.

“We are not just hitmen, brother; we are bloody fighters. And we fight anything for gold”, Tydeus said to Artecus calmly and confidently.

“You heard the man, Artecus. So can you fight?” Sakoh asked Artecus with an uncertain look.

“Uhhhmm, yeah. I…I ca…I can fight a little bit”, Artecus replied with his voice shaking.

“Really Tydeus? So you're going to let this young man join us to kill himself?” Sakoh asked Tydeus with a straight face.

“Well, he will not be doing the fighting part. But he will be doing a good job at drafting plans better. Isn't it Artecus” Tydeus said.

“Yeah, Exactly!” Artecus said as he moved closer to Tydeus. He seems to be the most friendly one.

“Tydeus, this isn't really about drafting plans. Are you sure this guy would be able to protect himself when we get into a fight with bigger opponents?” Rakeh asked Tydeus.

“Yeah! I can do that”, Artecus said sharply.

Sakoh looked at Tydeus again, he is someone who has a little bit of trust issues. But this chemistry between him and his new friend is unclear.

“Do you even have any idea about the kind of opponents we fight?” Sakoh's asked out of nowhere.

“Uhmm, thieves, pirates, gangsters. Isn't it?” Artecus said, his face covered in uncertainty.

*Haha!*

Tydeus, Sakoh and Rakeh almost burst into laughter.

“Wow! What's so funny?” Artecus asked them curiously.

“You say you know a lot of information about many places right?” Rakeh asked Artecus.

“Yes, I do”

“Do you know what is called Apophis?” Sakoh asked Artecus sharply.

“Yes, Apophis, the great beast of the dark world. I know it. I even just heard recently that it has just been killed by a powerful warrior. That person must be a god”, Artecus explained.

“Really?” Tydeus replied as he turned to Artecus with a weird smile on his face.

“Uhmm, yeah. I know that”, Artecus replied.

He noticed the three of them were all staring at him like he was missing something.

“What?” Artecus asked curiously.

“You're looking at the warriors who killed Apophis, young man”, Sakoh said to Artecus as he rested his back on his chair and folded his arms.

“No way!” Artecus exclaimed silently.

“You will be fine, Artecus”, Tydeus said as he patted Artecus's shoulder.

“Wow, thanks. So do you say I'm in?” Artecus asked Tydeus gently.

“Ye…”

Tydeus was about to reply to Artecus, but something got all their attention.

They looked up to the entrance of the bar and saw some of the bar attendees running outside. Those who were outside started running away. They all seemed to be making way for something or someone.

Even those in their seats stood up and ran outside. It seems they've all seen a demon or ghost coming.