Eote - Chapter 17

As the dinner hall filled up and seats began to grow scarce, people began to look towards the corners of the hall for a place to enjoy their meal. It only took a few minutes before Rykar and Loki became the centre of unwanted attention once again.

At first, the largely piled up plates in front of them helped to hide many of their features from people in passing. However, as people began to take up the seats across and beside them, silence descended and spread through the surroundings like a plague. Eyes, chins, forks, knives and fingers were used in order to point them out as everyone’s focus was directed to the previously inconspicuous corner.

Pin drop silence took over the space. Everyone seemed to be waiting on their next actions of the ‘demon’ and his brother. Yet they were left waiting in vain. Rykar and Loki continued eating at a steady pace without even looking up at those seated or standing around them. Pies, vegetables, meat, rice, bread all these items disappeared from their crowded plates one by one under the gazes of the onlookers without any sense of disruption. The mechanical eating went on. And on. And on.

“Aaah I see the demon and his sidekick are enjoying their meal!” A loud voice parted the crowd as a small group of people strode towards their table. All of the people sitting in the immediate vicinity packed up and made room as their places were taken by the newcomers.

“Don’t talk to peasants, its not good practice.” Another voice chimed in, shortly followed by another.

“No, no. I’ve heard it’s actually a plague, demon is too good a word for this kind of thing.” Remark after remark began pouring from the group. The silence of the surroundings only caused the commotion to become more pronounced as the already loud voices continued to increase in volume.

“Can’t you see this is a discussion between adults? Why are you peasants still here, its about time you left. Go on, shoo.” Finally the owner of the original comment spoke up once again. A glance from the twins revealed a middle age woman of short stature. Just like the others around her, her clothes were immaculate and clung to her figure as though tailor made. Her curves were only accentuated as she leaned forward on the table propped up by her elbow while looking straight into their eyes.

Having finished his meal, Loki let out a sigh of contentment as he pushed his plate slightly away from himself, lifting his arms over his head and stretching without paying any attention. Drawing out the moment, he then got up and strode towards the side before placing his plate away and walking through the centre of the hall towards the exit.

Murmurs began to spread through the crowd as the onlookers mustered their bravery while braking out of their dazes under the influence of the pompous group. Shallow laughs could be heard as they jeered in low voices with the words ‘demon’, ‘sidekick’ and ‘peasants’ being thrown around brazenly.

Without the ceremony displayed by Loki, Rykar dragged himself up from his seat suddenly. The quick movement causing the chair to be pushed back across the ground with a high-pitched shriek, shutting the crowd up instantly as they waited on his reply to the taunts. Within the room, only Loki hadn’t looked back as he continued to make his way out with the intention of finding his dorm and resting.

Fingers wrapped in blood stained bandages wrapped around the sides of Rykars plate as he lifted it and made his way towards a side of the room with heavy steps. He moved in a straight line, refusing to allow anyone to stand in his way as his eyes bore into anyone in front of him, crumbling their resolve to hold fast. As he came to a stop, he placed his plate on the side before taking a breath and projecting his voice.

“Another plate.”

His firm yet immature voice rattled across the room as he spoke to the staff behind the buffet station. In confusion, everyone including the pompous group looked on as Rykar then went on to select over ten items from the counter before his plate could hold no more.

“Another plate.”

The same words rang out once again before the staff brought out another dish with hesitation in their movements. He then selected another ten delicacies before balancing the plates on each hand and beginning his return along the same path he had taken there. The plates weren’t overly heavy, yet the weight being imposed on his hands caused his wounds to open up once again. Fresh blood began to make its way to the surface of his bandages before dripping down onto the floor with a dull pattering sound.

Reaching the table, he sat down in the exact same seat which was directly in front of the woman who had sent him away, before heavily planting both plates onto its surface. The screech rang out once again as he drew his seat under him while looking her straight in the eyes. Without missing a beat, he began to eat once again while paying no attention to the small amounts of blood which were present on everything he reached for.

As Rykar began slowly making progress on his plate without spending any energy on those around him, the noise within the hall gradually became energetic once again. Instead of the discussion being aimed towards ridiculing the twins however, the topic had shifted more towards simply being curious about them and even praising the ‘demon’s attitude.

Two dull tones reverberated through the air before the sound made its way through the windows and into the room the twins had been allocated. This was the third time they had been woken up by the various blares that made their way to their ears. Shuffling frustratedly on their beds, they turned over while throwing their blankets over their heads. Before they could even find a comfortable position to re-enter their dreams, the door was booted open as a loud voice thundered without regard to their sleepy states.

“Work starts NOW! You’re both assigned to the second branch, get up and follow me to your allocated field. From now on, you’ll go straight there after you hear the signal that just sounded.” A burly man with a permanent scowl on his face shouted quickly in their direction before turning and leaving without giving them a chance to respond.

Hearing his footsteps fading rapidly, both Loki and Rykar left their beds without bothering to rearrange the bedding and gave chase. As they caught up to his large figure, they had to jog behind him just for them to keep up due to his footsteps being nearly twice the length of theirs. Without looking behind to see if they were even following, he spoke once again. “From now on, you won’t have your own house. You’ll be in the bunk house of your branch. Its not far from here but we won’t be going past it on the way to the field, you’ll have to ask someone within the branch to lead you there.”

As they left the cover of the wooden buildings, they were greeted by a massive expanse of silver which covered nearly as far as they could see. In the very back, they saw the tiny crowns of trees which must have been tens kilometres away. Now and then, thin wooden towers could be seen standing almost four metres tall throughout the fields as the figures inside watched over the workers, frequently raising their telescopes to peer out from the openings in the top.

Hundreds of people were leaving the fields after being patted down by the staff working security, yet even more were queuing up at large stations before making their way onto the field carrying containers. As they continued walking, the burly man took them straight to the front of the queue while under the gazes of those present. Arriving at the front he took a small rectangular container and a small knife, handing one of each to both Loki and Rykar.

“Do not loose either of these. You’ll be containing the essence fruit within these cases before submitting them at one of the stations at any point. There’s a cloth in the case for you to clean each fruit before handing them in.” He then reached under the desk and took out what looked like a crystal marble with silver liquid swirling within. “This is a ripe essence fruit, it only glitters silver once its ready to be harvested, before then its simply a grey colour. You’ll learn the difference pretty quickly. Go find a spot in the field and start picking.”

As he said his final words, he made his way into the distance before climbing up into one of the wooden towers and keeping watch. Looking around, neither of the twins knew which direction they should walk in. There were rows and gaps within the crops which would allow them to walk without crushing anything, but the field was too big for them to know where to start. “Which wa- ”

As Rykar began to ask Loki where they should go first, the sound of a whip ripped through the air before he felt flames erupt on his back. Falling to the ground, he screamed in pain as he rubbed his back against the cold dirt.

“I’ve heard that Sir told you the rules directly. There’s no talking out here so keep your mouth shut.” A cold voice came from behind them. Loki looked back while Rykar was still writhing on the ground only to find that a manager had crept up behind them while they had their attention on the burly man from earlier. Obviously, he had been hoping for them to forget about the rules, giving him an opportunity punish the newbies for breaking the silence in negligence.

Standing up, Rykar stretched while feeling his back still flaring up in pain. Despite the manager glaring at him, he remained silent despite his cold eyes as he picked up his case and knife. With a final look, he turned and began walking away with Loki trailing behind.

Within the line, a group of people with clean, well fitted clothing and venomous eyes watched the twins departing figures. After exchanging a nod with the manager who had just rebuked Rykar, they watched him walk off in the direction the twins had left in.