Chapter 74.1: Mourning (1)
"Gentlemen, I thank you for the timely healing, but it might be best if you retreat back upstairs. I doubt you'll have trouble going out a second story window on the back of the building. I'll yell if I need you, Benjamin."
Themis didn't have to tell Ben and Rolly twice. As soon as the fighters outside were allowed back in the tavern, things would get bad. They ran to the second floor and were about to leave out a window, when Rolly saw the dozens of bottles of alcohol sitting in crates. "Let’s not leave all of this for those idiots. How much can you put in your magic courier ring? "
It turned out to be quite a bit. What he couldn't store in his ring, Rolly put into a couple of pillow cases and they went out the window, and down to the ground. A few people saw them, but no one stopped them.
They ran past the smokehouse and out through the corrals to the fields. Ben noticed that the fire in the pit was still putting up a huge plume of smoke and flames. He could hear screams coming from it. Not his pit, not his problem. Let Ozzy figure it out when he got back.
They finally stopped when they got to the underbrush by the river. Both collapsed onto the ground and grabbed a bottle.
Rolly drank down half a bottle of something alcoholic and then stared off across the meadow. "You think she's really dead?"
Ben was doing his best to resolve all the chaos in his head. "I just don't know. That message was pretty definite, but we won't know until Ozzy gets back. I think I'll just have a small breakdown, drink a bit and go into denial."
Rolly finished his bottle and started another. "Nope. Not me. I'll cry for a month later. I think Ozzy had the right idea. Let's start killing things."
Ben thought back to seeing Ozzy tear apart Brandon and Timmy. Not even Themis was going to stop him. He'd known Ozzy a long time. He'd seen him take abuse and keep smiling, never seeming to let things bother him. Some people assumed he just let it wash over him. Ben knew different. It all went somewhere deep, and every now and then it all came out.
"Lordy, that was something. I haven't seen him snap that way in years. I don't know whether I hope he's in control or not when he gets back."
Rolly tossed the second empty bottle into the sack. "Who says any of these assholes will still be left when he gets back?"
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