Those Who Walk the Flame Road
The atmosphere was so thick with moisture that it felt oily. Hugo was squatting down in the corner of the tavern on a break, dozing fitfully because he was too exhausted to move. He’d finished cleaning up and getting the tavern ready to open and had nothing else to do until it was time to start cooking and bringing out barrels of drink from storage.
The other tavern boys were outside in the street, playing mokko, a betting game. Hugo could hear them, but their voices seemed far away. Hugo wondered if he’d caught a cold or something. The inside of his head was all stuffed up. He leaned his weight heavily against the wall and tried to sleep.
A sharp cry from outside roused Hugo. He stood up and glanced out the door at the tavern boys, checking to make sure they were all right.
A few of them called out to Hugo, their voices urgent. “Hugo! Hugo! Come here!”
Hugo stood up straight, stretched, and went out the back door into the street to join the others. All the tavern boys started talking at once.
“Hugo! You have to help Rai! He’s--”
“Where is Rai?” Hugo asked. He didn’t see the boy anywhere.
The other boys gasped and faced the door Hugo had just come through. Hugo turned, too, and saw Rai being held up unconscious between two other boys.
Hugo frowned and dashed up to Rai. He couldn’t tell everything that had happened at a glance, but it looked like Rai had been severely beaten. He was so young and so little. His face was misshapen with bruises. There might be worse damage to his body as well.
“Hold his head and put him down,” Hugo said. “Don’t jostle him.” He looked at the other tavern boys with something fearful in his eyes.
“Tam, bring me fresh water!” Hugo called out. “Yugi, I need clean rags! Put down a drop cloth inside and we’ll let Rai rest there.”
The tavern boys nodded and dashed off in all directions to fetch things to help Rai.
“Romui.” Hugo faced the oldest tavern boy. “Sorry to ask, but Rai needs medicine. Can you go to Shigan’s and buy some? I’ll cover half the cost.”
“Sure. I’ll be right back.” Romui left, his steps echoing down the long hallway that led to the front doors of the tavern.
Hugo directed the other boys to carry Rai carefully to the drop cloth set out near the kitchen. It was important to protect his head from more damage. He was still unconscious, and that concerned Hugo more than his other injuries.
Then Rai opened his eyes. His breathing came shallowly through his broken nose. He made a sound like he wanted to say something, but Hugo didn’t hear any words.
Hugo brought his ear close to Rai’s mouth and whispered. “Rai, what is it? What happened?”
“I… said your name.” Rai gasped painfully. “I’m sorry.”
Hugo’s eyes widened slightly. A chill went through his entire body. Rai’s face was pale: drained of blood. He was only eleven years old. Hugo couldn’t imagine who wanted to know his name so badly that they’d beat an innocent child half to death.
The chill passed through Hugo and became heat: the flame of rage. He clenched his jaw, then pushed the sweaty hair off Rai’s forehead gently. “Don’t apologize, Rai. I should be apologizing to you. You should have never suffered like this.”
The other tavern boys gathered around them, looking between Hugo and Rai with expressions of curiosity and fear.
“This is my fault.” Hugo pitched his voice for the whole room to hear. “I’m sorry. This is all my fault.”
Hugo couldn’t tell what the other tavern boys thought of that. They remained silent when Hugo bowed his head and got on his knees in a posture of supplication or prayer.
Tam approached, carrying water in a bucket. Yugi, bringing rags, stopped still when he saw Hugo bowing. Slowly, Hugo raised his head and accepted the rags and water, then directed his full attention to Rai.
Hugo dipped a clean rag in cool water and dabbed at the injuries on Rai’s face. Some of them were still bleeding. The other boys stood around and watched. The silence was oppressive and forbade speech.
Romui came back with medicine. Hugo bent down and whispered in Rai’s ear, “We’ll boil some migu root for you now and make a tea. Drink it all. It will help you sleep. I’ll do your work for you tonight, so don’t worry, okay?”
Rai nodded shallowly, then winced. He shifted uncomfortably on the drop cloth, then whispered, “Himi.”
“What?” Hugo asked.
"Himi. That’s who beat me up."
Hugo nodded in understanding. “Sleep now. I’ll make sure he never hurts you again; I promise.”
Rai sighed and closed his eyes. Hugo stood up, then went down the hall and waved to Romui.
“Do you know a guy named Himi?” Hugo asked.
“Yeah,” Romui said. “He leads the tavern boys over at Dangi’s. He’s a big guy, and has a reputation like yours--no one who challenges him ever wins. He goes around pickin’ fights, though.”
Hugo thanked Romui tersely for the information, then turned his back on him. He slipped on his straw sandals and went out into the hot midsummer night, posture straight and movements quick with purpose.
Romui called out to him before he left the yard. Hugo didn’t turn. It was sunset, and the red light shone on the street and cut into Hugo’s eyes.
“I know you’re strong as shit, but you’re not honest,” Romui said quietly. “You should tell us the truth, even if you don’t tell anyone else.”
Hugo tilted his head.
“Well... maybe you’ll come back after fighting Himi. You can talk to us again then.”
“What do you mean ‘maybe I’ll come back?’”
“I mean that Himi is the leader of the Dangi tavern boys. If you defeat him, you’ll be angering them all, and they’ll certainly be after revenge.”
Hugo’s eyes narrowed. “I see. Thanks for the warning, Romui.”
“There’s no need to thank me.”
“There is. I haven’t been considering my own safety up to this point. I can’t protect all of you all the time, and I can’t be expected to keep fighting like I’ve been forever. When I come back, I’ll keep thinking on a solution.”
Romui nodded.
Hugo kept thinking. He hadn’t heard of Himi before. “Romui, do you know Himi or any of the other boys from Dangi’s tavern?”
“Only by reputation,” Romui said. “But I think one of us has a cousin who works at Dangi’s.”
Yugi was sitting in the corner near Rai; he raised his hand. “I do. My cousin’s worked there for a while.”
Hugo faced Yugi. “Do you get along well with your cousin?”
Yugi hesitated, but then he nodded. “Uh, yeah. He’s older than me, and he’s always nicer to me than my older brother is.”
Hugo grinned widely. “I see. That’s good to hear.”
“It is?” Yugi asked. “Why?”
“Because we can use him to our advantage.”
Yugi frowned, either not understanding or understanding too well that Hugo intended to use Yugi’s connection to Dangi’s tavern.
“Listen everyone,” Hugo said. “I’ll handle Himi, and everyone else who tries to give us a hard time. By the time I’m done with them, they’ll never bother us again.”
Hugo faced Romui again. “I won’t let anyone take revenge on us. I’ll take it all on myself. Trust me.”
Romui and the other tavern boys said nothing, but Romui didn’t quite meet his eyes.
Twelve days later, Hugo met Himi in a wooded area near a canal on the outskirts of the city. It was evening, but the sky was as clear as glass, and Hugo could see perfectly well. It had rained for much of the past few days. There was still a slight mist covering the muddy ground.
Himi stood there in the trees, holding a broken pole as a weapon. Dangi’s tavern boys stood behind him. Himi couldn’t have been any older than sixteen, but he had was big and stocky as most grown men. His body shape reminded Hugo of the wine barrels he rolled around at Mar’s tavern. There was a mean look in his eyes, but no spark of intelligence. His expression barely shifted when he caught sight of Hugo. Hugo could feel Himi underestimating him even from this distance.
Hugo had done as much research as he could on Himi over the past twelve days. Yugi’s cousin had said that Himi fought just for the hell of it, just because he could--he never needed a reason. Consequently, Himi was constantly fighting. He was experienced... but his experience was mostly against people who couldn’t fight, or didn’t want to.
Himi wasn’t sharp and scrappy like Dougu had been. Dougu’s mind in Himi’s body would be capable of winning almost any one-on-one fight. Hugo imagined that the many people who’d fought Himi before struggled most with his bulk--being hit squarely even once by his huge fists or thick legs would mean the end of the fight.
Hugo thought Himi looked a bit foreign, but not Talsh: not anything he could recognize. Body like a barrel, mind like a wild dog, attacking when provoked. He fixed Hugo with a grin of anticipation, showing a few missing teeth. Hugo felt vaguely nauseated.
Himi had beaten Rai almost to death, so that his face was unrecognizable. Hugo felt the desire to mutilate Himi’s face in turn, so that he would know how Rai felt.
If I kill Himi, no one will mourn the loss. The world would be better off without him.
That thought gave Hugo courage. Even Yugi’s cousin, who was nominally protected by Himi, hated him so much that he shook whenever he’d spoken of him to Hugo. Dangi’s tavern boys lived in fear of Himi, just like everyone else.
Killing him would be going too far, but I’m not sure any amount of pain could teach him a lesson. His comrades won’t avenge him. They might even thank me.
Hugo knew that he could beat Himi, but he didn’t know what to do with him after he was beaten. He’d started researching Himi with a biased view, believing him to be a waste of a human being, and everything he’d discovered had confirmed his bias. That didn’t mean that Hugo was completely right about everything, but he felt he owed it to Rai to really teach Himi a lesson.
In researching Himi and his habits, Hugo had also learned something about himself. If Hugo didn’t put Himi down now, he would almost certainly lose his life in another pointless fight. Whether Hugo should be the one to kill Himi was another question, but someone would do it, sooner or later.
It started raining again, and the mist at Hugo’s feet was like a fog. He could still see Himi and the tavern boys standing behind him. They were looking at Hugo like they were scared of him. Hugo didn’t turn, but he expected that the boys from Mar’s tavern were staring back--possibly with equal expressions of fear. Fights were like that: swift, uncertain things, and the anticipation of who would win felt more like anxiety than excitement.
The world around Hugo retreated; he felt like Himi was getting farther away from him. Hugo took a step forward to close the distance and only then heard the rain falling gently around him.
“What the hell’s wrong with you?” Himi asked in a tone of contempt.
Hugo smiled. “I like to remember my opponents’ faces. Do you know mine?”
Himi frowned sourly. “You’re Hugo. I don’t need to remember nothin’ more’n that.” He returned Hugo’s smile; his lips were so thin, and the corners so pointed, that the smile looked like it was doing violence to his own face. “You’re so tiny. What a waste of time.”
Hugo shrugged. “I could say the same. I don’t waste my time on colossal idiots like you. I know all about you, y’see. Rumor is you’re the leader of Dangi’s tavern boys by virtue of brute strength, but even your own side hates you. I’ve heard you steal money form the other boys at Dangi’s. What a shitty thing to do.” He cracked his knuckles.
For a split second, Himi paled. Hugo had at least managed to surprise him. He snorted, pretending nonchalance, but Hugo’s words had definitely affected him. He waved his pole over his head and assumed a threatening stance.
Hugo stepped lightly around Himi as he struck out again with the pole and punched him the gut, making him double over with a grunt. Punching him felt like punching a solid wooden board, but Hugo didn’t flinch. Pain lanced up through his fingers to his arm. If Hugo hadn’t wrapped his fists before this fight, it was possible that he would have broken something in his hand.
Himi straightened up and took a step back. “Is that all you got? Felt like a mosquito bite or somethin’.” He threw down his weapon and spread his arms out wide. “Come on, then. Hit me. Give it your best shot.”
Hugo felt his awareness of his surroundings constrict so that all he could see was Himi challenging him--Himi underestimating him, just like he’d thought he would. But Hugo was also surprised at Himi’s toughness. This fight demanded his full attention and concentration. He slowed his breathing, focused all of his energy and took a running start at Himi.
Himi kept smiling--he was looking at Hugo’s hands--but Hugo used his momentum to pivot on his front leg and kick with his back leg for maximum power. Himi barely reacted--not at first--but then he shifted a little to the side. Hugo had targeted the front of his knee--a weak point on anyone--and even Himi, tough as he was, could feel that something was wrong.
Hugo heard and felt Himi’s leg break under his own heel. Snarling, Himi reached out to grab Hugo by the hair and crush his face into the ground, but Hugo avoided being caught. Himi reeled him in by grasping his clothes and pulling; Hugo headbutted Himi to get free.
Himi’s nose broke, too. Hugo felt the sickening snap of bone against his skull. Himi’s teeth clacked together as blood started streaming from his nostrils.
Himi grabbed Hugo by the throat.
Hugo reacted instantly, twisting out of Himi’s hold before he could apply any pressure with his fat fingers. He elbowed Himi sharply in the chest and darted backwards. Himi grunted; his left hand let go. Hugo punched him in his already broken nose with a casual motion, as if he were knocking on a door. Himi went tripping backwards with his mouth open, teeth coated in his own blood.
Hugo hunched forward and wiped his eyes: there was blood in them, so he couldn’t see. He stumbled on the muddy ground and aimed another kick at Himi’s right knee while he was down.
Both of Himi’s knees were now broken. He tried to rise, but he couldn’t. Hugo kept kicking at Himi with his blood pounding loudly in his ears. He could kick Himi in the ears--violently rupturing the eardrum could be fatal. Hugo brought his heel down heavily against Himi’s ear, knowing what might happen, but he couldn’t stop himself. He was moving on instinct. He felt like he’d gone mad, like a wild and rabid beast.
Hugo’s body felt like it was on fire. Suddenly, someone seized his arms and pulled them behind his back. Romui was shouting at him to stop. Whatever force had been animating Hugo stopped exerting influence over him. He stopped, and didn’t struggle against Romui’s hold.
Out of breath and covered in blood, Hugo recovered from fear, pain and adrenaline. Himi was unconscious, but he wasn’t dead. He was on the muddy ground, lying still.
Romui let Hugo go. Hugo approached Himi slowly and bent down to take a closer look. He could still feel where Himi’s fingers had dug into the soft skin of his neck. Himi wasn’t moving, but he was breathing. Hugo noticed that his wallet was tied to his belt. With trembling fingers, Hugo untied the wallet from the belt. Then he approached the boys from Dangi’s tavern. They didn’t run, though some of them appeared terrified.
Hugo stopped in front of Yugi’s cousin and held out the wallet. “Take your fair share from here,” he said.
None of the boys took any of the money. Yugi’s cousin looked at the muddy ground. “Himi always said that he was our leader and would protect us. That’s why he takes our money... but what kind of leader steals from his friends?”
Hugo set Himi’s wallet on the ground in front of Dangi’s tavern boys, then turned away. The tavern boys checked on Himi to make sure he was still alive and seemed relieved when he was.
When Himi recovered from being knocked out, he sat up suddenly and pulled out a dagger from one of his high leather boots. He lunged at Hugo and stabbed him in the side.
Shooting pain lanced up Hugo’s body, but he barely noticed. He grabbed Himi’s elbow and twisted, hearing the joint pop before the bone broke.
Himi screamed and fell again, but Hugo didn’t stop attacking. Himi’s grip on his weapon loosened as he fell, and Hugo kicked it out of his hand sharply. He grabbed the knife before it skittered away and stabbed Himi through the hand.
More screams; more blood. Hugo pulled the knife free and kept stabbing like he wanted to cut Himi open to see what was inside. Hugo didn’t know what he was feeling: it was dark and bottomless like a void demanding to be filled, and the only thing that could fill it was more violence. He felt more than heard Himi’s screams cut off suddenly; Himi would never scream again.
Hugo stood over Himi’s body, bleeding but standing tall. The void in his heart was also in his eyes.
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