Chương 67: Chapter 042 The One-Armed Hero And The Wolf With Funny Eyes (Part 2)

Cain's eyes landed on Jack. He moved with a heavy, deliberate gait before stopping in front of Jack, his expression a mixture of curiosity and suspicion. Once again [Assassin's Intuition] pinged. People are so aggressive. Jack noticed how his left hand hovered near a sheathed dagger.

"You looking for me?" Cain rumbled; his voice was like distant thunder. Jack stood, with his mask still on, and nodded.

"Yeah. I heard you were looking for someone. A girl?" Cain's posture stiffened, and his muscles became taut beneath the cloak. He crossed his arms, and the hook of his prosthetic clicked.

"You got information?" his voice was flat.

"There's a reward. 1 gold. If it leads to her." Jack shook his head.

"Reward?" Cain's eyes narrowed.

"You didn't know?"

"I'm not here for coin," Jack said. He scanned the hall once more, his heart thudding, and reached up to lower his mask. Cain's eyes widened at the young face with clean features, smooth skin, and blue eyes beneath the mask. He blinked. His suspicion didn't vanish, but his shoulders dropped a fraction.

"You know her?" Jack offered a smile, still holding the mask in his hand.

"Zia's safe. She's living with my family… Erm, she bakes a lot of biscuits." The tension in Cain's shoulders eased, replaced by a wave of relief. He let out a long breath, and his suspicions melted away.

"She's… She's alright?"

"Well, she tried to rob me. That's how we met," Jack said.

"Tried to snatch my coin purse. Imagine her surprise when she found it was attached to a cord and empty." He glanced at Cain. Don't think I'll add the dagger to the throat part to someone who could crush my head in their left hand. A slow grin spread across Cain's scarred face, followed by a thunderous laugh.

"I can't believe she tried to rob you. After all she's been through. I'm glad she's still got some fight in her." Jack nodded while scanning the Guild hall for the three remaining adventurers.

"Swear on the Gods. The little brat tried to mug me. Tugged at my coin purse like a drunk groping a barmaid. After I caught her, I took pity on her and bought her some of Arman's wraps." Cain gave another short bark of laughter, the tension easing from his posture. He looked down at his prosthetic and shook his head.

"That girl… full of surprises."

"She's alright; scared, but healing," Jack said.

"Those damn puppy-dog eyes." He saw Cain nod in acknowledgement.

"Anyway, I bought her some of Arman's wraps. The next day, she was hanging around The Square. After another wrap, she ended up living with us. My mom sort of adopted her right away." Cain grew still again, but this time it wasn't suspicion. It was emotion. Something raw flashed behind his eyes. He didn't speak. Just nodded, hard.

"You want to see her?" Jack asked. Cain looked up.

"Y-yes," he said, his voice thick with relief.

"That's why I'm here." Jack pulled the mask back into place.

"Zia's worried about you." Cain frowned.

"Why the mask?"

"Long story. Let's just say I'm trying to avoid someone. Dangerous someone." Cain didn't press for details. He simply nodded, his expression understanding. Everyone knew that in a city like Lundun, people had their secrets.

"Lead the way," Cain said, offering the barman a nod as they headed towards the Guild exit.

"You never mentioned your name?"

"Jack." He offered Cain his left hand. Cain returned the gesture.

"It's good to meet you, Jack." He went to pat him on the shoulder before pulling back his hooked right hand. Jack guided Cain through the cobbled streets, the one-armed adventurer a silent and imposing presence by his side. They walked in comfortable silence, their shared concern for Zia forging a bond between them. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. When they reached Jack's home, he took off his mask and cloak and stored them in his pack.

"I don't like my mom to worry." Cain smiled.

"I understand."

"She's been worried about you," Jack said.

"She thought the Guild had locked you up because she ran away. I guess she was confused." Cain nodded. He looked composed on the surface, but his fist was clenched at his side. Jack pushed open the door and called, "Zia! I have a surprise for you." Zia's voice rang from the kitchen.

"Coming!" The little girl came running into the hallway, her silver hair bouncing with each step. She stopped short when she saw Cain, her eyes widening in disbelief. She froze mid-step, eyes wide and shining. For a second, the silence stretched.

"Cain?" she whispered, her voice trembling. Then, with a choked cry, she screamed, "Cain! It's my Cain!" She ran full speed down the corridor and threw herself at him. Cain dropped to one knee, catching her in his one arm. She clung to him like a lifeline, sobbing into his shoulder.

"You're alive! You're alive! I thought. I th-thought, the smelly place…" she sobbed. The adventurer's gruff exterior crumbled. Cain was shaking, too. Silent tears rolled down his face as he wrapped his arm around her tiny form.

"I'm here, little warrior. I'm here." Jack stood back, his throat tightening as he watched the girl cling to the battered warrior like a shipwrecked sailor finding shore. Anna stood in the hallway looking happy but also concerned. Cain pressed his forehead to Zia's.

"You're safe. You're alright. I was so worried." Zia nodded, hiccuping.

"You got better? Th-they let you go?" Cain chuckled through his tears.

"Eventually. Told me you'd vanished. I thought I'd lost you," his voice was choked with emotion.

"I didn't vanish," she huffed, wiping her nose on her sleeve.

"A smelly, wobbly man chased me to take my sword, and then someone stoled my sword and… your cloak." She looked guilty at the loss.

"Then I found Jack and-and a new mommy." Cain looked over at Jack and Anna, giving them a nod.

"Thank you." Anna smiled.

"She's family now." Zia looked between them and smiled through her tears.

"Does this mean we're all family now?" she asked, her voice hopeful and trembling. Cain's expression softened.

"Something like that." They held each other for a long time, two survivors of a tragedy, reunited in a moment of pure, unadulterated joy. Jack watched them from the doorway, a lump in his throat, his mom beside him with her arm around him, tears of happiness pouring from her eyes. Cain sat on a kitchen chair that looked two sizes too small for him, with Zia perched on his lap like a baby bird nestled in the crook of a stone gargoyle.

She clung to him with the unspoken intensity of someone afraid he might vanish the moment she blinked. Jack took the seat opposite, watching the reunion with a smile. Anna was checking the food she'd left on the stove. The room was warm, filled with the smell of bread, onions, and dried herbs. A gentle rattle came from the pipes as spent aether-steam was released, and the afternoon sun filtered in through the brass-latched window, painting golden bars across the table.

Cain cleared his throat, a low rumble that didn't help to cut the tension. Jack caught the slight shuffle of Cain's shoulders and wondered if the warrior was wrestling with what to say, or whether he regretted coming at all.

"So," he began, "this your place then, Jack?" Jack nodded.

"Since I was two." Cain nodded in return, the conversation drying up like a puddle in a forge. Zia watched the exchange like a squirrel sensing a storm. She looked from Jack to Cain and back again, her brow furrowed in concentration, as if trying to decipher the subtext they were too polite to voice. Mom stepped into the 'conversation' with a warm, practised smile, the kind that could coax a feeling of home.

"Let me make all of us a nice cup of tea." Jack gave her a grateful look. Cain tried to rise in polite protest, but Zia tightened her grip, and he settled back with a sheepish grunt.

"Tea would be nice. Thank you." The clink of the kettle being set to boil broke the silence. Anna grabbed a few mugs, selected the good black tea leaves she saved for guests while humming under her breath. Cain watched her with a faint look of awe, like he couldn't quite believe this sort of domestic magic still existed in the world. As the tea steeped, Zia wriggled down from Cain's lap and darted to a high cupboard. With effort and a chair, she heaved out a tin bigger than her head and set it on the table.

"These are mine," she declared, pulling off the lid.

"I made them. All of them. Just me." Cain peered into the tin. Inside were dozens of misshapen biscuits. Jack felt a wave of fondness rise in his chest. Zia's creations were ugly as sin, but she'd poured her heart into every lumpy wing and crooked trunk, each attempting to resemble a different creature, tree, or person. Some had too many legs. Others, too few.

"They're biscuits," Zia explained.

"Animal ones. And trees. That one's a magic wyvern that flies people from Brindlecross to Lundun." She pointed to a melted blob with wings.

"Maybe." Jack couldn't help but laugh, remembering the dragon biscuit that looked like a cow with udder issues. Cain took one, examined it like a suspicious relic, and then popped it into his mouth. His eyes widened.

"These are… good. Fantastic." Zia beamed.

"You can have more. I made loads." She pulled out a big one that looked like… a blob and gave it to Cain.

"This one's you. See, it's wearing a cape and sword like a proper hero. Hmm, but the sword fell off." She rummaged through the biscuits until she found a bit that might have been a sword and gave it to Cain. Cain nodded. Jack chuckled. Anna smiled. Cain didn't need much convincing. One biscuit became two, then three. Zia climbed back onto his lap, feeding him with the eagerness of a toddler pretending to host a royal banquet. The room softened around them.

Even Jack felt the tightness in his chest begin to ease as he bit into one of Zia's misshapen biscuits.

"You're getting better at these," he said, biting the head off a horse biscuit. Zia smiled at the compliment.