Chapter 4 Dead Or Alive

• They reached the edge of the Light Kingdom by dusk—cloaked in shadows, breathless, and hungry.
• Virgil led the trio through the thickets until the forest gave way to a battered road. Far ahead, a crooked little tavern nestled between two hills, its crooked sign swinging in the wind with the picture of a smiling mug and a knife through it.
• “That looks...friendly,” Kayne muttered, clinging to the edges of his oversized robe like a haunted bat. “Are we sure it won’t immediately explode once I step inside?”
• “We don’t have choices, only hiding spots,” Virgil said, pressing a hand to the small of Kayne’s back to keep him moving. “We eat. Rest. Then we move before dawn.”
• “I second that,” Runa said, her hand never leaving her sword hilt. “If I don’t get stew or sleep soon, I’ll kill something. Preferably not you.”
• Inside, the tavern was warm and dim, full of smoke, clanking dishes, and tired faces. A bard mumbled tunelessly in the corner. Nobody looked up as they slipped in and took a shadowy table near the back.
• Kayne kept his head bowed, face hidden. The robe covered everything—belly, hair, shame. All of it. He looked like a suspicious monk with terrible posture.
• Runa flagged down the tavern maid. “Three meals. Cheap ones. No questions.”
• The woman grunted and left.
• For a few blissful moments, it felt… almost normal. Normal-adjacent.
• “I could cry,” Kayne whispered. “Food. A seat. No arrows in my arse.”
• “Don’t jinx it,” Virgil warned.
• The door slammed open as a gust of cold air blew through.
• A massive man ducked under the frame, thick like a bear and covered in travel grime. His boots thudded with each step as he stomped toward the center of the tavern, carrying a rolled parchment.
• Kayne tried to shrink into himself. “Please let it be a poetry scroll.”
• The man slapped the parchment onto a post beside the bar. “Reward from the Crown! New update!”
• People gathered.
• Kayne risked a glance.
• The parchment unfurled with a dramatic snap.
• At the top, in bold letters: WANTED.
• Beneath it, a sketch of him.
• Hair wild. Eyes furious. Belly...very much present.
• ‘KAYNE HEARTBURN – ALIVE.’
• Below that: ‘ACCOMPLICES – DEAD OR ALIVE. VIRGIL BONES. RUNA THORNE.
• Reward: A King's Fortune. And a title.’
• Kayne blinked. “They made me fat! I’m not even that big yet—”
• “Shut up!” Runa hissed.
• Virgil was already grabbing Kayne by the arm. “We’re leaving. Now.”
• They stood up—too fast.
• The big bounty hunter turned, his crooked eyes narrowed, slightly observing the crew.
• “Wait a damn minute—!”
• “Scatter!” Runa barked.
• Chairs flew. Dishes clattered. The trio bolted for the door.
• Kayne tripped. “Arck!”
• His robe betrayed him, catching underfoot.
• With a yelp, he stumbled forward and crashed face-first into the chest of the bounty hunter.
• The tavern went silent.
• Kayne peeled his face off the man’s armor slowly.
• “…Hi,” he said, very quietly.
• The bounty hunter grinned, teeth like broken stones.
• “Well, shit,” Kayne sighed.
• The bounty hunter’s terrible breath caught Kayne off guard as he gagged.
• Kayne blinked up at him, dazed. “You smell like boiled sadness,” he mumbled—then turned an alarming shade of green.
• “Oh no,” Runa muttered.
• “I think I’m—” Kayne gagged once, then violently emptied the contents of his stomach onto the man’s chest.
• The tavern exploded in noise.
• “What in the TERNATI—!” The man roared, shoving Kayne off like a sack of cursed meat... which he is...
• He landed hard against a table, groaning, robe tangled around his legs like treacherous seaweed.
• “Kayne!” Virgil dove through two barmaids and a swinging lute to reach him. He yanked him up just as the bounty hunter drew a curved blade.
• From the corner of the room, someone yelled. “CATCH THAT PREGNANT MAN!”
• “Pregnant?! Do you think I wished this on myself? Fuck you!” Kayne sneered.
• “Just keep running, Kayne, or I'll knock you out,” Virgil snapped, throwing a chair into another mercenary’s path. “Runa, back door!”
• “Already on it!” she shouted, kicking through a wooden panel.
• The trio tumbled into the freezing night air, feet slamming the wet cobblestones.
• “I swear if I ever invent teleportation stones, I’m using it to kill bounty hunters first,” Kayne panted as they sprinted down a side alley.
• “Think of it this way,” Virgil said between breaths, smirking, “you just weaponized morning sickness. That’s practically advanced magic.”
• “Not. Helping.”
• Behind them, voices roared. Heavy boots pounded after them, metal clanged, and Kayne's heart almost jumped out of his throat.
• They twisted through the backstreets, leapt a fence, nearly collided with a startled donkey, and finally skidded to a stop in a narrow lane that opened toward the dark woods again.
• “Over here!” a voice hissed from the shadows.
• They turned.
• A cloaked figure waved them into a narrow barn tucked beside a crumbling wall.
• “You need to hide. I saw what happened. Quick—inside!”
• Virgil hesitated. “Why would you help us?”
• The figure pulled back their hood just enough to reveal a lined, kind face. “Because I don’t work for kings, and I hate bounty hunters more than I love money. Come. Before they find you.”
• Runa nodded sharply. “We don’t have time to debate it. In.”
• They ducked inside the barn. It was cramped but dry. It smelled like hay and fertilizers hints that the owner stores livestock in there.
• A faint lantern flickered from a rafter, brightening the little space acquired.
• Kayne sagged into the wall, gasping for breath. “Okay. Okay. Just five minutes. No running. No vomiting. No—”
• A flash of silver pierced through his guts.
• Kayne’s eyes widened.
• He looked down. The knife had already buried itself in his belly. Kayne internally cursed, muttering any profanities that came to his lips.
• His robe, soaked and stained with a deep color of red. His eyes slowly blurred.
• The figure leaned in close, whispering coldly, “Sorry, sweetheart. Alive is worth more than dead. But not by much.”
• Everything else vanished in a rush of ringing ears and blood.
• Kayne collapsed.