Read Online Parabolis by Eddie Han - Free Book Online Page B

that’s so funny. Anyway, his three sons started fighting over who would take over. The second-born killed the oldest, which upset the youngest because he was closer to the oldest. So he had one of his guys kill his only living brother to avenge the murder of his other brother. Being the only living son of the Grim Fox, he took over. They called him the Little Fox. But he was still young and didn’t really know what he was doing. So you had some other guys trying to muscle their way in. Meanwhile, the Azuretown gang started making a name for themselves.”
    “The Kangozen.”
    “Yeah, that’s right. So you’ve heard of them. Well, they raised their own little army, every one of them armed with swords, you know, the Omeijian type. Katanas. Next thing, they’re moving in on the black market, expanding their business and such. No one wanted to mess with them at first. Not even the Rogues. Not with all the in-fighting. But once the Kangozen started taking over territory outside of Azuretown, that’s when things got real ugly. That’s when the turf war began. Now, everyone thought that was the end of the Rogues. I mean, no one thought they’d survive a turf war, right? How could they? But then some underboss comes along and just takes over. Cleans house. I’m talking about Felix ‘the Fat Fox’ Eglon, of course. You heard of him, right?”
    “No.”
    “Well, you better get familiar with the name. He runs the show now. So one morning, Felix takes some of his men and marches into Azuretown. They walk into the Lotus House and just started killing everyone in sight. And I mean everyone. Yeah, most of ‘em were Kangozen. Thugs and smugglers. But there were some regular, ordinary folks in there too. Like I said, a couple of my customers. You know, just looking for some fun. All of them, the clerk at the desk, everybody, murdered. Over twenty killed. It was all over the papers for awhile.”
    “Damn.”
    “‘Damn’ is right. Now with the Kangozen out of the picture, Felix got to work on his own house. See, Little Fox didn’t sign off on the killings. On one hand, the Kangozen was gone. On the other hand, you can’t have somebody doing things like that without approval. So one night, the Little Fox invites Felix over for dinner. He tells him that they’re celebrating. But he was going to kill him. Everybody knew this. Even Felix. And he wasn’t about to roll over. So Felix gets his guys outside the restaurant and tells them to listen for a scream. When they hear the scream, they go in and kill everybody. Well, the story goes, during dinner Felix lunged across the table and shoved a fork in the guild master’s eye. There was a scream all right, and everyone got killed. And that’s how the Fat Fox single-handedly saved the Carousel Rogues and became the guild master.”
    Dale was rendered speechless.
    “That’s not someone you want to cross. You want another?”
    “Sure.”
    “You know,” the barkeep continued, pouring the bourbon. “When I was young, the old folk used to say that the times have changed. That the world was becoming a crueler place. But old folk have been talking like that forever, haven’t they? So I just figured nothing’s really changed at all. I thought people only say things like that because they become more aware of how it really is. You get jaded as you age, right?” Then he shook his head. “But, son, I was wrong. Times
have
changed. And take it from me. The world sure as hell ain’t getting any kinder. I dread the thought of what it’ll be like when it’s your turn to start talking like that.”
    The barkeep then draped his shoulder with the dishrag he’d been wiping the counter with. “Be right back.”
    He left the bar to clear some tables and exchanged a few words with the other regulars. Dale quietly nursed his second round. He was staring into his glass, brows furrowed when the barkeep returned.
    “What you thinking so hard about?”
    “Huh? Oh,