The eggs were runny,
the bacon was crispy, and the ale was refreshing. Despite having livestock and
mass graves for the dead outside of Constre, the ones that remained managed to
do pretty well for themselves. A communal breakfast was served outside of the
tavern. The knights left before daybreak, on their way to the capitol.
Before they
left, Sir Theodun knocked on Os’ room and handed him a sealed letter.
“It’s an
official recommendation to train as a knight,” Theodun said. “Give this to any
Lord in the land, Hell, even the King if you can get counsel with him. After
that, your training will begin.” With that, he and the rest of his party left
the tavern.
Os’ headache was
pounding but the food helped a little. He got a seat next to Drav and the
stablehand that was at the entrance of town yesterday. The hand, his name was
Willel, talked to Drav about the knights and how they barely paid him to feed
their horses.
“Bunch of
pricks, I tell you,” Willel said through a mouth full of eggs. “Won’t even be
enough to buy a carrot in the city.”
Drav just nodded
and ate. Os wasn’t in a talking mood due to the headache, but having a communal
breakfast meant that the tavern was full of people. Rwo and Ena ran around,
making sure everyone had a plate. Melic ate her food quickly and then tended to
filling everyone’s ale.
“How’s the ale,”
she asked Os, filling his glass.
“Good.
Pumpkins?” Os could taste the fermented autumn squash. The ale was sweet
almost, with a hint of barley.
“Yes. Found an
unattended patch when we arrived here. Huge pumpkins,” she refilled his and
Drav’s ale. “I began fermenting them when we settled here. More ale, Willel?”
He shook his
head no, still rambling to Drav about the knights from yesterday. Drav seemed
more interested in the horses that they had. His eyes shot up every time Willel
even mentioned their horses.
“When breakfast
is done, my parents want to talk to us..” She trailed off at the end, obviously
trying not to mention anything about the plan Rwo mentioned yesterday. “Try to
wipe your shirt before then.”
He looked down.
His shirt was full of spilt ale and eggs. His cheeks flushed, and through the
noise of tavern, he could swear he heard her giggle. As she walked off, Drav
nudged him in the arm, looking over his shoulder, giving Os a wink. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Os tried not to
roll his eyes. It was always the same when two people of the opposite sex shared
a conversation. An overhearing elder always gave a knowing look to one of them,
implying a growing love story. Os had a funny feeling that no matter what the
outcome of the known world, this tradition would never be forgotten.
It’s not that he
didn’t find her beautiful, of course she was. But Os would forget her in a
heartbeat if it meant he knew he could have just one more hit of Greay.
He reached into
his pocket and found one of the rock candies. This one was blue and tasted like
a mixture of berries and lavender. His headache relieved almost instantly, and
the food tasted even better than before. He watched Melic talk with another
table across the tavern. Her brown dress seemed to meld into her skin, offering
the illusion that she was nude. Now Os’ cheeks were flushing for another
reason, so he had to look away.
The tavern
cleared out after an hour or so, the towns people continuing on through their
day. The sound of nails and livestock filled the air outside the tavern which
now only held Drav, Rwo, Ena, and Os.
“You mentioned a
plan yesterday?” Os was happy because there was just enough ale to all have
another round. This time, Os could really taste the pumpkin. He wanted this
drink all the time.
“Yes,” Rwo said,
reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a map. It was folded and unfolded so
many times, the creases were in every direction. When he laid it out on the
tavern bar, it took Os a second or so to realize that it was a map of the Heill
Kingdom. “We’re going to set up base here, in this forest,” he pointed to a
thrush of trees just south of the Purple City entrance, north of Thevs. “We
have to backtrack a little bit, but we should aim to make it to the forest in a
month or so. It’ll be enough time to gather resources and train."
“Train?”
Rwo smirked and
tossled Os’ hair. Os didn’t like that but didn’t say anything. “We’re not going
to send you into the heart of the enemy blind. I’ll teach you how to be a
knight. Swordsmanship, chivalry guidelines, how to wear armor. The basics.”
“I’ll be fine
tuning Melic’s skills,” said Ena. “She’s an important part of our plan, too.
And she’ll be your backup on the inside. Once she gets a handle on things, I’ll
be teaching you archery. Drav will be teaching you horse riding and jousting.”
“You guys
are…really counting on me, aren’t you?” The reality of the situation finally
sat on his shoulders. It was a lot. To basically be the face of an entire
revolution. He could be found out, hanged, or worse – boiled in oil. “What if…
What if I can’t do it?”
“The door’s
right there,” Rwo said. He pointed with the rolled up map. “You can leave at
any time. We sought you out because your grandfather was a man that believed in
our freedom. We believed his morals must have been passed down.”
“We were right,”
Ena said. “When those knights were here, what was stopping you from telling
them where we were?”
“I… Don’t know.”
Truly, he hadn’t even thought of that. He might’ve been able to swindle a deal
or money for the capture of fugitives.
“You believe in
our cause, whether you know it or not. Now it’s time to believe in yourself.” <del></del>