Not Another Medieval Thread...

[SecretDesires]

Avis nodded at the dwarf's observation. She was not comfortable in these surroundings having come from a small village of women with only a few men who resided as breeders and workers. However, she was much more uncomfortable around the wraith and decided she would take what shelter she could get.

Once inside the tavern, she noticed the strange looks she was getting and reached up to swing the dwarf and baby from her back, stretching the kinks from it. Her arms and legs were tired and she was in need of a bath and rest.

Kneeling down to where she could address the dwarf in privacy, she said,"What are you to do about the child?"

She couldn't recall why she should care. She had gotten this far and taken them out of harm's way. But she couldn't help but ask. It was as if the question nagged at her for an answer and she felt like a dog who was worrying an old bone that had long ago lost any flavor.

If she was smart she would just drop the dwarf and child off in the town and find her way out of here and back onto her own road. She had no desire for any more of the unearthly things that were going on. But, then again, her mother had never claimed that Avis was her brightest child.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Dust

The question caught him offguard. What did he intend to do?
"I guess I'll see if I can find a church, someone at least fairly responsible to take care of it. I don't know what else to do..." He returned.
"A church?" a man asked, holding his mug of ale out before him, almost spilling it on the dwarf as he waved it drunkenly around, pointing in a direction hat Dust guessed was meant to refer him down the street.
"There's a small mission down that'a'way," he slurred. "No priest, but a man who set the place up, a religious man. THere used to be a priest but..."
He trailed off, turning back to the bar, suddenly losinginterest in talking to them.
Dust looked to the tall amazon, shrugging, then nodded slowly, trying to tell her he would follow the drunk's advice.
"And you? What will you do?"

 

[SecretDesires]

Avis' face went blank at the question. What was she going to do? Shrugging, she said,"Don't know. I guess help you get the child to the religious man and then figure it out. Truth is I don't really know why I followed you in the first place. Then again, I am a bad one for doing things on impulse. One of the reasons I was...let go...from my tribe."

Signalling to the door, she said,"Shall we go? I may not know why I started but I may as well finish."

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Dust

He nodded, then headed for the door and into the street, hearing her heavy steps behind him. Once outside, he glanced up and down the street, almost expecting to hear the Wraith's loud, demonic cry.
Nothing but wind, and the idle chatter of the guards at the front gate.
He glanced down in the direction he thought the drunk had pointed, saw the thin wooden cross, nothing more than two sticks tied together in the center, hanging from an old and faded signpost.
He headed toward the building, moving slowly for the first time in hours and feeling his body ache more with each step then than it had all night.
When he reached the door, he knocked loudly three times and waited.
THe door opened and a man looked sleepily out at him.
"Who's there?"
"My name is Dust. I'm a dwarf from another town, a far away town to tell the truth. This woman and I came across a young human child, and wondered if you could be of service in taking it off of our hands."
He scanned the two of them, first Dust, whom he seemed comfortable with given the fact that he held the child, then he started when he saw the immense form of the amazon behind him.
"And the child is hurt?" He asked.
"Not that I can tell. But it barely escaped the wrath of both a small pack of wolves and a Wraith."
"A Wraith?" He opened the door wide and ushered the two inside.

 

[Emotionless]

Del returned to the table with the keys and his bottle as the dwarf and the amazon exited.
"Where is that lot off to?" he asked Alexander.
"Im not sure, they were asking directions to somewhere."
Dan shrugged, he was merely curious, and plopped the keys down on the table. "All they had, we're going to have to share."

Dan sat down at the table and leaned against the wall, surveying the other patrons. It wasn't hard to pick up the looks some of the shady looking characters were giving Alexander. Dan knew the look, in any other circumstance he'd be the one giving it.

"You shold learn to keep your coins hidden," he said "Looks like trouble brewing." A couple large men were circumspectly movin towards Del, the prince, and the group of Rassid's nomads.

Well, if they wanted trouble, Del was willing to give them trouble. With that, Del drained half the bottle of liquid courage, lept up and launched his chair at the nearest lout.

That was the battle call, with that the place erupted, the would be thieves charged the table, and were met with Del's experianced knuckles. Men all over the tavern were fighting for the love of fighting. Chairs were flying back and forth and mugs were smashing against walls.

"Umm, hide behind the bar," Del told Alexander, in between throwing punches into a particularly fat thief gut.

 

[Tantrikenetic]

Alexander

"A commendable idea." Alexander agreed and retreated to the bar. He jumped up onto the bar and dove behind it. A glass ale mug crashed overhead. What happened to the relaxing night at the inn?! Why does everything have to end in violence?

He turned to see some barmaids hiding next to him, talking frantically. Some were scared, but many acted like this happened every day.

Alexander eventually ventured a peek over the bar. It was a bad time to investigate, because all he saw was a big man looking down at him. The man's grabbed Alexander by the neck and raised him up into the air. The young prince coughed repeatedly, legs shaking in the air. His eyes scanned for anything to grab onto.

"Ok, kid. Give me that gold!" The man said gruffly. Alexander reached down, grabbed hold of an ale glass from the bar, and brought it down on the man's bald head. The glass shattered upon impact. The man grunted and stumbled back, letting go of Alexander. He fell back behind the bar, landing on one of the maids. He quickly rolled off of her.

"Sorry!" He said to her, red in the face.

 

[PmTick]

Seven had followed the couple into town. Perched behind a rain barrel, he waited for something to happen.

 

[IDreamofBunnies]

Rassid had joined his comrades at the tavern and were quietly drinking and talking in their own tongue when the brawl erupted. The nomads were quick to join the fight, keeping some of the thugs away from their new employer, the prince.

 

[Khadgar]

Keldak

Keldak grunted, this was stupid, robbers were attacking a group of people. many of which whom were soldiers. these obviously weren't the best brains the man race had to offer.

one particularly drunk man came close to Keldak, who was standing with his arms folded across his chest, watching. the man creature swung a fist at Keldakm, making contact with the beast Keldak grimaced and reached out, palming the mans head, and lifting him off the ground, he did the same to the large bald man behind the counter, who seemed to be going after a group of women and one man creature. with them boith in the air he cracked their skulls tiogether and dropped them in an unconcious heap at his feet, crossiong his arms over his chest again, and waiting.

 

[Emotionless]

Del was having a grand old time, there were no shortages of heads to crack, and the drunken louts were rather inexperianced.

Just the same Del went down to his knees when he felt a mug crack against the back of his head. He braced himself for the expected kicks to the ribs and was rather confused when they didn't connect.

Tenativly Del raised his head to look for his attacker, and was rather surprised to see the man's legs dangling about a foot off the floor. Following the man's body up, Del regarded a rather large arm holding the thrashing man above the ground.

The troll from the forrest regared the lout with a somewhat amused look, while the man's eyes seemed to be falling out of his face.

Shakeing out the cow webs, Del watched as another man raised a vicious looking cudgel aimed at the trolls knee. Del spang from his crouched position and charged the thief.

Del's momentum and heavier body sent both men crashing through the door and into the street. A few stiff punches stoped the man's fighting.

By the time Del walked back through the shattered door, the tavern's guards had broken up the row and expunged the gang of thieves.

Wipping off the road dust, Del righted a toppled chair and went back to his thankfully undammaged wiskey. "You alright, Alexander?" Del called.

"Im fine," came the reply from behind the bar.

"What about your boys, Rassid?" The nomads had put up quite a good account of themselves and only a few of them looked any worse for ware.

 

[ShadowedWhisper]

A slip of shadows

Saielyn had been working steadily in the tavern for the last few hours. Clothed in a homespun dress, dark brown with a light tan undertunic, simple leather boots protecting her feet, she ran tankards of mead and ale, large pitchers of lagers, pots of tea for the more genteel customers, and the like. Deft fingers could grab five mugs per hand, even as the petite form wove her way across the floor and avoided the patrons, twisting and nodding, noting orders but never speaking a word.

Was it any surprise that others thought she was mute, even those of the town who had watched her grow? Those pale pink tiers rarely parted in a smile, never parted in (public) speech, and even laughter was unheard from her. Questions about the meals that the tavern served - hearty beef and chicken stews, broiled pork, roasted rack of lamb, fresh and preserved vegetables served steamed, boiled, or baked, homecooked country breads, and fresh churned butters - were always just referred to a patron nearby who was ready to vouch for the chef, Saielyn's mother. Orders for drinks were retrieved and promptly served, and though she received a fair amount of tips from those grateful for her prompt - if not perhaps overly talkative - service, she seemed content to work in her father's tavern.

Funny how appearances can be so misleading. In truth, silent Saie was just biding her time as she saved money, watching. Twice now she had tried to leave the town where she'd grown up, twice now she'd failed. She wasn't about to make any more mistakes.

When the travelers began to filter into the tavern, Saie kept an eye on them. Not many, but between the ones who came in, and those who were filtering into town and through the streets afterwards, it was clear they were at least a semi-large traveling party. Just the type she could follow behind when they left ... when she would leave. She was alert, attentive to her patrons, but her focus was now elsewhere. After she had finished a few more hours on the floor, she claimed exhaustion, went to the rooms her family held at the back of the establishment, and shut the door. Rather than sleeping, however, she began to pack.

An old rucksack was pulled out - one her parents thought they had successfully confiscated. Into it went varied items, a few daggers she had practiced with for years, and a few precious sheets of vellum. A half-dozen quills, two vialed and bagged wells of ink, and a small penknife for sharpening rested on the top of the pile. Her coins were dumped on the dark bedspread, counted and separated. Coppers, mostly, with a moderate amount of silver, and a few gold. She wasn't rich, but she didn't need to worry about anything this time - she had enough to buy supplies upon the road. With that assurance, the bag was tucked into her waistband, and she slipped out the door, visiting the small stables behind the tavern.

In a back stall rested her horse, a well-tempered if slightly small dun mare. The mount suited Saie, however - not only could she actually ride the animal without fear of death from falling, but just like herself, the creature was nearly silent. A hand stroked the horse's muzzle, and though not a word was spoken, it would seem the petite woman with the heavy dark hair was communicating her plan to the animal.

It was because she had plead exhaustion that she slipped back through the door of the tavern, and found the brawl in full force. It happened ... quite often. More often, at least, than her father would prefer. Back behind the bar she slipped ... to help clean up the damage as soon as the brawl finished. If her father came back to find this, he'd start taking heads. Which meant she'd have to be around to help clean up the mess.

She slid down against the wall, turned her head and arched a curious brow at one of the other barmaids who was back there - Sheena, a girl she'd grown up with. The girl bent forward to speak with her, and Saie listened, even as a man got picked up, dangled above the floor quite a bit. Her attention was torn, however, from the dangling man as Sheena tried to explain why the fight got started. Ah, great, some fool flashing his coins ...

Any further thought along that line was cut short, though, when something heavy dropped into her lap. Despite herself, she gave a soft oomph, shoved hands at whatever was there, and then glared for all she was worth. Chocolate browns flared in her face, and lips parted in a frown. An explanation was desired.

 

[Tantrikenetic]

Alexander

"I'm fine." Alexander said shakily from behind the bar. That man was about to tear him apart! He was suprised he got away so easily.

Alexander looked over into the eyes of the girl he had landed on and realized immediatly that he wasn't getting away that easily after all. Her glare paralyzed him on the spot. His mouth moved quickly, but the words came out in fragmented jumbles.

"I...um...I'm s-sorry. I didn't mean to...I mean-I mean it was an accident! I mean..it was the other guy's fault and I..I..I.........I didn't touch anything!"

The barmaid's look didn't waiver and she didn't say a word. Alexander gulped. He was never good with women. He nervously tugged at the hem of his robes. "I'm...um...really sorry. Uh...forgive me?" Alexander tried his best to smile and held his hand out.

 

[ShadowedWhisper]

Saie simply stared when he dropped into her lap, and soon after lips parted, she caught the bottom one between her teeth, began worrying it. Dark brown brow arched over that gaze of hers as the man fumbled his way through an apology. She wasn't sure whether to be offended because of his landing pad or to swallow the soundless laugh that threatened to spill out at his words.

She didn't get much of a chance to do either, however, as another tankard came over the bartop, shattering against the wooden wall and sprinkling shards around her pointed ears. She ducked, cast a look at the man that clearly asked what the hell he'd brought about, then scrambled hands and knees towards the swinging kitchen door. If the man was smart, he'd think to follow. After all, it should be obvious that she knew where she was going.

Sheena and most of the other barmaids had already made good their escape, and Saie was not about to be caught up in the mess. The dark braid slithered loose from its mooring, falling across one shoulder as she bumped into the door, shoved it open. Definitely time to abdicate the position up front. She'd explain to her father later... maybe.

 

[Tantrikenetic]

Alexander

Alexander ducked as wood splinters flew through the air. I guess the fight wasn't over quite yet. He looked over and saw the barmaid running off into the kitchen. He hoped Del and Rassid could take care of themselves and quickly followed the girl out of the scene.

As he passed through the back door and out onto the streets, he took a deep breath. The fresh air felt good in his lungs. He looked around for the girl and saw her standing by the bar's edge. She was standing in the light eminating from one of the windows and it was the first time Alexander had really seen her. Her braid had fallen onto her shoulder and revealed how long her hair was. Her lithe body was covered in simple clothes, including a dress, and he immediatly thought about how pretty she looked. Alexander caught himself smiling dreamily and shook himself out of it. This was the second time he found himself staring at a woman in the last five hours! What was wrong with him?

With his mind set on his current goal, he walked over to the girl's side. His mind played with different ways to begin talking to her, but the minute he arrived, they were all gone.

"So...pretty hectic in there, huh?" He said with a smile. He mentally kicked himself for the stupid comment. "By the way, my name's Alexander." She smiled, but didn't respond to his comment. Alexander glanced around awkwardly for a bit. "Um...do you live near here? Cause I don't think it's safe to stay at this inn."

 

[ShadowedWhisper]

Saie just watched him, offered the barest hint of a smile when he introduced himself, then shook her head. She wasn't about to speak to him. She ended up placing a hand on his shoulder, indicating she wanted him to stay put, and snuck back inside the establishment, careful to avoid any who might be prowling the halls. To her room she crept, ducking inside.

Her bag of goodies, for lack of a better word, was picked up, moved to shoulder, and a tiny notepad and a bit of charcoal placed in a pocket. The heavy cloak in the corner came over her shoulders, and she checked one last time to be certain that nothing she needed had been left behind. Satisfied, the door was pulled closed behind her as she walked out.

Once outside, she pulled out the precious paper and charcoal, scratched out an overly abbreviated sentence as she walked towards Alexander. What was there was fairly easy to read, if somewhat abrup.

~I am Saielyn. We need to leave now, before that man comes after you. Hurry.~

She held out the words to Alexander, and then waited for him to make a decision. If someone had dared to start a fight, well, then, they weren't going to be stopped by the fact that the main victim had waltzed his way outside. Foot tapped impatiently underneath the heavy hem of the skirt, and for once, Saie did dare give more than a brief smile.

 

[Tantrikenetic]

Alexander

Alexander read the sentence written on the piece of paper. It suddenly clicked in his mind that this girl must be a mute. He had seen several people in East Rim with the same problem. He looked up at her and noticed she was smiling.

He handed Saielyn her piece of paper back with a grin. "Alright Saielyn. You lead the way and I shall follow you." He took a second to look down at his expensive blue robes. Hmm...I should probably change into something else. Alexander mused to himself.

When he looked back up, Saie was already leaving. Alexander quickly picked his belongings off the ground and ran to catch up with her.