soldier, poet, king || e. pevensie | slow updates

the poet • 10

there will come a poet, whose weapon is his word. he will slay you with his tongue, oh lei-oh lai-oh lord.

Dantus groaned and rolled out of bed. Someone was knocking rather loudly on his door. He still had an hour before work. An hour he could have spent sleeping. He got up and answered the door to find a letter laying on the ground with no one in sight.

Picking it up, he realized it was from Coralia. She should've been on her way back to the village by then. He tore open the letter and scanned it quickly. She was never very eloquent in her writing. She wrote what needed to be written and communicated, nothing extra. He was very different. Every letter he sent was extensive, explaining everything and more.

He tossed the letter onto the ground after reading through it. Surely, her father would be getting a similar letter the same day. Coralia had run off to Cair Paravel and joined the royal guard, leaving him in the dust to spend the rest of his life in the pub.

Dantus loved his job, but Holria's company was nothing like Coralia's. She silently washed dishes all day, leaving him to talk to Coralia while she was at the bar. Now, Wicus would have to hire someone new to run the bar or Dantus would take it on as well and slow everything down.

When Dantus showed up to the pub that morning, he went to find Wicus right away. He was sitting in his rocking chair upstairs.

"She's sent you one as well, then?" Wicus said.

"Did you know?" Dantus asked, sighing.

"No, but it doesn't surprise me. She was bound to run away from this village at some point. She can't stay in one small place for too long, she'd burst. Maybe Cair Paravel will be good for her. More space will give her a chance to practice."

"Practice swordplay?" The faun rolled his eyes.

Wicus said nothing.

Dantus helped the man out of his chair and they went downstairs to open the pub. Wicus was planning on posting the job opening, but he didn't want anyone to notice Coralia's absence. However, the pub was the town's hotspot. People would see that the usual barmaid wasn't there and start talking. Wicus wanted to prevent that for as long as possible.

All day, Dantus ran both the bar and the kitchen. Everyone was nice about the longer wait, but as the night got later and the drinks got heavier, people became impatient. Dantus was so overwhelmed by just nine o'clock that he wanted to fall asleep on the ground.

There was a traveling band stopping in the village on their way north for a performance. The lead singer kept eyeing him, one thing led to another, and he found himself in her bed after his shift. It wasn't going to make him miss Coralia any less in the long run, but he'd be distracted for the night. The whole night, it seemed. He didn't sleep a wink.

•

In the early morning, Dantus helped the band check out of the pub and get ready to head off on their way. Instead of having his breakfast at the pub, he headed over to the home of the mouse down the street. Dantus knocked.

The mouse answered, opening the door to squint up at him. "Who are you?"

"I'm a friend of Coralia's. I know you know her and I want to know about where she is."

"No. Go away." The mouse slammed his door shut, but the rotting wood was breaking off bit by bit and slamming the door did more harm to the mouse's home than it did to Dantus.

"Please. I know she sent you a letter as well, and she definitely put more information into yours than she did mine or her father's."

"Go away. Have breakfast. It's too early for this. The girl is happy where she is, just leave it at that. She'll visit at some point."

Dantus walked back to the pub and went through the motions of the day. Wicus took some interviews during the day, looking for someone new to man the bar. Late into the night, when most people either left or went upstairs to bed, Dantus started to close up. Just as he went to shut the lights off, someone came into the pub. "We close at 1, come back in a few hours for breakfast."

"I'm not here for breakfast," A voice said. Dantus turned around to see a very old barefoot man, hardly standing.

"Do you need lodging? Can I help you get home, what are you doing here?" Dantus stepped closer to the man.

"You are the writer, no?"

"I'm a cook, and I'm trying to go home. Is there anything important I can do for
you?"

"Help me write my book and do the illustrations for me. I will pay you generously, in more than just money." The man sat down at the bar.

Dantus leaned against the counter. "Look, I don't need a new job. I'm not interested in food or sex or whatever else you're going to compensate me with. Go home."

"What about magic?" The man took out a pile of notes, written with messy handwriting and covered in ink spills. Dantus leaned in closer to look at it. From what he could read, it was all spells and chants.

"I'm not a magician. I'm a temporary bartender and an author. Even if I did want to help you, I can't."

"I'll do all the magic, you just write it down. I need to document it and I heard of your talents."

Dantus thought for a moment, then ran a hand through his hair. "Do you need somewhere to stay? Food? Come back to my house, it'll be more comfortable than the pub. Just let me lock up."

The man stood patiently, waiting for Dantus to shut the lights off and lock the doors. They headed off back to the faun's home. The streets were mostly empty, save for the few drunks trying to find their way home in the dark.

Dantus unlocked his door and let the man in. He made up the guest bed for the magician. There was no way he was letting such an ancient man sleep in his own bed. The elderly had a tendency to lose control of their bladders overnight. He had enough to worry about. In the morning, he'd talk with the man and they'd set up a plan. Maybe more distraction would be good for him. Better than sleeping with singers, anyway.

•

character development episode for dantus