The Dead World

A Disagreement

The tavern was noisy, raucous, and Alys was scared. The dimly lit main room was filled with shouting and drinking men, with faces made sinister and violent by shadow and ale. Hardwin seemed right in his element in this horrible place, sipping thick beer from a mug as he sprawled across a trestle.

"The slaughtered boar! Finest drinking establishment this side of the Cowrie mountains! Do you want a drink?"
"I swore not to drink until-"
"I'm sure you also swore that you wouldn't leave the monastery until your training was finished, and yet here you are, in the real world." His voice was mocking, weathered with the experience of, Alys assumed, a life spent brawling in backwater pubs like this.
"My training is finished. I am six months into my first year as a full cleric, and I can't say I like your tone very much." Alys tried to look disparaging, like the older man in front of her was little more than a child that needed scolding.
"Is that so? Go on then, show me something you've learned from all you 'years of experience'." Alys placed her hands together, tried to clear her mind of impure thoughts, and concentrated hard. Hardwin fell off his seat.

He rose, spluttering, spilt beer making the front of his tunic sodden and sticky, but, rather than looking angry, a slow grin was spreading across his face. "You could've knocked over anything in this room, but you chose me, the only person here with pretty much total control over your future." Alys' satisfaction at a spell completed properly was wiped from her mind as she realised her error.
"I was only-"
"I approve. Anyone else here and I would've told you they were just drunk, but I knew you did something to me. I could feel it. You've got balls, girl." Alys grinned sheepishly at the man, unsure whether or not she was being complimented.

As she opened her mouth to begin an apology, Hurried shouting broke out from a huddle of people a table across from her. Four men with scarred faces were closing in on a fifth man, who was backing towards an unsuspecting Hardwin. The man on his own was speaking so quickly he was practically incoherent, his palms raised placatingly towards them. They seemed entirely unamused, and one swung a fist towards the fifth man, who quickly ducked under it. The momentum of the huge fist carried the man behind it forward, and into Hardwin's back, as Alys stared on in horror.

Hardwin went directly from "friendly, talking" mode to "Beat you over the head with a chair" mode in under a second. He quickly picked up the chair he had been sitting on until toppled by Alys' spell, and broke it across the face of the man who had stumbled into him. The scarred man's friends, all thoughts of the fifth man gone, began advancing towards Hardwin, who wasted no time in drawing his sword, having seen the glint of daggers in his adversaries' fists. The tavern, seeing a drawn sword, fell silent, and a space began to clear around the stand-off.

"Take off his boots and cloak, and then take him with you. otherwise, you leave in pieces." Hardwin growled his challenge, swinging his sword slightly side to side in unwavering hands.
"I don't want any trouble now." Came the cry of the barkeep, belying his words by swinging a large length of wood from his hands. "If you've got trouble, take it outside." After a moment's hesitant silence, the scarred men sheathed their daggers, disrobed their colleague, and slunk out of the room. The drinkers began breathing again. "I thought I banned from you from this bar after last time's little 'incident'."

"Don't worry, we were just leaving." Hardwin replied as he began leaving the pub, trailing Alys and the now rather relieved looking fifth man. "I hate that bloody place. Beer tastes like piss anyway." Hardwin muttered to Alys as they got out into the comparatively fresh air.

"Listen, I don't know if I can thank you enough. Those men were decidedly... unpleasant. My name's Slick Don, pleased to make your acquaintance." The fifth man introduced himself, sticking out a hand in welcome.
"Those men. What did they want from you?" Hardwin refused the handshake.
"Oh, it was just a little misunderstanding over a shipment of finest wine that had been waylaid by bandits. They seemed to think that I should pay for the lost profit, for some reason..."
"Did you steal it?" Alys asked.
"Would you like to buy some finest wine?" Don grinned at Alys, his teeth starkly white behind his dark skin. Alys laughed lightly as Hardwin sighed. "Hey, look. Can I stay with you guys for a while? Those guys, the Dumenii, I think they called themselves, are not exactly best of friends with either of us now, are they? Doesn't it make sense for us to protect each other, for a little while? His eyes flashed briefly to Hardwin's now-sheathed sword.
Oh, for Gods' sakes. Fine. It seems I'll just take anyone along with me these days anyway."
"Brilliant news. Now, do you know if there's another Tavern in this fine town here? I have four purses just stuffed with silver, begging to be spent." He winked at Alys. "Dumenii shouldn't stand so close to slick Don."

The trio set off.