Alex did not forget the direction his mother gave him. He did not know how long he's been on horse but by the time he arrived at a small town, his buttocks felt kind of numb when he got off.
Two old men where standing guard at the gate. They weren't really doing their jobs diligently since they were just playing with cards. In reality, they weren't even doing their job. They couldn't even notice Alex who was standing there for quite a while now.
"Hey! That's cheating! You only had 3 cards earlier! Where'd that other one come from?!" A bald man sitting near a table screamed at his opponent.
"You getting older friend? You should consider buying glasses from Roland. Might as well cure one of your liabilities." Facing him was another old man with white long hair. He laughed as he caressed his beard. With his other hand, he threw his cards on the table.
"Seems like it's my win. Again."
He didn't even have to look at the bald old man's cards and immediately knew he would win. Well, he wasn't wrong. The bald old man immediately threw a tantrum. His face getting more and more wrinkles every second. His bald head getting redder as he shouted all kinds of insults at the bearded old man.
"This game is shit!"
The bald man threw his cards on the floor. Now he had to pay this cunning bag of bones 5 ritz. He really thought he would win this time. His cards were even very good. He really wanted to draw his sword and tear the bearded man open to see if he were hiding cards somewhere.
What he didn't see was the boy at the side picking up the cards he threw. Only then did the two old man notice him when he placed them back on the table.
"I offer my greetings to the elders." Alex slightly bowed his head as he cupped his fists.
The two pair looked at each other intently . They stared at each other as if debating on who will be the one to stand up and converse with the young lad.
The white haired old man gave him a look of "You don't have to pay me". The bald old man really didn't want to get off the chair but since he didn't have to lose money he reluctantly stood up.
"What do we have here? A Plican lad, that's rare. You do know that it's past the borders here right?"
"Um, I'm actually Elrodian."
The bald man frowned when he hear Alex's statement. From his perspective, Alex was dressing like one, speaking like one and even the greeting he performed earlier was totally from Plicus. There's no way Alex was from here.
"Yes, of course you are..."
After a small silence, he suddenly rushed towards Alex and pinned him down the floor. He grabbed the sword in Alex's hand and threw it to the old man peacefully sitting down.
He joined Alex's hands behind him and murmured some words that he couldn't understand. A slightly blue glow emanated from the old man's hands. When he let go off Alex, his hands were chained behind him by a blue rope.
"Magic?!"
Alex was surprised. This was the first time he has ever seen magic in his entire life. Still, such magic was used to immobilize him. This wasn't right, he didn't even remember doing anything wrong.
"Why are you doing this?! I have done nothing wrong!"
"A spy from Plicus aintcha?!"
"What!... a spy?! Why would you think so?!"
This time Alex slightly raised his voice. He came he peacefully and was immediately greeted with this. Why wouldn't he be angry?
"Just from the way ya acting. That ain't Elrodian. And lower your goddamn voice! You wanna make this old man deaf?!"
The old man didn't even consider that it was a kid in front of him. He shouted at Alex as if he were about to die.
"You can go back Irald. I have a few questions for him." The white haired old man shook his head from the attitude of this fella. He decided to take over before the kid will wet his pants. He didn't want the gate to smell like horse piss.
"Your words not mine Uldan!" Irald hurried to the chair and sat down. He'd rather do nothing than doing something. He felt that it was bad for his health to do so many moving. He was an old man, he should be sleeping in a big mansion with tens of beautiful young maids to take of him. Of course, he couldn't afford such treatment so all he could do was accept Uldan's proposition.
Uldan looked intently at Alex. He really saw nothing much in him other than his attire that was obviously Plican.
"Tell me, where'd you get this sword."
When he examined it he could tell it wasn't just a sword a kid could carry around. The sheath was orned with beautiful flower designs and when he sheathed it, the blade was very sharp and bright.
"It's my father's."
"You sure? You didn't steal it did you?" Uldan slightly raised his eyebrow as he played with his beard.
He speculated that this boy ran away from home and managed to steal the belongings of some merchant. Maybe he didn't even have a home. He might also be a runaway slave.
Alex could tell that no matter what he would say, it would be very hard to convince these two old men to believe a word he say. He decided to change strategy.
"Look, if you don't believe me I know a person in this town that can make things clear. You might even happen to know him. I heard you mention him earlier."
"The name's Roland."
The two brothers looked at each other when Alex mentioned Roland. The exact name that they mentioned when they were gambling earlier.
Alex's eyes sightly brightened when he saw the two old man. Theses two old man would be the one two remove the burden of finding a single person in this town. A problem he pondered for for quite a while. Seems like this journey wouldn't be so hard after all.
'How did I get here?'
Alex was locked in the townsguard's cell. The two old man didn't believe a word he said. And the Roland that he called out for, they just laughed it off because Alex was probably there when they mentioned him. Since they didn't want to waste more time on him, they just threw him in the cell.
'What am I going to do now?' He wondered.
'Maybe if I annoy them for long enough they would let me out?'
It was a dumb plan but it was still better than doing nothing. So Alex started banging on the steel bars and continuously yelled towards the closed wooden door in front.
"What you're doing is pointless kid. There is nothing to do here. The guards are either at the gate or getting drunk in the inn."
A middle-aged man that was peacefully sleeping in the corner interrupted Alex. He was very thin and had a pale complexion. What was really strange about him was that he was sleeping in a very thick fur cloth that could cover his entire body. Accompanied with his thick beard and mustache, he looked like a fur ball. No, since he was thin it was more like a deformed fur ball.
Alex stopped his 'plan'. He really could do nothing. His bag was confiscated from him, his sword too. He didn't even know the fate of his horse Tralp.
'I really am useless. Hasn't even been a day and I've already lost all my possessions." He wondered what his parents would think of him if they saw him right now. What kind of son would get imprisoned? Not even much time passed and he has already sullied the family name.
It was only then did he realize his error. He started to regret saying that he was an Elrodian. Of course he wouldn't appear like one, he has been raised in Plicus for his entire life. No wonder he'll look like a Plican.
"Hey, you new in town?" The man at the corner curiously asked. It wasn't everyday that he could see such strange style of clothing.
"Yeah..."
"Quite the bad boy we have here. Just arrived in town and already causing trouble!"
"Listen, this is a misunderstanding. I'm not supposed to be here."
"Well, even if you're right you'll still be a criminal as long as you're in this cell. You are where you are kid."
Alex shut his mouth. The man wasn't half wrong. As long as he stays here, it is considered that he did something wrong.
'Maybe I shouldn't have said that.' The mans saw that Alex's mood immediately went down from his comment. He didn't really intend to hurt the little boy.
Since he thought himself as a self righteous human being, he decided to make up from this one mistake.
"He kid."
"Want one? It'll help ya relieve some stress."
The man pulled out a thin cylindrical material from his pocket.
"..." Alex ignored the man.
"Come on, I've seen you've been pretty much. You'll need this."
It was pretty obvious that Alex was in a pretty bad shape. His eyes were baggy, his hair was disheveled and his clothes were dirty. The man could even catch a faint smell of blood from the kid.
"What's that?" The man managed to catch Alex's attention. He just arrived today and Alex has already seen magic, and now this strange material the man was holding. Elrod kept on showing him more and more mysterious things.
"You really aren't from here." He said as he put on his lips and pointed his finger at its tip.
A small flame materialized on his finger and lit 'the thing'. He took a puff and exhaled smoke.
"This, is what we call a cig kid. Magicians and alchemists would work together to produce this beauty that would help you chill. Very popular item among soldiers that would go through huge amounts of stress."
"You really look like you need one right now."
"It's not everyday that you'll see a generous guy like. These things are quite expensive."
Alex threw another one at Alex. Alex was quite amazed from his throw. The cig flew horizontally, perfectly parallel to the ground, and at that at great speed. Thankfully, Alex has already had some kind of innate skill that helped him react to things fast. Alex accurately caught the cig with his two fingers.
The man's cig almost fell from his mouth when he saw this. He expected the cig to just fall on Alex's laps. Never would he have thought that he would've caught it, with his two fingers!
'Strange kid.' He thought.
"Um...can you light this?" Alex embarrassingly said as he scratched his head.
"You out of juice?"
"Out of juice...?"
Alex didn't understand what he meant by that. He didn't know anything in their conversation or actions that involved running out of juice.
"Wait... don't tell me you're a Plican?"
"Um...well yes, but actually no. It's complicated."
"I feel you too kid. I've already seen my fair of complicated. You don't have to explain anything. Not that I hate Plicans, I'm rather neutral. Well, since I'm talking to you, I'd even say friendly."
The man stood up and approached Alex with his fur coat still sticking unto him as if it were part of his skin.
"To honor you, we'll do this the old ways."
The man lit Alex's cig with the small fire at the tip of his.
"So...do I just inhale it and exhale?"
"My only advice is to not swallow the smoke."
He returned to his corner after doing what he had to do. The moment he sat down, he could immediately hear the sound of coughing. That sound put on a smirk on his face. It sure brought back a lot of memories.
After a few more attempts, Alex finally got the gist of it. It was true what the man said. It truly was helping him calm down in a strange way. The whole cell was starting to get foggy. A man and a boy were just sitting and minding their own business, ignoring all external forces.
Unfortunately, that moment only lasted for a few minutes. The cig, of course, would eventually run out.
"My name's Rulf, Rulf Elgar."
"Alexander Vartraud."
"Vartraud? Explains your statement from earlier."
"You know about my family?"
Alex was curious. His parents never talked about things in Elrod much less talk about their families.
"Not really much, all I know that it's a Knight lineage. I heard that the contributed a lot in the previous war."
"Oh, ok."
"You should sleep Alexander, it'll take a while until the guards return. You'll just waste energy."
"They're probably investigating my case. Once they'll be back I'll be out of here."
"Yeah, probably..." Rulf yawned as he slowly closed his eyes.
Meanwhile the two brothers Irald and Uldan were bumping each others mug, spilling ale on the wooden table. The inn already had that smell that couldn't be described. Some more ale wouldn't make a difference.
"Cheers brother!" Irald shouted as he jugged down the entire mug.
Unlike him, Uldan just took small sips occasionally. He preferred having the taste of the ale last longer in his mouth. Also, he didn't want to waste money. He glanced at his younger brother and saw that he was already at his third mug. He could only silently shake his head. Uldan too used to drink like that but since his daughter had a child, he had to save money for toys and treats whenever he passed by.
"Fill my cup Roland!"
For the fourth time, the middle-aged man with fiery red hair lazily poured ale in his mug. He looked at the drunkard's brother and saw that he finally emptied his mug. Strangely, Uldan didn't say anything but just kept staring expressionlessly. Normally, he would have asked for a refill every time his mug was empty.
"What's got into him?" Roland asked the bald one.
"Do I look like I know shit of what's happening in his head?" Irald had more important things in his mind, like his drink.
Roland stayed silent for a while. He took another glance at Uldan and saw that he was still at it. Something was definitively preoccupying him.
"You sure?" Roland asked a second time.
Irald stopped his drink halfway when he head Roland. He didn't like the tone he used. It gave him chills in his spine. He looked at Roland and almost dropped his mug from seeing the face he had. It was his usual expression which had a small smile on his lips, but something was slightly different. Irald didn't like it when Roland was in this kind of mood so he reconsidered his question earlier.
"I don't really know mate. I think he regrets throwing a kid in the cell."
"You think I give a fuck about that?! And I'm just a foot away from y'all. Think I can't hear you!?" Unexpectedly, Uldan who was just motionless earlier annoyingly grunted at the two.
"Well, MISTER Uldan could've answered if he was listening." Irald glared at him. He could've peacefully enjoyed his drink if not for him.
"I wasn't listenin-"
Uldan just realized that his brother wasn't wrong. It was true that he could hear them, but he wasn't listening. He decided to accept his defeat in this meaningless argument.
"So, what's making the wise Uldan overthink?" Seeing that the old man finally regained his senses, Roland decided to directly ask him.
"It's the boy he talked about earlier."
Roland slightly raised his eyebrow when he heard him. Did this grumpy old man really finally develop sympathy for kids?
"Hey! Don't misunderstand. The only child I'll ever find cute is my granddaughter you hear me! Children nowadays are just so loud and annoying."
"You've seen my sweet Ursula right? Did you know that last week she got full scores in her runes test? And the face she showed me when she demonstrated her new spe-"
"Okay, I get it. Just get to the point."
Roland interrupted him. He knew it was rude but knowing Uldan, he could rant for the whole entire night on his granddaughter. Uldan didn't really appreciate his interruption. He gave Roland a look of 'you really don't know what you're missing friend' as he looked pitifully at him. It was an honor for other people to hear the happening of Ursula's life.
"So?"
"Oh yeah, the kid..."
"The weapon we confiscated from the lad was very high quality...too high quality even."
"Oh, I do recognize the engraving on the stick's sheath. When I used to work in the city, I could still clearly remember the Bloody Rose Division's manhunt. The slain Plican blood would splash on their sheath. Twas the day I knew why they were called Bloody Rose." Irald who finished tens of ale opened his stinky mouth.
"Why you bring this up just now?" Uldan asked.
"Dunno... maybe my ale refreshed my memory."
"Useless drunkard..." He whispered.
"Told something?!" Irald shouted.
"No, nothing. I was also just thinking of his horse."
"Tell me Roland. From where do you think a kid will get a warhorse? No, why will a warhorse even let a kid on its back? They are prideful creatures!"
"Oh, you didn't tell Roland that the kid mentioned that he knew him." Irald was so into the conversation that he totally forgot about his empty mug.
"Why didn't you call me? Why would you even throw a kid in the cell?" Roland was starting to get annoyed. He wondered who assigned these two clowns as townsguard.
"Well, that's a long story..." Uldan confidently said as he played with his beard.
"We have all night gentlemen."
In reality, Uldan was too lazy to talk about all the happening of this evening but since Roland insisted, he had to do so.
His storytelling telling didn't really take long as he thought it would. He really regretted telling Roland the story. The more he would talk, the could would Roland's expression get.
"So, you've never considered the possibility of the kid being a mixed-blood that was raised in Plicus?"
"..." The two siblings fell silent.
"Nor did you think that it is nearly impossible to cross the frontier if you were to show even just a mistake as small as a speck of dust. "
"..." Their faces went greener and greener. This time, not from alcohol.
"Why would you even think of him a spy? A spy wouldn't be so obvious as you said."
The two old men shut their mouths. They didn't dare look at Roland's eyes. This time they knew they fucked up. The scene looked like it was Roland the old man and the two brothers were the kids getting lectured.
Roland sighed when he saw the brother's looks. He knew that these two old man were good, despite being quite eccentric.
'Now I look like the bad guy...' Roland thought.
"Just don't make hasty decisions next time. Now bring me to that so-called spy. I want to hear his story."
Uldan and Irald's eyes lit up when they heard Roland. He was indeed a cold yet forgiving old ma- no, middle-age man.