Slowly Leonard opened the inn doors, he was entering in a hostile environment, drawing too much attention would be bad so he was being careful. Of course he was confident in his fighting ability, but still fighting more opponents is dangerous. Once he entered the inn he was greeted by smell of wine that radiated the room, it was a small inn that could fit around 20 to 30 people.
It was in bad shape. Everything looked old and worn out, floor boards were creaking while Leonard made his way towards the table in a corner of the inn. He could hear the people talking about them, it looks like they heard about what they done to the poor man, they were not happy.
"Look at them, they think they can do whatever they want, only because they know how to wave their swords around, and us common folk can just watch."
"Did you heard it, they beat up Ivan and took his money."
"Fuck it, they don´t deserve to be drinking in the same room as us, we work hard everyday to survive and they just steal come and steal from us. We should kick them out."
One of the villagers stood up, but was stopped by one of his friends.
"Don't do it man, think about your family, sit down."
There was no chance that his family would survive the next winter whit him being dead so he sat down.
They were getting on his nerves, but he understood their anger, going there and arguing whit them would only bring trouble.
Finally Robert arrived whit their dirnk´s, he sat down and passed him his ale, "Here you go, your ale."
"Yes, finally," Leonard snatched the cup from his hands and drank it all in few seconds.
"Ahhh, that was good."
"What about savoring the taste? Ale is best when you drink it slowly." Robert said while taking a sip.
"Bah, who cares about taste, i haven't drank anything in hours. So when is the food coming?"
"Soon, i hope, they don't like us here. Well i don't blame them, after what I done i would be angry too"
"Well who knew that beggar was part of this community, i thought that people would be happy if we got rid of him."
After that exchange of words they both went quiet, it was slowly getting awkward, but the silence was broken by the innkeeper.
"Here is your food."
"Thank you."
He gave them quite the look after passing them their food, he would wan't them out of his establishment, and out of this village, but everybody was scarred of what would happen if they drew their swords.
So he just walked away.
"Hey, Robert... I'am sorry about before, i know that you do those things to protect me i won't protest you anymore."
"No problem kid, but two years passed since you left the safety of your fathers castle, i thought that by now you were used to the the outside world."
"I'am believe me, but it still bothers me sometimes."
"Well that is how it is, strong can do whatever they want to the weak, it will never change, and you need to get used to it."
"I will."
Robert knew that he was partly at fault as well,
since Leonard was a boy he always got what he wanted, he was a spoiled brat, Robert tried to toughen up the boy, but he too was charmed by him. Because of that Leonard had a huge ego when he grow up, he was spoiled, and because of that he failed at his duties, and now is eating food that looks barely edible, washing it down whit cheap ale, and spending the rest of the night in the stables behind the inn.
If I could only raise him properly, would we be here? That was a question Robert asked him self many times already.
Nothing good will come out of thinking about the past, what done is done, focus on the future.
What should we do next, should we go to Doren or cross the border to Burdia?
We need to find work in order to survive.
After pondering for a while he finally noticed Leonard calling out to him.
"Hellooooo, are you there?"
"Yeah, what do you want?"
"Finally, you were quiet, what are you thinking about?"
"Nothing, don't worry about it."
"Hmm, fine, but look over there."
Leonard pointed at a woman talking to the innkeeper, she had long golden hair, pale skin, but the thing that stood out the most was her long pointy ears.
"She is beautiful."
"Yeah she is, but she is an elf."
"So what, we are not in Imperium, Robert."
"But still, she will just bring us trouble so don't even think about approaching her, I know that you like female elf´s."
"Well who doesn't."
"A lot of people, you do remember what they done during their rule over the continent."
"That was almost one thousand years ago, they shouldn't be held responsible over something that their ancestors did."
"Hmmmm is that so?"
After finishing talking whit the innkeeper, the girl sat down whit her companions, they were a diverse group of people. An elf , a dwarf, and two humans, Robert noticed that they all had a badge, a red dragon in a blue field.
It was a mark of the Adventurer Guild.
Then they were approached by a hooded person, they exchange few words and the hooded person passes them a small bag of coins and then exists the inn.
"Hey, let's sit whit them."
"What? Why?"
"They are adventurers, we can get some info out of them. Let's go."
"Fine."
Robert stood up taking his ale and food whit him, and Leonard quickly ate the rest of his food on his plate and followed him. Robert made the biggest smile he could possibly make and greeted them.
"Hello there good people, can we join you? You look like good drinking company."
"Aye you may, bring over a chair and sit. But first how about telling us your names? My name is Mornud." They were welcomed by the dwarf.
If they didn't have an elf in their group he would probably be the oldest one of the bunch, he had long dark hair and one of the longest beards Robert has ever seen in his life, if it wasn't waved in braids it would surly drag all over the floor, he had a dwarven war tattoo on his face as well.
"My name is Robert, and this is Leonard, but tell me were you part of the Legion master dwarf?"
"Aye but that was before I started adventuring. But let me first introduce you to these three, the boys name is Leron, and the lass is Maria, they are twins as you can see, and the elf is Leteley."
"Hello."
"Pleasure to meet you, I'm Maria."
They were greeted by the two women, while Leron just watched them in silence.
"What is his problem?"
Leonard was irritated by his silent treatment.It was exactly the same way like his mother treated him when he was a boy.
"Please don't mind him, he is not trying to be rood, it is just that he has no tongue."
Leron opened his mouth and it was as she said, his tongue was not there.
"What happened to him?"
"Before joining this party we were living on the streets of Doren, one day city guards saw us walking down the street and decided to have some fun, they tried to rape me, Leron called for help so to shut him up they cut out his tongue, I was sure that it was over for us, but then we were saved by these two and from then on we are travelling together as adventurers."
"It is as she says, if Leteley and me didn't hear Leron calling for help they would probably be killed. But tell me sir Robert are you by any chance survivors of the battle that happened close by, because both of you look that you went through a lot?"
"Yes we are, master Mornud."
"On whose side were you fighting!?"
Maria joined in the conversation.
"On the side that lost."
"My then you are lucky to be alive, i heard that it was a slaughter."
"Yes it was, but enough about that we didn't come here just to chat, I came here for...."
"Information?"
Leteley interrupted him, by looking at his expression she knew she was right.
"Yes miss, since you are adventuress you know a lot about what is happening around the continent."
Adventurers guild was not an organization run by Kings and kingdoms, it was made centuries ago by few Noblemen worried about the amount of monsters and magical creatures around the continent, at first they only send mages on missions because they could deal whit monsters easily, but over the time mages became more and more rare so they started sending groups of humans, elf´s, dwarfs, equipped whit weapons enhanced by magic.
Over the time number of monsters grew smaller and smaller, by the year 1047 of the human age the monsters became almost extinct, the situation became so bad that Guild council had to open a number of new guilds across the sea on the Red continent, which still has a lot of monsters to hunt down.
But it wasn't enough, many guilds on the central continent had to be shut down because of the lack of funding. The council decided to work whit Kings and Queens of the continent, because their adventures can move freely in the times of war, they became useful as spies and for gathering information, and that information was sold for a lot of money to the employer or the highest bidder. By the current year 1052 everybody knows that if you nead some information, you should turn to the adventures.
"Hmmmm, so what information do you need?"
"Nothing specific, I'm thinking of crossing the border to Burdia. The kingdom is well known for its frequent rebellions, so I'm sure we would find work there."
"Well actually the kingdom is more united then ever sir Robert."
Robert was surprised at those words, After all ever since King Erkond died three years ago wihtout naming an heir, four kings changed rule over Burdia.
"What how is that possible? They were fighting each other just few months ago. How are they united now?"
"Fear unites them."
"Fear, master dwarf?"
"Aye, fear of Imperium invading the central kingdoms. Over four decades passed since their last attempt. They failed that time and it looked like they would never recover their economy and military might. But since Augustin ascended the throne as the new emperor three years ago he managed to rebuild it partially. And now at the latest council of nobles he declared his wish to restore the old borders of Imperium."
It was first time Robert heard about that, he was shocked, Leonard made an uneasy face as well, he heard from his father the stories of chaos that Imperial army brings whit them when they march to war
"But how is that possible, weren't they dealing whit elven rebellion in the Emerald wally?"
"They were until a month ago, rebel army was crushed and their leaders were executed."
Said Leteley while drinking her ale.
"But miss, they would still need a great military presence in the area, or they would risk another rebellion."
Emerald wally was once the center of the great Elven empire that ruled over the continent for 500 years. Once it was destroyed over 1000 years ago and Imperium was formed it was the only place safe enough on the continent for elf´s to plan their rebellions. Its huge forests were a perfect hiding place, and still to this day there are some elven tribes who still dream of rebuilding the Empire.
"Yes they would, but the Emperor had issued a law that allows the elven city state of Karevnel to field an army that will protect the Imperial interests in the region."
Karevnel was a puppet city state created after the Empire was destroyed. It was given to one of the elven generals and ruler of one of the four founding tribes called Malkimor who betrayed his master and helped Imperium defeat the elf´s at the battle of Eraven field, the last major battle of the war, that marked the end of the Empire.
"And please don't call me miss, I'm many times older then you."
Robert just noded slowly, and started eating his food that already got cold. Well its not like it would taste any better if it was still warm, he thought to him self. He finished his food and drank the rest of his ale, he slowly got up from his chair.
"It was a pleasure talking whit you, but it is getting late and we need to travel tomorrow, so we are calling it a day. Good bye."
"Indeed, i hope we meet and drink some other time!"
Leonard got up, bowed slowly and followed Robert. After leaving the inn, both of them tired made they way towards the stable. The moon was at its highest, shining brightly, a bat could be seen flying around. Leonard observed him, but then he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Disappointed?"
"What?"
"Come now, i know that you wanted to ask the elf girl more questions."
Leonard made a bitter smile.
"I can't hide anything from you, old man."
"Of course, I practically raised you, i know how much you like elf´s."
Leonard spent most of his time studying, learning to ride a horse and how to fight, he was a son of a prominent noble, and a hand of an king at that, everybody expected much from him. But few knew about his love for elf´s and their culture. He would spend all of his free time in the library reading books and studies about elf´s.
"Well it doesn't matter. So did you decide where should we go?"
"We should go to Doren."
"And what about Burdia?"
"If what those people said is true, we should avoid it."
At that Leonard crossed his hands and grinned.
"Mercenaries avoiding war? Ha, where are your balls old man?
"You see Leonard, that is a difference between us. I have a smart brain and anybody smart would tell you to avoid the destruction the Imperial army brings whit them."
Said Robert while opening the stable doors.
As soon as they step in they were hit by the smell of cow manure. The stable was quite empty, there was a few chickens running around, and an old cow laying in a corner.
The rest of the animals were probably taken away by the soldiers passing by.
They found a good spot, Robert took some hay and spread it over the floor, and they both laid down. Leonard yawned and closed his eyes.
"So we are going to Doren?"
"Yeah we are."
"Well I guess it would be bad to die fighting the Imperials...."
"Shut up and sleep!"
At those words he finally went to sleep thinking that easier days await. But soon his head was filled whit memories of his family, memories of that day that he would gladly forget.