The group, while comfortable with their new life, had a certain need. All three of them wanted emancipation for everyone, but a goal like that was outside their means as individuals. They needed to expand, and to do that, they needed a plan. Going around telling people about how the two were escaped slaves, and one of them a runaway from the law would definitely spell disaster for them.
Dave had a gut feeling about Drimys. The guy definitely knew hardship, and a guy of his disposition could be of assistance, but the group had to earn his trust first. The three of them decided that the easiest way to do that was to invite him for a drink at a bar, and slowly win him over.
So Dave arranged for the four of them to meet up at the usual bar, after Asher and Eddie were finished with swordsmanship. When the sun was setting, and bars like it were beginning to fill up, the three of them went to the establishment. They sat on an empty table, ordered a beer each, except for Asher, who ordered an orange juice in fear of becoming shitfaced like the last time, and waited for Drimys.
After a while, Drimys arrived, after some waiting and sat down next to Dave. To the latter's dismay, he had brought a friend along. Dave was crying inwardly, but Eddie and Asher's naivety prevented them from understanding why that could prove a disaster.
"Hey guys" Drimys said, a brimming smile resting on his face, "And lady" he added upon seeing Asher.
"I hope you don't mind me bringing a friend along" he said, still smiling.
"Not at all" Dave said with a smile that matched Drimys', while inwardly cursing everything he held dear and holy. This could go very wrong.
"I'm Dave, and these two idiots are Eddie and Asher" he said while his two friends were laughing for some unknown reason.
"Trachys, nice to meet you all" the man said, extending his hand.
He was a tall guy, a few years older than the rest of them, with tanned skin, a shaved head and a small, still growing beard.
"You're also a hunter, I presume?" Dave asked, trying to gauge at the man's situation.
"Yeah, been living here for the past few years though," he replied.
"What about you? What do you two do?" he proceeded to ask Asher and Dave.
This immediately backed them into a corner. After a few moments of looking dumbfounded, Eddie finally answered, telling half the truth.
"We worked on a field, beyond the Woodlands" he finally answered.
"Beyond the Woodlands eh? I heard there was a commotion up there. Something about a slave killing his master, I believe?" Trachys said, completely oblivious to the truth before him.
*Cough* *Cough*
Dave was dying on the inside, and it had started manifesting on the outside too. The meeting couldn't have gotten more wrong.
"Umm uhh no, I-I haven't heard a-anything about that, w-we left sometime ago…" Eddie replied, pale as a ghost, and stuttering.
The day was saved by the well timed arrival of the waitress, who asked Drimys and Trachys what they'll be getting. This gave Dave a few brief moments of respite, he could have kissed the waitress right then and there. After that, he was gonna be the one guiding the conversation. They couldn't allow another f*ckup.
"So where do you live, Trachys?" he asked, with a smile as fake as a 3 mark coin.
"Oh, here and there. No permanent residence at the moment, if you understand" the tall man replied, a sad smile painted on his face.
While Trachys' situation was bad, that meant he understood what it meant to lose everything. Dave decided to do the unthinkable. Something his usually meticulous and calculating self would never do in any other circumstance.
"You know, the three of us really understand your situation. Living with nothing, losing everything on a false promise, that the big city could provide for you. We really understand. That commotion up beyond the Woodlands, and in the mines a bit north of here was caused by our merry band. The guy and the gal beside me were slaves there, and we felt it would be more than fair to liberate them" Dave said, in a low, conspiring voice.
The table went silent. Eddie and Asher were now deathly pale, and unmoving, while the two hunters were at a loss for words, their jaws dropped to the ground. This silence prompted Dave to continue.
"Now, your situation isn't much different. Living in the gutter and working shit jobs every day, while eating trash can't be better than being enslaved. So I got an offer to make. You could live with us, and eat with us at the inn. Of course, everything will be provided. In exchange we want your silence. As for you Drimys, as long as you have no such problem, you could live where you already do of course, but I could help you find a good job" Dave added. The atmosphere at the table was still completely frozen. After several seconds, Drimys found the will to open his mouth.
"Why tell us all this? How do you trust us? And why help us?" he asked, still flabbergasted. There were many unsolved questions in his mind. He wasn't going to speak to anyone about this of course, he had no reason to, but he still didn't get it.
Eddie cut in, interrupting Dave. He wasn't confident, but this was the best he could come up with.
"We're brothers. All of us. Maybe not by blood, but we had to endure the same shit. We gotta have each other's backs" he said, in a low voice, with his eyes darting between the two hunters and the table. What he said was true, but he wasn't sure if he'd won them over.
"I was resolved to my faith, back in the mines. Digging, day in and day out, inhaling that ash everyday, I'd lost all hope. Now I'm learning the sword, I'm gonna learn to read and write. I'm gonna have a good life. We don't need to live like this. You two have everything to gain, and nothing to lose if you trust us" Asher spoke from the heart, with a lot more confidence than Eddie.
A few moments later, Drimys answer came:
"I'm not gonna turn you in, you idiots. We still have a lot of beers to drink" he said, almost angry he hadn't known about this earlier.
"You guys have some serious balls. Don't worry, my mouth is shut" Trachys said, before laughing his ass off.
All things considered, the night was a success. They sat until the break of dawn in the tavern, making jokes and drinking all night. They had two new comrades at their side now.