For quite some time, the two talked. Adam realized there was no apparent danger in the old man, just eagerness for a long conversation. Once he began to recount his story, Dionysius detailed all of his seventy-two years of life. How he had grown up on a southern farm, dreaming of becoming a knight, his frustrating attempts to go to the capital, and his long-lasting love that endured until three years before that stormy night they were in. His dear Anna had passed away of old age in the bed where the couple had slept together for over forty years. The old man's days were spent tending to his garden and doing household chores, along with the occasional guests who rarely showed up.
Adam told him about his father and his golden days in the royal guard, but lamented the constant pressure for perfection placed on him as the firstborn until the boy's adolescence, when the man couldn't recover from a severe flu that had swept through the entire family. His mother and sister recovered as well as he did, but Adam's father suffered more and more for weeks until he took his last breath. Not knowing exactly how to hide the truth about what happened after that, Adam lied and said he had left them with his aunt on another farm nearby and set off for a better life up north.
The rice was seasoned with pieces of chicken, carrot, and onion. The smell was as inviting as that of coffee. Dionysius explained the heating system of the steel plate, which ran through the wall and kept half in the kitchen and half in the fireplace; the crackling noises were from the wood around it heating up along with the plate. After they finished dinner, Dionysius hurried to wash all the dishes, placed them in a cauldron filled with water, and instructed the boy to go upstairs.
"The key is in the door, as you might have noticed. You can lock yourself in the room, no problem. But try to rest tonight; calm follows the storm," the old man bid the boy farewell, turned his back to Adam, and began to clean the dishes.
The storm was raging outside, but all the exits of the house were sealed with boards and planks. Lightning bolts were now appearing at intervals of a few seconds, relentless. Adam went up to his room, the only room on the second floor of the inn that was lit by a candle. After closing and locking the door, the boy peered at the town through a crack between two boards on the window. Distant lights illuminated the houses, the rain fell fast and fierce. The boy took a deep breath and rubbed his hands together to warm them; it was getting cold. The room was half the size of the fireplace area, with only a desk, a small bed, and a wardrobe taking up all the space. The floor seemed like a hastily laid jumble of uneven planks. On the bed, the mattress leaked straw through a tear in the blue fabric covering it, and there was no pillow, only a crimson-red wool blanket. The sword, scabbard, and belt were laid out in the middle of the mattress. Adam took the scabbard and drew his sword. The bluish steel, strong at the edges and translucent in the center, seemed to radiate magic, as if its core were living ice. It was best to keep it close. The boy slid the sword under the bed and hung the scabbard with the belt on the empty dark oak desk next to the door. After straightening out the blanket, Adam lay down with his head facing the window, so his feet pointed towards the door. If anything happened, he would be ready. His muscles relaxed as his body warmed up, and it didn't take long for him to lose consciousness.
When he woke up, distant voices were conversing. Dionysius was downstairs talking to another man. Adam's head spun as he quickly got up from the bed. The rain had stopped, and rays of light were streaming through the cracks in the window. Barefoot, the boy walked carefully and opened the door.
"You must be mistaken, Sheriff Perrot, I assure you the lad is a good person," Dionysius seemed to be trying not to speak too loudly. Adam walked closer to the stairs, trying to listen better. "He was out in the rain yesterday, he's a military man's son, a calm fellow."
"Calm and deadly. I'll take him, where is he?" A deep, powerful, and loud voice... the barbarian from the day before must be behind this. He needed to get out. Just as cautiously as before, Adam walked back into the room, closed and locked the door.