The Bleak Walker

He entered an Inn with his luggage. People’s eyes stared at him, but he continued. Rounding around an uneven table, placing his wooden box on top. A servant with cherry-like hair stood next to him, she eyed him, eyes scanning his clothes.

“Anything I can get you?” She said, her tray on her hands. “Must be quite the travel, Sir.”

“Ale,” he said. “Just ale and I want to be left alone.”

“Got it.”

The servant skipped behind the Inn. She took a pewter cup filled with ale and handed it to him. The lamps above the ceiling shone the Inn. Smokes from the pipes of the men and women rose. They wore adventuring clothes and it was a scene out of a dream. They wore strange artifacts and each man here could probably wrestle with the creatures outside of the city.

The tables were brown oaks, but some of them were uneven, and he had to adjust the pewter cup on his table. Behind the counter, there was meat being dried and a barrel of coal. A barrel-shaped stone filled with hot coal was used to roast the butchered venison. The smoke was led to a strange metal tubing that leads up the Inn. People were grunting and wheezing as they inhaled the smoke. There was a mixture of alcohol and roasted meat on the air. The scent was overwhelming in a way that lightens the mood. Weary travelers were welcome in the Inn. Everyone knew that it was a glory to reach this city.

A troubadour struck the strings of his instrument. Men started singing while he started to work on the mortar and pestle. A man, who had a gash on his left arm, started to his table, slumping on one of the stools, showing his gashed arm.

“You are healer, correct? Can your medicine heal me?”

Nolan assumed a professional demeanor. He put a hand on his chin and examined the wound. He nodded, turned to his wooden box, and took out two round-bottomed flasks. “Drink this.”

He took a drink. His face crumpled. “This is.”

“Bitter,” he said. “But it works, friend. Take that and you will have that gash gone by the time I finish my drink.” He took a sip of his ale.

The man grinned. “Aye, good healer, what brings you to the city?”

“Do I need a reason?”

He raised his hands. “Not prying, just asking, a man of skill or a lucky one can come here. Or perhaps are you a High-Born carried by Weavers of Power and got here?” He looked at his outfit. “But I know that worn look on you. Not Weaver could be in this city with that kind of look. You smell of earth and swamp, friend. Alas, the women here like that, it makes you brave, strange women really. Do not bite too much, or you’ll found yourself a woman who’d hound you for days.”

“Don’t you dare,” a voice said inside Nolan’s head. “You don’t need anyone. I can be yours when you wish it. Please, do not find another girl, who might give you trouble. Nolan, you know this already, but you have a talent for finding obsessed women.”

“I understand,” Nolan collected the round-bottomed flask. “But it seems to me friend, that you have bitten more than you can chew.”

The man smiled bitterly. “There was a woman who I thought would be easy picking. See, there’s another Inn located not far from here, but she was a wonderful woman, beautiful, tall, and taller than I. So I thought, hey, I want to bed her, and when I tried to. By the Heavens, she rained down hell on me, cursing my father and mother, and hounded me until I found a haven. Listen, Friend, do not believe the lies that this is a city filled with submissive women! It was all a trap!”

Those who heard of the man’s despair hooted at him. They laughed out loud while the rest of the women inside the room sneered and scoffed at him. The man flushed and snorted. He folded his arms as if pouting. It was strange for a man to pout like that openly.

“Bah! Men,” Tania sneered.

Nolan sipped on his ale, turned his attention to his wooden backpack and made that the compartments were nice and orderly.

“So are you staying for the Summit?”

“The Summit?” Nolan raised a brow. “What’s that about?”

He nodded. “You were traveling, so you must not have heard of the High Lord and High Ladies meeting in this summit. The most powerful men and women of the lands, meeting for the sake of mapping out their borders. We have the Dragon’s Monarch, the Valkyrie’s of Forlorn Gap, and finally the High Scholars of Shallow Valley.”

“I have heard of these people. All the nations are either side with them or loathe them. Looks like this place it would be a troublesome affair.”

“The Adventurer King demands peace. He would face them and they know that all of the Adventuring Kin would follow the banner of the Adventurer King.”

“I can see that. But that is not my problem. I am only a Healer, and I am no Adventurer.”

“True,” the man said. “But if the Adventurer King demands his peace. Then these people will understand that his demand will be met. They will have no arrogance in this city. Friend, hope that they don’t start anything or you will get involved.”

His warning sounded out as a threat more than a warning. Nolan eyed him for a second, before turning his eyes back at the compartments of his box.

“They are here!” a man shouted from the doorway. “The Three Rulers are here!”

Everyone stood out and rushed towards the door in a hurry. The man who was talking to Nolan moved as well. The Innkeeper and the servant stretched their legs to the door in a hurry.

“Not going to watch?”

“No. I’ll act if anything happens. We are foreigners and I should know better to meddle with the affairs of people. I would be a fool if I didn’t learn a lesson.”