Chapter Two
The Arnham Inn was a small structure. It had been built during the Anarchic Era, a time many years ago when the kingdom had dissolved into chaos due to the premature death of the heirless monarch, like most of the buildings in the village. It was a crude building, made of damp, mossy logs of varying sizes. Some still had the bark on them. It appeared to lean to one side, threatening to collapse.
I thanked the guards and stepped inside. Almost immediately I was struck by how warm it was. It felt like stepping into a furnace. Everybody looked round, wondering who this newcomer was. The friendly banter that I had heard from outside was gone as I brushed the snow off myself and walked over to the bar, aware of the judgemental eyes of the locals scrutinizing me. I slumped on a stall and rested my head in my quivering hands.
“’Scuse me, sir.” I looked up. The owner of the inn was looking at me. “Can I get you anything?”
I thought for a moment. “Um, yes.”
“What, then?” The barkeep stared at me expectantly.
“Do you have any wine?” I enquired nervously.
“Hah! Wine!” The barkeep guffawed. I had no idea why he found this so hilarious. “This man wants wine!” Everybody in the inn laughed, except the hooded man sitting next to me, who sipped his beer in silence. “We’ve got beer, vodka, and water.”
“A glass of water?” I asked. The barkeep chuckled and mumbled something about lightweights as he walked over to a beaker of water.
I studied the man next to me. I couldn’t see much behind his hood, but he looked very conspicuous. He seemed to be aware of me looking at me, as he turned his head away slightly.
The barkeep slammed a pint glass of water down in front of me. I went to drink it, but a gloved hand stopped me.
“He spat in that.” Came a gruff voice from behind the hood of my mysterious neighbour. The barkeep grinned at him.
“You ruin all my fun, Guido.” He said, and walked off. Something clicked in my brain. I’d seen posters around town with this man’s name on them. Whoever this Count was, he obviously wanted this man dead. The posters said that the bounty on this man’s head was immunity to taxes.
Suddenly, my stool gave way and I collapsed onto the ground, much to the amusement of the people sitting around me. The man, Guido, helped me up.
“You OK?” He asked. I nodded meekly.
Suddenly, the laughter stopped. I looked round and saw some guards strolling through the door. Their armour clinked loudly as they moved.
“Shit.” Guido cursed. I looked at him.
“Why shit?” I was worried. I knew the answer perfectly well.
A patron stood and spoke to the guards, motioning to Guido and me. The guards nodded, and strode towards us purposefully.
“They’re coming over here.” I warned him, but he was already on his feet. He grabbed my arm and went to leave. “Wait, where are you taking me?” I asked, panicked.
The guards stopped us.
“Where are you going?” Asked one. He was tall and lanky, his piercing blue eyes staring at me from the slits in his helmet.
“I don’t know!” I blabbered. “This man just grabbed me and started dragging me off!”
Guido kicked me hard in the shin and I resisted the urge to cry out.
“You’re both going to die.” Said the guard matter-of-factly, as I heard his companion draw his sword. “Count’s orders.”
Everything after that happened incredibly quickly. Guido let go of me and grabbed the sword-bearing guard’s arm, just as the tall guard grabbed him by the throat. I don’t know what came over me then, but I bought my knee up into the tall guard’s groin with devastating force and he released Guido, buckling over. Guido twisted the other guard’s arm viciously and wrested the sword from his grasp. He swung round and sliced into my victim’s neck, throwing him to the floor with a torrent of blood spraying from his jugular. He then grabbed me again and dragged me out of the door, stabbing blindly at the survivor as he went. The sword embedded itself deeply in his leg, staying there as Guido released it.
I was blinded by the sunlight as I left the inn, but my vision quickly cleared and I saw another group of guards running towards us.
Behind me, the injured soldier stumbled from the inn, one of his arms dangling limply at his side and a sword in his leg and screamed “Kill them!” before collapsing onto the snow.
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