Chapter 3: The most important meal of the day
(Quick little note, I’ve changed the name of Melerin’s race from Dragonborn to Drake-Ul)
Athaea was roused by the sound of knocking and light shining in through the cracks in her little wooden home. It felt so familiar, but odd at the same time.
“Athaea, wake up, we’ve got work,” called a soft, lighthearted voice. “The chores won’t do themselves.”
“Lila, go away, let me sleep,” she grumbled, pulling the sheets over her head.
“Lila?” The voice began to change. It became deep, rough, and dark, “Do I sound like someone named Lila?”
“Wh-what?” Athaea rose from her pillow and rubbed her eyes. Her cozy wooden shack changed into a small inn room. More knocking came from the door to her room.
“Athaea, wake up, it’s nearly midday,” the Drake-Ul poked his head through the door. “Get ready to go; I’ll cook up some breakfast.”
“Spirits forgive!” She pulled herself from the covers and began tossing on her cloak.
The smell of cooking eggs and meat came wafting into Athaea’s room from the common area. The sizzling sound of a skillet was clear to her, even through the door. She fastened her cloak’s buckle around her neck and headed out the door, grabbing her staff as she walked out.
Melerin was sitting by the fire pit in the common room. He held the skillet and a wooden spoon and was cooking the eggs over the fire. Goat’s legs were roasting around the edge of the fire pit, it smelled as if Cuin, chef of the gods, had cooked it himself.
Athaea walked over to the fire pit and sat in the chair across the pit from Melerin. Neither of them said a word, they just sat without even exchanging a glance. The Drake-Ul’s silvery eyes sat glued to the sizzling eggs.
The elf girl opened her mouth, but he spoke first.
“I hope you don’t mind scrambled eggs,” his smile was as warm as the fire they were gathered around.
“Scrambled eggs are fine, it all smells amazing,” Athaea was starving, she hadn’t had a real meal in days.
“Good, that’s about the only way I know how to cook eggs,” he chuckled a bit, “I’m not so good at making breakfast meals. Dinner is more my thing.”
“I’m sure it’s fine, Melerin.” They both could feel the awkwardness of their horrific small talk.
“Since we’re going to be traveling and camping together, just Rin is fine.”
“Well then, thank you Rin.”
“Of course,” he scooped up some eggs and dropped them down on a plate, and he grabbed one of the goat’s legs as well. “Here, we need to leave once we’ve eaten. I’ve already packed what we need.”
Athaea grabbed the plate and started scarfing down the food. She was sure it was delicious, but she was eating too fast to really taste it.
“Alright,” Rin was savoring his food a bit more than she was. “For us to be a team, I need to know what you can do. So lemme hear it, how good are you as a fighter?”
“I’m a warlock, remember? I’m better with magic than a blade.”
“No,” he finished swallowing a hunk of goat’s leg. “No magic, I don’t trust it. Too dangerous. Too unpredictable.”
“You’re a paladin, right? You use magic too, that’s rather hypocritical.” Athaea raised her voice in a bit of shock.
“Only to protect,” Rin remained calm, almost stoic. “Never as an offensive measure, only to defend myself or my partners. And even then, it’s only used as a backup, I trust an arm more than a tome.”
Athaea collected her thoughts and took a deep breath.
“I’m decent with daggers, bows, and my staff. But I’d prefer not to use my staff as a bludgeon.”
Rin finished his food, stood up, and handed Athaea a leather backpack.
“Use a bow for now, I have a spare one. You’ll use magic if and when I tell you that you can.” He began walking to his room.
“That’s not fair, I’m much better with magic! We’ll be safer if-“
“There will be no magic unless I specifically say you can use it and you will have to deal with that if you want me to help you!” His voice raised slightly and his face hardened. There was silence for a moment, then his expression softened and he smiled at her. “Not for now, at least. With time, I may come to trust you and allow you the free use of magic.”
“Fine,” she huffed.
Rin walked into his room and shut the door behind him.
“I thought he said we were leaving,” Athaea whispered in confusion.
She looked around the common room, staring at the wood. It was quiet compared to last night. No singing drunks, only the crackle of the fire.
A large, portly dwarf in a roughly thrown together outfit walked up and grabbed the third goat’s leg. Athaea returned from her thoughts and remembered his name was Arthur. Grease from the meat collected in his long, braided, black beard. He glanced at her and she quickly averted her gaze to keep from looking like she was staring.
“Doncha worry lass,” Arthur said, his mouth full of meat. “Boss’ record is nearly perfect. Never lost a partner so long as I’ve known him.”
“That’s a comfort,” she sighed.
“He’s a good man, horrible jokes, but good none the less.”
Athaea and Arthur sat for a while, the dwarf pigging out on the leg of meat. Thoughts raced around through her head. She’d never really expected to leave the tribe, much less go on an adventure across the kingdom hunting a necromancer. Was it going to be fun? Was she going to be miserable? She didn’t know what to expect. Was she going to have enough to pay Melerin? What was she going to do if she didn’t have enough? Was she going to have to become a tavern wench? At least if she did, she’d have something to come back to after this adventure was over. She always thought that if she left the tribe, it would be to become a captain of one of the ships that they would occasionally trade with, maybe her crew would treat her with more respect than the elves did.
“Ready to go?” The rough voice of the Drake-Ul entered the room, tearing her away from her thoughts.
“Aye, I was just waiting on you,” she stood up and turned to face him. He was covered in the armor from his room, and he looked like a mountain that wouldn’t budge for the gods themselves. His shield rested on his back and on his hip hung a huge silver hammer that was accented with flecks of red. “You look prepared for a war.”
“I’d rather have it on and not need it, than not have it and need it.”
“Don’t you have scales? Armor seems unnecessary.”
“Ah yes, I’ll run headlong at a fireball throwing bastard in my skivvies, that’s a great plan.”
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”
“I do, but it was a funny concept.” Rin laughed as if he’d just told the best joke of the decade. As he laughed, she noticed a few of the red flecks floating gently to the ground. She realized that was dried blood, she suddenly realized this might be even less pleasant than she thought.
“I warned you miss, horrible jokes,” Arthur spoke up, twirling the bone in his fingers.
“Arthur, just the dwarf I wanted to see. I’m going on a job, same rules as usual, you get all the profits while I’m gone,” Rin said as he hoisted a backpack onto his left shoulder.
“Aye hoss, just leave it to me,” the dwarf saluted his boss lazily and headed down the hall to the tavern. Rin tossed Athaea a bow and quiver.
“That should be good for now, if we need more arrows, we’ll pick some up in the next town. Now let’s get going.”
“Alright,” Athaea tossed the quiver over her shoulders and walked over to him. He headed for a door on the opposite side of the room from the tavern hallway and opened it to let in the bright shining light of the day. “I haven’t told you where we’re going yet!”
“You can tell me when we get to the outskirts of town, there’s only one actual entrance and exit to the town.” He didn’t wait for her to say anything before stepping out into the street. “And Arthur! Save some alcohol for the patrons!”
“I have to tell you the same thing every day!”
“You’ve got me there, you bearded bastard.” Rin chuckled as he shut the door.
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