Minutes after Ryujin’s departure from the Etherian tavern
~
The battered door heading the tavern’s front barely had time to rest on its worn hinges before it was hurled open with a crash. The door warbled as it bounced off of the wall, vibrating soundly as it slowly worked its way back to a close though it would never find its home within the jamb. Instead, a body blocked its returning path and held it wide for the loud clanking figures that followed behind. Several well-armored bodies belonging to the knights of the Alerian Military entered the decrepit little hole in the wall in a single file line before fanning out to take several advantageous positions within the bowels of the tavern. Their loud metallic footfalls clomped on the hardwood floor loud enough to wake the slumbering brigands who previously made bed in their own unconscious drool, throwing them into a panic at the sheer amount of armed knights infiltrating the crude establishment. The bartender, unfazed by this intrusion, kept to his business of wiping down the bar counter.
The last to enter was a knight unlike the others. He walked with an arrogance completely unbefitting a fighter in service of the King, wearing a deliberate grin on his lips that often left people uneasy. His unruly blonde hair moved with each proud step he took forward while his sharp blue eyes, as cold as the deep ocean, surveyed the room, momentarily taking pointed interest in the sword gutting the support beam above his head. Unlike the helmeted others that accompanied him, the smooth features of his unscarred face were left open and on display for anyone who looked upon him. He was immediately recognized by some simply by his demeanor; those were the ones who immediately straightened up the moment they saw him enter the tavern. It was the others that he was concerned about, the ones who didn’t know him at first sight.
He would have to change that.
“Greetings, gentlemen – I’m sure you all have busy days of wallowing in your own, putrid filth ahead of you, but I was hoping to steal a moment of your time to ask a few questions,” he said with a most jubilant vibrancy. A couple of the more rugged patrons, who were likely only in Etheria for the night, protested loudly to being degraded by this pompous knight. Others, the fortunate souls who had heard the stories of this man, kept to themselves in their own little dank corners of the tavern. The well-spoken knight made sure to make eye contact with those who sought to rouse trouble from his measured words, identifying them and marking their faces in the forefront of his mind.
He exchanged a glance with a couple of his men and nodded toward the outspoken drunkards. The knights immediately moved to apprehend the sailors, against their wishes if you were to guess by all the thrashing and flailing, and lead them out of the tavern through the thoroughly guarded entrance.
“First, allow me to introduce myself. I am Gabriel d’Harcourt.” A portion of the remaining “more drunk than not” crowd tightened up as the name filled their incoherent heads. There were a handful of stories currently roaming about the lands of Alerar about the knight from the capital city. None of them spoke about him in terms of endearment.
“Ah, so you have heard of me. Good, then I shall skip the pleasantries. We’re tracking a particularly horrid werebeast that has been targeting our trade caravans from Raiaera. If the rumors my men have heard are to be taken as truth, we’re led to believe he’s made a new home here in Etheria. What have you heard?” Gabriel questioned.
“Ey, ya think he’s talkin ‘bout the…” started one of the bruised Black Sails’ members before his companion hushed him into silence with a series of shushes. This caught Gabriel’s immediate attention.
“You two are of the Black Sails Armada, is that correct?” The two nodded reluctantly to Gabriel’s posed inquiry. Their blackened boots and accessories were standard issue for the Armada, and stood out against the lower quality of equipment worn by the majority of the sailors in port. “Did you have something to say about the werebeast?”
“Aye. Well, I don’t know much ‘bout a wh-wh-werebeast, sir, but I did hear ‘bout a man-tiger from a couple of my mates. They saids they seen it hangin’ round the crags ta th’ north of here, jus’ off th’ trade road. Bit of nasty fella from what I hear. Ya’ think that’s th’ beast yer lookin’ for, sir?” His words were more lisped and slurred than before, possibly in part to the nasty lick he took to the side of the head if that egg popping out of it was any indication.
“I’m embarrassed I understood the most of that. Thank you, you’ve been most informative.” Gabriel turned his attention to the rest of the room before raising the question again. “Has anyone else heard anything about the werebeast or this “man-tiger” our dull-mouthed friend mentioned? No? Well, then, I’d like to say it’s been a pleasure but I don’t know if you would believe me. I most certainly wouldn’t. I hope I never have the privilege of seeing your fine faces again.”
With those less than kind words, Gabriel exited the tavern and proceeded to move to the fronts of the three men who were presented to him on the road. They were on their knees with their hands bound behind their backs, eyes looking up to the fair-haired knight who paced back and forth just a few feet before them. They didn’t pay much attention to the way his hand casually rested on the pommel of the sword sheathed at his side, or how his fingers delicately stroked at the worn grip of its handle like a child affectionately smothering their favorite toy.
“I can tell by the looks of you swine that you’re not from around here. Sailors of the high seas, if I had to take a guess,” Gabriel talked and reasoned mostly to himself as looked from one to the other. They growled and sputtered obscenities but the proud knight was deaf to them; he only had a mind for his own words. “What should I do with these three? To come to lands of Alerar and show such disrespect for the men who swore an oath to protect it? That’s unforgivable. In turn, I must repay such discourtesy with a punishment most unforgettable. Don’t you agree?”
The bound trio hollered and roared their disagreement but by the way Gabriel’s questions came out and the manner in which he spoke them made it seem like he wasn’t addressing them in that moment. Truthfully, he wasn’t.
“Of course,” he said with a darkened grin. “I knew you would.”
Gabriel turned to the knights hovering over their captives, his expression soured dramatically from the light-hearted one it previously displayed to a countenance chock full of disdain.
“Sever their heels. Slice their tendons in two and don’t stop until you hit bone. I want their bodies to be as lame as their brains. What good is a deckhand if they can’t walk the ship?” Gabriel paused then addressed the remainder of his men. “The rest of you are with me. Tonight, we ride for the north route in search of the beast. With any luck, we’ll have this all taken care of by daybreak.”
His face lightened once again as he regarded the three he sentenced moments ago.
“Right, well, we must be off. I hope your stay in Alerar is a pleasant one. It truly is beautiful this time of year. Farewell.”
Gabriel turned and walked toward his horse. No sooner than he turned his back, the air was filled with the horrific, pained screams of the three men as the backs of their feet were opened up. It was music—albeit, a haunting selection—to his ears.