As S led them down a corridor A spoke to him
'What will happen to our friend?'
'That will be determined if he is good enough to become an apprentice to the master, he has a fair amount of raw talent in him, even I could sense that.'
He turned down another corridor and stopped in front of a door,
'This is your room, all three of you will sleep in here. The wash room is that door down there.' He indicated to a door half open with some tendrils of steam snaking around it.
'If you are hungry the mess is straight down here left and through the big double doors. I suggest that you get some sleep, training begins in the morning. You shall be given new clothes and if you wish you may keep your weapons you will be given new ones also.'
At that he stalked off down the corridor.
'Well' murmured C 'I reckon that I could do with some sleep, I don't know about you two?'
'It has been a long day, I suppose that I am a bit shattered' spoke up A.
'Ha well I guess I could do with something to eat, what about you two, do you want anything?'
But it was to late, the other two had dropped off their stuff at the foot of the beds and gone to sleep before the heads had even hit the pillow.
'Talk to yourself M.'
He walked out of the door and quietly shut it after him, he walked past the washroom then thought better and walked in. He stripped off and got into one of the tubs that had been put in the floor. How hot? He thought as he lowered himself in.
Pretty soon he was relaxed and felt as though he had been asleep for hours, he got out and dried off.
He picked up his clothes and looked at them, he could do with some fresh ones he thought as he put them back on, and wandered out and down to the mess.
He was just buttoning up his top collar when someone came out of the big double doors near horizontally 5 feet off the floor.
'Ah right then, a fight must be ensuing' he thought to himself 'this should be interesting'
As he walked in the site that met him was sheer devastation.
Tables were upturned, benches had been smashed, and mostly over someone's head he thought by the look of things. This he could verify because he could see one huge chap pick up a bench and actually smash it over someone's head.
He picked up a chair, dusted it off and sat down on it, and settled down to watch the big man methodically work his way round the room while everyone else ran, lay or generally stood there fighting or in shock until someone smacked them one in the face.
'Well' M thought to himself 'I am not going to get any food sitting here all day'
He picked his way through the carnage of bodies, benches and little pools of blood.
He walked till he reached what he assumed was the serving hatch, he knocked on the door and the door opened.
He ducked as he sensed a fist flying toward the back of his head. As he ducked he reached up, grabbed the arm and came up quick and bought the arm down on his shoulder. He heard a crack as it landed just right and then let go as he felt the person whose arm it was go slack as he fell to floor in what he assumed was a dead faint.
'Hiya, how are you' he said as a face peered round the edge of the door 'Could I possibly bother you for some food please.'
The person behind the door motioned him in and shut the door as the carnage continued outside.
'You must be new here.'
He nodded 'How did you guess?'
'Your clothes.'
The woman who was speaking was short, not fat but merely plump and extremely pleasant, and like most of the cooks in the inns he had known, ruddy faced.
'What can I do you for anyway, deary.'
'Anything so long as it tastes nice, not that you should have that trouble, I bet everything you and your crew make tastes nice.'
'Oh, you are a one, come with me and let Old B1 sort you out with something.'
She sat him down at a well-scrubbed table, and began piling a plate with meat, potatoes and vegetables and put some gravy on it.
'O my, that looks so tempting, but you needn't have put that much for me.
'Oh don't worry' she said as the door suddenly flew open and someone came hurtling in.
M looked up from taking a big mouthful of meat and veggies. The huge bulk of a man stood in the doorway and looked around until he saw M.
'You, you broke my mates arm.' He hollered at him
M sat there slowly chewing his mouthful of meat.
'Well aren't you going to even answer me, or just sit there like a simpleton?'
M still sat there and took another chunk of meat, and started to eat that as well.
The man came stamping over and stood before him, looking down on him.
'Well what do have to say for yourself?'
'Nothing.'
The big man suddenly looked very disturbed then looked down back at him.
M stood up very quickly, so quick that the man giant stood no chance, instead he gently slid to the floor and M sat back down again.
The cook came back up to him and said
'What was it you just did to him? I hardly saw you move, I never saw anyone move so fast.
'All I thought was I wished I was faster or he was slower, then got up and smacked in the face with that pot sitting there in the middle of the table. Obviously I must have got something right cause he never saw me or he would have blocked me.'
He finished his food and said his thanks to the cook, then wandered out into the mess.
What a very apt name, it was a mess as well, no one was left standing and no table was left upright. Suddenly a dozen men burst through the big double doors and M looked up at them and winked slowly at them, whilst cracking his knuckles. They moved out of his way, as he walked out as he did so he heard one of them say
'Did he do all of this? If he did I am keeping out of his way in the future.'
As he heard that he turned round and shouted back to them
'And tell that big halfbrain in the kitchen to mind his manners in the future, or I may not be so kind the next time.'
As he walked away he heard someone yell that Big S had been knocked out in the kitchen and felt all eyes on him as he walked away and turned down the corridor.
'Well' he thought to himself 'that has made my first impression on people I wonder what they will think of me now?
He got back to the room that they had been allocated and wandered in and sat on the edge of the bed, he took of his top and lay down, pretty soon he was asleep.