Chapter 6

We met at a tavern called the Sea Wench after the arena for a few drinks. For the most part, we sat at our table in silence, drinking our ale with concern heavy on our minds. The fight between Urik and Falen frightened us… or at least me.

Hannah called for another round and we continued to sit there in solemn silence. All around us, people laughed and spoke. Some who recognized us as fighters introduced themselves and bade me luck in the fight. They didn't stay for long and moved on to their next cause for merriment.

Our silence was more stressful for the talkative Hunter. He downed his beer and slammed the mug on the table. "Damn it," he spat. "Why are we here mournin' as though our boy here was dead? We should be think' how we gunna beat this hulking brute."

"Hunter, please," Hannah said with a drooped head.

"No, fair miss, I ain't gunna be silent anymore." Hunter stood up and scanned the people in the tavern. He accosted a homely barmaid. "You, who do ya think will win the next fight?"

She shrugged him off and threateningly glared. "The brute, of course. Everyone here believes he will win. Now, if you don't need anything else, I have other duties to perform."

As she left, Hunter threw his arms in defeat. "I still think ya'll win if you get out of this mood."

"I agree," spoke an old man. He dragged a chair from another table and plopped down in front of us. He turned to Hunter and said: "Are you going to sit?"

"What do you want old fool?" Hunter sat and crossed his arms in contempt.

"Kradus! What are you doing here?" I asked him with respect. "Do you know Hunter?"

"Hunter? So that is what you are going by these days," he looked at Hunter with a fatherly remembrance. "Yes, I was his master. Taught him everything I knew; although, he wasn't so attentive then."

"Tell us more," Hannah pursued. "We haven't heard anything about Hunter. He likes to talk, but doesn't say anything about himself."

"Is that so? His past isn't one to be taken lightly and he never cared for people's pity." Hunter shifted in his chair and turned his back on us.

"Hunter, would you mind if we heard him?" I asked him.

"Do whatever you want?" he brooded.

"Do tell us, sir," Hannah begged. Her radiant smile drowned out the problems I had to face. A feeling struck my heart; a feeling I dreaded to feel.

The old swordsman laughed and spoke: "Alright, alright, I will tell you." He called the homely barmaid and asked for a drink. "I knew him since he was a babe, but not through happier means.

"His mother was a gypsy from Jelkala; the father, I do not know. I met her during my travels. She was being chased by ruffians who attacked her camp. To my knowledge, she was the only survivor. Hunter was less than a year old when she found me. Wounded as she was, it amazed me she had survived for so long. I gave her warmth from the cold night and treated her wounds the best I could. My efforts were all in vain. She did not last the night.

"Before her untimely end, she said to me, 'Take my son and treat him as your own. This, you will pledge and, even in death, I will hold against you.' I agreed to her terms, strange as they were, and she slept in as much peace as anyone can have. Now, I didn't know what to do with the babe, but I kept my promise.

"I could not continue my travel to Yalen for the tournament, and returned to my wife in Suno. Together with my grown children, we raised him. When he was old enough, I began to take him with me to the tournaments as I did my other sons and taught him the basics of weaponry. He was a quick study compared to my children, but couldn't handle a blade. It must've been in his mother's blood, but his fingers worked quickly when handling a bow.

"Now, I am primarily a swordsman, but I couldn't let this boy waste his talents focusing on something he wouldn't be great at. I hired a khergit to teach him how to fire properly and how to fight on horseback. You should've seen this boy challenge the king's professional archers. He humiliated a good lot of them.

"As he neared his adult years, he discovered how different he was from his brothers and left us for two years to find his roots. I don't know what happened as I didn't ask him when he came back."

"Why are you two here?" Hannah asked.

"For the excitement, of course," Kradus said. He placed a reassuring hand on Hunter's shoulder. "But, enough of the past, we have something else to worry about."