“Gather information in a tavern?”
The look on Enyo’s face was perplexed, and her head was tilted ever so slightly, as though she were trying to figure out why they would gather information in a tavern, of all places.
“A lot of different people like to visit taverns during the evening and night to enjoy a cold beverage and good company. Alcohol is a great inebriator. People who are drunk are more willing to let slip secrets they might have otherwise kept.”
Enyo nodded. “That makes sense. Okay, should we travel to a tavern now?”
“Let’s walk around a bit first,” he suggested. “Get a feel for the city. The tavern won’t be crowded until later tonight, so there’s no point in going there now.”
Enyo agreed, and together, they set off. Holding hands to keep from getting separated, they moved through the crowd of pedestrians. Jacob imagined that anyone seeing them would just assume they were a young couple… although Enyo’s fully cloaked figure might have made them wonder about her. Still, it was better than letting everyone see her face. They’d be more liable to recognize her should that happen.
While the town was quite lively, the longer Jacob walked, the more aware he became that something was wrong. Some of the shops were closed. A few of the houses were boarded up, as if the residents had moved out. Tension hung in the atmosphere, light, almost unnoticeable, but there nonetheless.
“Is it just me, or is everyone here afraid of something?” asked Enyo.
So, she sensed it too? I’m not surprised.
Dark Clansmen were much better at sensing the emotions of others, especially negative emotions. Rumor had it that negative feelings were their sustenance. This was just a rumor, of course, but the rumor had originally sprung from a kernel of truth.
“They are.” Jacob glanced at the sky. The sun was beginning to set. “Come on. Let’s find a tavern.”
Jacob chose a tavern located far from the main road, a place called The Brawling Bar. He didn’t know what sort of idiot would name a tavern that. Still, the atmosphere was decent, the food smelled all right, and best of all, there were already dozens of people getting merrily wasted.
Most of the seats were taken. Jacob wove through the tables, Enyo’s hand in his, until he finally found a place to sit at the counter. There was just one problem.
There was only one seat.
He sighed.
“Enyo,” he whispered in her ear. “Please follow my lead, okay?”
Looking more confused than ever, Enyo nodded regardless. “Of course. Isn’t that what I’ve been doing?”
Jacob offered her a pained smile. “Yes, but this time, we’re going to do something embarrassing.”
Enyo didn’t say anything to that, perhaps because she couldn’t. Before she even had time to so much as blink, Jacob sat down, and then, without ceremony, pulled her onto his lap. Enyo squealed. Her reaction caused several men to cheer.
Pigs.
Pulling the hood from her ear, Jacob whispered, “remember. Play along.”
Her cheeks were still red. Enyo was clearly still embarrassed. If what she had told him about living in seclusion was true, then she probably wasn’t used to someone acting so intimate with her. Despite this, she nodded and did her best to play along.
Jacob sucked in a breath when she squirmed on his lap, likely to get comfortable. He wrapped an arm around her waist, steadied himself, and then looked at the bartender, a bald man with a handlebar mustache and dark eyes.
“Barkeep, get me two ales.”
The barkeep smirked. “Sure thing,” he said, grabbing two mugs, which he filled with frothing ale and set in front of them.
Wrinkling his nose at the scent, Jacob gave Enyo one of the mugs and took the other for himself.
“Well,” he said, clinking his mug against hers. “Cheers.”
The bitter taste of ale assaulted his tongue, and the slow burn of alcohol poured down his throat. Jacob didn’t like to drink. Most would think that strange since he owned a bar, but the bar had merely been something he had created to occupy his time. He never liked the scent or taste of alcohol.
Judging by the way she was coughing after a single sip, Enyo had never drunk alcohol before in her life.
“Too strong?” he asked.
“Too bitter,” she replied.
“Yeah, ale doesn’t taste very good, no matter where it comes from.” Jacob took another swig. “I guess some people will drink anything to get shit-faced.”
Jacob drained about a third of his mug before setting it down. Enyo set hers down sooner. His companion jolted as he placed a hand on her thigh and began rubbing it.
“W-what are you doing?”
“We’re pretending to be a young couple who are getting ready for a night of fun by drinking the night away,” Jacob said before tenderly nibbling on her ear, causing the girl to squeal. “No one will think twice about us if we play the part. Actually, once people start getting really drunk, I imagine a few will even come up to us… to ask if I’d like to share you.”
“S-share?!”
“Don’t worry. Nothing is going to happen to you. However, we need to draw in the dumb ones who are stupid enough to ask such a question. They’re the ones who will be willing to part with important secrets, like why everyone is afraid of the Phantasma Forest.”
“I-I see,” Enyo murmured. “That’s pretty crafty of you.”
“I learned this from a good friend during my travels.”
His words seemed to settle her down, or it could have been the alcohol, which she had grabbed and took a big swig of. Coughing and sputtering in surprise, she eventually settled down and began taking tentative sips.
Jacob would’ve chuckled at her. The fact that she couldn’t drink was surprisingly cute. His attention was elsewhere, sadly.
He observed the room, watching as the patrons laughed, sang, danced, and flirted with the barmaids. Jacob wanted to measure them all. He wanted to know which ones would be the most likely to come up to them.
Several yards away was one brave patron. A man whose face was so red he looked ready to pass out. At another table, several fools had slung their arms around each other and were singing off-key bar songs. There were indeed plenty of potential idiots who he could glean the information they needed from.
An anomaly made itself known out of the corner of his eye. Across the room, sitting at a round table, were several Terrasole Knights. Made visible by their distinct armor, they sat around the table, hunched over as they drunk from their mugs and eyed the other patrons in disgust. All of them looked like they had something really large and painful shoved up their rectum.
It was the one in the middle who had most of his attention, and how could he not? That resplendent silver armor, the sleek shoulder pauldrons, and the curved helmet with horns that curled around to the back, it was the easily recognizable armor of a paladin in the Drakon Brigade. Whoever this group was, they were much higher ranked than the fools who’d interrogated him the night he met Enyo.
A group of people finally came up to them. Jacob forced his attention away from the knights and onto the three who’d stumbled over. They were about as drunk as they came. He could smell the alcohol on their breath, and so could Enyo, apparently, as she wrinkled her nose when the three breathed on them. Then again, maybe she was merely put off by how ugly their stained teeth were.
“Looks like someone’s gonna get lucky tonight!” the man in the middle crowed.
“Remember, play along,” Jacob whispered. Enyo nodded and, in a louder voice, Jacob said, “of course I am. The wife’s away visiting family, I finally have some time off, and the lady here says she’s been looking for someone who can show her a good time. I intend to fulfill that wish in full.”
Perhaps acting on his words, Enyo smiled at the trio of men as she took a sip from her mug. She almost coughed. However, she held it in this time and took another, larger sip.
The man hollered with laughter. “I wish you luck, boyo, bu
t don’t you think you’re a wee young to please such an exquisite creature? Why not let someone with a bit more experience have a whirl?”
Barely keeping his disgust in check, Jacob smiled as he replied. “Not on your life, old man.”
“Ha ha ha! Suit yourself brat! I still think she’d be better off with me!”
Jacob grinned, even though he felt like decking this man in the face. “Why don’t you three pull up a seat? I’ll buy you all drinks.”
Grinning, the three men sat down in a couple of seats that had been emptied a while ago. “Now there’s an offer we can’t refuse!”
Grabbing the barkeep’s attention, Jacob had him make three more mugs of ale for the men. He then chatted with the unruly trio. By using a combination of small talk, subtle flattery, and more alcohol, he was able to keep them talking. As the evening wore on, the trio became even more inebriated.
Enyo was also getting quite drunk. She must have been nervous, sitting on his lap and having these men talk about her. He almost wished she would’ve stood up and beat the crap out of these three. That would have ruined their purpose for being here, however.
He had to respect the girl. She was a trooper to put up with this shit. If it had been him, he would’ve wailed on these three already. Actually, he wanted to do that right now—too bad it was Enyo’s right and not his.
“You know, I don’t think I’ve seen you in this bar before,” the mouthpiece said before taking a swig of his drink.
“Course not,” Jacob replied, matching the man gulp for gulp. “If I came here when the missus was home, she’d be furious.”
“Ha ha ha! Yeah, women are always like that!”
The men all cheered. Jacob grimaced as he took yet another swig of his drink. Setting the mug down, he leaned over. Still sitting on his lap, Enyo wrapped her arms around his neck and giggled. The scent of alcohol was thick on her breath.
“But it sure has been weird around here, hasn’t it?” Jacob smoothly changed the subject. “Everyone’s been acting so scared.”
The mouthpiece wiped his mouth with his hand and shrugged. “Considering what happened to poor Alfred and his family, I don’t blame them. Mutilated beyond recognition they were, or so I hear.”
Mutilated? Sounds like this family was murdered. Could monsters be the cause for this?
“I heard that monsters have been coming out of Phantasma Forest,” Jacob pressed.
Nodding, the mouthpiece said, “so the rumor goes. Got a friend who used to work in a mill by that accursed forest. He says there’s been strange growling at night—even claims to have seen hunched figures crawling out of the forest!”
Hunched figures?
That didn’t tell him much. Any number of monsters had figures that matched this vague description: drawgers, kelpies, undead… off the top of his head, Jacob could list at least two dozen. Still, it did let him know one thing. Monsters of some kind were coming out of the forest. They only came at night, which narrowed down what kind they were. Only certain monsters acted during the nights. It didn’t tell him what kind, but he would find out eventually once they traveled into the forest.
Now, I just need to find a map…
“W-woah!” Jacob nearly squawked when Enyo slumped against him. Her body sagged, forcing him to tighten his hold around her waist. He expected her to be unconscious because of how slack she was, limp like a soggy noodle, but then she gained her second wind and giggled as her hold around his neck tightened.
“Naughty boy, you,” she slurred against his neck. “Touching my butt like that. Hic! You’re so naughty.”
Great… she’s drunk. Maybe I should have kept her from drinking so much…
“Looks like your lass is ready for a night of fun,” the mouthpiece said.
“Seems like it.” Grunting, Jacob scooped Enyo into his arms, making her giggle again as she kicked her feet. He almost lost his composure when she sniffed his neck. He barely reigned it in when she began licking his neck. “If you gentlemen would excuse me, I’ve got a lady to please.”
The men guffawed and waved him off. Jacob asked the bartender for the keys to a room, which he got after paying the man—which was a lot harder than it seemed since his hands were filled with a beautiful girl.
“Your room is on the second floor, fifth door on the left,” the barkeep said.
“Got it.”
Jacob wove through the tables, ignored the catcalls, and made it to the stairs.
“Where are… hic… where are we going, Jacob?” asked the drunk Enyo.
“To our room,” Jacob grunted.
“Are we gonna have some fun?”
“Nope. We’re going to rest, and you are going to sober up.”
“Blegh! No fair. I wanna have fun.” Grinning, Enyo leaned up and kissed his cheek. “I want to have fun with you.”
“That’s the alcohol talking.”
“No, it isn’t. I really do love—hic!”
The stairs creaked as he wandered up them, moving slowly because Enyo was kicking her legs back and forth. He almost lost his balance. When he reached the top, he went to the door that he’d been directed to and opened. He had to carry Enyo over his shoulder as he wandered inside. This made her squeal and giggle.
“Bad, Jaco—hic! You're supposed to carry me like a princess!”
“And you’re not supposed to drink so much,” Jacob said dryly as he walked inside, kicking the door closed behind him.
“Are we alone?” Durandal asked. “Yes! We’re finally alone! Damn, son! Well done! I never thought you had it in you to get the lass drunk!”
“Shut up, Durandal!” Jacob snapped. “I didn’t get her drunk! She got herself drunk!”
“Drunk! Drunk! Drunk!” Enyo cheered, giggling and hiccupping.
“You are getting some tonight, you mustang you!” Durandal crowed.
“Getting some!” Enyo parroted.
“Awww! Would you two shut up already?!” Jacob shouted, though it did little good.
It looked like that saying he’d heard from Freya really was true.
In order to acquire something, something of equal value must be given.
I really hate it when she’s right, he silently lamented.
***
Enyo woke up with a headache. It felt like someone had smashed her head in with a warhammer, and then a horde of ogres had trampled on it for good measure. The spot around her temples and the front of her head was pounding. There was pressure around her nose as though someone was squeezing it. She didn’t know what to make of this strange phenomenon, but it wasn’t a pleasant feeling.
Shifting around, Enyo realized that she was lying on a bed, and that someone had tucked her in. She was no longer wearing her boots. Wiggling her toes, Enyo luxuriating in the feeling of freedom. Back when she’d been living in her secluded mansion, she’d often gone barefoot. Her chest also felt lighter, which made her realize that her bodice had been taken off as well, though she still had her shirt and pants on.
A groan escaped from her parted lips as she sat up. Her throat was parched, and her tongue felt thick and dry. She smacked her lips, but that did little to help.
“You’re finally awake,” Jacob said.
Startled, Enyo looked around before finally spotting her companion, lying on the ground, on his back, and staring up at the ceiling. His hands were tucked underneath his head. He seemed to be using them as pillows.
“Jacob? Where are we?”
“We’re in one of the rooms inside of the tavern,” Jacob said. “I carried you up here after you ended up drinking too much.”
Heat rose to Enyo’s cheeks. She had gotten drunk? And in front of Jacob no less? That was just… she couldn’t believe she’d done something so… so embarrassing! She couldn’t believe she had let her own anxiety lead to her imbibing so much alcohol.
“I-I’m sorry about that,” she murmured.
“It’s okay.” Jacob sat up. “You were nervous, right? I’m sorry for putting you in that
position.”
Enyo shook her head. “No, it’s okay. I know that you were doing that because it’s easier to get information that way. I don’t mind. In fact, I’m glad I could be of help. It was just…”
“Embarrassing?” Jacob offered when she trailed off.
“Yes,” Enyo admitted, and she could feel the blush rising to her cheeks.
“I understand. I was pretty embarrassed myself.”
“You were?”
Jacob had acted so confidently when he was talking to those three men that she would have never guessed he was nervous. The way he’d spoken, how he’d stroked her thigh as if she were a lover, and the borderline arrogance in his words as he told the trio his made-up story, it made her believe that he thought nothing of what they’d been doing.
A self-deprecating smile appeared on Jacob’s face, barely lit by the sparse trickle of moonlight coming in through the window. “It would be hard not to feel self-conscious in a situation like that.”
“I guess.”
His words made her relieved. It was good to know that she hadn’t been the only one who was nervous. It also let her know that Jacob wasn’t experienced with romance, just like her, which was also a relief in its own way.
Enyo’s bladder made itself known, and Enyo, feeling her cheeks heat up once more, sought Jacob’s attention. “Ah… you don’t… know if there’s a restroom here, do you?”
“There is,” Jacob answered. “If you go out this door, take a left, and then travel down the hall, it’ll be the last door on your right.”
“Last door on the right. Got it.”
Enyo stood up, her legs wobbling slightly. The alcohol might have left her body, but that didn’t mean she was in perfect shape. Having never drunk anything until tonight, it was a wonder she got off as lightly as she did.
“Do you want me to stand guard?” Jacob asked.
Her face burning even more at the thought of him standing outside of the door while she did her business, Enyo shook her head. “No, that won’t be necessary.”
Journey of a Betrayed Hero- Volume 1 Page 8