Charles smiled up at Ellie as she twirled and slid between the tables with a full tray of glasses. Pink liquor danced in the glasses shimmering in the low light cast by the many candles of the aged tavern. Ellie held up a spare hand, holding orders on a small wooden block. She checked the symbol on the order and placed the glasses on a table with its twin.
Each polished table was carved with a different large animal instead of numbers. Her most recent customers were a group of cheering farmers who sat on the Oxen carved table. Their eyes lit up when they saw the red-haired beauty and they all cheered. Rose laughed behind the bar as she watched her new protégé. The tight-fitting apron and floral dress had indeed increased sales.
"Haven't had these numbers in months!" she called out to Charles, who nodded back with a grin.
Ellie was giggling as farmers both young and old bowed their heads happily and greeted her with words she couldn’t hear. Their good nature seemed to come across easily, and she gave a small, practiced curtsy and laid the last drink down for the men. They cheered as one and snatched up the glasses, sloshing the liquor before sculling the drinks.
Arthur appeared through the old oak double doors of the kitchen, rolled his eyes at the farmers, then sat beside Charles.
"Ah. I can foresee a few angry wives coming in here very soon," said Arthur.
"Yeah?" Charles smiled.
"If I were you, when they come knockin’. I’d make yourself scarce. Less ye’ get your ears chewed off with their incessant nagging."
Charles rolled his head back and laughed. Ellie brushed past with the tray under her arm and landed a quick kiss on Charles' unsuspecting cheek then disappeared through the door.
It was good to see her in such a good mood.
Rose had been so kind to them since Maze had left. The old tavern had provided the first bit of comfort for the both of them for quite some time.
The farmers all burst out laughing. Charles looked up to see one of a hopeful younger man turn bright red and shrink in his seat as he watched Ellie go. It seemed Ellie's spontaneous affection for Charles left the poor youth heartbroken and his friends laughing.
Charles grinned to himself as he eyed the farmers. The youth wasn’t the only one who’d been a little interested in the new barmaid. Charles' smile broadened as he lifted his glass to his lips. The light pink liquid was cool after resting on the slabs of ice from behind the bar. It tasted sweet and felt odd when it flowed over his tongue.
"So, you like it, then?" Laughed Arthur, before gulping down his own drink.
Charles nodded. "I might get another one,” he said, fumbling with the scarce number of coins.
Arthur shook his head and put a dismissing hand over his.
"Don't worry yourself, boy. I’ve got this," he said.
Arthur whistled to Rose and held out two fingers.
"You've been a fine help to both me and my niece." He patted Charles on the back hard and slammed down his empty glass. "I’d never be able to get all that work done and get all the new tools so quickly without your help." Arthur strained his arm and flipped his new pickaxe on top of the table.
"Are you seriously putting that on my table?" Rose slapped the back of Arthur's head.
"It's okay. It's new see.”
"I don't care how new it is. Get it off my table!"
Arthur cringed and gingerly placed his pick by his side. Charles fought back a laugh as he watched them. The Palesongs were definitely a proud and stubborn family. Yet he could see they cared deeply for each other - closer to that of a father and daughter relation.
“I’m too busy for this,” Rose said as she stormed away.
Arthur gave an apologetic shrug as Ellie appeared with two full glasses.
Charles smiled at them both and grabbed his second glass.
"Maze should be here to drink with us," said Arthur.
"Yeah. You know when he'll be back?" asked Charles.
"Not really. He said he’d only be a day or so and it's been four days now."
Charles looked around the tavern as he fidgeted with the cool glass in his hand.
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Three men entered through the front door. They passed through the tavern soundlessly and crowded around a table in the farthest corner away from the bright candlelight. Even in the low light, he could see the dirt smeared emblem they wore. The greasy guards spoke in low, urgent tones while huddling together.
Rose approached the three men with a measured smiled.
"What will you three have?" she asked and for some reason, they’d flinched at her sudden appearance.
"Give us a minute," one man snarled and turned back to his comrades.
Rose turned, affronted, and stormed back to the bar.
"Why are you coming in here, then?" muttered Rose angrily as she moved past Charles.
Arthur turned to look at the men and frowned.
"Hmmm," he murmured while scratching his chin nervously. "Why, indeed?"
Charles squinted and concentration but couldn't catch a thing over the chorus of singing from the large farmer’s table. He then placed his glass down and went through to the back of the tavern. Ellie was sitting on a stool in the kitchen waiting for her next order with the tray still in her hands. Her delicate fingers trailed over the edge of the metal, fidgeting as she waited.
She brushed her hair up behind her ears, then looked up to see him and grinned. With a gentle hand, he brushed away the few stray ruby strands and lent forward. Her lips softly parted and brushed his own. He placed his hand down the small of her back and held her close.
He slowly inspected her face and felt pain in his chest swell as he saw a tear trail down her cheek. She looked away and brushed it away with the back of her hand.
He hugged her even tighter and pulled her chin up so she could see his face.
"Everything will be alright,” he mouthed slowly. “We'll find Karn. Don't worry." Charles had whispered to himself more than anything.
Crash!
Rose screamed.
He spun around as Ellie stared in confusion.
"Let go of her!" Shouted Arthur.
Charles sprinted and burst back through the doors. Rose was kicking her legs as she was being pulled by her hair.
Charles snarled. It was Chris Naught.
“Shaddup wench!” he ordered, wearing the familiar oily uniform.
Rose screamed and desperately tried to get to her feet but with one lazy kick he swept her legs from underneath her.
“Fucking swine!” Arthur shouted and roared, lunging for the man.
"Now!" Commanded Chris.
The three armoured men pulled themselves to their feet and rushed forward to intercept Arthur, just as more men burst through the front door.
Two of them caught Arthur’s arms and tried to hold him back while Arthur swung at a third, knocking him sprawling across the farmers' table.
The farmers shouted and stood up, surrounding the guards.
A gleam of metal stole Charles' attention. Turning, he spotted one guardsman brandishing a knife. He was running towards Arthur's back.
Instinct overtook Charles as he sprinted to him. With a charging soccer kick, he knocked the guardsmen in the shin and right off his feet.
The guardsmen shrieked as he rolled on the floor with his own blade sticking out of his shoulder.
"Get back you stupid gits!" Yelled Chris as he scrambled backwards pulling a screaming Rose with him.
More uniformed men appeared through the tavern door. Some held swords in hand as they pressed into the small space.
Charles spun around and began crashing his fists into the closest metallic-clad man he could find. Arthur, by now in a blind rage, had thrown off the men who held him and left three other unconscious bodies behind.
"Rose!" He shouted, belting another man across the face then grabbing a fallen sword from the floor.
Charles felt a chill down his spine when he heard another all too familiar shriek.
Ellie cried out as a metal-clad man groped around her and wrenched her from her feet. She clawed at the man, but another came to help, dragging her out through the front door.
The pit in Charles' stomach lurched as he felt his world crashing down. A large steel-covered fist flew at his face and struck him like a hammer. His head snapped backwards, and he felt the floor connect with the back of his skull.
The scent of blood permeated the air. His eyelids ripped open just in time to see a farmer cut down by one of the King's finest.
Charles' vision blurred red. Ignoring the blood trailing down his face, he crouched up, feeling anger building in his limbs. Charles pushed up from the ground and snatched up the well-oiled handle of Arthur's news pickaxe. Without another thought, he swung. The point whistled through the air as it found the man who’d struck him.
Crunch!
The steel point pierced into the man's snarling face. Right on the forehead.
With a sharp kick, he wrenched the pick-axe free with a spray of blood. He roared then towards his next victim, jumping over the body of the youthful farmer. He ended the life of the man who was strangling Arthur. The older man pushed the corpse aside and ran for the opening of the tavern.
"Get her in the wagon!" Roared Chris. He was climbing the side of a large warhorse. Several women screamed from shackled irons from within the cart. Their cries were shrill and panicked.
"Arthur!" shrieked Rose.
She had been thrown into a small cage at the rear of the wagon and was desperately ripping at the iron bars. Uniformed men piled ever more women from neighbouring houses into more wagons further down the road.
Ellie screamed incoherently as men pushed her into the cage and slammed the doors shut.
Charles ran forward with his blood-covered weapon and swung at the nearest man. It narrowly missed, as he barely dodged sideways and instead fell onto Arthur's wet blade. The small group of farmers tore out of the tavern. Their yelling joined the women's' and their faces all burned with rage as they saw their wives, mothers, and daughters in chains.
"Let them go!" pleaded Arthur as he clutched at the wagon's side.
A whip cracked above, and the wagon lurched forward. Charles pushed a guardsman aside and sprinted after the wagon, but an armoured arm caught his throat and he fell to the ground.
Charles looked up to see the familiar short, greasy man sneering down at him.
"I'm going to be the first to taste your little red one." Chris sneered.
Charles' fury ripped through him like hot metal. His sight dimmed as he flew at the man. He felt a bestial wrath overtake his senses as his conscience dimmed.
"That's enough." A calm hand grabbed his shoulder.
Charles' eyes focused as he looked down. He was kneeling over the short man who lay on the ground in a silent heap. The man's helmet was in Charles' fists and blood was smeared all up his arms. Whatever was left of the oily man's skull was sprayed in a large puddle as dark blood poured from his stump of a neck.
"We will get them back," said Arthur. His front was also covered in a thick layer of blood and his face set in a scowl. "And we will kill them all."