I pushed away from the bar and strolled over to the young man’s table.
The man seemed to be about my age. He wore an all-black padded outfit which perfectly matched the shade of his thin jet black hair, which drooped down over his left eye. As he noticed me approaching him, he took a sip from his glass of water.
The girl he sat with sent me a blistering glare, it appeared I was interrupting their conversation.
“Hey, you don’t know me, but my name’s Daymond. I saw your small sword from over at the bar and was wanting to get a closer look.”
A smirk spread across the young man’s lips, “Yeah, I do know you.” He pointed at me and looked toward the lady, “It’s the guy who got his ass beat by that girl in town square.”
“Great! Whatever…” I pulled out the chair from the table and sat. “That sword you have… where did you get it from?”
“Sword?” the man questioned, his face puzzled.
He thought for a moment, then slid out the blade from his belt and rested it on the table. It had a straight, thin blade and a black handle with gold trim. The entire thing was small—about the length of a forearm.
“This is a blessed stiletto dagger. It was imbued with magic by the mages in my hometown. I call it the Windchaser.”
“Windchaser? Why do you call it that?”
The man smiled as if he was hoping I would ask that question. He lifted the dagger and swung it meekly in front of me. The blade didn’t come close to touching me, but the swing alone created such a powerful gust of wind that it sent my chair and the surrounding tables sliding backwards.
The force nearly knocked me out of my seat—the rush of wind felt like it was being blasted from a truck-sized can of condensed air.
“Damn!” I raised my arms to block it.
My amazement must’ve been a little too obvious, because the man’s smile grew even wider. “Super awesome, am I right?”
“How come you have a dagger like that?”
He pointed his thumb back at himself, “All royal retainers are provided with mana-imbued specialized weapons. I serve as a retainer for King Kingsley.”
“He SERVED as a retainer for King Kingsley,” the woman beside him corrected, “Until he got kicked out of the royal castle for constantly breaking shit…”
The man huffed, “Really Marlene? You didn’t have to tell him all that.” He nervously scratched the back of his head. “Anyway, my name’s Luxian. I kinda got kicked out by King Kingsley, so I left town to come here and see if I could convince King Rae to let me join his defense team.”
“Well, with a weapon like that I don’t think you should have any issues,” I said.
“I hope so! You wanna see what else it can do?”
I nodded.
The man leapt to his feet and began rhythmically swaying his knife from one side to the other.
“When you swipe it through the air, it’s able to shoot out powerful wind currents… but if you practice enough with it…”
He swung the knife towards the wall, “Airstrike Slash!” a large rush of air flung from the tip of the blade. In an instant, the picture hanging from the opposite wall shattered in half, frame and all.
His arms crossed proudly over his chest, “It’s able to slice things through the air. If you swing it just right, it can cut through much more than that…”
My mouth parted slightly in astonishment.
“Hey!” the bartender hollered. “Stop breaking shit in my bar!”
“Do you mind if I try it for a sec?” I asked.
He looked at his knife and frowned, “Sorry, man. This thing is way too valuable to me. I can’t allow anyone else to touch it.”
“It’ll only be for a second.”
Luxian sat down, crossing one leg over the other, “Sorry. No can do…”
He let out a weary sigh as he reached to pick up his cup of water with trembling hands. As he took a swig from the cup, I noticed his hands started shaking even more.
“...Is he… alright?”
I leaned back in my chair, folding my arms behind my head, “No problem, dude. I understand.”
He set back down his cup before wiping his lips against his sleeve.
“Hey,” I said, “how come you and your girlfriend only have cups of water?”
The girl beside him shot up in protest, “I am not his girlfriend!”
“She’s just my friend, she came into town with me to help out. And believe me, I wish I had some money on me, but I’m flat broke. I could really go for a drink…”
“I was just about to order a drink myself. Did either of you want anything? It’s on me.”
Luxian sprang forward, “Oh, sure! I’ll take a whiskey ginger.”
Truthfully, I didn’t know any special concoctions for alcoholic drinks.
“That’s your favorite too? I was gonna get that exact same thing.”
I glanced toward the lady.
“I don’t need anything. Thanks.”
After flagging down the nearest waiter I placed an order for two whiskey gingers.
Once the drinks arrived, I took a small sip from the cup, swigged it around, then forced it to slide down my throat. It was just as I expected, the beverage tasted like concentrated ass. I could never really get past the taste of alcohol—was never much of a drinker. Luxian, on the other hand, was a pro. He was visibly trembling and sweating as he held the glass to his lips as if he were drinking a sip of water for the first time in weeks.
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At that point, my initial hunch had become certain. He was an alcoholic. He seemed to have a pretty serious case of it too.
He took the drink straight to the head, chugging it down with three large gulps, “Man, It’s been a while! What do you think? Do you like it?” he asked urgently.
I smiled brightly, “Yeah it’s pretty good! This is my first time trying it. You can drink up as much as you like. All your drinks are on me today.”
“R–Really?” Luxian’s eyes lit up. “That’s awesome! Thanks!”
…
We spent hours in that bar.
He kept asking for shot after shot. Eventually, it got so late that the woman he had arrived with decided to head home. But Luxian was still going strong.
By the time the sun had set, he was so wasted that he forgot where he was, he forgot who I was, but most importantly, he forgot the importance of his dagger. When I asked to see it again, he ended up placing it on the table right in front of me—that was right before he slumped back in his chair and passed out. No fight, no fuss.
I stood up and tucked in my chair, “Sorry. Looks like you’ll be footing the bill this time around…”
I picked up the dagger gently.
As soon as I did, a tingling sensation fired up my arm and spread throughout my chest. It felt like I had been shocked by a sudden jolt of electricity. It almost made me drop the blade, but after a few seconds, the sensation vanished.
That strange presence I was once feeling from the knife dissipated, and all my muscles became relaxed.
I left the bar and walked out onto the dimly lit street in town square, tossing the knife back and forth between my hands. It was light, and the grip on the handle was firm. I held it upright and looked a little closer.
“Huh… Does it still work?”
Holding the handle, I swiped the blade at a bin full of fruits and vegetables. A shockwave of air shot forward and blasted the bin twenty feet into the air—sending all the fruits and vegetables tumbling out onto the street.
I chuckled, and placed the knife in my pocket, “Yup, it works, alright.”
—break—
The rest of the night flew by as I practiced swinging that blade around in the woods. I wanted to get a feel for how to use it before I went around attacking knights with it. The blade handled beautifully, and by morning I felt that I had a decent understanding of it.
I even managed to cut down a few tree branches.
Once 10 AM rolled around, I ventured back into the town square, hoping to find that one girl so I could challenge her to another duel. Luckily, I did.
She was sitting down at a small open-air cafe, having lunch with a posh elderly woman dressed in a fine blue dress and feathered top hat.
When I approached her, she was busy stuffing her face with scrambled eggs and bacon.
“Hey.”
The girl stopped cramming food in her mouth and shifted her attention in my direction.
“If your offer is still available, I want to have another duel with you.”
Her eyes sparkled as she launched up from her seat, “Hell yeah!”
The elderly lady raised her eyebrows, “W–Wait, Cathy. What is this about a duel? Do you know this young man?”
“Yes! He’s the one who helped me train yesterday, Meemaw.”
The elderly woman looked at me, concern flickered across her features.
“Sorry Meemaw,” I said, regrettably, “but I’m gonna have to fight your granddaughter.”
The grandmother glanced back at her granddaughter and smiled faintly. “Well alright. I’m glad you found somebody willing to train with you. But you’ll probably wanna finish your breakfast first—”
Cathy jumped over the railing and ran to the middle of the square.
Lowering her head, she grinned from ear to ear, “Come at me, bitch!”
“Bitch?!”
She dashed forward and cocked her arm back for a power punch.
I shuffled aside, barely slipping her attack.
She wasn’t aware of my new weapon, I could use that to my advantage. While stepping back, I slipped my hand into my pocket and gripped the handle, waiting for her next attack. Like a flash of lightning she sprang towards me, pounding her fist into my stomach.
Steadying myself against the sudden jolt of pain, I slid out my dagger, “Now’s my chance!”
As I shuffled back, I swung the blade at the ground right before her feet. The large gust of air ricocheted, sending her rocketing into the air. Her arms and legs flailed.
“AGHHH!”
She landed on her back with a heavy thud.
“Owwwww!” she sat up quickly and tenderly rubbed her spine.
“I win.” I said with a mocking grin.
The girl stared at me dumbfounded, her eyes wide open, “Hey! That’s not fair! You didn’t tell me you had a magic weapon!”
“Oh, so it was fair yesterday when you suckerpunched me and didn’t tell me about YOUR magic powers!?”
“You’re a cheater! I didn’t use a weapon at all.”
“You don’t need a fucking weapon, you can already do magic!”
“The rules were hand-to-hand combat only!”
“You never said that.”
“Well it was implied, and I’m saying it now!”
“That’s not how it works. You can’t change the rules after the battle is over!”
The girl looked intensely at her grandmother, “He totally cheated! Didn’t he? Right!?”
Meemaw smiled warmly, “Well, I didn’t know this is how young people flirted nowadays…”
My heart dropped to the deepest pit of my stomach as my face contorted, “Oh, hell no! You got this all wrong, Meemaw!”
Cathy glared at me, her expression flushed with anger, “Why are you acting so disgusted? What’s so bad about me!?”
“The hell are you talking about?”
Meemaw stood up from her table and straightened out her royal blue dress.
“In any case it seems you two had fun,” she glanced over at me. “Why is it that you wished to battle my granddaughter?”
“If I won, she promised to take me to the royal castle.”
“Yeah, well too bad,” said Cathy. “Too bad you cheated. I already decided I’m going alone to see His Majesty.”
“Oh fuck off! You already have the empty spot, so just take me with you and I’ll leave you alone as soon as I get there!”
“Mmmm… Nope.”
“Stop being annoying!”
“Shut up, you’re the one who’s annoying!”
“Take him with you, dear,” Meemaw interrupted. “I’m sure this young man has his own reasons for going to the castle, it would be rude to be so selfish.”
Cathy glared at me and pouted.
“What the hell? Why is she acting like a five year old? Not even Kiana acts like this…”
“We must head back,” said Meemaw. “The meeting with His Highness is in a few short hours. We must make sure that you are presentable, Cathy—you will be in the presence of royalty. Would you please join us… umm…”
“Daymond,” I said. “My name’s Daymond Miller.”
Meemaw nodded, “Our home is on the other side of town. Cathy, you go on ahead. I’d like to stay back and speak with Daymond for a moment.”
“Kay…”
As Cathy turned away and walked down the stone road through town—Meemaw stepped closer toward me. I couldn’t help but notice how graceful her movements and posture was, especially for an elderly woman.
“Thank you for not hurting my granddaughter with that weapon of yours.”
I rubbed the back of my neck, “Uhh… yeah, don’t mention it.”
“I know you are not from around here, so I would like to fill you in. Me and Cathy are a part of the Baxter noble family. The head of our household is my son, Paul Baxter. Unfortunately, my son Paul is not too fond of commoners such as yourself, so I ask that you please excuse him if he comes across as a bit… distasteful.”
“Of course, this old lady just lets her son be a dirtbag and makes up excuses for him…”
“In that case, I would rather stay here until it's time to head out.”
Meemaw frowned, “I apologize for being so brash, but bringing you to see the king dressed the way you are would bring shame upon our family. We will have to dress you in fine linens before we are able to take you to see the king. I hope you understand.”
I sighed—although it may have sounded more like a groan. It wasn’t like I was gonna be there for long anyways. Just a few more hours until we would head to the castle to meet ‘His Majesty’.
I’d just have to try my best to play nice until then.
“Okay, I understand.”