The biggest issue people had was its name; library. So I said, is there another one to confuse it with? Nevertheless, I changed it into “great library” - Shalion Stonebuild
The town-square was filled with tribunes, who were filled with people, who were filled with pastries and other sweets that vendors sold. Beer was vended on the streets, tapped out of giant barrels. It looked more like a holiday than a judgement day. Garvin was glad he had avoided this place, for had he seen it in the morning he wouldn’t have had the courage to step up. There were guards everywhere with long halberds and swords on their hips. There were fire breathers, acrobats and men betting. There were scholars with books under their arms, discussing the events with their peers. Thats where he belonged, Garvin thought. On that side. The side where everything was constant, the days stable and the future certain. Garvin was but a stranger in the crowd, a feeling he had not felt since he left Woodholm. His old life felt far away.
Garvin quickly bought some tart that he quickly devoured. He wanted to stuff himself with it.
In the middle of it all sat the Dragonslayer, chained to his wooden chair in the middle of the fest. At the opposite of him was a table on an elevated platform. Five people sat there. He didn’t really recognise them, except he did. One was obviously Ammelid. The other one was the lord of Greed, Garvin had heard of him. There were two women that he did not really recognise, but he assumed they were important figures. But the fifth one, the one that sat in the middle. That one was Maegis. He was so large that the other four seemed pushed towards the sides of the table. Garvin gulped.
‘Quiet!’ a shrill voice yelled. ‘We shall now begin!’
A little man wearing a white robe popped up seemingly out of nowhere and placed himself between the Dragonslayer and the five. He rolled out a huge parchment, and read it. The parchment could almost touch his nose.
‘Dragonslayer, you stand here today, accused of the following crimes. Eloping with the lady of Greed, setting fire, scamming, theft, false identity.’ The man stopped and Garvin internally cringed. Then, the man continued to speak as Garvin realised he was just taking a huge breath. ‘Disrupting order, defamation, attacking guards and again setting fire. Then ignoring direct orders from an officer. Refusing to surrender to the town guards. Also you quacked like a duck to the interrogator once you were in custody.’
Garvin stared at the man, his head had become red due to shortness of breath.
‘The defence shall now speak,’ he then said with a puff. ‘Is there anyone who will speak in the Dragonslayer’s name?’
Garvin stepped forward. Garvin could not look at Maegis. As hard as it was not to, he avoided his eyes.
‘I think this man should not be punished by death for his crimes! Let me start with this statement before I continue.’
‘Garvin? What are you doing, lad? What is the meaning of this?’
Garvin finally stared at him. Maegis was standing straight, leaning over the table. He looked at him so vile, Garvin had almost turned back.
‘I believe,’ he said. He felt like a mouse facing a sabre-tooth tiger. His voice was thin, barely louder than the people whispering all around him. He felt his face reddening.
‘I believe that he deserves a second chance.’
‘Garvin!’ Maegis roared. ‘Step away from him right now!’
‘I- I can’t. This is not just! This is the man who once stopped a necromancer, who defeated an evil gang threatening the lands. This man has saved countless more lives than he has ever endangered!’
The people slandered him and the Dragonslayer. Garvin looked back and saw the man he tried to defend with his eyes closed and a calm expression.
‘Yes, he has been of track as of late. Yes he did almost burn the city down. But it was more bad luck than actively trying to.’ Garvin showed the people his wounds like he had done before to the Dragonslayer. ‘I think I am the one who has most to complain. Yet I don’t. I forgive!’
He stopped for a moment, feeling lightheaded. How he would love to faint right now, and wake up in bed only to have realised it was all just a dream.
‘Don’t you see?’ Maegis said. ‘This man is not the hero of old. He is just a sad old man who can’t keep up with the world. Stop this, and come back to my place.
‘It’s time to let him go.’ Maegis stretched his arm towards him, his palm open.
‘No! He cannot die here! I realise it and I hope you will too. Once the world will need him, and we shall regret what we did here.’ Garvin said as he stared around. He hoped to hear people cheering, but there was none.
‘If you betray me now, boy. It will cost you dearly. Say goodbye to your privileges, your live of luxury. You will die alone in the gutter, I shall make sure of that!’
And Garvin gulped, he was sure he would.
‘It doesn’t change anything. If he wants to defend me, it’s his choice. This is not about him, but about me,’ the Dragonslayer suddenly said from behind him. Garvin thanked him in his head.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
‘Yes, it must always be about you, is it not?’ Maegis said. ‘But let us talk to the captain of the guard. But before, to Ammelid.’
The old man stood up as Maegis sat down. His back was ached, and his lips were pressed together.
‘I was working at my shop, showing this brat,’ he pointed at Garvin,’ the inns and outs of tending a shop.’
‘Lies!’ Garvin yelled.
‘Silence!’ Maegis roared.
‘He did a poor job, but I tried to teach him the best I could. Then a strange man stepped into the shop, calling himself Rocky. He threatened us both, locked us up in the back room, and lit it on fire! Luckily the guards could free us and beat the delinquent down before more harm was done. That is what happened that day.’
Maegis stood up again. ‘Now we will hear the captain of the guards.’
The woman at the left end of the table got up. She spoke as if she had to pay for each word she said. She was extremely practical and brief.
‘The guards heard about a stolen sword. And they found the culprit who was trying to burn a shop down. My guards intercepted his plan and saved the two.’
‘Not true!’ Garvin said. ‘Both of them weren’t even there. But I was!’
‘Silence!’ Maegis said again as the captain sat down again. Garvin had never seen this side of Maegis before. He saw him as a fatherly figure, even more so than Alfred could ever be.
‘Please, you must understand,’ Garvin pleaded.
‘Hey, lets keep this about me, huh?‘ The Dragonslayer added.
‘Enough, this is coming to an end,’ Maegis said.
‘I have not yet spoken!’ Garvin said. And he recalled his side of the story. The truth of what happened. How he was there all alone. The woman with the clock. The tavern where Ammelid went. Surely someone must have seen him there all day. But Garvin didn’t know the name of the owner, and didn’t see how he could summon the owner to speak for his cause.
‘These are lies,’ Maegis said. He waved all Garvin’s words away. ‘We have honest, well-known figures speaking against a child and a criminal. People of Greed, what do you think?’
‘Death!’ they all yelled. ‘Death, death, death!’
Garvin shrivelled from the sounds. The people were getting weary of all the talking. They wanted to see blood.
‘Wait!’ Garvin yelled. ‘There is one thing everyone is forgetting. The law forbids to kill him.’
The people laughed, as did the five seated in front of him.
‘And why would that be?’ Maegis asked.
‘For nobody knows if he is the chosen one.’ Everything became quiet. The herald who had cried out the charges in the beginning, returned with a giant book. He placed it in front of Maegis. He started to turn the pages.
‘So, while I thought you were perishing in your bed, you were actually studying the law?’ Maegis said.
It just dawned that it would have been a great idea.
‘Please, I never meant to turn against you. I didn’t know you would be here at all!’
‘Silence, brat. I gave you shelter, and you abused my kindness. That’s all that I can see.’
The herald whispered something to Maegis. The giant man nodded.
Garvin spoke. ‘It is stated, that if one doesn’t know if he is the chosen one, he needs to find out. Until then there is a chance that he could be it. And it is forbidden to kill the chosen one by law.’
‘This just states that he could be it. But its easy enough to know that he isn’t.’
‘How?’
‘Because he isn’t!’ Maegis yelled.
‘Who can say this with certainty?’ Garvin asked.
‘You’re digging a hole for yourself, boy.’
Help came from an unexpected place. The captain of the guard and the Lord of the city moved uncomfortably, until the captain spoke.
‘If we serve justice today, there could be ramifications for us. The queen would hear about it and there would be an investigation.’
‘You can’t really expect to let this man go?’ Maegis said.
Ammelid added,’why can’t we find out if he is the chosen one, and keep him locked meanwhile?’
‘There is no way of learning this without him reading the words,’ the Lord of Greed said. Maegis gave him one look, and he shrunk back until he could almost hide behind the table.
‘This is an ancient Ar’Moorian decree that cannot be forgotten,’ The captain said. ‘Maegis, it will be your responsibility if this is deemed wrong.’
‘Then let us vote, us five only. To decide the fate of the Dragonslayer. Who wants him killed?’
First went the captain, she declined. Next was the Lord, Garvin could discern he feared the Queen more than Maegis. Maegis raised his hand, and the crowd cheered with him. Next was the other woman who had not spoken yet. She also raised her hand. The final decision came to Ammelid. Maegis stared at him with a fierce look.
‘When I was younger-,’ he commenced.
‘Just bloody choose, no more endless stalling!’ Maegis yelled.
‘Then no!’ he said. ‘It would be foolish to break the law, the Queen would have our heads!’
Garvin stared at the Dragonslayer. He sat there in silence, stone cold.
‘Then, it is decided. Dragonslayer you are only banned from this city, and you have time until next spring to be the chosen one. If you fail to do so, you shall be hunted down. If you aren’t the chosen one, you must come back and receive your punishment!’
Garvin shook as he stood next to the seated Dragonslayer. The people were booing, they had waited so long for nothing.
Two guards picked up the chair of the Dragonslayer and carried him away. Garvin followed them closely. They went trough crowded streets, where people slandered them both.
‘Fools!’ they yelled. ‘Thrash! Scum!’
This weird procession continued just at the gates of Greed, the very ones trough Garvin first entered. There, they threw the Dragonslayer in the ditch. The people laughed and the guards returned. Garvin received something heavy against his head. He grabbed it in the wet grass. It was a key. Garvin went to the chair and unlocked his wrists and legs. The Dragonslayer stretched his back and massaged his wrists.
‘I guess this is how it starts.’ He said.
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Maegis noticed one man in a shiny armour making his way towards him. He had long blond hair and looked like the most beautiful man one had ever seen. And such thoughts usually didn't cross his mind. The man was athletic, strong, yet had something female finesse to him. He was too refined, to slick. Too proper, to be a typical man in these lands. His mail was impeccable, most like a figure from a story. And the man kept staring at him with his clear, blue eyes.
Maegis clearly recognised the man as a hero of Ar’Moor.
‘I do not have any quests. Ask the common rabble if you seek one,’ he said.
‘I am not asking for a quest. I want to give a quest.’
This answer did Maegis not expect.
‘And what would that be?’ he asked the man.
‘I want to get rid of the Dragonslayer, and I need your help.’
Maegis was stunned for a second. Then he stroke his beard. ‘Let’s have a conversation in private.’