literature

Casting Runes Part 76

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“Oi, come out, you
have guests!”

“Again?”, a deep, but friendly voice responded to Granny’s words with a
counter-question and soon the innkeeper left the room that Jordis now thought
to contain the kitchen of the inn, “The merchants just left and there’s…”

Mid-sentence, the burly man with a dark grey beard on his cheeks,
stopped his words and stared at them. Particularly at Neil.

“I can’t believe it…”, he then jangled and grinned broadly, “It is you!
Gosh, boy, look at you!”

“Evan?”, the knight asked in utter surprise and then laughed in happy
disbelief, “How, by the runes, did you wind up here?”

“Oh, you know, the missus decided she wanted somewhere quiet to live
after leaving Caellowell. What could be quieter than a hamlet like this one?”,
the innkeeper jokingly retorted, but then jerked slightly as he heard a teasing
voice from the kitchen: “The missus can hear you, you know?”

They all laughed and as a chubby woman entered the room, Neil smiled at
her: “Louise, I am so happy to see you.”

“Don’t make me cry even more, you brat.”, she warmly teased him and with
that hugged Neil tightly, saying: “One son leaves, another comes home for a
while. It’s good to see you, boy.”

As the innkeeper’s wife pulled away, Neil turned to Jordis and said:
“Let me introduce you, love. This is Louise, the wonderful wife of Evan and a
second mother for me. And this is Evan, the knight who taught me as much as my
father did, maybe even more as he had more time to do so.”

“A pleasure to meet you.”, Jordis greeted both of them politely and
reached for Louise’s hand, but the round woman forcefully pulled her into a
hearty embrace and said: “Oh, it’s my pleasure, sweetie.”

Jordis was still startled, when Louise let her go and so Evan hugged her
as well, whilst his wife scolded Neil affectionately: “You found a girl and
didn’t tell me?”

“I…I had no chance so far…”, Neil stammered and Jordis clearly heard
Liam laugh at him as he flustered, “I did not even know where you lived…”

“Yeah, well, now you know!”, Liam snickered and even Colleen chimed in,
making fun of him: “And as soon as you found her, you should’ve told her. Can’t
you see?”

“That’s a smart girl. Listen to her!”, Louise teased Neil a bit further,
but then she sincerely and whole-heartedly said to him, while fondling his red
hair: “I’m happy to see you happy, that’s all.”

“Come on, friends, this must be celebrated.”, Evan cheered, but Neil
stammered again: “What do you mean?”

“Everything!”, the bear-like innkeeper said, “You’re here, we’re all
friends, you’ve found a lovely girl. What’s there not to celebrate, boy?”

“We could use shelter for the night, you know? Could you…”, Colleen
tried to reason with them and Jordis saw that she was still uncomfortable
around Sunna and her little boy. From the frown an Louise’s face she could tell
that she felt that something was amiss, but Evan did not sense this, he loudly
and happily decided: “All in good time, girl! Right now is the time for
celebration. And good mead.”

“I’m game!”, Liam said immediately and was joined by Granny, Louise and
Tommy. Jordis, however, hesitated, as did Colleen, but then her sister mumbled
under her breath: “Oh, well, fuck this.”

“Have you ever drunk mead, love?”, Neil asked of her, but Jordis had to
shake her head as an answer: “No, never. In the monastery we only got a glass
of wine once or twice a year, just for festivities. But I did not like it
anyways. Mead, however, made from honey…I think I could like it.”

Neil gave her a loving smile and put his arms around her waist, warning
her caringly: “It tastes sweet like honey, but it is also strong, so be careful
and take it easy. You will feel the alcohol’s effect soon, but much later than
you might think you would. You can easily drink too much.”

“Then it is only one glass for me, not more.”, Jordis said and Neil
nodded to reassure her. As they reached the table, everyone else was already
having a glass in front of them, apart from Sunna and Mika. The boy pouted
angrily until Granny allowed him to taste the mead from his glass.

They all laughed as Mika spit the beverage out in disgust, even Colleen
had to smirk at this.

“That’s bad! Totally awful!”, Mika complained, “I’m outta here.”

With this, he left the room and dashed up the stairs, where Jordis
supposed now that the rooms where located.

Soon conversations and laughter started and the more Evan drank, the
more embarrassing the stories got he told about Neil. How he had fallen into a
well as a little boy and had cried for days after having been eye to eye with a
sewer rat. How he had once tried to impress a girl as a young man and failed
terrible by toppling over and getting himself a black eye in the process.

Neil’s face was flushed with blood and redder than Jordis had ever seen
it.

“Evan, I beg you, stop it.”, he quietly said, but the innkeeper laughed,
shaking his head: “No, never! There was this one story, I can’t quite recall…
Oh, yeah! Remember how you put your helmet on backwards?”

They all laughed, even Jordis had to giggle like a little girl and this
made her realise that she was already tipsy, after only one glass of mead. All
the others had drunk more than she had; Colleen had for sure had more than
three glasses.

“I did not put it on the wrong
way.”, Neil calmly, but clearly angrily said, “The other recruits strapped it
onto my head and I could not get out.”

“Sure!”, Liam teased him and raised his glass to him, “All just blatant
excuses!”

Neil grumbled, so Jordis took his hand in hers and it was a bit hard for
her to focus on his eyes, but then she said: “Liam once played a prank on me,
back in the monastery. He hid all my clothes, so I had to go around in my
nightgown. I was laughed at by the other apprentices and scolded for my
improper behaviour by every rune caster.”

“You can be an idiot sometimes.”, Neil accusingly told Liam, but he only
shrugged his shoulders and smiled: “Meh, maybe it was a bit mean, but it was
fun too.”

Now, Jordis could also laugh at this, but back then, she had only wanted
to cry.

Neil leaned in and their foreheads touched, which she commented with a
content sigh.

“Lovely.”, Louise quietly said, happiness in her voice, but then Tommy
chimed in, completely intoxicated and his speech slurry: “C’mon, kiss the girl
already.”

Neil frowned and cleared his throat, telling Tommy: “You had enough.”

Then he looked back at Jordis and she saw something in his eyes that
sent a shiver down her spine. He wanted to kiss her, she could see it, see him
longing for it. But apparently, he did not want to do this in front of them
all.

Shyly, Jordis lowered her gaze and then peeped at Evan: “Could you…show
us to our rooms, please?”

The innkeeper laughed a warm, loud and whole-hearted laugh and then he
said: “Of course I can, you two clearly need a room.”

Neil cleared his throat again, louder this time and was without a word
telling his friend to stop it, but he only smiled until he said: “But I’m
afraid we can only provide two rooms. You’ll have to arrange who’s gonna share
rooms.”

Jordis bit her lip because she could under no circumstances leave
Colleen in a room with Liam; her sister would not get any sleep. On the other
hand, she desperately wanted to be close to Neil, be alone with him, had wanted
this for some time now.

She exchanged glances with her beloved knight and the hot glow in his
eyes was replaced by understanding, bitter understanding and he sighed. She
gave him a thankful smile when Colleen babbled: “It ain’t that bad, ya know?
You’re not that bad, Liam. We ‘ould allow those two lovebirds to have their fun
and share a room, don’t y’agree?”

Jordis stared at her sister as she understood how drunk she actually
was. When Colleen got up, she immediately stumbled and fell, but Liam caught
her and stabilised her, grinning as he carefully told her: “I hate to say it,
wildcat, but you’re shit-faced.”

“Am not!”, Colleen objected and pulled away, but Liam did not let her
go. As she hissed angrily, he told her: “You really need to sleep. Fine, I’ll
get you to our room if you insist on sharing.”

“You arse!”, Colleen shouted at him and he was taken aback, letting her
go. And Colleen ran. Surprisingly quickly and steadily, she ran to the door and
stormed off into the now beginning night.

“Colleen!”, Liam called after her, but she did not stop and all three of
them, Jordis, Neil and Liam, chased after her. Evan was with them too and
Jordis’ heart threatened to stop when she heard Colleen scream in utter terror.

What is it that scares Colleen so much? Is there a dead body on the street, is someone attacking her? Who and why?
Let me know if there is something you would like to read.

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Comments8
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Billini's avatar
Ah, Coleeen.... damn!! I was hoping for some knight loving *grumbles* Mmm.... I think Coleen would not cream because of a dead body... or someone attackijg her... even drunk, she would simply react... mmm... Actually I can think of nothing that could scare her so much that she screams :o