THE GOLDEN HILT 12 | TROUBLE IN THE CITY | MEDIEVAL SERIES

ADVENTUROUS MEDIEVAL SHORT STORY SERIES

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THE GOLDEN HILT

“Here sirs this is a very good room, space and two beds and very clean.”  Said the old lady, who was the owner of the inn. She was very old and frail, when Lakmeer had seen her climb the stairs, Lakmeer feared that she might run out of breath and die of that, but she was stronger than she looked.

She took them from one room to another and every room had a problem, the first one smelled like something had died in it. So the old lady took them to another one which was full of smoke from the chimneys of the carts selling smoked pigeons and other meat that looked like rat meat and cats. The third room was full of rats that didn’t mind walking around even when there were people around. When they were taken to the last room, not the old lady but Lakmeer was out of breath. The last room wasn’t much different than others but it was clean and at the very least habitable, so they took it.

After tending their horses in the stable, and putting their things in the room they went for lunch. The dining hall was full, there was hardly any table empty. Then suddenly a group stood up and one of them said,” Lykos?” Lakmeer looked at them, they were the same group they’d met in the last city they stayed. Lykos stared at them and the same person said with a fake smile,” You can have our table.” He and his group walked out of the hall. Lakmeer and Lykos sat at the table and called for some mutton chops, and wine for Lykos.

Lakmeer ate while Lykos ate and drank, after they were done they went out to see the city while Lykos was at a mind to find the best wine in the city and fill his skin to the full, he wanted to spend the money he had taken from bandits that had taken Lakmeer and from the ones that had killed Eddie. They walked in the bricked streets of the city, it was filled with people and Lakmeer looked around in awe how could there be so many people in one place? Lakmeer thought as he walked around. The street he was walking in was filled with people selling meat of every kind, there were fishes and vegetables and oils, everything you needed could be found here. Lykos seemed confused as well and said,” Seems like being near the capital has paid off quite well.” This confused Lakmeer,” What does that mean?” Lykos looked at him and said,” You saw the last city we were in, there were not many people in the city, because there was not much food. Wars are not very good for business, in other cities mostly but not for this and the capital. 

This city is nearer to the capital and the road between this city and capital is guarded well. So, the Governor who is a fat man and likes eat his fill. Has the upper hand over other cities and can bring food very easily, without the trouble of being attacked by the bandits or the revolutionaries. So you get markets like this.” Lakmeer didn’t understand, many things came from the villages, if the villages are mostly destroyed and others can’t bring their merchandise where did this all come from. Lakmeer didn’t bother to ask and walked around the street and looked at the shops.

The shopkeepers were screaming their goods and its price and speaking in a way that it was being sold in much less price than it deserves. Lykos asked one of the shopkeepers for a descent wine shop and he showed Lykos the way. They both went towards it; which was in the end of the street. This part of the street wasn’t in such a rush, there weren’t many people here. The wine sellers sat in front of their shops with two guards standing beside them.

There were three shops, when the shopkeepers saw Lykos coming, one of them, a fat man, came beside and bent his head and said,” You must be looking for a vintage that suits your needs sir, then I have the perfect vintage for you. Come to my shop, here it is.” Lykos was about to go with him when another man, this one being a tall man with gaunt features and strong physique, stopped Lykos saying,” He is a liar sir, he sells horse piss at the price of red, I, on the other hand, sell real wine at the price they deserve.” The third shop keeper didn’t get up from his place, he ate grapes and drunk red wine while looking at them struggle with the two winesellers, he gave Lakmeer a smile when he saw Lakmeer looking at him. The other two shop keepers had stopped Lykos and none of them was ready to let Lykos go to the other shop and they quarreled with each other.

Lykos as usual got angry and unsheathed his dagger and said,” Stop it, or Ill skin you two alive.” The two shopkeepers let Lykos go and stood quietly and stared at Lykos as he walked towards the third shop. This man was a short fellow with the looks of malice, even the smile he gave was filled with nothing but malice. He stood up and bowed at them and so did his guards and invited them to his shop.

Lakmeer and Lykos entered the shop after the shopkeeper, who called himself as Galel, he was shorter than even Lakmeer, while his partially white beard showed he was way older than even Lykos. He called for some wine and asked them to sit on the chairs that seemed to be royal. They sat, Lykos began to drink and talked to Galel about wine. He was told Galel to bring the best wine in the shop, while he like a real business man replied,” There is no “the best wine” sir, but I have vintages that are one of the best.” Lykos told him to bring them and Galel told his servant the names, so silently that Lakmeer couldn’t hear his voice except for the whispering sound.

The servant went inside the door that was behind Galel and came back with three wine bottles, another servant was with him to help him. When they put the bottles on the table, they went back through the same door. Galel removed the corks from each bottle and said,” We will be talking for now, and let them breath for a while.” Lakmeer looked around himself, all he saw were bottles and large casks filled with wine. After a little while Galel took a cask and put his nose on the opening and smelled it, then gave it to Lykos. He smelled all three bottles while Galel put some from each bottle for Lykos to taste the wine. He tasted each wine, he then told Galel to fill his skin with the wine of the third bottle. Galel called his servants and told them to do what Lykos had said and gave the skin to them.

The servants returned with the skin filled and gave it to Galel, who then gave it to Lykos. Lykos opened it and smelt, and then took a sip. Galel smiled and said,” You won’t find a vintage as this in the whole city, I personally brought ten casks of it from the city of Gordor, five of the casks were sent to the Governor from me as a gift.” He smiled with malice, Lakmeer didn’t like the look of him, even Lakmeer himself didn’t know why. After the payment was done, they left the shop and walked up the street to the silence, where Lakmeer and Lykos would find a place to train. They found a place by the end of the street, where there was nobody, and no one came this far part of the street, except for a blind man selling lemon cakes.

They stood in the middle of the empty street and unsheathed their swords. For a little while they stared at each other and walked in circle while Lykos gave him lessons,” Never take your eyes away from your enemy. When fighting to death one second matters, take your eyes away from your enemy for a second and you won’t have a head to see him again.” Saying this Lykos came at him and hit him from every side, Lakmeer blocked every blow from him. Lykos kept coming back to hit him harder every time, but today Lakmeer was going to attack. He blocked Lykos’ blow, without giving him any chance he attacked Lykos. He was about to think that he was in charge here, but he remembered what his uncle had told him.

He didn’t lower his guard, but then he saw Lykos defending himself while looking behind Lakmeer like there was something going on. Lakmeer stopped and looked behind him but there was nothing only the old man selling lemon cakes in the empty street. He was about to ask Lykos what he had been looking at when his head rang, when Lykos hit him with the side of his sword. Lakmeer knelt holding his head where it hit him,” That hurt!” he complained, but he heard Lykos say, his eyes were close due to the pain,” Don’t complain, you are lucky that I didn’t hit you with the blade or you would have been holding half of your head.”” But that is not fair, you tricked me.”” There are no tricks in a fight till death, idiot dead boy.” He said angrily. Lakmeer stopped complaining while Lykos kept going angrily,” If this was a real fight you would have been dead.  You do what the opponent wants you to, this will get you killed someday. Or someone who comes to save you, like Eddie did.” Lykos angrily walked to a wall and sat there drinking. The day was soon going to turn into night, they had to go now.

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