Chapter 12 #2
The low murmur of conversations greeted them as they filed inside.
Taking a seat at the only vacant table, Daris glanced around again, his eye narrowing as he took in the hard look of the men in the establishment.
There was no laughter, no jovial conversation.
Even the way they drank their ale or ate their food seemed menacing.
Something was wrong here.
“Get you anything?” the barmaid asked in the common tongue. She had a scarf over her brown hair and she scratched at a rash marring the column of her neck. Her eyes darted around, first at Daris and his men, then the men at the tables closest to them.
Daris smiled warmly at the young woman and answered her in Greek, ordering pitchers of ale for the table and water for himself.
As the barmaid hustled away, Daris sat back in his chair.
There were four men at the table to his right.
All of them wore similar clothes: dark, nondescript garments and hooded cloaks.
Two of them had their hoods up, even though the tavern was warmed by a fire in the large hearth on the far side.
On his left, a man wearing a black kerchief on his head watched him over the rim of his tankard.
When he caught Daris’s eye, he sneered at him, but didn’t look away.
“It’s about to get interesting, boys,” Jason muttered. The others shifted, bracing for what they all knew was coming.
A moment later, the barmaid returned with three pitchers. “I’ll be back with your water and tankards for the ale,” she mumbled. Before she turned away, Daris caught her wrist.
“Are you in trouble?” he asked the girl in a low voice.
Startled, the barmaid looked over at him; her face was pale. She gave herself away by glancing to his left before shaking her head quickly. “No, lord. Just busy. As you see.”
Daris let go of the girl and she hurried away.
Sitting back slowly, Daris shifted his gaze to his left and saw two men leaning forward, their eyes narrowed with scowls on their lips.
Daris turned his head to face them, staring them down. He kept his face neutral, unwilling to instigate, but fully prepared to engage if need be.
One man scoffed and broke the stare by taking a swig of his ale. Conversations resumed, and his men mumbled thanks when the girl returned with their tankards.
As he lifted his glass to drink, Daris caught sight of a large blond man across the tavern staring at him. Half of his hair was pulled back away from his face, making his cheekbones appear sharper. His eyes were narrowed as he stared at Daris.
Daris took a drink and set his glass down, tearing his gaze away and looked around, half listening to the conversation at their table.
His gaze drifted back to the man as if by an unseen force.
The man hadn’t moved, his face hard and all sharp angles as he stared back at Daris so intently, Daris wondered if the man knew him.
The man who’d been sneering at him from the table next to them stood, his chair scraping loudly across the floor.
“What the fuck are you lot supposed to be? Lordlings out slumming?”
Rough laughter rumbled around them as Daris broke off his stare and turned to the man who’d spoken.
“We want no trouble, friend,” Jason called out, lifting his mug. “We’re tired from a long day and want to enjoy our ale.”
“I wasn’t talking to you, pretty lad,” the man snarled as he grabbed hold of the back of Elias’s chair. “I was talking to your lady friend here,” he said and slapped the back of Elias’s head.
As one, the Liodari bolted up from the table.
Except Daris. He’d turned his gaze back to the blond man staring at him from across the tavern. A slight smile was the only movement on his face as Daris remained seated.
“If you wish to live,” Daris said in a menacing voice loud enough to quiet the men around them, “sit down. Now. Or you will have lived your last moments.”
He never took his eye off the blond man. The man stared back at him, unmoving.
The man next to him made a grunting noise a moment before he came at Daris.
Faster than the blink of an eye, Daris snapped up with his dagger and slashed the man’s throat.
He spared his victim a glance as the man brought his hands up to his neck, blood pouring over his fingers as he dropped to his knees.
Elias moved when the man’s body bumped against his chair and kicked him savagely away.
Silence reigned for a few seconds before pandemonium erupted. It seemed everyone in the bar ached for a fight, and the Liodari happily obliged. Daris cut through three men before rounding the table, more men streaming around him as his Liodari fought in a semi-circle behind him.
The men rushed at Daris. He forcefully kicked against one’s sternum. Daris flipped his sword and swung in a mighty arc, taking another man’s head clean off his shoulders.
Twisting back to face a new onslaught, Daris cocked back to smash his fist into a thug’s face. A sharp whistle sounded. The attackers stopped all at once. Staggering away, the ruffians looking behind them at the blond man who remained seated.
The Liodari shifted around uncertainly, their weapons at the ready. The few remaining thugs filed back to their tables. Their dead allies were already forgotten where they lay.
In the silence that followed, Daris snapped his gaze back to the blond man, who stared back at him for a moment, his face inscrutable, before rising slowly.
Even from across the tavern, Daris could see the man was tall.
While his frame wasn’t large and bulky, Daris could tell he was muscular, despite being hidden beneath clothes tailored to give the appearance of a thief or ruffian.
The ruse failed up close when Daris saw their quality was that of a nobleman.
Daris controlled his breathing as the man took his time walking across the tavern, his eyes still locked on him. As Daris glanced around, he saw the others watched this man with something akin to reverence.
“We’ve been watching you for days,” the blond man said, his voice pleasant, conversational. As he moved closer to Daris, the Liodari begrudgingly cleared a path for him, as if compelled to move against their will.
Daris’s eye widened as the man stepped closer. He was a few inches taller than Daris. Arms crossed, he narrowed his aquamarine eyes, regarding Daris with curiosity.
“I was disappointed you didn’t notice my men,” the man went on, his voice smooth like honey. “But, then again, I’d be disappointed in my men if you had.”
A few chuckles sounded from the men seated around them.
“And what is your interest with us?”
“With you, Commander,” the blond man said, his melodic voice a purr. He bent forward. “My interest is with you.”