Page 4 of Tethered Thrones
The familiar reststop was nestled between the winding mountain passageway that once connected Yewan to Kari, the heart of travel between the capital and the second-largest city on the continent. It was an extension of Jade Moon Village in themountains, a frontier village established before the war. Now, it was home to isolated bandits and disloyal subjects who rebelled in the early days of the war against the emperor. If only I knew back then…
Now, primarily, raiders frequented these roads, but I knew a place that would still welcome us and a man who stubbornly refused to leave this dying town.
The few people who stayed at the foot of the mountain were loyal to the emperor, including my friend. That gave me pause, trepidation creeping into my spirit as we neared the fluttering, tattered sheet acting as the bar’s doorway.
I’d never been unsure of anything until now and being in a constant state of fear was unnerving. I hadn’t felt like this since I was a child. Until hearing the truth from Tsuki, I hadn’t wept that hard since then either.
“It looks ransacked,” Clem whispered as he fluttered from Bracken’s shoulder to my side.
“I assure you we are open and at your service, young man,” a voice called out as Clem and I walked in, hand-in-hand. Clem startled, shifting green with embarrassment as he clutched my shoulder.
From behind a beaded curtain behind the bar came Uncle Ryota, a man who practically helped raise me, if serving me drinks underage as an enlisted teen passed as parenting, that was. I fondly recalled sharing stories deep into the night while my elders were passed out drunk.
His top knot was bleach white now, deep-set wrinkles replacing the man I had met over a decade ago, already past his prime. Ryota hadn’t looked so frail back then, stooped over as he approached the counter. As I stepped closer, dragging Clem along with me, I toyed with the tips of my white strands and wondered if he grayed early because of stress, like me.
“Uncle Ryota, it’s good to see you,” I said as Clem anxiously pulled his hand from mine.
The others were stirring behind us, trying to repress their animalistic noises. I must’ve seemed crazy to them, bringing nocs before a human, but they’d know he wasn’t a threat soon enough.
“Hello, old friend,” the bartender said, finally opening his milky, unseeing gaze and staring straight through me, slightly turned left to his better ear.
“Oh…” I heard Hadi breathe as they confirmed why I wasn’t afraid.
Blindness didn’t make nocs undetectable. But Ryota was blind, going deaf, and generally didn’t have the same defenses around me. Trust was the best weapon to disarm a man. He wouldn’t expect nocs to be awake before nightfall fully descended, let alone for them to come into a human bar for a drink.
Uncle’s mind couldn’t wrap around something as insane as that. And seeing as I brought them, the famed noc slayer, he’d never guess.
“Sun, my boy, how have you been?” Ryota asked as he cleared his throat, lifting his worn sleeve to his mouth.
I smiled, recognizing the pattern. I’d dropped off that fabric and many others two years ago during my last mission near this part of the country. But Ryota’s disarming smile didn’t hide the tension in his shoulders, and he inclined his head downward.
“You’ve brought friends?”
I chuckled, nodding even though he couldn’t see.
While Uncle was loyal and affectionate to me, he was always uneasy when a large group of men came in. For one, large groups didn’t come anymore, and two, they were sometimes bandits who’d tailed me after a mission.
Gods only knew why he hadn’t banned me by now, for the number of times I’d dragged a fight to his establishment only to drink off the soreness of battle right after. Some of the poorly patched furniture testified to those brawls.
“Yes, friends. Real friends this time,” and I shocked myself by how much I meant it.
This pleased Clem, who stopped shifting from foot-to-foot and switched to snuggling against me, all pink and perky but having enough common sense not to click. How embarrassing. I was glad he couldn’t see this.
As if on cue, Bracken and Kiar seemed to materialize beside us. Bracken ordered a surprisingly hard brew and ordered berry wine with a side of bellflower beer for Clem. Not surprising. It smelled and tasted fruity, like the nectar he craved.
Kiar? He didn’t touch a thing, twisting his nose and lifting his chin at everything Bracken offered him.
I glanced over my shoulder and nearly burst out laughing at Hadi’s sour expression. He seemed tired from being left out, and for once, I couldn’t blame him since he physically couldn’t enter the bar without his ass tearing the frame asunder.
“Ah, you’re blinder than a bat but can mix a mean drink,” Bracken quipped in between sips.
“Don’t be rude,” I snapped, but Ryota laughed.
“Kiar can’t handle his drinks, or he’d take part. Our friend to your far right. Don’t take it as rudeness that he’s declining,” Bracken said, ignoring me.
Arrogant ass bat. I reached around Clem and slapped his back, but he just cackled.
My own beerse went down far too easily and soon, I was sitting back in my seat, feeling like I could unwind for the first time in months.