"We eat it." after she'd said that he sighed inwardly and looked away from her around the tavern; a man was chugging down a mug of beer while his friends hooted and cheered him on. Beside them an old man sat hunched over his own drink, quietly eating his dinner and shooting sour looks at the younger men every now and then. A waft of air rushed into the tavern as a group of people made their way inside, bringing a wave of heat with them - as if the place wasn't warm enough already. The air stirred hair and ruffled some of the thinner garments people were wearing.
Roderick had just started watching a man who was failing miserably at wooing a young woman when Lirin suddenly turned about and stared at him fiercely,
"Roddy! Tell me a story. Come on, something about what you've been up to. It doesn't even have to be true, since I'm feeling generous."
The hunter took a moment to face the Drykas and blinked in surprise.
"A story?" he repeated, "Really?" he shifted on his seat as the barkeep returned with his food - the man turning to take the money from Lirin before leaving them alone. Lifting his mug and sipping from it, he frowned and thought over the stories that he knew. What to tell her... While he thought, Roderick began eating his dinner, swallowing it down quickly before it grew cold.
"The maid of a lesser nobleman had a beautiful young daughter," he said, giving a slight smirk, "Not really. No, this story is a little weird. See, a while ago I agreed to a little training session. The catch; my partner was a Kelvic, and he ended up chasing me all around the Bronze Wood as a tiger. So, naturally, I did a lot of running that day. First I tried climbing up a tree so I could get a better look around the place, but he'd vanished. I grabbed my bow and loosed an arrow off where I thought he was, then scrambled down that thing like a squirrel and ran like hell." He smiled slightly at the memory, "Made it to a tree, thankfully, though the Kelvic must've heard me, or somethin', 'cause he followed me there and started climbing up the tree.
"Ever been stuck up a tree with a big tiger staring up at you? It ain't nice, to say the least. Anyway we'd decided we'd try get a rattle of one another, and seeing as I wanted t' win, I quickly vacated my chosen spot. 'Course that involved jumping out of the tree... damn that hurt." He rubbed at his back, "Anyway, I managed to run off and hide again, before he found me. It was only a matter of time until he did figure out where he was, because I realized then that he was using his nose to track me. With that in mind I grabbed a few arrows, rubbed them against my clothes, then loosed em off all over the place. That kept him occupied for a bit, though he started following me again soon enough."
Breaking off from the story to quickly eat a little food, he sipped down some of his drink before returning to the tale, "We'd picked a spot near this little grove of flowers, so I decided we'd head for that. MODIFYING>
Eventually I figured out he was using his nose to track me, so I rubbed a few arrows against myself and loosed off all over the place. That kept him occupied for a little while. "One day, her daughter asked her to cook her something to eat, that she might go out and seek her fortune. A day after she had left, the girl came across a fork in the road; unable to decide which way to go, she saw a group of crows flying around the pathway to the left, and knowing them for carrion eaters, she turned away from the path and walked down the other.
"There, she came upon a large black bull - who told her to follow him. Terrified of the beast, but lost, hungry and hearing the howling of wolves nearby, the girl followed the bull. As she went, she was surprised by how kind and gentle it was. It let her ride upon her back most days, and every morning she woke to find a cup filled with soup lying before her; when she consumed it her stomach was filled for the whole day.
"On the first night of their journey, they stopped at a castle; the bull told her it was the home of his eldest brother. There the daughter was treated like a noblewoman. Before leaving, she was gifted a beautiful apple and told to only use it during the first great need of her life.
"Two days after, they arrived at a second castle, property of the Black Bull's second brother. Again the daughter slept beneath the roof and before leaving was given a parting gift, this one a pear; as with the first brother, she was told only to use it during the second great need of her life.
After four days travel, they arrived at the castle of the youngest brother, who hosted the two beneath his roof and gifted the girl with a plum, to be used at the third great need of her life. With the fruits in hand the girl left with the Black Bull, finally arriving at a grim, rocky valley.
"'You must wait here.' the bull told the girl, 'and whatever you do, do not move, even an inch, or I shall be unable to find you.' The Bull went on to explain that he had to fight the spirit that ruled the valley so that they might leave it. He told her that if the sky turned blue, she would know the bull had won, but if it turned red, then he was lost. The Black Bull left the girl sitting in the valley, going away to face the spirit.
"The girl waited there for several hours, becoming ever more frightened for the bull. At last, the sky turned blue; the girl, overjoyed, shifted slightly... and so the bull never returned for her."
Roderick's throat had become parched from the telling of the story; he took a long drought of his beer and ate more of his dinner, washing it down with more beer, then turned about to continue;
"Unable to escape the valley on her own, the girl wandered, lost and afraid, until she met a travelling merchant; the man offered to give her a pair of boots in exchange for the necklace she was wearing. The girl did so, and left wearing the boots, finding her steps more sure-footed and steady.
Walking further through the valley, the girl met a half-blind woodcutter; taking pity on him she fed him the last few crusts of bread she had, and in return he gave her a pair of gloves. Finding that they made her stronger, the girl used the gifts to make her way up the steep walls of the valley.
"Eventually, the young woman found herself back at the home of the witch, who offered to let her sleep under her roof if she would wash some bloody shirts she and her daughter had been unable to clean. Whoever cleaned the shirts would marry the handsome young knight staying at the witch's home, whom the shirts belonged to. While the witch and her daughter had struggled furiously to cleanse the blood from the shirts, no sooner had the young woman laid the soap to the cloth than the blood was washed away.
"Delighted, the witch took the shirts to the knight and convinced him that her daughter had washed them. So it was the witch's daughter was to marry the knight, while the young woman became angry and upset over being cheated."
Roderick stopped to finish off the rest of his dinner, draining the remains of his beer. Setting the mug down, he held the back of his hand to his lips to clean any froth that had gathered there, then faced Lirin again;
"Desperate, the young woman realized she was in the first great need of her life. She broke open the apple, and found it to be filled with rich jewelry.
She offered the gems to the witch's daughter, in exchange for being allowed to sing outside the knight's room at night. But the witch gave her daughter a potion for the knight to drink, putting him to sleep so that he could not hear and be woken by the young woman, though she sobbed and sang:
"The cliffs I climbed for thee,
Thy bloody clothes I wrang for thee;
Wilt thou not waken and turn to me?"
"Realizing she was in the second great need of her life, she broke open the pear, and found jewelry richer than that of the apple, yet the second night went as before. Finally, the young woman had come to the third great need of her life, and split open the plum to find jewels that outshone all those that had come before. This time, though, when the sleeping potion was brought to the knight, he knocked it over, and so when the young woman bought her third and final chance, he woke to hear her song, and learned the truth.
"The knight had the witch and her daughter burned, and led the woman, mounted on his horse, away to his own castle. When they finally arrived there, the brothers she had met before welcomed her. The young woman married the knight, who had been her black bull all along."
Roderick turned and looked about the room; the drinking contest between the young men had devolved into drunken shouting and singing, while the old man had quietly left. In his place was a hunter, dressed in a green tunic and brown breeches, a handaxe hanging from his belt. The man ate his dinner ravenously, swallowing his beer down quickly and ordering another. The matted brown hair that hung down to his shoulders occasionally fell forward into his face, or onto his plate, which set him muttering at it, swiping it aside with a hand before returning to his meal.
Turning his attention over to the table to the right of the hunter, a young woman ate her dinner more politely; she held herself properly in her chair, a robe as green as grass wrapping itself around her delicate form. Her auburn locks were tied into a stylish but simple braid, while slender fingers set about dissecting the food before her.
Realizing that he'd forgotten all about the Drykas sitting beside him, the hunter turned about to face Lirin again, all fears gone from him; as bad as she could be at times, there were moments where he enjoyed the company they shared. Making it through those moments where he wanted to rip his hair out were worthwhile - most of the time. |
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by Roderick on September 1st, 2013, 6:54 pm 
