The Old Storyteller
We were all tired from the journey, so when we saw the inn nestled in a corner of the road the relief was palpable. From the outside no name was visible, but from inside firelight could be seen and voices drifted.
After placing our horses in the stable, we pushed the door open to be greeted with a cozy room lit by a few torches and a roaring fire. While Telia got us food and rooms, I moved closer to the fire, the warmth comforting after the cold rain. I was comfortable toasty when Telia came back with drinks and a thick stew. Digging in I lost myself in my first good meal tor days, only to be brought back to reality by a voice loudly exclaiming “Oh, you call that a story?! I’ll tell you a story!”
Turning around, I saw the source of the voice. An older man with hair the grey of sun behind storm clouds and eyes that looked like the sky after such a storm. He stood up from his seat next to a younger bard, who I guessed was the offending party. He towered over most of the occupants of the common room, nearly seven feet tall and well built, his apparent age having done nothing to weaken him. He smiled and his eyes filled with mirth at the stunned expression on the bard’s face. Looking around the room he boomed “Listen up everyone, this is a story!”
“I used to serve in the heavy armor division of the army for the kingdom of Astara. For many years we had been at war with our neighbor, the Kestel Theocracy. No one even remembers why we were at war, but we were still killing each other. They had reached our capital again and we were preparing for another long seige before they left again, when my unit was summoned before the king’s mage. He instructed us to leave the capital and head to the nearby fire forest to kill an Elder Fire Vine, something about needing its blood to protect the city.” The old man paused to take a massive drink from his tankard before continuing, but I do not think anyone really noticed, he had such an engaging way of telling a story.
“Since he was our superior, we obeyed and snuck out of the city under the cover of dark. You wouldn’t think a heavy armor unit could be quiet but we were noticed by no one that night. It took us a few days to travel to the fire forest, which was more of a swamp really. We spent a day finding the Fire Vine and another day fighting it. I lost four good soldiers to that monster. By the end of it the blood we had come to collect was spread all over us. We did manage to get a little in a vial, but not much. We were preparing to head back when we noticed that the sounds of small creatures in the bushes had stopped. With a growing feeling of dread we grabbed our supplies and started the trek back to the city. As we traveled we noticed that there was no sound of wildlife, even the insects had gone quiet. On the second day we were so filled with fear at what was going on, we abandoned our supplies and force marched to the city, only bringing our armor, weapons, and the vials of blood. We arrived at the hill over the capital and saw that the invading force had withdrawn and that there were people moving about on the battlements, but still we heard no sound. We entered the city by the back gate and saw no one on our way to the castle, though we did occasionally see movement out of the corners of our eyes. It took us some time, but we made it to the castle and inside. We got all the way to the throne room before we saw anyone. Upon entering the room we noticed that it too was empty, undisturbed. We were looking around when the door to the antechamber opened and the first of the creatures entered. It looked human, but off, as if some key part of being human had been removed. It made no sound as it walked towards us and another entered after it. We readied our weapons, but we were exhausted from our rapid pace. When the first one reached us, it attacked, killing Duranil almost instantly. It ripped through her armor like it was paper, even though most seige weapons could not have made a dent. We backed up to the throne and prepared to meet our fate. As they attacked I thought this is how the world ends. Not with a bang” at the word ‘bang’ the he slammed his hands together, making everyone in the room jump “but with silence.”
As he said the last word, I became painfully aware that there was no sound in the inn with the exception of the fire still crackling away. Everyone seemed to shake themselves out of a stupor and look around. After a moment, everyone was talking at once, the din replacing the silence as if it had never left, but I could still remember that moment of quiet. I looked for the old man but could not find him, even though his presence had seemed to fill the room a moment before. Shaking my head slightly, I went back to my now cold food and prepared to go rest.