The Prophecy

Irving the Great's inn | Story of an incredible escape

The return to the inn was cheerful. Some were pleased to have inspired such fear in the brigands that they had preferred to avoid the confrontation altogether. For sure, they were going to be treated like heroes! Half Moon never stopped questioning the twins and went from one to the other, to look at them, get their opinion and above all, succeed in understanding how they had come to this point. How could they have let all this happen? How could they have been separated from their dragons? And where had the other Wise Elves Men gone? In front of the twins' suddenly darkened faces, she felt a deep turmoil and an impalpable anxiety took hold of her. She stopped in the field. Bud slowed down. He turned towards her and slowly joined her, putting his arm around her waist and dragging her along with him. He had this protective attitude that didn't leave her indifferent, however she never knew how to react to this kind of attention.

She didn't know the two brothers that well, she only knew what her uncle dared to say about them. Childeric was not very talkative when it came to talking about his colleagues and his activities as a Wise Elf. And despite everything, when she found herself in the midst of these men and women, she was surrounded, listened to and felt her existence more keenly through the simple gestures they had for her. Sometimes she wanted to scream that she was nothing in fact and that it was a waste of time to take care of her like that. And at the same time, it was so nice, this unique feeling of being important to someone. Important like never before. When she thought about it, her chest tightened and she was in pain, from wounds that burn and never close. Contrary to all that is said, time doesn't heal everything, and sometimes, Oblivion forgets to erase certain pains.

Bud had slowed down his pace, no doubt enjoying staying a bit away from the incredible noise that Irving's merry band was making as they reached the inn. He always surrounded her with his arm and she felt his supple body accompanying her and harmonizing with the rhythm of his gait.

_ It wasn't easy, he says suddenly with a look lost in his memories. But I'm sure the others will soon arrive too. We are always the first in all circumstances, he ended with a slight smile on his lips.

_ What wasn't easy? Half Moon repeated, suddenly tensed.

_ The escape...

She couldn't find out more, Bud stubbornly refusing to talk until they were quietly at the inn. Once everyone was comfortably seated around the large table next to the fireplace, Bud and Cyd, sitting on the table with a pint of beer in their hands, began to tell the story of their adventures. They had recounted in detail their journey through the clouds, leaving aside just the episode of the fire, an episode of which they were not particularly proud. Their meeting with the Skimmers of the Sky had been widely applauded by the listeners eager for thrills and whose exclamations of joy betrayed another form of happiness, much more alcoholic that one. However, the rest of their story had visibly aroused a feeling of admiration mixed with fear and probably also fear. As Bud recounted the attack of the brigands with great gestures and imagination, from the recovery of the pink diamonds - not forgetting Siegfried's forced intervention as a doctor - to the explosion of the walls of their rock prison, silence gradually fell. Bud allowed himself a period of rest. He drank quietly from the pint, the inn suspended on his lips. Finally, he resumed the course of his story.

_ So, Siegfried, sitting on the floor in the darkest corner of our dungeon, turned and kneaded his strange mixture of herbs endlessly. Red Zorbhate, an incredibly powerful sleeping pill according to him. The only worry was that he had to work his potion for no less than 10 rays! And all this without the brigands suspecting it for a moment! A real challenge, I tell you! Manoël had had the idea to settle not far from the door with the Stallion and my brother, here present. This way, they were in the trajectory of the opening of the hatch... You see, it was to obstruct the brigands' vision of the back of the room.... Ingenious, right? So, we began to talk out of turn, obviously, we were all trying to avoid thinking about what was going to happen next. Further back, there were Old Bear and Quicksilver who were talking amongst themselves, visibly worried about the turn of events as well. Old Bear kept shaking his head constantly and clearly did not appreciate what the Storyteller was telling him. Childeric, still standing, was watching with an eagle's eye the snake-like motions of our "herbalist doctor".