In Another Era

Chapter 7: A Man In Love

Chapter 7: A Man In Love

"Drink! Drink! Drink! Drink!"

Everyone in the tavern was chanting as Kenric chugged a huge mug of ale. He was competing against one of the locals and it was head-to-head. Archie too, now more than tipsy and on the verge of being drunk was banging on the table as he cheered for his prince.

Kenric slammed the mug down on the wooden table, his nose scrunched in distaste for a second before he looked at his competitor, who still hadn't finished.

More people yelled, patting Kenric's shoulder as they congratulated him on winning for the third time in a row. At first, Archie was apprehensive, but the more he drank, the more he loosened up as well. The townsmen were no longer looking at the two strangers warily, now sitting with them and making conversation like they were all long-lost friends.

“Look who we have here…”

Kenric looked up to see a man in his fifties, with a pot belly and balding hair. Kenric was immediately alarmed, thinking that someone recognized him. He was about to reach for his sword when the older man broke into a wide grin, showing off the missing tooth on the right side of his mouth.

“A knight in our small town!” he exclaimed. “Welcome, welcome. The food and drinks are on me tonight.”

“And you will be…” Kenric spoke up.

“Gregory,” he said. “The owner of the tavern.”

The rest after that was history, Kenric drank and chatted with Gregory along with a few more locals who were all the more interested in making conversation with the visitors. It took a while for Archie to open up, but some time after his third mug of ale, he had started conversing freely too.

Kenric had missed this. He did not remember the last time he was treated so...normally. When someone did not bow as they saw him or spoke and acted as if they were walking on eggshells. Even his men and the knights that he was so close to treated him, well, according to his title. Kenric commanded respect and submission wherever he went, but at that moment, in the dusty little tavern, he could be free of all the shackles of nobility.

And he couldn't be happier that Archie was right next to him. Maybe this would help the stable boy see that Kenric was human too and that they could be friends again.

"So Rick, you got a lady back home?" one of the men asked the prince.

"I don't," Kenric answered with a dry laugh, before taking another sip just to cover up his face.

"Why not? At least anyone you fancy?"

Archie was staring intently at the prince, as if curious about the answer himself. Kenric had never been seen with a woman. There were rumors that he was going to marry the youngest princess of Selantra but they dissipated as soon as they emerged. Archie couldn't lie and say he had never wondered why this was so.

"There is someone," Kenric muttered. He glanced at Archie for a split second, not wanting to give away what he was thinking.

"Tell us about her! What is she like?" Gregory grinned as he patted Kenric's shoulder in encouragement.

"She..." Kenric cleared his throat. "She is kind. And compassionate and has a heart of gold. Beautiful in every way that counts. Every time I'm with her…it is like I forget how to breathe. I'm enchanted."

"Spoken like a man in love," said another townsman whose name Kenric did not remember.

Kenric's eyes shifted to look at Archie again, who was staring back at him with a bemused expression. Kenric couldn't look away, he knew Archie would be wondering whom he was talking about, but little did he know...