The Blue Raven

Chapter 1: What the fuck

This story starts in a tavern named The Lonely Raven, in the small town of Scimey in the land Crystead. Travelers came by on a regular basis for quite some time, for a drink; to spend the night or to shop around for supplies. But that changed, after a change of power in the seat of the council, the town and the tavern were not as lively anymore as before. Due to tax increases, increase of crime in the town and a lack of trust in the legal system.

The streets were more quiet, market stalls lessened in number and travelers avoided the area. Behind the counter of the tavern, drying up glasses, was Eliri. A Wood- Elf of average height for an Elf with the age of 190 years old. The young warlock was working late again, with little customers to tend to all day long. She had been working there for quite some time, ever since she left home 70 years ago to be precise. Her training as a warlock had not been completed yet, as she struggled with paying attention. The tavern was as usual quiet, just the regular drunks who came by every night after a work day in the shops. As she was drying up the glasses, one of the regulars came by the bar and the smell of ale was heavily present.

"Oi!" The drunk man called to Eliri. He waved with his tankard and looked at it. "I need a refill on this one and my friends's as well." He said to her, slurring his words.

Eliri turned to him, put the glass down and put away the dishcloth. Her left arm leaned on the counter and with he right arm she swiped stray beads of sweat from her forehead, the sleeve of her brown loose shirt stained already. Her hair, just a bit shorter than her shoulders, a dark shade of blue and her oval face framed with curtain bangs.

With dark green eyes, with little hints of blue, she looked at him. "Listen here Darryn, you and your palls have had enough." She started and before he could speak up, she lifted her hand and continued. "Besides, the bar is closed and you guys haven't paid anything today." That wasn't the reaction he had hoped and clenched his fists.

"Do I look like I need a full on lecture," he snarled at her, Darryn's face started to get red. "Or do you want trouble missy?" A smirk plastered on his face as he said that.

Eliri raised her eyebrows and burst into laughter. While laughing she brushed away some tears and looked at him. "Oh you are funny Darryn!" She said breathless and kept on laughing.

Darryn his smirk dropped from his face as she laughed and he looked at his mates. "Is she for real?" He asked and turned back to a still laughing Eliri. "What's so funny?!" He shouted.

She stopped laughing and grinned like a Chesire cat. "Because, my dear Darryn, you been so busy drinking; that you didn't even notice WHAT you were drinking."

As soon as she said that, Darryn and his pals turned their gaze to the tankards. The colour drained from their faces and grumbling sounds came soon. Their eyes went wide and stumbled from their seats as they tried to make it outside. They knocked some tables over and as soon as they got outside, they jumped in the nearest bush and the nastiest smell erupted.

Eliri bursted out laughing again and picked up a small vial from under the counter. "Laxatives, always handy." She muttered to herself, smiling from ear to ear. She placed the vial in the pockets of her long skirt and heard the front door creaking open.

"We are closed! Come back to-" she started and stopped as she looked up to see who was coming in. "Oh fuck." With a roll of her eyes she turned to whoever came through. "What do you want?" She said with a sigh.

The newcomer chuckled and sat on a stool by the bar. "This is not the welcome I had imagined, little sister." the male newcomer said with a grin. With spikey dark black hair and golden green eyes.

"Keray.. how did you even find me?" She asked him as she crossed her arms. "I left with no note where I would be going."

Keray crossed his legs and bent down to grab something out of his bag. "Well Eliri, I wouldn't want to be here-" he started to say.

"What a shocker!" Eliri said, with a fake gasp and fake shock on her face. Keray rolled his eyes and continued.

"But you never finished your training. Alas, that is not the main thing. It is a side thing we will work on but the main thing is different." He said and looked straight at her, seriousness all over his face.

"Aaaaand that is?" Eliri impatiently asked, as she was putting away glasses and looked at him. Her patience was always a problem for her and it was wearing thinner by the minute. "Don't leave me hanging here mate! What is so important that you had to go find me?"

Keray pulled out some documents out of his bag and placed it on the counter. "The steward wants to see you. Today." He said, his tone all too serious. "And we got to leave this instant." He started to get up from the stool.

Eliri looked at him half surprised and tapped with her fingers on the counter. "Why me? Why today?" She asked him, he didn't answer and gestured for her to follow him. Eliri sighed, "Fine. But I need to close this shit hole up first." She grumbled.

After an hour, they were on their way to meet the steward in his mansion not far out of town. The guards by the door let them pass through and they entered a big reception room. Dark red wallpapers, candles were lit and window curtains drawn.

As they walked on, they were being asked to join the steward in the dining room. The dining room was not as big as the reception room but still grand.

Eliri and Keray walked in and the steward saw them walking in and stood up from his chair. "Ah, Keray you brought her. Good." He said and gestured them to sit. "Before we begin, there are some people you two ought to meet."

As Eliri looked to the steward, she saw a few other people sitting at the table. She looked around them and locked eyes with one of them.

Her eyes darkened and she clenched her fists.

"What the fuck?!"