Tales of a Dead God

Chapter Ten: A Lovely Encounter in the Tavern

Noah woke up to music flooding in from the slightly cracked window. Night had fallen and lanterns flickered softly below. He cleaned himself up best he could and began out the door when he noticed a note on the dresser.

Whenever you wake up. Theo and I are having dinner at the tavern across the street.

He stuffed the note into a pocket and out the door he went.

Outside of the tavern was a quickly growing crowd. Noah's attention was pulled to the crowd when yelling and cursing ensued. Curiosity washed over him and he just needed to see what was going on of course. Pushing through he finally saw what all the fuss was over. Two men had seemingly started a sword duel.

Both men had drawn their swords and were now taunting each other. The one was quite muscular and tall. Taller than many who were now trying to catch a glimpse of the fight. It was hard to see this guy tower above everyone else. However, his opponent was quite small. He could've been around Noah's height, maybe a little taller but he seemed like he wasn't backing down from the giant of a man. Many were yelling for one of the men to take a swing. Neither of them paid any attention to the yells but were concentrating on each other. Finally, the smaller man moved forward for the first attack. The giant wasn't fast enough to block the almost lightning-fast movements. He let out a grunt as the sword of the other sliced through his upper right arm. He clutched his arm tightly still holding onto his sword. Everyone cheered. Everyone except Noah that is. He was too caught up in the fight to cheer on the two men. The giant turned to face his opponent who was chuckling at his attack. This made the giant angry in which he lunged forward to get his own attack. He missed horribly as the opponent was much quicker on his feet. The opponent turned as the giant lunged past him now his back facing towards his opponent. The opponent took the opportunity and pulled out a hidden dagger. The crowd was too busy cheering that no one noticed except for Noah. The opponent plunged the digger into the giant man's side causing him to let out a cry and fall to the ground clutching his side. The crowd went deadly silent waiting for the next move. The opponent looked down at the man sword in hand. Noah was waiting for the final swing, but it never came. The opponent bent down and pulled out his dagger and walked away. Some rushed to the giant's side but most walked away.

Noah watched the opponent take out a cloth to clean off the blood from his dagger and sword. He seemed to ignore those that congratulated him on the win or cursed him for almost killing the other man. Noah took a deep breath and started walking toward the opponent. He really didn't know what he would say or if he'd be able to say anything to this guy. As he walked closer he could see that this man couldn't be much older than himself. The opponent was a bit taller than Noah. Given the light had faded quickly, Noah really couldn't make out much of what the opponent looked like.

Noah stood there awkwardly just watching the opponent put his things away then he spoke up. "Um... that was pretty cool what you did out there."

There was no response.

Noah spoke up again. "I'm not much of a fighter myself. Never really held a sword. Well, a real sword. My brother and I used to fight with wooden ones when we were younger." The opponent was just kind of standing with a blank expression. Noah went quiet.

The opponent looked up from fixing his gear. He stared at Noah who stood awkwardly in the silence. The opponent finally spoke up. "Are you finished?" It was a rather rude tone.

"Finished what," Noah asked. He hadn't really started anything.

"Talking. Are you done talking?" The opponent folded his arms across his chest. His eyes burned holes into Noah.

"Um, I guess..."

"That's the best news I've heard today." And with that, he walked off towards the tavern leaving Noah standing alone.