Verita's Chronicles, The Dreamer

Chapter3

The sounds of broken glass and screams were the first things Rycaon heard when he woke up, and that
annoyed him. He sat on the edge of his old wooden bed and lit the oil lamp on his nightstand.
- Damn, my head.
He massaged his temples, trying to calm his migraine. As usual he had been drinking like crazy most of the previous day and was now suffering the consequences. Not that this changes from usual, it was the usual scenario for the hunter. Looking up he saw a stone wall, but not bricks, it was as if the room had been carved out of rock. The small room of ten square meters consisted of a bed for one person, a desk, a chair, a bedside table where the lantern was placed and a small toilet area with a basin of water and a mirror, not forgetting the cupboard dug into the rock. No windows were visible and it was impossible to guess the time but that was normal given where he had slept. Hearing yet another sound of broken glass coming from downstairs, he suspected what was happening, but he didn't care, it was pretty normal here. Slowly getting up he walked awkwardly towards the toilet area, leaning on the basin he raised his head to check the state of his face. He had a rather thin and thin face, we will give him around forty years, fifty at the most. On the bottom of his face a two-day stubble was visible, he was not in the mood to shave so he left it there. His right eye had a big dark circle and was still a little red, his left eye was still covered by his blindfold, but the scar that stuck out was clearly visible. Her hair fell over her shoulders, a little dirty but still quite smooth. He grabbed a brush and brushed out the knots and then, taking a piece of fabric, he made his usual ponytail towards the back of the top of the head. After refreshing his face with a little water, he finishes washing.
Turning towards the door a new wave of migraine attacked his mind, images flashing
poured into his head, a boy, no two, a tattoo, a visitor. Everything came back to him and then
Having formed a clear picture of the previous night's events, he grimaced.
- Misery, why does it always fall on me?
Kicking the chair a little lazily he began to dress, putting on his
leather coat then grabbing his sword, attaching its scabbard to his belt and finally he took the strap where hooks held his crossbow and passed it over his shoulder. It was special, thanks to these hooks held by springs he could catch it and then put it back on his strap at any time.
Then just before going out he remembered that it was better not to be visibly armed downstairs so he
put down his sword but kept his cloak on him.
- Well, it's high time to see if the sissy will be useful today.
Leaving his room he found himself in a long corridor, on each side about ten doors followed each other, the back wall on one side was made of stone but the rest was made of a wood that Rycaon could not identify. Heading towards the other side of the corridor he reached two staircases, one which
went up to another series of rooms, in total there must have been half a dozen floors of
accommodation of several types, those at the bottom were the cheapest but closer to the sound and more
small, rather created for one-night stops. The other went down towards the main tavern, it is in
this direction he went. Downstairs there was a lot of chattering noise and a strong light in
came from.
- Look who decided to wake up, our best customer.
When he had barely appeared at the top of the stairs, people were already calling him, and not just any
who, William the bartender and owner of the place
- Oh, shut up and get me something to drink.
- Barely awake and already ready to drink?
- Don't act like it bothers you, I'll pay you for that.

He grumbled and sat down on a stool opposite William. The bartender was rather pale-skinned, in his fifties, rather skinny with short black hair and an almost ridiculous looking goatee.
- Okay then, what do you want?
- Anything but not too strong for the morning.
- It's ten past twelve.
- Well, you can go then...
- Yes sir.
The owner hurriedly took a wooden tankard and placed it in front of Rycaon, emptying a
half bottle inside. Rycaon didn't even bother to check what it was, he
grabbed it and drank it dry
- You must have slept badly.
- What makes you say that ?
- You're in a bad mood and you didn't comment on the broken table.
Rycaon turned around and noticed that one of the round tables scattered throughout the tavern was broken in two.
- Oh yeah, I didn't notice.
- Two drunks argued over a game of cards, each saying the other had cheated, in the endThe money from the game was used to reimburse me.
The money from the game was used to reimburse me.
- How much was the stake?
- Almost forty echoes
- But the table was barely worth ten... you're really good at business.
- They were already very happy that I didn't kick them out of the tavern, they didn't even think about negotiating.
The two men began to laugh heartily. William, although sometimes a little too serious in his
taste, was an old friend of Rycaon and accommodated him at a reduced rate during his visits, which gave him
more money to buy drinks.
After a good half hour of chatting, Rycaon took on a more serious look.
- Said, is Ben free?
- You mean Mr. B.
- I don't call him that.
he said that in an amused and provocative tone, he didn't like Ben's habit of insisting on
what to call it. Which amused William.
- I know I'm kidding, but yes I think he's free, he's a little stuck on a request he received but I think he'll welcome you with open arms. And then when I think about it, he told me to tell you to come see him, precisely about this mission.
- Oh damn, well anyway I have to talk to him. Thanks for the drink William, put it all on my slate I'll pay when I leave.
- Welcome, see you later.
As he left Rycaon noticed a man sitting on a stool, his upper body lying on the
counter, recognizing one of his acquaintances he gave him a pat on the shoulder.
- Well then Jakob, your plans for the end of the world, it's not by drinking like that that you're going to achieve them.
- I'm waiting for you to die to put them into action.
- Then you won't have to wait much longer.
- I hope.
the two chuckled, then Rycaon headed towards a door under the stairs. He opened it and descended even lower into the heart of the earth.