The Hooded Figure

The Tavern

As the sun rose over the horizon the town came to life, bustling could be heard from the houses, and people soon emerged, unbarring their windows, setting up their stalls and opening their shops ready for the long day ahead. Merchants yelled at the top of their lungs, advertising their products to the ever-growing crowds, children came out to meet their friends, running and playing through the stands. As the streets grew more crowded, a cloaked figure could be seen emerging from a narrow ally. She had managed to get a little more rest before the stalls opened, but it was impossible to relax through all this noise.

She strode through the crowd, although it looked like she was walking normally, she was actually dodging the people, going through the clearest places, not touching anyone. After she had passed a few stalls, she realized how hungry she was, she hadn’t eaten anything at the Grande Hall and it had been a long night. She stepped through the crowd and into a bar, the sign above read Solomon’s Tavern. It was relatively small and dim, with five round tables situated randomly around the room. The counter was long with six or seven stools, five of which were already occupied. Three of the tables were already full with men drinking and laughing and talking loudly. She walked towards the counter slowly, smelling the damp, smoky, smell of the tavern. She sat down at the furthest empty stool, taking care not to sit near anyone. She noticed that some of the men looked familiar, probably other contestants who failed to catch a Shadow Mask the night before. 

 The man a few seats away from her was ordering, so she waited patiently till the bar tender came across to her.

“Hello, oh, another new face, ben’ seeing a lot a those lately, you one of those wanna be hunters, too?” He said smiling cheerfully.

“I’ll have a small salad and a cup of your best beer.” She said, not even looking up.

“Oh, right away!” he replied blithely, completely ignoring her rudeness. He placed a large cup in front of her and filled it to the brim with a yellow-orange beer, which nearly fizzed over the top. Then he placed a small plate of green salad next to it and produced utensils from a cabinet and placed them in front of her. 

“Don’t get many people askin’ for salads in here, but this one’s fresh, so enjoy!” he said in a chirpy voice as he walked to his next costumer. She ate silently, completely ignoring any conversation that the bar tender may try to bring up. Just as she was about to finish, she heard a loud thud behind her. A man had stood up and his chair had fallen back, he was quite large and he had fist up, clenched hard.

“What did you just say? You better take that back if you wanna live!” He said through gritted teeth at the guy sitting across of him. He was smaller with a sharp nose and mean eyes; he had a grin on his face as he replied.

“Oh, I’m shaking in my seat,” he laughed “I was just saying, having a big body doesn’t make you strong, I can beat you any day.”

“Oh yeah, bring it!” He yelled as he reached over the table and grabbed him by the collar, forcing him up from his seat. He brought his other arm up for a punch, ignoring the yells from the others sitting at the table, who were standing up and trying to restrain him.  

“Get off; this is between me and him!” He screamed so loud that they stepped down, backing away as he brought his arm down to punch the guy clutched in his hand. But the man just grinned and kicked the table up, knocking it into his opponent and forcing him to let go of his collar. He flew back, his nose bleeding from the collision with the table, which nearly fell on top of him, but he just managed to dodge it.

“Now, now, I can’t stop you from fighting, but please take this outside; you’re disturbing the other costu-”  

“SHUT UP! Mind your own business!” He shouted at the bar tender as he stood up, wiping the blood off his nose with the back of his hand. The hooded figure still did not move, she sat in her seat, quietly finishing her meal as the two men broke into a brawl behind her. They were punching and kicking, throwing whatever they could get in their hands at each other. The bar tender and the other costumers tried to stop them, but were afraid of getting in the way of the flying objects which, more often than not, missed their target.

“Jake, I’m going to kill you!” Gritted the big man, his nose bleeding again as he threw a punch at Jake’s face, he dodged easily and threw a beer mug that he had found on the floor. It just barely missed him and flew towards the counter where the hooded figure was still sitting. It soared straight towards the back of her heard, she dodged with the least possible amount of movement; her head moved a mere inch to one side and the mug flew passed her. It collided with her beer mug and they both crashed onto to the floor.

 As the fight resumed; the two men too absorbed to notice her, the hooded figure stood up, her lip quivering slightly. She jumped and landed in the middle of the two men so quickly no one realized that she had moved in the first place.

“What? Hey, how did you get here? Move, you’re going to get hurt!” yelled the big man, who was aiming a punch straight towards her, too fast to stop himself, on the other side of her Jake was running at full speed, his fist also at the ready. There was tension in the air as everyone realized that it was too late; she was going to get hit! In the instant it took everyone to comprehend this, she caught the big guy’s hand and twisted it, forcing him to turn around as she pinned his arm to his back. As for Jake, she dodged his fist and reached up with lightning speed and grabbed his neck, lifting him up off the ground.     

The jaws of all the spectators dropped as Jake clawed at her hand, gasping for breath. The other man was also struggling, but any big movements can result in his hand breaking, it was obvious how nervous he was, worry clouded his face and he was sweating uncontrollably.

“I was going to let you go, even though the noise you were making was quite annoying” whispered the hooded figure so quietly the two men in her hands were the only ones who can hear her cold voice, “however, you have forced me to do this by directly disrupting my meal” there was anger in her voice, and the men couldn’t help but tremble as shivers ran down their spine.

“Ex...Excuse me, I...I think you’re gonna kill him!” stuttered the bar tender fearfully, looking in anticipation at Jake’s weakening body. The hooded figure stood still for a moment, then her head whipped around and she glared at the bar tender with blood shot eyes. Her eyes fastened to his with such ferocity, that many of the watchers were forced to look away, in fear of being scorched in the intensity of the gaze themselves. The tender stumbled backwards in horror, tripping on an over turned table and falling backwards onto the floor. He couldn’t take his eyes of her as he trembled and whimpered in fear. After holding his eyes for a few more seconds, she sighed and turned back, her hood falling back over her eyes.

She released her grip on the two men and they both fell to the ground. The large quickly got up and staggered away from her, half crawling, half stumbling. He got as far as he could, then fell to one knee, rubbing his wrist where she had grabbed him and watching her with terrified eyes. As for Jake, he lay struggling on the floor at her feet, one hand rubbing his neck, the other grasping his stomach. He coughed and gasped for breath as she looked down at him, her eyes glistening unsympathetically from underneath her cloak. Unexpectedly, and without another word, she turned and walked through the door, her feet carelessly stepping over the debris and shattered glass almost as if it were by chance. No one moved to stop her, their eyes watching in fear as the door closed behind her. 

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