Aetherian(Part 1): A War Begins

Darien

 By the time they arrived back at Snowfall, Queen Alicent had already started on her way to Riverford, leaving Darien and Damien behind. Lord Karlon was kind enough to give his friends a couple of snow speeders, and they began their way southwest. They were lucky to reach a village right as a blizzard struck at noon. There wasn't another one for dozens of miles, and they needed to stop in order to not be trapped by the blizzard.

"You want some lunch?" Damien asked as they climbed off their snow speeders in front of a small tavern. "We might as well, right?"

"Sure," Darien agreed. The wind nearly knocked them off their feet as they trudged through the snow, and to the door of the tavern. When Darien tried to open it, the knob wouldn't budge, then he knocked on it.

"You have to kick it down!" a man shouted from inside. Every second they spent in the cold, the more they began to freeze, so Darien raised his foot and sent the door flying off its hinges.

"What the hell is wrong with you!?" the same man shouted. He was an old, gruff man in a heavy jacket, sitting in a chair beside the fireplace.

"Sorry," said Darien, as him and his brother came inside. It was definitely a popular tavern for travelers in the north since there were at least a dozen people sitting at tables all around the floor. Most of them seemed to recognize Darien and Damien, staring or scowling at them. The older man sitting at the fireplace must have been the innkeeper. He stood from his chair to greet, or rather, scold them.

"That door was brand new, boys," he sneered.

"You said to kick it down, didn't you?" Damien reminded.

"I didn't say to send it flying, did I?" asked the innkeeper. "It still needs to be there to keep the damn place warm!"

"I'll put it back," Darien assured. He took wood glue and managed to glue it back to the wood left on the hinges, and screwed the hinges back to the doorway. After that, he nailed it shut again to keep the cold out.

"Thanks," said the innkeeper, and Darien went to sit at a table across from his brother, who was looking over a map of the Snowlands.

"So, we're two hundred miles south of Snowfall, by now," said Damien.

"Right," agreed Darien. "And depending on whether another blizzard strikes, it might take even longer to reach another village."

"Maybe not," Damien argued. "The next one on this road is just fifty miles away, but until the storm lets up, we can't really do anything."

"Well, I wouldn't say that," said Darien. "There's dart throwing, knife throwing, billiards, gambling."

"Oh, give me a break," Damien whined.

"What else are we going to do?" asked Darien, eyeing six people playing poker at a table against the wall.

"Remember, brother, we are sons of a King, who some people think shouldn't even be King," Damien reminded. "Didn't you and Roderick get attacked in the Kingsway months ago?"

"They stood no chance against me and Roderick," said Darien. "I doubt they'll stand a chance against us."

"Right," Damien agreed. "Hopefully." Darien couldn't understand why his brother was doubting their skill as a team. They were both superhumans with lightning enchanted glass weaponry, as well as two of Aetherian's most feared warriors. Damien was right, though. They were in the Snowlands, where people lived in a harsher environment, and breeds more hardened fighters. Still, they wouldn't have to worry about bandits since they would either slice them to bits or crush them to a pulp.

"Maybe you're right," Darien admitted. "We just shouldn't do anything stupid."

"You are the one carrying the stupid, Darien," Damien teased. Darien gave his brother a kick from under the table with his armor-plated foot.

"Ow!"

"You deserved that," said Darien.

"Oh, whatever," Damien groaned. They sat at the table, with plates picked clean of a meal, for another hour before the talk and singing in the tavern was stopped by a shout from a drunkard.

"I know you!" he shouted, pointing to Darien and Damien from the bar, with a glass bottle in his hand. Neither of them wanted to start a fight, but they had their hands on Thunder and Lightning, just in case.

"I don't think you do," Damien argued.

"Do you think I'm stupid, boy?" asked the drunk.

"I do," said Damien. "I think you're very stupid, and also very drunk. Now, please leave us alone." Darien gave Damien a look with his eyebrows furrowed that clearly said What the hell are you doing?. He had just warned him not to do something stupid, yet here he was, picking a fight with an alcoholic.

"What?" asked Damien.

"You see!?" the alcoholic ranted. "Now that they call themselves King, they Busches think they can do whatever they want, but I can't even think of what will happen if Robar is on the Dragon Throne for another second!"

"Look..." said Darien, and the man suddenly pulled a pistol and shot a round of red plasma at them, but it shattered a bottle that another drunk standing beside the door was drinking from. He immediately suspected that the one closest to him did it, and stabbed him in the back of the neck with what was left of his bottle. Darien quickly rushed at the one who shot at them and knocked his head off his shoulders with a swing of Thunder, and he instantly regretted it. The drunk's head hit another drunk, and he stumbled onto a table, knocking it over. One of the men sitting at the table raised his fist, hitting another one, who hit back. A mass brawl started in the tavern. One rushed at Damien, and he sliced him in half with Lightning, while Darien bashed another one's head in with his warhammer.

"Time to go!" Darien shouted.

"Good idea!" Damien agreed. They both rushed out, killing a few more brawlers as they threw the door down, and landed face down in the snow.

"Why did you have to start that?" asked Darien.

"I didn't start anything," Damien argued.

"You called the guy an idiot, Damien," Darien reminded. "You do not make drunks angry."

"What else would I have done, he was already angry, just by us being in the same room as him," said Damien. "I warned you about that."

"And I warned you not to do something stupid," said Darien, standing from the snow.

"I didn't do anything stupid," Damien argued, as his brother pulled him up.

"Well, the storm's cleared," Darien observed. "Maybe we can start heading to that other village, now. Maybe we'll catch up with Alicent by nightfall."