A tale of song, swords, and flowers

Chapter 11

Upon making his way downstairs to the tavern, Florian searched the crowded room for the elegant ebony bun that belonged to Contessa. He spotted her moving with purpose through the less than sober crowd of patrons, collecting an impressive pile of dirty dishes. Half way over to her he swiped an empty serving tray from a barmaid too busy flirting to notice, such crowded places always had ears after all. Contessa did nothing more than raze her eyebrows as Florian swooped in to grab up what remained on the table she was currently clearing.

"May I help you with that?" He asked, gaze flickering pointedly from her face to the Open door of the kitchen in silent request.

Contessa replied with a barely perceptible nod, Before smiling and looking down at him through her eyelashes. " why thank you kindly!"

After clearing away one final table, Florian followed behind her to the relative privacy of the kitchen where Contessa twisted to face him. "What do you want?" She questioned, expression guarded

"I need to know more about this entire ritual. Let's just say my friend is aware of the ties that bind between that lovely young lass and her blind flutist, he has no intention of breaking that up if he can help it." Florian followed Contessa over to a long counter with a wash Basin stationed on either side, quickly helping to clear both of their trays. "Also some dinner for my friend and I would be most graciously appreciated!"

Contessa chuckled before sweeping off through the whirlwind of organized chaos just long enough to scoop up a pair of bowls containing some sort of good smelling stew."Come on then!" She called while hurrying past, "I think we should go speak with the other two embroiled in this madness."

Yet again Florian followed in the taller woman's wake, through the boisterous crowd, and over to a familiar table. The young lass Rosamund was sitting draped half across the table, posture as crooked as the crown of daisies perched in her hair. Her gray eyes glisten with a film of tears and she was clinging to one of Kellin's wrists as if her life depended on it. "No! Please Kel, don't do this. The man made Trev look like a dundering idiot! What chance could you possibly have of defeating him!"

"I'm sorry Rosie, but I have to try!" Kellin's expression was one of complete determination, the fingers of his free hand gripping his stick with enough force to turn his knuckles white."I couldn't live with myself if I'd let you go without even trying to fight! Blind I may be, but I am not afraid to die for you!"

"Enough!" Florian interjected, lightly smacking the table top in order to gain the lovers attention. "No one is going to end up dying today, in fact I have it on good authority that my friend would much rather see the both of you canoodling in marital bliss instead of actually binding hands himself."

Before either Rosamund or Kellin could gather themselves well enough to speak, Contessa pointedly cleared her throat. "I do believe we should be having this conversation somewhere a bit more private. Come on now, the lot of you follow me!"

Without another word she swept off through the crowd, followed quickly by Rosamund Who waited just long enough for Kellin to grasp her upper arm. Florian happily brought up the rear, smiling smugly to himself all the while.

His smile quickly faded however, upon reaching the top of the stairs. Sprawled flat on his back out in the hallway was a man, Face covered in blood and clearly unconscious. The door to Tristan's room was wide open and the sound of raised voices could be heard inside.

"Oh gods above! Here hold this dear." contessa quickly transferred her tray of food to Rosamund's hands, before dashing off. Florian followed straight on her heels, gasping at the site that met his eyes upon bursting into the room. Tristan was being forcibly restrained by a large Man, arms affectively pinned to his sides. He was struggling without much success, appearing disoriented with his hair practically died orange with blood . Pottery shards covered the floor and  none other than Trev was standing in front of the pair, raining down a Hale of vicious blows on the smaller man's unprotected Face and stomach.

"Oh get off of him you bastard's!" Contessa roared charging forward, a relentless storm of fury.

This commotion understandably distracted the pair of men currently battering the half conscious knight, Giving Tristan time to escape. He went limp in the man's grasp, slipping through the more relaxed circle of his captors arms and falling to his knees. He then planted his hands and kicked out, effectively sweeping the walking mountains legs out from under him. Trev on the other hand, was staggering back alternately clutching at his nose and throat where Contessa had directed both a punch and finger jab respectively.

Under any other circumstances Florian would have quite enjoyed watching the fearsome woman beat the ever living shit out of the Brute, but he was too busy trying to get to Tristan. The night was still on his knees, appearing dazed and not at all prepared for a fight. Cursing Florian scampered over and kicked the downed man in the head before he could rise, not bothering to regret the action even as his ankle twinged painfully.

"Oh by the gods! Are you all right?" without hesitation he dropped to the floor, grimacing as liquid soaked through the legs of his trousers. "What the bloody fuck happened?... and oh where is all this water coming from?"

"" mr. husband Hunter decided to hit me over the head with the water pitcher..." Tristan explained, weekly gesturing toward where Trev was getting his ass kicked. " I would've taken care of them already if I hadn't managed to get the damn pieces of it in my feet!"

Appearing almost sheepish, Tristan attempted to stand, but collapsed back into his previous position with a pained hiss. Florian grimaced in sympathy, carefully maneuvering his way around in order to take a look at the knight's feet, which were indeed covered in blood,  cuts, and the occasionally visible piece of earthenware.

"That my friend, is going to be a pain in the ass to remedy!" Gently he squeezed Tristan's drenched shoulders in an effort to provide a modicum of comfort. "How's your head?"

Tristan smiled in a dazed manner that was not at all reassuring. "Mmm considering the fact that I feel blood running down the back of my neck and it looks like there's two of you, probably not well."

With a massive crash that practically shook the floorboards, Trev collapsed to the ground in a heap and didn't get back up. Contessa bared her teeth in a Grimm smile and cracked her knuckles, before ushering a White faced Rosamund and Kellin to the room. "Keep an eye on these fuckers and do what you can for the good knight over there. I'm going to go get Cedric and Jonas to take out the trash!" Without another word, she sprinted from the room and shut the door, leaving the four of them alone amongst the carnage.

It took all three of them, along with a fair amount of shuffling and cursing to maneuver the injured knight onto the bed, where Florian started to Peel off the other man's wet and bloody shirt.

"No don't!" He exclaimed suddenly, snatching Florian's wrists in agrip of iron. "Stop... please!"

Instantly Florian froze, looking up into Green eyes shining with obvious alarm. "What's the matter Tristan? I need to see how badly you're hurt."

"I'm fine!"

"You most certainly are not!"

Dammit bard! Just bring me my saddlebags would you?"

Sighing Florian did as he was asked, irritably carrying the saddlebags over to the bed. "I don't give a fuck what you think about it, but I am at least taking a look at that head of yours. Now where on earth is your medical supplies?"

Grumbling Tristan tried and failed to push himself up into a seated position,  flopping back onto the mattress with fluttering eyelids and a gasp. "Smaller of the two, black bag inside."

Without hesitation Florian retrieved  bandages, a cloth, and a flask of distilled spirits, afterwords setting to work.

A/N

So at long last this chapter is finally done and edited enjoy! Updates are probably going to stick to between two weeks unless I end up like I did this time having to take a test for one of my summer classes, not fun by the way. Until next time.

Sage