The click and groan of the door opening is the only noise I hear as I peer out into the hall, checking to see if anyone followed me into the inn. The only faces that I saw were the ones contained in the portraits. Taking what was only a moderately hesitant step out, I grew more confident that I wasn’t about to be found out. As such, I strolled into the entryway, noting that the old man was still seated. “Excuse me, where is the closest place to get something for dinner?” He didn’t even bother looking up from his book, “Turn right as you walk out of the door, three buildings down and on your left should be the tavern, you’ll find good ale and okay food.” Satisfied and eager to finally find something to eat, I left through the door, stepping out into the cool spring night.

  A glance shows the streets mostly empty, a few lanterns highlighting the emptiness of the area. Turning right as the innkeeper told me, I could see a building with what looked like swinging doors that had light twisting through the openings that the door did not occupy. Walking towards the building revealed that it was much livelier sounding than it had been from afar, general chatter blending in a pleasant hum, one that hadn’t been present at Xandar’s estate. When I was close enough to make out the details of the building, I could see that it had many arches forming a canopy for people to eat outside in the summers, when it was too hot to crowd inside, along with plant boxes holding the buds of new flowers, likely having be transplanted from nearby. Much like the inn, it was far nicer than I had been expecting.

  While looking at the design of the building, I see three men step out of the tavern, a man with bright blue hair, smiling, with his arm slung over both of the other men, laughing and saying something I couldn’t quite hear. The other two men looked more sober. A man with green hair was speaking to the blue-haired man, while the other man with hair so yellow it couldn’t be blonde, held a small smile at the conversation. I didn’t pay too much attention to them, mostly because I was close enough to start smelling the food from inside. I only slowed because a small glint of metal shone in my peripheral vision, a lucky thing considering that the helmet I wore was somewhat limiting my vision. My eyes reluctantly left the tavern doors and saw that the light was the reflection off of a small dager the yellow haired man was easing out of his hip sheathe, and thus I realized the two men were guiding the blue haired man into the alleyway.

  While I hesitated on what to do, they continued moving. Disappearing around the wall while I tried to choose whether to ignore it or not. It wasn’t something that involved me at all, and yet it seemed like I was the only one aware of what was going to happen. None of them had even spared me a glance, so it wasn’t like I would be blamed for just going in the tavern. If something bad happened and I followed them into the alley, it would also bring attention to me, which I didn’t want. There was no reason for me to go after them; in fact, I had several good reasons to mind my own business. I shifted my weight to walk towards the inn, making it a few steps closer, when guilt crossed my mind. ‘Xandar would have walked away too…” It was as if a cold bucket had been dumped over my head, one that froze immediately after. I couldn’t move; every fiber of my body wanted to do anything other than analyze that thought. Find some food, go back to the hotel room and sleep, anything but recognize I was becoming more like the man I had despised most. ‘Damn it,’ it seemed that there never really was a choice for me, not unless I wanted to feel myself break in a way I couldn’t fix.

  My footfalls nearly matched my racing heart in terms of speed, carrying me towards the alleyway they had rounded even whilst my stomach urged me to go back to the tavern. While part of me wanted to charge in blindly, caution cleared my head enough to ensure that I took stock of the situation before stepping in. The first thing I noticed was how dirty and cluttered the alleyway was. Piles of what looked to be garbage lined the walls between the two buildings, one of which was the very tavern I had come here to find, along with wooden boxes that had likely been used to transport goods into the buildings. The second thing that I notices was the smell, someone either had pissed on all of the garbage, or food was left to spoil, maybe even a rat had died in a maze of trash. Honestly, it was probably all of the above.

  In the center of the alleyway, the three men stood, the green and yellow haired men stood side by side finishing a conversation with the blue-haired man who didn’t look to be paying as much attention as he should’ve in this situation. Listening in, I could hear the last bits of conversation, given they were not very far from me, “You heard the man, just give us your coin and anything else you may have and we won't leave you to bleed out all over this here alley.” It seemed like the green-haired man was working with the yellow-haired man to mug the drunk man. I wanted to step into the confrontation but hadn’t made more than a step before the blue-haired man spoke in a confident tone that belied his drunk appearance. “I knew you two morons had been trying to steal from me, I just kept letting you buy me ale. Heh, well, I’ve got news for you. I was planning on shutting you up with a good beating to teach you a lesson in picking better targets.” His demeanor had changed; this wasn’t a drunkard but a seasoned warrior I was looking at. I was surprised that he was able to handle himself so well, considering I don’t believe the drunkenness he was still showing signs of was fake. He continued by saying, “I warn you, this is going to hurt, but you won't die… probably.” His speech done, the two muggers started to step towards the man, who I trusted was able to take care of himself.

  A confident grin stretched across his roughish face, seeming to have no concern for the danger presented to him. With casual grace, he reached down to his waist, where most warriors carried their swords. Unfortunately, it seemed as though his plan was doomed to fail, something he realized as his hand grabbed nothing. His smile fell into confusion as he quickly glanced down and saw an empty waist, lacking either sheathe or sword. The mocking laughter of the muggers showed they also realized what had happened.

  Looking back up, he seemingly attempts to deescalate the now much more dangerous situation, “Gentlemen, I’m sure this is something we could talk out like rational men, perhaps over a few pints of ale… my treat?” his smile is pleasant, even as his stance shifts to cover any openings he can, preparing for a fistfight. I’m not familiar enough with fighting to tell if it would be effective when the mugger had a knife. If I was going to intervene, it had to be now.

  I stepped out into the alleyway and towards them; only two strides would be needed before I was in fighting distance. “You two need to leave before things get ugly.” Intimidation was my best bet against multiple attackers, and hopefully, my stature and appearance would make them think twice before fighting. Unfortunately, I wasn’t sure how much help the blue-haired man would be, considering his unarmed and inebriated state, so I had to treat the encounter as if I were alone.

  It seems the caution was unnecessary, though, as the moment the two muggers turned towards my voice, the blue-haired man surged into action. He twisted towards the pile of garbage and grabbed a wooden box, one probably used to carry in goods, and smashed it over the head of the yellow-haired man who held the dagger. The would-be mugger slumped down, his groaning likely an indicator of retained consciousness, and the other man backed away from the blue-haired man, seeing how quickly his partner was injured. The sight must’ve caused him to forget that I was still present because he had backed up enough to bump into my chest. I shoved him by the back of the head and scorned him, “Grab that idiot and leave before I call the guards on you two.” He didn’t need to be told twice, I suppose the loss of the weapon and numeric advantage hurting his confidence. He scrambled to haul the man to his feet and threw an arm around him before stumbling out of the alley and disappearing around the corner in the opposite direction of the tavern.

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  Turning from the retreating duo, I turned back to check on the blue-haired man who was smiling brightly at me. “Thanks for the distraction there, fella. I mighta had some trouble with them had you not shown up!” I was somewhat surprised that he wasn’t shaken up by what had happened; it wasn’t every day that people ignored having been at knifepoint. “I didn’t do all that much. The thanks isn’t super necessary.” The noncommittal shrug I gave was completely authentic; after all, I wasn’t lying.

  I nodded at him and turned away to head towards the tavern. If I didn’t have food soon, I would probably pass out from exhaustion. He fell into step with me. “So where do you come from, Mr. tall, dark, and silent?” It seemed that he was more of a talker than I was, and why did he start walking with me? “Where does anyone come from? I’m more focused on where I’m going.” Hopefully, he would leave me alone. “So where is it that you’re going then?” Damn it, I was too hungry for this, “to get something to eat, its why I saw you leaving the tavern.” He quickly accepted the explanation but persisted with the conversation.

  “Then, as thanks, let me buy it for you?” Normally, this would’ve been a great offer; it let me eat for free and would get him off my back. The problem was, I couldn’t remove my helmet. “No, thank you, it's late in the night, and I have to be up early tomorrow. I'm just planning to grab something and leave.” he is pretty obviously unsatisfied with the response. “Well then, meet me at the tavern tomorrow morning for breakfast, if you don’t agree to at least that I’ll follow you to wherever you’re staying and pester you until you do.” He wasn’t going to let this go, was he? “Why are you so interested in talking to me?” “Well, I figured it was kind of obvious; you’re a mercenary, same as me. I wanted to trade stories, compare magic, talk about mighty conquests, that sort of thing. Also, the people around here are dreadfully boring most of the time, and I’ve never seen you here before, was hoping to see if you were interesting.” I certainly believed that he hadn’t seen me before, however, this was going nowhere. “If I promise to consider meeting you here tomorrow, will you leave me to get my food in peace?” “It’s a deal, friend! I will see you in the morrow.” He gave a bow that was much too dramatic for the situation before walking off, presumably to his lodgings, only swaying a bit, still showing signs of drinking.

  Putting the odd conversation I just had aside, I stepped through the tavern doors I had walked to while talking. The tavern seemed quite lively, with over a dozen people milling about, drinking and spilling ale while speaking over each other. There was even a man using his hand to levitate his ale while engaged in conversation. I couldn’t help but notice there wasn’t a single person with dark hair inside of the tavern. It seemed that even when people were relaxed and celebrating, people like me were scorned and excluded. I tried my best to put it out of my mind and stepped towards the counter.

  Before I could do so, a young blonde barmaid stepped into my way, “Welcome to Harl’s Tavern, can I getcha an ale?” Her accent was something I couldn’t place, and she stood a tad too close to be proper. It was thanks to the habit of keeping distance from magic users having been beaten into me that I was able to keep from stumbling over my words. “No ma’am, I need to keep my wits about me. Maybe another time.” She didn’t quite huff, but she quickly turned and started speaking to other patrons, likely able to tell I wasn’t here to drink a lot and leave a heaping tip. I continued up to the bar, this time uninterrupted, and spoke to the bartender, “Do you have anything that I can order and take with me? I don’t have time to sit and eat.” It was a lie, but I couldn’t think of other reasons for why I needed to leave before eating.

  The bartender hummed a deep tone, probably trying to think of what food would work. “I’ve probably got some jerky and bread in the back. It won't taste great, but I can’t have you leaving with my plates and utensils.” He seemed more preoccupied with the glass he was wiping down than with me, though I didn’t blame him. I told him that jerky and bread would work, and he leaned his head up, facing where the barmaid that I spoke to had gone. “Liah, go grab some jerky and bread, enough for a meal” his voice wasn’t a shout, but it carried authority, enough that she heard him over her conversation as she walked away from the drunken man she had been talking to letting out a “You got it Harl!,”, while he looked to be disappointed as he was more busy chatting her up rather than ordering food. “It’ll be a copper for the food.” His attention was back on the glass. I nodded and fished for the coin, placing it on the counter once I located it. The jerky also must have been easier to find than I expected, considering that the barmaid -Liah- had brought it out at the same time as I paid for it. I quickly nodded my thanks to them and left the tavern. It was probably for the best, I wouldn’t have been comfortable spending long with that many magic users. There were too many ways to get found out way too easily for my liking.

  I quickly made my way back to my room, eager to get away from the day's events. Placing the chair back under the doo handle and sat on the bed with my food on the bed cover. The helmet came off as easily as I expected, though I could feel my heartbeat quicken with anxiety from being exposed. Placing the helmet on the floor next to the head of the bed, I picked up the bread. I took several bites in silence, along with a few bites of jerky. The food wasn’t great. I would go so far as to say that it was bad. The bread was stale and at room temperature, and the jerky had no seasoning. But it was the first food I had eaten while free, food I had asked for and paid for, food that wasn’t scraps magic users didn’t want to eat.

  I didn’t notice I was crying until I tasted the wetness of the tears on the bread. I was free, and I was eating food. I was in a room of my own and had the whole world ahead of me. I should be crying tears of joy, should be elated to the rest of my life to live as I choose… But I was lying to myself. I wasn’t free. I was eating food that had been sitting in the back of a tavern. I was in a room that wasn’t my own, paid for by the money of a man I had killed, and the world was ahead of me because if I turned around or stopped, then I was as good as dead. I didn’t have my life ahead of me, I was running to escape my fate. I was just as much a slave as before, just now to my fate rather than a man. This time was unlike before, though, as I lay down having eaten the food without so much as a drink, not even bothering to crawl under blankets or remove the armor, I had never felt this alone, had never felt this helpless. Sitting in the blackened room, feeling my tears run behind my ears as I lay, I decided I didn’t like the dark.

  My eyes didn’t want to open, I tried rubbing at them with my hands, but the leather gloves I hadn’t taken off pulled at my skin with more force than was comfortable. I was resigned to simply blinking the sleep crust, left by my crying, out of my eyes while sitting up in the now bright bedroom. Seeing the window out into the alleyway peer into my room, I shot up and drew the curtain closed, hopefully, no one had looked into my room. I took the lack of banging on the door as a good sign. I sat back down and decided I needed to figure out what my next steps were. I had only so much currency left, five silver and thirteen copper, and no clue how far that would get me. I also didn’t know where the next town was and in which direction. My best bet would probably be purchasing a travel pack and camping materials to sleep outdoors on the road, and especially food, as I had nothing to hunt with, nor the skills to do so.

  I would need to get all of the information I could before deciding anything else, though, as assumptions would likely put me in a worse spot than I could afford to be. All I knew was that it would not be a good idea to spend any more nights in this town. It would be the first logical place for Xandar’s men to look, even if the people traveling back yesterday hadn’t seen me. I also needed to decide what to do about the man with blue hair who all but forced me to agree to breakfast. I would skip it. I didn’t have time to socialize, but I had a bad feeling that if I didn’t show, he would come looking for me, and considering I would be in the market most of the day, I wouldn’t be able to avoid him. It was probably best to get it over with now and handle the rest later. With my mind settled, I stood up ready for the day, placed my helmet on, and left the room, likely for the last time.