“Bartend, I’ll take another. Make this one a double.”
The man behind the bar looked his customer up and down, practically forcing himself to speak. “No—no disrespect, sir, but are you going to be able to pay for your tab? I—I mean, it’s not even noon. At this rate, you’ll drink my entire bar dry by dinner.”
Aareth pulled a lock of long, dark hair from his face. He reached inside his black trench coat. The bartender took a nervous step back.
Aareth ignored the man’s uneasy movement. Instead, he brought out a large purse of coins and dropped it on the counter. “Forget the double shot. I’ll just take the bottle.”
“Why, yes, sir. Right away, sir.” The bartender’s eyes were as large as full moons as he wrung his hands. “Excuse me for asking about the money, it’s just that, well, times aren’t what they used to be. Please stay as long as you like.”
Still ignoring eye contact, Aareth stared into his empty glass. “The bottle.”
“Oh yes.” The bar owner moved quickly for a man of his girth. He had a jug of whiskey by Aareth’s side in seconds.
Aareth poured himself another shot from the dirty decanter. He took it down like a true professional. All he wanted was to be left alone, but the bartender wasn’t the only one who had seen him expose his purse of coins.
“Excuse me, is this seat taken?”
Aareth ignored the woman to his right and instead poured himself another drink.
“Mmmm… The strong, silent type. What’s wrong, handsome? You’re much too young to have had anything that tragic happen to you.”
Aareth turned his head ever so slightly in the woman’s direction. She was attractive, a slim physique, showing far too much skin, a pile of curly black locks that fell down the side of her face like a waterfall. Most men would jump at the opportunity to make conversation with such an attractive woman, Aareth wasn’t most men.
“You don’t know anything about me. Whatever it is that you’re selling, I don’t want any.”
She reached out to gently touch his strong jaw, turning his unshaven face toward hers. “Oh, darling, you have no idea what I’m selling.”
Aareth squinted through troubled blue eyes. He removed her hand with his own. “Darling, go bother someone else. I’m not interested.”
The woman drew back as if she had been struck. She opened her mouth in a big O. Clearly, she was used to getting what she wanted. Before she could gather herself and mouth a comeback, there was a loud commotion at the entrance to the bar. Booted feet slapped against the wood floor in unison.
Aareth turned back to his whiskey. This time, he ignored the glass, instead taking the bottle straight to his mouth. The noise grew louder as the sound of marching entered the bar. The heavy staccato stopped behind him.
“Aareth Emerson, we are here on Queen Eckert’s behalf to ask you to the palace for an audience with Her Majesty,” a gruff voice addressed the alcoholic’s back.
He didn’t flinch. Aareth raised the whiskey bottle to his lips again, enjoying the way the fiery liquid caressed his throat, instantly dulling inhibitions. The whiskey was only half finished and he intended to see the bottom of the bottle before he left.
At the mention of Aareth’s name, the bartender took another step back. The woman, who had just regained her composure, was thrown yet again with the mention of his name. “You’re—you’re Aareth Emerson? THE Aareth Emerson?”
He nodded, still looking at his bottle. “Yep, pleasure to meet you.”
The woman looked at Aareth, then at the group of soldiers behind him. Slowly, like a rabbit caught between a wolf and a hunter, she got out of her seat and backed away. That seemed to be the general feeling throughout the bar as patrons made for the exits or stood from their seats, retreating to what they deemed a safe distance.
But no distance was safe. Aareth understood that better than most.
“Did you hear me? Our orders are to bring you in,” the voice behind him demanded.
Aareth continued to ignore the soldier. Instead of reacting, he took another swig from his bottle.
This act of disrespect was too much for the soldier to bear. A rough hand grabbed Aareth’s left shoulder, swinging him around. The action made Aareth stand up from his stool.
The entire room gasped as Aareth and the soldier stood face to face. Aareth pursed his lips as he reached behind him and set the whiskey bottle down on the bar. Aareth looked the soldier up and down. His eyes rested on the badge identifying the soldier in front of him as a sergeant in the Queen’s army. “You’re not going to leave me alone, no matter how politely I ask, are you, Sergeant?”
The sergeant was a stout man with a barrel chest and a thick mustache. “Oh, did that just become clear to you, boy? Listen, what the Queen wants with you is her business, but I’ve heard the rumors about you. I know what you are. I know how you turned your back on duty, on Queen and crown. Believe me, there’s nothing in this world I would like more than to end you here and now, but it seems you’re worth more to her alive than dead. So what’s it going to be? The easy way or the fun way?”
“That’s kind of insulting.” Aareth looked past the grinning sergeant and the four men behind him. “And completely unfair.”
“What is?”
“That you thought you could bring me in with only yourself and four men.”
Before the sergeant could react, Aareth’s right fist shot up from his side, cracking the underside of his jaw. The blow snapped the soldier’s head back at an awkward angle. The force of the punch sent him crashing to the ground into unconsciousness.
The four soldiers that remained charged forward, using their long rifles as clubs. In such a tight space, the rifles were more of a hindrance than help. When the soldiers hesitated with wide swings, trying to avoid hitting one another, Aareth met them with nose-shattering blows and jaw-breaking punches.
The first soldier swung high. Aareth easily ducked under the blow, landing a kidney punch, bringing his attacker to his knees. The next soldier brought his rifle over his head in a downward motion that Aareth easily caught in his right hand. The crown of Aareth’s head met the soldier’s nose at sickening speed, and there was a stomach-turning crunch as the soldier’s nose broke and blood gushed.
Aareth’s last two opponents practically took out one another. One of the soldiers swung hard across his body, missed Aareth, the butt of his own gun landing square across the jaw of his comrade. The soldier, wide-eyed, was too slow to avoid the fist aimed at his temple. He hit the floor like a sack of flour.
Just like that, it was all over. Soldiers lay unconscious and moaning on the ground. Aareth turned back to his whiskey. Bottle halfway to his lips, he was stopped in the act by a familiar male voice behind him. “I tried to warn them. They should let me talk to you first, but you know soldiers—stubborn.”
“And you think you could do any better?” Aareth turned. For the first time, something other than torment and fury touched his eyes. He hadn’t seen this man in years.
The elderly man walked over the soldiers strewn across the ground. He stood next to Aareth with a winning smile. “I know I can.”
“Really? And how’s that?”
“Because I know no matter how much you hide behind your pain and your alcohol,” the old man’s wrinkled face broadened into an even bigger smile, “there’s still that same man I once knew underneath.”
“And what if that man no longer exists?”
“That man will always exist, Aareth. Whether you choose to be that person or not is entirely your choice. But I’m not here to conduct a lecture. I’m here to ask you come back with me to the palace. Just hear what Queen Eckert has to say. As a personal favor to me. What’s the worst that could happen?”
Aareth took in a deep breath. He eyed the man he would still call a friend, and at one time, even a mentor. “Are you still tinkering around in the armory?”
“I’ll have you know that I now oversee the entire armory along with the production of the latest and newest weapons. We even started a separate division devoted to developing only the most cutting-edge advances in magical ingenuity. We call it ‘Advanced Machine Making and Observation,’ or A.M.M.O. for short.”
“A.M.M.O., huh? Doesn’t sound like you’re bragging at all.”
“I’d never brag. I’m just informing you that I’m kind of a big deal now.”
“Ahhh, what’s the worst that could happen?” Aareth chuckled and put down the bottle. “Okay, one meeting with the Queen. But only as a personal favor to you, Edison.”
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