Spear and Shadow

PART 3

He woke up and stared at the sky. He sat up and rubbed his eyes as his vision began to come back.
"Arvin?"
He turned and winced at the light that was coming from the tavern. Gods his head was pounding.
"Arvin, can you hear me?"
He nodded and his head throbbed. His vision returned to normal and he looked at the source of the voice. Nora crouched in the door way of the tavern and stared at him, a look of sheer horror etched across her face. He nodded sluggishly.
"Yeah, I can hear you."
Suddenly the pain in his head stopped and his vision snapped back to normality. He looked around and his eyes widened. The area around him was covered in body parts and blood. His stomach churned as he pushed himself to his feet.
"What happened?"
Nora gave him an uneasy smile.
"You. You went berserk and tore those three bandits apart."
He gagged.
"Did.....did I hurt anyone else?"
She shook her head.
"No. You killed them and then lost consciousness."
"Mari, what happened to her?"
She smiled.
"She's FINE. The damage was done to them."
He nodded again dug his palms into his eyes. A sudden impact to his back sent him face first into the mud. He grunted as he tried to get up and was pushed back to the floor.
"This'll be easier for both of us if you stop struggling."
He sighed and allowed himself to be dragged into a sitting posistion and craned his neck to look at the stranger. He was tall, with black hair and different coloured eyes, one red, and one blue. He tilted his head as the king pushed his way out of the tavern and stared at him.
"Care to explain yourself Arvin?"
"What?"
"Explain why you tore those three bandits apart?"
He nodded.
"I would. But I don't know."
The king glared for a moment and sighed.
"Alright. Fine."
He gestured to Nora.
"You, come here. And close the door behind you."
She nodded as she pulled the door closed and joined them.
The King groaned and knelt infront of him.
"What are we going to do with you?"
He shrugged.
"I don't know. Killing me isn't an option."
The man who had restrained him cleared his throat.
"Sir, perhaps I could take the two of them into the wilderness for a few weeks?"
The King scoffed.
"And what good would that do?"
"It would limit Arvins social interaction, and as such, his chances of lashing out at innocent civillians, whilst also allowing us to scout the enemy that took our home."
The King stared for a moment before nodding.
"Alright. That seems to be the best option we have."
He titled his head.
"You're exiling me?"
The King shook his head.
"No. No we're not exiling you. Look, we're just trying to keep everyone, including you, safe."
He nodded as he stood.
"Can I at least say goodbye to my family?"
"Yes. I was going to demand that you did anyway."
He smiled thinly as the King walked back into the tavern. The man who had restrained him nodded and followed after him. A moment later his father stepped out of the tavern.
"Mari's asleep, I'll tell her that you said goodbye when she wakes up."
He nodded and they stood in silence for a moment.
"I don't blame you. For what you did to them. I imagine I would've done something similar. Or at least I'd like to think so."
He laughed.
"I'm sure you would."
His father smiled a little.
"Arvin, I'm sorry I treated you the way I did. You needed me, and I wasn't there. I'm so sorry."
He shook his head.
"It's fine."
His father stared and began to answer, just as the man who had restrained him called out to them.
"Finish up your conversation. We're leaving."
Arvin cursed.
"I'll see you later then, ok?"
His father nodded and put a hand on his shoulder.
"You come back alright? You promise you'll come back?"
He nodded and smiled.
"Of course."
Orvar gave a final smile before turning and walking back into the Tavern. He glanced at Nora and grinned.
"So, what're you going to do now?"
She stared at him.
"I'm not sure."
"You're coming with us."
They turned to see the man who had restrained him leaning against a fence with three travel packs at his feet.
"You're a former member of the enemies army. We need you."
She smiled and nodded.
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it. Now, we need to leave. She told us you had a few run ins with a particularly dangerous fellow out on the road. Is that right Arvin?"
He nodded as he picked up one of the bags and tossed it to Nora.
"Yeah, his name was Varow. But we dealt with him."
He nodded and passed him a bag of his own.
"Yes you did. You used a Dragon and some Goblins, if I'm not mistaken. That's some pretty fast thinking."
"Thank you. Anyway, what's this got to do with anything?"
Nora cleared her throat as they began to walk.
"He isn't dead. Chances are you hurt his pride pretty severely and caused him some inconvenience. But nothing too serious. He'll be here soon."
He froze.
"So why are we leaving?"
"Because he'll be looking for you. If we aren't here, he won't have a reason to stick around."
The man turned his head slightly.
"How do you know all of this. Were you a general in his army?"
She shrugged.
"You could say that. I spent a long time in his company, so I worked out his habits."
He nodded and focused on the road. They walked in silence for a few minutes before the man turned his head again and smiled.
"We haven't had formal introductions have we?"
Nora shook her head.
"Not really, no."
"Well my Name is Cervas Dren. A pleasure to meet you both."
She grinned.
"The pleasure is all ours."
He narrowed his eyes.
"Dren? As in house Dren?"
Cervas nodded slightly.
"Yes. I am part of the Dren family."
He tilted his head.
"But they were of Elven descent and, no offense, but you don't look like an Elf."
Cervas laughed.
"None taken. No I don't look like an Elf, because I'm not, shall we say, legitimate."
"You're an illegitimate son?"
"Yes. My Mother got.....a little drunk.... one night whilst at a party with the royalty and someone, who was not an Elf, managed to convince her to sleep with them."
He nodded.
"That's impressive."
Cervas nodded.
"Indeed it is though, it did worsen her already pretty bad opinion on humans some what."
Nora tilted her head.
"How can you tell people that so easily?"
He shrugged.
"It doesn't effect me really. I'm not ashamed of what I am."
"But what about your parents, how do they feel about it?"
He shrugged again.
"I don't know. They disowned me years ago."
Her eyes widened and he laughed.
"Don't worry about it, I get that reaction all the time. Anyway I wan't to know more about you two. Nora, what's your story?"
She shrugged.
"I don't really have one."
He tilted his head.
"No family, friends?"
She shrugged.
"No family that counts. And I've never really had any friends."
He tilted his head.
"Well, we're going to have to change that aren't we."
She raised an eyebrow.
"I suppose so."
He nodded.
"And you Arvin?"
He shrugged.
"I served in the Angvangese war. Honestly that was the most interesting thing that ever happened to me."
He nodded.
"Oh yes. I heard about some of your exploits whilst you were over there."
He sighed.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yes, in fact, it's a little embarrassing to say, but you're something of an inspiration to me."
He smiled.
"That's nice to hear. Most people that I meet now hate me for Angvang."
He shook his head.
"They shouldn't."
He laughed.
"Well whatever they choose to do, I don't really care."
They laughed and talked for another few hours, with very little mention of the incident in Hamikstead, until they set up camp on a small rocky put cropping. He sighed as he rested his head on his arms and looked up at the sky and waited for sleep to come.