Tavern Brawls S06WK10

The sun had set an hour earlier as Mike Murchadha and Fletcher Periwinkle began their trek back from the circus.  Finding the traveling troupe had been remarkably easy and their leader, an otherwise kind man who watched Mike leerily as he approached, was thankful for their help.  They hauled the still sleeping llama to their new makeshift pen, waved goodbye to the small crowd of circus workers who were obviously worn out from cleaning up the earlier disaster, and climbed back onto their wagon for the journey home.

The initial ride to the circus had been made in silence.  Mike seemed to sense that Fletcher would talk when he was ready.  Fletcher, unable to talk, was content to watch and assess the other man quietly.  Having been silent for so long, however, was nagging at the younger traveling companion and his voice finally broke the stillness of the air.

“Okay, seriously, do you ever talk?!” he blurted out, exasperation clear in his tone.

The old ranger smiled faintly, though the other could not see it in the dim moonlight.  It had never occurred to him that this young man did not know his fate.  He wasn’t sure if that made him more likely to be honorable as to not be complicit, or if he had done so many horrific things that the tongue of one ranger was easily forgotten.  He recalled how quickly the man had come to his aid in town and how insistent he had been to return the circus animal.  His actions certainly seemed to tip the scales to the former.

Fletch turned to Mike and opened his mouth wide.  The younger man recoiled from the sight and put his hands up.  “Okay, okay, I get it,” he said quickly.  “No tongue.  That explains the silent treatment.”

A few more moments passed as the horses pulled the wagon down the old country path.  Mike finally screwed up the courage to ask, “So what happened?”

Fletch mimicked a knife cutting off his tongue, then pointed at Mike.

“Me?  I never cut out anyone’s tongue.  Gross!  Who would do that?  I mean, I do remember one time when my dad and I were in a tavern up in…”

Mike’s voice tapered off as the moonlight emerged more fully from behind a cloud and lit up his face.  “Wait a minute.  Show me your ranger coin.”

His curiosity piqued, Fletcher pulled out his teal and orange coin, showing it to Mike.  Recognition immediately flooded Mike’s face.  “It IS you!  I thought you looked familiar even back in the streets, but I couldn’t figure out why.”

The young Murchadha took a deep breath to brace himself.  “You may THINK we cut out your tongue, but that’s not what happened at all.  It was an accident.”

Fletch scoffed, but Mike immediately brought his attention back.  “No, I’m serious.  Let me explain.”

“My parents, sister, and I were visiting some friends in the city.  I was only 8 at the time.  We had stopped in the tavern for a meal when the family curse acted up.  You see, when my grandfather was young, he was thrown from a horse and left for dead.  A passing necromancer thought he WAS dead and tried to revive him.  But, because he was still alive, the necromancer’s spell instead granted him a curse.  Now, bad things just tend to happen to the males in my family.”

Fletch looked at him incredulously.  “It’s true.  Think back to the day in the streets or even tonight.  Or, think back to the day I arrived in town and knocked down the scoreboard at The Two Brothers.  Bad things just happen.”

Mike cleared his throat.  “Anyway, while we were in the city tavern, I noticed a man holding some kind of invention walking to the bar.  As he passed the table of a ranger, a small drop of liquid leaked from his machine and landed in the ranger’s drink as he had turned away.  Knowing it could be harmful, I shouted at the man, but it was too late as he downed the glass and started to pass out.  However, my shout was enough to grab the attention of the inventor.  He whirled around, slamming his machine into the back of the ranger’s head, who went down hard on the table.  The inventor also knocked over a huge jar of exotic nuts, which went flying all over the room.  As people were slipping and sliding on the nuts, I made my way over to the ranger and saw his tongue lying on the table next to him.  I stopped the bleeding with my regenerator, but I couldn’t save the tongue.”

Mike stopped his narrative for a moment and grabbed at his water skin for a drink.  “Obviously, the ranger was you.  Even though I was young, I committed to memorizing your coin so I could tell you this one day.  We really felt bad about the whole tongue thing.  That’s why my dad told me to write you the note while the rest of the family helped clean up the nuts.  You got the note, didn’t you?”

Fletch nodded, then gestured at Mike and himself holding a knife to his throat.  “A threat?!” Mike exclaimed.  “No, it was a warning.  Accidents happen around us.  Stay away.  But, we found each other anyway, didn’t we?

The wagon topped a hill as the village came into view.  “Look,” began Mike.  “I’m really really sorry about your tongue.  But, I just want to be friends.  I’ll be in town until the end of the tournament if you want to talk more.  I don’t really care about the fighting, but my friend’s daughter is having a wedding, so I’m going to stay for that.  I mean, I might stay on the outskirts of the party, but a party is a party.”

‘The Professor,” thought Fletch.  ‘How had he forgotten about him?’  The wagon approached The Two Brothers as Cantrip ran up to him.

“The rangers are being summoned,” she said quickly.  “Word came from a messenger to the tavern. They’re told to finish their matches, then meet the following day at sunrise.  The messenger didn’t say where, but I think the general is calling in the troops to get the Professor.”

Fletch looked at Mike and back at Cantrip.  If Mike was more than he seemed, he couldn’t take anything for granted with the Professor.  He needed to see the general immediately.