The Adventures of Draco Zandros

Chapter 5

The party in Foible's Fair had already started. Kegs of beer was stacked by the cart load and merchants was selling roast pork along with other delicacies. A raging fire had been built up in the centre of the clearing and people danced in a circle around it, laughing as they went round and round holding hands.
People was arm wrestling over in one corned while others played rock paper scissors. They was also a trivia quiz been run with prizes for the first correct answer. The odd couple was kissing behind the carts without a care in the world and several early arrivals were already sat on the floor unable to rise after drinking too much.
Adventurers and civilians who usually stopped by to use the services were surprised to see so many in one area despite the fact the noise could be heard from a long way away. No one was turned away and everyone was greeted warmly.
"Looks like a great party! Excuse me mates but I have some drinking to do, might even have a few rounds of arm wrestling." Said Marthan, heading straight for the bar.
"It's a bigger turnout than I expected." Said Fuery as he counted how many was there. "Quite impressive considering we only told a few dozen." He said with a grin.
"I suppose holding it near one of the training areas wasn't such a good idea if you wanted to keep it quiet." Laughed Draco, buying a round of drinks for his companions, he was surprised how cheap the ale was.
"You know, It never registered that the trainees would notice and spread the word. We didn't exactly advertise it and the beer was brought here in covered wagons."
"Well it only takes one inquisitive person to sneak a peak and tell somebody else before word starts spreading and Elementalists are known for sticking their heads anywhere they can." Said Serra as she accepted a mug of red wine from Draco.
"Aye, true that. Anyway, the parties already started and it seems like we have some catching up to do. My round next?"
"But.." Draco was about to comment that Fuery still had a full mug of Ale but just before he could say anything Fuery downed it in one, not wanting to fall behind Draco followed suit. "Aye, same again please." "Would you like anything Serra?"
"No thanks, I'm good for now." She said taking careful sips of her wine, she was no stranger to drinking but her family had taught her to drink in moderation.
The party raged on as dusk began to turn to night, the numbers had grown too. Draco watched as the monk he'd seen near Luuk during the ceremony competed in some sort of drinking competition with a female warrior. Despite his lack of size he was easily matching the women drink for drink, it was obvious that she was no stranger to drinking either as not a hint of drunkenness showed on her face.
"Who are those two?" He asked Fuery.
"The monk's Little Frank, leader of the third legion and the warrior is Phoebe Serra. They're often fighting each other but are good friends, of course neither of them will admit it." Laughed Fuery as the two started arguing.
"What's the matter? Getting that drunk your spilling your ale?" Laughed Serra
"Hardly you ugly wench, I was knocked and if I find out who did it I'll knock them into the mists!"
"Wench am I?"
"That's what I said ain't it? You going deaf as well as ugly?" Laughed Frank.
"That does it, prepare to eat fist."
"Bring it on fatty"
Serra dived at Frank, catching him on the chin with a well placed punch, Frank went flying backwards into a group of people knocking them down like skittles. Everybody else moved out of the way to give the pair room, helping up the innocent causalities.
Serra advanced towards Frank and stood over him mockingly but her taunts soon turned into a scream as frank swept his legs around knocking Serra to her bum. Both combatants was up on their feet in seconds only to fall back on the floor as they tackled each other. Rolling back and forth on the floor throwing punches whenever they could, the crowd moving with them.
"Shouldn't someone try to stop this?" Draco asked Fuery.
"Do you want to?" He retorted.
From somewhere Serra had gotten hold of a chair leg and was beating Frank around the back with it as they rolled, a well placed punch dazed Serra and she rolled off him. Frank stood back up but Serra was only seconds behind him and charged raising the leg like a club. Dodging to the side Frank delivered a kick that caught Serra on the bum and added momentum to her charge, sending her headlong into the merchants table.
Items went flying everywhere as the table gave way under the weight and the merchant dived for cover behind a wagon screaming for them to stop. Even this couldn't keep Serra down and she was back up again charging at Frank with purloined sword in her hand. Just when it looked like Serra was going to remove his head Frank blasted her with a spell, sending her flying backwards into the pile of kegs. One burst open with the force of the impact, soaking the dazed Serra and sending splashes of the stuff around the clearing.
"Not the booze!" Screamed Frank.
With a jingling of mail the Ascalon Guard entered the area, alerted by the noise. People started scrambling past them and somebody helped the dazed Serra to escape. They wasn't enough guards to stop more than a handful of people and most escaped.
"Well that was fun." Laughed Draco as he ran side by side with Fuery. "But where's my Serra?" He asked alarmed.
"She's ahead of us somewhere, Marthan grabbed her as soon as the guards appeared and made their escape."
"That's good, I'd best get home and check on her, Marthan will be taking her to ours. Might be an idea if I got their before mother hears about this as well."
"That it might Draco, cya later." He said as they both ran over the bridge into Lakeside County and split up.

"NO! Feel the wind in your hair, listen to the sound it makes, take a deep breath THEN fire!" Said Ivor Trueshot in frustration.
"Sorry sir, I'm having a bit of trouble concentrating." Apologised Draco, a few of the other trainees nodded agreement.
"No doubt hungover from that party I've heard about!" Said Ivor in contempt. "I guess you've all forgotten the lessons Master Ranger Nente gave you about self medication too!"
"Not exactly sir, just wasn't in any state to make a remedy this morning."
"By Melandru! Enough with the excuses, go away, get some rest and be back here first thing in the morning. And, you'd better get it right first time!
"Yes sir." Echoed the trainees.
"I'm going to go have a lay down." Serra told Draco as they headed away from the training ground.
"Okay, I think I'm going to head to the crafter and have my bow modified, see if it can't be improved any."
"Fine, but don't forget to practice that ritual, I don't think Ivor will be too happy if you get it wrong again."
"I'm sure after a good nights sleep I'll have it, once the soldiers in my head stop marching back and forth." Laughed Draco. Serra was about to say something else but he stopped her with a kiss on the lips. "Don't worry, I'll practice it later."
They walked on in silence for a while until they the gates of Ascalon.
"See you later?" Asked Serra.
"Sure, meet at yours after midday?"
"Yeah, that should be long enough. See you."
With that Serra headed towards her home while Draco headed to the weapon crafter.
. "Excuse me sir, can you do anything with this bow?"
"Lets have a look. Yes, sure I can but it'll cost 10 gold."
"That's fine, here you go." Draco watched on as the crafter added a new grip to the bow, reinforcing it's tension in the process. He then replaced the string with a treated animal sinew before handing it back to Draco.
"That should do it, see what you think."
Draco tested the bow by pulling back on the string, it was harder to draw but gave a louder twang when he released it. He could also feel his hand fitting snugly in the grip, as if the bow was designed just for him. "It feels great, thank you very much sir." "No problem, remember I'm always here any time you need a weapon adjusting."
Draco turned round with the intention of looking at the stalls but his view was blocked and at this range the only thing he could focus on clearly was the open mouth with two fangs. Stepping back quickly he looked to see what sort of a threat had presented itself, bringing his bow up in the process.
"Hey Draco, fancy getting onto some mischief?" Smiled Fuery.
"By Melandru Fuery! I thought one of the Charr had sneaked up on me for a moment then. What sort of mischief you have in mind?"
"Well, Methredhel and Catfish Johnson are practising in one of the training yards outside the walls, I thought we could disrupt their session somehow." Laughed Fuery.
"I'm not sure tormenting two Elementalists while they're throwing spells at each other is a good idea."
"Come on, if they can't see us they can't get us."
"Okay, but I'm blaming you for anything that happens." Replied Draco with a mischievous smile.
The two headed towards the Elementalists training grounds, along the way Fuery spotted something and pulled Draco around the side of a shack.
"He's coming, help me up then get inside, Dj Paul should be in the back compartment but if he says anything just tell him I sent you." He said grinning as he placed his foot in Draco's hands and was boosted up onto the roof of the shack. Draco quickly did what he was told, leaving the door slightly ajar, in the back room he could hear the sounds of movement so he kept as silent as he could.
Draco could hear the advancing Elementalist speculating why he'd been summoned by Uncle Noteeth but his mumblings cut off suddenly as Fuery leaped off the roof. Draco was out of the door a second after Fuery landed on Catfish.
Together Draco and Fuery tormented the shocked Elementalist pointing out reasons he'd be summoned. Draco noticed Fluffy peaking around the corner of the shack and called him over, he wasn't sure how long he'd been there as he had left him at home this morning.
Draco missed the exchange between Fuery and Catfish but he heard the underlying threat and looked first at Fuery then Catfish. The thing he noticed first about catfish was the spell he was forming between his hands, Draco had no idea what sort of spell it was and decided the best course of action was to run.
Catfish shouted something about running just making it worst then Draco felt the spell hit him from behind, his vision clouded and he tripped over something that let out a yelp, sending him rolling into the lake with a splash.
He heard a loud whack then a new voice added to that of Catfish, using the voices as a guide Draco crawled out of the lake and felt the familiar shape of Fluffy rub alongside him, helping him to his feet.
Catfish undid the spell and Draco was able to see who the new voice belonged to, it was the purple spiked warrior that had barged between him and Serra the other day and was now ignoring the prone figure of Fuery on the floor and examining his door.
"Whoa, he hit that hard, look at the size of the bulge on his head." Draco said examining Fuery. Catfish asked Draco to go to Ascalon and find a monk, looking at the size of the bump Draco had to agree that was necessary and rushed off to find one.
Lucky for Draco he spotted a monk wearing DAD's cloak and called out to her. "Excuse me miss? Yes you, we've got a situation can you help?
"The young women looked around and spotted Draco running towards her, she didn't recognise him but she did recognise the cloak. "Sure, anything for a fellow member, what is it?"
"It's Fuery, he's managed to knock himself out and we could use some help."
"How on earth did he do that! Never mind, I don't want to know, lead on"
Draco lead her back to Dj's shack where Catfish was waving something under Fuery's nose while Dj tightened the screws on his door.
"Katrine, am I glad to see you." Said Catfish.
"Save the greetings for later, let me have a look at this." She gently turned Fuery's head from side to side to get a better view then placed her hand over the bump. "It's nothing too serious, we're lucky it's Fuery, he doesn't have much of a brain to damage." She laughed as she started her spell.
They was a blinding flash then Fuery's eyes shot opened and he sat up right. "Whoa, I've got one heck of a headache, what happened?"
"You decided to use your head as a battering ram." Laughed Catfish.
"Your lucky I could repair the damage." Said Dj as he went back into his shack, slamming the door behind him.
"Oh, I remember now." Chuckled Fuery as he rubbed his head.
"I did warn you tormenting an elementalist wasn't a good idea." Laughed Draco. "Anyway, I'd best be getting off, I'm meant to be meeting somebody soon."
"Okay Draco, I'll see you later and try to listen to what you say next time." Smiled Furry shaking his hand.
"Nice to meet you Draco, even if it wasn't under the best circumstances, I'll make sure Fuery gets back okay."
"Thanks Katrine, pleasure meeting you too." Smiled Draco as he turned back towards Ascalon. "And you Fluffy, might as well wait outside the gates, I won't be long."

- Written by Draco Zandros