4 Skalitz

I should turn back.

I shouldn't be here. This is crazy!

That was the recurring thought in my head.

A normal journey from Lindisfarne to Skalitz which was on the western side of the iron mountains was through the Livornian forest, between Endor's pass and over the mountain. But with Aki's help, I cut a straight path over the forest and the mountain range. A perilous seven-day journey which few men dared to take was now a twelve-hour flight by wyvern back.

Despite this, I wanted to turn around and go back to my warm bed, wake up, go hunting with Hans and then tell Abi I love her again while she violently beats me. Just to get back to what I know.

I'm sure Aki could feel my tension as I rode on his back but he was too busy enjoying the flight. To be fair to him, it was exhilarating. The thrill of the wind brushing past my face and pulling at my hair was almost enough to make me forget that Lindisfarne and everything I know was becoming a small dot in the distance. Soon it would disappear beyond the horizon.

Ignoring my fears, I tried to imagine what my father would be like when I saw him. Gramps said he was a handsome and brave young man with a sense of adventure.

For a few moments, I had almost forgotten that Gramps was dead. A wave of sadness washed over me with the strength of a tsunami. Yoshi must have sensed my sadness because he had wrapped himself around Aki's head to feel the wind as if he was the one flying but now his furry face was peeking out from beneath my chest. He likes to climb into the shirt on my tunic because that was how I kept him warm when he was smaller. But that was a while ago, now at a few years old, he was so big that I was afraid that he would snap my buttons. Abigail wouldn't be there to sew them back if he did. I missed her. I missed the feel of her hands that were as strong as a man's as she knocked the wind out of my belly. Am I a masochist? Now that I think about it, she's way too violent for a girl her age.

My thoughts were interrupted when Aki shuddered. At first, I was worried that something was wrong with him but he's was just trying to tell me that he saw something. I strained my eyes and could see the outline of a town. On one end was a stronghold surrounded by smaller wooden rooftops. Exactly the description that my dad gave of Skalitz. The dungeon mining town that he worked.

I needed to land and investigate but Aki was too big to come with me. After spending a full two hours explaining to him that people would be scared, I spent another hour consoling him and promising him that I would be back.

The town was just as lively as Lindisfarne used to be. It had a dirt road running through its length with houses of all shapes, colours and sizes on either side. The merchant stalls in the town centre were echoing with shouts of men and women competing to sell their wares. I asked for directions to an inn and was pointed to the tallest building other than the stronghold.

After walking in, I noticed the strong smell of something foul and familiar. It triggered a memory of finding my grandfather passed out on our front porch covered in his own urine.

It was alcohol.

I sat down and waited for the lady that served to reach me: she looked angry. Just like Abi. I wonder if all young women were always angry for some reason.

She had a large bosom. Her tunic looked like Yoshi had climbed in but more like small melons held in place by her clothes. I think I stared for too long because she said; "See anything you like?"

"Sorry for staring ma'am. You're very beautiful," I said trying to defuse the situation but I think I made it worse. Now she looked annoyed. Just like Abi.

"Are you trying to get under my skirt?" she asked. I was embarrassed and just wanted to run away.

"No ma'am, I already have a girl I love," I said.

"Then keep your eyes up here," she said pointing to her eyes with her index and middle finger. I nodded in response. "So what can I get you?" She asked.

"What do you have?" I asked curiously.

"Just mead," she said.

"Can I have water?" I asked.

"Why? You think my mead isn't good enough?" she seemed confused and annoyed because everyone she knew drank her mead and liked it.

"I don't drink," I confessed. I'd never drunk alcohol before. Except during that one new harvest festival but it tasted like spoilt grape juice so I spit it out.

"You're in a tavern," she remarked dryly.

"I thought this was an inn," I confessed again with a shrug.

"The inn's out back. You're not from around here, are you?" She asked.

I had been found out.

"No ma'am. I'm from Lindisfarne," I answered.

"Stop calling me ma'am. I'm Greta. And what's a Lindisfarne?" She asked with a puzzled expression.

"Pleased to meet you, Greta. I'm Jon Winchester from Lindisfarne the small farming town," I said with a smile.

On hearing my name, her expression soured and I couldn't understand why. Perhaps it was something I said.

"Winchester? Any relation to Bobby Winchester?" She asked with an angry expression.

"My dad's name is Robert, I came here looking for him," I answered with hesitation.

"He owes me a lot of money for all the mead he's drunk," she said.

"I'll pay for it then," I said trying to be the hero.

That was a colossal mistake. I ended up nearly broke after paying for my dads deplorable drinking habit and now I had to camp outside with Aki and Yoshi. They would be happy to see me but I didn't want to sleep outside. The only good thing that happened was this: Greta informed me that my dad was on a mining run and she was planning to ambush him to repay all his debts but he had been spared on my account. Apparently, my dad is a degenerate drinker but there had to be some explanation for it and I would get it from him.

The next day, I got a true picture of my dad's wanton ways; I helped a foreign settler repaint his house after my dad tarnished its white walls with horse poop, settled an overdue blacksmith's bill for repairs to his pickaxe, paid his outstanding debt to the fruit sellers, paid his gambling debts, apologized to a man that got punched in the face and was nursing a broken jaw and worst of all paid his debts to his favourite whore.

In the end, I was convinced that my dad was the worst person on earth.

I couldn't wait for him to return so that I could beat him up myself.