Twig

16

"enough everyone, I will overlook the little fight here as long as no one continues, alright?"

Rite just nodded and looked down, Ace and the rest of the trainees all stared at the young man in surprise. The two men didn't seem to care and one of them even tried to push the young man to get to Rite.

At least he expected to push the man, but as he hit the man's chest he felt like he was pushing against a mountain. The young man responded with a push himself, hitting the drunk troublemaker lightly in the chest, and sending him across the tavern landing onto a table, shattering it.

Joshua rushed over as soon as he saw the young mans face and knelt in front of him, the same did the two warriors with him.

They all knew this person, since he was a celebrity in the wilderness, "twig" was his name, and it made strong men cower in fear.

"commander Twig it is an honor to meet you sir, your stories of combat still go around the tribes even to this day. Please tell us if there is anything we can be of service with commander"

The young mans face was quite handsome although it was covered in food, his hair was dark brown and long enough that he kept trying to move it away from his eyes. He looked in his early twenties, and regularly groomed his beard, although it was making a shade.

Twig was very amused by Joshua, he had long since figured out the tribe he was speaking to, the cloud weaving tribe was a big deal in the wilderness and an ally to his tribe.

"how is Sky doing? I thought surely she would be coming as well, truth be told I was hoping to meet her, I owe her payback for last"

Joshua felt a sting of pain with the reminder of their commander who had fallen in battle, it was a heavy loss not only for him but also for the tribe. He thought of telling Twig a lie, but the commanders of the cloud weaving tribe were all very well known. Pretending like the tribe hadn't sent a commander to Necron would be ridiculous.

"it was commander Grail sir, we fell into an ambush from the sky leaping tribe, led by Nyra. We lost many warriors and trainees, as well as commander grail, who died at the hands of Nyra"

It was almost impossible for Joshua to say the last part without breaking down in grief, he could hold himself together, as long as he didn't let himself think of Grail.

Having to talk out loud about the death, of his beloved commander, was still too much for him though.

Twig wasn't smiling anymore, the news of Grail was very serious to him as well. Grail might have been the weakest commander in the tribe, but he was far less brutal than the others. Although he was a hotheaded brute with a short fuse, he still preferred to avoid bloodshed.

With Grail gone, only the monstrous and bloodthirsty commanders were left. Even worse, when the other commanders learn of Grails murder they wold want vengeance.

This should ideally not be a problem for Twig since his own tribe was an ally to the cloud weaving tribe, but without Grail to show them common sense, the other commanders would become extremely unpredictable.

"Nyra you fool, cant you see you doomed us all!?"

Twig murmured angrily to himself, but not loud enough for anyone to hear. It eased him a little to rant and he felt himself calm down after.

"I am sorry to hear about Grail, he was a great commander and a good friend. Please give my condolences to his family as well as the tribe elder, remind him that commander Twig is an ally to the cloud weaving tribe"

Joshua felt tears in his eyes after hearing the commander speak so warmly of his mentor, he didn't know that Twig was upset over the loss of Grail for an entirely different reason than himself.

Twig walked back to his table with Joshua along with his two warriors still kneeling on the ground, and grabbed his belongings hanging on a chair.

"I delayed my journey in hopes of meeting Sky for a rematch, I am sorry to hear about your commander, but it is time I take my leave. May we meet again someday, and to all you trainees, good luck haha"

Twigs laughter was heard even after he slammed the door behind him, everyone inside the Tavern was silent until ray finally broke the silence.

"so… we were talking about rooms and food before, shall we continue?"

Terron snapped out of his stupor and nodded eagerly, Lisa hurried over to grab a handful of keys, before she rushed back to Terron who was receiving a heavy pouch from one of the soldiers.

"that should cover both room and food, as well as the transport fee for tomorrow, am I right?"

The pouch was heavy with coins, and from the weight alone Terron knew it was more than enough. He gave Ray the keys to all six rooms available, and then he hurried into the kitchen to help Lisa prepare food for the hungry group.

It was a quick meal for Ace and the rest, they weren't as much hungry as they were very tired, Ray put them in groups of three per room.

Ace barely got to his bed before he passed out, like someone had knocked him over the head, he fell flat on the bed and fell asleep with loud snoring.

The next day was much more relaxing than yesterday, when Ace woke up he walked down to the tavern and was given breakfast. It was strange for Ace to be given food, but it was also very nice, not having to hunt everything you ate he thought.

He sat next to Rite who was mowing down some porridge, over the past few days his relationship with the ether hunters had become quite nice. Most of the other kids were scared of the hunters, but Ace wasn't scared, he found them very interesting instead, and he liked asking them about their powers.

Thanks to him blowing up half the battlefield in the war against the sky leaping tribe, he had earned respect amongst the hunters, and they saw him as one of them.

Ray stood up from his seat when he heard stampeding from outside, the noise was loud and Ace along with several other trainees, rushed up from their seats in caution.

"it sounds like our transport has arrived, time we get out of here. Thank you for letting us stay here, the food was delicious"

Terron smiled as he responded heartily

"it was a pleasure to have you all here, I hope you all have a safe trip"

With that Ace and the rest left the tavern to find three carriages parked outside, it was a strange sight for Ace to see animals dragging a big box with wheels, and he was very unsure when Ray told them to walk inside it.

It was only when the two soldiers entered, that the rest nervously entered the strange box with wheels, moments later it began to move.

Terron looked absentmindedly at the carriages as they disappeared in the distance, for a while he just stood there starring, his mind settling on a decision. Finally he looked over at the old lady Lisa, his father's dearest friend who had helped him after his dad passed away.

"I have something I want to tell you Lisa"

Lisa looked at Terron like she already knew what he was going to say, truth was that she had been waiting for him to realize it for months now, and she just smiled and nodded.

"this place was never my dream, it was your and my father's so I am leaving it all to you and your family. Take good care of it and take care of yourself, I am going to miss you"

Lisa could feel the weight of his words on her shoulders and hugged Terron in thanks.

"what are you going to do if not the tavern?"

Lisa asked but she already knew the answer.

"I am going to Necron Lisa, I am going to fulfill my dream of becoming a soldier. I want to be brave and strong, I don't want to feel weak like that ever again"