Chapter 15

"The Inn of the Silent Moon" was the most renowned inn in the city of Dhost, the way of welcoming customers, the warm meals, the soft beds and the reasonable price, had earned a special place in the hearts of the citizens of Dhort but the the door was the real jewel of the inn, certainly the facade and the sign also made a good impression, but the real jewel was its front door, an elven oak door, clear as the moon, with a golden handle and various engravings depicting the starry vault made by the dwarves, it had cost a lot, a year of economic sacrifices but in the end it had become the pride of the inn,

that day the sun was shining, the customers were kind and friendly and they had ordered a lot and they had earned a lot, Mary, the hostess daughter's waitress was very satisfied with the day, while with a smile on her face she served a lady a mess of meat, the door of the inn swung open with a crash, the door unhinged from the force of football, and a group of six individuals a half-orca with a sweet and soothing face, a Man with short black hair and a stern face though young , a girl with golden hair and a feline gaze, with a charming smile, a beautiful silver-haired elf with a calm and calm gaze, almost lost in the void then a fox-man with soft red hair, with green eyes with a smile sly bristling with teeth and finally the boy who had come that morning, a boy with not too long black hair, a cold black eye, and his right eye bandaged like his arm, and that was what fascinated her most of all.

-Noooo- his father the host knelt on the ground with his hands in his hair- my door my beloved door, why, why- then looking at Isabhel, the one who had kicked the door-You! You! How dare you do this at my inn-

Isabhel looked at him in amazement, the innkeeper did not understand why he was pissed off

Mahel, on the other hand, together with Elsionh approached the innkeeper and handed him a bag of gold coins, while Elsionh gave him advice.

-Good landlord, when someone breaks something, offer him something strong, so when he's drunk he'll make him pay double, "He can't blame all the bums in the world" and unleashed his graceful elf smile enchanting the host-

Then Isabhel under Mahel's stern gaze put the door back on its hinges and pulling out a small hammer and giving a couple of gentle blows to the hinges, put the door back on its hinges.

-So gentlemen are you here for ...? -

-To try to get this individual drunk- said Mayra pointing to Mahel- no one has ever succeeded-

-Ah ... so a drinking challenge, as it happens this inn has a challenge not yet won by anyone, do you want to try? -

Mayra practically did not let Mary finish, who had already sat at the table pulling the group behind, Mary then ran into the kitchen, when she returned she was holding a bottle full of clear liquid along with six glasses.

-Well gentlemen, to win the challenge you have to drink this liqueur, "Il Fuoco Bianco", for ten minutes, -

-So nothing special-

-No you have to drink it while it burns, a white fire, as the name implies-

No one said anything, they got ready to drink and, to try to win the challenge.

The first round was poured, Mary then lit the liquid which lit up with a white fire, Mahel swallowed it with a sip, the glass was quite small, the hot liquid tasted of lemon and mint with a slight sweetish aftertaste, for him it was not too powerful, but with a slight smile he thought about what would happen.

Ten minutes later only Mahel was standing, Mayra was the most lucid, if she could consider herself lucid, she was still staring with a blissful smile on her face, Isabhel was dancing with a couple of clients, singing with a croaking voice that challenged even Muninn who had flown away for a while, Elsionh instead was spinning on his head at high speed, while many customers, also drunk, sat around him admiring his movements, Ricliam was instead with his head stretched out on the table asleep, motionless with a quiet expression on his face finally Jeng, who was the most drunk was flirting with Mary, who with a very tight smile tried to get away

Mahel then, in order not to unleash a fight between the host and Jeng, then with a decisive step he approached Jeng, took him by the shoulder and pulling him away from Mary who thanked him with a look, Jeng did not oppose rather he let himself fall on the ground and fell asleep

-Thank you, I was starting to worry- then he realized he was still shiny-Incredible ... how did you do? Nobody should resist that liquor.

-You see I have a very high threshold of resistance both natural and through military training of the Templars, I can not tell you more.

-Ohhh- and quietly- are you a Templar? -

-No, they just trained me-

-I understand, I hope that no other Templar comes here-

-Well well... ...-

Then Mary with a little wink went away behind the kitchens, mahel then with a sigh approached the boys, all drunk and seeing that she did not want to wake them up, She sat down at the table and ordered another glass of "white fire", after drinking it, he made himself comfortable and started listening, but what? He began to listen to those voices, those voices arguing with each other inside his head.

-Yes, but why don't you drink something stronger? -

-I think because it would be useless, it's impossible to get him drunk-

-But why do we have to talk about this? -

-True, because we don't talk about the crow, it would be advantageous to return to the Raven-

-In the Crow? It would be foolish-

- Isn't it senseless? The old boss is dead, better go back to the Raven-

-Sure, but the boy is listening to us-

Mahel then thought of something, so as to make everyone feel it

-Shut up, I won't go back into the crow, I don't want, I can't go back-

-But why? You will regain your old power, you will go back to being "The Hand of the Shadow, you were not" The Executor "of the Raven, you are the hero of his recruits-

-... Shut up! | I will not return-

And he stopped listening, he could still hear the voices talking, shouting trying to get his attention, but he resisted as his head was penetrated by a thousand splinters of different thoughts and voices, he got up from the table, went to the counter, put a couple of coins on the counter and jumped behind the counter, there he took a bottle of amber liqueur, and began to pour it into various glasses, took one and sipped it calmly, when he was finished he put down the glass, put a hand in his pants, took out a cigarette, lit it and began to smoke, looking at the innkeeper with amusement.

-Bartender these are the glasses are for those misfits, you use them to chase them away, tomorrow I'll pay the bill-

-Sure ... goodnight-

Mahel walked towards the room, arrived in front of the door, put his ear to the wood, heard Elisabhet's voice mutter colorful curses against Mahel, who, while acidly insulting his mother, suddenly opened the door slamming it against the wall, looking Elisabhet in the eyes, she looked him in the eyes in turn, and then shifted her gaze, now that she noticed him her eyes were a really very intense green, not that he cared, she approached Elisabhet and said:

- It doesn't matter if you don't like doing it, there will always be someone who will force you, both for better or for worse-

-But....-

-I wasn't born like that either- and sat down on the bed, where he fell asleep in a few minutes.

Elisabhet instead remained awake, thinking how she saw Alexan ... Mahel, did she see him as an ally or an enemy? He came to the conclusion that Mahel was like the shadow of the leaves of the trees, some pieces were lightly illuminated, but many others were black, in the shade, he was neither an ally nor an enemy, he could save her at any moment or kill her in a instant, moreover he was a very skilled warrior, but he did not know his true abilities, he was a fascinating boy but also terrible as a demon, even worse, but he always had that light, always small and delicate, human which however disappeared under all that cynicism, but as he thought about all these things, his eyes started to get heavy, and within seconds he fell asleep.

Three hours later while they were both asleep, a kick broke through the door of the room, and Isabhel, Jeng and Elsionh entered the room with unsheathed weapons, -Mahel how dare you give us that troll piss to drink- Isabhel said, then Isabhel noticed a swelling clinging to Mahel's back, and Elisabhet's ruffled head, peeked out from the blanket with his eyes still sleepy.

-... Who the fuck is the whore! - Isabhel said looking at Elisabhet

-Mahel who are these? - Elisabhet asked sleepily

-Now I'll kill her, now I'll kill her! -

Elsionh and Jeng instead, when the situation understood and understood that Mahel was asleep, they tried to stop Isabhel, but they did not succeed in time, a cold Mana with a vague aftertaste of homicidal instinct sprang from the place where Mahel slept.

-Captain ... Excuse us ... Isabhel didn't want to- Jeng said with a trembling voice

-Yes, We..ehm ... We didn't want to disturb- Elsionh mumbled, looking at her feet, losing her total calm.

Isabhel on the other hand was still looking at Elisabhet who was so sleepy she had not perceived Mahel's Mana, Mahel with an unnatural calm got out of bed, went to the bathroom and changed calmly for five minutes, then sat on the bed looking at Isabhel

-Isabhel ...-

-Yes...-

-Do you know what you did? -

-Yes...-

-Do you know what will happen now? -

-No...?-

Mahel got up calmly, walked over to Isabhel, suddenly grabbed her neck of isabhel, lifted her, opened the window and threw her out ten meters away, while Mayra and Ricliam stood in the doorway, Mayra with a vacant look to wonder what was happening, then realized that Mahel was sleeping first, I pass from the blank thoughtful expression to the stunned expression, instead Ricliam was with the cigarette between his fingers with an even more stunned expression with half open eyes and with frowning he asked:

-Who the fuck broke down the door? And above all because Isabhel had the bad idea of ​​waking Mahel-

-Well my dear- Elsionh said always a little troubled- I think it was Isabhel who broke down the door, and I think she woke Mahel because of that girl- pointing to Elisabhet

Ricliam leaned out of the door and saw Elisabhet, returned to his position and said:

-Mayra, in the bed there is a beautiful girl a little stripped-

-Who the fuck is the whore? At least I think Isabhel said this, we were sleeping on the tables-

"That's right, car," Elsionh said

In the meantime, Jeng had been quite still looking at the window,

-Guys I think we should go-

-I believe too-

"Fuck what a mess" Ricliam said

"I agree," Mayra said

But as they tried to get away, mahel turned with a very disruptive smile to the group, pulled out a dagger and took off his eye patch, and opened it, his right eye glistening with blood and snapped to attack, always for the smile. , the group with the stunned gaze sprinted towards the exit, but as soon as Mahel left, he was called by a sleepy

-Mahel go back to bed you're making a mess, and fix the door-

Mahel looked at the group, looked at the bed, re-looked at the group re-looked at the bed, took the door and fixed it well in the hinges, took off a couple of travel clothes and threw himself on the bed, Elisabhet snuggled up next to Mahel and they fell asleep, but Mahel always with a dagger on the shelf.

-Mahel ... I'm cold-

-Tsk ... what a nuisance, - and with a sigh he approached Elisabhet- cling to me, but don't exaggerate, I don't want to-

-Who were they-

-My "Raven" men, Isabhel a half-orca expert in mishia combat, Elsionh a southern Elf great spy and magician, Mayra a fighter of exceptional strength and elemental magic, Jeng a fox-man with mysterious techniques and Oriental and Ricliam a lethal warrior, strategist, and combat magician-

-Mmmmh ... I understand, haw ... I don't want to think about it-

-Not me either, they are stupid and many times I can't stand them-

While downstairs, the group including Isabhel, still in pain, began to talk

"Isabhel, I seriously believe that Mahel is getting worse," Ricliam said

-I think so too, his sleep is much lighter, but that whore ....-

-Be calm, it will be his travel companion- Jeng said -a nice companion-

-Shut up Jeng- Mayra said- you're always a pig-

-I eat the pig-

- Gentlemen, I think we should wait until lunch, we should get a room-

-Yes, good idea-

-Good sleep-

-To you too-

And they went to sleep tired and stressed by recent events, but with an old lesson refreshed, never wake Mahel, because he could never sleep because of the voices and when he did he had to do it for as long as possible.