Although Frederic was a mercenary, it didn't mean his table manners had to be rough too. He enjoyed the flame roasted Mother Hog with gusto, albeit a very polite gusto. His companion, Gustav, did not.
"I'm sorry, He always gets like this when it comes to food." Gustav apologized to Meredith as crunching and snorting sounds came from Gustav. They both glanced at him and food bits seemed to fly everywhere around him as he shoved handfuls of meat and vegetables into his endless maw.
"Don't you worry about a thing, at least he is enjoying it. Besides..." Meredith paused as she brought her forefinger and thumb to her lips before whistling loudly. "Pork Chops, come here boy, dinner is served!"
A squeal could be heard from beyond the kitchen and the sound of hooves clacking on the bare floor rapidly gave way to the sight of a rather overly large hog. It looked almost like any other hog, except for two things. This hog was massive!
The hog had thick reddish brown fur and two gleaming ivory tusks about a foot and a half long. It stood about half the height of your average man. And the other thing was that Frederic could feel the aura of a Father Hog coming off of it.
"Ha, no way. You have a domesticated Father Hog AND you named it Pork Chops?" Frederic laughed, it was absurd. Almost as absurd as falling off a roof and pretending you meant to do that. Yeah, he'd seen a mercenary kid do that once.
"We have a whole menagerie of creatures in the back. You would be surprised by what we managed to tame." Meredith giggled and pet Pork Chops on the small strip of fur between his eyes and his snout. Pork Chops squealed adorably in pleasure, even going as far as too close his eyes and press up against her hand. "Time to eat, Pork Chops. We have a messy customer."
Pork Chops squealed in response before trotting over to Gustav's stool and hoovering up all the big chunks of food on the floor. Meredith turned her attention towards Frederic and smiled. "It's almost time for the grand finale."
"The...what?" Frederic was confused. What finale?
"The Story Teller is about to begin." Meredith smiled and nodded her head toward the right side of the tavern where all the children had gathered. The adults were also laughing and reminiscing.
"Ha! Story time already? Time sure does pass quick." An old man sitting next to the window said to a woman who by all looks of it was most likely his wife.
"Oh I remember when I was but a child, the Story Teller would come and tell show us magnificent stories of the past!" The old woman replied. Many similar sentiments were being shared between couples and residents alike.
"Story! Story! Tell us a story!" The children shouted with glee as they squirmed in their seats. They had steaming mugs of some kind of brown beverage with a foamy sort of cream on top. A few of the kids even had a fistful of candy they shared between everyone.
"Oh ho ho ho! Such a fantastic crowd!" The cloaked man from upstairs sat in a wooden rocking chair in the corner next to the roaring fireplace chuckling as the children pleaded for him to do magic. "I'd say, it's nearly time."
With that statement, his hands started to glow an ethereal green almost like he had the greenest forest in his palms. Butterflies made of green magic flew from his hands and flapped rapidly towards the children who giggled and tried to catch them, their hands passing harmlessly through the butterflies.
"Well go on now, you're not likely to get a good view from here." Meredith said to Frederic, who was looking curiously at the man's magic.
"No chants? Huh. He'd have to be a high level mage...maybe a Magister or a Sorcerer?" Frederic muttered to himself. Meredith snapped her fingers in front of his face, dispelling his thoughts. "Huh?"
"Don't you "huh" me," she scolded him. "You weren't even listening to me were you? I said go sit closer to the Story Teller. You'll see things much better than from here."
Frederic looked over to see Gustav sitting amongst the children on the floor and laughing. He'd always been very simple, but he was also one of the strongest mercenaries he knew. Frederic sighed as he noticed there wasn't a single chair available.
"I think I'll be fine watching from h--" Frederic turned to look at Meredith who was glaring at him. Normally he would have ignored it, but his gut was telling him it would be unwise to disobey her. "Yeah, all right. I get it."
Frederic struggled to get out of the chair for a moment and he took a seat on the floor next to Gustav, the sword he had strapped to his belt brushing against the floor and digging into his side uncomfortably.
"Gustav can't wait for magic show." Gustav grunted to him, an expression of anticipation etched on his face. He could be very much like a child some times. The Story Teller clearing his throat caused Frederic to whip his head towards him.
"Gather around, children." He said, a smile playing on his voice. "Now, what would you like to me to tell tonight? Hmmm?"
The children all started shouting at once, each seeking to be the voice picked out amongst the others.
"Sir Roderick the Brave!"
"Fenrir the Ice Wolf!"
"Radablast the Exploder!"
And on it went for a few minutes before the Story Teller chuckled and held his hand up. The children quieted and when they were fully silent did he speak. "Yes, yes. All excellent tales. How about I tell you a new one? Does that suit you? Hmm?"
The children started shouting in glee and excitement. Even the villagers themselves started talking amongst each other. From what he could hear it seems as if it's been a few years since the Story Teller has told a new tale.
"What with having two guests whom I personally invited, I feel a new tale is appropriate." The cloaked man said. "It is a great respect to two men so accomplished in their fields. And speaking of respect..." The Story Teller removed his cowl and Frederic couldn't help but gasp.
The old man, for he was an old man, had a face with bisecting scar lines all over it. One of his eyes was a milky pale blue with white irises, whilst his other eye was a normal bright brown. He had silver white hair with brown streaks that fell neatly to his shoulders in wispy tendrils. It wasn't until he finished examining him that he realized no one else was having a reaction to his reveal.
"Did I scare you, young man?" The old man chuckled. "Please, have no fear. What you see before you is but an old man with many stories. Both personal and not. That being said, tonight's story is both personal and not. How many of you know about the tale of the strongest mercenary of all time?"
Excited shouts and mutterings could be heard across the entire tavern. Even Frederic himself raised an eyebrow. Who hasn't heard that tale of Aegar, Strongest In All the Realm? He Who Found the Goddess, Tamer of Dragons, Stealer of Time, The Great Unifier. These were all nicknames, titles, and feats bestowed upon him before the age of thirty.
"Tonight," The old man began with a wide grin. "Tonight, I will tell the true tale of Aegar, son of Myrna the God-Piercer and Tor the Lightning."
That statement brought a lot more louder muttering. After all, both Myrna and Tor are legends bordering on myth. Except for a few elderly who swore their mother's mother's mother met Myrna or Tor in their youth, there is not a scrap of paper in any library anywhere that has actual witness that they existed. Sure they're mentioned in a bunch of historical texts, but all the texts take place at different time periods. Dubious at best, completely false at worst.
"I urge you calm, good people." The old man said as he got up from his chair. "Tonight's tale requires me to weave two complex magics. I ask that everyone part two allow me a meter's room in the shape of a circle."
The children crowded together as adults moved tables and chairs. The old man reached into his cloak and brought out a censor, the kind a priest would use in rituals. Frederic caught a faint whiff of dragonstongue and rosemary. Then he watched the old man reach into his cloak again and bring out a small pouch, about the size of a baby's fist.
He chanted a few words and the censor lit, emitting rose colored smoke and he started swinging it from side to side. He upended the pouch in his other hand and scattered a grey colored powder upon the floor. In only a few moments the powder turned bright neon green and scattered about the room forming strange runic symbols he'd never seen before.
"Long ago when the gods created our fair land..." The Story Teller started his story. "First they created the sea."
The runic symbols changed and a very realistic illusion of sea water settled on the floor. It gently lapped at everyone's feet, or in this case Frederic's rear end as he was sitting on the floor, and it even smelled like the salty brine of the ocean.
"Then they created the land upon the sea..." Tall mountains of earth rose from the sea and brought with them the fresh smell of newly turned dirt. Frederic wondered at the magic in play. It was certainly too advanced for almost everyone in the Mercenary Corps.
"Yet this was not enough for the gods. An empty land with empty seas. And they each thought about what to do with it." The Story Teller smiled and looked at everyone. "Hah, the looks on your faces. I promised you a new story and here I am telling the Story of Creation."
It was at this point that Frederic realized the old man was no longer carrying the censor or the pouch. He instead had a staff, much like a mage would use. Yet the staff itself was familiar. It was about six feet in length and made of a dark brown wood he didn't recognize. At the top sat a pretty iridescent gem of different colors depending on which side got exposed to the light of the candles in the room.
The old man slammed the staff into the floor and the gem at the top shone a light so bright Frederic had to close his eyes. He gasped when he opened them. Gustav and he stood at the top of a hill overlooking a medium-sized city. Though when he looked around, none of the residents from the village were with them. Not the kids, the adults, or even Meredith and her husband.
"Oh, you won't find them here." Frederic turned to see the Story Teller smiling at him, no longer was the cowl hiding his face. An elderly face full of wrinkles and various scars stared back at him with shoulder length grey hair and blue eyes. "Right now, at a different time, I am still in the tavern telling them the tale of the strongest mercenary that ever lived. However, right at this time and this moment, you and your companion are experiencing the same tale."
Frederic frowned at the usage of the word experiencing. He wasn't telling a tale. This was more than magic.
"Yes, that's quite right." The old man smiled. "I brought you to a different time and place. Here we are about to witness the birth of the strongest mercenary." The old man waved and a telescope appeared on the ground ready to go. "Please, use the telescope to look towards the markets. Hurry now. Time waits for no one."