The Heartstone Journey

Book 2 | Ch. 1 - Intimidation

Pitch black was all he could see as a throbbing pain was clear as day around the temple of his head. Hunter opened his eyes to see a few bottles of the drink he ordered the night before laying around him and questioned how far he went last night. Somehow not dead after drinking literal liters of alcohol he moved over to Royal's room still hungover from a few hours ago. He saw the boy awake and having his things ready for lift off. The two went by where Hunter cleaved the drunkards foot off noticing there was no blood or sign of battle at all around the front of the inn and questioned himself if the witnesses cleaned everything up before day had set also thinking that the drunkard was most likely going to live as well.

"*Sigh~*..."

"Hm? It looks like you still need to get your thoughts together so I'll go on ahead and fetch the rest to wait for you."

Royal said with a smile.

"Oh! Yes.. That would be great~."

He said with a weak voice as Royal waved bye with a smile.

Hunter returned to his room with his belongings and laid down for a moment with his head pounding. He closed his eyes and let his mind wander off into the depths of space until his thoughts drifted into a dream of a different world. He woke up feeling refreshed but the throbbing pain of his head made him wish he could just lay there forever. He looked over his surroundings seeing the sun shining through the window and remembered that the three were outside the town waiting for him. Hunter got up out of his bed and began his morning routine getting ready for the road. He made his way past a few buildings, crowds of people and merchants before encountering guards that halted his way. Three guards in formation came afterward with the man that stopped him as they all wore medium sized iron plates and a small helm to protect the top and forehead and ordered him to follow them. They were armed likely never actually needing to use the swords they held due to the place being normally very responsible and sensible. He gave a quick question not wanting to waste time being taken somewhere.

"What is the reasoning I must follow you for?"

"Very well~. You are going to be placed under arrest for excessive violence, attempted murder and destruction of property. Anything you say at this point is rendered null due to the large number of eye witnesses at the time of the crime."

The head guard spoke sternly knowing Hunter was a fairly large man and would need to be dealt with differently compared to normal criminals.

"I fought for self defense. My actions were justified and the man who assaulted me was intoxicated."

"We have reports that you as well were intoxicated with a extremely high levels of alcohol in your system. Even then it still doesn't prove the fact that your 'assailant' was brutally beaten from our visit with him and his foot was severed. Was this really a case of self defense sir? Or an act of attempted murder hidden behind your cries of self defense?"

Hunter explained the rules of the fight that had happened yesterday leaving no detail out including all the people there and how they were betting on the duel. At that point the guards did not care to listen regardless if he was telling lies out of desperation or telling the truth with confidence. The four raised their weapons surrounding him not to allow him to flee in any direction.

"If you come with us we can clear all these 'misunderstandings'. Don't you think that would be best to solve things peacefully?"

The head knight commented.

Hunter observed his options taking account there were far too many people in the area to fight and didn't want to take anymore lives than he already had. The guards looked over at each other as one finally made up their minds. They approached Hunter slowly with their blades pointed to the ground readied to strike. They were still cautious about what he might do but knew he had no other option but to comply if he wanted to escape. They slowly inched closer around him with their eyes on him awaiting what he had to say next. They waited patiently for him to speak up but he remained silent staring blankly at them with no expression on his face as he continued to stare at them without blinking. The silence was broken by a loud clap as one of them broke it. The two looked back to each other confused by what they just heard as one looked at the other and shook their heads before turning their attention back to him. They took another step forward slowly closing their distance as one brought up their hand signaling him to stop moving. The other two took another step closer raising their weapons as well. The third one was the only one who noticed what he did before anyone else. He turned his gaze away and looked at Hunter in shock with a wide open mouth.