The Potion of Life

Bjorn

When he looks at his opponent, Bjorn already knows he's going to win the next round. "These will be a few very interesting days," he thinks to himself as he reveals his hand of cards to his fellow players. The prospect of a wedding feast tomorrow. He'll be able to fill his purse with ducats. The ducats he's earning now from the card game are already a good start. He takes the money from his fellow players with a big grin on his face. On their faces, he sees only disbelief. They can't seem to believe that they keep losing to a Viking.

This is how his longship comes closer. This is the ultimate goal, becoming captain of his own ship. He would be a great captain. Everyone would consider it an honor to be part of Bjorn Thorson's fleet. He will become one of the most feared Vikings, and everyone will treat him with respect.

However, he's not there yet. Nevertheless, he has already achieved some things. He has already been to several places in Mysterix. He has also met several intriguing individuals. Like a man named Bukhar. This man seemed completely normal at first glance. However, it came out after a while that Bukhar is actually a dragon cursed to be trapped in a human body. He has also met a genie who is now loyal to him. If Bjorn finds himself in a dire situation, he only needs to pull out the bottle from his backpack, and the genie will appear.

Now that he starts to think, he realizes that he has met so many interesting people that they probably won't all fit on his longship anymore. Well, the dwarf Bergold was so small that he would obviously find a spot. The same goes for the ninja Arichi Sezato; he is so agile and fast that probably no one would notice he's on the ship.

"Are you going to deal the cards or do we have to keep waiting for you to finally stop aimlessly looking around?"

Bjorn doesn't like the expression on this man's face. If he had been in a slightly worse mood, he would have pulled out his barbarian battle-axe and threatened the man. However, he's in too good of a mood. Besides, he's finally making a profit from a card game; it might even be wiser to stop and keep his money for the longship.

"Let someone else deal, I'm going to my room! Enjoy the rest of your evening, gentlemen!"

When he gets to his room, he hesitates to stay awake. It wouldn't be the first time something happened at night. In the last few years, it had become increasingly unsafe all over Mysterix. Yet he must get up early if he wants to attend the wedding feast. Getting into the wedding feast probably won't happen. However, standing at the castle gate and watching the nobility arrive could have its advantages. Those people are so rich that they probably wouldn't notice a few extra ducats missing.

Just as he gets comfortable in his bed and is about to close his eyes, he hears commotion at his door. He immediately becomes alert and grabs his barbarian battle-axe. He steps out of bed and positions himself at his door. As he prepares to gently open the door, it opens on its own. Bjorn sees that the person opening the door is the same man who was complaining that Bjorn was winning too much during the card game. This man also has a sword in his right hand. Before this man can use the sword, Bjorn begins to attack him.

Despite the unexpected attack, the man defends himself well. Then Bjorn notices that this man is not alone. Behind him, he sees three more men with swords in their hands. So, he's not fighting against just one person but two after a few seconds. Due to the narrow door, the other two find it difficult to enter the room and join the fight.

A few seconds later, the first two opponents are on the ground. However, Bjorn doesn't feel like immediately taking on the other two. Instead of attacking the other two, he walks to the only window in his room. He opens it and climbs out. He climbs onto an adjacent rain pipe and uses it to slide down. As he looks up from the ground, he sees the remaining two men standing at his window. However, they don't climb out the window; instead, they take their bows and start shooting at Bjorn.

When he sees that, he starts running. He runs until it's no longer possible for these men to see him. They must believe he has fled. However, he hasn't fled; in a minute, he's back at the entrance to the inn. He has no intention of leaving all his belongings in this inn. No one should think they can attack him without consequences. He forces open the door of the inn and then sneaks inside. However, there isn't much to sneak with the amount of armor he's wearing. Despite that, he still does his best not to be heard.

He goes back upstairs with the stairs to the first floor. He immediately sees that one of the two men is standing guard in the hallway. He doesn't feel like having a long fight with this man, so he takes his throwing axe hanging by his side. He throws it, and the axe hits the man right in his chest. The man screams, and by the time the man manages to take his sword, Bjorn has already hit him several times with his sword. The man is dead shortly after, leaving only one man left.This one doesn't come out right away; he's smarter than Bjorn thought. 

When Bjorn walks into his room, he sees that someone has gone through his things. At first glance, nothing seems to be stolen. The window of his room is still wide open, and there is no trace of the fourth man. He also finds it very strange that no one has come to see what happened. Surely someone must have heard this fight? Or at least, someone must have been woken up? The innkeeper of this inn should at least know what happened in his inn.

Bjorn goes back out of his room and back to the main hall with the stairs. He walks to the counter and directly to the door behind it. Behind this door are the private quarters of the innkeeper. If he explains to him what just happened in his establishment, Bjorn will surely be able to stay in his inn for the rest of the coming days for free.

He knocks on the door and waits. Then he notices just in time that a dagger is being thrown at him. Bjorn reacts quickly; he jumps over the counter and immediately attacks his assailant. A fight breaks out in the middle of the main hall; it's the fourth man he couldn't find. This man manages to hit him several times with his sword, but thanks to Bjorn's chainmail, he doesn't suffer too much. It only makes him angrier, and this anger allows him to fight better. He can see from the man's face that he hadn't expected Bjorn to fight back so fiercely. What did he expect when he attacked a Viking?

The man clearly can't defend against every attack, and eventually, he also ends up dead on the ground. Bjorn examines his body and finds some ducats. Other than that, this man has nothing interesting on him. Why did these four men attack him anyway? Was it all because they lost a few rounds during the card game? Still, there's no reaction in the inn; it seems like Bjorn is completely alone here.

His patience runs out; he goes back to the door but instead of knocking on it again, he kicks it in this time. When he looks into the room behind the door, he sees the quarters of a single man. He walks through the living areas, but there's no trace of him. An innkeeper leaving his inn at night? Why? Strange things are happening in this inn. These were things he was going to investigate tomorrow. Before he starts, it's time to go to bed to get a few hours of sleep. One thing was certain; he wasn't going to pay for this night.