Chapter 90: A Sassy Dinner

"What?" The old man said, visibly confused.

"How'd it go?" I winked.

He grinned back. This old guy really was something else. Brend frowned a little but he let us be.

"It's official. He allowed us to stay on board till they make port in Elicaane town. It's a port town north of Veneheim." The old man puffed his chest and looked mighty proud. I hated that side of him.

"Veneheim?" The name rhymed with Alfeime.

"It's the entry to elven territory, also known as the sacred forest of old." The old man didn't have his usual grin. He just looked a little desolate.

"I've had enough of forests and their sacredness." I didn't intend to say it out loud but it slipped out anyway. The old man only laughed in response. But it was kind of weird but I had to ask anyway. "How far is the capital from there?"

"About three days."

"Think everything will go okay?" I had my doubts. But ever since I ran into the old man, things weren't so bad. At least not till now. Even the encounter with the pirates wasn't that bad, at least not yet.

He looked at me, curiously. "Son, if I learned something from life, is that nothing goes the way you want it to. If it goes that way, then either you're going mad or something terrible is waiting for you," he said. Just this once, he didn't speak total nonsense.

I believed him. I had no reason to not believe him. His words were true to the core. But something about the way he said it, seemed comical. I never did get the chance to thank him though.

The pirates were moving around like nothing had happened at all and they were normal sailors or something. I didn't know why but I was kind of disappointed seeing them all like that. Just what the hell was I expecting?

"Anyway, stay vigilant. They seem nice but I don't think they'll let us get off that easily." The old man whispered. He was educating me about on what I could expect from this ship and its crew.

Well, that was not unexpected. It would be stupid if we weren't suspicious of them.

At night, the stars looked really pretty. The sound from the waves was calming but also reminded me of his betrayal. Why would he betray me? For what purpose? What would he stand to gain from it? I couldn't forget about it.

"I don't know about you lad, but I bet my family is gonna go frigging barnacles when they see me." The old man sat by the ship terrace, his back stacked against the wood.

Well, I suppose that's what you'll get, going home after all this time. "I don't have any family. At least not in this world," I said. I had told the old man about me not being of this world. He had believed me without much doubt. Come to think about it, he never did ask me questions about my life. Maybe he was just being considerate or maybe because I never asked about his.

"Well, I am sorry to hear that." He didn't seem sorry at all though. He laughed like an alcoholic. Maybe he was one.

"Don't be. They never liked me to begin with." I chuckled along with him.

"Ha ha ha. No family can hate each other. At least not for long." He was an obnoxious old man.

We were staring at great distances. Finally, it was time to say goodbye to the island. It went out of our sight a long while ago but it'll remain in my heart forever. I learned many great things on that island. Hopefully, they were for the best.

The pirates were partying. Apparently, they partied after the evening every day. Although a bit ambitious, I suppose that's how outlaws should live their lives. If not, then what's the point of being an outlaw in the first place?

But in reality I was a little jealous. We were sitting tight on the deck while they were partying downstairs. The ship however wasn't particularly lit up. I suppose that was only natural, since they were pirates after all. I'd been surprised if they lit the damn thing up and literally shouted, 'we're pirates.' No matter how dumb they were, they wouldn't be that dumb, right?

"Back when I was sailing we used to party like this too." The old man grinned like he owned the place.

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"Don't tell me you were pirates," I said. He already told me that he was a sailor. I didn't know what sort of crew he had. But I got the impression they weren't typical sailors. So if he was a pirate, I wouldn't have been surprised.

I looked at him with dull eyes. He didn't admit or deny. That only made me suspicious but I didn't really care. What he was before didn't really matter now. The old man burst into laughter. Although a little obnoxious I had somehow got accustomed to his laughs.

"So what kind of family do you have and where are they?" I took up the courage to ask.

"In Elicaane. I think my whole family is there. My wife's family lives there you see." He sighed. I didn't get to see this side of him often.

No wonder you negotiated to go there. "Well, let's be glad that you'll meet her soon." I didn't want to rub it in, but I had a grin on my face.

"Well, I don't want to meet her just yet." For the first time ever, he laughed in frustration. Usually he always laughed in a sarcastic way, yet somehow this time it felt different. It was as though, he was sad.

"What do you mean?"

"She's-" He couldn't finish, as footsteps approached us.

"Ye two haven't had anything right?" The blonde guy or rather Brend had brought us dinner. Was that a gesture of politeness or was he up to something? I'd bet it was the latter. But I was glad he showed up at the right moment. A few seconds later and the conversation would have ended up in a horrible place. I for once didn't want to see the old man sob or anything. I'd been through enough sobbing already.

"Yeah lad. Haven't had anything yet. Are those for us?" But maybe I didn't need to worry about the guy, as he recovered anyway.

"Aye."

We looked at each other but in the end decided to eat anyway. It was a very dangerous move but we had no choice. I didn't know about the old man, but I was starving. However I didn't really trust them yet. What if they mixed poison in it? It wasn't uncommon and they were pirates for crying out loud. But the old man dug in without a doubt and I followed suit. A rather risky move, but I had to. My stomach demanded that I do.

It didn't look bad and I thought the taste might be okay. But it was terrible: utterly, terrible. There weren't any spices other than salt. Even the texture was… "Yuck! What is this?"

"That's coconut rice with fish. That's actually considered a delicacy ye know," Brend said. Was he trying to be funny or something? This thing, a delicacy?

"Seriously?" I looked at the old man, perplexed, and he was already half done. It tasted like flavorless mush. How the hell is thing a delicacy? And how the hell are you eating this stuff?

The old man for his part, was devouring the thing.

With tremendous amount of will power I ate my portion. There weren't any fast acting poison to say the least. As for the slow acting one; only time could tell.

Brend went away with the plates.

"By the way, when will you give me my sword?"

"You're sword? I don't remember it belonging to you! But if you want it you have to beat me first," he said. He sure was proud of his skills, if nothing else.

The old man was laughing quite a lot. I knew I was indebted to him, but he was way too annoying. As for beating him, he was too damn strong. He was probably stronger than most elite knights of the kingdom. If this damn geezer declared he was the strongest adventurer or something, I'd believe him. After all I was yet to meet anyone stronger than him. Even Gorgan, the so-called strong guy wasn't enough to put up a fight against this man's wits. I guess strength-wise Gorgan was stronger, but the old man had him beat in skills and wit.

I leaned against the starboard fence. Calling it fence was a weird way to put it but that's how I saw it. It was very fence-like: it almost reminded me of the fence I crashed into when I was ten.

I tried to stay awake but soon, I fell asleep, and with that, thoughts filled my brain.

"Huh! What do you mean you don't want to go to college anymore? I wish I never had a son like you. If only you weren't born! If only it weren't for you… she would- " My mother had never finished that sentence.. But for just this once, I wish she had.

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