Eric spent the better part of the day drinking in the tavern on the floor below the inn. The innkeeper kept regarding him with a narrowed glare as if to say 'I know you're hiding something. How dare you visit my tavern!' But, his coin was real, so she kept his supply of beer coming even when he'd grown so drunk that he could barely stand to walk outside in the frigid night and piss in the outhouse.

As he stomped his way through the snow and to the smelly wooden box, his breath came out in little clouds of moisture. The war had turned his home into a land of ice, but luckily the alcohol was keeping him from feeling the frigidness tonight. Somehow, though, despite his blurred vision and shaking hands and the freezing temperatures, he managed to finish his business then refasten his pants before stumbling his way back into the tavern.

Eric didn't know how long he'd been out there, but the cold darkness from outside made the light and warmth of the tavern almost more inviting than the rest of his beer, which was waiting for him at the counter.

Darkness had fallen a few hours prior, and evening meant that it was supper time. Whereas a few patrons had sporadically dropped in throughout the day, the place was now filled to the brim with life. Workmen from the village, farmers, travelers, everyone seemed to be stopped at The Lady Jane Tavern and Inn. And, to Eric's surprised delight, most of them appeared to be entirely human, a thought that put him at ease. Humans were slow and easy to kill if they were trouble, which was especially important considering he was almost too drunk to walk. He'd be shit in a fight if anyone in the tavern tried to cause mayhem.

The smell of meat and bread was enough to make his stomach rumble, but he needed to save his money, if only to ensure he didn't accidentally end up sobering up thanks to a lack of cash with which he could supply himself with alcohol. Heaving a contented sigh, he made his way back to his stool, shedding his cloak and handing it over to the innkeeper who hung it near the fire with the rest so that it could dry. With a grunt, he took another swig of his beer before pulling a bit of dried beef from his pocket and gnawing on that as he nursed what would probably be his last drink of the night.

Well...maybe he'd have one more after this.

When Eric had just a few sips of beer remaining, he blearily noticed his paramour from last night entering accompanied by two very surly looking gentlemen wearing horribly tarnished armor and peering out from underneath the visors of their helmets.

Knights.

Fuck.

The sight of the hulking figures set off alarm bells in Eric's head even with his drunkenness dulling his senses. His apprehensiveness was made worse when Carolina's eyes found him. The woman offered him a bright smile that immediately sobered him. Carolina wore an obviously fake smile that screamed politeness yet hid her...calculating mind.

After several moments, Carolina approached him with swagger and confidence that had most of the patrons in the establishment taking notice. Eric cleared his throat and pretended to take a sip of his beer as he read an odd sort of change in atmosphere in the room. Before, the place had held a bright and jovial air, but as Carolina smiled at him and made her way closer, flanked by two men in armor who looked like they could snap a 100 year old tree in half, Eric fought the urge to shudder. He had the distinct impression he was being stalked by predators, and the patrons around Eric seemed to feel the same, shrinking away and averting their eyes but somehow keeping their attentions on the scene about to play out in front of them. No one ceased speaking, but everyone's conversations were now quieter, hushed and lending a sense of unsettling tenseness to the air.

When Carolina reached his side, she offered him a sweet smile before turning to the innkeeper. "Glass of red wine, if you don't mind, Marella."

"Yes ma'am." The innkeeper replied, turning quickly to fill the woman's order.

Yes. Something was definitely off.

"Fancy meeting you here, Huntsman." Her voice was teasing enough, light enough that it shouldn't have set him on edge, but his practiced ear detected an undercurrent of menacing warning and trepidation in her tone. That and the two knights, who were trying and failing to act relaxed as they stood several paces away, told Eric this would be far from the relaxing, blackout drunk evening he'd hoped for.

Even still, Eric adopted his affable persona, leaning into his drunken state as he smiled back. When he spoke, his words were slightly slurred even though Carolina's arrival had prompted him to sober up as much as possible.

"Carolina. What a lovely surprise. I was just thinking about you."

"Oh?" She asked with a smirk as the innkeeper placed her cup of wine on the bar in front of her.

Eric nodded, taking a gentle sip of his beer before replying. "Yes. I was just about to ask some of the other girls if they could put me in touch with you. I wanted to offer to buy you a drink. Luckily, you've saved me the trouble of having to track you down."

Once he'd finished speaking, he produced a coin from his sleeve with a flourish of sleight of hand. Eric wasn't a magic user. Magic users were pieces of shit, and Eric was supremely grateful he hadn't inherited any magical abilities from his dick of a father. Yeah, Eric didn't know magic, nor did he want to. What he did know, though, was the art of chicanery. And for Carolina, he felt the need to pull out all the stops to disrupt...whatever it was she was planning.

Eric grinned triumphantly when her eyes landed on the coin in his hand then widened in genuine surprise. Still smirking, he placed the coin on the counter, and Carolina stared down at the metal for a moment, offering a small and oddly genuine smile before speaking quietly. "You know...what I said last night is true. If you'd lay down the bottle, you would be quite the charmer, Huntsman."

Eric chuckled, forcing himself to take another sip of beer before replying. "And like I said, what fun would I be if I were sober?"

She continued to stare at the coin for a few more seconds, looking oddly conflicted before she sighed and fixed her gaze on him. When she said nothing, Eric cut his eyes to the knights then back to Carolina before speaking. "And who, may I ask, is accompanying us on our date?"

His words led Carolina regard the two armored behemoths standing not far from them. "They're my...friends."

Eric fought the urge to scowl at that. She wasn't even trying to hide her deception. "Friends. Listen, if you want to include them, then it's going to cost you extra."

The woman shocked him by barking out a genuine laugh before schooling herself. "You know, I think you're very perceptive, Huntsman. You hide behind a mask of swaggering roguishness, but in reality, you're quite intelligent."

He snorted, leaning in close and hoping for some reason that she could smell the soap from when he'd washed himself that morning rather than the acrid scent of alcohol on his breath. "Come now. Don't go ruining my reputation by saying things like that. Just let yourself believe those rumors about me, that I'm a brainless warrior who can't even tie my own boot laces. Now, I'm still quite curious about your guests?"

Her gaze narrowed, and her expression darkened as she realized he wasn't buying her hyper-friendly persona, though he was curious to find apology in her tone when she finally spoke. "Well, as much as I'd love to spend the rest of this evening on our...date. I need to ask you to come with me."

There they were, the words he'd been expecting to hear. Still, Eric was careful to keep himself from reacting as he finished off his beer and laid an extra coin on the counter for all the innkeeper's troubles.

"I do think I'd rather stay here, Carolina. I'll move onto the next village at first light. Not to mention the fact that I'm quite drunk, so as much as I appreciate your offer, I'd really much rather remain where I am."

She sighed, nodding subtly to the guard nearest her. When she spoke, her voice held an authority that had Eric shuddering. "I'm afraid that's not possible. I'd rather we didn't have to make a scene in one of my places of work. So, if you wouldn't mind coming outside with me so that we can talk..."

Eric snorted in genuine amusement. Surely she didn't take him for that much of a fool. "I'm afraid, dear Carolina, that I will leave this building only if I'm forced to. Otherwise, I'm quite content to remain here, enjoying my alcohol and the company of the lovely inn keep."

The guard closest to her reacted then, moving towards Eric as if to place a hand on his shoulder. Despite his drunken state, Eric responded, deftly avoiding the man's swiping grasp by expertly alighting from the stool and dancing around. Even after nearly two years without practice, his muscle memory took over, and Eric managed to dance around and position himself behind the first attacker. He couldn't see the man's expression, of course, but from the figure's posture, Eric could tell the man was surprised by his agility.

Rolling his eyes, Eric let out a small laugh as the sheer audacity of the knights struck him. If they knew he was the Huntsman, then why would they think that they'd be any good against him? Even with him three sheets to the wind, he was a better fighter than a pair of itinerant knights.

"There's no need to start a scene, Huntsman."

Carolina's voice grated on him, and time in the tavern seemed to stop as everyone's eyes cut to Eric and Carolina and her two goons. Sensing a real conflict was inevitable, Eric huffed and stretched his muscles, shaking his head as if that would clear away his residual drunkenness.

"I believe you already started a scene, Carolina."

Her gaze darkened, and that's when Eric knew that any sense of playfulness that had remained between the two of them had vanished. "It will be much easier if you come of your own accord."

"Come to what? My own death?" He couldn't keep the vitriol from his voice. Every single time he thought he had...something, some modicum of contentment in his life, something like this happened, and Eric was simply exhausted by this existence.

In response to his ire, Carolina rolled her eyes, but Eric detected a hint of fear as she placed her hands on her delicate hips. "Don't be so melodramatic. We're not going to kill you."

Eric's gaze narrowed as he spat. "No...but you're probably going to sell me to someone, am I right? A wealthy and landed lord who thinks that having the Huntsman in his employ would help him defend his riches from others?"

He paused, glaring at her as realization dawned on him. "No...that's far too mundane and certainly wouldn't pay enough. Who is it that you want to give me to, Carolina? Snow? No...not Snow. Red. Red would pay the best price." If Carolina was surprised that he'd caught onto her scheme, her expression didn't show it as he forged ahead. "Forgive me, but you might not kill me, but it's bullshit to claim your actions wouldn't be leading me directly to the hangman."

"I'd really hoped it wouldn't go like this, Huntsman." Her words were soft with an undercurrent of remorse as the two guards moved in on Eric.

He couldn't keep from cursing as he dodged their first attacks on shaky feet. If he made it out of this night alive, he wasn't going to even touch alcohol again. Shit like this always happened when he'd been drinking.