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Chapter Twenty

I'd finished my tankard of Ale and chicken when the door to the bar burst open.

The smell of slick water and sweat was blown in. Five shadowy figures entered, and while four approached the bar, one separated and headed for the old man.

His wide steps were heavy, and the air around him was filled with barely restrained violence. As if he had a tracker spell, he approached the table and boldly plopped down, yanking his hood back. The first feature that was bared to my eyes were wolf ears that flicked back and forth in obvious agitation.

The new character reached up and yanked the tankard from the old man. "Is this how you're going to deal with your fuck Kal."

It was easy to eavesdrop since it wasn't like the Wolf Beast was trying to be quiet. He slammed the tankard down on the table, disrupting the other tankards and causing them to clatter as they rolled off the table onto the floor.

"Your son is being held as some pet, and you're here! Drinking."

The other man barely flinched at the other's snarled words. "And—what would you have me do?"

He lifted his head and stared at the other man. "I am stuck between betraying our tribe or leaving my son to become a plaything for that disgusting brute." He waved his arms wide, "Here I am! No gold, no power, not even a pot to piss in, and the one thing I had going for me," he sounded choked, as if despair was strangling him. "The one thing I had, he used to tie my hands together."

Kal slammed his fist atop the table, "You don't think I don't want to fight? I want to grab that little lordling by the throat and squeeze it, but if I do that, If I press my claim for my son, that man will go to our warehouse and burn it down and expose us to the Lixal Empire. That would be a death sentence for us all."

The other man, Ghaj, leaned back, his eyes narrowing to slits. "Then let it be death; no true wolf would sell his son for peace."

Kal snorted, "Easy to say when the damned screaming doesn't still tear your dreams apart. You don't remember what Lixal did when he dared to be friendly with the Nycturian kingdom during their war. Wolves of all ages, skinned and burned alive, their sheer pleasure at our pain was so horrendous I never wish to see something like that again."

Ghaj snorted and tossed his tankard on the ground, "Then stay here, coward, the others and I will not only save your son, but we'll do what you're too afraid to do. Kill him."

Watching them, I twirled the little chicken bone in my hand, and suddenly, I had this wild urge to throw it. Before I could stop it, the chicken launched itself from my fingers, flew through the air, and slammed into the back of Ghaj's head.

The entire bar suddenly became quiet as the large wolf beasts stiffened and slowly turned fully to face me. His yellow eyes gleamed as he glared at our table. Those fearsome eyes lowered to the ground, and he bent down and picked up the bone.

"Tsk, tsk, now how did that get from here to there," I wondered aloud, ignoring the obvious tension coming off everyone. I stood. "Don't tell me they're selling flying food here?"

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