Chapter 2

Centuries Later,

Saer had kept his sword hidden. Despite of all his efforts, he couldn’t disguise it into something else.

On the doorstep of Calajhan house, he did not know what to expect.

Saer knocked on the door in the gentlest way possible. Without any

answer, he ditched the idea of showing politeness and knocked like he was punching the door.

"Stop knocking or I will put your own knuckles up your ugly ass." An annoyed voice came out through the door.

"I apologize for inconvenience." Saer said.

"Get away."

"Ser Calajhan, would you like to listen to me for a while? I don’t even mind talking with your door closed." Saer was looking to persuade.

"You must be one of those who have been knocking on my door since yesterday. I have heard hundred freaks like you." Rude man spoke.

"But you should

listen to me. Maybe you had met bad talkers." Saer was trying.

"And you are made up of

gold, aren’t you? You scums have scared my wife and daughter."

"Ser, I have no idea

whom you are talking about. I belong to no clan."

"Do you see a cloth hanging on a tree nearby you?" old man rambled.

Saer moved his head and spotted the waving shirt, "Pretty clear."

"He was refusing to leave, so I killed him and now his filth works as my house banner. Now, I don’t know what you are wearing but I guess I will be willing to

have two banners."

Saer had no intention to fight.

"I will go. But you need to hear something. Stay safe." Saer said.

He heard female gasps from inside.

They must have been his daughter and wife, whom he had been talking about.

Saer then set off from there after getting no response.

He walked through the forest, thinking about the brutal rejection which he had just got.

Saer consolidated

himself by assuming he could have been killed, no matter how valiant he was.

I am just another clown now. He was concerned while heading towards the pub.

Saer was ready to join the embarrassment club. It was a relief he was not the only one to go through the same experience.

He was merely another guy who had a different story with the same ending to tell.

_

After a short walk in Logrum

forest, he reached to the inn.

Saer could hear people sing in sedated voice. He wished nobody was sober enough to remember how much enthusiasm he had within him when he had left the place.

"Drink till death!" people inside roared.

Mugs clattered together.

Finding nobody at the reception, he decided to head

in.

"Sword outside please." A woman came with empty cups.

Saer put his sword on her table while she filled those utensils she had brought with her.

She offered him one, "Drink till death, Saer."

"I don’t want to die." Saer made himself clear.

"It is inevitable. Better hold mead than a sword when death comes with his arms open."

Saer didn’t want to taste it at all.

"Cut throats like you are drinking in there." She pointed inside,

"I doubt if any of them will leave this place till apocalypse."

He was yet to utter any word.

"Ahh, let it be." She sighed,

"You're another failure, nothing more. You've failed us, the realm and the entire world-"

"Calajhan was hard to convince." Saer couldn’t take the humiliation.

"Did you tell him everything clear?"

"I would have scared them more. They're already shaken."

"What about taking soft route?"

"I didn’t hurt anyone. It is the softest I can be."

She chuckled.

"You seriously need a drink." She pushed the mug towards him.

Saer shoved it back at her,

"No drinking till I save this world."

He went on to seize

his sword and hoist it like a rucksack.

Saer opened the exit door.

"Look at this fool running away from humiliation." A fat cut-throat came out with a mug, spilling wine.

"It is his choice, Fierlo." She said to him, "And he says he won't drink till he has saved our world."

Fierlo grinned, "He doesn’t drink much anyway."

"Do you mind clearing your debt?"

"Are you asking me?" Fierlo looked at the pretty lady.

"Don’t be amused. I am asking you to pay for your drink, not asking for a night out with you."

"You know how torn my pocket is." Fierlo couldn’t take anything from the pocket.

"I'll pay for him." Saer took out some coins from his bag and tossed it on the table.

"Next time, take care of your pocket Fierlo." She collected the coins,

"Same goes with you too, Saer."

"Come Fierlo. I will tell you about the banner which I discovered in Calajhan house." Saer caught him by his arm.

"Didn’t know Calajhans

had a banner." Fierlo stepped out from the inn.

The woman watched them disappear inside woods. She desired to hear

more from Saer, but Fierlo now had that privilege.

"Wine!" someone called from inside.

"Wait, Hames." She began filling another mug.

When it was about to spill, she picked it up and walked inside the dark inn. She walked past occupied tables to the smelliest table in the room, not acknowledging men calling her. She walked to the corner of the room and placed the mug on the table of the man who was ready to fall unconscious.

"You were talking to Saer, isn’t it?" he asked.

"And Fierlo."

"Why would you even let Saer be here? He is a disgrace." Hames pushed the wine mug aside.

"So the mug brought me here, I see."

"Don’t let Saer come here." Hames looked into her eyes.

"Since when did this inn become yours?" she said.

Hames laughed then took a sip from the mug the woman had brought, "Have you forgotten what his great-great-grandfather did?"

"This is why

he is trying to stop Great Invasion from happening."

"Ouskerus

would have never been in threat if his forefather had not given the information to Wernh'An

."

"It was his great fucking great grandfather. You find Saer guilty for this? Why should he pay the price?"

"Nobody in Ouskerus

is guilty. But we are paying the price too."

Hames put his palm on the table, keeping it there for a while. His smirk did not shrink for the whole time. After noticing the woman had finally understood what he meant to say, he removed his hand to show the coin.

The woman picked the coin and stormed outside.

Half an hour later, the inn saw the arrival of another person. He also carried a sword.

"Swords out, ser." She said as usual.

"Take it." The bearded man took the shiny monster out of sheath.

"Give." She stretched her hand.

"You got me wrong, lady. Take this sword in your heart."

She got alarmed, but before she could

let her reflexes defend herself, the sword went

through her heart.

The woman fell dead on glasses when the stranger took it out from her body.

Drunk cut-throats came out to see what had happened.

Everyone froze at the sight. And everyone lost their minds after recognizing the killer.

"Nortze

Calajhan!" a hired killer gasped.

Nortze

swung his sword.

_

"So you are telling me I can convince the bloody family to open their doors for me?" Fierlo doubted Saer's words, especially after hearing about the banner incident.

"Yes." Saer walked on twigs while on the way to Calajhan house.

"Beware. I have offended many people in the past."

"Take the chance or die."

"Ow. I don’t share same guts with you, Saer."

"Okay. If Nortze

kills me, then take my pack of coins and piss off to the stinking pub."

"What kind of sword is this?" Fierlo touched the hilt of longsword

on Saer's back.

Saer turned at him like wind, "Don’t."

"You stole it from somebody?"

"Bought it." Saer marched further.

"How far is the house?"

"Near the swamp." Saer moved, vines blocking his view.

"You mean that swamp?" Fierlo pointed at a swamp about a hundred feet ahead of them.

"Yes." Saer said in devastation.

The house was not there anymore.

Fierlo didn’t have

a good feeling about the disappearance of the house.

"Did the house disappear because Calajhan wanted it to be, or someone came up with a trick?" Fierlo questioned his friend.

"I hope he has migrated with his family." Saer walked, searching for another inn inside the forest.

"He moves with his house. What is he? A bloody turtle?" Fierlo lost his nerves.

"And lives for three hundred years. Yes, he might be a turtle." Saer added.

"But he definitely is not slow."

Saer had no consolidation for him.

"Saer." Fierlo tapped his shoulder.

"What?" Saer looked at him.

"Is this the banner you were talking about?" Fierlo pointed at the clothes waving in forest breeze.

About two hours later, they reached in front of an old house. The house seemed to have been burnt at some point.

"Why would a family of four live in here?" Fierlo looked up at broken roof.

"I think the same." Sear kicked the door open just to find cobwebs ruling inside.

Fierlo came after him.

"Third inn checked." Fierlo said loud, "The next ruin like this is ten miles further in East. Do you also want to go there?"

Saer couldn’t handle being wrong.

"He will not be there." Saer gritted his teeth.

"I was telling you he would not be here either." Fierlo opened his arms. "But no. You think you owe to overhear me for a simple drink you paid for."

"I undermined opinion of yours." Saer watched spiders hanging down the web strands.

Some spiders were making their new cobwebs.

"I know what you might be thinking." Fierlo patted his back,

"I am also having the same thought in my mind."

Saer turned his head at him.

Then he nod.

"This is not one man's work. Not even two men's work." Fierlo breathed, "We will need more allies."

"Pub has got plenty of it." Saer watched a spider run on his finger.

Fierlo was first to take steps towards the direction of liquor.

"I can smell beer from here."

Fierlo sniffed,

"I feel sorry for your non drinking habit."

"Cut-throats should not be drinking." Saer stepped on clay, splashing its fragments in air.

"Who says so? Look at me."

"I wish you had saved all the money you got from conducting assassinations. You would have been richer than me."

"Come on, a bag full of gold isn’t much wealth."

Saer scoffed.

"Yes, it isn’t. I have seen many killers like you thinking they could live with luxury. And they all had one thing in common, a bag of gold."

"You are trying your best to keep my mind away from Calajhan

shit, aren’t you?" he knew Fierlo well.

"The old freak doesn’t really need much attention."

"He needs care."

"A person who can make a killer vanish in a second doesn’t need care. Not even in his age."

"Against Wernh’An

, Wutke and an unknown enemy, he sure needs a lot of it

.”

"And you are confident on protecting Calajhans

?" Fierlo laughed at him.

"Protecting them means protecting our realm. I don’t understand why everyone has no problem with the apocalypse." Saer stopped walking altogether,

"Even if two of those four die, it means enemies will get to rule over this world."

"They don’t want to be protected. Oaths that our ancestors had made mean nothing to them." Fierlo snarled.

"Weren't you supporting me a while ago?"

"Yes. But with no progress, I don’t know for how long I will be able to

maintain my support."