Young Writers Society

Luke wiped down one of the tables, scowling at a stubborn stain in the wood. They sighed. “Oh well.” She rolled her eyes and moved on to the next table. Soon enough most would be too drunk to notice.

When the door swung open, she didn’t even look up. “Welcome to Dry Bones Tavern. Head up to the counter to order.”

Sarah's eyes lit up at the familiar voice greeting her. Luke looked as amazing as she always did, which as it normally did, made her forgot how to breathe. By now thankfully, she knew how to restart her breathing quickly enough to not be too, too suspicious, at least until she walked up closer and had to do that all over again.

"Hello," she finally managed. "I. Umm. I'm not really planning on ordering anything right away. Sorry."

Luke shrugged. "Fine by me. Your table's still free. Grab it while you can."

Sarah tended to snag the same table in the corner, spending almost the entirety of her visit watching Luke perform dull task after dull task before hurriedly ordering some food in what could only be a poor attempt to hide her previous actions. But whatever. It was fine. At least Sarah tipped nice and was one of the least annoying regulars.

Rek was hanging out in the corner listening to the musicians and nursing his beer. He was tired. He'd probably head up to bed before too much longer. He'd only been on the road for two weeks, but it felt like two months. He missed his own bed; missed his family; missed Nykim. He didn't often have to travel away from his family -- he and his cousin Jerica were generally sent on missions together if either of them had to go. But his father had two important messages that needed to be sent in opposite directions, so he'd gone South while she went North.

And it'd gone fine enough, he guessed. Not super well-received, but he hadn't expected it to be. And he hadn't had any real trouble with them beyond some dirty looks and muttered insults, which he could deal with. He just wanted to get home.

He glanced up at the exchange and gave a polite nod to the girl who had just walked in when he thought he caught her eye.

Sarah nodded vigorously as she retreated to the table in question. That went a lot better than she expected. She hadn't fainted or stared too long or spoken in gibberish. As she walked to the table she someone nod at her.

She smiled almost automatically, nodding in response before sitting down at her usual table. It looked as spotless as usual, and she resisted the urge to go thank Luke for it just yet. She was pretty sure another encounter that close in such a short space of time would break her streak of keeping her cool.

Rek took a drink of his ale, tapping his foot along with the tempo. He liked this song. He'd always wanted to learn how to play it -- if he had more energy he may have asked the musicians to teach him later. But he didn't. Not to learn music. Not to be extroverted. Not to do anything but sit and drink beer and then go to bed.

He stretched his back with a groan, cringing as his vertebrae snapped.

He glanced over as the door to the tavern opened again. There were a handful of other patrons in the room, but the area was small enough it felt fairly busy. He was interested to see who the newcomers--

His stomach lurched when he saw the expression of the man in the lead, storming in like he owned the place. Or, well, like he intended to own the place soon. He had his sword drawn and a scowl on his face as he rushed in.

Two more men followed him, swords drawn.

Then a woman with a sword.

A man with an ax.

Another woman, this one with a crossbow.

Two more men with two more swords.

There were nearly as many of them as there were patrons and employees in the bar combined. The energy in the bar changed in an instant, from upbeat and jovial, to hostile and threatening.

The music stopped. A woman screamed in fear.

Rek jumped to his feet and yanked his sword from his scabbard, ready in an instant for whatever the heck this nonsense was supposed to be.

The woman with a bow whirled around on him in an instant, from across the bar, training her arrow on him. "Wanna be a hero, Baby? Go ahead. Dare you."

Rek hesitated mid-step, eyes flicking around the room.

"Bet my blade moves faster than yours," she taunted, way out of striking distance. He didn't have a prayer against her. "Drop it."

He hesitated, assessing his options. He didn't have many.

"The lady said drop it!" The man with an ax bellowed, striding forward and hitting Rek in the sternum with his palm, making him stumble backward.

Rek reluctantly complied, letting his sword fall to the ground with a loud thunk.

"Sit your punk self down." The man shoved him again, advancing swiftly to keep Rek stumbling backward.

He resentfully sat down, glaring up at the man, though he put his hands up in front of his chest placatingly. "I don't want no trouble, mister."

"Well too bad, you got it," the man snarled, then looked around. "You all do!"

Luke sighed. Unfortunately, her father and tavern owner had decided to run a quick errand and leave her in charge. He called it a “dry run.” Well, it didn’t get drier than bandits.

She set down her rag and approached the bandits, hands up to show her lack of a weapon. “Pardon me. What are you doing in my tavern?”

The lady with a crossbow swiveled to face her, weapon trained right at her chest. Luke sighed. “Look, if you want money, I have access to the register. Easy.”

Sarah did not manage to stop herself from screaming. Her grandmother was going to ground her for so, so long. She did her best to look small and invisible.

Luke cringed at the scream. “Well? Do you want the money or not?”

"Oh shut up," the first bandit that had walked in snarled, looking at her in disdain. "You're not in charge here, little girl. We are. But thanks for the offer -- go ahead and get that opened up, then. Now."

Sticky stopped a few steps short of the tavern when she heard the ruckus inside. It wasn't exactly hard to hear the piercing screams and clattering of things inside - and that was more than enough information to tell Sticky that there was some kind of hold-up going down.

She silently withdrew from the front door. Initially, she was just going to treat herself to a drink, get a room, and leave town. But this changed things.

It wasn't really fair to attack a tavern like this when they were the only one for miles in either direction. Thieves had to have some kind of standards too.

Working her way around the building, Sticky kept low and out of sight until she reached a window on the side, and she peered in to get a look of what was happening.

As suspected, it was looking to be some kind of hostage situation.

That wasn't going to end well. What did they want, anyway? Money? Why hold the people hostage?

Holding her ear to the wall, she listened intently to see how things were playing out.

Amos bolted up from the toilet.

He bolted up from the toilet? Sure, last night was rough, but sleeping in a random bathroom somewhere was another level of bad for him.

He walked himself over to the mirror. It was dirty, but under all of the muck, he saw his face. It looked the same as always, just more disheveled. His dark undereyes looked even more obvious in this lighting. He didn't get much sleep the night before. The circumstances weren't kind to him after all.

He was so engrossed in himself that he almost didn't hear the commotion happening in the other room. Almost. His curiosity got the best of him, and he slowly moved away from the mirror over to the door.

Oh Amos, what have you gotten yourself into now?

Luke took a deep breath. “Natey boy’s my father. He’s not here, this is my tavern.”

She gestured for the bandits to follow her. “Get over here then.” She unlocked the register. Her father always taught her what to do if the place got robbed. Cooperate. Give them what they want. Money is replaceable, your life is not. Besides, they never kept more than fifty bucks in the register at a time.

“There we go. Easy.”

Sarah struggled to get her breathing under control. She was not going to freak out. She was not. She all but slid off her seat, not wanting to draw any attention to herself by standing up. She didn't know what was posessing her (well she did but she wasn't going to acknowledge it) but defying all logic she focused on figuring out how to get to Luke.

It was a ridiculous idea All she'd do is make it worse but she couldn't stand seeing Luke get threatened like that with no one to stand beside her. Not that Luke needed anyone, she was handling it so well but it felt wrong to hide under a table and watch.