‘Remember when I said we should continue west instead of north?’ the Dragonslayer asked.

‘Yes, because you’re the only person I talked to in the past five days, and we literally had only three conversations,’ Garvin responded.

‘Yeah, exactly. Well, soon enough you can see why.’

They had been hiking for days, and somehow used the paved roads of old, instead of the soft grass of the unknown. Garvin knew where his companion wanted to go, it was clear from the beginning that they were heading for the Knight Club. Apparently it was a tavern that was known to be a place where no violence was allowed. A kind of neutral ground for hero’s and villains and all in between. Peace treaties had been signed at the place. This Garvin had read about them long before he ever wanted to venture beyond his little village. So he walked, pretending not to know where they were going.

There was a sandy path that separated from the main road and seemed to meander trough the woods.

‘Almost there!’ his companion said as he upped the pace.

Garvin rolled with his eyes and followed. For a few minutes they continued to march uphill, and with one final turn a giant building became visible. It was well hidden between the trees, though it seemed to large to be there. It counted three floors and had a pointy roof. But the first thing that really took his attention, even made him gasp, were the shields. The whole wall was covered with shields. The shields were almost all painted, though some clearly a long time ago. Garvin saw the symbols of many clans and cities, some tainted with moss. Some had crosses or skulls or crowns. Some had texts. Some had.. Wait where was? Garvin looked around and saw that the Dragonslayer had already entered the building. He quickly took out his book and sat down in front of the magnificent wall and tried to describe and draw it. It kept him busy until a shadow was cast over him, he looked up and saw a woman staring down at him. She had brown hair and her lips were curved into a smile. Garvin felt like a kid caught doing something improper.

'Hi,' he said.

'Hi,' she said.

‘I’m not the best artist,’ he stammered with a smile whilst closing the book.

‘Clearly you’re not,’ she said.

Garvin got up and wiped his hands. ‘Garvin, at your service.’

‘Does that mean you work here? Help me carry this inside then.’

She passed a heavy bag to Garvin and his arms responded before his brain could. He followed her to the right side of the building, where there was a clearing with some benches and a well in the middle. The walls there were also coated with shields. She opened the door and walked in. Garvin followed clumsily. As he walked in, his book slipped from his hand and fell on the ground. Garvin tried to kick it but stepped on it with his other foot, making him stumble, (and after a moment of perhaps I will regain my balance), and fall. On the ground fell arrows. Hundreds of pointy arrows.

‘Be careful, aye?’ the woman yelled.

‘I’m sorry!’ Garvin stammered as he picked up the arrows and placed them back in the bag.

‘What!’ another one yelled. Garvin turned around only to see the Dragonslayer marching up to both of them.

‘You as well, Garvin?’ he said.

Garvin just stammered while pushing more arrows in the bag.

‘So, he’s with you?’ she said.

‘Temporarily. More like an intern.’

‘A future hero? This skinny boy is your protege?’ she mocked.

‘I am nobodies protege!’ Garvin said and he dropped what he was doing.

‘Come on, I am basically reeducating you into someone useful in society.’

‘You know what? Piss off!’

‘And what about my arrows?’ she yelled as Garvin picked up his book and stormed off.

Garvin sat down at a table, too upset to enjoy the beautiful carved woodwork. Or order one of the famed drinks they only sold here.

He stared out of the window, when he heard the rustle of clothes next to him. It was the Dragonslayer. As he took place next to him he placed his drink on the table.

‘Damned LaFleche. Thinks she can waltz in here like she owns the place.’

‘I don’t care,’ Garvin said.

‘Yeah, is what I also thought, but her attitude just, just makes me so angry, you know?’

Garvin tried to ignore as much as possible of what was said.

‘Hey Dragon-squealer, how about a little knife throwing match? The first one to miss pays the drinks!’ she yelled from the other side.

He got up and snarled. ‘I will show that skirt-wearing-monkey-faced-tavern-wench how you really throw a knife.’ With that he stormed off. Garvin just opened his book again, the page had still been wet and now the next page was smeared as well. He sighed as he grabbed his pen to write everything a second time. The two hotheads yelled and quarrelled, but he didn’t even cared to look.

The place we visit now is one of old, this is the safe haven of the free folks, the wanderers and the lost. Here people come without any fear, for on this hill, there was no harm done. As I am sitting here and staring at the colourful shield wall, the Dragonslayer meets an old associate that happened to be Aigle LaFleche, words best archer, according to the stories. They are sharing a few drinks and talk about old times.

‘That bench wench clearly cheated!’ a red-faced Dragonslayer said as he sat down again. ‘Do you have any coins left?’ he asked him. Garvin shook his head.

‘Oh yeah, you lost it all at the other village.’

Garvin just nodded and continued to write.

‘Well, how am I going to pay her back?’ he asked him.

‘Please educate me,’ Garvin muttered.

But before he could, LaFleche walked over to their table. ‘So, ready to pay up?’

The Dragonslayer emptied his drink in one big gulp and smacked it down on the book. ‘You know what? I have a better idea. Lets make this bet more exciting!’

LaFleche just blinked very slowly. ‘Interesting for whom? The honour is all yours, honey.’

‘A quest! We will do a quest! The first one to complete it, wins and thus pays the drinks!’

They both turned towards the bar and yelled in unison; ‘Yokina!’

An hunchbacked woman who smelled terribly came forth. She had an olive coloured skin and walked with two canes. Her black hair was tied up in a bun.

‘The young people wish to speak to me?’ she said. Her voice sounded like an oak creaking in the wind.

‘We need a quest, right now!’ they both yelled.

‘A quest, huh? Let me see whats on the board, I think we had something come in last week, though I’m not sure if it’s still open-’

She barely had the time to speak, as she was pushed towards the board by the two. Garvin in the meanwhile tried to use his sleeve to soak up the circle that the mug left.

‘There is a quest!’ the Dragonslayer roared. ‘Garvin, grab your coat! A family went missing last week, time to find them!’

Garvin wondered if he would have cared if it wasn’t for her. He had to push him every time to take a quest ever since they travelled together. He started to get up.

‘Today, dude!’

‘Hey, you will have his help?’ LaFleche said. ‘Thats an unfair advantage!’

‘Pff, I would consider him a disadvantage, actually. You know, to give you a headstart.’

‘I don’t need one!’

‘Me neither!’

Garvin didn’t know if he had to get up or sit down. His behind was somewhere in limbo, lingering just above the bench. He stared at Yokina, who just lifted her shoulders.

‘So am I staying?’ he asked.

‘Of course not, you’re coming with us!’ they yelled.

‘Have fun, children. And you Garvin from Woodholm near Greed. Make sure they don’t molest each-other.’ All this she had said with a big smile. Garvin didn’t even ask how the old lady knew his name.

‘So where are we headed?’ Garvin asked the two.

‘Dude, haven't you been paying attention?’

‘We’re going to the murky marshes.’ LaFleche said. ‘Close to his home.’ She pointed her thumb at the Dragonslayer who was strapping his scabbard behind her.

‘Maybe we can visit his mom. I’m sure she can bake us some nice cookies.’

‘Don’t listen to her, my mom would probably throw fireballs at us. We’d be making people sneeze for a minute. You know, because of the dust particles we’d become.’

‘Very amusing,’ Garvin said.

They left and walked down the path, until they were at the road again. Garvin was muttering to himself, the other two were bantering a yard in front of him. Occasionally they would ask him to walk faster, otherwise he was ignored. They walked south, which was the opposite of where they needed to go. Garvin sighed and said to no one in particular; ‘Why does it feel like we are always going further from where we should actually be?’

A bird answered with a high pitched squeak.

Nightfall was imminent, and they stopped near a place that had been used more often as a camp. There were dry logs stored in the hollow trunk of a tree. And there was a campfire made with large rocks. The first good of the day, he thought, since he didn’t have to search for wood. The Dragonslayer repeated his old fire trick but LaFleche did not look impressed.

‘Your mother can make fire rain from the sky, and you can barely ignite dry grass. The apple did fall far from the tree.’

‘I want to see you doing something other than talking for once,’ the Dragonslayer said.

As Garvin unrolled his sleeping bag close to the fire, he grabbed his book and wrote;

We travelled southward, as they combined their forces on a perilous quest to find a missing family. Nothing quite interesting happened, but I felt glad to see the two heroes bonding. LaFleche was a beauty to behold and the Dragonslayer was not immune to her charms. It seems that heroes are human after all, with their own desires and flaws.

He blew on the wet ink, then closed his book. ‘Night,’ Garvin said.

‘Clearly its night, no need to state the obvious,’ the Dragonslayer said.

‘I think the boy mean to say goodnight.’

Garvin groaned and shut them out. It was better to write about them than experiencing them firsthand, Garvin thought. His wounds were aching again, after a month where he almost forgot about them. He fell asleep to the soft talking of the two by the fire.