Book 4, Chapter 22: The Hangover
“My teeth hurt.”
“Good morning!” I sat down beside the big man, the fire welcome and warming me up. “What are you drinking?”
“Hair of the dog that bit you.”
Ale, he was just in the process of pouring himself more ale. “You’re really going to drink more today?”
“Yup.”
“Alright. I think I’ll go for tea. Lots to do today.” I dished out some eggs and bacon onto my plate, grabbed a piece of toast, some butter.
“That stuff you gave me last night is strong, Princess. Never felt my teeth like this before.”
“It sure is! We should have diluted it more with water, I think. Or drank less.” I smiled at him, “That’s always an option.”
“You want an ale?”
“No, really, I’m fine. Tea is my friend, today.”
“Oh, to be young again and have the constitution of a horse.”
“Trust me on this, you don’t really want to be young again. At least, if you get the chance, don’t restart from fourteen. I think if I could choose, I’d probably have gone with twenty instead.”
“Oh, you’d skip right to twenty, would you?”
“What I mean is, uhm, I can’t imagine you as a teenager, Morry. You definitely started life as an adult.”
“We share in that sentiment, Princess. I can’t imagine me as a teenager, either. What’s on your agenda, today?” He sipped, very slowly, at his morning brew.
“I need to check in with the smithies, check the progress of weapons and armor development, that sort of thing.”
“And saddles, I hope. I’m eager to try out your new saddle with these lances.”
“The saddles are ready? I’ll check up on those then, see how it’s coming along. You want to join me?”
“I’m afraid I can’t.” He closed his eyes in a grimace, fingers clenching his forehead, making me wish I could give him some ibuprofen. “Lance training, today. It’s going to be rough.”
“How many lances do you go through when practicing? Do they break a lot?”
“Yes, they can break if you hit hard enough. Which we will do in a real attack. So, it’s most likely a one-off weapon. Use it at the beginning of battle, then change to a spear or sword. But it will allow us to break the frontline of regiments we are facing.”
“We sorta talked about this last night. You described the straps you’re using.”
“Ah. Last night is a bit of a blur, Princess.”
“I’m biting back the desire to say ‘I told you not to drink too much’ last night. Very strong desire!”
“And I’m not scolding you for not dancing with the other young people last night.”
“We’re back to youth again, are we?”
“Only for so long, Princess. Only for so long.” He squeezed his eyes closed for another moment, took another sip of his ale. “And you should enjoy it while you can.”
I put my hand on his shoulder as I stood up to leave, felt his muscles beneath my hand. “You’re right, of course. Only, it’d be more enjoyable if everyone wasn’t trying to kill me.”
“We’ll get that sorted, come spring.”
“I sure hope so. Ok, big guy, I’m off to check on the state of saddle development. You have a good day.”
Author's Note
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