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The Whispering Feather had survived a lot of storms, and the one beating her down now wouldn’t finish the job either.  The fire in the hearth provided the warmth old Ben sat soaking up as he tried to win a gold crown or two tonight shooting dice.  Jimmy sat across from him hoping the same thing, but was winning less and drinking more.  Jimmy was drinking more to fight down the guilt and the dread when we went home to tell his wife how much he had lost.  He wasn’t a bad gambler just an unlucky one.  The other two taking his money were cart drivers riding out a storm, trying to make a little extra money. 
         Jimmy was hollering for Rita, the prettiest bar maid in the whole town, and one that had warmed up his sheets a time or two when Alison his wife had thrown him out of the house for gambling.  Looked like it might be one of those nights, so he sidled up to her for a fresh mug of ale and a pinch of that butt she was always sashaying.
         Jimmy liked to come to the Whispering Feather as often as he could, he liked it a whole lot better than home.  Jimmy gave Rita another pinch as she passed and he gazed around the room.  There two other cart drivers sitting at a table closest to the fire were waiting for the storm to end, and drinking to the length of the storm.  Juliann, the other bar maid, a plump little thing was trying to entice the drunk sitting with the monk into a pinch and a poke
         The voices of the tavern were drowned out as the drunk got into it with the monk about whatever they were talking about and everyone turned to look, but both the drunk and the monk were too lost in their own conversation to pay the rest of the tavern much notice.  The two cart drivers sitting in front of the fire went back to drinking the storm away, and the dice game in the corner resumed.  Jimmy had never seen a worse drunk, or such a ragtag man. He hid himself deep inside his foul smelling robe, and sat slumped calling for more ale.  Jimmy did not have long to think about this when Nicolae, stepped through the door and shut the wind and rain back out as he closed the door.  Nicolae was a good friend of Jimmy’s and had helped him get out of a lot of bad situations.  A lot of people didn’t like Nicolae, they just didn’t tell Nicolae that.  He told everybody that he used to be a knight and he was sent by the Church to guard the town from threats.  So far no threats but Nicolae had visited the small village.  Jimmy didn’t care what people said behind his back, he liked Nicolae, and wanted to be respected and feared like Nicolae. 

         Jimmy grabbed Rita and strode toward Nicolae, “Nicolae my friend, let me be the first to buy you an ale,” Nicolae turned toward Jimmy, “Of course Jimmy, I will tell you of my knighthood days, and then we will shoot dice,” he lowered his eyelids and looked straight at Old Ben, “and Old Ben will pay me the money he owes me.”

         Old Ben turned to Nicolae, he had been trying to make himself smaller in the shadowed corner, but he couldn’t make himself small enough to escape Nicolae’s attention.  “I g-g-got, “ Old Ben’s nerves were getting the better of him, “your money, I-I got me a hot hand tonight Nicolae, I-I-I got your money.”

         “We shall see old man, we shall see, “Nicolae turned toward Rita grabbed the mug of ale out of her hand and drained it in one long gulp.

         Jimmy was excited to see his friend and wanted to hear more of the knight stories Nicolae told when he was drinking.  “Nicolae did you have to cross swords with anyone to preserve the church’s honor?”  Jimmy looked up expectantly at the huge man.  Nicolae ran his scarred hands through dark hair peppered with gray and said solemnly, “No Jimmy, today no one dared to renounce our lady church, at least not within my hearing, and they better not either, I will let them taste the steel of the righteous.”  He slowly pulled the long sword from its scabbard, “This is the steel of the righteous, and I am a Knight of the Knighthood.”  He slammed his sword home, and hollered for more ail, and something to eat. 

         Between the bites Nicolae told Jimmy about his famous rescue of Lord Sarly, at River’s Bend, when the Terranuns had invaded the coast.  Lord Sarly had been surrounded inside his castle for three weeks being starved out by the invaders, before Nicolae and his men had come riding their giant war stallions and broke the siege.  With no place to retreat to, the invaders fled to their ships and sailed back to where they came from.  This was by no means all of the story, but I would rather not listen to Nicolae and his stories.  Jimmy did like the story though and sat there staring in rapt attention and hanging on every word, so enthralled in the story that Jimmy even forgot about his mug of ale sitting before him.  Rita reminded him though and he began to drink his ale without even realizing what he was doing.  At the end of the story Nicolae clapped his cup to Jimmy’s and bellowed, “To God and Knighthood,” Jimmy replied, “To God and Knighthood, may it last forever.” 

         With his large belly full Nicolae made his way to the dice game, and laid his money down.