Drink

Author: Seth


"Sometimes it's the simple pleasures in life that you appreciate the most."

There was nothing better than a tall glass of beer down at the pub after a hard days work. It was the perfect way to unwind, to completely banish the stress that came with running an army. There was only one problem.

"Ten gold pieces? You can't be serious." Ravage grumbled, reaching for his coins all the same.

It costed an absolute mint.

"Sorry Commander, them's the rules, even for you." The bartender shrugged apologetically. "You know that I hate this just as much as you do, but it's worth more than my job to ignore my boss." He swept up the glittering yellow coins Ravage had deposited on the countertop and placed them in a small strongbox. "And you've gotta admit, he's got more'n enough reason to be careful." The lid snapped shut and a series of clicks rang out as the box was securely locked.

The draconian soldier slid a few copper coins across the table just a glass of frothing alcohol slid in the opposite direction, right into his hand.

"That doesn't justify him raising the deposit every week." Ravage grumbled moodily, taking a deep draft of the golden liquid. He wasn't a petty person, and normally he'd have simply shrugged off something like this, but get between a man and his beer and there'd be hell to pay.

"No it doesn't," the black haired man behind the counter chuckled, wiping one of his many glasses, "you did that all on your own."

Ravage didn't answer, taking another drink from his mug instead.

Honestly, it wasn't like things got out of hand every time he came for a drink. There had only been five brawls in the past week for crying out loud, and the roof had even survived three of those fights.

'There's nothing I can do about it, I should stop complaining.' the scarred drake thought, gulping down the rest of his beer.

Not technically true. There were actually quite a few things he could do, but they all led to a nasty jumble of repercussions that were nowhere near worth a bit of cheap booze.

A few more coins skittered across the table and another mug beer slid towards him, clinking lightly into the empty glass he held in his hand. Ravage chose to sip this one instead, savouring the nutty flavour that seemed to infuse all the beers at this pub.

In the end, it didn't really matter if he had to put down a weeks worth of pay up front as long as nothing happened. It was easier to think of it as a short-time loan.

Swilling the brew around his mouth, the Jericho Commander cast his eyes across the pub. Civvies as far as the eye could see. Short-term loan indeed; perhaps he wouldn't be losing those coins tonight.

The bar's front door opened energetically and Halo walked in.

Ravage winced. Looks like he'd have to kiss those golden circles goodbye after all.

"Those ten coins cover all possible damages, right?" The draconian asked the suddenly twitching bartender as he knocked back his entire glass.