What we didn't learn in school

Steve was holding a piece of charcoal he used for writing and was thinking about what was the best curse of action. A half-empty bottle of wine was standing next to his arm and he almost tipped it over when he leaned back.

"I fucked up again! Fuck!" he said to himself.

"Why? Why was I so stupid!" he shook his head and threw the charcoal at the wall.

"Now I have a fucking guard spying on me and no information about anything. The only thing I managed to do is to piss off the leader of the whole military and help with killing thousands of people!"

"Oh fuck! I am an ass! Of course! The Holy man! He is so blind in his faith that he might be willing to do something! Also, his private chamber is off-limits to the Guard! I'll talk to him, ask him about the gold, and about the way home!" he took a sip from the bottle and felt great. Filled with the energy he looked at his sword.

"Finally!" he said to himself and opened a door from his room. The guard didn't watch him during the night since the whole castle was closed, there was no way to get outside. He sneaked out to his ship and prepared some supplies.

***

Waking up with a strong headache and a weak stomach did not help his mood. The guard did not bother hiding his laugh when he finds his experience with alcohol and starts talking about how he will not take it easy on him during the training.

Steve barely listen to him and focused on his work in the workshop, trying to not puke from the fumes. The scholar was working on the gunpowder without knowing anything about it. When Steve saw him mixing something near an open flame he felt a strong inclination to tell him, but that would only make it easier for him.

"Damn it!" Steve said to himself and after a few hours, his work finally ended.

"Fine, this is impossible! Take a break and stop with the booze if you cannot handle it!" the guard said after watching Steve barfing after a few minutes of training.

"Th-Thank you..." Steve said, white as a sheet. He stumbles slowly to his room to lay down for a while and get better.

"Eghh...I need to..." Steve stood up and slowly moved toward the Holy man room. He met several of his servants and one let him inside of a meeting room.

"Are you okay?" the Holy man said with a worried voice.

"Yes, yes...Though I came to ask you for help. Tell me what you know about the Ancients!"

"Everything?"

"Well, tell me about their artifacts, about from where they came,"

"Come with me then! Most of the artifacts we have are from the temple..."

"Where is that temple?"

"Allow me to show you on a map!" the man leads Steve to his fancy room and shows him a crude map.

"Interesting!" Steve said trying to not speak too much in fear of feeling even sicker.

"We don't know from where they came, some say from the sky, some the sea...we don't know,"

"Hmm, great..." Steve said and looked into the man's eyes until he avoided Steve's gaze.

"I am thinking about visiting the temple, but I cannot leave this place. Can you help me out?"

"No, I cannot go against the king, but after the war, I am sure you will have no trouble travel." said the Holy man in a strict voice. Steve couldn't argue with him in his condition and so he was about to leave without a word.

"I will make sure you get proper pay and good meals. Enjoy the stay here and remember I was the one to be on your side," the man said as Steve closed the door.

His headache was in charge now and pushed him to his room.

***

In the morning one of the Holy man's servants brought special breakfast for Steve and slightly improved his mood. After all, he wasn't dead or injured. Even his imprisonment was not a real problem as he could simply run to his ship and fly off.

"Tss!" his mood was bad for another reason.

"What I can get from this? They will feed me. I have a roof over my head. I can get training! Is fiding the home even possible?" He looked at the stone ceiling, frowning his borrows.

"Agghh! I don't know!" he shook his head and stood up to go to work. After lunch, the scholar left to go buy supplies and so he was only with the guard. It was rare to be without the Scholar watching his every move.

"Chance!" he felt and looked around. The guard watched him half in boredom as he starts working. He was interrupted when the guards changed shifts and he stopped with his small project. The new guard took him for the training and lend him a bow to try. The bow was lighter than the sword and fighting from distance felt more natural to him. However, knights were supposed to use swords and bows were only for competition. Finally, he was free!

The dinner was nice and the wine tasted great as well, though he was more careful with the amount. He then tried to fall asleep, tired from his fate. When he was on the verge of falling asleep a sudden tremor shook his room and he quickly stood up, just to wobble and lean to the wall. His stomach wasn't exactly happy about his sudden movements and he had to control himself not to barf. Even though he felt he controlled the wine.

"What..." When Steve opened the door, he saw two guards in the workshop helping the Scholar in the destroyed room. The explosion wasn't that big, but it still made a lot of mess in the workshop.

Fuck!

Steve quickly grabbed his purse filled with coins and silently run away towards the staircase. But to his annoyance, he makes just a few steps to bump into a guard.

"What are you doing?"

"There was an accident, I was going for help!"

"What happened?" the guard wasn't alone, he brought the two guards and they all force him to go back.

"The scholar was hurt and there is a lot of fire," Steve tried to think of a way to make them move, but cannot think of any.

"Screw it!" Steve said silently and run through, the guards didn't expect him to do so, so in meantime, Steve was already going upstairs. Since the workshop was away from the rest of the castle nobody else came near this staircase and he could sprint towards the yard. He passed the King's brother with several women around him and without a word he crushed into the door. It was locked. He didn't know that could be a problem, but the yard had several entrances so he just run towards a different one.

"What are you doing?" there was a guard locking it right now.

"I..."

"What?"

"There is a big fire in the workshop we need tools from the warehouse,"

"What? Say that first!" this guard didn't know Steve that much so he unlocks the door and goes with him.

"Just grab the pickaxe and shovel, there is some debris!"

"Right..."

"I'll go around telling people!"

"Yeah!" the guard went quickly away. Steve opens the back of the ship and takes a deep breath. The familiar place makes him calm and he closes it behind him.

His head was really starting to remember the wine and forget the adrenalin rush, so he decided to only fly somewhere away and rest there, forest several miles away was good enough.