Chapter 11: Bear

The tavern the shop keeper mention wasn't very hard to find. Just like he said, it was only a few streets up. All of the windows were well lit, and the rowdy cheers of drunkards radiated out.

Ella, quite excited, rushed ahead only to collide with a semi-conscious customer and fall to the ground.

The bumbling patron was a ragged middle-aged man. He had a receding line of grey hair and looked really run down. Even the bags under his eyes had their own bags. The way he stumbled about and the stench of alcohol wafting from his stubble beard were clear indicators that he was heavily intoxicated.

"Oh, my bad missy, didn't see you there." The man reached down to give Ella a hand.

Ella grabbed his hand and pulled herself up before brushing off the bits of dust and dirt.

"You look alright. Well, I best be off," the man managed to mumble as he scurried off into the night.

To most it seemed like a harmless encounter, but something odd caught Collin's eye. When the man reached his hand out, he seemed to pause. For no more than a split second, his face assumed a very stern expression. It was as if the man's stupor had vanished, giving way to shock, only to quickly return.

"Come on Collin! Let's go check it out inside," Ella called clearly unphased.

The drunkards speedy departure and his companion's calling left Collin no time to chock it up to anything but his imagination.

The inside of the tavern was full of life. People were everywhere, whooping and hollering. Some were playing games while others merely chatted, drinking the night away. It wasn't really what Collin thought of when it came to criminal activity.

While most of the tables around the tavern were nearing capacity, the bar on the right wall was almost empty. A lone man with black hair sat, hunched over, nursing his drink. The only company he had was the silent bartender, stereotypically cleaning a mug with a rag.

Meandering through the room, the two arrived at a particular table hosting a group of rough looking individuals playing some sort of card game. Aside from this being one of the few spots still available, Collin's instincts told him it was the table that they were looking for.

"What do ya want," said the man at the head of the table.

He was a very large, burly man with bulging muscles clearly visible under his heavy leather jacket. He had a claw mark scar that ran across his left cheek and a patch over his right eye. A brown fedora crowned his head and multiple rings decorated his thick hands, one of which was holding a smoldering pipe.

Collin took one of the open seats directly across from the man. His forward behavior earned him some whispers and nasty glances from the tables patrons. To which, Ella was oblivious, taking the chair next to him.

"Well?"

"Just looking for some information."

"Sorry boy, I don't know ya. Maybe if you decide to play, we can be friends," the man snickered gesturing to the cards. "Friends learn things."

Collin noticed the man's arm when he pointed towards the cards. He moved it steadily, as if he was trying to keep something, most likely a card, from shifting in his sleeve. That and the large number of coins piled in front of the man lead Collin to believe that the cards would not be in his favor.

"Alright, what are we playing."

"Not so fast hot shot, we don't play for fun here. If you wanna join, you better put something on the table."

Collin looked at the man.

"It's not like I have any money, so would you just answer some basic questions, and we'll be on our way."

The man glared at Collin with his one good eye and suddenly burst out laughing.

"The name's Bear. You seem pretty interesting kid. It's not every day some idiot comes in here and has the balls to try to negotiate with me. For that, just as long as you can put something up, we'll play a game. Hell! I'll even throw in something special."

Bear reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a brown leather pouch. As he began to unwrap its contents, a bright blue light burst forth, blinding everyone at the table for a moment.

After regaining their eyesight, a large blue stone could be seen resting inside.

Collin slammed the table as he quickly stood up.

"Zulerium!"