Three separate tables had stood and were approaching, not bothering to hide their footsteps. The young man continued to shuffle the cards as the waitress bustled over with his drink before quickly retreating. She obviously saw the large group of men and from what I could tell, wanted nothing to do with whatever was about to happen.

Upon receiving the drink, the stranger had smiled and thanked her as she left before pausing in his shuffling, putting them away and lifting the mug to his lips. I had to admit, this entire ruse was fairly clever. Judging by how the men glared at the stranger’s head, they would be far too focused to realize that a much larger threat lie hidden before their very noses. Just as the young man was about to take a sip, one of the men roughly grabbed the back of his chair, spinning him around aggressively.

“‘ey!”

Blinking in confusion up at the man who’d forcefully turned him around, the young man gave an easy grin. “Hello, good sirs!” He glanced at the others that had surrounded the table, blocking the path to the exit. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“Yew min’ repe’tn wut iet iez yew jes sed?”

… He talks as if he were missing a few teeth… Suddenly remembering what I’d mumbled before being sent here, and despite my best efforts, I grinned. Thankfully no one knew I was there, and managed to recompose myself, though just barely.

The stranger tilted his head to the left ever so slightly, bewilderment written all over his handsome face, though the now half-smile remained.

“Which part…? The ‘hello’ or the ‘can I help you’?”

What sounded like a rough strangled cough erupted from the corner as I failed miserably at controlling my laughter. The amount of sass in that statement was beautiful!! With genuine perplexity decorating his features, he glanced my way, and it was almost enough to make me laugh again. Fortunately I didn’t, and the group of men failed to notice me sitting in the shadow of the fireplace. The large man who stood before the stranger glared savagely into my corner. Due to the glare of the fire, he was incapable of spotting a thing. Shortly after, he returned his attention to the young man, hauling him to his feet.

“Yew tink Iem fooneh, keed?” He snapped, shaking the stranger aggressively.

The young man raised both hands placatingly, one of them still awkwardly holding the tankard, that idiotic smile plastered across his face.

“No, sir!”

“Tehn wi’ep tha’ smeel ohf yer fas!”

The stranger gave a bewildered shrug. “I’m sorry, I guess I’m a little confused…” The larger man growled threateningly and brought him closer to his face. “I just don’t see what the problem is…”

The man pulled his ‘victim’ even closer with a savage snarl before shoving him backwards. As the young man stumbled back into his seat, the liquid inside the flagon sloshed onto the floor.

“Teh ‘prohblum’?!” He took a threatening step forward, and the rest of the group did the same, remaining a step behind. “Teh prohblum iez yew tahken shet aboot ahr Keing!!”

The young man looked perplexed, though I noticed that he firmly placed the tankard on the table. He glanced at the large group before refocusing on the leader.

“I never spoke ill of the King.”

The head of the group once again grabbed the front of the young man’s shirt, dragging him to his face with a snarl. “Ahn teh wae yew talh pis’s mei ohf…”

“I think this has gone on long enough.”

The increasing hostility froze as I spoke, the group slowly turning to face me in my corner. Though I had lowered my voice to disguise my gender, the mask assisted in distorting it further. Now that they were intensely focused on the corner, I was more than positive that they could just barely make me out against the darkness.

“Teh ‘el yew sae?” The man growled, unceremoniously dropping the young man.

Slowly standing, I stepped closer to him, not flinching as he towered over me. From my now standing position, it was easy to discern that the other patrons had been nervously watching. Now, they perked up at the prospect of someone else stepping in, or at least that’s what it appeared as.

“You heard me, unless you’ve gone deaf in the last few seconds.”