The guests continued to sit as if they were carved out of wood. The giant raised his heavy, armour-clad hands. One could almost hear the sound of wind as the air moved out of the way. Remaining silent, he pointed to a small wine barrel.81Please respect copyright.PENANA9F210wozIQ
Jasu was not regarded locally as having a particularly sharp wit, but he always performed his work with dedication and integrity, and when he promised something, you knew he would deliver. Everybody knew him as an honest, trustworthy lad, who was in the full vigour of his youth. However, his simple personality and his worldly outlook inevitably meant that he did not recognise situations when he should keep his mouth shut. Or simply did not want to.
Jasu was still standing at the counter waiting for his drink, which he had not seen in his hand despite asking for it, and what's more, the partially filled cup was now rolling on the floor. Instead, he saw before him an armoured hand the size of his head. Nonetheless, he opened his mouth. With a long, teasing face, he turned straight towards the mountain. He put his hand in his pocket. There was no fear at all in his raspy voice, only the overconfidence and stupidity of those who, with flat look and drawn-out voices, bicker with each other on the street.
- Hey, you big jerk, can you hear me under that big helmet? Can't you see I was here before you? You should be standing behind me in line. That's the custom in civilized places. But assuming by the look of you, you don't even know what the heck I'm talking about. Or maybe you can't even see through that gap?81Please respect copyright.PENANA6pZWyhvOoB
The guests were more frozen than ice, not even a breath could be heard. The air was tightened like a huge string. The helmet, if such thing is possible, was shocked. It slowly looked to the side. It looked slowly to the side. It did so with a steady, even movement, as if the head of a stone statue had turned on its motionless torso. The face of the statue was looking at Jasu, and Jasu was looking back at it, straight into the infinite depths of the helmet.
- Yes, I'm talking to you, you gross pile of rust.
The armoured hand suddenly reached out, straight for his head.
- Hey you idiot, what are you...
Iron fingers closed around his throat like a vise. Jasu's face, maybe for the first time in his life, was distorted in alarm. He tried to swallow, but he couldn't. Before he could do anything, at least take his hands out of his pocket, he was lifted from the ground. A spasm went through his body. He grabbed the huge fist and started to jerk it, but it didn't move, and due to the numbness spreading in his limbs, he couldn’t even feel the weight of the hand, as if he was holding nothing. Gradually his face turned white as a sheet, while the cold sweat sat on his forehead like the winter frost on a window. As the room spun around him, his lungs involuntarily let out all the air. He tried to breathe, but he couldn't. His eyes turned to the ceiling, which began to flicker in front of him, and the throbbing hum in his ears soon became nothing more than a blurred noise.
He noticed that there was ground under his feet and he was standing on it. He was standing on it the whole time. He realized that he felt no pain at all on his neck and in fact had never felt it.
It was as if no one had grabbed him. He was panting hard, but not from shortness of breath. He raised his confused eyes. He stood behind the giant. He was behind him in line. For a few moments the helmet stared at him from over the cliff-like shoulders, then turned forward, uninterested. Jasu, with a glazed look, went back to his chair, to which he felt now as deeply attached as to a true friend, and slumped into it. The guests looked at him with open mouths and wide eyes, but soon turned back to the counter.
The huge hand again pointed to the barrel, then to a heavy, still warm loaf of bread lying on a wide board, and finally to a bowl of apples and vegetables.
Hobb hesitated, puzzled.
- So... if I understand you correctly... a cup of wine, a slice of bread and... an apple?
The helmet moved only once from left to right, but the discontent that radiated from it made the air tremble.
- A pint then ... – Hobb tried.
The helmet moved again, from left to right, in exactly the same way and in the same amount of time as before. Menace took over the room. The iron beam that formed the figure's shoulders moved briefly about its own axis, and the sack that had been hanging on the giant's back swung forward, slamming down on the counter with a crash as if a pile of iron ore being thrown at it. The chairs trembled slightly with the people sitting on them. It was doubtful whether it was from the shaking floor or from the bodies jerking at the sudden sound.
The sack opened its mouth and stared at Hobb with dark hunger.81Please respect copyright.PENANAcDylhhyfUa
- Oooh! ...Oh, so you want me to put these in it! I see, I see... er... the barrel too?
The helmet nodded slowly, with the weight of eternity. Hobb packed everything into the sack in neat rows. First he struggled with the small, but quite heavy barrel, on which he then laid the large loaf, and finally, one by one, the fruits and vegetables. He wrapped the loaf in a clean, appropriately sized cloth beforehand, so that no one would feel disgruntled. He felt that if there was any time in life when he could not afford to let anyone feel disgruntled, this was it. As he packed, he turned his gaze away. He couldn't bear to look into the bag, from which he pulled away his hands so fast as if something might bite them off at any moment. It would have come as no surprise to anyone if the hard and lumpy thing they had seen earlier had turned out to be able to move, but not necessarily alive.81Please respect copyright.PENANA4QOUzMN3IX
Once everything was inside, the two armored hands carefully tied the bag with a neat, sizable bow and threw it on the wall-wide back . The dark abyss behind the gap stared stiffly at the bartender.
- Hmmm... er... – Hobb spread his arms meekly – It's on the house!
The helmet moved only once from left to right, in exactly the same way as it had twice before, yet this time it cast an even more sinister shadow over Hobb. The air, like a cohesive mass, trembled with a sound so deep that no human mind could imagine it until it heard it. As if mountains slumbering in the bowels of the earth were shifting away from each other, the walls almost collapsed under the pressure. A flash of blue light flashed through the windows, and the inside of the helmet rumbled up with the sky.
- How much? – asked the infinite abyss.
Hobb's head began to pound again. His forehead beaded with sweat. He lowered his eyes and began to count on his fingers, though he was more concerned with how much less than the truth he should say, so that neither too low nor too high a price would offend his guest. After a moment's thought, he looked up to the top of the tower that waited before him.
- Two coppers will do, my good sir,' he said amiably, drenched in sweat.
The armoured hand reached under the cloak and began to rummage about, all with the sound of a thousand hedgehogs passing through the autumn avar, and then slapped the counter with the palm of his hand. When he lifted it, two pieces of silver lay in place.
- Thank you very much – said the roots of the mountains, thundering.
Hobb's ears were pierced by a painful whistle... He closed his eyes and raised his hand to his throbbing forehead. His mind began to search involuntarily. He searched frantically, aimlessly, for something in the darkness.
...though more briefly than a thought passing by...
...for a fraction of a second, almost imperceptible...
...as if from beyond a distant horizon, and yet from somewhere very close...
...from across the water, from slightly lower than him...
...from behind the thundering tower of armour...
...he would have heard a very sad, almost heartbreaking, thin, soft sigh...
The gigantic figure turned with a loud crash, and, dragging his sword along the floor, with shaking footsteps, he left. He could still be seen cautiously grasping the handle of the door, looking like a twig between his two iron fingers, this time opening the entrance more carefully, lest the draught should again suddenly strike, disturbing the merry mood of the tavern. The door closed quietly behind him.
The tension in the room, which had been stretched to breaking point, collapsed with a loud gasp. Jasu felt nausea take hold of him. His head felt as if a cart had passed over it. His face contorted, and after a few moments he vomited on the floor.
With trembling hands, Hobb poured himself a cup of his carefully guarded home-made drink, then set the glass down on the counter and took a long swig from the bottle.
*****
Thank you for reading my work. If you are interested how the story continues, please leave a like, or a comment. If there is interest, I will be happy to continue the translation. If there isn't much interest, then I will focus on continuing the story in my native language for a while.
Best regards, Tsukiyo
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