Fyrsti kaflinn í fantasýu sem ég er að skrifa. Byrjandi í skrifum.

Chapter 1: Cloaked Stranger

Maria struggled to keep the pub clean and serve the customers as they threw tables and chairs all over the place. Josef rubbed the newly washed glasses only to pour more beer into them. Maria took the glasses from the counter and gave them to the already drunk customers. She was beginning to sweat. What a day. All these drunkards on the same day, in such a remote town like Luna. The few ordinary customers living in Luna left the pub one by one, afraid of the drunkards. Almost every chair in the pub was in use. One table was available and two chairs by the counter. After serving a bunch of idiots in Maria’s mind, she went to the counter and leaned up to it, glad to get a little pause from serving. “Don’t worry Maria. They’ll hopefully go to sleep soon or something,” Josef whispered, raising a glass he had newly rubbed with his towel, peering at it to see if he had missed a spot. Josef was a hard worker. He would always do everything perfectly. Even though surrounded by drunkards who spoke to them like slaves, he still did everything the best he could. Maria looked outside the window. This was the darkest and windiest night she had ever lived to see and it rained heavily too. The customers were probably passing by this town and as it started to rain, they sought shelter in the inn, she thought.

Suddenly, the wooden door of the inn creaked open and the shadow of a man became visible outside. Everyone in the pub, even the drunkards looked up at the shadowy figure. The man stood outside for few seconds before moving slowly inside. As he sneaked in, the man became properly visible. He wore a brown cloak all wet like he had been travelling for days in rain. His face was hooded, completely shading his eyes. His mouth and the bottom part of his nose were barely visible. He turned around slowly and pushed the door gently. It slammed close, without any noise or creaking sounds. He began walking slowly toward the counter where Maria stood, still staring at the cloaked stranger. The faces of the customers followed the man as he neared the counter. The only one who didn’t stare was Josef, now wiping a shining, white dish decorated with images of flowers. The stranger sat down in a chair near Maria who had just managed to take her eyes off him.
“Beer,” he said with a tone of annoyance in his voice. Maria began to stare again while Josef poured beer into an empty glass and slid it to the stranger. He took a small gulp from the glass then turned and looked around. All those who were still staring at him turned away, beginning to talk or sip beers.

The immense silence that had struck the pub as the stranger walked in was finally pierced when the drunkards begun their tumult. Everything got back to its former stage. Maria got back to her job, serving the drunkards. Soon, two locals sitting by a table in a corner summoned her with a wave of their hand. It was Cray and Sway, two lifelong friends. They had just gulped the last sip from their glasses and taken the last bite of their usual Luna mackerel. “Why don’t you kick those idiots out of here,” Cray started when Maria was beginning to scoop up their dishes and glasses. “You know I can’t just do that”, Maria whispered. “What am I supposed to do? Kick them out into the rain?” And keep your voice down”, she added. “Of course you should kick them out of here”, Cray said, leaning further onto the table, the usual grin gone off his face. “I’m sure they wouldn’t mind. They’re stuck in their own world anyway.” Maria grabbed the few silver coins Cray had put on the table before she shook her head and started toward the counter holding the dirty dishes and the glasses on top of them. Nearing the counter, she suddenly heard a slamming noise behind her. She looked at the wooden door that had been slammed open, bashing Cray and Sway backwards as they were about to leave. A big man with black beard stumbled into the pub. “Watch it pals. Why don’t you sit down and enjoy our company before you leave,” rumbled the big man. “Eh boys?” Two grumpy looking, small, thin guys compared to the big one, leapt inside and closed the door. The big man took hold of Cray and Sway and drew them toward a table and slammed them onto two chairs. The grumpy ones followed with a grin on their faces. “Hey ol’ one,” the big man shouted at Josef. Why not pour some beer for us?” Josef grabbed three empty glasses and poured beer into two of them. As he was about to pour into the third glass, the big man walked toward him. “Hey,” he said. “Let me see that glass.” Josef slowly stretched out his hand and the big man grabbed the glass and inspected it closely. “You braindead numb-skull,” he rumbled. “There’s a stain on this glass,” he added, turned around and hit Josef hard on the left cheek. Josef fell backwards and onto the floor. The big man turned around laughing. The grumpy ones mimicked their boss and laughed. Maria noticed a dagger fastened in their belts. They had to be thieves, she thought. The big man thumped over to the table where Cray and Sway sat scared to death and slammed himself into the remaining empty chair. He swallowed the beer in one gulp and put the glass hard on the table. “Well, well. I’ll say ‘ya have a good beer here ol’ one,” he rumbled. “Then how ‘bout it,” he added, speaking to Cray. “Why not buy me another beer, eh buddy.” Cray became stunned with fear. He managed to stammer his reply: “I, I, I…really don’t have that much, m, money with me.” The big man’s eyebrows dropped, forming wrinkles on his face, stating he was very angry. He grabbed his empty glass and pounded it hard into the side of Cray’s head. It broke by the impact and Cray fell unconscious onto the floor.
With this, Maria couldn’t stand still anymore. “No don’t! Leave them alone,” she said angry, stepping forward one step. But fear rose over her when the big man looked at her and she couldn’t move further. “Hmm, you are quite the cutie,” he said as he stood up and began walking toward her. “And the cute lass is giving us orders,” he continued and had now neared Maria. “I’ll tell ye what lass,” he said, grabbing a hold of Maria’s shoulders. “I will follow your orders, but it’ll cost ‘ya dearly. How about…I’ll release those two fellows over thar, and we’ll share the same room upstairs for the night…eh boys.” The two grumpy ones laughed behind him. Maria had backed away to the counter. Josef had regained his consciousness and was now standing behind the counter, raging with anger and fear. “How ‘bout it young, pretty lass? The big man continued, now staring straight into Maria’s fearful eyes. Wouldn’t you sacrifice your virginity for those two back thar?” By those words, Maria’s eyes widened with fear. “Let go of her you barbarian,” Josef shouted as he ran toward the big man, his fist clutched with anger. The big man grabbed Josef by the collar as he neared him and threw him hard onto the floor just in front of the grumpy ones. “Now how ‘bout it lass?” the big man began. Isn’t your vulva itching to…’ya know? Or would you rather watch your ol’ one shriek in pain.” At that same moment, the grumpy ones started kicking Josef while he lay injured on the floor. “No stop!” Maria shouted. “Please stop.” Suddenly, a voice echoed in her ear and sent a chill down her spine. “Let her go.” Maria looked to her left where the voice had come from. The cloaked stranger sat there frozen in the same position, his glass almost full of beer. The grumpy ones had stopped kicking Josef. “What did ‘ya say,” the big man rumbled, looking at the stranger. “I said let her go,” the stranger spoke with a calm voice without moving an inch in his chair. “You’ll regret those words,” the big man rumbled again, moving toward the stranger with his fists clutched and the hatred burning in his eyes. With quick reflexes, the stranger somersaulted out of the chair and landed firmly on the floor behind it, grabbing his hood just before landing to prevent it from falling off. The big man stopped in his surprise but the stranger however did not stop. He grabbed hold of an amazed man wearing a blue vest and took him off the chair he was sitting on. He shoved the chair onto its side and kicked two of its feet off, picked up the broken feet and turned to face the big man. “You think ‘ya can fight the three of us, armed with those pickles?” the big man said with a grin. “These aren’t pickles,” the stranger said. “These are feet I just broke of that chair. I believe they can be used effectively as weapons against such poor enemies like you.” The big man, now exploding with rage, lunged himself with a shout toward the stranger, who dodged the attack by jumping onto the table behind him, then leaping over the rushing big man who crushed into the table and landed on the floor. “Wha, what are ‘ya waiting for you numbskulls,” he shouted at the grumpy ones. “Get him!” The grumpy ones looked at each other, hesitating, but rushed toward the stranger, daggers in their hands. The stranger greeted them with heavy blows from the chair feet, bashing them into the floor and dropping their daggers. The big man stood up and drew forth a dagger and rushed at the stranger. He slashed away with his dagger continuously, but the stranger evaded the slashes dexterously. Finally, after about thirty slices into thin air, he bashed the big man into the stomach, then hard into the face when the big one bowed down trying to catch his breath from the previous attack. He felt backwards, headfirst onto a fragile wooden chair, breaking it.
The stranger adjusted his cloak, then bowed down by the big man and grabbed hold of his hair. “Ahhhh,” the big man shrieked in terror. “Wha, what do you want?” “Just a simple question,” whispered the stranger. “Where is your boss?” “M, my boss? He, he’s in our hideout north of here.” The stranger tugged the big man’s hair harder, furious. “Don’t lie moron. I checked and you seemed to have abandoned that hideout. Now where IS he?” The big man could see the stranger’s furious eyes now, so close to him. “Our hideout…is to the west…in a cave by the seaside.”
The stranger let go of the big man and stood up. “Heh, of course,” he muttered. “The cave by the shore. Well, thanks for the information. Leave this place now and don’t show your face here again.” The big man stumbled up, grabbed his dagger and ran to the wooden door and left, followed by the lackeys.

“I’m sorry about the mess,” the stranger said, turning toward the counter. The man in the blue vest still stood entranced by what he had seen. Maria and Josef stood by the counter, staring at their saviour. Without any more words, the cloaked stranger left Luna Pub.