Waking Up

The darkness parted away like a curtain, revealing a long wooden room, filled with tables and chairs. The image flickered and took a while to form.

I had just woken up and could not remember where I was or what I was doing there. However, the glass bottles beside me on the round table indicated that this was a tavern. I could barely see through the blur. Beside me sat a tall man wearing blue, snoring like a pig, his voice joining the chorus of the other snoring men. Something in my stomach rose. I panted and tried to hold it back in vain before leaning over and vomiting in a flurry below my chair.

I then knew. My name is Bratko. At least I could remember this. I tried to make out the features of the person beside me. Despite the darkness, I remembered his appearance by looking at his face. He had long dark blond hair, blue eyes with prominent thick eyebrows and a round strong jaw. This was my brother, Boyan. Meanwhile, I was shorter with close-cropped blond hair, and green eyes. I still did not know why I was here.

The air was stifling hot. I needed to leave for some fresh air. I stood and tried to navigate the room, relying on outlines, but accidentally kicked down a chair.

Soon I saw the door, with a metal ring as a handle, which I pushed open. I walked out into the night.

I heard a chirp, and a light shone beside me. I turned, and my eye caught perhaps the most beautiful bird I had ever seen in my life. It had a golden torso with a skinny, long head of the same colour, with feathers of many colours like green, red, yellow, and blue. But the feathers which crowned its head were purple. It had an eagle’s head with a gray beak. All its colours shone bright in the darkness of the night, as the bird chirped and warbled in a low pitch and looked at me with its innocent, wide pink eyes.

It mesmerized me and drew me over completely. I stood still for a few seconds, before extending my hand, intending to pet the creature. But as soon as my fingers touched a yellow feather on its side, the bird’s black pupil narrowed into the thinnest and sharpest oval, its feathers spread up and gave me a long squawk before biting my hand.

I howled in pain and pulled my hand back, noticing a bloody red triangle on it. I panted and the bird flew at me. I grabbed its feathers with both my hands, but the bird squawked again even louder, grabbing my shoulders. We struggled for a second, before it let go of me and hit my forehead with its talons. Immediately, dizziness entered my body, dark spots flickered before my eyes, and then I fell on my bottom. The bird gave another screech and hit me one final time. I collapsed, and everything went dark.

The light brought me back. My view flickered for a few moments, before the rising sun formed, burning my eyes. I raised my arm over them. A golden feather sat beside me, which I grabbed. It had a smooth touch, almost like gold, gleaming and shining from the rays of the rising sun.

I recalled the events of last night and became attracted to the bird. All I wanted was to follow it. I looked up at the sign above the door of the tavern. It had a circle with the colours of the rainbow and an eye in the centre. Above the sign stood “Iris Inn” in metal letters.

I re-entered the tavern and found my brother still asleep and snoring at his spot in the table. I now saw the tavern better due to brighter lighting: the circular tables and the chairs were made of pine wood, and there were colourful tapestries on the wooden horizontally logged wall of the inn. Most of the tables were filled.

At the far end of the room was a rectangular oakwood table, and behind it a shelf stocked with different types of liquor. Many of those drinks stood on my wooden table, and I realized that I had gotten a hangover from the night before. My brother wore a blue doublet, while I wore a brown fur coat. I shook my brother awake. He yawned and raised his arms before opening his eyes. But his eyes were barely open, and his brows were down and constricted.

“What is it brother? Why did you wake me?” he asked.

“Look what I found” I replied, waving the feather on his eyes.

His eyes immediately widened.

“Wow, where did you get that?”

I explained to Boyan the events of last night. When I finished he laughed.

“Well, brother, that was foolish of you to touch the bird, but brave. If only it had been me! I could have taken it myself.”

“What are we even doing here? I can’t recall.”

“Having some fun, I guess? This is the land’s best inn. You lose yourself in the wines, beers, and ales. No to the mention the games”

Boyan pointed to a square table where two men played chess on a brown and coffee coloured board.

“But this feather of yours, it’s a very valuable trinket. I would like to see the bird that you got it from, which you described as the most beautiful you’d ever seen in your life.”

Boyan grabbed the feather on the table.

“No need to, brother I don’t think I ever want to leave this place. Actually, I think I want another drink”, I replied.

“There’ll be no more drinks until I am paid back for last night’s.”

Me and Boyan turned around, noticing the innkeeper behind us. He was a short man with a curly black beard, wearing a chocolate-coloured beret and a checkered green, red and yellow buttoned shirt. We stood there staring at him for a while.

“Did I not make myself clear? Pay up now!”

“Uhh… no problem sir” replied Boyan.

Boyan immediately opened his leather pouch, but found it completely empty, even when he checked the pocket in the front. I couldn’t find anything either, only my old, rusty crimson hat, a wine skin and some packs of bread and beef jerky.

“Damn!” I said.

Suddenly, the innkeeper’s eyes turned towards the feather on the table. He stood there for a second.

“That golden feather… give it to me. Now”

Boyan stood.

“No, he found that feather himself, and it belongs to him!”

The innkeeper’s jaw dropped. Galvanized, I also stood.

“He’s right, sir. I have no intention of relinquishing what I worked hard to find!”

The innkeeper lowered his eyebrows and constricted his face.

“Must I repeat myself?!?! You have no gold, so that is what you will pay me with!”

“Again, it is mine. We can go back to our castle and get you some gold!” I appealed.

“No, I want to be paid now!”

Boyan hunched his face forward at the innkeeper.

“What is wrong with waiting for a bloody bit?!?! We will get you your gold tomorrow!”

The innkeeper slammed his hand on the table, causing one of the bottles to fall to the floor and break. He then pointed at Boyan, who stepped back.

“That’s it! Give me that bloody feather now or else I’m calling the guards!”

At this point, everyone at the tavern stopped what they were doing to look at us. I lowered my head, annoyed at the prospect of losing a precious item, but I realized the futility of resisting.

“Boyan…give it to him.”

Boyan grabbed the feather and gave it to the innkeeper’s extended hand. But just as he grabbed it, he howled in pain. The feather had turned a bright flaming red but reverted to gold when it fell on the floor. The innkeeper, still howling, ran back to his table and poured some liquor on his hand.

At that moment, I scooped the feather from the floor. My hand was fine, so I put the feather in the pouch. I stood but was grabbed from behind by a burly man.

“Hey, you’re not leaving without paying him!” he commanded.

Pinning me to him with one arm across my torso, he attempted to grab my backpack with his other hand, and we struggled for a few seconds. However, he was an incredibly strong man.

My brother approached with a blue bottle and hit the man’s face with it. The man screamed, released me, and fell back.

“Let’s go!” my brother yelled.

I ran to the door as fast as I could, with Boyan in front of me. Two men blocked the door. But Boyan threw a hook punch at one of them in the face and he staggered back clutching his nose. He then elbowed the other in the stomach. My brother opened the door, and we both ran out.

We turned to our left and headed for the stables beside the tavern. I immediately mounted my hazel-coloured horse and my brother mounted his dark brown one. He sped off first, going down the dirt road. Someone attempted to grab my leg but was kicked in the crotch by my horse, provoking me to laugh. I spurred my steed forward, following my brother.

From behind me, the innkeeper yelled.

“You’ll pay for that!”

Soon I caught up to my brother, and we continued riding. When the inn was behind us, we headed into the birch forest beside the road.

“Well, we were lucky to get out of that one, brother. But why did the feather burn? What happened?” asked Boyan.

“I have no idea, Boyan. I..really don’t. I was just as stunned as you. What should we do next, since we don’t know what we are doing here?”

“I’m not sure, brother. But we cannot go back to the direction of the tavern or on the road. He’s probably called the guards on us by now. However, I feel energized being out here among the fresh air and getting some exercise wouldn’t hurt. I would like to ride together across the forest.”

“That wouldn’t be a bad idea. Let’s go!”

Leaving the road behind us, me and my brother rode across the birch trees and the rocks. Moving my horse, looking at the birches with their orange and green leaves and having the wind blow on me helped wake me up.