Chapter 18

“WHAT?!” Alec shouted and jumped up from his chair.

“No that’s impossible! He travelled this route for almost six years and it never happened anything! And most importantly: The mercenaries, which are escorting the convoy are warriors of the adept rank, there simply aren’t any bandits that have a comparable fighting strength! Impossible!!” Alec said with a serious voice and sat down again.

“This has to be false information! Tell me Mr. Hakin, where did you hear this?!” Alec asked with a questioning gaze.

“Alec…I know it is not easy to believe, but…your father really was attacked. And he died…I saw his headle- his body myself!” Hakin answered and looked into the intelligent grey eyes of the blond man in front of him.

“Headle- Headless?! HEADLESS?! HE WAS DECAPITATED?!” Alec roared and his fist slammed onto the wooden table with a loud sound. As the sound of his fist hitting the table echoed through the room, Alec’s gaze became glassy and his hands slowly fell to the sides of his body. He sat there lifelessly and tried remembering the memories with his father. It was not uncommon for a merchant to die on his way towards his destination, but Alec would’ve never thought that his father would be one of them. This thought had just never occurred in him, as his father was very intelligent and cautious. He taught Alec a lot of things about the art of trading and one of the most important teachings was the need of perfect preparation. A merchant with his convoy had to be able to avoid any trouble on its way. And even if something went different than expected, the good merchant always had several back up plans. All of this was taught to Alec by his father. So how could he be dead?! Yes it had to be a fake body!

Alec’s gaze turned back to normal and he looked into the eyes of the man in front of him. Hakin was one of the partners of his fathers company, who couldn’t travel with them this time, as his wife had born a child. Alec never had much to do with him, but seeing him deliver such a message to him, he seemed trustworthy.

“Are you sure its his body?! It could be a fake body, you know that a merchant always has back up plans!” Alec asked and a little flame of hope ignited in his heart.

“No. I am sorry Alec, but the body I saw was, without a doubt, your fathers. And its not only him that’s dead…every other member of the convoy is dead too, with…their heads…” Hakin answered and stopped with a frown as if he remembered the moment he arrived on the scene.

Alec’s face distorted into a pained expression as the last glimmer of hope was extinguished. His father was dead. He was dead. Lucian Van Don, the man he believed to have a plan for everything died, just like that. And now he was alone.

Finally tears started to stream down his cheeks, dropping on the table as he buried his head in his hands. More memories flashed past in his mind:

The moment his father gifted him his first birthday present, a silvery amulet with an owl carved in it.

The countless hours of sitting together with his father in this study room, planning the next travel routes.

His fathers face, when he sent him to the local school, to learn the art of articulation and cultural features, full of pride and expectations.

He remembered the last words of his father, before he rode away through the city gates with his convoy: ‘You better have a girl when I’m back’. Such useless words, but now as he remembered the sentence over and over in his head, he heard the different meanings in the sentence and his father’s voice:

Create a family.

Continue the lineage.

Be happy.

Be reliable.

Stand on your own legs.

As Alec remembered the different memories of and with his father the tears were streaming down continuously and his eyes were already red as blood.

He never once before thought, that losing someone would hurt this much. It wasn’t just his mind that was pained, it was like his heart was slowly pumping lava through his body, his whole body hurt as it never had before.

After an unknown amount of time his eyes couldn’t produce any more tears, his body was dry. Alec slowly lifted his head from his hands, opened a drawer, grabbed a big bottle and placed it on the table. The bottle was filled with a strange looking black liquid and even with the lid closed, a strong alcoholic scent spread in the room. The liquid in the bottle was called Stinger, or to be precise, Black Stinger and it was one of the most violent alcoholic drinks in this country. It was also really expensive, with the price of one bottle of Black Stinger, one would be able to buy a whole carriage with two horses.

Alec originally wanted to gift this bottle to his father, for the nights when he remembered his dead wife and he had saved up his money for almost seven years.

His father will never come back. Alec’s eyes widened on the thought and without thinking twice he opened the bottle. With a swift movement he put the bottle onto his lips, inhaled deeply, and started chugging the black liquid from the bottle.

The first few gulps were really painful as the incredibly strong alcohol seemed to burn his flesh from the inside, but as Alec kept drinking the pain slowly turned into numbness, until he couldn’t feel anything anymore.

Alec drank and drank until the bottle was almost empty. He inhaled another time and wanted to put the bottle back to his lips again, but a hand stopped the bottle.

Alec looked up and saw Hakin, who was holding the bottle with one of his hands.

“You drinking yourself to death will not change anything either. You have to walk into the steps of your father and continue his way.” Hakin said with a stern voice and a serious gaze.

Alec looked drunkenly into the black haired man’s eyes, looked at the bottle in his hand and, with a silent tear his body slumped towards the table. He lost consciousness.

Hakin took the bottle out of the hands of Alec and drank the rest of the black liquid in one gulp. Then he stared at the seventeen year old man in front of him with a pondering expression.