Venta
Strabo walked to his lodgings and as he was, now officially off duty got changed. His knee was feeling a lot freer so he decided to go for another walk as he needed to think. He was beginning to feel his age and knew that his reactions were no longer as fast as they had been. This meant that he did not object to basically now being permanently assigned to the Watch House where he could still give the youngsters the benefit of the experience that he had built up over the years.
Unconsciously, Strabo began to follow some of his old patrol routes. He had been walking for roughly two hours when suddenly he felt a sharp jab in his right knee. He grimaced with the pain and the realisation that he had over-extended himself. He sat down on a rather tumbledown wall and began to rub his knee. As he rubbed his knee he realised where he had walked to, it was the least salubrious area of Venta. Gradually his knee eased and he got up to leave the area as quickly as possible.
Too late! A group of four young thugs approached him. The largest, a rather unsavoury lad, thought Strabo, approached him with false solicitude.
“Well, Arfus, got lost have we? An old man like you shouldn’t be wandering these streets. Who knows whom you might meet?"
“Let me guess” replied Strabo
“You’ll see me safe for a small fee”
The thug smiled revealing broken teeth
“Well, times are hard, and you look as if you could spare a few coins”
“Really?”
“Sa, really, and if you won’t give coins over willingly, then..”
The thug was no longer smiling and approached Strabo. Strabo sighed and lashed out. He hit the thug on his nose, breaking it. Blood gushed and the thug gasped, clutching his nose. He glared at Strabo
“Well now we’ll just take whatever you have and not see you safe”
Strabo grinned mirthlessly
“You were never going to, now come on, four of you against me. Not a fair fight”
The thug smiled through the blood
“Na, and it’s your own fault, come on lads”
Two of the thugs approached, the third looked at Strabo
“I don’t think that we should do this”
“Coward!” snarled the first
“What can one old man do against us?”
“An old man who has just broken your nose and is not pleading nor running. Na, this is too dangerous”
“Well run away to the whore you call Ma” replied the first
“Come on”
The other two began to approach Strabo with threatening faces. The last turned and ran.
Strabo sighed and struck rapidly. Very soon there were three thugs writhing on the ground clutching at various parts of their anatomy. Strabo’s knee gave out again and he sat back down on the wall rubbing it. There was the sound of a man clapping. Strabo looked up and saw a man stood a few yards away shaking his head whilst applauding. He came up and kicked the three thugs.
“Get up you scum”
Slowly the three got to their feet. The first thug glared at Strabo
“We’ll find you. You won’t be able to hide from us”
The man clipped the thug around his ear.
“Use what passes for your brain. You would have to jump him in a dark alley to stand any sort of chance and even then I wouldn’t give a folis for your succeeding. Do you know whom you have just attacked?”
The three shook their heads
“Na, I thought not, he’s a watchman.”
“So?”
The man sighed
“It’s Strabo you idiot. There are no other watchmen of his age”
Fear crossed the three thugs’ faces
“Bbbut he’s a myth used to frighten us” stammered one of them
The man sighed
“Is that so? Now run back to which ever hole you crawled from and hope that you don’t get any visitors after this”
“The watchmen won’t dare to come after us!”
“I wasn’t referring to the watchmen”
Real fear crossed the thugs’ faces and they stumbled away. The man approached Strabo and held out his hand
“Come on Old Man, let’s see you back to where you should be”
Strabo finally looked closer at the man. A look of surprise crossed his face
“Craius, I thought that you were dead”
Craius smiled
“Hoped, you mean after our last encounter”
Strabo grasped Craius’ arm and pulled himself up.
“Na, you were never a match for me”
“Na, I wasn’t but now with you having that crooked knee”
“You still wouldn’t”
Strabo looked around
“Is there a decent inn around here? I’ll buy you a drink”
Craius feigned shock
“You buy me a drink. You’re going soft! I know one near here where the clientele will let us talk rather than try to knife you. You are not that popular in these parts, Old Man”
“Less of the Old Man” growled Strabo
“I need that drink!”