167 Drinks on me

Ry's drunken smile turned to his brother. There were trails of tears streaming down both cheeks, obviously from several good laughs, and his entire face was red with the flush of drink. "Look who it is!" Ry called out to everyone else at the table, patting a familiar old man's back as he did. He turned his unfocused gaze back to Arei. "What happened this time?" He leaned toward the old man. "You'd think instead of bothering me, he'd be laying the moves to that girl instead." He elbowed one of the barmaids to his left and winked suggestively. "AmIright?!" He slurred his words together.

Arei rolled his eyes. "You're completely smashed, aren't you?"

Ry let out a burst of laughter as he pinched his fingers together and held them up. "Lil bit..." He nodded to the old man beside him. "It's his fault. He recognized me as I was leaving to come meet you and asked me to have a drink with him for old times' sake."

"For old times' sake? Ry you only barely know the man." Arei complained as he held a handout in the old man's direction.

The old man covered his mouth with the back of his hand and leaned in toward Ry, "Ye be right, boy's stiffer than me scotch." He whispered loudly before lifting the glass and clinking it with Ry's. "Have a seat boy and tell us of ye woes. Bet ye have a mighty fine story since last I saw ye." He kicked out a seat as he added. "Ye never know talking bout ye problems may help ye work through them. Help ya see them from another's perspective." He said raising his glass in a toast towards Arei before taking a long drink.

Arei blew out a puff of irritation, "Fine, one drink and the briefest of summaries, then I'm dragging this drunk bastard back with me if it's the last thing I do."

Ry laughed loudly again. "God's be damned if you do! But I'd love to see you try!" He slapped the barmaid's back so hard, as he laughed, she looked as if she was about to throw up.

Arei rolled his eyes. "Bring him some bread and cheese, would you." He said to the maid. "And a tankard for me." He nodded as the woman struggled against Ry's grip.

When the maid was long gone, the old man turned to him and asked. "Well? Ye promised us a tale, did you not?" The old man sat back in his chair crossing his arms over his chest.

The old man's eyes widened. "Don't tell me this beast ye boys were hunting be the same creature that has ye head over tits in love..." He sent Ry a questioning look and they both shared in a hardy laugh when Ry nodded.

"And to top it off, Arei over there, is terrified she's going to flip out when he tells her the truth AGAIN, mind you, rip his dick off and eat it for breakfast!" Ry was laughing so hard by the end of it the last few words were no more than panted laughs. He grabbed one of the long pieces of bread the maid sat on the table, broke it in half and bit into it hard. "This will be your dick." He laughed hysterically around bites, nearly choking.

The old man turned serious eyes to Arei. "This be true boy?"

Arei grabbed the heavy wooden tankard and turned it up in a large gulp. "She nearly did tonight..." He said on a low embarrassed sigh.

The old man arched his brow. "She be that outta control?"

Arei shook his head. "No, honestly she's a fairly levelheaded girl... especially for someone who's been isolated all her life."

The man tilted his head questioningly. "Then what be it that has her pantaloons in such a bunch?"

Arei laughed faintly as he set back and ran his hand through his hair. "I'm not even sure she's ever seen pantaloons." He smiled thinking of her trying to figure out how to work the undergarments. His smile faded. "Currently, she has no memory of our past month or so together..."

The old man laughed as he nudged Ry, "Bet ye wish there was a way to get a woman to forget some things." Ry chuckled as he nodded in agreement.

Arei shook his head. "Not these things. We'd arranged our life together. I'd told her everything. She'd met most of my family... they loved her... she seemed to love them... It was going so well."

The man leaned forward with intrigue. "Then tell me boy, what happened?"

Arei frowned, "Zeus... He made her forget everything."

The old man arched a brow. "Then I bet ye be mad with him, are ye not?"

Arei let out a heavy sigh and took another long drink of the frothy ale. Sitting it down, his focus trained on the froth at the top of the liquid. "No... I don't blame him... Had he taken all her memories, then maybe... but he only took the past month. If anyone's to blame it would be me for not telling her sooner and for giving into my father's whims and pushing her for a relationship so suddenly."

He took another long drink, trying to wash away the taste his father's threats had left in his mouth. The threat of taking her for his own had been Arei's undoing. He would have agreed to nearly anything to keep Poseidon from touching Jos in anyway.

"Ye look troubled, boy." The old man said raising his hand for another round of drinks to be brought over. "As an ol man who knows his way 'round a fair share of beast and beauties, I'd say ye give her the night to cool down." He snickered and sent Arei a wink as he added. "Even the fairest of maids be likely to bite a man's parts off, if he pushes her too far."

Arei nodded as he finished off his tankard and took another from the maid. "You may be right."

Ry chuckled as he emptied another mug. "You could always call on our uncles for love advice and even father; I'm sure they'd have only the wisest of advice!" His words fell into hysterical laughter again. "Hell, they'd either suggest ****, kidnapping, or tying her to a rock... hell, more likely kidnap her, tie her to a rock, then **** her." He nudged the old man causing some of his drink to spill out onto the table. "Right?!" He pounded the table with his fist as he laughed harder.

"Aye." The old man said, arching a brow in Ry's direction and rubbing the arm he'd just nudged. He turned his gaze back to Arei. "Next rounds on me." He nodded toward the bar. "Ye help an ol' man out? I'd say we've done ran da maids to death with this one." He nodded toward Ry.

Arei nodded and stood. He gathered some of the empty mugs and followed the old man. When the drinks were poured, the old man pulled some powder out from his pocket and sprinkled it in one of the mugs. He nodded to Arei. "Give this to ye brother and he'd sleep through the night." He glanced back at the table. "He be a big'en, but wear from days of drink and little else should aid the herbs."

Arei nodded. "He's not a bad guy, he just feels too deeply about things... people mostly..."

The old man arched a brow. "This be a shared trait?"

Arei laughed in surprise. "Had you asked me that same question a few years back, I wouldn't have hesitated to answer with a resounding 'no'... but now... I'm not so sure." He carried the mug over and slid it to his brother. "Drink up, man."

*** 3 hours later***

Arei and the old man walked out of the bar both out of breath. Arei shook his head as he leaned against the handrails for support. "I didn't think that powder you gave him would ever work."

"Aye, he's a strong one... that's the truth of it." The old man huffed out. "Wouldn't have thought, he'd be such a heavy one to carry though." The old man rubbed his back to emphasize the point.

Arei chuckled, "I could have told you that much! I've been carrying his big ass around for years!"

The old man nodded. "I should be going now." He turned his clear steady gaze up to Arei. "As I wager, you should... Before sleep settles over you as well?"

Arei's smile faded as he narrowed his eyes at the old man. He had drunk too much by any standard but wasn't drunk enough not to catch the old man's meaning. "Did... Did you drug me as well?" A sudden wave of dizziness washed over him, and his eyes widened. "You did, didn't you? Why?"

The old man smiled. "You need you're rest as well, do you not?" The old man shrugged, "Great things come to those who wait and what better form of waiting than sleep?" He patted Arei's back. "Now off you go before you fall out and I must carry your heavy ass again." Arei's eyes widened and he tried to force a shift, but the old man shook his head. "There's no point, unless you simply believe it to be the fastest way home. The drugs will have the same effects whether you shift or not, however."

Arei's eyes narrowed as he fought to focus. "I never caught your name... what did you say it was?" His words slurred with the fog of his mind.

The old man smiled. "This evening you may call me Adad." He nodded to Arei as he moved past him. "Now, if you don't mind, I have other things to do."

Arei watched as the man walked smoothly down the path leading out of town, whistling a tune as he went. Arei stumbled as he tried to make his way down the path toward the cottage, stumbling as he went. He couldn't escape the thought of what the old man had said... what he'd said his name was... Adad... Why did that sound so familiar... He barely made it through the cottage doors before crashing face first onto the large plush mattress there. He couldn't fight it any longer, the sleep from the drug won out and he was lost to dream land. There was nothing in the heavens or many levels of the underworld that could wake him, including the silent turn of the cottage door or the quiet tiptoe of tiny feet as they neared the bed early into the morning way before the break of dawn.