Kaymos's Tavern

It was another night of people drinking away their misery, hope, and life since the siege was taking everything away from them. The self-proclaimed Emporer Noone had surrounded Kamo City for over five years. Most of the city's inhabitants were tired of the bombardments of spells and projectiles from catapults. Every day, people had to fight off starvation, fires, and disease, and Kaymos was no exception.

His tavern was a safe house for his neighbors. He mostly spent his days in the kitchen with his family, trying to feed those who could afford the high-priced food. Several times people brought their own ingredients whether it be smuggled goods, rats, pets, and even people. Kaymos would give them discounts for bringing such things as it allowed his business to stay afloat. He stopped caring about what or how the partons got their stuff other than they wanted food and he wanted to cook. The only times he would reject patrons was if they asked for more food, brought in an unfit body, or refused to cut it up. He hated cutting up the dead and made those he brought them cut it. He would even give them a little extra just so they would leave him alone.

There were a few instances of bad luck. There was one patron who tried to threaten Kaymos's family when he was refused more stew and was kicked out by Kaymos's son. Another tried to sneak into the kitchen only for Kaymos to take his life and feed him to the rats. Another time Kaymos's son got a fever and the family had to run the tavern without him, it also happened to be one of the busiest days since people were trying to cram in just to get warm since it was in the middle of winter. Several times the food storage got raided by people or invaded by bugs or rats. But Kaymos and his family endured like they had for the last five years.

This night was no different. A few patrons were complaining about the food, the siege, the royal family, and various other things. Kaymos could hear them as he chopped up vegetables and threw them into the stew (which was constantly being refilled with everything edible.) His kids were serving the patrons and making sure everyone had their share. His son (15), was refilling drinks., His daughter (13), was taking orders and relaying them to Kaymos. They would also clean up after the patrons. None of them complained, they just suffered in silence and put on a fake smile. Kaymos was proud of them. His wife constantly cleaned the bowls (as well as the cups) and put leftover scraps back into the stew. Food was too valuable to just be thrown away.

Then a loud thud could be heard, and this shook the tavern. Everyone panicked and proceeded to duck under tables and chairs. Then screaming could be heard outside. Kaymos then saw several people run outside to see what happened. "THE WALL HAS FALLEN!" screamed a random person. At that moment all the partons left the tavern. Kaymos's kids ran into the kitchen and tried finding every knife or sharp object they could. More screaming could be heard. Then shortly after silence. The tavern shook several times from huge impacts by enemy forces. Dust fell from the ceiling and covered the family, and the counters, some even got into the stew. This went on for a couple of hours. But the nightmare escalated when the windows broke and half-orcs soldiers broke into the tavern's front door. Their footsteps could be heard all the way in the back. They ransacked the place as if they were looking for something. Then a booming voice could be heard "What are you idiots doing? We are under orders to minimize the damage. Now the owners will make our lives miserable because y'all wanted to break a few bottles instead of skulls." The half-orcs seemed to realize their mistake and began cleaning up. A couple traveled deeper into the tavern. Kaymos and his family moved from under the counters to into the cabinets. They squeezed They even made their way into the kitchen and saw the stew (which was still cooking) they took a couple of bowls and ate. They laughed, talked, and relaxed all the while Kaymos peeped through the cabinets. All he saw was their heads moving in and out of his view. When the half-orcs were done they found a pot and poured the remaining soup into the pot and carried it out. Except one who for some reason stayed behind. He looked all around the kitchen until he looked at the cabinets and opened them to find a pair of legs. With a frighted scream Kaymos's son kicked the half-orc in the face and fell out of the cabinet. The half-orc crashed into the kitchen wall causing a lot of noise. The half-orcs that left came back and surrounded the boy. "DON'T!" yelled Kaymos as he fell out of the cabinet along with his wife and daughter. They were gathered in a little corner of the kitchen and the lead half-orc asked "Is this your home?" Kaymos responded with "Yes, I made my tavern a safe haven for those who were struggling from the siege." The half-orc grinned a little. "So, you were the ones helping their neighbors. We've been wondering why you locals were able to tolerate so much pain for so long. Welp, now you are under the control of the Nocee Empire. You will need to redo some writing work, but that won't be until much later. As for now, we ask that you keep doing what you're doing. Don't worry about supplies you'll get those by the end of the day. Our leaders have a whole system in place for that. Anyway, Sheer! Get the stew back here!" Within a couple of minutes, the half-orcs brought back the stew and set it back up. Kaymos thanked them as the half-orcs left.

By the end of the day, supplies reached the tavern (and with some extra help from some volunteers) Kaymos was able to reopen his tavern. In the next few weeks business boomed, and life returned to normalcy. The worst years had passed, and in front of the best future Kaymos could have ever dreamed of.