The door swung open and a dark cloaked figure walked into the smoke-filled bar and headed to a table in a corner. His face couldn't be seen, the hood of the cloak was almost completely covering his face; and the whole bar froze for a moment, before breaking into a lot of murmuring and pointing of fingers. As the cloaked figure got to the table in the corner, he sat down on the chair closest to the wall, put his feet up on another chair, pulled out a pipe and started smoking it.

The bartender walked up cautiously to the cloaked figure, and in a fairly rushed and nervous voice asked, "Exactly what do you want?"

The cloaked figure paused for a moment, and in a low voice replied, "I have travelled on long journeys far beyond this kingdom, to places hat are so wondrous that you couldn't even begin to imagine. But during my time in this kingdom, I have noticed one thing, and that is: when authority and jealousy mix, the end result can be disastrous, like a flaming arrow in hay. What do I want? I want such thing as authority and jealousy to never mix in kingdoms such as these, or its downfall will be inevitable. Already here, the 2 have started to mix, but they must be stopped."

The cloaked figure then stood up and decreed, "All who are willing, come and hear the tale that I'm about to tell. It is a tale of a kingdom not unlike yours who had a king who was jealous of the popularity of a great hero."

The cloaked figure sat back down again, many people either turned their seats to face him, or moved their seats closer to where he was sitting. The cloaked figure put away his pipe and began to tell his tale . . .



"There was once a kingdom, not unlike yours, which had a mighty and just hero, who would save the kingdom from destruction when neighbouring kingdoms would come against them. And he had the respect and faith of the kingdom's population, even more than the king had. The king was furious every time the hero came back from battle and the common people would come and congratulate the hero, and ask the hero for advice on their problems, and this anger burned inside him as he longed for the popularity the hero had. So he devised a plan to get rid of this hero. He knew that to just call the hero a traitor and try to execute him would result in the people marching against him, so he wrote a letter to his half-brother in another kingdom to send troops to attack so that the hero may be killed in battle. This was arranged and the king's half-brother sent a large force to kill the hero.

As the king's half-brother's army drew near, the kingdom's scouts watched their movements and brought information back to the kingdom. But they were bribed by the king and made the incoming force sound like it was much smaller that it really was. So it was that the hero organised a small force because he thought that a large force wouldn't be needed. The king didn't go with the army; he insisted that he should not need to risk his life against a 'small force'. In addition to this, the king's son, the prince, who was usually involved in helping fight alongside the army, was forbidden to go by his father. The prince did not like this and wanted to fight beside the hero.

When the army was ready, the king sent them to the borders of the kingdom so that the common people couldn't see the battle. The prince, as this time, was so sick of not being able to go that he snuck out of the castle to join the hero and the kingdom's army.

So it was that the prince had caught up to the kingdom's army before they reached the border of the kingdom. The hero was disappointed that the prince had disobeyed his father the king, but he was glad to have the prince's company. The attacking army of the king's half-brother arrived a day after and the battle begun.

The attacking army was at least double the size of the force the hero was leading, and soon they surrounded the hero's force, so there was no escape. The hero unsheathed his sword that had a beautifully crafted sapphire on the hilt and charged into battle.

In the end, the hero was the only survivor from the battle. The attacking force had been defeated and utterly wiped out, but so too was the army that the hero had lead. Even the prince was killed; he was cloven in two by a large axe of one of the attacking army's warriors.

The king's scouts observed the battle from afar and told the king. The king was exceedingly saddened about the death of his son, but his resentment towards the hero caused him to warp the full truthful account of the battle to the population. He told the common people that the hero had forced the prince to go into battle and had even turned on the prince and killed him in the battle as well. He insisted that the hero was an outcast and a traitor, and the king decreed that the hero was to be captured when he returned. The hero was stealthy, and didn't get caught by the guards. However the hero wished to help the people of his land to know the true story."



The cloaked figure stopped telling the tale and abruptly said, "I must go."

The whole bar had been captivated by the tale, and so this disappointed them. They urged the cloaked figure to stay and finish the tale, as they had been waiting in anticipation, however the cloaked figure replied "the end of the tale is not known yet, not even by myself."

And he turned to leave the bar; the sapphire on his sword under his cloak glistened faintly. He paused at the door, announced that he would be back, and then disappeared into the night.

A few moments later, a few soldiers entered the bar and decreed: "Oh, people of our fair land. Our rebellious and disloyal hero, Fynyr, has killed the king's son Thryngol, and is guilty of treason. A large reward will be given to the one that knows his whereabouts."

And the people in the bar realised the true identity of the cloaked figure and the reason he was telling that tale.