Winterfall

"I think that's four glasses of Elven Wine." Theo retorted as he siphoned a bit of the buzz away through the bond. "Yeah, four." He concluded as some of the effects of my drinking started to take hold, but despite his intake of two glasses and the effects of my four, he was still un-phased.

"How much does it take to get you drunk?" I questioned him as the effects of his siphoning the alcohol were hitting me hard. He took too much too fast. Again.

"Hmm…not entirely sure. Usually, when it starts to hit, I cast a spell to reduce the effects."

"So you cheat it?" I motioned for the bartender to come over.

"I wouldn't say I cheated it. But you can look at it that way if you wish.

"Can you double the amount of alcohol content this time?" I batted my eyes at the bartender, who was surprised I seemed unaffected. He eyed Theo but brushed it off.

"Sure. Whisky? Vodka? Tequila? What's your poison?"

"Let's do two shots of vodka. Both for me. Do you want anything stronger than elven wine?" I glared over at Theo, whose mouth almost dropped when he heard the word vodka come out of my mouth.

"Not if you are having vodka."

I rolled my eyes, "Just the two shots of vodka for me then."

"Has it been rough recently at the castle Princess?" The bartender asked as he poured more than two shots into a tall glass.

"Something like that." I said as I took a big swig of the "shots" of vodka. My face puckered as the taste of vodka met my lips. Normally, I didn't drink this strong stuff, but if he was taking my buzz away, I was going to give him something to take.

He shook his head as he watched me down the other vodka the bartender had poured me. The room may have spun a bit, but I felt good. "Theo…" I leaned into him, he sighed, "Theo…I want…to go into the pit."

"Not a chance, Maria. Not like this."

I moved as close as I could without falling off the—never mind. I felt myself falling, but just as quickly, Theo caught me. "I think you have had enough."

"Nuh..uh. Another!" I raised my hand to the bartender to give me another shot.

"If you give her another shot, I will have you fired."

I met eyes with the bartender, whose eyes went wide, "Who are you going to listen to…Captain…or the Princess?"

"Considering he is thinking straight, him. Sorry, Princess."

"Good boy," Theo spoke as he plopped my ass back down on the chair.

He stared into my eyes intently. "Don't make me drag your ass to a room this early in the evening."

"That a threat or a promise?"

"Both."

He siphoned a bit more away through the bond as he did not want me to make a complete fool of myself as the vodka was hitting me hard. To which I could tell he instantly regretted it. He followed that up with simple spell casting to lessen the effects on him, and then he did it to me.

"Now that I can think more clearly, how about some water for a change for both of us?" he asked the bartender. The bartender nodded and gave us both a fresh glass of water.

We turned to watch the chaos of guards still going at it in the pit. "5 gold on Jasper!" One of them shouted, ten gold on Quinn!"

"Wait…those two are going to fight?"

"They are like brothers and sisters. It wouldn't surprise me if Quinn lets him win." Theo told me. To which he followed up, "One hundred gold on Jasper."

They all turned their heads to him, "Beating high for a man stuck paying all of our tabs!" Henry laughed.

"You know something we don't? We all know Quinn can kick any of our asses." Another guard named Mor spoke.

"Just call it intuition," Theo told them as he helped me down from my seat and walked us to the fight pit area.

"What do you think, Princess? Quinn or Jasper?"

That was a tough call. I knew Quinn's moves, well, some of them. I had no idea how Jasper fought. "Con…" I stopped myself. The other guards did not know I was training with Quinn, let alone training at all. "Jasper, call it faith," I said as I threw two hundred of my own gold into the pot.

A few heads turned at how much gold I put in for my vote for Jasper, but I did not care. I had a feeling Theo's big bet was to help Jasper stay sustained for a while while he looked for his next job.

"Alright, before this round begins, let's lay some ground rules," Theo spoke, causing half the guards to grumble. "Limit magic. We don't want to break any more things here. And let's try to keep the fits and kicks below the neck. And when you have had enough, tap out. I don't need either of you two needing immediate attention by a healer."

"You'll heal us, won't you, Captain?" Quinn asked.

"Of course, but knowing how you are, Quinn, and how Jasper is, I don't want limbs torn off."

"Fair enough," Quinn spoke, and Jasper nodded.

"Ten paces, then the fight can begin!" Theo shouted over the crowd.

"One! Two! Three! Four! Five!" Each guard counted the steps they took. "Six! Seven! Eight." The room was filled with anticipation. "Nine! Ten!"

It did not take long for both to get in position. Quinn, being snarky, spoke up, "Come at me, Jasper. But don't strike like a girl this time!"

Jasper's face flushed. "Fuck off, Quinn." He pounced on her with his whole body weight, sending her to the ground hard with a crack.

I saw her eyes widen in shock; Jasper held that one in for a while. She did not take long to retaliate as she swung an impressive right hook at his shoulder, impacting it hard, resulting in another loud crack. The force of the impact threw him in the air, but to my surprise, he landed on his feet.

"And you all judged me for spending time with animals," Jasper spoke as he seemingly grew a pair of claws and struck Quinn in her chest. Piercing her skin, causing blood to ooze out and her to screech in pain as a greenish liquid seeped from his nails. His nails retracted, and he kicked her, where he clawed the shit out of her, sending her backward with another loud crack.

"Magic, really, Jasper?"

"He said limit magic. He didn't say it was forbidden."

"Captain!" Quinn shouted.

"Eh, he's following the rules. That was a very basic spell, Quinn. Shake it off. You're fine."

"I see how it is…" Quinn growled. She did not hesitate further, as hesitation can quickly get you killed. She lunged her whole weight at Jasper, and with just a quick glow of a fist, she punched him hard in the chest in turn. There were a few cracks that filled the air as some of Jasper's ribs broke on impact—causing him to gasp for air. In turn, Quinn used his gasp for air as a quick approach to land yet another blow on him. It was much lower this time, but it still made him crumble.

"Take a second to heal yourself, damn it!" Theo shouted as both had taken some damage but brushed each attack off.

"If he's not healing, then I am not!" Quinn shouted.

"I can take a few more hits before I need to heal," Jasper spoke.

Theo rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

Jasper took Quinn's distraction and pinned her to the ground again. He hit her not once, not twice, but three times. And on the third time, he used his animalistic claws, sinking them deep into her skin. Her screech sent chills down my spine, but I dared to intervene.

Quinn used her head and head-butted him hard. It was breaking one of the rules. But it did get him off of her. Though his nose dripped with blood. "Fuck Quinn! Captain said, "No face!"

"Well, that's what you get for using damn poison!"

"Whatever Quinn." Jasper quickly pounced back on her before she had a chance to recover. Before she had a chance to react, she kneed her in the stomach hard. It was so hard that I even saw Theo wince as he remembered the pain I put him in the other day when I kneed him in the groin.

The impact his knee had against Quinn's stomach filled the room with gasps. It was clear that no one knew how well Jasper indeed fought. I knew Quinn knew, and Theo knew, but to anyone else, Jasper was just a big goof who didn't take his job seriously.

With wide eyes and a cry of pain, Quinn, to everyone's surprise, tapped out; as Jasper had his total weight against her, I was sure that had to have popped a few organs. Not to mention, the poison that was in her system was not helping her body heal at all.

All the guards cheered as Jasper was deemed victorious. He was earning himself around six hundred gold. Theo and I healed Quinn and Jasper back to full strength.

"Thanks," They both breathed.

"Jasper, for the first time me seeing you fight, you fight damn well," I said as I gave him a gentle pat on the back.

"Thanks, Maria, that means a lot."

"You've grown quite a bit over the years, despite a childish behavior here and there, but overall, you were a pretty damn good guard."

"Thanks, Captain!" Jasper smacked him hard on the shoulder, causing him to grunt with the impact.

"Let's go to the bar and have a round together one last time," Theo spoke.

All four of us sat at the bar, and I motioned for the bartender. Now he said not to give you any more."

"But he's allowing it this time." I protested.

Theo thought about it for a moment, then nodded in agreement. "Give them all a round so we can make a proper toast. Everyone get your asses over here!"

The guards dropped what they were doing and surrounded the bar. Drinks were dished and passed out. Theo stood up and cleared his throat. "Now, before all of you animals drink the bar dry tonight, let's give Jasper a proper send-off. For years, he has worked with us. Starting as an underling and worked his way up. Some of you doubted my judgment when I made him an Elite, but he had surpassed my expectations and deserved the title. As he expands his family, I am proud to have worked beside him for the last fifteen years. And I wish you the best in raising those kids, as you are an excellent guard; I know you will be a damn good father. And maybe someday, I'll have a legacy under my charge."

Quinn spoke up after everyone sipped the wine, "Jasper, as you all know, is like a little brother to me. I will miss rounds with you and beat you up daily." This caused the guards to laugh. "But I am proud of how far you have come in life. How much have you pushed yourself time and time again? You amaze me every day. Juilete is one lucky lady; those kids will be lucky to have you as a father. And I'll be their favorite aunt, of course." I sensed a bit of jealousy and sadness in Quinn's voice. Did she love Jasper more than she was leading on?

Jasper hugged her and Theo. "Thank you both." He turned to the rest of the guards. "Thanks, all of you. I couldn't have done it without every one of you."

"Here! Here!" The guards shouted as we chugged the wine into our glasses.

The rest of the evening was spent with me and Theo at the bar as we watched the guards mingle with each other. Luckily, Theo allowed me three more drinks of elven wine for the night. But there was no way in hell he was letting me drink anything more substantial.

We stayed until the guards left. Theo wanted to ensure he closed out the tab at the night's end. A few guards took up his room offer as they were too drunk to return home. Theo even booked a room for us. Not to sleep in but a way to recuperate from the amount of wine and vodka I subjected us both to.

In the end, he ended up paying one thousand one hundred gold with the betting pool, food, drink tab, rooms, and a large tip. We both lost the bet.

"More than I thought that was going to be," Theo grumbled as he sat on the edge of our bed. He had made sure the door was locked, and no one saw both of us enter. We didn't want to raise too much suspicion on us. As there already seemed to be.

"How much of the booze can you take away?"

"I can take pretty much all of it away. We may still feel it in the morning."

"Then let's try to feel something else in the morning instead?" I teased as I leaned into him and kissed his lips. "When will the next time we get a room ourselves?"

"As much as I would love to pin you against this bed and thrust my body against yours, with as much alcohol that we took in, I think it would be best if we just slept it off for a while."

"Whatever," I said, resting back against the bed with a sigh.

"You know how I feel about taking advantage of you when you are in this state." He lay in the bed next to me. "Besides, we still have our dream tonight."

"Or are you too drunk for that, too?"

"Hmm…not drunk. But we shall see what our minds come up with. Unless we are both too hammered for that."

I felt his magic wash over me as he used the spell to lessen the alcohol's effects. Something he did to himself also. It didn't take it away, as we drank too much for that to happen. He would have to cast the spell at least three times, if not four, to eliminate the effects entirely. He wasn't against it but didn't want to use many spells when we could sleep it off.

It did not take long for my body to welcome sleep. I hoped we would wake before we were forced to leave the room.