Tales from the mug: Father's Ale

"How many cups does it take to drown a man?"

The stranger asks the man with an empty cup and a missing leg

"Bartender, one for me."

Requested by the stranger, and as it slid his way, the man took it and, without a word, drank it down

"Make it two."

As the stranger added, the man finally drunkenly muttered

"Why do you care? Hic-"

Sighed and replied

"You know, sometimes it's easy to let it out with a stranger." He spoke after sipping, and silence greeted them after

“...”

As you hear the alcohol from his mouth, he muttered, “Listen up, as I won't repeat this.”

The stranger barely reacts as his eyes flew into the cup, yet his attention stays as the man tries to sober himself up to start

“Believe it or not, you are talking to a royal knight.”

Mockingly, the stranger replied with “Sure you are,” followed up with a pour

The man shoots him with a glare

“As I was saying, I was a knight, but started in a small town… had a maiden, and a little one barely a month old.”

Smiled as he reminisced, but the stranger interjected with a question, “So a father and a husband? What is she like?”

“Was…” corrected by the father with a poignant look

“She was far more commanding than our king, but fair and loving, and I tend to be scolded by her too.” He chuckled, but then sighed.

The father took a heavy sip of ale as he continued

The night when I protested about her going out, she told me, “Easy there, our neighbors are just waiting for their order.” I felt her kiss and remember that ember in her eyes as she instructed me, “Make sure to make dinner, I won’t be long, got it?”

I remember how the village was in shambles as someone was killed, how the villagers told me, “Your wife! She's been killed!” I didn’t even think, I just ran to her, and there she was, cold like these walls of this tavern.

What a fool I was for letting her go that night. So in the morning, when they caught the killer, he was scheduled for execution that day too. In the middle of the town, I saw him, and he yelled, “Serve the gold! Never the throne!” and anger rushed in as he killed her for gold

The father clenches his fist as the stranger sees it and asks

“Did you get your justice?”

He releases his grip with a sigh

“Even when I saw his head away from his body, nothing changed, so I had to raise our son without him knowing what his mom was like.”

The stranger asked for another bottle and assured the father, “It’s on me,” and poured him a new cup. “But you need to tell me what you did next with your son,” he added.

With a sip, the father spoke with a hint of shame in his words as he thumbed his thumb by the rim of the glass

“I never knew how to raise a kid, so when my son was still young, we moved to the barracks as there were people who could take care of him while I tried to rise in the ranks, but as my rank grew, so did he.”

When he was a kid, he tended to challenge me in a duel as he wished to be like me, but sometimes his gear broke, but it was no problem for him. With a stick and thread, he was able to fix it, even improve it, and say things like as he changed at me “I’ll defend this kingdom like you, Dad! Yield, you old fart!” but of course, he was just a kid and a simple hilt to the shield stops him, and he keeps on improving his gear than training his swings, even joked him “Oi… if you keep going at this rate, you might not even become a knight”

The father slightly let go of his glass and rested it on the counter with his arms as the stranger asked.

“Were you right?” and the father nodded as he poured another round for him.

“It was when he was my student that things were clear to me.”

He took a sip of the ale as if he was drawing both in it and sorrow.

It was raining that afternoon when he and his peers were outside training, but things got personal as one of his peers scolded him as they beat him, kneeling to the ground, “You’re dragging us down, just quit! You’re only here because of your dad!” and they continued throwing insults at his crazy craftsmanship with one attempting to destroy it. “Shut up! I can be a knight! I'll be the strongest one that he can be proud of than you all!” Then I stepped in, causing everyone to stop, but they have a point; he was the slowest, and he doesn’t focus on the quest, given that they are affected. That time, I was furious as I hoped him to be a knight like me, then I stood near him, his head low, avoiding any eye contact, bruised, and holding back tears as he knew everyone was right. “Da-dad, I mean captain, sorry, but I wanted to show you the shield I have crafted.” I raised my hand to stop him as I prevented him from bringing shame to me any more than he had and told him in front of everyone, “Didn’t I teach my knights to look to the person they are talking to? You spent too much time on things that we leave for the forgers that you forget such lessons.” And he stared at me like he didn’t recognize me. “But I will be clear, I will never be disappointed in my son…” He stared at me with hope, but I knew that as soon as his smile disappeared, he saw coldness in my eyes. “And you are no son of mine.” Then, I silently broke in front of everyone as I told them to pack their things as we returned to the castle, leaving him in tears and alone…

The stranger clenched his glass in sheer disappointment and asked

“Did you really mean those words to your very own son?”

Disappointedly, the father replied

“In those times, I was more of a knight than father, and I did.”

He poured another glass and drank

“Did you at least regret what you said?” The eyes of the stranger were in disgust as he asked

“No…” He replied sternly and added, “I was loyal, loyal to a fault, but I was glad he didn’t become a knight.”

The stranger is beyond belief at what he hears, as it looks like the drinking partner he has tonight is an unfeeling husk.

“Are you really that cold? And hated him that much?” he asked

“I didn’t hate him, that's why he is alive.” He looks down at his leg. “He probably hates me.”

The stranger chuckled as the ale started slowly hitting him, “Oh, anyone would.”

“I know, a lot does… especially when that royal order came,” The father emptily said

“What do you mean?” The stranger asked as he was confused but curious

“Get me another bottle, and I'll tell,” The father bartered, and so a new bottle again was added and slowly drained.

“Now spill it,” The annoyed stranger demanded.

The father finishes a mug of sorrow and ale and lets out a big sigh

It was a fresh moment of knighthood for the batch I taught, and we got our order, the prince’s order, but after hearing we have to make a deal with a mercenary group, some protested, “You know they won’t accept it, they will accept what we will bring but not what we ask of them!” and some followed his step, but i told them “Prepare, we ride at noon as this is the order from the prince” Some were starting to hold a grudge but it is our duty to follow orders. Even along the way when we traveled, I saw our old house occupied by a blacksmith. I wish to visit it again to remember the days it was simple, but an order is an order, and we continue beyond the kingdom’s reach with the banner we carry.

By dusk, we reached the camp and were expected by the group. They welcomed us in, but my men were on their guard as I trained them. “Welcome, Captain. I received the message this morning,” The chief happily greeted us, “but maybe some matters require to be discussed privately. He added as he invited me into his tent.

I entered with him, and as he invited me to sit on the chair across his table, we discussed matters. “I believe you are considering working for the kingdom?” I asked him, but he smugly replied: “Easy there, captain, I know your royal family protects its people, but I wanna know, does it include mine?” I was left to wonder, as we are going to use them for war only. “Yes, the kingdom protects its people, and if you are willing to work under our banner, you and your men shall be protected too,” I replied with a monotone in my voice. Before he replied, after he laughed, I sensed something, movement, as unease and chill were creeping up on me. “I see, that must be the saying there, no?” He asked but continued talking, “You see, captain, I understand that we are for hire, but we know your people, and they dont trust us… but like you, we do have a saying.” Heavy footsteps were being heard. 'As the mantra goes, Serve the gold…” And a sharp memory hit me as I continued his words “... never the- oh no… Men!!” I reacted, but was quickly drowned out as the chief’s men outside chanted “NEVER THE THRONE!!”.

Damnation has erupted as one by one my men fall. Horses screamed, and swords clashed. As I turn my back, the chief lunges a spear at my leg, piercing through as a bone broke inside collapsing me by the entrance of the tent, enough to see our supplies and gold were taken, the morale of these men broken, and hear them “Captain! What do we do!- Ach!” slashed as he finished he question. The chief walks towards me in a towering manner as he happily leans and speaks, “We refuse your proposal, but we thank you for your payment.”

The father, remembering the pain, accidentally crushed the mug

“I'm sorry, I'll replace it,” but as he apologized, the stranger told the bartender

“I got this one, don’t worry.”

“Thank you, and sorry, it's just… that was the day everything that I have left started crumbling, and the day I lost my leg,” The father apologetically explained

“It’s fine, sorry for making you tell me, but how did you survive?” He asked the father

“I gave them every gold i have as long me and the remaining men are let go, but when i returned, I was blamed for the failure of the mission, and yet they praised the prince for the bravery of his order to try and recruit bandits and death of the sons was placed on me” He grit his teeth as he recall how he was publicly shamed by the royalties”

The stranger took a sip as he calmed down, in contrast to the early emotions he felt. “Is that why you are now glad your son didn’t become a knight?”, but the father didn't answer

“I lost everything after that…” uncaringly he uttered as he started to overfill his mug a little as the bottle emptied. “Bartender, another bottle,” The father demanded as he held back his emotions that the stranger couldn’t understand

“If it helps, then be so,” the Stranger nodded to the bartender, allowing him to have another as he placed it in front of them

“Tell me, what happened next?” He comforted the father with a question to vent out

With a stutter and pain, he continued, “Th-they told me, in front of my remaining men, I have no use to them as I can barely stand, that they hold their knights high, not failures." He swigged down a mug from full to barely a drop inside, “And none of my men that I taught came to defend me, they just stood behind my back…the betrayal they have done to me, and never once did I want to betray them.”

The stranger poured him another mug. “So, they didn’t need you anymore?”

As he was questioned, the father clenched the glass with both hands as it was being poured till he saw his reflection, “It's not just that…”

I tried to return the armor that they gave me and told me, “We don’t need a reminder of your failure,” A failure they set me up!! So as they cast me out, I tried to walk with my remaining leg to make a living, but no one wanted to take a cripple in “Stand on your two feet and we’ll talk”, “Sorry, but you will have to run a stand, and you are not suited,” and even kids mocked me as I scuffled by. I had no choice but to sell my armor… and I looked at it one last time, tainted, bloody, scruffed, and rusted. The merchant even asked, “What kingdom would have a knight like this?”

The father is nearing the end of the bottle as he chugs another, “and that’s how I am now here, trying to drink them away in ale, be it poison or drown me, my use is gone… just like my duty, my wife… and my child.”

He sniffled and held his mug, but the stranger asked, “Even your manners are gone, didn’t they teach you to look at the person you are talking to, and not once you did, just on this bottle?”

Baffled, the father looked at the stranger, a scruffy but bulky blacksmith, one who lives in his old house. “You… you were the one who lives in my house, is that how you found me?”

The blacksmith coldly stared at the father. “Look closer…”

“...Son?” Tears welled up in his eyes, and as he tried to stand to approach, he fell to the ground, a mess, a drunk, and a nobody, sobbing for forgiveness. “Son! I'm sorry! I am sorry for everything, I am sorry for being your father!” He can smell the sorrow and alcohol on each breath and the crawl he did towards him. ”I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but I just wanted to say I am sorry for how I treated you, how I denied you. That I stopped being your father!!” One of the crutches by the counter that he owns fell on his head and caused him to cry his heart out.

The stranger, silent, went close to the father on the floor as he reached his hand out. “It may take time, but I am glad to have you back… old fart.”

The father, with tears fresh in his eyes, smiles as he is helped up as they pay the tavern before leaving with his son helping him on the side of the missing leg, but he still manages to let out “...Your mom would kill us if she saw us now.”

With a sigh, “Learning a little about her… she’d go for you first.”

They both shared a laugh, and the son said, “Let's go home.” The father replied, “I’ll make dinner then.”