The Achievement Junkie

Hours passed in slow motion for Jack's party as they waited for him to wake up. Everyone was curious about what happened.

According to Eliza, something was off. Not only was he tired physically but the look in his eyes wasn't as lively as he normally was. Yet she didn't allow anyone to enter his room or even glance at him. Eliza made sure that Jack wasn't disturbed and he was allowed his beauty sleep.

The drifting smells of the succulent lunches on the main floor's tavern started to fill the air. One by one the party found themselves drifting toward their private dining room and making themselves comfortable.

Being the furthest from the door, Rydel and Maynard cheered each other in excitement for the adventure waiting head. They were the first to notice Jack taking his time to enter the room, still with a distracted look in his eyes. "Jack, come! The lunch special is great."

Jack nodded. Still in no rush to approach them, Jack sat down. He didn't bother getting anyone's attention, patiently waiting for more food to arrive on its own.

"Something wrong, Jack?" Asked Rydel.

"No, why do you ask?"

Rydel looked at Jack carefully. "Jack, I know you well enough to know when you lie. Something's up and you don't want to talk about. Well, until you're ready to talk about it how about a few drinks to loosen up."

"Sure… Sounds good to me."

Overhearing the conversation, Eliza poured a glass of brundy for Jack. She and the others carefully paid attention to the weary-eyed hero.

In a single gulp Jack rushed the glass to his lips and allowed the liquid courage to flow. He slammed the glass back down on the table, feeling a bit better about himself, at least in the moment. "I'll have another!" He repeated the action again but only once before Marisha brought in the next round of food.

Maynard gave Jack a weird look. "Yeah, you've never been one to drink much but ya wouldn't tell that from what you're doing now."

Jack didn't respond. He only eyed his food and took it eagerly, speeding up his pace with every motion of his hand and fork. Savoring the taste of the roast beef and the roasted potatoes he tried to lose himself in the moment. But his lingering thoughts still remained in the back of his head.

No matter what he did Jack couldn't distract himself for long while he was sober.

He chugged to the third glass of brundy and held it up. "Give me the strongest stuff you got, the whole bottle."

"Coming right up." In moments Marisha disappeared and returned with a bottle down and slid it across the table. It had no label and no sign of its contents. All Jack, Rydel, and Maynard could see was a dark liquid sloshing around inside as Jack picked up the bottle.

Without a second thought Jack popped off the cork and put the bottle to his lips. Jack didn't get very far before he started coughing, letting some of the alcohol dribble from his lips and onto his clothes. He coughed while shouting, "Now that's what I'm talking about!"

Neither Rydel nor Maynard said another word as they lifted their glasses and cheered alongside Jack.

The girls sat across from them but didn't chime in. They were already enjoying their own company when Jack started to make even more of a ruckus.

Lena was the first to say something. "Big bro!"

Maura put her hand on the teen's shoulder. "Lina, how about we let Jack drink a little bit?"

"Why?"

"He needs to loosen up before we can ask him some questions," stated Eliza. "At least then, maybe he'll be more honest with us."

Keela and Dalia kept quiet as Maura and Eliza chatted about Jack's treatment toward his wife's.

The beautiful Keela kept her thoughts to herself as she pictured what it be like to be one of Jack's wives. Thinking honestly about it, though, Keela now found it harder to seek after that sort of a relationship with Jack.

Daliea, on the other hand, focused on something else. She still thought of Jack, mainly how she might be able to better help him. It was obvious to all the girls that something happened with Jack and he couldn't hide the stress from everyone. Daliea pondered ways that she might be able to help him relieve that stress and make it easier for him.

The afternoon quickly rolled in as Jack was well into his second bottle of the mystery liquid. His speech wasn't slurred but his usual judgment and mental fortitude were opening up without any inhibitions.

Since Jack was the most open he had ever been, both Rydel and Maynard, who were secretly letting Jack drink by himself, felt it was time to start talking. "So, Jack, what's up? What's got you so down in the dumps?" asked Maynard.

"I… don't want to talk about it," griped Jack. "Daruun is stupid, he may know everything but he stupid…"

Everyone around the table chuckled, except for Lina who knew nothing of this person that Jack was mentioning. "Who's Daruun, Big Bro?"

"He's a snarky god who thinks he knows everything. He's a big help but he's stupid. If he was smarter, than he would be more specific about the hardships we'll be facing." Again Jack lifted the bottle to his lips and proceeded to his mouth clean. "At least this time I know what to do to get us in Trodar and to save it."

The hunter's eyes almost rocketed out of his skull as he stared at the intoxicated Jack. "What do we have to? And when are we leaving?"

"We'll split up," stated Jack as he lifted a finger high in the air in a know-it-all fashion. "But things will be different. Maynard, Mara, and Little Lina are going to Prachten. Everyone else is coming with me to Limneer. That way we can save Trodar."

Jack paused, as if he had no clue everyone else was on the edge of their seats waiting for him to continue. Suddenly, Jack leaned into the table and looked around while putting a finger to his lips. He whispered, "There's this secret army… Limneer partnered with Sandros and they plan to invade real soon. But that's not al… Prachten's getting help from Churstin. Maynard and Maura are going there to learn about the secret supply line while the rest of us find evidence of the secret army. But don't tell anyone… It's a secret."

It was hard for others to take this seriously from the overly animated Jack. But they understood well enough that it was a drastic situation that could be very dangerous.

Maynard gave Jack a little nudge. "Hey, ya know, if I go with ya guys we should be able to handle the army much better."

"No!" Vigorously, Jack shook his head. "Can't do that. Daruun said you need to go to Churstin... I mean Prachten. The rest of us will be real sneaky and find the secret army in. Then I can tell Tralon and we can stop them."

"When are we leaving, Jack?" Rydel was the only one not struggling to smile. He had a laser-like focus as he stared into Jack's eyes as if forcing him to be sober for a moment.

Jack blinked. "Tomorrow morning."

"Do we need to prepare any special supplies?"

"No," replied Jack while returning to his intoxicated self. "We just need to be real sneaky. Once we find evidence then all we have to do is slow them down, we don't have to defeat them. But it's still really dangerous. If we aren't careful… we could…"

A hard slap resounded off of Jack's back, straightening him up and startling him. With a sharp smile Rydel added, "Oh, we'll stop them. That you can be sure of."

While under the influence, Jack was unable to realize just how determined Rydel was but the others all noticed a fiery passion streak through the hunter's eyes as he mentioned that.

Maynard sighed, "If that's how you want to do it, then I guess I won't complain… I'll take good care of your wife and your little sister, Jack."

"Thanks, Maynard! I knew I could count on you!"

Without another word, Jack finished the second bottle and motioned for them to pass him a third. The more alcohol that entered his system, the more slurred and blurry he got during their conversations.

The rest of the party sadly couldn't get much more information out of him, at least not anything reliable.

Most of the day was spent in the inn as Jack almost drunk himself into unconsciousness. By the time dinner rolled around Jack was barely able to lift his head.

Eliza eyed Jack and was about to stand when Daliea spoke up, "Let me help you."

Daliea rushed to Jack and threw one arm over his shoulder and one of his arms over hers. Without any difficulty she lugged him away from the table toward his room on the second floor.

Everyone was surprised to see her step up like that but they did nothing in response. They knew well that Daliea wouldn't take advantage and was just genuinely helping.

A jealous glance left Eliza's eyes but she too did nothing and left with Keela to go search for any possible supplies that might help them on their journey.