Kathos was drunk. It was not an usual sight. In general, he did not drink much, and when he did, he could finish two bottles of wine before starting to feel slightly dizzy. But right now, he was not worried about that. Life was good. He talked merrily to William about plenty of things. At that moment, the conversation was about Marlax.
"...Was hired by the Lowlands to save their asses... B-but they gave me f-few men, and Marlax had... More men. I decided to burn down the bridges that would let him get to the Lowlands, b-because men in armor don't swim well and... And... His men were in armor. So, the only thing the sorry fella could do was to cross the b-borders by going through the marshes... And I... I... I attacked his forces when his main army was ahead of the other one, trying to get through the marshes... They were slow because as I said, men in armor don't swim well..."
He paused for a few seconds, because his drink had arrived and he was thirsty.
"I destroyed his main force... Killed them all, I did... By flanking them while they were walking in deep mud... Marlax fled to his secondary force, but I had more men than them and I destroyed them too..."
He paused again, trying to remember the story.
"I spoke to him there... I told him he had lost, and he had, you know... But he told me he knew who I was... And he knew my history... And he said that I was w-worse than him. Called me the King of Ashes. It made me angry, very angry, but he shot Adrian in the shoulder and then he fled... Poor Adrian... Still has a mark on his shoulder..."
Kathos seemed to become aware that he was more talking to himself than to William now, and he turned towards him.
"What was the question... About?"