Inn and Streets

Chapter 16

Part 1 - Inn

We walk into the inn through the wooden door and are met by many gazes. The Baiin barkeep, wearing a white shirt and leather vest, dries a glass and gives us a skeptical look. Behind him are shelves filled with glass bottles and wooden barrels. In front, men and women sit along the bar; Baiin and some Mir, all in armor and with weathered faces. They are glaring at us with disgust. Throughout the room people are drinking and eating at the tables. Most look like Baiin or Mir mercenaries, or maybe adventurers. But in the corner I see two red-headed men and a woman. They are the only ones who didn’t turn when we walked in. For some reason, their precance sticks out from the rest.

Heins walks up to the barkeep and speaks:
“Hello. I would like a room for the night, and a place for my carriage outside.”

The barkeep looks at us Avi standing behind Heins. He has oily hair and brown eyes.

“I’m sorry. We don’t allow Avi into our establishment—especially not unchained ones,” he says, frowning.

“Ah, I see! But they are not just any Avi, they are my personal bodyguards. Maybe this would be enough to compensate?” Heins says, placing ten Rin on the bar.

The barkeep looks at the metal coins before he snatches them up, and says:

“Hm. Fine, I guess we could make an exemption this once. But they are out of here if they cause trouble.”

“Of course!” Heins says in his stoic act.

A Mir suddenly stands, pushing his chair out from a table. He looks at me with a nasty grin; one eye is covered by an eyepatch. His messy white hair points in every direction, dressed in ragged armor and heavy boots on his muscled body. As he walks toward Heins with heavy steps, I step between them and glare into his green eyes.

“Bodyguards, you say? You should hire us, sir. I can prove these Avi dogs won’t be able to protect you,” the Mir sneers, and others chuckle.

The Mir reaches for Heins’ shoulder. I grab his wrist and squeeze hard. People from his table start to stand, their faces turning angry. My heart starts to pound with the rage growing inside of me.

Trying to thwart away my arm, the Mir is stuck as I squeeze down harder. His face twitches in pain before Heins steps in to intervene:

“Now, now! We just promised to not cause trouble, but please understand that they are only doing their job.”
Heins puts a hand on my shoulder, urging me to let go with his worried eyes, calming me down. The Mir takes his arm back as I loosen my grip, holding it in pain.

“You little—he almost broke my arm! You will have to compensate for this!” The Mir says in anger.

Dima and Elda stand behind me. I can feel them trying to keep it together. I want to smash this man's face in, but I know it would ruin everything. Every other Baiin and Mir now looks at us with nastier expressions, clearly waiting to take advantage. It infuriates me, I want to wipe off their smug grins.

One of the red-haired men stands in the corner; his chair screeches as it slides back. He looks at us with a calm but fierce expression. His red eyes are like fire; I can sense power radiating from him. He wears little armor, only a chest plate and light clothes. He stands tall with a well-built, slender but defined body.

“Didn’t you say you would prove your worth? Now you complain that a mere Avi hurt you. Do you have no pride?” the red-haired man says, staring the Mir down from across the room.

“What did you say?!” the Mir yells back.

“Enough! I will throw you all out!” the barkeep interrupts, smashing the cup down on the table.

The red-haired man sits back down and continues to eat with a calm expression. He seems unbothered. I don’t think he cared for us as much as he did for the Mir’s cowardice.

With one last look of anger, the Mir turns to me:
“Hm! You better watch yourselves.”

I glare back. So do the siblings as he returns to his table.

After parking the carriage behind the inn and carrying our supplies, plus my blade and Elda’s hidden spear, up to the second-floor room, we can finally relax.
The room only has one bed, I assume that slaves usually don’t get one, so we didn’t bother to ask.

“‘Let me know if you need anything else, sir!” a kind Baiin woman says at the door.

She has been helping us with our supplies and showed us to our room. She wears a blue dress with a white apron around her waist, her black hair tied in a bun. I get flustered as she smiles at me with her cute, chiseled face and pretty eyes.
“Thank you very much. We should be fine for now,” Heins says, shifting a little, also flustered.

As she leaves, Elda looks at us disappointed.

A moment of silence passes. We all look at each other, then at Heins.

Running up to him, Dima asks with us all surrounding him:
“How did you do that? Why didn’t you tell us you were so good at this?”

“Yeah, I thought you were more of a wimp. How did you come up with that story at the gate?” Elda asks him.

“I don’t know. I just did it. I guess I learned to talk by watching Björn and the other merchants pass by our village,” Heins says, a bit shy.

“Well, you did great. You really saved us back there—thank you,” I tell him with a smile.

“I’m sorry if I made it… you know… too real,” he says.

I can tell he feels bad, uncomfortable by acting like our owner.

“Eh! Keep at it boss!” Elda tells him, going back to lie down on the middle of the wooden floor.

“Is it boss or master?” Dima asks her with a frown.

“Both!” Elda says as she stretches her body out.

Part 2 - Streets

After waking and dragging Elda out of bed, we head downstairs into the barroom. It is emptier than yesterday: just the barkeep, the nice woman wiping tables, and a few ordinary Baiin customers.

“Good morning! Would you like something to eat?” the woman asks with a warm smile.

Elda brightens from her half-asleep state, and Heins answers:
“Yes please. For all four of us, if possible.”

We get vegetable soup with baked bread—simple but good. It’s been a while since we had a proper meal. The lady with the apron comes up to us as we are munching down the food. Heins looks embarrassed, the only one holding back with manners.

“Do you usually eat together with your slaves?” she asks so casually.

Her question catches us off guard, and Elda and I choke on our food.

“Oh! I’ll get some water!” she says as she runs to the bar.

She brings mugs on a tray, and we hastily grab one each.

“Thank you, and yes, they are always by my side,” Heins says, laughing awkwardly.

“I see. You must trust them very much,” she says with a smile.

“Ha. Yes, I do,” Heins answers.

The barkeep stands behind the bar, looking at us with skeptical eyes.

“This is it, right?” I say to the others.

“Looks like it,” Dima answers.

We walk all the way to the back side of the massive cave. The nice lady from the inn recommended this market area. Here you can buy and sell all kinds of goods, rare and common. By night the place becomes the continent’s largest entertainment district.

She warned us that many dangerous men come here; they are tolerated because of the money they bring.

“Let’s go see,” Heins says, excited.

There are stalls pitched up on every corner and along every inch of sidewalk. Merchants yell out and goods are being displayed. Carpets, clothes, food, metals, tools, herbs and different remedies. Some wear fancy looking clothes, jewelry and hats, they are surrounded by guards and Avi slaves. Some are barely dressed, only torn clothes cover their bodies as they limp around or lay against the stone walls. They have dark circles for eyes, and a stench of liquor. Kids run around, also poorly dressed in torn clothes.
I see a kid run up to a stall as we walk by, he grabs a fruit from the stall and runs away.

“Hey, come back here!” the merchant screams after him, chasing him down. When he leaves, three other kids come out of an alley, snatching up more fruit before running back.

Elda chuckles and Dima flicks her head.

I can’t bring myself to laugh, since my eyes are locked on the chained Avi, walking away behind us.

“Isn’t that Sathrill?” I say, looking at the blue-colored crystal in a stall.

“Ah! You have a good eye Avi! Yes, this Sathrill is very pure!” The merchant with a scarf wrapped around his head says, rubbing his hands together.

Heins picks up the crystal into his hands.

“Huh. Let’s go,” he says, putting it down and walking away.

I walk after him, asking him:
“What is it?”

“That’s just coloured glass, you can’t trust these street merchant guys,” Heins answers with a confident tone.

Right after, something catches his eye. His expression lights up in excitement as he runs to the stall.

“Is that… Furialt!?” Heins asks the merchant, overly excited.

“Yes indeed! You are a true smith sir if you know this precious metal. I will sell it for a special price just for you, I like the fire in your eyes! Let’s say, only a hundred Rin!” the shady merchant tells him.

“I’ll take…” Heins tries to say, searching his pockets, before Elda pulls him away.

“But…” he says, and I just look at him with disappointment.

“This looks like a good place, no?” Dima says as he points at a store in a nice building.
It has a sign with corked bottles, stone layered stairs and brick walls. Definitely gives a more trustworthy representation than the street stalls.

“Yes, let’s take a look,” Heins says as he walks up the stairs.

The doorbell rings as we enter. An elderly Baiin lady with brownish-white hair stands behind the counter. She is very tiny, wrinkles hide her eyes, bushy eyebrows crowd her face. Surrounded by potions, odd-looking ingredients and herbs.

“Welcome,” she says, barely moving.

“Thank you! I am Heins and these are my three bodyguards, I hope they were allowed to accompany me in,” Heins introduces us and himself to the old lady.

“Oh yes, of course. Those Mir children look adorable,” the lady says with her squinted eyes and smiling at us Avi.

We all look at each other, confused, but none of us corrects her.

“I am here to offer you Sathrill medicine from my village. I have brought a sample if you would like to examine it, if you are interested we have plenty more to sell,” Heins explains as he hands her the bottle.

She slowly lifts up the bottle and holds it in front of her face, it takes her a while to answer…

“Hm. Very good. I’ll buy it for 25 Rin a bottle,” she says.

“Oh, are you sure? You don’t need to examine it further?” Dima asks her.

“No, no. I know good medicine when I see it. I would like to purchase all that you can offer,” the lady says with an unchanging smile.

“Great. We’ll come back tomorrow!” Heins says.

“Hm,” the lady answers.

On our way back we come across another well-built building. I stop, looking at the cobblestone walls and at the sign; a sign with drawn chains.

“You think this is…?” I ask the others while looking up at it.

“It has to be,” Dima answers, as we all stand outside the slave house.

My heart starts to beat rapidly. I’m confused, angry but unsure. Everything is so ordinary, people just living normal lives all around us. I think about that nice lady at the inn, then the Avi slaves that are dragged around by the rich. Here, this is normal. Even that nice lady still thinks that we are slaves, so I can’t take her kindness with a full heart. How am I supposed to feel? I just know that this is reality, a reality that infuriates me.

Dima walks up to me and tells me:
“We should go in.”

“What?” all of us react.

“Yes, Heins should act like he wants to purchase some slaves. They will take him seriously if he presents us as his. That way we can learn how it works, as well as maybe make a plan on how to save them,” Dima explains.

I look over to Heins, he swallows nervously.

“Fine, let’s do it,” he agrees, before we walk through the doors.